55 Snow
San looks over the edge of the cliff, mouth pushed out as he sees how far the fall would be, but gets slightly entranced by the view. He would never have guessed that the abandoned kingdom would hide the raw beauty of undisturbed nature where the palaces in every other kingdom are surrounded by tall fences to deter any break-ins, while a huge part of the Ileara palace is gated by the sea around them.
He tugs his jacket, slightly feeling nauseous from the journey they had - the 'quick' journey from Lucida to Ileara - as he only blinked while both of them were on the horse before the next thing he knew was that Sara had hopped off from behind him, before they went through a broken bridge that would lead them to the island.
"Be careful or you'll fall," a voice comes from behind him and he does almost fall, before his hand gets pulled so that there's a distance between him and the cliff.
He turns around to see Sara with a cat on top of her head, taking in measured breaths as she's already starting to feel cold as they stand outside. "Do you not put any barriers between the sea and your palace?" He looks over the edge again, "The fall's pretty high."
She splays out her fingers on either side of her shoulders as she utters, "There's no one falling from that height since I'm the only person here anyway." She sighs, "We did have a barrier surrounding our palace, but everything was destroyed that day. It's not like I'm finding the energy to build it back, so I let it be."
He sticks out his lower lip, nodding. "I guess that's fair. So you asked me to wait outside while you clean up some stuff inside," he tilts his head towards the palace building, "are you done?"
"Well, uh..." she bites her lower lip as she scratches her head. "So um, considering the fact that I only live alone and that I don't have anyone taking care of the palace besides myself, I hope that you can understand the condition might not be as great as yours or even the Lucida palace." She grimaces, "Please don't compare."
He shrugs. "Alright, I won't judge." As he sees her looking at him with a more pressing stare he nods, "I promise." He takes out his pinky finger, and this time around she does it without any hesitation.
"But," her mouth runs to say as they turn towards the direction of the palace, "do we have to always seal a promise with our pinky fingers?"
He chuckles without replying as they go up the stairs, and he flinches as he realizes that some wild animals are lining up beside the stairs, eyes red as they look at the two ascending. He looks at them warily as he gestures towards them. "Are they your... pets too?"
She looks at where he's pointing at before she nods. "Yup. But Twinkle and Micko are the longest pets I've had." She takes a deep breath as they arrive at the top, fluttering her fingers as she grabs the door handle, pulling it open as she tilts her head to the inside of the palace. "After you."
San silently enters the palace, not knowing what he should expect as he steps inside. From Sara's description he probably should have expected he'd run into some rundown interior with cobwebs everywhere, but he gets pleasantly surprised when he sees that it's not even that bad. Sure, you can tell that there is not a person maintaining the interior regularly, but you can tell how hard Sara tried to maintain the palace on her own, as every corner breathes her personality. He's possibly in awe as he looks around the interior that he doesn't have time to say anything.
Sara thinks that he's obviously judging that she pokes his arm, hard, as she utters, "I told you not to judge."
"It's not like what you made it sound like," he says, chuckling. "It's beautiful how you maintained it alone."
She beams, but only shrugs not long after as she brushes her pink hair over her shoulders. "Of course, you're talking about Sara Chae."
He doesn't say anything as they stand under the moonlight pouring in through the window on the rooftop, bathing them in a dreamlike glow. He watches as she joins him under the light, looking up to see the moon peeking at them from the corner of the window. As she looks up, he's only looking at her, somewhat feeling regretful that they might not have that much time together.
Since Seonghwa and Akira had requested for them to at least stay away from the palace for a day starting from before midnight, all of them had showed up to town to crash at an inn, with the rulers promising to them that everything will be alright once they can return. While the other boys had drifted off to sleep, Sara had appeared in front of his door, one that she, again, had put a temporary protective spell on and invited him to Ileara while the rest were unaware. He accepted the invitation anyway, since she seemed to be very much eager to invite someone to her palace after living alone for years.
