tHis is gonna end soon ;-;

—

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

two days had passed and it was only a few days until the main day of the festival. jaeyoung was free to roam around the palace again, the only reason she wasn't in the first place was because they were afraid that she would know about xzavis. there was no point in hiding it now.

today, renjun and jaeyoung were out by the fields, both wanted to get some fresh air at least before they go talk to xzavis.

"injun-ie!" jaeyoung exclaimed and poked his cheek.

"aren't you so energetic today, injae?" the boy questioned as they let the cold breeze blow past them. piles of snow were around as they walked around.

"it's winter! plus, it's only a few days before my birthday."

"right! what do you want for your birthday?" he hummed softly, averting his gaze onto her.

she tilts her head, thinking about before smiling as she shook her head, "nothing!"

the boy was baffled as he slowly knitted his brows together, "n-nothing...?" it wasn't really new to him, but he didn't really expect such answer would come from her.

jaeyoung laughed, "i just want you and your brothers to enjoy the whole day with me. that's all i want."

renjun sniggered, "how about... a new book? maybe a painting, or–"

she gently placed her hand to cover his lips, his words becoming muffled as he continued list down potential gifts. "i already told you what i want, injun."

he reaches to pry her hand off, pouting, "but still! at least let me give you something, injae."

"you already gave me something though?"

he blinked, "wait i did?"

she nodded, "you gave me a home."

he scoffed and playfully pushed her, "tsk, come on! what about–"

"actually, we do have a gift for you, jaeyoung." both of them spun around to see jaemin grinning at them.

"you do?"

"we do?" renjun blurted out and jaemin sighed, "you know..." he tried to point out slowly and renjun easily caught up leaving the only dumbfounded one was jaeyoung.

jaeyoung whined, "what do you mean?"

jaemin shook his head as he laced an arm around her, "wait until your birthday."

the three headed back inside where the others waited for them. yuta gestured jaeyoung to cone with him, "taeyong, jaehyun, and sicheng are already down at the dungeons."

yuta and kun lead her to the dungeons, sometimes bringing up funny topics to talk about so that it wouldn't feel so awkward. kun cackled as yuta kept talking about their training fails and how they were preparing hard for the main event.

everyone in heraphany was excited for the long awaited festival. there were parades happening here and there, there were town games and bands playing from time to time.

as they arrived, the three other princes stood outside the cellar and jaeyoung frowned a bit. jaehyun placed a hand over her shoulder, "do you want us to come with you or...?"

"i'll go alone, can i?" she looks at taeyong who slowt nodded his head. "we'll be out here, okay?"

sicheng slowly opened the door and reassured her, "be careful, okay?"

she smiled, "i will."

stepping into the cellar, she felt a wave of familiarity hit her. fingers curling into a fist, she approached the table readied for them. the blonde boy was seated, his lips pressed together as he kept silent. dark circles under his eyes as his wounds from all the torturing were now wrapped in bandages.

"princess?" xzavis raised a brow as he gazed at the girl.

however, jaeyoung shook her head and smiled softly, "i'm not the princess."

"huh?"

"why don't we start again? i'm jaeyoung, a baker here in heflorescence." she suggested.

confused with her words, the blonde boy tilted his head, "i'm xzavis..."

she clasped her hands together, "how are you?"

xzavis hummed, "i'll be fine."

silence engulfed them for awhile, thankfully it wasn't the awkward one. xzavis had a train of thoughts stuck in his mind, a bit confused why she suddenly wanted to talk to her, after all, he's from the eastern tribe.

"you remind me so much of hera." the boy suddenly said and she chuckled, "do i?"

he nods, "actually... hera took good care of me when i was a kid. i could still remember that. i don't– well, maybe the reason why i really turned my back on her was because of how greedy i was."

"i- i wanted to succeed, better than the knights i trained with."

jaeyoung listened carefully and she smiled sadly, "what about now?"

that caught him off guard, he shook his head, "i don't know... but you really made me think about it, especially when you talked to mina... i don't know how– but you managed to outsmart her."

"what do you mean?" she furrowed her brows.

xzavis chuckles, "i'm just sure you won't be seeing her anytime soon, in fact, she's probably not with the eastern tribe right now."

