☁ Throne Room

@☁ Mir To say that Soojung wasn't taken aback by his response would be a lie. It somehow, as stupid as it may seem, gave her hope that he'd stop her. That he'd tell her not to get married to someone else but she was wrong. Her heart broke all over again the moment the word congratulations left his lips.

She turned to look at him and mustered a small smile."Thank you.." was all she could say before she watched him leave, the same way he'd left her that day. "Stupid..Why would you ever think that he'd stop you? Stupid.." She looked down as she felt herself tear up. Without another word to anyone, she walked all the way to the table where the glasses of wine were and lifted one up to her lips but she was stopped by another hand. False hopes lit up in her again but the moment she saw who it was, her gaze turned cold before she shrugged his hand off.

"Princess," She glanced at Woobin who had placed his hand on hers again.

"Please.. Just leave me alone." Her voice cracked. It was clear to anyone that she was upset. With that, Woobin let go of her and allowed her to drink. The next thing she knew, she was stumbling out of the ballroom with Woobin by her side. Fortunately for them, there was nobody there to witness her drunkard state except for some guards but with Woobin blocking her, nobody could tell it was her.

Soojung looked at Woobin and smiled. "Aren't I such an idiot?" She said. "To think that he'd stop me..to think that he'd.." She stopped talking as tears streamed down her face. Seeing that she wasn't moving from her spot, he picked her up bridal-style before hauling her all the way to their transportation here. By then, she couldn't even recognize who was who anymore. "I hate myself.. I wish I didn't love you so much.." She muttered. "I want to hate you but I can't. I can't bring myself to hate you, Mir.. I can't. No matter what I do, I can't hate you.." She then stayed quiet, not wanting to say anything else.

@⚓ Soojung Mir froze, his throat parched, his tongue dry like the sands of the desert. "What?" His hoarse voice slipped out in a hushed tone. His eyes were locked on hers, his own wide as his body tensed up in disbelief and fear.

'No!' He wanted to say. He wanted to reached forward and grab her and beg her not to. He wanted to convince her that he was sorry, that everything he'd done to her was never to hurt her. That he still loves her, that he wasn't prepared to just let her slip through her fingers.

But, in that moment, he was a coward. Any words he'd rehearsed to convince her of his apologies had dissolved, leaving his mind empty except for screams.

Mir dropped his gaze and, bowing slightly, mumbled, "Congratulations," before he his heel, walking as dignified as he could out of the throne room. If he could - if no one had been watching - he would have run. But that didn't matter. The only gaze he'd ever care about would be Soojung's - and she'd already set her upon someone else.

As soon as he'd rounded the corner, out of earshot of anyone else, he slammed his fist into the wall.

"Sir?" A voice sparked up from beside him. A guard stood stock still with only his eyes focused on Mir. He'd evidently been standing inside the indent of the next doorway. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Mir heaved, waving the guard away from his hand. "Nothing for you to worry about."

As the guard resumed his position, Mir took a shuddering breath before slamming his fist in the same spot and kicking his foot violently against the wall.

The energy soon drained out of him, causing him to press his forehead against the wall, letting his arm slip and leaving a smear of blood where the punches had punctured his knuckles and stained the wall.

@☁ Mir Soojung couldn't help but tense up when he placed his hand on her waist. Oh how she wanted to just run away from that scene, far away and never to come back. Never again would she have to break her own heart over and over again at every glance she sent him. She looked at him when he spoke before averting her eyes towards people dancing around them instead.

"I just arrived." She didn't mean for her reply to sound so cold, short and distant but she couldn't help it. That was her way of protecting herself, of protecting her shattered heart. "But from what I've seen so far, it's a nice place.." She quickly added. She knew she had to compliment the kingdom otherwise the eavesdropping locals might end up turning faces on her own kingdom.

She took a deep breath before speaking once more, this time looking directly at him. "There's two reasons as to why I came here." She muttered. "One is to congratulate your new queen and second," She stopped in her tracks, pulling away from the dance. "I'm getting married..so I'm here to invite your kingdom to the wedding personally." She looked away.

At the mention of marriage, she recalled the night where her mother had summoned the whole family for a family dinner. She'd been sitting there silently, minding her own business when a certain advisor waltzed right into the dining room. The next thing she knew, he was asking her mother to betroth Soojung to him. To say she was surprised was understated. She was far more than surprised. What took her feelings even more downhill than it already was, was the fact that her mother had readily agreed to it.

"It's still months away but I figured it'd be a good thing to give you all a heads up." Her tone was casual but if one listened closely, they'd hear the crack in her voice as she spoke and of course, the sadness hidden behind her casual tone.

