Palace Gardens

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) Yes let's switch to that.]

@ℓChen-Bussan ((okay, so should we switch over to Kyungmi and Yunho? cuz Kyungmi's just going to avoid Chen as much as she can.))

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) Ah yes time skip is a good idea. And yes I can rp with her about that]

@ℓChen-Bussan ((The Council is pushing Yunho and Kyungmi to be together and are pressuring Kyungmi to marry him because he'll be the ultimate ally. To be truthful, Kyungmi is attracted to him, but she's in love with Kai. BTW, Kai and Yunho despise each other. You could rp with Channie about that? ><))

@ℓChen-Bussan ((timeskip? Should we move on to Yunho and Kyungmi?))

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) Chen sighed as he watched her leave. He his his face in his hands and felt that sensation coming over him again. A sensation of aging quickly, a heavy burden on his body. He felt sort of..stretched.

Seeing Kyungmi like that had startled him. It had been too much alike. And the worry grew in his mind. Of what might be happening to his daughter.

@ℓChen-Bussan "I-I..." she stilled. Normally, she could come up with a quick answer, even a lie, to everything, but the shock that the sudden mood shift caused left her silent.

"I'm sorry, Mother, I don't know what came over me. I just..." With a deep breath, the Heiress turned away from the male. "Kai, tell the keepers to ready my horse!"

She walked away swiftly, her scarlett dress flowing behind her like a vision of crimson blood. For the blink of an eye, she looked nothing like her mother and resembled only her father.

"I'm going to go cool off." she muttered before disappearing within the palace.

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) Chen was shocked about it aswell. How could she ask such a thing? He looked at her with shock and pain in her expression. But he was also dissapointed. "What has come over you?" He asked in disbelief. "What are even these questions, of course it isn't!" And so he turned away to gaze out over the garden instead.

He felt heavily burdened. A lump was forming in his throat after hearing those words leave his own daughters lips. He was starting to worry about her now. Had he been gone for too long for something to grow in her mind? He had his thoughts and ideas. "How could you even get the idea.."

@ℓChen-Bussan With a wince, Kyungmi suppressed the bile rising in . Had her father been alive, would she at least have had some parental guidance through her adolenscent years? She didn't know. For a moment, all that remained in her heart was bitterness for the man that left, on his own two feet. And yet, he had the audacity to chide her for her /mannerisms/.

"Is your duty to your country stronger than that to your own daughter?"

As soon as the words left , the Princess' eyes widened. Had she really spoken that way-felt that way-towards her own mother? Turning quickly to face the lord, she could do no more than gape. What was coming over her? It was like a sudden darkness, where should could feel nothing but hate...Though at the same time, she could not take back her words, for the question was one that had been buried deep in her soul for a long time.

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) CHen had noticed the sense of oldness in her voice. It worried him a lot as she was still young but it coulnd't be helped. She was under so much stress with many different things to attend to at once and he could say that he was glad not to be in his daughters position.

"Yes, you shouldn't speak ill of the dead.." It pained him that she had never gotten over the negative emotions she felt. It mad him wonder why she still felt that way? Was it just the way she wore, wanting her family near or or was it because she was so young at the time? He didn't know. "I know that you feel that way and I can understand your distaste. He never stole me away though. It was more..Duty so to say. So I more or less had to do it even though it was not pleasant."

The hate Kyungmi felt for Sohee was something CHen had guessed but never asked or spoke about. It wouldn't surprise him if she did. And if she knew about CHen's close relationship to the young woman she wouldn't be more happy about it.

@ℓChen-Bussan "It is good that I have not let you suffer even further...Yes, it is good."

Her voice, so far off, was tired like that of someone far older than she. These few months, what with her incoming coronation and the hustled appointment of her Doctore-it was the least to say that the Heiress was stressed. The breeze grew stronger and her red dress flapped in the sudden gust.

"Yonghwa...and Sohee," she closed her eyes, brows furrowed distastefully, "Mother, I know that it is a taboo to disgrace someone deceased, but I still very much resent Cousin Yonghwa for stealing you away." What she wanted to say further, however, the Princess did not reveal. She didn't want her mother to know of the hate she harbored for Sohee, the woman that stole away her family and killed off the thing she coveted. No...Kyungmi bit her tongue.

