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Y/n

Y/n couldn't get it out of her head.

As she lay on her bed with candlelight hanging from the painted ceiling, she recalled the night she had died. Water had consumed her. For a moment, there had been peace—an overwhelming solace as she had pictured her mother's gentle smile, or her baby sister's crying face. Then, reality had snapped into place, and she had seen her mother's eye bags and the headstone of the sister that lasted no more than a month before disease carried her away.

The thought of an infant rotting in that forsaken place bubbled in her stomach until she gagged, even as she lay in the quiet room she had grown up in. The room with paint splattered on the once-gray walls. Nionna, unlike Kayira, had no distinct color scheme and opted to go with the many grays, beiges, whites, and other neutral colors. Some gold for the royals, but not much else. With the walls bland other than the painting she had done throughout her life, it gave her space to think. Dangerous thoughts, too.

When she had drowned in the northeast waterfall, she thought she hadn't died at all. What came after was far from an eternal beauty. There were bright lights shimmering on her, and all her worst fears came to life, as if punishing her for dying so soon. If "soon" related to the teenage years, then what of her baby sister? She had no say in her demise; no one did. Would the afterlife punish her for being born, too?

Y/n shook off the idea and sat up, the bed bouncing under her. Her fingers grabbed onto the silky sheets made from the finest sheep. The ones that had mated with the rare armazi, one-horned creatures of the night who were fabled to protect the people of Nionna. She hadn't seen one before, but others had. Although rare, they were real, and Y/n wished to see one someday.

Her dress draped down her body while she stretched, hopping off the mattress and letting her bare toes dig into the wooden floor that creaked with each step. She traced her hand down the side of the wall near the door, and her eyes wandered the paintings she had done. Some looked amazing, and others looked like someone had sneezed on the poor surface. Most depicted a tower and an unseen person calling for help, and the little stick figure version of her began climbing to find who needed her. She didn't know why that was her go-to painting. Maybe she'd find out before she met her fate... for the second time, anyway.

Putting her boots back on, Princess L/n departed her bedroom and hid a dagger inside of her boot. With all the mud surrounding Nionna and Kayira, they needed the thickest material they could for hiking through the environment.

She dipped her head to the fellow royals strolling by. Some her aunts and uncles, others her cousins or higher-ups in the army, who were allowed to stay in the castle. None of them spoke to her, and that was because of the weight of the day. Losing over fifty soldiers to Kayira destroyed morale. Everyone had their heads low and their hands folded together.

Y/n went to her mother and father's room on the first floor, near the castle gates, and knocked on the side of the wall since the door was parted. Upon receiving permission to enter, she did, and she spotted the two sitting in bed with maps in front of them. Mother had her hair down, and it was as dark as ever. Meanwhile, father had bright red locks that weren't hidden by his obnoxious crown that looked larger than the castle itself.

"I'm going to venture out to Barbale for the night, if you don't mind. I need to clear my head after everything."

They didn't protest, so Y/n took her leave and went out the front gates, strolling the streets of Nionna and enjoying the chirps from the insects hopping around. Some of them glowed a bright cyan that contrasted the otherwise neutral colors of Nionna. However, they took great pride in their roofs and made all of them gold to have a golden skyline. The waterfalls encompassing the kingdom elevated the elegance of Nionna's appearance, but that beauty was at risk. That was why she had put her plan into motion. First step: lie to her parents about where she was going. Second step: find a way to the Kayira castle without raising suspicion.

That was how she ended up in Jeon Jungkook's shop. He was a local vendor who knitted the latest fashion trends, including a hooded black cloak she purchased from him. Although no red was on it, the black would help her blend in. She wrapped it around herself and pulled up the hood before buying a hefty metal mask to attach to her face so only her eyes were visible.

Once her appearance was as hidden as possible, she took the long trek to Kayira's mountain, Kaji, and traveled the sides of it. There was one way to get into Kayira without detection: traversing the sides of the mountain. With how few people Kayira had, they didn't have the manpower to patrol that far out. She would have to loop around and go behind Kayira, hence why she had informed her parents that she was going to Barbale. Since the mountain was far, her being gone for hours was believable. Nionna had been planning a siege against Kayira for months using that route. She hoped she wouldn't reveal their plans and how they knew about Kayira's one weak spot, but part of her didn't care if she did.

