"I'm always on demon time, baby
You'll never get me out of your mind, baby
Till I die."
Demon Time - Aaryan Shah

💀

It had been several days since the incident occurred. And while she was allowed to roam freely around the castle, she patiently waited.

When Jimin had made no appearances, due to a bruised ego. And possibly knees. And Taehyung was too preoccupied being a good host to his noble friends.

She was free to do whatever she pleased. That mostly involved experimenting with salt water. Which she had made use of a small bucket, and with it collected sea water. Getting the water to move closer and closer to her hand, which she'd inch up after every practice.

The girl smiled wryly to herself, placing a dress as she thought of the other night. One that was black and simple, molding to her every curve with thin material.

Leila had no intention of being Jimin's way of toying with the Prince. Truce or not. While jealousy was a way to seduce, it seemed more for his enjoyment than the prince's torment.

It wasn't lost to her that the advisor and her were getting along a little too well. While she was inexperienced, she wasn't stupid. Jimin had openly admitted and showed he was attracted to her. And while she enjoyed the banter, it rarely gave her anytime to investigate.

It was when he spoke of her favorite scents, that his intentions became clear. And she needed to nip the growing thorn bush in the bud. Because with the tenderness he spoke it, to the cruelty he patched his vulnerability with, the man who she needed to succeed was going to become a liability.

The slap, told Jimin that he crossed a boundary. And that he never should again. It solidified her stance as an equal ruler, in the eyes of the unknown nobles. Who now, would not dare to question her authority, as the prince did nothing to stop the punishment of his own friend.

His reaction was something she had to gamble on, but from the way the prince gave Jimin the cold shoulder earlier, was enough to tell her she might get away with it. And, the dramatic act would catch Taehyung's attention. For what prisoner would make a mockery of a court member?

Finally, it would make Jimin stray away for a couple days. Giving her enough time to study the stained glass, and other oddities that might offer an explanation to the curse.

She would even be able to find the damned disappearing book, if the men left her alone for a while.

It was a chaotic strategy, what she had done at the full moon feast. She concocted it in a span of mere seconds. Yet, it had been victorious.

How she wished she could gloat to someone. The advisor would've been available, if he hadn't thoroughly pissed her off. She still felt the bitter taste of Jimin's disrespect. How he talked so freely of her, the way he tried to goad Taehyung with his touch.

It was a game to him. But it didn't seem to matter much, when she was left alone to her own incessant thoughts with no one to talk to. Even though the absence was necessary, it reminded her to much of her life was like before.

A pariah. A savior. Lonesome.

Even if Jimin was not a true friend, or a friend at all, he was someone.

And he didn't ignore her. There was no one else she had created ties here with. Even her own husband hadn't spent more than an hour with her at a time.

Wishing for lost companionship wounded her in it's silliness.

It wouldn't matter soon enough.

Leila threw away the jab in her stomach if the advisor did decide to never come back, hardening herself to the thought.

I will do whatever needs to be done.

Finishing tying on her black boots, Leila pulled her hair back with a string. She needed it out of her face. The girl looked around her bookshelf, spotting a few empty notebooks. She took the one with blue binding and gold paper edges. Pulling that and a filled quill, she went off to the East end of the castle, at the hour of 1:00. During the day, so that she wouldn't be reprimanded for going around at night.

Leila once again noticed on her walk that in her part of the castle was often barren of people. It was near the throne room that she had started to run into other forms of life. It seemed like their only purpose here was to dance, make love, play tricks, and be obnoxiously carefree. Court members would walk out of rooms falling over each other in laughter. Red wine, sloshing out of their cups and falling thickly onto the walls, to which a servant would promptly clean up. Their eyes would glance upon her with glittering curiosity, and then move along. Never a glare, but it wasn't pleasant. The hairs on her neck would always raise in awareness to their predatory glances. Great sound would leak into the room when people would walk through the dance hall, and entertainment rooms. It was a place she hoped that she would never have to visit. It would be an easy task, considering Taehyung had told her those rooms were off limits to her.

