Nari reaches for the candles and puts them out one by one. Her hair falls cascading down around her shoulders and hips. Her night gown is simple, made of cotten imported from southern part of Asia. She's not wearing any jewelry, it seems heavy for her tried form right now or she doesn't care much.
Something is bugging her in the back of the mind but she chooses to be ignorant as always, at least, for this very moment.
"Will he really spend his night in his mistress's chamber? That won't be so good for my image and position here... I need to be respected in this place and to do that...I shouldn't loose my temper and let that woman have him. It all starts slowly and gets complicated after." Nari sighs as she continues to think, who she wants to be in this new place and what position she should be able to establish.
As much as she hates to admit it but she needs him for establishing herself, first! This place has different rules than where she's been brought up. It's a land where women are nothing but an obedient listener and a comfort to her husband. So be it! She'll do whatever is needed to secure her position and then...
"Then it'll be much easier to change the misogynistic rules. But first I need to be an ally to Min Yoongi. Once this marriage seems secured enough it'll be much easier to propose my ideas to him," she's smiling silently, "I shouldn't have picked a fight with him. At least he thought to check on me by the lake today. I think a bath might have really cleared my mind." The Princess regrets as she reflects upon her actions. Her face turns dull as the flickering light of a candle that is about to get spent reflects on her features; her chain of thoughts get disturbed once she hears a gust of wind enter the room and tickle her sensitive ears.
The door to the side window opens slightly; the night sky is as gloomy as before, actually it's more than before. The moon hid under the thick gloomy clouds. She wishes not to get wet in the rain if it pours down. She doesn't like rain. It leaves a bittersweet taste on her tongue.
"How did the window open?" She walks closer to shut the window but her eyes immediately dilates bigger than their usual size as she watches the thunder strike in the sky between the dark, thick clouds. It's her favourite sight. Thunderstorms are what that comforts her when everything fails to. It's like the sky is wailing in pain. It's the best thing! Now that it's a storm, she adores the weeping sky. The sound hits her eardrums and her heart fills with warmth. Her heart beats like it probably would for the sight of ones long lost lover meeting them again. A smirk creeps up on her lips.
The doors of the room, she is in, opens slowly making a creepy sound. The Princess frowns in obscurity.
"I swear, I'll eat the scented candles or incense sticks or whatever the hell it is!" The Princes looks around, trying to adjust to the poorly lit room. "Is she a witch or a dangerous shaman, who likes to live in the dark or what?"
He walks further but gets imbalanced and almost trips. He tries to swing his body on the other direction and ends up hitting a corner of what seemed like a table. His side hurts. It does so badly that it burns as if his bones are on fire. In short, it hurts a lot. He shrinks himself for a while to rub the affected part of his body.
The Princess is watching him , still standing by the window side, dumbfounded of what is he doing here and how clumsy his steps are ? Is he drunk?
Shouldn't she be helping him and say comforting words if she wants to be on his good side, as she thought earlier? But still even after acknowledging what she must be doing, she doesn't move an inch from her position. And to add on that she's staring at him as if a wild animal would look at its prey.
The thunder lightning sticks again, glistening her still damp skin and her eyes seem to be made of amber in them.
The view of the Prince is just all over the place.
"She is staring at me! Is she angry at me for interrupting her night time sleep? But she wasn't even laying on her bed. Is she a witch?! Praying for someone's downfall or trying to witchcraft me? Or maybe...both! Is she thinking of me funny? Do I look an immature, spoiled and clumsy Prince? Why is she glaring at me like that? "
He hears her sigh deeply.
The Prince immediately stands straight like nothing happened. It still hurts but he should keep it in. "Suck it in, Min Yoongi!" And that's the encouragement he comes up with for himself.
The Princess is still looking at him but he notices, she isn't glaring at him or making faces at him as he thought her to do. Instead, she walks a little closer to where he is standing. He wants to move a few steps away from her but his feet are glued to the ground. He or she, neither one of them utters a word.
The Princess keeps advancing him and there she stops at what would be a respectful distance. She speaks, " Your highness," Yoongi's heart starts hammering against his chest as it does when he has to fight a war and he doesn't know from where his enemies can attack him.
