❝she wore a smile like a loaded gun.❞

In the heart of Norta, inside the opulent and magnificent silver palace is a headstrong young lady preparing for her future.

She’s sitting at her vanity table, admiring her elegant dress with its numerous layers of violet fabric that encase her like petals of a flower. A striking contrast to her pale skin. Her handmaids have done at least vanilla in clothing her today. 

Her fingers lightly tracing the intricate designs, extravagant enough to fit a future Queen. However, Seulgi wishes it was scarlet and not this shade of hideous purple. After all, red is the colour of bloodshed, victory, flames, and roses. 

Kang Seulgi is often described to be as beautiful as a rose. Alluring feline-like dark brown irises, an elegant stride, and remarkably skilled in weather manipulation. A blooming flower to bring greatness to her family. Her reputation is impeccable. The precise reason why she's going to compete.  

She's not afraid of losing the Queenstrial, no, she knows she's going to win the crown prince's hand. Thorns decorate her stems, she's as dangerous as the flower people love to marvel.

Beauty is not eternal, but power can be if she’s clever enough on how she wields it.

She's Kang Seulgi, the fearless rose, the symbol of power, Reds crumple under the sight of her, Silvers shiver in her wake. 

And Kang Seulgi never loses a match.

Her eyes are expertly scanning the area, looking for competition. As the only child of the House Nolle, it was her duty to perform to the best of her abilities and demolish the other contestants. This requires her to discover out every sliver of weakness and exploit it towards her advantage. Scandals are a common reoccurance, easy to find if you look hard enough. 

Seulgi is quite confident in her ability to detect the small signals of dishonesty surrounding her fellow people. An useful skill if one was trying to thrive in the midst of constant threat of betrayal. Blackmail is one of the only methods to ensure loyalty or that’s what she’s seen so far anyways.

However, she supposes that blackmailing her fellow competition would take the thrill out of this event—something she’s never keen on doing. Challenges are one of the reasons she even considers participating in useless and biased battles.

It’s rather fortunate that her House isn’t too far down the list in the noble silver hierarchy.

There are disinterested Silvers stopping to make idle chat, polite masks surround their faces, and elegance swarm them. A social gathering with everyone willingly being held at arm's length away. A wide variety of House colours surround the entire area. Some occur more frequently than others solely depending on their status and power.    

The majority of the contestants are mingling with one another, hiding their sharpened claws and venom beneath the curt greetings. How undeniably plain and average of them.

Who would pick a mediocre girl over a fresh one? 

During the past few excuriating minutes of searching, she has only spotted an exquisite petite girl with long lashes, enchanting auburn brown coloured irises, donning a pure white dress, isolated in her family box, peering ahead at nothing in particular. It’s only her beauty that caught Seulgi’s eye, nothing more.

However, House Arven are unpredictable, minacious, similar to a deadly toxin slowly draining the life out of you, but there’s no strength in numbers for them. The Kim family are full of divisions fighting for power, mercilessly separating each other from strong and weak, and situating the outcasts on the outside for lesser duties. 

The striking girl is not a competitor therefore is not worth another glance no matter how extraordinary she may appear to be on the exterior. Her oldest sibling is a completely different story that Seulgi was yearning to sink her claws in. Destroy the eldest's only chance to ever rise. 

Another incentive to win.

Kim Sooyoung, she's heard tales bragging about her successes as a silencer from the past few years. Granted, they were all from House Arven itself, but its accuracy would be soon revealed in the grand arena.

Unfortunately, they were once close friends before Sooyoung ruthlessly betrayed her without another thought. Seulgi wishes she had learned more about the latter’s weaknesses, because she’s certain that most of the ones she knows have been dealt with already.

Time’s a brutal little beast.

Their gazes clash. Silence and storm meet again. Sooyoung's lips curve into a dark feral smirk, baring a couple of teeth. She narro