Today when she passed them, she looked slyly out of the corner of her eye. She kept her pace swift, but luckily two people decided to make their way out of the debaucherously joyous room. She recognized the one court member, Aera, the beautiful woman who had insulted her at her wedding. Though she could've been wrong, considering her face was covered in part by Hoseok locking lips with her. The girl was loud in her pleasure, the pair almost knocking over an ancient vase next to them. Paying no mind to her presence.

Leila was shocked by their open display of affections, but it did not matter to her. Things were just different here. She wanted to see inside the rooms, for any information that could be kept hidden from her. The girl tried to slyly turn her head, only a bit necessary, to catch what was inside before the door drew to a close.

The young princess saw exactly what she expected. Disorderly musicians fiddling away, their smiles bright. People dancing on long tables, kicking crystal glasses off of them. People kissing viciously, some even half dressed. Leila blushed, moving her eyes away from them. It seemed like a waste, until she happened upon something more than just normal indecency.

Something strange.

A girl, her neck bent to the side.

A man of the court, moving aside her hair to-

"What is it that you think you're doing, princess?"

The voice was glass incarnate, sharp but brilliantly clear. Familiar. Aera.

Leila turned her head back straight, realizing she now had the attention of both the disgruntled woman and annoyed Hoseok. It seemed like her very much so wanted to get back to what he was doing and ignore the royal.

"Is that how you address someone superior in rank to you, Aera?" Leila asked, her expression flat. Borrowed from the prince himself.

The girl didn't really care. But it was enough to distract from what she was actually doing. She didn't need one of Taehyung's loyal followers to go back to him and tell of her snooping.

Aera's cheeks flushed, her face contorting. Hoseok tried to pull on her wrist to get her to leave back to her rooms, but she pulled harshly away. The man caught the princess's eyes, but Leila offered no help. She would not allow this little problem to continue further.

The woman stalked closer, her lips and teeth stained red from the wine. The pretty face she had was marred with anger, her paleness like that of an eggshell instead of porcelain. Her eyes were so green, they seemed to glow, "You are not worthy of a rank that was not yours to have."

Leila laughed sharply, "And it was supposedly yours? Come take it then."

It was quiet, as Aera did not move closer. Everyone knew there was nothing she could do, not against the daughter of the moon of deity laden blood. A dimidium, as Leila could now refer to herself. In Aera's inaction, her eyes changed. Her right hand was fisted, shaking by her side. Below that anger was hurt, betrayal. It seemed Taehyung had been much more than a simple infatuation for her.

Though Jimin spoke differently, what if Taehyung had wanted her instead? What if that is what the prince meant when he denied Leila?

The princess lifted her chin, but inwardly she felt guilt. She had not been here her entire life, and did not know of what promises Taehyung might have offered her. Arranged marriages were broken all the time in their world, considering weaker matches were often discarded in favor of more power. Frustration towards the woman turned its head swiftly, morphing for a deep envious pit in her stomach towards her husband.

The princess offered remedy, "Let us forget this transgression. We need not be enemies."

Aera blinked rapidly, her voice a scraping whisper, "That isn't possible."

With that, she turned. Grabbing the wrist of Hoseok, who looked at Leila with the faintest drop of pity.

Leila waited till their steps quieted, and her heart to stop racing, to continue forward. Trying to expel thoughts of Taehyung and Aera together, on his blue velvet bed, in positions like they had been in. Tried to ignore the possessiveness curling around her, a python caging herself in.

But it was all that consumed her mind, as she made her way to the stained glass. It was only seeing the first image, that broke her from her obsessive thoughts.

The eclipse.

Leila knew this image well. In history books, this phenomenon had been normal. Rare, but nothing to fear. But there was one day, about 322 years ago, that the solar eclipse was the last glimpse of the sun anyone would see. The day of the black sun.

This pane was barren, just a black background, and a small sliver off silver, to depict the moon in front of the sun. She wrote this in her notes as the day the sun died.