Deep inside, she knew this was going to break their relationship into a million pieces, possibly to the point that it would be impossible to fix.

@⚓ Soojung Mir felt like he was going to collapse, waiting for her to answer him. The more seconds past, the more he expected her to refuse, to make a fool out of him and storm out of the room. In fact, he wouldn't have blamed her if she did. But she didn't, thanks probably to her status and her manners. He couldn't at all hope that it had anything to do with him or forgiveness.

Stiffly, Mir took her hand, her fingers feeling fragile in his, and led her out onto the dance floor. Cautiously, he placed his free hand at her waist and began to lead her into a very uncomplicated waltz. He didn't think he could handle anything with anymore footwork when his mind was already racing over so many, unrelated things.

It felt like they were countries apart, her body the full length of his arm away. It felt stiff and uncomfortable and he hated it. He hated how distant they'd become. It was worse before they'd even known each other, when he thought her only of a queen who had rejected his alliance proposal. So many things hung between them - betrayal, rejection, hurt. He hated the taste of them, turning his gaze away from her mask covered face. "So," he coughed, finding Hye looking lost without a dance partner easier to look at than his former lover. "How long have you been over... Your Highness? Have you found our Kingdom... well?"

He cringed at the rigid words, hating how they sounded out of his mouth. He wished he could go back to when they had been carefree with each other. When they'd been able to laugh and dance and... he'd been able to kiss her.

And now that was all lost. Now they were strangers again.

No. They were worse than that.

Hyelim's eyes quickly scanned through the crowd, somehow hoping that her friend's face would be there. But no matter how much she looked, he wasn't there.
"Where the hell are you...." she muttered through gritted teeth, feeling the panic rising within her. Why couldn't people just dance? If someone filled up the dancefloor, then she wouldn't have to deal with all these rich pigs looking at her. Someone... Just someone.... Anyone.

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@⚓ Jinki [[pfft-- it just like...made him want to run in the opposite direction]]

@☾ Jonghyun {{hahaha I did XDD
Hyelim was like, "Nope, I want you" XD}}

@⚓ Jinki [[lol if you read what happened between jonghyun and hyelim, he really like kept insisting on her asking onew instead]]

@☾ Jonghyun {{lmao, he's in for the slaughter xD
I just imagine Jonghyun forcing Jinki to go over and dance with her and Jonghyun takes that as his chance to escape XDD}}

@☁ Hyelim {{Sorry XD Mir is otherwise occupied with dancing with Soojung xD
I can offer Jinki's assistance but that's about it :P lolol}}

@⚓ Jinki [[lol well jonghyun totally sacrificed onew to her XD]]

@☾ Jonghyun {{otl, I didn't see that XD my thing was set to just see posts related to me v.v
No need then, you guys keep roleplaying and Onew can disappear into the background xD}}

@⚓ Jinki [[otl idk how to reply to this since I already replied to hyelim]]

@☾ Jonghyun {{Okay, you can slap me for the late reply xD I'm sorry :P busy with graduation, etc. But I've finally come!}}

Onew breathed a sigh of relief when the dancing couple had dispersed and not reprimanded him for almost making them collide. Though he did glance around the room in case they had ordered guards after him - and, thankfully, the guards look placid and bored enough that Onew knew he was safe. With a sheepish grin, he shrugged to his brother, "That's how you make an entrance." It was said almost like a question, hoping that Jonghyun wasn't too ridiculously embarrassed by what the older had done. But it had at least livened up the stiff atmosphere.

Onew was about to head towards the food, encouraging his brother to go with him, when he caught sight of the girl from earlier staring in their direction. Nudging Jonghyun, Onew whispered teasingly, "I think she's staring at you. You should ask her to dance!" With a childish, stifled laugh, Onew flicked the tail of Jonghyun's jacket and said, "I think she likes this. You should thank me."

@☁ Mir Soojung swallowed hard as her eyes scanned the room from the table that was filled to the brim with food. Her heart was filled to the brim with uneasiness due to the fact that /he/ would be here. She didn't want to have to face him, at least not yet, not now. Not after he'd chosen the alliance over her, thrown her aside as if she had meant almost nothing to him when he already meant the world to her. Maybe the stories told by certain people around her were right, there was no love in this damned world. Love was probably non-existent. She drew in a deep breath, wanting to grab Woobin and haul him over to the new queen so that she could finally leave this kingdom and never return ever again.

At that idea, she spun around, wanting to grab Woobin and drag him over to the new queen to make her greetings before leaving but her plans came to a halt at the sight of the person approaching her.

"M-Mir.." Now she was really desperate to leave especially since that damned feeling of sadness bubbled up in her once more. She wasn't ready to face him yet, not in the slightest bit. However, instead of doing that, she nodded her head lightly as a gesture of acknowledging his presence.

