꧁-꧂

It had been 3 days since the Antares despot and his comrades had arrived Cressida. And it would be a lie to say Arthur did not make his best efforts to talk with the princess in private. But being the cunning woman Arya was, she aptly refused his proposals of having a stroll in the grove or giving him an excursion of Cressida that certainly agitated Arthur internally. But he obstructed his rage, for the sake of the alliance. He was not a man who would tolerate a woman regulating him like her puppet. But if the outcome of having a little patience is an entire kingdom, then why not?

"Where is the numbskull!" Arthur gritted his teeth and condemned audibly. He was waiting in front of his carriage to have a look around the reign. But his footman was nowhere to be found.

Taehyung was wandering around the castle where he noticed a resentful Arthur standing. His eyebrows knitted and he hurried towards him.

"Your Majesty, is everything alright?" Taehyung bowed and asked politely.

"Oh yes! Certainly! Been standing here for last 30 minutes but our eminent footman has vanished in the air." He sarcastically scoffed.

Taehyung's eyes awkwardly rambled on the ground and then he spoke, "May I, Your Majesty?"

Arthur did not reply but snorted lightly tapping his foot on the earth.
Taehyung stepped forward and opened to door of the carriage and got inside. He arranged the saddle of the seat, got down, and bowed again.

"It is prepared, Your Majesty. Have a safe outing." He politely said gesturing his hand towards the opened door.

As Arthur got inside not dropping the slightest of his pride, Taehyung closed the door. The coachman pulled the lashes and the horses slowly started to move their hooves forward. They fastened their paces banging their hooves against the earth.

Taehyung watched the carriage vanish leaving twinning dust behind. He let out a heavy sigh. In those three days, he had had a lot of trouble keeping his mind to himself. It kept wandering miles away, at his home or straying up to the princess's palace trying to decipher the complex riddles that had built a misty shroud around her. Even though his conscience forbade him, an obscure force dragged his sanity to those pair of subtle, addicting green eyes that greatly enamoured him.

Taehyung turned on his heels intending to return to his chamber when he saw Arya from a distance who was drowned adoring the crystal clear water of the cascade that tumbled down the mountain like a wall of blue satin threaded with silver. Her lucid bright eyes were overcast with a glint of bitterness.

"Should I go or should I not?"

Taehyung's mind debated whether he should approach her or not. Hesitating for less than a moment his feet dragged him to her. He moistened his dried lips slightly licking them with his tongue before speaking.

"G-Good afternoon, Your Highness." He managed to let some words leave his mouth.

Arya's body, perceiving his sudden presence quivered a little. Regaining her composure, Arya turned her eyes at him and replied as politely as she could, "Good afternoon."

Taehyung foul-mouthed himself in his brain as he rashly looked up for suitable words for the moment but fortunately Arya took the liberty to start a conversation this time.

"Are you perhaps, the Antares King's footman?" She asked.

Taehyung, being utterly unprepared for the question, still managed to forge a smile.

"P-Pardon me, Your Highness but I am no footman. I am the armourer... and courtier of Antares," He replied smiling.

Arya was taken aback at first hearing his polite response, something she had never dreamt to hear, let alone expect from a man. But she shrugged the thought off her shoulder reckoning he did it just because she was a princess of another kingdom with whom the despot of his reign was about to get wedded.

"Pardon me, I saw you a while ago in front of the carriage, so I only thought," She exclaimed.

"Forgive me, Sir-" She meaningfully looked at him.

"Taehyung, Taehyung Kim, your Highness. Please do not apologize. It can not be more inglorious to hear an apology from your mouth." He quickly looked down feeling uncomfortable.

"And why is it inglorious? May I ask?" The wall of coldness around her heart trembled to sense a mild lustre of warmth.

"I- a Royal-blood should not be apologizing to an inferior like me." He gulped down the words. The insides of his stomach writhed funnily because of the grave environment his foolishness (according to him) had developed.

Birds of different species hooted over their head sensing a regular visitor's presence.

"I might disagree with you, Sir Kim. You are a mortal, so am I. Being a royal blood does not give me any incredible capability. Tell me if I were standing in front of you without carrying the designation of a princess, would you be saying the same? If you weren't told that I belong to Windsor clan, would you be knowing about me being a Royal-blood? Would you be knowing that Arya Windsor is apologizing to you?" She asked him firmly spreading some grains on the grass seeing a group of pigeons gather there.

