btw! new covers hehe

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3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"so–" taeyong flips through the books, "in heflorescence there is the moon dynasty."

"that is our bloodline." jisung smiles, "the moon royal family consist of king daehyun, queen misun, and the eighteen princes."

"state the eighteen princes." renjun immediately threw a question at her.

"wait–"

"one." renjun clapped.

"um– wait, uhh..."

"who's the crown prince?"

"..." jaeyoung kept silent, "...moon taeil...?"

"final answer?" taeyong raised a brow.

jaeyoung panicked, "is he not?"

"he is." jisung chuckled, clapping his hands, feeling amused with jaeyoung's lack of knowledge.

jaeyoung let out a sigh of relief, "i thought i was wrong."

"who's the youngest?"

"park jisung." jaeyoung immediately answered.

"hmm... what else... i told you to name all of us." taeyong mumbled.

jaeyoung scrunched her nose, "i'll try." she looked down at the pictures.

"this is jisung, jaemin, donghyuck, jeno, renjun, chenle, minhyung..." she points at each one, "...lucas, jungwoo, sicheng, jaehyun, doyoung, kun, taeil, yuta, taeyong..." she pursed her lips, "this is ten right?"

taeyong looks down at the portrait on the book, "yeah, that's ten."

"so... this is youngho?"

"yes, you're correct!" taeyong smiles, "good job."

jaeyoung sighs, "thanks. what else?"

"so, let's talk about the other districts." taeyong uttered, "do you know the xiao royal family from the falconholt district?"

"xiao...?" jaeyoung knits her brows in confusion, the name not quite ringing in her head.

"yes. the xiao family. they consist of the king yu and the three princes." taeyong listed, "the twins, prince hendery and prince dejun, then prince yangyang."

"here, so that you can familiarize with them." renjun slides over the book which contained pictures of the xiao royal family.

"district falconholt and district laencaster... doesn't really have a royal family but, lady jiahui is currently at falconholt, she handles everything there with the help of kun sometimes." taeyong points out, "while youngho and taeil usually help out at laencaster a lot."

jaeyoung was stunned to know all of these information, she didn't know about such things, maybe if she paid attention more in royal families, maybe she'd know more.

she listened carefully to what the boys told her, and would sometimes ask them if she got confused with their words. as the time passed by, the girl began to feel sleepy. she didn't have that much sleep last night due to some late night thoughts bothering her.

taeyong noticed her droopy eyes and cleared his throat, "why don't we take a break? jisung, go ask the servants for snacks." he suggested and the younger nodded, standing up to go outside.

renjun furrows his brows and turned his attention towards the girl to see her head hanging low, her eyes closed and faint sound of breathing. he looked up to taeyong, "she's..."

"...asleep." taeyong finishes with a chuckle. "let her rest for awhile."

renjun nodded and browsed through the books. he was looking through the history about min dynasty of the valfield district, since it's the next topic they would be tackling.

"hyung."

"yes, renjun?"

"isn't this..." he trailed off, his fingers hovering over the portrait on the book, "...j-jaeyoung?" his voice wavered, a bit scared at the resemblance.

taeyong coughed all of a sudden and snatched the book from renjun, his eyes went wide at the picture. "no. this is definitely queen hayoon."

brows furrowing, renjun couldn't help but grow nervous, "but... she looks exactly like... jaeyoung when she was younger." his voice softened as he spoke.

taeyong pressed his lips together, eyeing the picture carefully before looking at the sleeping girl. there was definitely a resemblance.

with his lips pursed together, he flipped through the pages until he stopped at one. the page that talked about the lost princess. taeyong's eyes scanned each word, taking in all the information that he already knew and he didn't know.

"...when's her birthday?" he nervously asked renjun.

"i-i... i don't know..." renjun replied sadly.

taeyong's eyes stopped at the baby picture, "necklace." he mutters and slowly averted his gaze back onto jaeyoung. "baby breath's pendant!" he gasped and dropped the book accidentally on the table, causing it to create a sound loud enough to wake up jaeyoung.

the girl jumps in her seat, startled by the noice. she yawns, rubbing her right eye, "what– was that sound?" she asked, fluttering her eyes open to look at them.

renjun scratched his cheek, "um... taeyong-hyung just... dropped a book." he mumbled, his eyes locked onto the girl, finally seeing the uncanny resemblance she has with the queen of valfield.

she can't be... is she? renjun kept voicing out in his mind, not wanting to jump into conclusions again.

taeyong was awestruck, he breathed in sharply, "i'm sorry– to wake you up– i just, i was, surprised." he stammered, not being able to choose the right words.

jaeyoung chuckled softly, "no, it's fine. i shouldn't have slept, i'm sorry." she said, the book that fell on the table caught her attention. "oh... isn't this..." she tilts her head, "princess haera? was it?" she hums, her head aching a bit.

