Five of the young masters of Nyla have embarked to Ileara the moment they cracked the message Sara was sending them, so now those back in Lucida are trying as hard as they might to keep calm, occupying themselves with some other things while they wait for the others to return with, hopefully, good news.

Akira watches as Jihyun carefully takes out what seems like notebooks and loose papers, all aged, out from a bag onto the table in front of her. Her advisor arranges the loose papers carefully, stacking them up even though some of them are of different sizes. The notebooks are around the same size, so it's easier for her to stack them up without having them tilted. When she's done, she pushes them towards the queen and bows her head as she smiles.

"I promised you that I'll give you the late king's journals and letters he exchanged with your mother," Jihyun says. "I hope that these can at least help you paint a picture of your parents together."

"Thank you," Akira says while smiling, taking her advisor's hand in hers. "I'm really grateful that you're fine. You should still be resting," she utters, eyes finally moving to Yunho who's trying as hard as he might to act normal. Akira can exactly tell how he's trying so hard to not have his eyes move towards Jihyun while his mouth hides a smile. "Jeong Yunho," she calls him, and this makes him slightly flustered before he stands up straighter.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Yunho says and this makes Seonghwa slightly snort, obviously having been caught up with the air between Jihyun and Yunho.

"Relax, you don't have to be so uptight," Akira says, smirking, before she turns to Jihyun. "Since everything is over with your father's pact... I was wondering if you'd like to still work here in the palace or not. It's your choice anyway."

Yunho looks at Jihyun from the side, waiting for her answer.

"I was actually thinking of pursuing pottery," she replies, beaming. "I've always wanted to do that, but I don't know where to start, actually."

"Ah," Seonghwa speaks up as all attention turns to him before he sheepishly laughs, "I think the palace can help you with that. We'll help you to gain your footing as a potter in Lucida."

"Does that mean..." Akira steals a glance at Yunho, as she's trying to evoke any reactions from him, "...you'll not be staying at the palace anymore?"

Silence comes to Jihyun as she's still thinking, but she feels like it'd be too much for her to ask for. "I'll stay outside of the palace..." She glances towards Yunho, who isn't looking at her but the floor and is cuffing his shoes on the floor. "....but I'll come over sometimes. If that's alright with Your Majesties."

"It's fine by me," Akira says as he turns to Seonghwa, "Right?"

Seonghwa nods. "Of course. You wouldn't mind too, would you, Yunho?" He asks sneakily, leaning to the side as he places his elbow on the table before pushing his cheek against his palm.

"I have no say in this, Your Majesty," Yunho replies stiffly, still determined in not looking at Jihyun. "I'll follow whatever you say and act accordingly."

"You can come anytime to the palace as you'd like," Akira finally utters, "you've made a huge contribution to our palace... and also to our general. You saved his life."

She chuckles, but even then the pain in her torso is still apparent as she slightly winces. "I still wonder why I took the hit for the general," she says, talking as if Yunho isn't listening on to their conversation. "But I'm glad that I saved his life."

"I'd like to apologize if there's anything that made you uncomfortable during your stay in the cell," the queen says more, "but now we're letting you free. You deserve a life that you would want."

"I should be thanking Your Majesties," she says as she bows her head towards both the king and queen. "I'd still be stuck in the path my father had set for me if not for both of you."

Akira blinks, remembering something. "Ah... as what I've promised you, your father would only be thrown into prison, but we won't do anything to him. We'd only keep him there." She places a hand on her shoulder, "And even though your father made a lot of mistakes, you should know that he was also the one who gave some of his blood so that you could be saved. He still loves you even though he has made a lot of bad decisions."

Jihyun nods while smiling. "General Jeong told me about it, and I was wondering if I could pay a visit to him just to talk to him for a while."

"Of course you may," Seonghwa speaks up as Akira nods. "Yunho, I think you can escort her there so she can meet her father."

Yunho blinks as he slowly says, "Do I really have to, Your Majesty? I kind of have something else to do-"

"You don't," Akira grins, signalling to him with her eyes, as her own general seems to be quite slow in picking up what they're implying. So much for being sharp, Jeong Yunho. "They're our orders that you need to accompany Jihyun." She narrows her eyes, "You're still the only soldier I trust her with."

"Ah," Yunho lets out a short breath as finally, he glances at Jihyun. "Of course, Your Majesty. I'll carry out whatever you say."

