When Serim had told her all of them are a unique and interesting bunch, it could barely prepare her for the actual meeting. For one, her nervousness of meeting these people face to face made her forget the faces. The stacks of papers with their profiles are now arranged neatly on her desk, no chance of her getting another look before she greets them.

Before she could prepare for the meeting, without another second of asking whether she is ready, she is whisked away to the dining hall. The maids follow her wheelchair's pace that is being pushed by Serim. Apparently, her parents, or more specifically the queen, has asked Serim to make sure Narae arrives at the dining hall on time. The princess has a habit of not turning up when she finds that any particular event will not keep her interest for more than 5 minutes - she is known for her blatant shamelessness in ditching anything she deems uninteresting.

Her attitude has also brought shame to her family in the past, but as always, she gets away with it just because she's the princess of Inis. The biggest mystery in the whole realm, or possibly the whole empire, is how a princess like her still managed to gain a lot of adoring fans.

"Do I really have no positive attributes?" she whispers to Serim as the latter helps to smooth her hair down with her right hand, and pushes the wheelchair with another.

"Your Highness, I have told you that you're pretty-"

"Not those physical and superficial stuff. Like my attitude, how are they all so... negative?"

Serim feels grateful that the princess can only face the front without being able to see what kind of expression she has on as she answers, "You can probably get better answers from other people around you, princess. I was told that the rest are all so eager to meet you for after so long."

With that final remark the doors are opened for her and all heads, some with faces she vaguely remembers while some with faces that are completely unfamiliar to her, turn to her. She takes a large gulp of air as she is slowly pushed along the hall, going over to her designated place where instead of a chair, an empty space is left for her beside Seonghwa so her wheelchair is able to be pushed in.

With all eyes on her, Seonghwa stands up to take over her wheelchair from Serim, and the lady-in-waiting politely steps back before retreating to the corner of the dining hall, where she is expected to stand for as long as the dinner is going on. With the prince's help accompanied by a soft smile, Narae feels less tense, but that's because she's only focusing on looking at her brother's figure instead of the guests around them.

She tries to count the number of guests without actually looking directly at their faces, but her brain refuses to cooperate when she can barely remember the names of the realms and what each of them are supposed to represent. As her hands are shaking violently under the table, she feels Seonghwa's hand sliding into hers and she looks to the side to see her brother nodding encouragingly at her, the twinkle in his eyes apparent to show that he will be there for her.

She feels reassured but gets startled when one of the elderly, presumably the king of one of the realms, has his voice booming throughout the hall, "Look at how inappropriate they are, such a shame."

"And who are you referring to, Kang Youngsoo?" Narae's father picks up a glass before taking a sip, before the other guests take it as their cue to be able to dig in their first course of the meal.

"Why, I'm referring to the two hooligans from the Ylang realm. Those two trouble-making twins who call themselves the princes of the realm, but has no regards in acting like one. Look at this, the guests and even the one we're celebrating are here yet the two are nowhere to be seen. Such a disgrace to their very own realm."

"Now, let us not make anything tense today, shall we?" Narae's mother - Queen Yoorim - says through gritted teeth. "Youngsoo, my princess has just woken up and she still has a lot to take in. Don't make me kick you out of our palace for being disrespectful."

He leans against the plush chair before nodding, a smirk playing on his lips. "Just pointing out the obvious, plus it's rare to see any interaction between ex-lovers whom she dated at the same-" He gets interrupted as the queen lifts up her arm and with a lazy wave, sends two knives from the table hovering inches from the king's throat and eyes.

The atmosphere turns dead silent before the queen says again, "I told you to drop that topic. When the princes from Ylang Realm will come over is none of your concern, old man." The knives drop with a dull thud on the covered table as the queen lowers down her hand. "Do not test me."

As Seonghwa scoffs lightly in response to his mother's warning, only then Narae lifts up her head to look at the faces gathered at the dining hall with them. She tries hard to paste the names to their faces as each of them are focused on eating. The elderly look like they are trying their best not to look at each other's direction, preferring to have some chat with their own families instead. Meanwhile, the younger generation all seem to have a more relaxed relationship with each other; she notices that some of them are chatting with and smiling at each other.

She recalls what Serim has been trying to point out; this is not a gathering of friends, this is a gathering of enemies. It seems like the enemies are all targeting one person, and it's her.

One clue that Serim gave to her about these people was that she should not judge a book by its cover.

The prince from Aesa Realm catches her attention first, as he sticks out so much due to his height accompanied by his brightly-coloured hair and clothes. Song Mingi, second prince of the Aesa Realm - a realm that is able to manipulate ice. He came to the dinner alone, without any of his family members tagging along. What amuses her is that his voice is deep and he looks scary when he's not smiling, but as his face breaks into a smile he looks so bright there seems to be fireworks everywhere. He does make eye contact with Narae occasionally and when he smiles again, she finds herself smiling back.

Okay, he looks nice. Next.

The royal family of Kryon Realm; manipulators of fire. This was the family with the king who had irked Narae's mother, so her best guess is that they are the kind to speak their minds out loud. Another thing she can conclude from her observation is that the whole family is blessed with gorgeous genes a little bit too much; the two princesses and their only prince look like they have their faces personally sculpted. They have specks of amber decorating their irises, their curly hair looking like they're dipped in gold. The two older sisters; Kang Yeeun and Kang Yoora, plus their youngest prince; Kang Yeosang. Narae notices the masks they took off before they dug into their dinner placed beside their plates.