"So it's safe to say that I'm special?" he asks jokingly, bringing her attention to him as she finally drops her head and looks at him. "Since you said I'm the first person to actually be invited inside."
She stares at him, mouth twisting. "I guess you could say that. You should be honoured," she sticks up her nose as it crinkles, "I haven't had any other person inside here."
"But really," he starts as they turn to head towards the direction of the library as promised, "you shouldn't be too trusting, especially towards men."
She blinks, not saying anything.
"They can take advantage of your... innocence. You know," he does some gestures, "do something to you."
"Really, like what?" she asks promptly.
He only blushes, figuring that he hasn't had a proper way of explaining it. "You know like-" he takes a sharp breath, "-when you kissed me without consent, that's harassment. They could do something similar to you, but worse." He gestures towards his own body, looking slightly bashful. "You know, stuff that you don't like when you say that you don't want to."
She narrows her eyes, trying to compute what he's saying before she shrugs. "I feel like I understand what you're trying to say, but at the same time I don't. Anyway," she holds his stare, "is it safe to say that you're not like 'other' men?" She does quotation marks.
He only clears his throat as he awkwardly smiles. "I guess so."
She stares down at him as she nods. "Because I know that if someone ever does something to me that I don't like, I won't hesitate to break their necks."
"That's the spirit."
Sara laughs, pretending to flex her muscles under the low light as she utters, "I may not look like it but I can beat up grown men. So," she stops walking as they arrive in front of doors that run the length from the ceiling to the floor. She gestures towards them, "Here's the entrance to the library. Although I know that I'm the only person on this island, I usually like to keep the library sealed off. My precious are all in there."
She raps her knuckles on the doors, and what San thought were normal door handles uncoil themselves, taking the shapes of snakes that seem to bow towards the two of them before the doors click open. She pushes one door with her shoulder, holding it open as she motions for him to come in.
He does, albeit slightly wary of the snakes that seem to watch his every move, fearing that they might suddenly attack him, but he heaves a sigh of relief as he makes his way past the animals. He sees over his shoulder as she lets go of the door, closing it as it seals them off inside the library. He immediately scans the expanse of the huge library; eyes attracted to different directions as he doesn't know which part to focus on. He walks briefly past the bookcases that fill the entire height of the library; this space is obviously way bigger than what he called a library back in the Nyla palace.
"You really read all of these books?" he asks, jaw dropping as he did not expect that when she said she has read an entire library, this is not the size he had in mind.
"When you're forced to live in solace, you find ways to entertain yourself." She proudly taps on one of the shelves, jumping on one of the rolling ladders as she pushes it off. She holds onto the ladder with one hand and one leg, her other half let loose as her hair billows in the air. "So I won over you, didn't I?" She grins, climbing up further as she plucks out one book, dropping it below.
San looks up, catching the book she had thrown, immediately reading the title.
As she slides down, she utters, "That's one of my favourites. Lore and traditions of different kingdoms on this mainland."
He opens up the book, and for the first time the amount of information on Ileara is almost as much as the other kingdoms, not like those from the books he had read where Ileara seemed like a nonexistent kingdom. It's impressive; reading through the history of a kingdom they thought had vanished, information that they could never get from other places.
"Contrary to popular belief- well, considering if people still remember us, all the history of Ileara is contained in this very library. The only source left," she smiles, "as our presence seems to have been wiped off almost entirely from the minds of the others due to the curse. If you want to learn about Ileara, find everything here." She jumps off the ladder, looking happy as she has shown off her collection to a special person. "That's a gift," she utters before she adds after a thought, "Well if you want it."
"I'll keep it," he utters, shaking the book in his hands. "Thank you."
Sara lets San roam the library, never expecting him to be so engrossed just by looking at the titles she has alone. She quietly trails him, observing him from a distance as she notices sometimes how he flashes his smile as he looks at something. Unintentionally, she's only following him everywhere, more towards entranced by the way he seems to be absorbed among the books, rather than worrying about him going somewhere she doesn't let him.
But only when he arrives at one particular set of books, she immediately goes over to him as it seems that he wants to pull it out. She puts out a hand to stop him.