Akira grins, secretly fist bumping Seonghwa under the table before turning to a serious look. "Now that it's settled, you may leave." She addresses Yunho, "You must absolutely be available when Jihyun decides to visit her father. Drop whatever you're doing and accompany her. Alright?"

Yunho scratches the back of his neck, but he's quick in taking the orders. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Jihyun immediately bows to both Seonghwa and Akira before taking her leave, while Yunho follows behind, quite hesitantly. She walks out of the room and as she hears Yunho closing the door behind him, she quickly turns around before landing a slap on his forearm.

Yunho frowns. "What was that for?" he asks through pursed lips.

"Are you really that embarrassed?" Her mouth twists as her eyebrows knit.

"About what? I don't feel embarrassed about anything."

"You don't want to tell them, do you?"

He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "About what?" he repeats.

"About us."

"Ah..." he trails off as he clasps his hands behind his back. He tries to grab her hands but she only shrugs him off as she slightly pouts. "It's not that I'm embarrassed. I mean- you're still hurt, our palace is still cleaning things up and there's still some other unsettled stuff."

"So you don't want to tell them about us because it's too fast?"

He relents as he finally sighs. "No. I just know that Akira will make fun of me until the end of the world about this. I made fun of her and now I'm in the same situation as her. I couldn't stop teasing her but now she's going to get back at me."

She blinks before she chuckles slowly, amused seeing Yunho and Akira's friendship. She shrugs. "As long as you're not embarrassed, I'm fine. We can take our time."

"You shouldn't be worried about me being embarrassed but-"

"Ah-" She puts up a finger, wiggling it. "I don't want to hear that anymore. I literally don't care if we're of different blood colours."

"We're on opposite ends of the spectrum."

"So?" She puts up both palms shoulder-level, lifting up her shoulders. "Who has a say in that? Our rulers are of different blood colours, so what's stopping us?"

"Won't people back at your home be talking about you though? You did say that they thought you're a noblewoman. They can tell I'm a soldier straight away," he shrugs, "I'm pretty famous around Lucida, you see."

She rolls her eyes. "Who cares about what they think? I'm the one with you, not them. They can bring their jealous asses somewhere else."

He chuckles, automatically reaching out to pat her head.

She turns quiet, eyes turning to look at him as she does something akin to puppy eyes.

He pulls back his hand, looking at her suspiciously. "Why are you doing those eyes?"

"Are you free tonight?"

He takes in a sharp breath. "I'll have to check my schedule."

"Free your schedule tonight for me."

"Why?"

"I'm asking you out," she says, "since it seems that in this relationship I'm the one who has to do everything. So General Jeong, I'm politely asking, but am desperately wanting to go on a date with you."

"Don't call me that," he says as he holds her stare. "You don't call your partner by their titles. Yunho." He purses his lips. "Call me Yunho."

She looks relieved before her face breaks into a grin. "You really need to stop saying stuff while looking so serious." She awkwardly chuckles, "I thought that you're mad at me for even calling you General Jeong."

"Just Yunho is enough," he shrugs.

"So it's a date," she utters.

"But you're literally hurt. It was just yesterday that you were almost dying."

She hisses, shaking her head. "Please, don't remind me of that dark moment." She sighs, "Just tell me that what I'm doing is the right thing. That I'm able to pursue what I like even though my interest wouldn't pay me much, that I'm essentially going against my parents and that most of my time would be-" she glances at him, "-occupied by you."

"Your parents," Yunho suddenly says as he remembers something. "How about your mother? Now that your father is not there anymore."

She scratches her neck before she clutches onto his sleeve. "I didn't tell you about this before, but," she pokes his palm, mouth pushed outwards. "My parents are actually divorced. I lived with my father since I was 13, I think. That's one of the reasons he's having such a deep rooted hatred for the monarchy. He just felt like everything wasn't going right for him since my mother had left him to go back to Fyrae."

"If it's lonely for you," he utters seriously, "stay in the palace. You don't have to go back to an empty house."

She smiles before lightly punching his shoulder, pretending to be shy. "Is it because you can't bear to not look at my face even for one day? Scared that you'll miss me?"

"No," he says seriously, "you said that you can't kill cockroaches on your own. What if you suddenly encounter some and there's no one else who can kill them for you? So you can't live alone no matter what."

Her face turns sour as she shouts again, bringing attention of the other palace staff to them, before they return to their activities. "Yah! Can you stop talking about me and cockroaches? If you keep talking about them they might actually appear again."

"That's why I'm saying," he says, unperturbed, "I'll kill them for you. I'll bandage you when you're hurt and I'll pick you up if you feel tired."