"say... jaeyoung?" taeyong croaked out.

"yes?" she replied, brows raising as her eyes were still on the picture. it was as if the picture drew her in. the feeling of familiarity was scaring her.

"when is your birthday?" he tilts his head.

jaeyoung hums, "i don't know if it's my actual birthday though... i was just found on mrs kang's doorstep, so the day she found me, she made it my birthday." she told them, "december twenty-one... mrs kang doesn't really know what year, but i was found year two thousand one."

taeyong's eyes widened, the day after the flood.

"why?" she tilts her head, now looking up at him. she was baffled to see his expression, the shocked face and uneasy look made her worry. "h-hey, are you okay, tae?"

taeyong nodded slowly, reaching out to caress her cheek, "yes... i am. don't worry." he chuckled before his hand went down, sending chills down her spine.

jaeyoung looked down, only to find taeyong's hand grasping her necklace's pendant. "where'd you get this?" he questioned.

the girl blinked in confusion but decided not to question him, "uhh... mrs kang said i already wore it when she found me."

"she always told me to wear it, maybe it would be a big puzzle piece into finding my family, my home." she smiled brightly and that just hurt taeyong's heart.

renjun noticed the pained look taeyong's eyes held and he knew why. the necklace tells the truth.

renjun held his breath and pushed his seat as his stood up, "i'm... gonna go get some fresh air." he said fast before dashing out the room in a hurry.

jaeyoung frowned, "what's wrong?" she looked at the door.

taeyong was eyes the pendant in his palm carefully. it looked exactly like prince hyuwon's duplicate. "...do you want to find your family, jaeyoung?" he asked softly, letting go of her pendant.

she let out a chortle, her hand reaching up to also take a hold of the pendant. she felt taeyong's warmth on it, "of course."

"what if you disliked your own family kind?" taeyong cautiously asked, raising a brow.

"i can't dislike my own family..." jaeyoung said simply, "we have this kind of love and hate with our family, but it's always neither. we can't bring ourselves to say that we love them sometimes, but can't also bring ourselves to say that we totally hate them."

she lets go of the pendant, "after all... they're family." she looks down at the baby picture.

jaeyoung pressed her lips together, "let's start?"

taeyong scrunched his nose, "alright..."

"do you know the min dynasty from valfield district?"

"i know some... like the tragedy thingy, i learned them from miyeon when we went to valfield." jaeyoung answered.

"well, the min royal family consist of the queen hayoon, the king dongwoo, the prince hyuwon... and the lost princess haera." taeyong slowly uttered as he showed her the family portrait and the girl felt her stomach churning.

why does it look like i've seen them before?

"the tragedy 2001, the flood that crashed the royal family's carriage," taeyong reads carefully, "it said that since that day, they never saw princess haera ever again. some say she's dead, some say she's still alive."

"the one month long festival, season of efflorescence celebrates the blooming in different forms and ways. this festival also celebrates princess haera's birthday, december twenty, two thousand."

"it also celebrates queen hera's last battle, right?" jaeyoung questioned in which taeyong hummed in response.

"that's the official end of the festival, where heraphany received epiphany. december twenty two."

a knock was heard and they stopped their actions. the door opens revealing jisung with jungwoo and taeil, two maids tailing them as they carried trays filled with snacks.

"how's it going here?" taeil asked and walked in, taking a seat beside taeyong while jungwoo told the youngest to sit next to jaeyoung.

he was shy, yet he faced this barrier, gaining courage to sit beside her.

jungwoo patted the girl's head, "renjun told me you were a bit sleepy?"

jaeyoung sheepishly smiled, "yeah, i wasn't able to sleep that much..."

"you should rest well, jaeyoung. especially since exams are just nextweek for you." taeil told her, voice laced with authority.

jaeyoung nodded curtly, "i will. don't worry."

jungwoo then tugged on taeyong's sleeve, grabbing his attention. "can we talk?" jungwoo tilts his head, gesturing towards the door.

taeyong was confused at first but agreed. "please excuse us, enjoy your snacks." taeyong said, bowing a bit before walking out with jungwoo.

once the door closed, "renjun told me."

"about?" taeyong huffs.

"the jaeyoung's pendant."

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