"That one's personal," Sara quickly says, pushing back the books into the rack. "They're photo albums; I'd appreciate it if you don't look at them."
"Ah," San looks frantic, realizing that he must have gotten too comfortable, "I'm sorry."
She chuckles nervously. "It's alright. Just- don't touch them. You can look at the rest."
He smiles. "I'm done actually." He puts the book she had gifted him under his arm, splaying out his hands. "I have to admit, your selection of books are even more massive than mine. So you win."
She grins. "I told you. But still, maybe you'd return the favour and show me your library one day."
His eyes drop to the floor, their situation coming to him again as he utters, "I will."
"Actually..." she presses her lips together. "I wanted to tell you, and I don't know if you've already caught on, but I think I've found the cure."
He blinks. "The cure to the curse on me?"
"Uhm," she agrees. "But, you asked me if I have a wish. I'll tell you how the cure will work once you help me fulfil that wish."
He chuckles. "So you came up with a wish less than a few hours after I asked you?" He shrugs, "Sure, although I don't know how I'll help you to fulfil that wish so the cure may never come, but shoot. I'll help you." After a thought he adds, "If I can."
"I've always wanted a human company to catch the first snow with," she utters, "but since we don't know when the first snow will fall, I'll take it as watching the stars at night." She points up, "Tonight."
He lifts up his eyebrows, finding that the wish is easier to be fulfilled than he originally thought. "Sure."
She looks excited at the prospect of having a human companion that she immediately grabs his hand, startling him as she lightly drags him together with her. She pulls him through the hallways as she hears him chuckling, amused by her excitement. She doesn't let go of his hand as she brings him down the stairs and round the building, before they arrive at what seems like an extended bridge hanging over the edge of the cliff.
It seems like an observatory that gives them a much wider and closer view of the sea as the bridge extends until it's right over the ocean, the sound of raging waves too close to their ears.
"I hope you're not scared of heights," she says as she sits near the end, beckoning for him to join her. "This is one of the places that I usually go to when I'm feeling really sentimental. It's really calm, especially when you just close your eyes and hear the waves rolling."
San nods, agreeing to her as he leans back, propping himself up as he closes his eyes, focusing on the waves.
"How long would it take to say that you've properly fallen in love?" she asks suddenly, looking at him from the corner of her eyes as she plays around with her fingers. "I mean, how are you supposed to know whether your feelings are real?" She says through a pout, "That sounds so tiring though, how you just have to wait just to find out whether your feelings are true."
He shrugs. "It's subjective, really. But I guess once you do realize it, you can't brush it away. Like, you keep thinking about that person, everything you do just feels like you're reminded of them. They start popping up in every little thing in your life."
"Ah, that sounds so complicated and like a long process," she grumbles.
He chuckles. "Being human, having feelings are complicated."
"Now I understand why I'd rather live alone, away from people," she points a finger to the sky. "Forget about falling in love."
He doesn't say anything, merely smiling as he hears her grumbling quietly, complaining about why humans are so complicated.
She finishes with a sigh as she tilts her head. "But still, I'd like to experience that at least once."
"I thought you did?"
She blinks before scratching her head. "Ah right, but I told you I've forgotten all about it since it's a very, very, very long time ago. So if I were to fall in love again, it'll be like experiencing it for the first time." She beams as she looks at him, her eyes flicking to observe any changes on his expression.
Is it not working?
"I'm sure you will, one day."
"I do hope so," she chirps. Then she plays with her fingers, looking visibly restless as time goes by. "Look," she says, "I thought about it and I know that for you it's too fast, but to me, it's just that I've found someone after a long time of being alone. So for once, I'd like to feel it."
"What do you-" he says but stops as Sara scrambles up to crouch in front of him, blocking his view of the sea.
She grabs his arms lightly, biting her lower lip as she shakes her head. "Sorry. I was just- forget about it. I must've lost my mind for a second."