She looks at him from the corner of her eyes before she breaks into a smile. "Ooh, you're actually learning how to be romantic. Fine," she sticks up her nose as she crosses her arms, "I'll continue living in the palace, but we'll have to ask Their Majesties first."

"Of course." He takes her hand and in the midst of his eagerness he forgets that he'd need to knock on the door. Instead, he merely pushes open the door to the room again, pushing it harder as he seems to feel like it's heavier to open than he originally remembers.

As soon as the door is pushed open, Seonghwa and Akira tumble backwards, but the king is quick to catch her before they fall to the floor. He falls on his butt before she lands on top of him.

Yunho and Jihyun look at the two rulers who are currently on the floor, looking guilty as it's obvious what they were doing.

"I told you," Akira says loudly, addressing Seonghwa, "the door is broken. The handle is all weird. You heard that sound it makes whenever we shake the door, right?"

As equally serious as she is, Seonghwa nods. "We'll need to call someone over to fix the door soon, or we might be locked up accidentally in here."

"Right," Akira smirks as she stands up with the help of her husband. "A lot of things can happen when two people are locked up together."

Yunho clears his throat loudly. "Your Majesties, with all due respect, were both of you eavesdropping on our conversation outside?"

Akira huffs, pretending to look offended. "Excuse me? How dare a general say that to the king and queen? You may be executed for that. But," her face breaks into a grin as she turns to Jihyun, "I told you that you may stay in the palace if you want. We'll prepare a room for you to stay in. You can go on as many dates as you want with the general."

Yunho feels Jihyun wrapping her hand around his tighter, and he hides a smile. Jihyun nods slowly, "It'll be an honour to be able to stay in the palace. I'd humbly ask for that."

"You may," Seonghwa says before he looks at Yunho. "I hope that you'll enjoy the date tonight."

Yunho and Jihyun immediately bow their heads sheepishly, knowing that every single detail of their conversation must have been clear to the rulers. Both of them hide their intertwined hands behind their backs, but it proves to be futile as they have to come closer to each other anyway. Silently, they excuse themselves, even when the king and queen are smiling at them, looking like they know something they don't.

When the door shuts as Akira and Seonghwa are left in the room alone, the queen turns to her husband and pokes his shoulder. "Reminds me of the night you confessed to me, we were embarrassed to even say it. It's like whoever becomes the general will end up falling for someone finally." She chuckles somewhat evilly, "I am so going to get back at Yunho for this."

Seonghwa laughs before he cups her face. "But now we're not embarrassed anymore are we?" He pushes her lightly backwards until she sits on the table, and he's standing between her thighs. He leans forward but she places a hand on his chest, pushing him back.

"Not now." She tilts her head to the stacks of papers and journals. "We need to go over them first."

He shrugs as he chuckles. "It was worth a try." He removes himself from her, taking her hand as he helps her get off the table.

They sit in front of the stacks of papers again, pulling their chairs in and closer. Somehow, the fact that she's probably going to find out more about her parents, especially her mother makes her feel nervous that she takes her time to sift through the papers. Seonghwa watches from the side, knowing that although he's not related to them, this means a lot to his wife.

Akira opens one of the journals but even when she's only on the first page, she closes it back before she places her palms on the cover. "This is hard, but you can do it," she says to herself. She takes a deep breath before opening it again.

The first thing she sees in her father's name; bearing the family name that she couldn't use because there shouldn't be anything tracing back her to the Lucida royal member.

Lee Juwon

Even seeing her father's name, which back then only meant to her as the king's name instead of a parental figure to her, makes her sad so she keeps on steeling herself even as she's flipping through the pages. The first notebook is filled with his personal daily activities, something like a place for him to pour his feelings out after a tired day of ruling the kingdom. It seems like a place where he could finally drop the front he has whenever he's the king of Lucida.

Reading through makes her feel closer to him, if before this she'd have to bow whenever he passes by her, not even daring to look at the man in the eyes. As she's finished through one journal, she randomly picks another one up, intrigued by how it seems to look battered, the spine of the book almost giving way as it seems that her father had opened the book too many times until it'll look like it'll fall apart. She opens the cover and it makes her heart clench as she looks at the title.

Journal for my daughter, Akira

Her shaky hand leafs through the pages and all she can feel is the tears dropping. She can't even finish reading through before she stops, the pain coming to her as the contents of the journal swims in her vision, throwing away all the misconceptions she had about her father.