"Would you like to dance?" At his question, her thoughts couldn't help but to trail back to the first time they'd met. It was almost exactly like how it was back then. Only at that time, he'd asked her and dragged her over to the middle of the dance floor. It was just that at that time, she still believed in love. She looked down at the floor for just a second to hide her sad eyes before plastering a smile on her face and nodding.

"Sure.." She replied. "It'd be my pleasure to dance with you, head advisor." She added that in for good measures since there were most probably eyes watching them. After all, it was a royal event. One wrong move and it could possibly mean the end of their kingdom's alliance.

@☾ Jonghyun Hyelim felt her expression falter for a second, nervously taking a step back from the man. Okay, maybe he was too carefree... She had made a wrong decision, no doubt in that. Trying to hide the fear on her face, Hye nodded her head, hand tightening on her skirt. "I... Am sorry I asked, Sir..." The words came out a lot weaker than intended before Hyelim turned back towards the middle of the throne room, slowly stepping back, feeling everyone's watchful eyes upon her. Someone would surely take the chance for a dance now.
Damn it... Where was Mir when she needed him?

@☁ Hyelim "....begging does not suit the woman who is a queen and neither does whimpering nor fake innocence. Believe me when I say that you would not be able to give me what I want." Throughout the whole time he spoke, Jonghyun kept a slight smile on his face and his voice low so that no other's would hear. Anyone else who saw them would surely think they were having a simple conversation. "As I said, perhaps my brother would better suit your tastes, or perhaps another man would be a better companion than I."

@☾ Jonghyun His brother? But... It wasn't sure his brother would seem as carefree about it all. "P-please, sir? I just... Don't want to dance with any of those people..." Hyelim whimpered, giving a nod over her shoulder towards some of the old advisors and nobel men watching her. "They freak me out..."
Yet again the Queen tried her best innocent expression, hoping it would work. "Please, sir... I'll make it up to you... Somehow."

@☁ Hyelim At her words, he raised a brow in confusion before stiffening up slightly. "Ah...dance..." He had to hold back a snicker at the way she jut out her lower lip. He'd already learned to perfect that look to get his brother to do stuff and have fun. "I'm afraid that's not a strong point of mine and the last thing we would want is for the lovely queen to get injured by someone like me. Surely there's someone more suited to dance with you?" A sudden thought came to mind, making him realize how he could possibly get payback to his brother. "Perhaps my brother would be a better candidate for you." He offered, gesturing back towards where he had last seen his brother.

@☾ Jonghyun Hyelim widened her eyes a little in surprise, flicking her gaze around at the people staring before turning back to the man. "F-first of all, you could not treat me like they do," she mumbled through tightly wound lips, not wanting people to hear what she said. "Second of all.... Dance with me." She jutted her bottom lip out innocently, hoping to somehow sway something in the man's subconscious to help her. Anything would do about now, just to get away from the possibility of someone else stealing the first dance.

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@☁ Hyelim Jonghyun sighed softly, still standing near his brother while muttering quietly and complaining about needing to wear the suit. At least the food was decent, he thought to himself as he got one of the little sandwiches and placed it in his mouth. As he chewed, he tugged slightly on his tie to loosen it a bit before pausing when his skin prickled. Looking up, it seemed several people had their eyes on him. ....did he do something wrong? It can't be because of the finger food things because a few people were eating some as well. His tattoos weren't showing..

Someone clearing their throat made him turn and he stared at the girl for a moment. He looked her over for a moment before it finally dawned on him. Oh...right. The queen. Resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose, Jonghyun kept a straight face as he bowed slightly. "Your Highness....what can I do for you?"

@☁ Mir [[ok]]

As Jonghyun 'stood guard' by his brother, he took another glance around the room. However, his eyes locked on the male that had been dancing, the guy making his way to them. His eyes narrowed slightly, glaring a bit at the male as if daring him to come closer. When the male turned away, he smirked triumphantly. Mission success. The last thing he needed was for trouble to arise just because of a little accidental almost collision.

@☾ Jonghyun Hyelim grabbed her skirt, lifting it as she quickly moved across the room, eyes still following her until she stood behind the blonde man. Straightening up again, Hye cleared , hoping to gain the man's attention. If anyone were to be allowed to dance with her, it would be a man that didn't look at her like a piece of meat.
Well, that or a woman, but she didn't imagine it would be seen in a favorable light for the queen to be dancing with a woman.
"Ehem... Sir?~"

@☁ Mir Hyelim pouted as he stepped away, her hands finding no arm to grab onto. She looked at him with her bottom lip jutted out, her eyes screaming 'I pick you, idiot' as she kept silent, fearing what would happen if she actually said the words out loud.

