Despite the warnings foretold by her lady-in-waiting, the rate at which she is allowed to roam and mingle around with the other royals seems to be unrestricted. The elderly are around the dining table, too drunk to function that even the queen has to be brought away to her bedroom by her husband, or else she'll be wreaking havoc with her powers out of control. The other royal family members are given a place to stay at the Inis Palace for one night, so none are in the rush to go back to their respective realms. Even the twins who can come and go as they wish decide to stay for the night, their eyes never leaving the princess.

Seonghwa pushes back his chair to stand up, momentarily forgetting about his sister who has no clue on what she's supposed to do next, before walking close towards Serim and signalling with his eyes that he wants to meet with the lady-in-waiting in private, their usual meeting place where no eyes could see. Since it's an opportunity now that his parents have retired for the night, he swoops in before gesturing slightly to Serim.

"Seonghwa," Narae calls out to stop his brother as she's wary of being left alone with the other royals whom she isn't familiar with, but her brother is already marching towards the direction to exit the hall. She tries her second best option, but even her cousin, Wooyoung is too drunk out of his mind as he keeps up with his high-pitched laugh. He looks to be particularly fond towards the prince of Aesa - Song Mingi.

So much for protecting her from these so-called princes who want nothing from her but the Arcus.

Seonghwa tries hard not to make any noise as he weaves in and out of the slithering hallways, his destination being the place he only visits when he wants some time alone with Serim. It's an opening behind one of the rarely-visited wings of the palace building, because the wing is facing the thick forest behind and adequate light doesn't infiltrate the space. A perfect place for a secret meeting.

Especially for forbidden lovers who cannot be together in any part of history.

He waits on one of the broken stone structures, swinging his legs before hitting his heels in a rhythmic manner against the stone, hoping that she would turn up. Lately they've been distant, especially after the accident that befell his sister. Serim has been keeping a careful distance from him, claiming that it's not appropriate for them to be gallivanting in secret while his sister is still unconscious. Now that his sister has woken up, maybe their relationship would return to usual, although 'normal' is not what their relationship is.

He plays around with fire, snapping his fingers to make sparks appear before throwing the flame towards a nearby torch to light the place up. He interlaces his fingers, getting nervous as the time keeps passing by without Serim making an appearance. There's a high chance that she wouldn't come, as things between them had been pretty thorny ever since his sister's accident. Whenever he wanted to meet her this past month, she would refuse and he would be left waiting for hours before he decided that he'd have to leave before the others start looking for him.

He looks up as he hears the sound of distant footsteps through the tunnel leading to where he is, already anticipating the face of Serim emerging. The footsteps get louder and he stands up, waiting in front of the opening.

As soon as he sees Serim's figure coming out of the shadows he pulls her hand, places another hand on the back of her head before driving her against the wall, and kisses her. She tenses for a moment as Seonghwa places his lips on hers, but relaxes as his hands snake along her spine to her lower back. She allows him to trail his lips along her cheek and neck before she lightly pushes him away, biting her lips and letting her tears drop.

"What's wrong-"

"Everything, Your Highness-"

He cups her face to place another kiss but she turns her face away, so she lets him breathe against her cheek. "Jo Serim, I missed you-"

"Park Seonghwa, please." She bursts into louder sobs but she suppresses it not long after, wiping away the tears roughly as she tears herself away from Seonghwa's grip. "We're not supposed to be together. This is not normal. What kind of relationship is only allowed at a place like... this?" She throws up her hands in frustration before gesturing angrily to the forest behind them. "You're a damn prince and I'm your sister's lady-in-waiting. You're not even supposed to look in my direction."

"Don't say that! Just because I was born as one doesn't mean I can't be together with you. I'll-"

"Work it out?" She looks at him in disbelief before she says through gritted teeth, "Do you know how much power your parents have over you? Your mother despises me. I'm a mere servant to her who can never be with her royal son. Do you see how she treats me because she knows that I love you? She's having the time of her life making me suffer because she knows I won't be able to stand next to you."