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) "I would be lying to say that it hadn't. In the beginning it was the hardest because the wound after his death was still fairly fresh. But for me it passed. It doesn't cause me the same sorrow as before.." Chen listened to her and pressed back a sigh. He knew that it had been hard for her to have him so far away. All the way in Bussan.

"The reason for me to travel to Bussan was completely out of duty. Yonghwa, and then later on Sohee was put to the throne without experience or training for the job. Yonghwa didn't even know Bussan or it's people. But I do." he reached out, letting the back of his hand over her pale smooth skin. "I was needed there. But I am no more."

@ℓChen-Bussan "Exactly the same..." Perhaps, it would have been better for her to have beared no resemblance to her father at all. Then, would she never have carried the fear of falling into his doomed fate, herself? "I wonder, did I ever pain you with my eyes? Uncle tells me that when he sees me, he is reminded of his lost brother...I would be a fool to not notice the anguish in his soul at his words. Did I never disturb you in the same way?"

"Is that the reason you stayed so far-such leagues far as in Bussan? It may be petty, but I do still feel agony at our long separation, Mother."

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) "It was a curse more or less. As it broke he became free.." Chen didn't say much more about it. He watched his daughter and watched the petals fall and land in her hand. His daughter was all too beautiful, carrying her had been painfull but had been worth it in the end as he became the result.

"I remember that..I was always so amazed of your alikeness to me.." Chen reached out and tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. He continued to smile at her as his eyes looked into hers. "Yes..Your eyes are so alike his. Exactly the same. The rest of your looks have been passed down from me." ¨He had noticed the bitterness in her voice and wondered about it. "What's bothering you, dearest?"

@ℓChen-Bussan "How," the princess' voice was faint, thoughtful, "did he come out of the darkness with his own two feet? Is it possible to do so? I thought Father had traded his soul for the power he gained in order to conquer Bussan?"

Hand halted in mid-air, she watched as a blossom fluttered in the breeze, only then to fall and nestle in her palm. Her mother's gentle tone silenced her questions.

"Remember what you told me when I was little, Mother? Every night, after my bath, you would comb my hair and tell me that I looked every bit like you, save for my eyes. Do they still remind you of Father?" as each word passed her lips, Kyungmi tasted bitterness on her tongue and her fingers unconsciously clenched around the frail petals of her flower.

@§Kyungmi-Kwangju ( Semi-Hiatus ) Chen felt utterly delighted to be back in Kwangju with his daughter. His duty to watch over the new domina in Bussan was over as she had reached maturity and he had been able to return. If only the time there hadn't left a taste and a aching after his old home. But being here, sitting in the beautiful gardens of the kwangju palace he loved too.

The wind grazed over his skin and he felt at peace as he smiled towards his daughter and started to tell the story. "It wasn't a delightfull meeting whatsoever. It was far from love at first sight. When Kwangju had invaded Bussan I met with him to speak between four eyes. He and his men had behaved and treated the people badly. I didn't like him at all at that time, in fact I hated him. But after coming to Kwangju he got better. He came out of the darkness that had been lingering in his mind and into the light.."

Chen sighed a bit and and smoother out the fabric covering his legs. "It was so long ago now..But I can still remember him clearly..It was my biggest fear after his death. That I wouldn't be able to remember him. THat he would cease from my mind."

It was quiet outside, only the birds' gentle chirping occasionally breaking the silence. A pale finger tracing the bark ridges of the peach tree, Kyungmi closed her eyes to the sensation. This was the place her grandparents and uncles were married; it was the place her father wanted to marry her mother.

"Mother," she spoke slowly, eyes still closed, "could you tell me the story of yours and Father's first meeting? I want to hear it again, for some reason."

The wind picked up lightly, as if suddenly, Prince Sehun's spirit had joined them. It was a sentimental thought, one the Princess couldn't deny she didn't think. If only.