Probably from everywhere, and he's not prepared for it. He has had these kind of dreams once in a while when he has overworked himself and when he is overwhelmed by all the constant demands he has to fulfill. This marriage is one of them.
"Yes..." The low timber of his voice urges the Princess to speak something that needs to be done. So she walks a little closer to him and ghosts her hand on his waist.
This alerts the Prince but his hands are frozen by his sides.
"Did it hurt a lot?" She looks into his eyes, her face is unreadable. It makes Yoongi uncomfortable. She clicks her tongue. " The edge of the shelf is sharp. I must ask them to change this. It'll be better if the things that can hurt is gone..." the declining volume of her speech is unsettling. She's never spoken this softly before him. He wonders if it's the sleep deprivation or is it a dream?
"Why is the light spent? I me-mean the candles..." he's still trying to notice any undertone mockery for him or a little glimpse of discomfort in his presence that irritates the Princess, and if she's just acting smart and hiding her true intentions. She doesn't seem to be any of that. It frightens him.
Has she lost her mind or did she hit her head somewhere to have a memory loss about how she almost tried to kill him if she could, today near the lake. She's unpredictable and Yoongi doesn't like it.
"It's late and I thought that you'll not come here because of my previous- because of m-my behaviour from past. " She bites her lip and looks down involuntarily. Why must she stutter?
She's being sincere, he can see that. But how come a person change over a time span of few hours? It doesn't make sense to him but he doesn't show it.
She turns quite.
He's looks at her for a while but doesn't say anything.
Does he need to say or reply her? Again what did she say earlier? What does he need to answer? His mind is blank.
It's total silence. He notices her wet hair which stretches from her head to her waist.
"They are brunette... oh, wait! "
What is he doing? What does he needs to be answering...?
She looks at where her hand is, at a near proximity of his royal navy blue hanbok . "Can I touch you?" She voices her thoughts out uncertainty clear on her forehead.
"What!?" The Prince blurts out.
The look on her face seems so innocent he almost said 'Yes' as an answer but he won't. He's uncertain about her actions. Heck, he's uncertain about her whole self! But something in him says to let her, to watch where she leads to; as to why would she ask him for his consent and not put her hands around and all over him? He can feed his curiosity about her and get to know a little more about who is he dealing with exactly.
He gives a simple nod of acceptance of him consenting her. He smirks. So she is a type to not be able to keep her hands to herself. Is that what it is?
That smirk is unnoticed by himself as she tilts downward to where he hurt himself. She puts her hand under his clothes and rubs his skin gently to ease the pain. She knows he has hurt himself really badly when a thug sound came from the corner. The shelf is made of strong and long lasting wood, crafted in a fancy way. It, of course , isn't children friendly and especially not clumsy friendly!
She pulls her hand out and moves to the chest kept near the books that came in today. She takes out a oil balm and comes back to where Yoongi stood. She takes his hand and leads him to her bed. He flinches and pulls his hand hastily out of her grasp.
"What are you doing?" Puzzled by the Princess's actions he yells out making it sound like an agitated aggression.
The dry leaves on the ground near the window sounds like being crunched under heavy weight. The broken branches of the trees make noise. Their attention diverts towards the window for a while.
"I think there is someone," the Princess whispers.
Yoongi doesn't seem to be bothered to hear. Nari squints her eyes a little but doesn't say a thing. Instead, she pushes him on the bed and rolls up his upper garments that gets in the way of her fingers and his skin.
"Why does she always end up stripping me off my clothes?"
Yoongi shys away. He'll let her help him just this while because it does hurt like hell and he's too exhausted to walk all the way to the physician's chambers just to get some painkillers in the second level of Palace.
Plus, she's right. There's to be someone around them both, keeping eyes on them for a few days or until they consummate the marriage, to see if the Royal couple is getting along or not.
He looks at where the door is and then towards the window from where the sound came a while ago.
"Could it be the spy that attacked last time?" Nari looks at Yoongi but he stays silent. Her fingers apply a good amount of balm to his side.