"Why have you changed ever since that night?" Seonghwa shouts before sinking back, shaking his head and muttering sorry over and over again. "You became someone different, someone I don't know after my sister's accident. Before this you would always be the positive one when I was the one who thought it was hopeless. You never wanted to break it off no matter how hard things were getting."

She stops and stares at him with the mention of Narae's accident, thinking how all the odds seem to be against her. She doesn't want to be remembered of the accident anymore, but they keep pushing on, especially the royal siblings.

As she turns away from him again, this time coming from a suspicious Seonghwa, "You... know what happened to Narae that night, didn't you? Or," he looks down, "you're involved in her accident. That's why you've been acting so strangely this past month."

Her reply is a quick shove to his shoulder, before she jabs her finger until he steps away from her. "How dare you, how dare you, Park Seonghwa. You were the only person I thought would believe in me, but you're suspecting me?"

"She is my sister!"

"And who am I to you?" she shoots back. "Who am I to the oh-so-great Prince Seonghwa of the Inis Realm?" When he keeps his mouth shut, she continues in a pained voice, "Oh, that's right. The highly respected prince can't say that this servant is his lover, because the rules say a royal can't be in love with a dirty servant. You don't love me. You're only using me to release all your pent-up frustrations because I'm an easy target. Servant who gets swooped up by the handsome prince, getting high because of the secret meetings so they can't be caught." She brushes her braided coral hair over her shoulder. "And I'm a fool because I really do love you. You're a coward who can't even say anything in my defence when the queen tramps all over the little dignity I have left."

"Serim," he pleads, but finds no other words to counter her accusations.

"It was nice while it lasted," she decides. "But you, the last and only person I had hoped would trust me, drew the line when you suspected me." She looks at him with tears in his eyes. "I have served Princess Narae for as long as I remember, and although she may never admit it anymore, I'm her friend. A friend wouldn't wish harm on another."

She pushes him away and makes her way back into the tunnel, but stops in her tracks when his voice asks again, "Not even once? Don't lie to me, Serim. Don't lie and say that you've never wished harm upon my sister. We all know how she's like to you."

Serim balls her fists before turning around. "One chance. You had one chance to say something right, Your Highness. And you ruined it."

By the time Seonghwa extinguishes the fire with a wave of his hand, Serim is already tracking down the princess at the palace compound, ready to pick up her duty as her lady-in-waiting once more.

---

What she expects at a night surrounded by her supposed 'enemies' is a night full of fear and suspicions all around, but as she sits at the palace garden under the stars with the rest of the princes and princesses, it amounts to the opposite. She never thought she would enjoy their company as they make her laugh with their antics, apparently fighting over each other to grab her attention. The warnings given by Serim are slipping from her mind more and more, until she decides herself that these people aren't making her feel alone. They're making her feel as if she has actual friends.

It's probably the alcohol controlling their bodies but Yunho, Yeosang and Mingi have been going at each other as they attempt to cancel each other's powers. Whenever Yunho makes waves of water appear high above their heads, Mingi would quickly freeze the water mid-air and Yeosang, being the last 'performer', lets the ice melt under his touch and soak them before they collapse onto the ground, laughter accompanying them. It goes on and on as it seems that they're finding themselves continuously amused by it.

Hongjoong, slightly drunk but is still able to think straight, uses the wind to pick himself up and lets his body sway in the air, mumbling about how peaceful the world would be without idiots like them. San and Jongho are catapulting themselves in the air, showing everyone their magnificent wings that shake their surroundings with a single movement. Wooyoung is sprawled on the ground, sleeping like a baby as Yeosang's older sisters coo at how cute he looks.

