After finding the so-called Princess all the way on the other side of the Haesang palace ground, Jiyeon immediately learnt more and more about the upcoming event which she would readily attend. It was exciting actually for most of the Haesang young royals as they never knew how Seonghwa would be like. They only skimmed through mere pictures and that was all. The only Princess who had the privilege to get more information about the land though was Jiyeon of course since Jungkook was kind enough to tell her most about the things she should know.

Two weeks soon passed by in a blink of the eyes and before she realised it, she was already running down to the dining hall where her family would be at for breakfast. Myungsoo however did not seem as chirpy because apparently he was nervous about the joust he would have to face. Sure, the practices he had on the days before might come in handy at last but he should not be confident of making the Haesang proud of him yet. It was the first time anyway.

Lightly stepping on the horse carriage was the royal Park family with Jiyeon being the last to enter. Everyone that was invited to the event required arriving in such transportation and she simply smiled since she got a slight idea of whose idea was it to make such thing as a requirement. Taking a seat by her brother’s side, she decided to start a conversation with her family. The conversation was cut short nevertheless as the family had no topic to genuinely discuss about.

With that, her gaze turned to the small window where she could see the villagers made their way on the sides and cheering for them. They knew about the joust and as they could not make it to the event, supports were given right and left. The Crown Prince would nod and waved curtly with a smile plastered on his face. From the corner of the eye, he saw his mother’s blank expression which was totally the opposite of his father’s calm face.

“Mother, are you feeling alright?” Myungsoo asked in concern which caught Jiyeon’s ears and attention almost instantly. The background sound seemed to mute itself as the two siblings had their sole focus on the woman in front of them. Their father also silent upon hearing his son’s sudden question but he did not look surprise at all. “I’m fine, Myungsoo. Don’t worry about me.” She said softly or otherwise, weakly in his opinion. Glancing to his sister, she simply shrugged her shoulders.

The atmosphere in the carriage continued on with total quietness and nothing besides worry playing on repeat in their minds. Noticing the greenery outside, the Princess’ worry washed away. Suddenly recalling the memories of her being pulled whilst being a cart by the younger male, she placed her palm on the rectangular hole. She wanted to get a good view of the Navillera forest, trying to see whether it was possible to see the sparkly path. Of course, she could not and she was very sure she did not miss it.

“Anyway, it’s exciting right? I never have been to Seonghwa before but I heard amazing things about it from Jungkook.” Jiyeon spoke giddily with one of the signature bright smile. Inhaling the fresh air, Myungsoo could not help but to imitate the smile and at once, calmness came invading. “Jungkook?” He questioned shortly as he barely remembered the name. It sounded familiar to him.

“Oh, he’s my friend, the farmer boy that often comes by our palace to deliver vegetables and fruits.” Bobbing his head knowingly, he finally recognised the name as she would tell him from time to time. “I wish he could tag along. He seems to know a lot about Seonghwa more than any of us since he has been there before with his family.” She told them. She could hear her mother light chuckle as she had her eyes on the window.

Truthfully, it had been a long time since Jiyeon and Myungsoo had a decent talk with their mother as lately she preferred to be alone in her room and had dinners sent up instead of her coming down. It would be a lie to say it was not strange to them. Their mother was a very bright woman with a smile given to any servants and other people walking pass her. It was only then the Crown Prince realised where his sister’s beautiful sincere smile came from since the King was not the kind to smile as often.

The streams of light in between the canopy soon widened its size as the horses strode into the village centre of Seonghwa. The villagers’ faces did not look that contrast than the Haesang people other than the fact they had brighter colours for hairs. That made Jiyeon wondered how magnificent would it look on their wings. The carriages stopped for a while as a man with dark silvery fuchsia hair good-naturedly greeted them before leading them the way to the Seonghwa palace, passing through a less dense forest.

Torches with flames, those were the first thing caught the Haesang royals’ attention as soon as they arrived at the palace gate. They were not the ones with fire for nothing. Unexpectedly, Jiyeon could feel her heart increased its pace once she saw the high wall surrounding her. Mix feelings began to harbour in her mind and her guts felt as if it was pulled and twisted from the insides. Why would she be nervous all of the sudden? To answer the question, the door to her side opened by a man.

Once her feet set on the ground, her eyes instantly landed on the male stood metres away from her by his parents’ side. His smile was contagious and she knew it because it came on her face as well. If it was not the fact Myungsoo calling for her, she would have made a fool of herself by standing still in the middle of the front court. She saw him chuckling lightly with his head leaned forward. He trying to hold in as much as he could but clearly it was failing on him. Her puzzled expression seemed to make him felt bubbly without knowing.

The Park royal greeted their guests with ease as they got a round of short introductions since there were quite a number of new faces in the crowd. With the Haesang’s Kim royals tailing on the Seonghwa’s Park royals, Jiyeon’s steps grew lighter as they walked into the palace building. The King and Queen showed them around the palace with no trouble before heading straight to the huge field where the Seonghwa Princes would be at for their practices and as for the day, it looked different from usual.