Moving onto the second image, the man bitten by a viper. This image was morbidly gorgeous. Leila guessed if that these windows were placed on the ground, they would be several feet taller than her. The serpent was large and green, its eyes a filmy gold. The man had long black hair, eyes almond and lifted. He gripped at his wrist, rubies falling as the supposed blood from his bite. Leila squinted, looking for more objects. She found the insignia of this house being branded on the man's neck. And, another object. In the top left corner, a glowing gold ball. While the background was still a deep black, long stretches of gold swirled from its center.

The sun. Leila felt her heart skip a beat. Something she had never seen. Its fiery brightness, and golden rays. Pouring down from above, as the man was attacked.

She wrote this down, considering that the man had been around before the sun died. Meaning, the pane's of glass could be out of order, considering the first was the day of the event. Leila smiled to herself, seeing this to be important.

Finding nothing else new, she moved on to the last piece of the story in this part of the castle. The same man, with the long, flowing black hair was now asleep. Or dead. The man's skin had now been depicted with what looked like alabaster. Under the large expanse of the trunk and lifted roots.

Again, Leila inspected the branches. The curve. The way their snarled tendrils lifted to the man lying down like a hand. And like she had noticed when looking from Taehyung's window, it had been the same the prince pressed her against when he found her coming from the ocean.

The girl moved closer. The muted spots of purple appearing as she did so. They littered the ground around the base of the tree. Lunetta.

At this proximity, she could also see the same color near the sleeping man's hand. No, not near them. The man was holding the plant, though some seemed to be broken off at the stem.

Poisonous? Like Taehyung had said. She smiled to herself, wondering if it had been the first time he told her the truth. She quickly wrote the rest down in the journal that had become hers, not wanting to be noticed once again.

Leila had thought she'd been successful.

"Astute observations." The prince she wished to avoid, spoke right from behind her.

Leila jumped forward, dropping her quill onto the floor. The ink, spreading like tentacles of an octopus. Her mouth remained open, her hand on her chest as she took in the prince who stared at her with barely concealed amusement.

She hadn't even heard him approach. It innerved her, considering the intensive years long training of her senses. Had he intentionally dimmed them?

But instead of confusion, anger boiled up inside her. She wished it had been from her being caught. But her interaction with Aera earlier had definitely spawned the fire. His easy expression with her, managed to fan the flames.

The brunette did not speak. Not as he stepped forward, bending to one knee. The black circle of hair under his crown was now visible to her. His doublet had been rolled up to above his forearms. The tan rippled, as he picked the quill up off the floor. He lifted himself, black staining his fingers as he handed it back to her. His eyes were expectant, lips tilted.

An offering she realized, of civility between them. But civility seemed like a pile of ash to her. Something after a fire blazed, that would simply be swept aside. Controlled, handled, and discarded.

It was worse than the inferno that they had become.

The princess plucked the quill out of his hands, feeling the soft brush of his fingers against her palm as she did so. The black met her own skin, bleeding into it. His eyes narrowed as he did so, trying to garner her reaction. But she had moved away too quickly. The quill was placed inside a blank page of the book safely, as she held the objects hugged to her chest.

"You should've stopped me from reprimanding Jimin." Answered back, hoping to move away from what was in her notebook.

Though disappointed. If there was anything in their of importance, he would've taken it from her and burned it. That, she was sure of.

What she was unsure of, was why he did not stare at her blankly. Why he had seemed to find her anger humorous, and her presence interesting enough to stay. Usually, he would've whisked by her as if she were a ghost.

Making him angry, was something she was used to.

Yet, Taehyung did not falter. Just raising a single brow, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tilting his head in a derisive way. He stood over her starkly, his tallness apparent to her as she had to look up.

"Why? And interrupt your lover's quarrel? I wouldn't dare."

Leila scoffed, a resounding laugh. She looked at the man's open body language, the crinkle in his eyes. The heart shaped lips that couldn't seem to stay straight. He thought her possible dalliance with the advisor to be amusing. That the slap had been simply from passion between them.

