oKay after this imma go to sleep cuz it's like 9 am and i stayed up to watch netflix– my eyes feel like they are burning aCk

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3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"your majesty, do you want lady jaeyoung to be present during the taste test?" minseok question lady misun as he escorts them into the mini dining hall.

"that would be nice but i'd rather not for now."

minseok nodded, "as you wish."

"send in mrs kang instead."

minseok nodded again, "yes, your majesty."

king daehyun sighed and placed a hand over lady misun's, "sun, what's going on with you lately?"

"well, moon, i'm just interested in this girl lately."

king daehyun raised a brow, "eh? why so?"

"she reminds me so much of–"

"your majesty, as requested, mrs kang." minseok bursts into the room, cutting lady misun off.

lady misun smiled softly at the assistant and let him go. mrs kang made her way towards the table and bowed.

"is there anything you would like, your majesty?"

"i would like to have a talk with you, mrs kang. about... min jaeyoung."

mrs kang froze in her seat, getting nervous all of a sudden, "what's wrong with jaeyoung? is it her recipe? did she say anything bad to the princes awhile ago?" she kept spazzing different questions.

lady misun chuckled lightly and shook her head, "none of the above."

mrs kang frowned, "then... what happened?"

"i'm just curious... is jaeyoung your real daughter?"

"she's adopted..." mrs kang looked down. "she's knows she is and she's been trying to find her real family for years now."

"ahh... how'd you find her?"

"she was left on my doorstep." mrs kang said truthfully.

"on the day after the accident, right? the day when the... flood... finally dispersed."

mrs kang felt uneasy but she went along with it and nodded, "y-yes that's right."

"so you wrote her birthdate as the date after the accident."

mrs kang fiddled with her fingers, "is there something wrong?"

lady misun shook her head, "n-no. not that i think of. why did you gave her that last name?"

"as a tribute to min haera."

. . .

"what's wrong?" jaeyoung kept asking mrs kang as they headed back to the house.

mrs kang looked spaced out and unfocused ever since she came back from the taste test, hyori and jaeyoung couldn't help but worry.

"auntie?" hyori voiced out but to her luck, no response.

mrs kang went to the kitchen to grab something to drink and hyori immediately followed her after telling jaeyoung to go up to her room.

once the two were alone, hyori mustered up all the courage she had to confront her aunt. "is everything alright?"

mrs kang nodded slowly, a sad look plastered on her face, "i guess so..."

"did something happen?"

"they are suspecting jaeyoung..."

a small gasp escapes her lips as she eavesdropped on their conversation. it was a bad thing to do but her curiosity made her do it. after hearing the sudden suspicion, jaeyoung bit her lips and quietly ran back upstairs to her room.

she walked in her room and sat on her bed. "the royal family is suspecting me?" she furrowed her brows.

"i-is there something wrong with me?"

numerous thoughts flooded her mind as her eyes trailed onto the book. "w-what if... they were luring me and will trap me in the dungeon as well–" her breath hitched sharply as she shook her head, tightly closing her eyes.

"no. no. no."

"that's– that's not going to happen! i-i trust them... even if they don't trust me back, i see them as my friends, still."

her heart dropped at thought of being locked up and killed in the dungeon. that's not gonna happen, right? she kept repeating in her mind, trying to push away all the negative thoughts.

she stood up and walked towards her window, pushing it open as she let the breeze swiftly touch her skin.

sighing, her eyes darted onto the faraway castle. "scary place." she murmured and frowned.

she kept staring at it until a knock on the door caught her off guard. she closed the windows immediately and jumped onto her bed, covering herself under her thick blanket.

another knock was heard and yet jaeyoung chose to ignore it and pretend to be sleeping. a loud sigh, audible enough for jaeyoung to hear as the knob twists open.

"oh, she's sleeping already..." familiarizing with the voice, jaeyoung instantly knew that it was hyori.

a switch flicked and the lights turned off. "sleep tight jaeyoung..."

once jaeyoung heard the door close, she went out the blankets and faced the dark.

"i don't want to go back in the palace." was all she said before she fell into her deep sleep.

morning came quick and hyori dashed up the stairs to wake the girl up, only to find her already gone. hyori furrowed her brows and walked up close the desk and saw a note saying that she had left early.

jaeyoung gripped onto her backpack's strap tightly as she walked into school early in the morning. a yawn escapes her lips, sitting down on her chair, resting her head on her arms as she positioned herself to sleep.

"oh? you're here early?" jaeyoung hummed, not even bothering to know who talked to her.

"it's me."