"what about the other? aren't there seven scimitars?"

xzavis slumped his shoulders, looking down, a sad tone to his voice as he said, "the only scimitars left is me and mina, others died during the war, others caught themselves with sickness... maybe that's why mina acted like that."

jaeyoung gaped, "you mean...?"

"she wanted a home."

"but– but why... like, how?"

xzavis sighed, "mina really considered the seven scimitars as her home, and now that were the only ones left... it drove her crazy, especially since our leader was trying to claim this land, she thought that if she managed to wipe out everyone here in heraphany, maybe she'll find a home..."

jaeyoung was both shocked and sad to hear that. she didn't really expect it, though everyone did had a story of their own. maybe that's why mins acted like that? she found a home in the palace, however that made her almost forget why she was there in the first place. she ended up betraying the home she found.

• • •

"what are we doing here again?" jaeyoung tilts her head as she looked up at youngho who just smiled at her. "take this as a sorry for not being able to protect you." he said as jaeyoung laughed, "you don't need to be sorry, youngho!"

the tall boy frowned, "i still feel bad."

doyoung and mark uttered in unison, "we're here too you know!"

youngho glanced back and stuck his tongue out at then making them glare at him in return.

"how was walking to xzavis?" doyoung questioned as the the four of them entered the bright festival set up the town centre had.

mark gawked at the fairy lights which illuminated through the dark skies. it had snowed a few hours ago and seeing the remnants of snow around made it look so magical.

people bowed down to the group of royals from time to time to which the group greeted them respectfully. everyone was stunned to see the princess, it was a miracle for them to finally find the lost princess.

"it felt nice, now i know why mina acted like that." she said simply, eyes casted onto the various stalls.

doyoung pursed his lips, eyeing the girl who talked to mark and youngho as they checked out the book-sale. he smiled, his heart warmed up knowing how jaeyoung got along so good with his brothers. at first, he doubted her so much to the fact that he even acted rude towards her. now it struck him, he still hasn't said his own apology.

bitting down his bottom lip, his looked up only to panic as the trio was no longer seen near the book-sale or anywhere. sneering, "seriously!" he exclaimed and started running around, trying to find them.

meanwhile, youngho ushered the two younger ones behind a stall. "shh, he won't find us here."

jaeyoung giggled, "we are running away from a bunny?"

mark grinned, "poor bunny."

"wait, where is he anyways?" youngho looked around, trying to spot his brother.

"what if he's hiding from us too?" he joked making jaeyoung shake her head.

a few minutes passed and doyoung ran towards them, an annoyed look plastered on his face, looking betrayed as ever. "yah!" the poor prince pouted, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

jaeyoung scrunched her nose cutely and pinched his cheeks, "poor bunny indeed."

doyoung huffed, "daisy? you let them hide from me and you went with them!"

"sorry, bunny." she chuckled.

doyoung sighed and ruffled her hair, "doesn't matter anymore."

"oh look!" jaeyoung grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards a stall which offered art supplies and art books. "these look interesting, don't they?" she glanced at doyoung only to find him staring at him.

"bunny?"

"daisy, i'm sorry."

bewildered, jaeyoung raised both of her brows, "what do you mean, doyoung?"

doyoung averted his gaze onto the books, "i'm sorry for being rude to you the first time we met... i'm sorry for doubting you, for believing that you were nothing but nuisance to us. i thought– i thought wrong."

jaeyoung smiled and stretched her hand out to cup his cheek, "don't mind about that, doyo."

"i know, but i can't just not apologize, daisy. i wasn't raised to be like that." he said and wrapped his arms around her shoulder, "i don't know what i did in my past life to deserve you."

"i think i should be the one to say that." she said as they headed to where mark and youngho stood.

doyoung smiled softly, "i heard from renjun that you didn't want anything for your birthday?"

jaeyoung shrugged, "i'd rather spend my time with you boys."

doyoung rolled his eyes, "you do know we already prepared a gift for you, right?"

she chuckled, "you don't really have to."

"trust me, this is all lucas' idea."

"sounds exciting then," she grinned.

—

lucas the best boy for his lady

-jibin