Aria snapped.

She wouldn't deny the fact that every human being and their sometimes inexplicable—in other words, asinine—actions seemed to get on her nerves. Though all in all, she still had her underlying patience to a certain extent, lest everyone around her would end up dead by now from her pummeling out of pure irritation.

Hence, she guessed it was quite a feat for this man to irk her, twice, in the span of the last five minutes she'd been here.

And she was going to reward him with the blunt of her unleashed rage.

No sooner their exclamations had filled the room than the man had the fabric of his tunic scrumpled in Aria's tightly clenched fist, the scowl scrawled over her features so prominent it exuded a menacing force that made the man shed cold sweat and cower visibly.

She'd clearly had enough of his bullshit.

Her? Being Soo-won's who, now?

She'd scoffed at just imagining standing by his side on equal terms. Her brain couldn't process any other word than "NO" at the thought.

But before she could beat some sense into the guy, a callused hand caught at her wrist. "That's enough."

She wasn't about to take orders from an old codger right now. Her ire blinded her senses of rationality, leading her to forget what she came here for in the first place. The side effects from her heavy lack of sleep and loss of blood from yesterday too played a part.

"Don't touch me." Every word dripped venom.

Unlike the man she was about to let taste her fists, Ogi didn't waver under her vicious glare. She assumed his line of work was closely associated with hostility. "I make the rules here, girlie. I wouldn't make any rash actions if I were you."

His eyes shifted from her to the crowd behind them. The clamorous ambience fitting of a bar had gone, an air of bloodlust in its stead. She felt the bulk of it as a prickly sensation ran down the nape of her neck.

Outnumbered, huh? She supposed it was "kill or be killed" wherever she went.

"Bring it." There was something about this stare-down where she felt if she backed down, she'd lose something other than her head.

A glint of amusement flashed across Ogi's eyes before he burst out laughing, causing the crease between Aria's eyebrows to grow deeper in confusion with each guffaw.

"I'll give it to you, you're really a tough one," said Ogi between breaths of laughter. "So, what do you need from me?"

The situation wasn't quite like what she'd expected. The rage that'd been boiling inside of her waiting to be liberated suddenly lost a place to go, so it withdrew into her brain in the form of a pounding migraine. "Sorry" was all she could manage as she released the man who was under incoming peril seconds ago.

As she let out a resigned sigh, she remembered the scroll still in her possession. She hoped Soo-won's carefully written words were still eligible after all the rough handling the scroll had been through. "Here."

"Let's hope he doesn't plan to work me to the bone to get the information he needs again, that Won..." he grumbled as he passed the scroll to the man from earlier. "Kanji, put this on my desk. I have something to discuss with this lass right here."

Kanji took the scroll and half-ran to the room Ogi emerged from, undoubtedly grateful for the permitted retreat—far away from her. Seeing his pitiable form, Aria couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt in her gut.

"Let's go somewhere quieter," Ogi proposed with a glance at the crowd going back to their respective businesses and causing a ruckus once again.

As Aria followed him to an alcove located at the far corner of the building, she speculated the "discussion" he mentioned had something to do with gold, so she readied the sack of coins she'd received from Soo-won before she left the palace.

Ogi dumped himself unceremoniously on the wooden bench, Aria taking a seat beside him with much more subtlety—though "subtle" wasn't a word very relative to her. He was eyeing her as if he wanted to say something, but his lips remained pursed.

She was beginning to grow self-conscious under his gaze, so she cut through the uncanny silence. "How much do you need?"

"What?" He seemed caught off guard, his reaction in turn stirring up perplexity in Aria. This wasn't how information brokers usually reacted when facing incoming payment, was it? "Uh, before that..."

There was a pause as he seemed to be experiencing an internal struggle in forming words. She urged him on with a tilt of her head.

"I-Is... Won doing okay?" he stuttered. She could tell he was trying his utter best to keep a straight face.

While he half-succeeded in doing that, her own front she put up broke down in an instant. "What?"

As he took in her gloriously stupefied expression at his unanticipated question, his barely-stoic face melted away into one of bashfulness, giving way to a blush spreading across his cheeks. "N-No, I mean-"

"He's doing fine." She couldn't say any more than this. She knew that these people clearly didn't know he was coronated King of Kouka just days ago from their actions and how informally they addressed him. Since Soo-won sent her on her errand under the cover of an alias, she knew better than to carelessly disclose his current status as king for the moment.

And he looked so eager to know about Soo-won's wellbeing that she ended up speaking the entire truth, albeit stripped of all context.

Noting the genuineness in her words, his lips broke out into a warm smile—of vague affection, of such fondness. "I see."

Just like a father.

Ogi had shrugged the others off for being overly concerned about Soo-won, but Aria noticed that he might be the one missing him the most.

It brought about a sense of reassurance, that the one she cared for had many others there for him—people who worry about him; people who grieve at his misfortunes; people who share his happiness.

