It was another Friday night, meaning that it was the night of Illea's Capital Report. Tonight, the Selected were going to be interviewed and asked questions about the Selection.
Nara wore a green gown, her hair in a low bun with her signature tiara in it. She made her way onto the set, where quite a few of the Selected were already seated, mumbling to themselves.
"You know, I've noticed something." Nara turned around to see Jeno in a white shirt, white jacket with silver chains, black pants, and his brown hair parted. Nara smiled at him.
"What is it?" Nara asked him, intrigued.
"For a princess, you don't wear your tiara as often as I'd thought you would." Jeno said. Nara nodded her head.
"That's right. I don't like wearing my crown if I don't need to." Nara said before looking around. She leaned forward toward Jeno's ear.
"They're awfully uncomfortable." She whispered, making Jeno chuckle. She smiled as she leaned back.
"I'm going to check in on the other Selected. Best of luck tonight." Nara said before walking off. She made her way to where Jungwoo and Lucas were sitting, chatting with one another. They looked up as she approached.
"How are you two feeling tonight?" Nara asked them.
"Good. I'm excited." Lucas told her with a bright smile.
"And you, Jungwoo?"
"Um... Still a little nervous to be quite honest." Jungwoo said, clutching onto his shaking hands. Nara reached out, patting his shoulder.
"I'm sure you'll be fine. Just be yourself and pretend it's only you and the camera, no one else." Nara said, trying to comfort him. Jungwoo nodded, taking in her words.
Nara moved onto the second row of boys, where Jisung, Kun, and Chenle sat. Kun and Chenle were talking so she decided to check on Jisung.
"I'm sorry for scaring you the other day." Nara said, capturing his attention. Jisung immediated waved his hands in front of him.
"No, no. It's okay. You did what you had to do." Jisung said, playing with his fingers. Suddenly, Jisung's eyes widened, bringing his knees up to his chest.
"Is something wrong?" Nara asked, looking towards where Jisung was staring. He pointed to the floor.
"Your highness, there's a spider on the floor." Jisung told her. Nara tried to hold in her laugh as she made her way towards the bug, killing it. She called over a worker to bring over a tissue and spray bottle to clean the bottom of her shoe and the floor.
"Wow, you're really brave." Jisung said as he returned his feet to the ground.
"You don't like bugs?" Nara asked. Jisung shook his head.
"I hate them. My older sister always killed them for me." Jisung told her.
"I guess I'm like your older sister then." Nara said, giving him a smile. Jisung smiled back just as the crew called her over to her place. They were going to start the show soon.
Like always, Beomseok did his introduction and the King's officials made their weekly updates. Before she knew it, Beomseok was already starting to introduce the Selected.
"Earlier this week, the magazing feature the Selected was published and brought to each of your doors. You got to see how amazing they look with the princess, tonight, let's learn about how charming each of these young men are." Beomseok said as the cameras turned towards the Selected.
"Tonight we'll be starting with Lee Haechan from Summer." Haechan got up from his seat, making his way to the one beside Beomseok.
"Haechan, that's an interesting name. I also heard that your birthname is Donghyuck. Why did you change it?" Beomseok asked him.
"Well, as a singer. it is important for me to have a name that's easy to pronounce for the announcers. Donghyuck was a little hard for them so I decided to change my name to Haechan which means Full Sun. I got this name right before my singing debut so I wanted to use the new name to become a brighter person." Haechan told him.
"Well you certainly do brighten up this world." Beomseok responded before moving onto the next questions.
Nara sat and listened to what each of the Selected had to say about her, trying to animate her reactions if possible, knowing that there was a camera filming her the entire time.
All the boys were asked what they thought of her. Almost all of them responded with the same thing. Kind. Jisung said he was like an older sister, while Ten called her gorgeous. The first few were asked if she had kissed them, which they all said no. Eventually, Beomseok had caught on and turned to face her.
"Have you kissed any of them?" He asked. Nara shook her head.
"It's only been two weeks." Nara reminded him, a playful smile on her face.
"Ah, now we have our two crowd favourites remaining. Let's get Na Jaemin from Angeles up here front and center." Beomseok said as Jaemin stood up, making his way to the seat.
"So Jaemin, I know this set isn't unfamiliar to you, being a photographer based in the palace. How does it feel to be on the other side?" Beomseok asked him.
"I knew there were a lot of cameras when I was standing back there." Jaemin said, pointing to a corner. "But now that I'm on the other side, there really are a lot of cameras." They chuckled at Jaemin's words.
Beomseok proceeded to ask the questions, focusing on Jaemin's childhood with Nara.
"Nara, you see on the outside, she's a very elegant lady, which don't get me wrong, she is. But growing up running around in diapers together kind of gives you another image ." Jaemin said, twisting his face as they began laughing again. Nara noticed his mother covering her face in embarassement behind the cameras.
"Ah, now my mother's embarassed." Jaemin said, pointing to his mother. This only making the room laugh even harder. Once Beomseok had regained composure, he thanked Jaemin and Jaemin gave a big smile to the camera before returning to his seat. Nara noticed Jeno give him a pat on the back.
"Now, our one and only Cover Boy, Lee Jeno from Clermount." Jeno smiled as he made his way up, waving to the cameras.
"Now Jeno, please tell us the behind of this amazing photo of you and the princess." Beomseok said, holding up the magazine.
"I was simply treating a lady how she was supposed to be treated. Just so happens they got a photo of it." Jeno told him.
"So the princess hasn't kissed any of the men, but you've kissed her." Beomseok said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at Nara.
"It was only her hand." Jeno said, raising shaking his hands defensively. Beomseok let out a chuckle before asking the next question.
"So tell me, what do you think of Princess Nara?"
"Well for me, the Princess is real." Jeno answered.
"Real?" Beomseok question. Jeno nodded his head.
"You'd think in a position of power, she would be different when no one elses is watching, but she's not. She kind, honest, and beautiful even when there's no one around. I find that very attractive." Jeno said.
Nara felt her cheeks turn red at his words, hoping that no one else had noticed. The interview soon finished and the cameras turned to face her.
"Now that we're done interviewing the Selected, the princess has an annoucement to make." Beomseok said, turning the attention to her.
"Yes, thank you Beomseok. Today I would like to announce that earlier today, I have sent out letters to princes all around the world, inviting them to the palace for a ball. This will be an oppotunity for the Selected to get to know each of them and the different cultures around the world. After that, I will be moving forward with my Selection narrowing it down to the Elite." Nara said.
"The Elite?" Beomseok asked her. Nara nodded her head.
"Yes. After the ball, only six men will remain in the Selection."
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Six men remaining? Wonder who that will be 🤔