A pale sort of silence fell upon them like the moonlight on the snow.

Getting no response from him she continued, "Sometimes silence holds much power to express our feelings better than words, doesn't it? Sir Kim?" She gave him a questioning look.

"I-Indeed, Your Highness." He stammered as he thought it would be disrespectful to stay quiet when he was the one to start the conversation,
"Antares will be fortunate to have you as her queen." He added as his thoughts about her leapt higher. He did not feel humiliated nor enraged at being trapped by a woman in the labyrinth of her cleverness, which was bothering Arya somehow. A man unmistakably would not accept to be defeated by a woman in anything regardless.

"Fortunate?" She bitterly scoffed, "perhaps...I will take my leave, Sir Kim. It was... a pleasure to meet you." Her lips pressed together and curled up into an incomprehensible smile. Before Taehyung could answer back she turned and strode away without sparing a glance at him.

Her mind was disturbed and muddled sensing a new emotion. She could not withstand the politeness that showed up from his mouth, she could not accept the warmth that radiated from the man. All she knew was that man could bring out the side of her that she loathed the most...

"I will not allow you to attain whatever you desire for, Sir Kim. I am not to be fooled by you. I saw it in your eyes, the day our eyes met...But do not worry, it is, indeed, not facile enough to delude me."

No matter how wise and absolute humans are, they are always restricted by a concealed wall. 'Mortals', This single term specifies their threshold. They often cannot domain over their lacks, emotions and behaviour. They are obliged to their instincts. Arya could not endure that her impressions about the opposite sex were affirming wrong. But what did trouble her the most was she was softening by a man she had scarcely known. The murky dungeon of her heart that had not caught a glimpse of sunshine for years, could not withstand the warmth that fell upon it. Her soul was not habituated to the tenderness.

༺༻

"Making an effort to be allied with the princess, eh? Taehyung?" A voice called him from behind.

Taehyung turned around and saw the Chancellor of 'Antares' Park Jihoon standing giving him a scornful look.

"What are you up to? Seeking her aid to build a force to rebel against our kind?" He derisively exclaimed.

Taehyung chuckled vaguely that made the chancellor furrow his eyebrows.

"Our minds are always filled with the ideas we are afraid of, aren't they? Sir Park? Despite being surrounded by ample happiness and merriment, deep inside we are afraid of what we dread. Mayhap it is beyond materiality yet we never can get rid of the fear." Taehyung calmly uttered. His voice remained as warm as early spring. There was no indication of arrogance or mockery in his speech.

"W-What do you imply?" Jihoon's eyes grew dull and his voice dropped into a dreadful tone.

"Nothing," He smiled and shook his head side to side, " It is so evident that you are greatly preoccupied with your dismay, So much, that you have started to assume that every conversation that occurs around your surroundings is associated with that. This is not a great indication, Sir Jihoon."

"Find Your silence, Taehyung! I do not fancy being spoken to like this. How dare you attempt to outrage me? " The 28-year-old man bellowed.

"Pardon me if I hurt your feelings, Sir Park. But it was never my purpose to outrage you. But it is said that the truth is often bitter than what we expect. Have a nice time ahead." He calmly finished and went away from there leaving the Chancellor transfixed on his spot.

He eventually made his way up to the palace contemplating the conversation he just had had with Arya . He chose to put aside the sharp words of her and thought about her possible reasons behind using them.

" I know the words you said to me were not deliberate. I know that the words never came from your heart but from the griefs, you have undergone in your past. There was something in those frigid words, a pain behind it. The bitterness was nothing but a shield for pain, like a cornered trooper aimlessly throwing out cannons, scared for his life, lonely, desperate. I know that this mouth once used to utter kind words, words capable of mending one's soul."

Dusk came sooner than expected, the last of the sun's rays cosseted behind a soft grey cloud. The sky was ablaze with the fire of the setting sun, scattering the soft glow throughout the sky. His imparadised eyes witnessed the cosmic elegance of the setting sun when it ceased into the horizon.

꧁-꧂

Thanks for reading. :-)

-pride.