Her husband didn't care. Not about their possible affair, and not about her punishment towards his best friend. His previous behaviors did not allude to this type of pardon.

Leila bristled, voice disbelieving at his impotence, "I think your interest in the matter is skewed. I made your friend a fool in front of all your companions and allies. Aren't you upset I hurt your friend?"

"No, he probably deserved it." Taehyung said back, eyes bright. This time, his humor fell to show the hard edge of himself. A blade that had been sharpened too many times.

"You're right. But still."

Taehyung laughed, he actually laughed. Leila watched, once again set in a light at the deep sound. His teeth white, sharp against the softness of his lips. The golden of his face.

"Goddess blessed Leila. Do you want me to punish you?"

The way he asked was too soft, too warmed to be in jest. Too tender to sound like he wanted to hurt her. Leila wasn't sure what to make of that, as his smile faltered. His eyes running along her face, ebony meeting silver.

"I'd rather not." She said, using her last bit of breath she had to respond. His lengthened stare had made her nervous.

The girl turned, wishing to get as far from the prince as possible. She kept chanting on thing in her head.

I liked it better when you didn't look at me.

Yet, his voice echoing down the hall down to her stopped her hasty escape. The words, capturing her back into his clutches.

"I mean, that's what he gets for attempting to make me envious. Be sure, that if I were to show interest in you, it wouldn't be because of another man wanting you."

No.

Leila let out a harsh breath, her cheeks rusting. As much as he had underestimated her, she had done the same to him. He knew, and she needed him not to.

She turned angrily, making her way back to him. Using her most monotone, and uncaring voice she could muster. The one she had used when speaking to her mother at home. Crossing her arms, and leaning on her hips as she did so. Keeping her light eyes vacant of any plot.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Taehyung smirked back, nodding his head to her. Conceding in words alone. Knowing internally, he had won by bringing her back to him.

"I'm sure you don't."

His new arrogance grated at her. Jimin, was not the only man at fault here. Their stupid and childish plan of seduction, was nothing like what she had learned. Not only was she lured here by the curse, he had been privy to all of her secrets. She had been watched, because he had ordered it so.

"What I'm more unsure about though, husband, is that you've invaded my privacy for a long time. And then lied about it." Leila couldn't help that displeasure was so apparent in her tone.

She enjoyed it though, when Taehyung blanked. For one moment, the cool, collected prince seemed to falter. An avalanche of emotion whitening his face, crystalizing his eyes. A blush rose from the sides of his neck to his face. A pretty blotting of rose across a smooth canvas.

Leila ignored the urge to move closer, to feel the heat of it against the palm of her hand. To feel it spread to his chest and lips under her finger.

You're angry at him. Not ready to take him to bed.

But increasingly, she realized those emotions felt quiet indistinguishable around the prince.

"What do you mean?" He questioned with strain, peering down his nose at her.

His chest unmoving.

Leila shook her head, "So you've suddenly forgotten the months of spying? Why? Tell me."

At her demands, the man seemed to relax. The color lessened from his cheeks, and his posture loosened once more. He grasped control of the situation once again, removing any emotion from his face.

Once again, the unmovable royal she seemed to summon.

"Because if I didn't know, I'd have to ask you. And in having to ask you, you'd have to share personal things. Over time, learning about you like that would form possible...attachments."

His answer pressed on the knife he'd inserted into her heart by keeping her captive. Taehyung had been direly wrong. He would kill her, just not with any weapon.

The man found out everything about her, so he didn't have to ask himself. So that he could keep the ocean between them filled with water, and the boat to cross it docked at the shore. Even though, he knew she would not kill him. The curse did not ask her so. Leila's eyes fluttered, feeling moisture form. She hated it. So she willed the sadness to mold into a quiet, barely contained anger.

"And what a shame that would be, to be close to me."

"Leila I-" His arms unfolded, the skin creasing between his brows. Purple bags rested under his eyes, like the rest of his circle of nobles. Stress. Fatigue. It affected all of them. Once again, opening up to her. She wished he would stay under lock and key.