"Do you plan on killing me, your highness?" Yoongi says in a lower voice, hardly audible to her.
"What?"
Yoongi stares at her funny.
Nari stares right into his eyes. "Yes. "
Colour drains off Yoongi's face when he watches her serious expression.
Nari bursts into suppressed chuckle. "I intend to kill everyone in this Palace and take the crown for myself. "
Now the Princess grins and starts to focus on what she was doing before.
"Your highness, if you keep on mistrusting me and glaring at me like that while I try to help you, " she pulls her hand away from him after the application," I fear that you might end up assassinating me." She looks straight into his eyes. The Prince looks at her in amusement.
"It's suspicious how yesterday you were threatening me to slit my throat and now I get the luxury of you taking care of me? " Yoongi tilts his head to the side, in attempt to get a better glimpse of the Princess .
She glances at him and walks near the bed stand and brings a pot of water to him. "You were nice to me earlier so I'm paying off my debt. Don't be surprised, we people of Gwacheon know how to hospitable. Unlike your own..." she smiles. A smile full of mockery. And now that's what is familiar to the Prince.
"She isn't changed." He laughs. The same way his prideful father does.
Nari hates it but doesn't let it show. The second she turns to face the male, her expressions are unreadable.
Yoongi observes her and gets up from his lying position. He notices the water pot in her hand. He wonders if she's really holding it towards him as a threat-- one wrong move and she'll pour it down his nostrils, drowning him with it-- Which he clearly would want to avoid.
"It just itches my heart, how of all people, you were brave enough to speak out your thoughts. I'm not against your point of view, Princess, but it doesn't go as you wish. This Kingdom is a lot different. " He sighs audibly. "You must understand what it is in Daegu. People get served with justice. Although, I know that father- h-his majesty did go overboard but there must be something that we aren't aware of. You must know your boundaries while addressing him your concerns. You should understand the sensitivity of the happenings today, will affect you in the future, I'm afraid. "
She offers the water to him with a gentle smile. "I know, and I think I've learnt a very important lesson today. "
Yoongi observes her and takes the water and drinks it. Off course, he wouldn't miss a chance to save himself from this unpredictable Princess. He thought she'd be angry. Instead, she looks cool with whatever he said.
"I might not know it all but I'm convinced that you don't intend to harm me and that you will protect me in this Kingdom. I understood that things could have ended up against me if you wouldn't have stepped in and talked on the behalf of me.
"I should have thanked you but instead I let my rigid prejudicial perspective take the best of me and blinded me to not see how you were helping me. I also want to thank his majesty for teaching a valuable experience that I might need to remember in my future."
Nari looks at Yoongi and flinches when she catches him staring at her.
"Are we alright, your highness ?" She looks concerned as he keeps staring at her for another long minute. She fixes her hair, tugging behind her ear and smiles awkwardly. "Your highness?"
"Are you tired, Princess? Did you take a..." he looks at her still wet hair, "bath?"
The Princess nods.
"What was in the bathroom that changed her so much? " he glances in her eyes there is sincerity.
"You'll catch a cold, your highness-"
"I won't. And can you stop referring to me as 'your highness ' ? "
Yoongi smirks, amused.
"What if I don't?" He smiles cheekily.
She glares at him.
"Will you slit my throat then?" He lifts his eyebrows a little and breaks into another smiles. His expressions are teasing her yet again. She doesn't like it.
"No! I cannot do that. "
"What if , you could ?"
"Then I'd choose not to. Taking a life just for such a small thing isn't worth to be a crime enough to take someone's life..." the Princess's vision blurs. A choking feeling rises up in her heart to the back of her throat, where it twists and turns. She blinks the tears away suffocating them from flexing on her cheeks.
Yoongi's smile drops.
"It was not your fault. You could have done nothing. Heck! Even I wasn't able to do anything at the moment, while even being myself the Crown Prince. But let me tell you a thing. Come here. Come near me "
Nari looks at him puzzled but slides nearer to his mouth as he whispers, " I took care of the man and his family. I sent them away from here and I've made sure they have enough to support their life."
Nari's eyes widen with disbelief at what she was hearing. She takes a step back and looks at him throughly. "H-how?" She stammers.