"Sara..." he trails off as he looks at her; she seems restless, even more as she keeps darting her eyes. "Are you- are you alright?"
"I'm sorry," she utters, already standing up as she places a hand on the railing, grabbing it as she distances herself away from him. All through saying it she only looks fearful, as if she has done something that she shouldn't.
"Calm down," San says, already scrambling to get up as he puts out his arms. "We can talk it out-"
He stops talking as he feels something brewing under his skin, the same feeling that he had gotten as he was overtaken by the curse. He drops to the ground, his chest feeling tight and his skin burning up as he struggles to take in a breath. He reaches out his hand to grab a hold onto something, but all he can feel is betrayal creeping up on him as he sees that Sara is only staring at him, as if waiting for him to suffer throughout.
Why isn't she doing anything?
You wanted to die, remember?
Now that she's doing what you had asked her to, you're feeling betrayed?
"I'm sorry," she repeats again as she crouches in front of him, merely watching him struggle with the curse on the ground, his breath hitched. She smiles, but he sees that it wasn't a mocking one, merely a sad one as her trembling hand holds his face.
He stares into her eyes, and he can't do anything as she leans forward and brushes her lips against his before her tears drop. For a moment he gives in to the kiss, as if he's only trying to find something to focus his mind on rather than the extreme pain radiating through his body.
"You..." he utters, already immobilized as he feels something choking him, and he can only shout in pain as the episode of him overtaken by the curse repeats again, this time seemingly worse.
His mind flashes to the drink she had offered him, as she was so insistent on making sure that he took it.
"You," he manages, "did something to the drink you gave me, didn't you?"
She smiles through her tears as she says, "I told you that I've found a cure to the curse."
---
The sound of the battle in the foyer dies down as Seonghwa brings himself further from there, ultimately chasing down Sir Seo. He sees the shadow of the man twisting and turning through the halls of the palace, and he has a guess on where he would go. All while he's running, he suits himself up with the armour, going past the multiple fights going on throughout the palace. He can only shut his eyes towards the others as he needs to focus on the main target, assuring himself that they have gotten it under control. He speeds up towards the direction Sir Seo is running, unsure of what the old man is planning yet he follows him anyway.
His guess proves to be correct as the old man arrives at the royal study, where they keep their official records and highly confidential papers. Once that room is overtaken by any outsiders, it means that they have lost; so Seonghwa knows that he will have to fight until the end to protect the sacred royal study. His guess proves to be correct again, as he sees that they have infiltrated the room, going through all the records and papers, upturning everything as they need to unearth the paper where it was stated how Seonghwa and Akira had been sworn in as Lucida's rulers.
Seonghwa arrives in front of the royal study, seeing that besides Sir Seo, there are 5 men inside, desperately searching through the records and papers in hopes of finding what they're looking for. He sighs as he sees that the soldiers who were guarding the royal study have all been taken out, proving no match against the pact.
"Found what you're looking for?" Seonghwa asks as he drags the sword with him.
He doesn't get an answer as they immediately turn their attention to him, baring their weapons as they ignore their search before going over to him.
"I really can't get a break can I?" he mutters. "Why is it always more than one person?"
Sighing, he lifts up his sword, tricking the person coming fast at him as if he was looking to use his sword instead but he grins as he extends his leg, landing a solid kick on the latter's chest. His opponent staggers backwards before Seonghwa jumps onto one of the chairs, bringing down his sword as he uses the handle to knock him out cold.
With one down, he notices the other four, save for Sir Seo, coming at him and he grumbles, already feeling like everything is a repeat of events. He lifts up a chair, thinking about how much it'll cost them to replace it before throwing it to two of them, using the momentary confusion to push back the other two. Before he manages to headbutt one person, his arms get grabbed from opposite sides and his sword clangs to the ground as his movements are locked. He struggles against them but the fatigue is too much for him as he cannot break free.
