Moonlight bathes them as Serim pushes the wheelchair Narae is on, up the ramp that will lead them to the pavilion, a relatively quiet but open place the princess has requested to be at. The pavilion instantly comes to her mind at the request, as she knows that this is the place where the princess likes to spend her time alone when she needs it. A place for deep reflection, a place to ponder for a troubled mind.

The princess had never allowed anyone to be with her on the pavilion, the bottom of the steps the limit at which her guards or lady-in-waiting can wait, or anyone else for that matter. It's a public space in the palace compound, but it might as well be her private one. It's the sanctuary she had decorated by herself, putting hanging pots of lavenders with some motifs painted on the railing.

Everything on the pavilion breathes the personality of Princess Narae, but today she is not herself anymore. As the clock strikes 12, the princess seemed to change into a different person. She doesn't know whether she'll get back to who she was, now that she doesn't remember how she used to be.

Serim stops her wheelchair at the place where she likes to be at whenever she's on the pavilion, overlooking the lake with water that ripples with the soft breeze. With her sitting on the wheelchair, the woman lets go of the handle before standing beside her, looking at what she thinks is the same direction as the princess.

"Not here," Narae announces before lifting up her weak hand to point to a place where there's a bench. "Let me sit there so that you can sit too. You can't be standing for too long if you're about to tell me long stories."

Again, the care the princess has for her astounds her. "Your Highness, you say that you don't like sitting there because the view is not as beautiful as this. You..." she pauses, debating on the need for the reveal of this particular information.

"I what?" She looks genuinely curious, and for a second she looks like a child begging for candy but not getting it right away.

She sighs. "You threw a tantrum because it was not constructed the way you wanted it to be. You told the workers that you specifically wanted the bench to face the lake, but there was a miscommunication and it ended up being on the opposite side."

"Ah..." the princess' eyes dart towards the bench. "I must have been really... bitchy and whiny."

The strong description of herself makes Serim let out a light laugh but she quickly covers it up, knowing that she shall not let her guard down in front of the princess. Maybe the princess is only acting this way because of her month-long coma, but if she ever does return to her original demeanour when she gets back her memories... the woman shudders at this thought.

"What happened to the workers? Did I order them to be fired and immediately looked for a replacement?"

She blinks. "You did not simply fire them, Your Highness. You ordered for them to be executed, right in front of your eyes."

This time she doesn't manage to hide her own surprise as her jaw hangs open and she shakes her head. She laughs an awkward one before saying, "Come on, have mercy on me. Don't joke around like that, my heart is still weak. I know that we're best friends but this is not it."

Her expression is unfaltering as she relays, "I'm not joking. When you found out that the bench was constructed facing that side, you immediately called for the soldiers, had the workers gathered and executed. The king and queen knew of this, but they did not intervene. Park-" she catches herself before the full name of the prince slips out of her mouth, praying that Narae did not hear it, "-Prince Seonghwa, His Highness was shocked but could not offer anything besides compensation to the families of the workers. They were asked to keep news about this in the low. No one outside the palace knew what happened to the workers except for their families. Things like this, were what made people started talking and assuming. But it later went unspoken because people got tired of speculating."

"How long ago was this?"

"Not too long ago, when you were 20 years old. So that means 2 years ago."

She looks at the surface of the water, the moonlight reflecting as she remains speechless at the thought of how she was. No... how she actually is? Princess Park Narae is a whiny, bitchy, self-centred princess who can only see things going her way, who would order someone to be killed because a mistake was made in constructing the bench?

Even if Serim insists that is who she is, she refuses to believe it. It's not someone she would imagine to be, and how would she know that her lady-in-waiting is not simply feeding her lies she would want the princess to believe? Hah, she doesn't even know whom she could trust. Her brother, Park Seonghwa? Someone who seems too distant for her to reach. Even her parents don't feel like her own, no matter how much they were referring her as their one and only princess.

"I'm sorry if this is too overwhelming for you, Your Highness, but I simply don't know where I would begin to tell stories about yourself and the people around you. Since you asked about the bench, well, I thought that maybe it could somehow be a trigger to your memory."

It wasn't a trigger, instead it pushed her more into a state of denial.

"Can we please, sit there instead? I don't think this view is what I need right now," she commands, as if sitting near the bench would rid of the guilt that has now crawled on her skin. It's as if she's trying to prove that she's not the person she was before she fell into a coma.

The point of Serim's obedience translates into her instantly pushing the wheelchair into the direction of the bench, parking it as close as to the right end of the wooden bench.

Stretching out a hand to pat on the surface of the bench, it almost seems like she's pleading for Serim to sit together with her. "Please take a seat," and even though she seems hesitant at first, she sits down, making sure there's space between her and the wheelchair.

"One thing, Your Highness. You don't say 'please' when you ask your lady-in-waiting to do something. You simply say out your orders and I'll carry it out."

"That's ridiculous," she shoots back. "How rude is that when you ask someone to do something but you don't say 'please'? It doesn't even take a full breath to pronounce that word."

"You certainly thought it was a waste of time." She can't help but smile; this is the first time in years she finally feels as if she got her best friend back; too much of Narae had changed. Maybe it's not too bad, but it certainly makes her feel guilty if she wished Narae could stay like this.

Staying oblivious.

"Now that we're seated, can you tell me the basics?"

Serim takes a half minute to mull over which stories would be considered as 'basics' to the princess then decides that it's always safer to talk about the princess and her family first. She can work her way up from there... and she can control what the princess should or should not know.