"I'm the Crown Prince, and the duty to work on serving the punishments is supervised under me. It wasn't that of a hard case this time. I just needed the job to be done by my confidants. " he smiles softly. Creases form on the end of his eye lids.
"Confidants?" She repeats him.
"Yes. And dear Princess, you need them too! You must have few people whom you can rely on with your tasks and your protection. " Something clicks in the Prince's mind and he quickly adds it in his speech. "This place is new to you. And in your case, I'm your most needed confidant! I'm your husband," passing a smirk at the lady, he continues, "I'm here but you need to let me help you just like you helped me and I trusted you enough to let you. You need to trust me."
"I don't trust anyone. That's how it should be. We are Royalties. "
"Yes, I know..." he sighs. "But sadly, you don't have many options either. " He glances at her.
"Princess, things can be on our favour if you are ready to be an ally to me. I don't think you are a threat to anyone. You are graceful and smart, I'm sure you'll understand the importance of a confidant in a Royal Palace. " Yoongi sighs and stands out of the bed.
Nari panics that he's going to leave and grasps his sleeve and stands up with the Prince. She doesn't know why did she panic. She tries to speak but nothing occurs to her mind. She's standing there, silently.
Yoongi turns towards her. He looks at her, his expressions are unreadable. He uplifts his brows in a questioning way.
The Princess has to speak. But what?
She doesn't have anything to say to him but she has many doubts. And she thinks, she can clear at least one by asking him, "What about your mistress? Wouldn't she be uncomfortable, you being my confidant? It is pretty common to conspire against someone Royal in the Palace; especially, if someone is as grey in the background as your mistress. They are the most notoriously well reserved people whom no one thinks of, they can do things without anyone noticing them."
Yoongi laughs. He grabs her hand which was creasing his well-made hanbok's sleeve, crushing under her tight clutch. He slowly pulls himself out of her grasp and holds her hands in his. He understands her concerns, but what makes him laugh is how naive yet clever, innocent yet alert the Princess of Gwacheon is.
"Don't worry about her. Yuna is not a person who gets jealous easily. She might be protective about me but she never acts irrationally or recklessly. She's very helpful to me and I'm sure once you both get to know each other, you'll love her too."
"No, I won't. "
Yoongi laughs again, "Alright!"
He looks serious yet again, Nari observes him.
"But Princess, you'll need people on your side. Only me as your confidant won't help. "
Nari looks bewildered. She takes her hands out of the Prince's grasp. "Who said that you are my only confidant? I've my brother, my father and many more back in the Gwacheon, if I ask them they'll come straight away, when I need them."
Yoongi shakes his head.
"You are too innocent or straight away dumb. " He looks into her ridiculously offended eyes.
"You shouldn't always say how you feel about a person. Even if you don't like someone, don't say it to their face. It'll usually get you in more trouble than before. And get you more haters than your followers. "
"So you want me to be a people pleaser? No! I'm not a kind to have harsh feelings in heart and sugar in my mouth. " She crosses her arms on her chest and closes her eyes proudly.
Yoongi sighs and smiles endearingly.
"What a person like her is doing in the Royal lifestyle?"
"Princess, you won't be betraying anyone until you intentionally harm them selfishly. What I meant to say is that being defensive is better than giving your weaknesses to the people who are already searching for. "
She hears him attentively but he knew somewhere that she won't listen it and follow it right away. But all he could do is to wish that she does.
"I have a feeling that Yuna and I won't get along but we , you and me, can somewhat get to a common ground where we can keep up with our duties without getting in way with other. "
Yoongi's eyes sparkle. That's what he wanted and had wished for. Her to mind her own duties and not be bothered by his relationship. It's okay if she doesn't want to get familiar with his mistress as long as she isn't being jealous and acting on his nerves.
"Yes, we can get along." He reassures himself more than he does to her. Nari smiles, her mind is everywhere.
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(A/N)
Hey, there! It's been a while since I could update last. Just to let y'all know that I'm slow at updating but not totally gone.
Please, vote and leave a comment if you read this.
Thank you!