Akira took her first steps today, I saw her taking her first steps, around three? Then she fell down, before she laughed that adorable laugh of hers. Just like Emira, her smile is something that I wouldn't mind seeing everyday.

Lady Ahyoung told me that Akira had pronounced her first words today! She said she couldn't figure out whether Akira was saying mom or dad, but I'm happy nonetheless. One day anyway, it's my wish to hear her call me her father.

Akira fell sick today, but my strong girl didn't even cry. She only blinked with her round eyes and looked at the palace doctor as she was given a shot. Like it never happened, she only smiled and flapped her arms before sucking on her thumbs. It made my heart at ease knowing that my daughter is such a strong person.

Lady Ahyoung told me that Akira's favourite colour is black, but she doesn't have a favourite food. I told Lady Ahyoung to cook whatever Akira would like. Akira, one day your father will cook you your favourite dish even though you don't have one.

Akira and Emira seemed to have become best friends, along with this other boy named Yunho. I'm happy to see both my daughters getting close to each other, but I'd have to keep a watch on that boy. He better not take any chances on my daughters or I won't hesitate to do something.

My daughter is growing up beautifully, and even though she seems to prefer swords and fights, a total opposite of Emira, I'm proud to call both of them my daughters. One day, one day this father of yours will be able to say it out loud.

Akira, your father loves you so much. Although I can't say that I love you verbally, I want you to know that I've always been here.

Akira flips to the last page of the journal where several photographs are placed. She picks them up, seeing that they're all her pictures. She didn't even notice when some of them were taken, but she sees that every single one has her as the focus. She closes back the book, turning her head to see Seonghwa already with his arms open, and she doesn't even say anything before she falls into his embrace.

She doesn't cry, even when she feels like the world feels unfair; how she'd only find out about everything after her father's death. She hasn't even gone through the letters he exchanged with her mother; she can't bear to think how worse it'd be for her for someone she doesn't even have the opportunity to call her mother.

"He was-" she breathes against Seonghwa's chest, "-watching me grow up, but I didn't even know. My father, whom I thought didn't even care for me one bit," she utters as she grips her husband's arm, "detailed every single thing about my life that I don't even remember. He was there for me," she croaks, "but I kept blaming him because he couldn't say that I was his daughter."

"Akira..." Seonghwa trails off, brushing his hand over her hair.

She pulls back, but she takes him by surprise as she only smiles, not a tear in sight. "I've had enough of crying, but I'd like to treat this as something that's precious to me. A reminder to me that I had parents who loved me, even when I thought they didn't."

"That's my wife." He smiles as he cups her face, lightly patting her cheeks.

She takes in a deep breath before she nods, turning to the stacks of letters next. She goes through the papers, realizing that they're all letters sent from her mother to her father in the palace. So going through the letters, it's possible that she'd know what kind of person her mother was like, and that is something she might not be ready for. As opposed to her father, she doesn't know how her mother looks like, at all.

All that she knows was that her mother was killed when she stepped into the palace, begging for them to take care of the baby.

She only picks some of them, figuring that it might be too overwhelming if she goes through all of them today. So she randomly opens them up, her eyes quickly tracing the words and although it may not be complete, she can sense the feelings that exist between her father and her mother. From the words they exchanged alone, it bleeds to tell her that sincerity existed between them, a love they could not announce for the fear of being shunned by the others. Especially for a relationship that was built after her father cheated on Emira's mother.

However the more she reads their letters, the more she realizes that their relationship has started even way before her father had married Emira's mother.

"They couldn't get married because he had to go through an arranged marriage with Emira's mother," Akira utters. "My father and mother were in love even before he got married."

She stops as she picks up a picture of the portrait of her mother, staring at it for too long as she feels like she's looking at herself.

"Your mother," Seonghwa utters, "you look like her."

She lets out a deep breath, clutching the picture as it's her most prized possession. She is now able to paint a picture of the parental figure she has lost, and she feels as if a burden has lifted off her shoulders as she finally knows how her mother looks like.

"I think-" she smiles, heart blooming as she sees the picture of her mother, "-that's enough for today."

He nods as he stands up, intending to help her gather all the papers, but he pauses as he sees a picture sticking out from one of the letters; seeing a familiar face.

"Oh," Seonghwa utters as he blinks, hand automatically pulling the picture out so that he can see it full. "Akira," he shakes her shoulder, and she turns to look at him. "Look."

