They were in the middle of a council meeting, discussing the overall cost of the soon to be held wedding, with Joohyun looking partially uninterested. But the doors of the hall suddenly open in alarmed and came in a scrawny looking squire, bursting out in despair, “His Highness! His Highness has lost conscious!” That was all it took for the higher ups to cancel the council in an instance, with Joohyun hurrying along, holding both sides of her dress as she rushed towards her father’s bedchamber. The King had not been well since the past week, Joohyun had noticed. It started with a simple cough, but soon dragged into something more. Her father had been having irregular fever where one day he seems fine, and the next day, he became ill. But her father never became unconscious all of a sudden and it worries her – very much.   “Leave this room be – except for Maester Wook.”   Joohyun ordered as soon as she arrived at her father’s chamber. One of her father’s most reliable men, Maester Wook nodded towards the two knights and the upper board who stood still by the chambers’ door, staring at the King in his bed, with their faces indescribable. When the guards shut the door, only then Joohyun occupies the chair by her father’s bed as she held his hand. Her stomach lurches, feeling how cold her father’s hands were and how pale the skin has become as if he had loss a large amount of blood. It has been not more than two days since Joohyun last met her father and today her father looked like he had gone through a battle and had been badly wounded – internally.   “What is wrong with him?” Joohyun questions, as her eyes searches Maester Wook’s owns. “I know he had not been under the weather for the past week, but why is my father’s condition worsened? Tell me.”   “I believe a rare disease of pertussis and fever has infected His Grace.” Maester Wook sighs with his eyes sunken above his sallow skin, “I’m afraid there are no remedies yet for this, but I will try my best to find some herbs that would lessen The King’s pain.”   She felt a sudden lump in and all sorts of worse implications were running in her mind, but she pushes those thoughts away for a bit. “Have you given him warm cup of poppy to help his sleep?”   “Yes, I have Your Highness.”   Perhaps Maester Wook notices how troubled she looked, the man proposed, “I believe in such times like this, it is best for you, for us and the people to keep our prayers chanted and murmured each day for His Grace’s health to get better – nevertheless towards the Old nor the New Gods.”   Joohyun did not utter a word, though she silently nods. She recalled the last time she spoke with her father a few days ago and it wasn’t the best conversation. The King had again, urged her to quicken the date of her marriage for reasons Joohyun could not accept – then. But seeing how her father’s state is at the moment and thinking how they do not have an heir to the throne, she knew what her father meant now. As a matter of fact, Joohyun knew all along, but all this time she refuses to accept this certain part of her duty as a Princess.   “I want you to stay at the nearest room close to The King’s chamber till he gets well. Promise me you will try your very best to tend him. And promise me I would be the first to know if he wakes up.”   “You have my word, Princess.”                                                 ***   Joohyun had managed to form an ice shield by placing her third finger on top of her index while motioning her hand to form a semi-circle. It succeeded with her right hand, but it somehow failed so with her left. It wasn’t completely a failure, but the shield was feeble and rather than being a solid shield, it evaporated into thin air. They were at her personal garden. There was no other secluded place in the castle than her garden and it was where she had been secretly and quietly practicing her new found abilities with the help of a persistent Ser Jongin, accompanied by the ever so patient, Seulgi. She exasperatedly sighs, irritated at its best, as she fails for Gods know how many times on making a proper shield using her left hand.   “I’ve decided. This would not work.”   “You can do this Princess.” Ser Jongin asserts, “It takes a lot of practice. It is normal for one hand to be slightly weaker than the other. Mines happened to be like yours too in the beginning, but it gets better – with practice.”   Joohyun shakes her head, “I’m content enough that my right hand chooses to cooperate. I’m exhausted.” She directed her attention towards Seulgi who had not utter a word for the past couple of minutes. Thinking back, Seulgi had been rather quiet for the past few days, not the type of quiet where the latter was mad at her or anything, it was a quiet where one had something brewing in mind.   “Seulgi?”   “Hmm?” Seulgi hums, but quickly corrected herself, “I- I mean, yes, Princess?”   “You seem to be in daze? Is everything alright?” Joohyun gazes at her, hoping to see any trace of cracks where she could pinpoint what the girl was thinking, but alas she could not.   “Perfectly fine.” Seulgi brushes off with a smile, “And yes, I agree with Ser Jongin. You shan’t give up with your trainings. What if sudden attacks happen and your right hand does not work as you hoped to be?”   “Then you would be my left hand.” Joohyun states and noticed how Seulgi became slightly flustered, with her lips opening and closing, searching for words. “The both of you had promised to be by my side to protect me if any harm comes in the way. And I hold on to that.”   “But what if something happened to us? And we could not be there for you?”   “That’s –” A hasty rapped was heard on the oak door, cutting whatever she wanted to say. The three of them stared at one another, wondering who would interrupt the Princess’s personal time, unless.   “Princess, it is me, Maester Wook. I have a message to be delivered directly to you.”   “The King…” Joohyun mumbled and she quickly darts towards the door, followed by the other two. Without waiting for the guard outside or Ser Jongin to open the door for her, she heave it open and was directly greeted with Maester Wook, in his faded brown robes and his eyes alternating the message Joohyun hoped to hear.     Joohyun could hear her father’s coughing and wheezing clearly outside the pathway and it was a barking cough that carried well through walls and the still late in the summer air. Under the thick red quilt, her father was radiating heat like a brick right out of the oven. His breath quivered in short, quick gasps every time he inhaled and her lips trembles as she sees her father’s current state. It doesn’t take a genius to tell that the King is on its last legs.   “My love…is that you?” King Bae Hyunmin’s once authority tone was now gruff and raspy.   “Y-Yes…” She shuts the door and takes slow paces towards her father.   “Sit.”   Joohyun took place once more at the lone chair near her father’s bedside. Her gaze fell on the white cloth, now stained with blotches of red on the table. Tears were threatening to fall down on her face anytime soon and she could not bring herself to look at her father.   “You look so much like your mother…” The King managed to say, his eyes observe her one and only daughter, “But you have my eyes. And this proves that you are from the noble House of Bae and you shall do many great things like our ancestors had done.”    “No, I won’t.” Joohyun shakes her head, “If I were to marry Ser Minho, my future children would bear the surname Song. The ancestral line for our family is no mor—”   “No!” Her father firmly denies, and coming off a little too strong, he ended up coughing heavily again. “…No. Our ancestral line would still continue. Our genes…are strong. Remember what I told you about our family?”   Joohyun smiles, wiping sheds of tear that somehow managed to escape, “Of course. ‘The moon is faithful to its nature and its power will never diminished’ ”   “Yes, our House symbol the moon…and?”   “And?”   Her father’s brown eyes look at her with intensity. “Our eyes. To recognise a member of the moon…look at their eyes.”                                                     ***   Marriage is a place where the savage winds cease, a moving sea between the shores of your soul. It is a place where the sun may set with not fear of the darkness to come. Where one soul can whisper to another in a language only it's mate can truly hear. A place where togetherness means peace. But Joohyun was nowhere at peace. With her upcoming wedding being fast forward, her heart felt like it was at the most bottom pit. A pit with no doors and with no escape. Her father’s words kept replaying in her mind like the sermons she listens every morning. A person’s happiness and duty are inseparably connected. But her duty was something that would not lead to her happiness, though what choice does she have. It was completely normal for one, especially a Princess, like her to get wedded to someone who she has no form of deeper affection.   “It