She hadn't felt this sensation in a long, long time.

Information brokers weren't to be trusted, but Aria found herself deeming Ogi an exception.

*

The streets of Kuuto were prospering, vastly different from what Aria had gotten wind of in the recent years about the city weakening and Kouka's territory diminishing. For once without the urgency of tasks to fulfill, she let herself saunter around the capital city, taking all of it in.

The animated city was a blur of activity, vendors and merchants alike publicizing their myriad of goods with bellows full of avidity. She couldn't help but wonder if all of it was Soo-won's doing, though he'd really have to be otherworldly to be able to accomplish such a feat in the short period of time he was coronated King.

Then again, he was in a sense otherworldly, she supposed. She had already driven that fact into her thick skull, no matter how disinclined she was to admit it out loud, much less in front of the man in question.

Perhaps it was because of this, that she couldn't decline his proposal and was stuck with the newfound burden on her shoulders now.

When a dominating entity stands before you, all there is left is submission.

Her stance exuded clear vexation at the thought once more, leaving innocent townspeople quaking in their shoes as she passed them by. A staggering drunkard slammed into her, and she would've turned him into her new punching bag for some much-needed stress relief if it weren't for the wafting aromatic scent of fragrant tea leaves tickling her nose.

Aria may not have the most elegant and serene personality, but she had taken a liking to tea nonetheless since young. Her cravings could go from a cup every night to forsaking the liquid known as plain water and replacing it with tea altogether.

The scent grew stronger with every step forward, eventually leading her to a humble herb store standing in the heart of the city. An array of herbs, spices and seasonings were displayed flamboyantly with an assortment of colours, but only one thing caught her eye.

She couldn't care less if she was using the errand funds Soo-won had given her for the box of tea leaves. Ogi didn't request a cent anyway.

She put away her treasure in her satchel, only to realize her stockpile of needles and vials of poison were running out. It was about time she got that gauntlet that had been weighing on her mind for some time now, and what more did she need when she still had a whole sack of coins at her disposal?

Money didn't come easy to someone like her, who had lived all her life as a slave for wretched nobles. Of course she was going to make the most out of it when it did.

She bought all the supplies she needed according to the blueprint of the crossbow gauntlet she conjured up in her head. The vendors cast warm smiles at her in return for her purchases, to which she couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably under all the genuine kindness in their eyes. She tried not to think about all the times she had committed theft in broad daylight.

As her little shopping spree went on, the sun retired down the horizon, alighting the sky with golden flames in its wake. Feeling contented like never before, Aria made her way back to the castle grounds in light steps, humming a tune along the way.

*

The tune died on her tongue when she ran into Kye-sook in the royal pantry as she was brewing her tea. Well, there goes her uplifted mood for the day.

The King's advisor looked twice as sinister in the shafts of moonlight filtering in from the windows, his expression as emotionless as she remembered. On the other hand, displeasure was written all over Aria's face, like she'd just stepped on a worm.

"I see you are as expressive as ever." Kye-sook chose not to read the room and leave her alone, most likely to spite her. Though, she supposed she'd commend the man for picking up on her open disgust at his presence.

"What do you require of me now, Mr. Kye-sook? Was the clean stab through my hand not satisfactory enough for you? Or are you here to finish me off for real this time?" Her patience was running thin. If he didn't leave, then she would.

"Calm yourself. I am only here to join you on your tea break."

The audacity. After putting her through all of that. "And who said you were invited?"

"I need no invitation. Now sit, if you don't want to get banished from the castle."

She could almost see the hint of a smirk threatening to form on his lips. "You don't get to order me around," she seethed.

"Before I make it to your list of people to decapitate, I shall clarify that I am only here to apologize for the night before."

She scoffed. "An apology? Well, you sure don't talk like someone who's asking for forgiveness."

"I cannot say that it is entirely my fault you chose to dive in at your own will and sulk about it after." The smirk was wide out in the open now, Kye-sook no longer trying to rein it in.

"Congratulations Kye-sook, I hereby declare that you have just topped my list of people to decapitate." She forced a smile at the snarky bastard, losing the last ounces of respect she still had for him.

They stared each other down.

"Looks like I really can't leave you two in the same room together." Soo-won appeared soundlessly behind them, resting a hand on each of their shoulders, that default smile still on his face. Kye-sook and Aria alike jumped at the sudden contact, the latter landing an accidental punch out of instinct right on the face of the former in her surprise.

Now Kye-sook was really mad. Aria consoled herself that at least she managed to wipe that damned smirk off his face.

"Now, now. Let's enjoy the tea Aria had brought from Kuuto." Soo-won slid between the both of them and forced the two to sit.

The three of them "enjoyed" their midnight tea break together, though the glares Aria and Kye-sook threw at each other never lost their intensity once throughout the night.

➵ to be continued.