There were benches being placed around what assumingly be the jousting area with red and blue flags hung around, creating a rectangular arena. On the side where a massive tree stood was two pair of chairs apparently prepared for the King and Queen of the two parts to sit at providing the necessary shade for them. As for their children, they were seated together on the right hand side since they would be three of them in total. Myungsoo being a protective brother he was immediately found himself sitting in the middle once he saw the opportunity. She pouted in disappointment but seeing that the Seonghwa’s Crown Prince’s shrug, she simply sat beside her brother.

The day was too serene to begin with the event straightaway so they decided to start with the typical speeches. The Princess was seated two seats away from the two royal couples’ though which made it hard for her to focus on speeches given. It was not entirely helpful especially when a certain Crown Prince which went by the name Park Jimin constantly blocked her view. Not that she minded as much since frankly he was one of the nicest views she would witness at the time.

“We have finally come together on this one fine day and moment to finally be able to have a friendly joust between the Seonghwa and Haesang. However, it is good to go through the rules set up for the battle.” The master of ceremony spoke to the crowd in a grand manner. His arms were widely spread, gesturing towards the spots as he mentioned the regulations involved to both the contenders and also audiences. Safety precautions were made and soon, the event began with two men who Jiyeon assumed from Seonghwa performed the ceremonial opening.

It was rather a simple opening actually. A familiar looking male with apple green hair marched to another man clad in red with a bow in his right hand. Giving him an arrow, the Prince advanced forward where a cauldron with fire raging. Upon lighting up the arrow, the male began to take his aim before expertly shooting it through a hoop situated metres high.

The Haesang Princess excitedly clapped her hands in amazement once the opening ended. She never witness the Seonghwa did anything with fire before and it only made her more curious how would it be if one to conjure it from their own hands. As she was deep in her own thoughts, she felt a tap on her arm. It was her brother, eyeing on her closely and leaned to her ear.

“Don’t you think mother is acting rather strange? She was fidgeting the whole time.” Myungsoo informed to her as he nodded his head backward slightly, gesturing to their mother who had been staring at the field without breaking any eye contact. Glancing at the Haesang’s Queen discretely trying not to appear obvious, Jiyeon’s eyes grew larger when she met with another pair of eyes unwantedly. Shaking her head shortly after, her eyes landed on her brother’s again.

The event would be harder to face than she expected to be.

“Our Crown Prince will be jousting soon. I really wish I can see him on action.” A timid kitchen servant with a short brown hair mention as soon as she stepped into the kitchen to set the empty trays on the long counter in the kitchen’s centre. “I want to see it too. Too bad we’re stuck here to cook for them, aren’t we right, Taehyung?” Another girl passed the conversation over the mentioned fellow who dazedly peeled potatoes. There were little amount left already but by the time he finished, his friend would also finish with his turn.

“Taehyung, are you alright there?” The short haired one or namely Jang Eunha called out before glancing at the one with the dark orange hair, Choi Yuju. She only managed to shrug as she continued to stir the pot of soup. She was sweating from the heat and it did not help that summer was around the corner. There were more servants working in the kitchen now than any event held ever.

“Taehyung, you know you can always sneak out to check the joust out. We can cover for you.” Yuju finally stated once she halted with her current work to take a good look at the older male. Sighing and a shake of the head was all the girls got for an answer. They never liked seeing the used-to-be happy virus in the kitchen squatting in the corner with a pile of peeled potatoes. He had been in the same position since morning. “Hey, how about you go and serve the snacks this time? I take over with…whatever you are doing?” Eunha suggested and as fast as a lightning, the boy already ran passed her.

“You can thank us later! That fellow, if he isn’t the future head in this kitchen, I would’ve kicked him out from the start of the event.” Yuju grumbled but a small smile managed to squeeze in on her face.

“And now the joust we all have been waiting for…” The event went on to what it seemed might be the final battle. The few jousts between the Seonghwa and Haesang was very interesting as both actually managed to deliver amazing performances. Both even earned themselves marks and it just had to be a tie. She was anxious on her seat by the time she saw the two males by her sides already stood up. ‘They’re up next?’ The Princess thought silently and smiled encouraging at her brother.

Jiyeon also stood up to make way for the Crown Princes as she might have been obstructing their path. As she was good-naturedly wishing Myungsoo her lines of luck, Jimin purposely halted in front of her. Pointing at himself, he asked, “Do I get a wish too?” Laughing out of the blue, the Princess merely pushed him away from her sight once she saw her brother’s eyes on them. It had only been seconds passed and there he was glaring on them.

The three exchanged looks with each other and it was surely did not go unnoticed by a certain fellow in his purple butterfly form. Taehyung wanted to appear in his human form but of course that would be a bad idea since his mother was walking around the field as she was taking mental notes of the snacks. Fortunately, his feet were not failing him and his arms literally poured the given snacks into the trays lined up like a buffet.

He perched himself on the top of Myungsoo’s seat once he saw them already left the place. If possible, he wanted the best seat out there but the heat was not something he wanted to tolerate with. Surely enough, Jiyeon landed her body back on her seat before looking to her side over to his direction and turned her attention on the field at once. He would sigh in relieve if he was in his human form if anyone was wondering how he reacted at the look given by the Princess.