But there would be no help from Mir now. She had to do this. It was part of being queen. Hye straitened her back, remaining somewhat stoic as her eyes moved over the many hungry gazes watching her. It wasn't until she spotted a tuft of light hair, the man's back turned to her, that she lightened up. He didn't care! Perfect!

@⚓ Soojung At first, he didn't recognise her. She was in the distance, hovering by the entrance, unsure and nervous. But he couldn't miss the exact blonde shade of her hair and the shape of her mask perfectly framing those eyes he'd so learned to know. And the same eyes that had burst when he'd chosen his kingdom over her.

He swallowed hard, sharply turning around, not able to face her. Why was she here? Why did she have to come here? Surely she'd know Mir was here... but maybe that was why she was wearing that mask. He swore - it was worse that she was wearing a mask. It was almost like a flashback to when they had first met. When everything was good and they had nothing to worry about...

No. Mir had to be a man. He had to face her - like a gentleman. He'd tried to shut out his feelings ever since he'd returned back to the Grasslands, refusing to let Hyelim see them, especially leading up to her coronation. He'd do the same now... though they'd be more hidden now instead of shut out. Soojung's sudden appearance had bubbled them back up to the surface.

With a deep breath, Mir turned around and approached Soojung. Maybe it would be better if he pretended he hadn't noticed it was her. Maybe that would relax her... Or maybe she'd just flat out reject him. He did deserve her anger. But he had to try.

His footsteps grew slower as he reached her, doubting whether this was a good idea. But before he could stop himself, he was holding out his hand and asking, "Would you like to dance?"

@☾ Jonghyun {{I'm splitting up my post to reply to each character that Mir's actions respond to. So your one is not going to be very long XD, I apologise, lmao~
I'll do a long post with Onew ^^}}

As Mir left Hyelim to fend off the approaching men, he passed by the foreigners who had blocked his path while he had been dancing. The gruffer, more out of place one almost snarled at him and Mir narrowed his eyes at him before sharply turning his head away. He was too high and too watched to react to something like that. It hadn't been his fault that one of the men had stumbling in front of him.

Then he froze.

{{onto Soojung's reply!}}

@☁ Hyelim "You'll see," Mir winked before stepping back from Hyelim and watching the eyes of the men around the room instantly lock onto her. It was like they were hawks, beady eyes catching every rustle of grass, every twitch of a tail. Then they'd launch.

"I suggest," Mir said, eyeing Hyelim daringly, though really he was just giving her advice. "That you hurry and pick someone before the vultures attack." He knew that she'd need to learn how to deal with the kind of men that came with these settings - the men that always wanted something from her, wanted to get on her good side to gain a promotion or a status. They'd never care about her - not like Mir did - but he couldn't just keep protecting them from her. She was old enough and strong enough to deal with this herself. And he trusted her judgement.

{{Maybe she goes and asks Jonghyun to dance? ^^}}

Soojung stepped into the throne room with her kingdom's advisor , Woobin by her side. Her mother had demanded that Woobin followed her to the coronation of the new queen of the Grassland Kingdom so without a single choice, Woobin was here with her tonight. Like the first ball ever since her return from being missing, she had on a mask. She was still far too afraid to reveal her identity in front of millions of people and especially at a foreign kingdom. However, unlike the first time, this time her ballgown was blue, like the oceans near her kingdom.

"Princess, you do know it would be better if you don't wear your mask,right?" Woobin leaned in and questioned her. Soojung glanced at him before shaking her head. "You're wrong. It's better if I wear my mask.." She turned away as if to say that, that was the end of the conversation and that no discussions will be made concerning her mask. She stepped towards the guards and handed them her invitation card.

"Greetings, princess." One of the two guards greeted and she nodded her head. They glanced at Woobin a little questioningly and at once, she told them that he was her advisor and her plus one. The guard nodded his head before checking him for weapons. Seeing that there was none, he let them through.

Although they'd just arrive, Soojung was beginning to harbor thoughts of leaving. She was after all, never too comfortable in parties despite her attending probably millions of balls already. Seeing the coronation reminded her of the day she had her coronation as queen and she couldn't help but smile at that memory. She stayed by herself the whole entire time after sending Woobin away to meet new people, "connections" she had used to get rid of him. She honestly didn't really like him due to the fact he was almost always looking at her and well, she'd prefer being alone. If she ever wanted to escape, she could just do it with the snap of a finger rather than having to think of excuses, leave and then get search parties tailing after the lost princess aka herself.

[CUE- Oceanside's Princess and her Advisor xD]