As he is held back, he merely watches with gritted teeth as Sir Seo upends everything in the study, that one piece of paper making him uneasy. Seonghwa tries to pull his hands out of their grips, but his fatigued body is no longer a match for them. He hears laughter from Sir Seo, maniacal as he sifts through the papers, looking like he's already losing his mind. His head gets pushed up as a blade of a curved knife is placed against his neck.
He stares at the wielder; one move and a wound across his neck will end him.
The wielder is waiting for the instruction from Sir Seo, on whether he'd want the king alive or dead. Seonghwa gulps as he looks at the opened door; he chuckles inwardly as he sees someone standing beside the doorway, the familiar shape of his bow casting shadows on the floor.
"Yah, you assholes," Akira says. "That's my husband you're putting your dirty hands on."
The wielder makes a mistake of turning around, his life ripped off immediately as Akira slams a throwing knife into his neck. She takes proper steps into the room as their opponents seem to be taken by surprise at how the queen is joining in the fight.
"I ran out of arrows," she cringes but grins not long after. "But I can always beat someone up with the bow."
She brings down the bow onto the one on Seonghwa's left, slapping his face using the back of her palm before kicking him backwards, sending a final slap to him using the bow as he drops to the floor unconscious.
As his left hand is freed, Seonghwa punches the other man's jaw, sending him reeling backwards before Akira throws the bow to him. He winks as a sign of thank you before spinning around, giving one final hit to the enemy.
Seonghwa goes over to Akira's side, sliding an arm around her armoured waist as they look at each other, before moving their stares towards Sir Seo who are still searching through the documents like a madman.
"Give it up," Akira utters. "Your pact is losing and your men are dying without a purpose."
Sir Seo thumbs through the pages, ignoring the king and queen. The two only look at him, frowning; it is as if he's starting to go insane, his mind a jumbled up mess as he has only one thing in his mind. He is only focusing on the throne, something that he wants to give to his daughter.
"Give it up!" Akira shouts as Seonghwa advances towards the old man, ripping the documents from his hands before grabbing his collar.
"You lost, Sir Seo," Seonghwa says through gritted teeth. "Your men are barely holding up. Give it up before more lose their lives-"
"I need to find it- I need to find it-" he says maniacally, laughing as he struggles in Seonghwa's hold. "My daughter needs to become queen, yes Seo Jihyun needs to become queen! Not you," he breathes heavily as he points a finger to Akira, "you dirty black blood."
"The daughter you're talking about is dying because of you!" Akira shouts back, finally enraged as the image of Jihyun losing her life in Yunho's arms come to her. "How much more are you going to sacrifice just for your greed?!"
Sir Seo shakes his head frantically, eyes wide. "I did not do that to her. All of you did that to her! If you didn't take up the throne, I'll be living here as my daughter becomes queen."
"Have you-" Akira starts, "-ever asked your own daughter whether it's what she wanted?" she asks through gritted teeth. "If you truly do love her, do you even know what she wants in life? How dare you decide a life for your daughter when it's only your own greed pushing you towards this. I said give it up," she says, clenching her fists as she resists the urge to punch him. "Your daughter is dying because of your own greed. How is she even supposed to take on the throne if you made her like that?"
"What do you know about being wronged in life?" Sir Seo shouts, grappling in Seonghwa's hold but the king holds him firmly.
Akira chuckles painfully, tears dropping as she manages, "What do I know about being wronged in life? Do you even know who you're talking to?" She grabs his collar, saying through gritted teeth, "I grew up being fed lies, and I don't even know whether I'm still living in a lie. You should think about what you did. At least, you realize that you have a daughter to give your love to but why are you wasting that away by projecting your resentment on her?"
Sir Seo drops to the floor, finally letting his tears fall as he cries, his fingers scraping the floor. "I only wanted what's best for her."
"No," Akira says, shaking her head. "You only want what's best for you to get revenge on the people who have wronged you. But who are you showing it off to? Your brother nor your parents are no longer alive. After you've taken your revenge, who will you show it to? The people you're taking revenge on are not even here anymore, so why are you dragging us into this mess? What have we ever done to you? Just like you," she utters, "we're only people looking to live our lives as best as we can."