Akira turns to the picture he pulled out, finding nothing that rings a bell. All she sees is a picture of her mother, obviously heavily pregnant, with three more people, seemingly a family. There are two adults and a child...

"That's me," Seonghwa finally says. "The child is me, and the two adults are my parents."

Akira's jaw drops slightly open before she takes another look; sure enough she can see how familiar the child looks. She looks back and forth from her husband to the picture, before she says, "That's my mother..." She points her finger to her mother's pregnant belly. "Are you saying that's me? Which letter did you pull this picture from?"

He lets out a breath before he flips through the letters, pulling one out that he's sure he had taken the picture from. "This one."

The husband and wife look at each other before Akira unfolds the letter while Seonghwa holds the picture on her side, as if trying to make a comparison. From all the letters that her parents have exchanged, she can tell that her mother is someone who has a lot to talk about, and she would detail her activities even if it may seem unimportant. For this letter, she knows what the topic is about; a family called Park.

Juwon

I don't know if you remember that I told you that here in Nyla, I live beside the Park family. They're a nice couple, and Madam Park would always come over to share what she cooked for that day. We could even talk for hours, until sometimes Sir Park would have to come over to my house so that he could call his wife to go back. You could say that we're best friends by now, and I even got to witness them having their first child! They named him Seonghwa, and he's a really adorable and polite boy who would follow her mother whenever she'd come to gossip at my house, playing on his own. I just can tell that he's going to grow up into a handsome young man. He cries a lot too, and Madam Park would always have to carry him while he's crying to calm him down.

Madam Park helped me throughout this pregnancy a lot, and she's always there to help me whenever I say I'm scared to go into labour. She even assured me that once our baby is born, she's sure that they'll be good friends with Seonghwa. I'm due anytime soon, and even though I hope that I could deliver our baby with you by my side, I know that you have more important things to look over in Lucida. It's alright, I'll bring our baby one day to you, and you can hold them as much as you want.

The reason I wrote this to you was because something quite alarming happened when Madam Park came over to my house with Seonghwa... I told you that when I came to Nyla, I suppressed all the magic I've been practicing in Ileara in this one particular ring because I didn't want to practice it anymore, even though it's something that I kept in one place so that I wouldn't forget my roots. I just keep it on the table, something that has been forgotten after a long time, but somehow our little Seonghwa grabbed it and swallowed it while both of us weren't looking. Can you imagine the panic after it happened?

We brought him to the emergency wing, hoping that there's something we could do. Of course, Seonghwa wouldn't stop crying after that, but the ring managed to be taken out. Even though the doctor said nothing was wrong with Seonghwa and that we shouldn't be worried, it's obvious that something did happen to him. After that, we could see his eyes changing colours whenever he seemed to be experiencing different emotions. Sometimes, we could see him communicating with plants and animals on his own. So... I think I accidentally passed my abilities to Seonghwa without even him knowing. I relayed my worries to Madam Park, but she only laughed while shaking her head, saying that I shouldn't be worried. She said that as long as her child would grow up fine, even with extra abilities that he wasn't supposed to have in the first place. Even up to this day, I still feel bad, but it seems that he's making more friends with the nature surrounding him.

I really can't wait for our baby to be born. I hope that Seonghwa and our baby will be good friends in the future. Here's a picture I took with the family!

Laura Hwang

As both of them reach the end of the letter, both husband and wife remain speechless. The letter flutters in Akira's hand while Seonghwa holds on to the picture quite firmly.

"Seonghwa..." Akira finally says. "Our mothers were best friends. They wanted us to be good friends and you married me instead."

"So that's how um," Seonghwa says, embarrassed. He chuckles as it seems that all the questions he had, something that worried him so much, are finally answered, "I got my abilities. Swallowed a ring and took it from your mother."

All the knowledge about how he has gotten his abilities is simply answered by this letter alone, and it's safe to say that he's not actually related to Ileara the way he thought he was. He never thought that he'd be the one relieved after Akira had received all the journals and letters that were only supposed to help her answer the questions she had about her parents.

Akira chuckles before she puts down the letter on the table, turning to him as she hugs him tight. "Idiot," she utters good-naturedly, "so we were in each other's lives before we even knew it. We were literally together in a picture, even though I wasn't born yet."

Seonghwa wraps his arms around her, swaying their bodies together as he laughs, their hearts finally feeling at peace, the vague questions seemingly having clear answers now. He sighs, feeling content.

"Akira," he pulls back as he looks at her in the eyes, "so it wasn't mere coincidence that we met again in Nyla. It was fate."