Narae observes them with a smile on her face, momentarily forgetting about the fact that she should be wary of them, but right now they seem totally harmless. She should put her guard up, but it's funny how she feels more relaxed without Serim around. Maybe it's due to the fact that her lady-in-waiting keeps on reminding how evil they can be, that she totally forgot about her own impression of them. Everything has just been stories fed by Serim to her.

The princess feels slightly guilty that she wishes she wouldn't have to see Serim for the rest of the night, because she quite enjoys the company of the princes and princesses. It feels so mean of her to be thinking about this, but she is finally among people of the same... level as her. Narae has been really uptight with her but it could be because of the queen's orders to her. Her absence of memories may make her forget about most of the things, but in the span of two days she knows that the queen doesn't exactly like the presence of Serim.

She might know the reason why Serim isn't exactly on the queen's good list, now that the princess sees how conveniently Serim and Seonghwa are gone at the same time.

Her mind is taken off her troubles when someone materializes beside her, and the wings that seem to form a fort around her are enough to tell her who has her company now. San folds his wings before leaning closer to her, his lips merely inches from her earlobe.

She flinches but react no further, before San's amused voice says, "So it is true, how the lovely princess of Inis has lost her memories and is acting unlike herself." His dark eyes bore into hers before muttering, "The old Princess Narae wouldn't even let Choi San within 10 metres of her after we ended our relationship, and if I do get close like I did just now, you would punch me straight into another dimension."

She chuckles with a hint of disbelief, glancing at her hands that could not produce any more powers like she used to. If she could get them back, she wouldn't know how to act, probably. "So I heard you along with your twin," she makes a point by looking at Jongho who is still enjoying himself by soaring through the air, "are the biggest flirts."

"Ah, so Park Seonghwa must have told you all about us." He shrugs. "Still can't compare to you though, since you managed to date us both at the same time." He smirks, "Ah, how stupid we were to not realize you're seeing both of us at the same time. Two people from the same realm and they're twins? No one as brave as you, princess. Got to give that to you."

"Sounds like a bitch," she catches herself saying, before he replies with a whoop of laughter.

"Pardon me for saying this, princess, but it seems that I like the you now better."

Despite everything, she blushes and this earns another chuckle from San.

"I like you, princess." He winks but not long after he sighs heavily. "But it's too bad that you're already engaged to someone else."

"I honestly don't know what to feel about him. He hasn't even initiated any conversation with me, if that really is the person that I'm supposed to be engaged to."

They bring their attention to Hongjoong, who is looking less like a king but a kid, swinging on one of the branches of a tree while Jongho is playfully trying to push him off the tree.

"He's probably being careful around you, and keeping a distance from you because I'm sure you've heard of the... rumours, should I say?"

"That he was the last person who talked to me before my accident."

He nods. "We are of different realms but news travel fast. Even if our realms are so far apart from each other I know that your brother is keeping his eyes on the king- well, not that he wasn't before. But probably more closely."

"You know what happened during that night of my accident, don't you?"

He lifts up his eyebrows. "And what makes you say that, princess?"

"You and your twin can't stop staring at me in the dining hall, and it seems that you know more than the others."

His laugh is unrestrained this time that he gathers the attention of the ice-water-fire trio, but he waves them away saying that the princess had just made a wonderful joke to him. They continue on.

"Isn't it obvious, though? The only reason we're staring at you is because you're too pretty and we've missed seeing you. Ever since you got engaged it's so hard for us to see you face to face. It was really nice seeing you after a long time. A bit paler because you just woke up, but still pretty nonetheless."

She bites her lips as he shakes his head again.

"Park Narae, a relationship requires trust. Yeah, Kim Hongjoong was the last person you talked to and the people around you have been saying that he was the cause of your accident." He unfolds his wings as he prepares to take flight again, wanting to join his twin for another set of race. "I may not be the best person to say this, but here," he points to his own chest, "is what you need to ask. Who do you think you can trust? No, who do you think you should trust?" He lifts himself off the ground, before turning to her. "Sometimes, the answer may not be that obvious; something you can't make sense of."