"What?" She asked in a thorn riddled tone. Looking at him but seeing nothing.

Taehyung opened his mouth, closing it. Wanting to run a hand through his shiny hair, but instead grabbing onto the edge of his crown. He was nervous.

"I'm sorry. And there's something else."

"What?" Leila asked, frustration now brewing. The girl wanted to leave more than anything.

To rid herself of her husband, who wanted nothing to do with her. He was the only other Dimidium in the world, the only person like her. Who could understand to her, and try to relate in their unfortunate circumstance. And yet, he did not wish to see her as anything more than a hindrance.

"There is an amplifier in your room. Magicked to only hear sounds of distress. It's natural, do not worry-"

"What is natural?" Leila asked, though panic and horror gripped at her torso.

No.

No.

No.

The prince held up his hands, the flush back on his cheeks. He offered an apologetic grimace, that was supposed to be a smile.

"Just know that it is not your fault, and that you shouldn't be embarrassed."

He knew. He had heard her sounds, as she had visions of him. Of her reliving herself of the feelings. He had known, of her apparent desire for him. When she had so far, evoked in him none of a similar feeling.

He had heard her scream his name.

Leila wanted to scream now, but for other reasons.

"Why? Why should I not? With you being able to hear something so intimate-" She stopped, embarrassment and shock scrambling her thoughts. But he had said it himself. It was only natural. It dawned on her that he knew for some reason, that she would have these visions, "You're hiding something again."

The prince straightened, his gaze falling away from her. He moved his arms to stay in place behind his back. Guilt and remorse apparent. And maybe, that same virus of sheepishness that now affected her. With both of them aware of what had been occurring at night.

"Leila. I'm sorry. I should've told you when you first arrived. I didn't want to upset you."

"Don't. Tell me. Tell me why I'm seeing those visions every night. You knew it was going to happen. You know why."

You owe it to me. The princess had felt less powerful than she did minutes ago. It was apparent now why he did not even glance at her seduction. She seemed a desperate, unexperienced maiden that begged for him.

"It's nothing." He said, but a whisper.

Though Taehyung's eyes failed to meet hers. He did not want to see her face as he lied to her, once again.

It was enough. Enough to finally explode what had been building inside of her. A passive enemy had now turned into a trying villain. She was done trying to placate the prince, to play against him in this game. She was going to flip over the board.

Be damned whatever rules scorned her.

She got closer to the prince, watching him become paralyzed at the action. His chin dipped, his eyes latching to her own as her hand found its way to the middle of his chest. Leila felt the heat of his skin burn at her, so hot it felt like ice. His gaze became speculative, his mouth situated in a firm line. His hands and lithe arms kept strictly at his side.

She lifted her palm, now tracing his skin with only her second finger. Watching her gold glittered hand drip around him like honey, moving slowly around him in a circle. The only time he moved during her war path, was when her finger graced his spine, and scratched her nail at the dip of his back. She ended in front of him again, slightly to his side, so that he had to look to the right to peer down at her. But he did not.

He kept his head trained on the wall in front of him. Bottom lip caught between his teeth as he did not dare to breathe.

And for the first time, Leila did not believe the prince's indifference. She discerned when he wanted to hide something from her, something of himself, he wouldn't meet her eyes.

They told the truth for him.

Leila played with the ties of his shirt. His chest did not move as she did so.

Her voice was the serpent he held dear, slithering over every orifice, "You know, I'm not ashamed. I quite like what I'm seeing, feeling. You know, the dream version of you is far better than in real life. You're much more tolerable with your mouth preoccupied."

The prince finally peered down at her, breaking their distance. If he dipped any lower, their noses would've brushed against each other. Leila glanced at his lips, than back at his eyes. Watching as he did the same, his tongue swiping across his own. A reluctant smirk making it back to his mouth.

"Wretched woman." Taehyung affronted her with a velvet seduction, his eyes lowered and blazing with something more than anger. The insult soft, a caress against her.

Leila broke away from him, feeling the effect of her own making. Stunned even more so, that it had not been entirely lost on the prince this time.