The main castle of Kayira was in the very back of the kingdom, and after two hours of hiking, she made it. Kayira and Nionna were half an hour away from one another on foot, so the extended path had her panting by the end of it, but it was worth it seeing as she wasn't spotted. If she were, the disguise would help her blend in, considering all Kayira citizens looked like she did in that moment.

The main castle was taller than Nionna's and had a pointy tip that shined gold. It was their only source of gold, and they wasted it on the top of the castle not many would see.

Cracked stone walls made up the back of the castle. Well, it took up the whole castle, but she remained in the back and saw a giant tree there. No people were around. None except for Prince Park Jimin, who had stepped out at the same time she came into the vicinity. Timing was on her side that day, and she took advantage of it. At least she didn't have to sneak through the castle to find him.

She approached, watching as he muttered to the gorgeous bird with a glowing tail. As soon as he set the animal down, Y/n grabbed him by his himation and prepared to speak, but she was interrupted by a dagger getting pressed against her throat. Her eyes bulged at the feeling of cool metal against her otherwise warm skin; Nionna had a sweltering hot climate, and Kayira had it worse, with them being a wasteland. The cold dagger almost felt good, if it weren't for the fear of death climbing inside her stomach.

"Princess?" he asked with knitted brows, yet his grip on his weapon didn't falter.

"Prince Park." She cleared her throat—yes, the same throat being held hostage. "I'm here to discuss Kayira and Nionna's future with you."

"You came all this way for lil' ole me, huh?" He lowered the metal, but he didn't put it away. "How did you get here without alerting my guards?"

"With all due respect, Kayira isn't swimming with manpower. All I had to do was walk along the outskirts. Admittedly, I didn't have much plan for how to find you in there." She motioned to the castle. "But I needed to speak with you and only you. Not the king or queen. Please, if I can ask one thing of you in my entire life, it would be a private conversation."

Those gorgeous hickory irises weren't as dead as before. They looked like a flower blossoming from the way they sparkled and shined in the moonlight. Red hues from the moon's ridges highlighted the soft freckles lining his plump cheeks and tiny nose, and she saw another scar under his right eye, too small to see from far away. She wondered what other scars he hid from the world.

"I don't owe you anything, princess. Why should I grant you this request?"

"Because I want peace between our kingdoms, and I wish to discuss that with you."

He laughed, and she couldn't help but feel enamored by it. The depths of the laugh had squeaky sounds that caused him to hiccup, almost like a baby. The freckles went with him, bouncing as if doing a gleeful dance at her expense.

"I want Nionna to burn," he said, spitting out the final word. "That doesn't give me much incentive."

She saw the fire in his eyes as if they reflected his dreams for Nionna, but that didn't deter her. Nothing would. If she had exhausted her energy hiking to Kayira the safe way, the way that wouldn't result in an arrow in her chest, then she wouldn't back down because of an overgrown toddler's narrow mindset.

"Whether you want Nionna to burn or not is out of my control. I am very well aware I cannot change your mind about my people or my kingdom, but what about yours, my prince?" She stepped closer until the dagger skimmed by the fabric of her cape. She lowered her hood, allowing her hair to burst free, and then came the mask so he could view her neutral expression. "It is not about you or I, or what we desire for one another. It is more about the innocents dying." Before he retaliated, she threw up her hand to silence him. "Ignore your opinion on what 'innocent' means and think about your people, not Nionna's. You lost over twenty men yesterday. How many more are you willing to lose? How many more children need to be told their fathers aren't coming home before you come to your senses?"

That got him to shut up. He poked the weapon deeper, ripping through the first layer of the cape. Although she had been the one to antagonize him and come closer, a familiar metallic taste flooded her mouth, followed by goosebumps up and down her arms and her lower lip quivering for a beat longer than she wanted to show. If he noticed her reaction, he didn't speak on it. Instead, he sheathed the dagger and shook his head.

"Five minutes. No more, no less. Let's go."

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