She doesn't receive anymore reply as he sobs harder.
"Think of your daughter," she says, "what she actually wants; only then you'll realize how much she loves you. Sometimes you just need to stop and listen to the people around you. If you truly love her, let your grudge go. She needs you the most."
Sir Seo only nods as he breaks down, signalling to the two that he's putting up a white flag.
Seonghwa secretly wipes his own tears, touched by what Akira said. Grabbing the old man's collar, he locks his hands behind him before pushing him out of the room, Akira trailing behind. As one by one realize that the leader of the opposing pact has surrendered, the battles slowly die down as the two opposite teams retreat. As another round of horns are blared throughout the palace, the battle comes to an end, what they had promised to do as soon as the opposing pact surrenders.
With the Lucida palace declared as the winner, those of the opposing pact retreat, losing their fangs as they see their leader being escorted by both the king and queen. It seems that they have no purpose to fight anymore, considering that their leader has given in.
As soon as they reach the foyer, Yunho rushes over to the three before grabbing Sir Seo's collar and landing a hard punch on the latter's face.
"Jeong Yunho!" Akira steps in front of Sir Seo, grabbing Yunho's hand.
With fire in his eyes, Yunho spits as he rips his hand from Akira's grip. "If Jihyun dies, I will kill you," he utters towards Sir Seo. He doesn't say anything more as he storms away, elbowing past captured enemies towards the sick bay.
"We made a promise with your daughter, that we won't do anything to you except have you locked up," Akira utters. "I hope that you can respect that promise."
Sir Seo doesn't say anything but only looks down at the floor.
Sighing, Akira calls over at least 10 of her soldiers to be bringing Sir Seo away, asking him to be brought to prison immediately. She watches as they bring him away, a string of line of their opponents being cuffed and transported out following closely behind.
"It's over," Seonghwa utters as he helps her to take her armour off. He drops the armour on the floor, before he takes off his. Everywhere around them, everyone is cleaning up the aftermath. But even when he wants to store away the armours on his own, a flurry of workers immediately attend to him before taking the armours away. He purses his lips as he mutters, "I guess that's really it."
"We won," Akira says, leaning against him as she feels slightly fatigued. "I think I used up all my energy."
He chuckles, holding her chin as he looks into her eyes. "You're not hurt are you?"
She shakes her head, smiling weakly. "My fingers slightly hurt from holding the bow for too long," she stretches her fingers, "but I'm fine."
"Ah, that can't be." He looks serious as he intertwines their fingers, before he grins. "If I hold your hand it'll get better."
She rolls her eyes, but smiles anyway. She directs her eyes to the opened front doors, a tiny "oh" coming out of her lips as she sees it.
"Seonghwa," she shakes their intertwined hands. "It's the first snow of the year."
He turns to look at it, and he unknowingly smiles as he looks at the snow falling from the sky. "I told you that we'll be watching the first snow together." He lets go of her hand before putting his arms under her legs and torso, lifting her up.
This time, she doesn't protest as she curls herself up in his grip.
He chuckles, slightly amused. "Look at you being all soft when you just beat people up using my bow."
"I told you I'm better at smacking someone with the bow rather than using it to shoot." She looks at him with an accusing look, "I told you to tone it down on the battlefield, didn't I?"
"Hmm," he hums, but a mischievous smile comes to his face as he utters, "didn't you find it attractive though?"
"Absolutely not," she lies.
He puts her down on the front steps of their main entrance, intertwining their fingers again as they watch the snow falling, quickly piling up on the ground.
She lets out a short gasp as she feels her head spinning suddenly, the colours disappearing completely from her vision. She holds onto him for support, gripping his arms as something flashes before her eyes; like a short scene being played in front of her. She staggers to the side but Seonghwa is quick to hold her, his face contorting with worry.
"Akira," he manages.
"It's gone."
He frowns. "What is?"
She turns to look at him, unable to explain what she has seen or what she has felt. But she knows one thing for sure. "The curse. It's completely gone."
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