And when he did it back, all was lost for her. From his simple words and glances, she had already forgotten of her malice. She needed it so desperately to stay. It was her beacon, to keep her away from the trap of desire.

"Keep the amplifier in my room. I'm feeling quite frightened lately. Maybe you can save me next time when you hear that I'm in 'distress'." Leila retorted once more.

Before swiftly making her exit, from the prince who seemed to thaw like a lake in the middle of spring.

"Stupid, horrible, terrible, gorgeous man." Leila spit out, pulling at the ends of her hair.

Thinking about all the intimate sounds he had heard her make.

How had she not checked? The girl squandered, completely caught off guard. And yet, that seemed less the invasion of privacy than having Jimin followed her.

The closer she got to the room, the more her thoughts shifted.

Petals fell, and her defense did as well. The words from before suddenly ringing true.

A different shame filled her, when it occurred to her that she had liked that he could hear her. That it was possible, that he wasn't so impervious to her as he pretended. She felt her cheeks, along with her navel, warm with a different type of heat.

"What is wrong with me?" She spoke aloud, closing her eyes.

As she turned a corner, the girl yelped as she ran into something hard.

She pulled herself back hastily, revealing a man dressed in red. Jeongguk. The intense noble from earlier. The same gaze of calculation and brutality painted his strong, structured face. Just now, it was directed at her.

Very close to her chambers.

"You should be more careful Leila." Jeongguk sneered down at her. His tongue played with the metal ring through his lip. His voice was of medium depth, but it held no remorse.

A chill went up her spine, the only thought in her head was to run. But she needed to be formidable against these men. She would not sink under their intimidation.

"Is that a threat?" She asked, placing her hand off to the side.

She did not want to use her magic. To reveal anything of her true capacity. But his energy felt more harmful than anything she had encountered so far.

His eyes were black as he spoke again, playing with the sword by his side, "No, it's a warning. You're lucky Taehyung and Jimin got to you first. Not everyone is dim enough to want to bed you. And not everyone is honorable enough to try to protect you."

"Go fuck yourself." Leila deadpanned, heading to move around him.

His harsh grip on her arm stopped her. She pulled away, fuming, but remaining.

"Likewise, daughter of the moon. Your kind don't belong here, other than to be used."

"My kind?" She questioned with incredulity.

Prejudice here? The girl knew she was an enemy, but it seemed unlikely they would hate her because of her territory. It was something else, something she didn't know.

She hated not knowing, not in the face of someone who preyed on her ignorance.

It was clearly written on her face, as the bloodthirsty man had smiled. His eyes glittered in the faint light of the hallway, his grinned like the viper from the stained glass.

"Oh?" The man questioned before chuckling darkly in realization, "Taehyung, what a fool. This is more interesting than I could've imagined. You don't know about anything. I bid you farewell, blind sacrifice."

Leila waited until he was far away. Holding her breath, and gasping when she made it to her room. The girl bolted the door shut, her head and heart tugging at each other. It was something she never usually did, feeling confident neither Jimin nor Taehyung would enter in the night.

There was too much to deliberate. Sleep, was necessary. Even if, the image of the man in red would threaten to haunt her nightmares.

The girl laid on her bed, thinking of the black sun. The prince. All the half truths spoken to her.

An outsider, she would remain. If everything went according to this kingdom's plan. She would be a fly caught in a web. Figuring out the spider's secrets, yet unable to find the escape.

She rolled over, letting the heat of earlier enter her mind. Though she did not speak of the prince, the one heating her body. The one that made her heart flutter, and her brain cease to exist.

Instead she moaned out six different names.

None of them being his.

She slept soundly that night, no dreams to be found.

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(A/N: so I hope it's all obvious that even though we are mostly in Leila's pov, she can still "hide" her true intentions to the readers. Not like major character traits, but strategies that she has against the real characters.

Also, we are seeing her how everyone else sees her too. The more Taehyung realizes about her, the more we get a glimpse at the real her. Make sense? Hopefully 🙏🏻