"hi me."

"jaeyoung."

"jaeyoung."

"stop copying me oh my hera–"

"don't you even dare say that, jaeyoung."

"okay i won't." jaeyoung shrugged, face still buried in her arms.

miyeon let out a huff and pouted as she poked the girl softly, "i may have a clue on who's your parents."

"what do you mean?" jaeyoung said in a quite muffled voice.

"i mean... i did some research and like i found some stuff that really shocked me."

"okay, what are these stuff?" jaeyoung asked in a sleep tone.

miyeon shook her head, "you need to sleep, i bet you were thinking about stuff again."

"i don't have any stuff to think about, but you have stuff to say about." jaeyoung pointed out lazily.

"okay, you definitely just need to sleep for now."

jaeyoung shot her head up, eyeing miyeon, "i need to know."

miyeon pursed her lips and shook her head, slowly bringing jaeyoung's head back down to rest on her arms, "shhh, you need to sleep."

"whatever–" she muttered and fell silent.

miyeon raised a brow and poked the girl, only to find out that she was in her deep slumber. miyeon sighed and took a seat, indulging her self into some music before class starts.

.     .     .

"she's dead!" lucas argued. "she drowned,
end of discussion!"

"but how are you so sure that she is dead?" mark raised a brow before gasping, "lucas! did you kill her? bet you did."

lucas looked at his brother in horror, "i was just around three that time!"

minseok facepalmed and tapped his stick onto the wooden surface, earning their attention. "let's not turn this into some debate, okay?" he said, looking at the two brothers with their clashing theories.

"but hyung!"

"no lucas." minseok quickly denied lucas before anything could even happen.

lucas crossed his arms and pouted. "you don't even look cute–" sicheng snorted and looked away which made lucas pout more.

their discussion about the tragedy wasn't finished since the whole tragedy had numerous of stories, opinions, and theories about it. one of them being the princess still alive and another is the princess being dead.

minseok suggested that they should do something grand for the whole efflorescence season, since it was a big event for the whole heraphany.

"heflorescence is all about preparing for the cold winter and harvesting! what if... um... i got no idea at all." chenle gives up and just sat back in his chair.

"well, what about flowers?" renjun suggested.

"flowers?" jaemin raised a brow.

renjun nodded, "efflorescence is also like a festival of blooming. we should do something with flowers, like, baby breaths."

"baby breath flowers are usually gifted for baby showers and such, it also sends a delicate message about the lost baby princess." renjun explained.

minseok noted the idea quick, liking that renjun had a more in-depth reason for the flower idea.

"how about lanterns?" lucas grinned.

"what do you mean lanterns?" kun questioned.

"you know, from that tale, tangled was it? she was also a lost princess wasn't she? and like the lanterns brought her back home..." lucas said slowly, "...what if we do the same?"

"the lanterns could be designed either a moon, a sun, or a flower!" sicheng smiled, agreeing with lucas' idea.

doyoung gawked at them, "that's actually a good idea."

"when should we do the lantern thing?" jeno asked.

"on princess haera's birthday or the last day of the festival?"

"well," minseok started, "december twenty is the day princess haera was born, december twenty two is the last battle of queen hera, as well as the official end of the festival..." he trailed off.

"then lets just do it in between!" jisung said.

minseok nodded, "alright then."

"any more ideas?"

the boys all shook their heads and minseok nodded again, "i'll go report this to the organizers."

"you're all dismissed for the day." he said making the boys celebrate as they didn't have any schedule for today, which means they could do anything they want. "until! i come back with your schedule." and that made them groan and act tired.

once minseok had left, they all began to talk about the upcoming grand ball.

"wait, don't we have another taste testing today?"

"actually," jaehyun raised his hand, "i think we are the ones who are going out today."

"eh?!"

"what do you mean, hyung?" jisung tilts his head in confusion.

"from what i heard, we are the ones visiting the bakery. i mean, not really sure but, maybe?" jaehyun shrugged, evident in his tone that he had no clue at all.

"i doubt they'd let us all out at the same time." donghyuck muttered.

"they wouldn't." jaemin snickered.

"should we pick then? who gets to be the lucky one who visits the bakery today?" yuta questioned.

"i'm in!" mostly all of the young ones said.

"i guess so." said the older ones.

after the game they ended up with; jaehyun, renjun, taeil, donghyuck, kun, and sicheng.

renjun grimaced upon seeing the finalist, "i didn't even want to come." he muttered.

"liar." chenle whistled beside him.

renjun flinched and head-locked the younger one, "s-shut up!"

—