"Right away, Your Highness."

Despite the fact that the princess seems uncomfortable at the mention of her title, she finds it tiring to be correcting Serim every time. Plus, something that has been embedded for so long cannot be changed in the blink of an eye- well, except for the mysterious change in the princess' attitude. Serim folds her hands on her lap, straightens her back before her eyes dart from side to side, as if reading a script presented in front of her.

"So now it's the year of 2410, or more specifically the date today is the 12th- ah it's the 13th today, of September 2410." She lifts up her watch to show the proof of today's date. "You were born on the 15th of July, 2388 to King Park Junhee and Queen Heo Yoorim. Your older brother is the prince Park Seonghwa." A fleeting smile that this time, Narae does notice. She fixes her expression and continues as quickly as she could, scared the princess will interrupt with unnecessary questions. "You are one of the descendants of Inis Realm, which, as agreed upon everyone, is the most powerful realm out of the others." This time she pauses because she knows a question will be thrown to her.

"What do you mean by the most 'powerful' realm out of the others? We're not the only ones ruling this..." she trails off as she tries thinking of a suitable word. Land? Territory? Empire?

"You may not see it presented to you just yet, but the members of the royal family of each realm have their own powers... different elements that you can manipulate. We're in the Inis Realm, centre of the Isla Empire. Isla Empire is made up of different realms, each ruled by a monarchy that possess different kinds of powers. As you noticed you have met the young king of Natur Realm just a few hours ago, a realm that possesses the power to manipulate wind and sometimes the weather. The royal family of Natur Realm is a fairly calm collection, who mostly are pacifists. Then there's Kryon that plays with fire, Havre with water, Aesa with ice and Ylang that controls both the dark and light. Although their powers sound straightforward, none of the others actually know the full potential and the extent of their powers."

She pauses to take a deep breath.

"Ylang Realm for example, seems to hide a lot of their potential. What they can manipulate remains a mystery to others as they are a somewhat closed society. What you need to know is that most of the time they are more than what they claim, and among realms, although it may not be shown through a visible strained relationship, there is an unspoken rule where you can never be too friendly with one another. One is always assumed to have a hidden intention towards another. Although, there are special cases."

Her head is spinning from the avalanche of information but she doesn't stop her lady-in-waiting from continuing with her story. There are a lot of questions but she doesn't pick one to start with.

"Inis Realm is considered the most powerful because Your Highness, your family - the royal family of Inis Realm - has the honour of inheriting the Arcus. The Arcus is a relic that enables its beholder to possess all the powers aforementioned. Wind, water, earth, fire, all. Only Inis Realm has the relic, and that is why our realm is the most powerful of all. Your family simply surpasses all the powers possessed by the rest of the realms."

"So my family... the queen, the king, my brother. They all possess a totality of these powers?"

"The powers do wane as they get older, and the possession of powers needs a delicate balance of actual practice and inheritance. That is why royal members of the families have regular sessions at least once a month to make sure their powers are of use. A nonpracticing member will soon have their powers exhausted and gradually disappearing. A worry that we have for you, our princess, is that your powers might have become obsolete or at least dormant from the lack of use this past month you were unconscious. To demonstrate," she stands up as she gestures towards a huge boulder located at the edge of the lake. "If you still possess your powers, moving that boulder should not even be a hard problem for you."

Narae focuses on the boulder, but it's the blankness in her mind or her sore body that's keeping her from moving the boulder. As time increases, she feels more and more stupid for believing in that she possesses certain powers that can defeat all the other realms. She turns to look at Serim, hoping more than she should that her friend is only pulling her leg, thinking it would be funny to make her flustered after a long confusing explanation.

"I'm not joking, Your Highness. I would love to demonstrate to you but as I have mentioned, only members of the royal family have powers. Maybe you can ask for your brother to prove it to you once he wakes up in a few hours. In fact, you might even get to see the royal members of the other realms in the next few days. I'm pretty sure once they've heard that the princess has waken up they'll come to pay a visit. You're a very... celebrated princess so everyone is keen to see you awake."

"I doubt I'm celebrated because of my attitude. Doesn't seem like someone you would want to spend your time around with." She's talking about herself like she's talking about someone else, but it's made easier with the fact that she doesn't know who she is.

"It's... less of your attitude but more of what you possess. Like I've mentioned, you have to be wary of the others from different realms. The princes from other realms especially, are after what you have."

"And that is?"

"The Arcus. You are in possession of the relic, so that's what they're after. Though I doubt they'll be happy to learn that you have lost your memories."

"I don't think I quite follow what you're trying to tell me."

"During your 20th birthday the king and queen passed down the Arcus to you. Since your brother has the rights to inherit the throne, they thought it would only be fair if the relic is given to you. They try to give fair treatment to their only two children, so the prince will inherit the throne while you will inherit the relic."

"So I've been holding the relic, and the princes from other realms are after me because they want the relic. Because the beholder of the relic possess unimaginable powers."

"That... is true to some extent," Serim agrees before releasing a heavy breath. "But even if they go after you, I doubt that they will return with what they want."

As opposed to the blankness she has been experiencing, this time a spark appears but only for a split second. Enough for her to finally understand what Serim is about to tell her.

"You hid the Arcus at a place, whether at the palace compound or somewhere further outside, but that's the problem. Only you know where it's located. Now that you have lost your memories, I'm afraid none knows the location of the Arcus. Unless you somehow gain your memories back, the Arcus is as good as gone."