“Now, let us toast to our talented musician! He is an honorable man who is like a son to me! To Kang Seulong!”

    “To Kang Seulong!” The men bellow, laughing and clinking glasses. Seulgi looks down at the dreaded cup of liquor in her hands, then, with one hesitant glance at Joohyun, she downs the whole cup, wincing at the burn of it going down like fire. Already, she feels her vision go blurry, and her head spin slightly, along with the feeling of her face heating up.

    “Thank you.”

~~

    It’s been two hours now, and Seulgi’s thinking is sluggish, and whatever comes out of is forgotten in the next second. She hasn’t drunk as much liquor as any of the other men, but she knows that she’s completely drunk. Through the clamour of clinking plates and gruff voices of men, Seulgi turns around to look over at Joohyun, only to feel rage burn through her, hotter and more fiery than the liquor that she had downed.

A guard - from the looks of his attire - has Joohyun pinned to a wall, his hands roaming around her body, and his face in the crook of her neck. Joohyun’s struggling against him, thin arms pushing against the guard uselessly. Vision blurred from both alcohol and fury, she abruptly stands up - chair toppling over. The king calls out to her, but she ignores him as she storms towards the man and Joohyun. The man is trying to undress Joohyun, and one of her shoulders is already bare. Seulgi doesn’t think for even a second, and with one swift movement, she spins the man around and punches him square in the face. Screams from the women in the banquet hall erupts, but Seulgi ignores them as she now has the man pinned underneath her, raining punches down onto his bleeding face.

“How dare you touch her with those dirty hands of yours!” she hisses, continuing to punch him even as the man screams and cries under her. She’s about to punch him again, when she suddenly feels a pair of hands on her arm, holding her back. With a snarl, she turns, ready to hit the person, but stops when she sees Joohyun.

“Seulong. Don’t. Please, stop. Please. You’re drunk. L-Let’s go back. Please.” Seulgi’s breathing heavily, every muscle in her body tensed and ready to spring, but even through her spinning vision, Seulgi can see enough of the emotions in Joohyun’s eyes to slowly get off of the near unconscious man, and then spin around. Squinting, she finds the king in the crowd of shocked people - though the king is only chuckling. Disgusting. And she bows to him.

“I think I will have to retire for the night. I am not feeling well. I hope all of you enjoy the rest of this banquet, and I thank you, Uncle, for giving me the honor of a banquet. I also apologize for my need to leave early. Thank you.” Seulong grabs a random goblet off of the table, fills it with liquor and raises it before downing it. Seulong grasps onto Joohyun’s wrist and whirls around, pulling the girl along with her out of the banquet hall. Seulgi’s glad for once that she’s drunk. Because she figures that that’s the reason why her leg doesn’t hurt at the moment. But it isn’t long before she begins to feel the affect of the cup of liquor she had angrily drunken, and her mind begins to go numb as well.

~~

    Irene’s utterly bewildered at the fast-paced change of events. She looks down at the hand that’s holding onto her wrist and pulling her to see that Seulong’s knuckles are dripping blood. Irene had been terrified of the extremely out-of-character actions that Seulong had shown when he beat the hell out of the guard that had been touching her.That had been when Irene had figured out that Seulong was drunk, and had taken the initiative to get the musician to stop before he killed the guard. Suddenly, the grip on her wrist slackens, and then completely disappears, and Irene looks up to see Seulong wobbling in the middle of the hallway. Realizing what’s going on, Irene rushes up to the drunk musician and grabs his arm and pulls it over her shoulders - letting his slight figure lean on her. Irene still can’t get over how small Seulong is - she’s been curious about that since the first day that she had seen him.

    “Seulong. Seulong, are you okay?” Seulong only mumbles a few incoherent words under his breath, and Irene leans closer - finally managing to catch what he’s slurring.

    “Seulgi . . . Seulgi.” Irene’s brows furrow. Thoughts on who Seulgi is whirl around in her mind. But then, Seulong groans, and Irene’s snapped back into reality. Luckily, they’re not too far from Seulong’s room, and with effort, Irene manages to drag him back to his room.

    “Seulong. Where’s your key? Seulong!” Suddenly, Seulong’s head lolls back, and his hair falls out of the bun he had been sporting. Long, dark brown hair cascade down, and Irene stares at Seulong in awe. Seulong now looks nothing like a man - instead, now, with his long hair framing his face, he looks like a beautiful woman . Irene’s doubts are starting to crowd her mind as Seulong’s head lolls back forward again, a curtain of hair partially covering his face. Irene snaps out of her stupor when Seulong groans, and she quickly slips her free hand into his silk robes. She doesn’t have time to feel shy about rummaging around a man’s robes, and when she feels the cool metal of the key against her fingers, Irene quickly fishes them out and slides the key into the lock and unlocks it, stumbling into Seulong’s room.

Seulong suddenly pulls away from Irene and stu