According to stories that she felt she could trust, coming from Serim herself, is that the two princesses and prince always go around in public wearing masks, because anyone who rest their eyes upon them would stop to stare at them every single time. To avoid unnecessary setbacks, they are used to walking around donning masks, which sometimes cover their whole faces and sometimes only half, depending on what they feel like wearing for that day. And another story is that, you might actually burst into flames if you make eye contact with any of the Kang royals, but Narae had quickly pushed that ridiculous idea away.

She can confirm about how the prince must have had a hard time going around without being stared at. Even she, who must have seen his face a thousand times before this, finds herself staring at him like she has never seen a decent human being before. When Yeosang feels someone staring at him he looks back sharply, and Narae quickly looks away without a second's thought. He smirks in satisfaction after seeing the princess getting flustered.

Okay, she didn't actually burst in flames, but she might as well be. That look can definitely kill someone. Next.

She transfers her attention to two men who couldn't possibly make the situation more awkward; Jeong Yunho and Kim Hongjoong are sitting side by side, acting as if they have no relation to Park Narae in any way. One is the man whom she had promised she would marry, while one is the man whom she would actually marry. They are chatting with each other, and Narae silently hopes that it's not about her. Hongjoong had come alone, while Yunho had brought his younger brother and sister along.

Hongjoong; the only prince who had turned into a king of Natur Realm. He looks tiny and the word 'king' is not the first that would come to her mind when she looks at him, but there must be a reason on why he was chosen to step on the throne at a young age. The air around him is totally different from the other princes; the way he's sitting is more dignified and the way he moves his hands are delicate. He avoids looking at Narae's direction every time, so she's left to wonder on whether this man was really the one who pushed her off the tower that night. Guilt, perhaps?

Representative of Havre Realm; the realm with the closest tie to Inis Realm - Jeong Yunho. To think that they had a history together but Narae has no idea what the history contains would make things slightly difficult, but she guesses there is a reason why it's in the past. Yunho glances at her from time to time while smiling; the kind of smile that makes you warm inside and forget about your troubles for a little while. Even though she has no idea what she did to him when she was 17, she actually feels pretty bad making the prince cry for a week straight when she broke off their relationship.

Okay, nice guy that she should not take advantage of again. Next.

To her brother's left there's Jung Wooyoung; the prince from another empire who happens to be their cousin. A far-related one, as Wooyoung's father is the second-cousin of their mother. For reasons that Narae has yet to learn, Wooyoung currently lives in the palace together with them, away from his family at a distant empire. He is really chatty and laughs a lot with Seonghwa, who looks like he's always made fun of by the former. She sees that their cousin also seems to be clingy a lot with her brother, clinging to his arm when anything remotely funny is spoken of.

Two of the only ones she could trust fully. Next- ah, the twins have not arrived to the palace yet.

She can already feel the extreme embarrassment coming up if they were to show up that she can barely focus on the food in front of her. Only her brother notices how she's only playing around with her food, and he nudges her so that she'll continue eating. But when she says she has no appetite, he looks apologetic before offering to finish it for her. She pushes the plate to him before he inhales all the food and munches happily. She smiles as she sees her brother looking like he is the younger one, before he quickly changes to a more serious expression as he swallows the last bite.

As they are given their main course, the final guests they are waiting for make their appearance with a statement. Choi San and Choi Jongho, princes from Ylang Realm do not use the conventional way to enter the dining hall. Instead they materialize in front of the door, wisps of a mixture of black and white smoke surrounding them before fizzing and disappearing into thin air. Besides from the fact that they have appeared without warning, the wings protruding from their backs also give Narae a reason to stare at them for longer than a minute.

"Ah, finally. The two most-awaited princes are here," Queen Yoorim says before smiling. The only time Narae has seen her mother smile so brightly is when she's looking at her children; this is the same look she had given to both Seonghwa and Narae. It looks like the queen took quite a liking to the twins.

"Apologies for our late arrival, Your Majesty," San swiftly moves towards where the queen is before taking her hand and planting a kiss on the back of her hand. "We had to settle some duties in our realm, and we're really sorry to keep Your Majesties waiting."

"Oh, no worries about that. Both of you are looking more handsome than the last time we met."

This time Jongho takes the lead as he laughs before waving his hand in front of his face, blushing slightly. "You're being too generous, Your Majesty. We have to thank our parents for giving us these good genes."

"Indeed, indeed. Please, take a seat. Princess Narae is just waiting for you two to appear."

"Ah, of course. Our beloved princess." A twinkle of mischievousness in San's eyes.

"They're huge flirts," Seonghwa's voice comes from beside Narae. "Be careful." Then after a single beat he adds, "Though you could actually tame them."

"How is the gorgeous princess doing? Must be really annoying to have your memories wiped out and not being able to recall a single thing," Jongho joins them at the table as his black wings disappear in a cloud of smoke. With his wings gone, he sits comfortably before returning his attention to the princess. "Any idea what happened during that night?"

"Jongho please, I thought we agreed to not make things awkward tonight. We're only here to celebrate the awakening of the princess, not question why." San gives off the most innocent smile as he snaps his fingers to hide his white wings. As if practiced, he winks at Narae before baring his teeth and revealing his sharp canine teeth.

Narae doesn't know what the twins are trying to emphasize, but what she's suspecting is that the colours of their wings don't represent what's lying inside their minds.

Their particular attention to her makes her feel a mixture of embarrassment and uneasiness, because it seems that they know more about her than she does, and the question posed to her is not a point of mere curiosity.

The looks that they give her shows that they know exactly what happened the night she fell to her death.