Chapter 19.

"All you need is faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust."

Hanbyul writhed in her sleep restlessly, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead as her eyebrows furrowed.

She stood in her in the musky, dark room that felt no different than a prison cell as she faced against the man who lurked in her worst nightmares. “What do you plan to do with me?” Her voice quivered.

She flinched away when he brought his hand to her face, roughly grabbing her by the chin. “You’re quite a beautiful, young girl. It’s no wonder the foolish King was smitten enough to return to that scrapyard of a town. Lucky for you, a buyer already decided to purchase you. Though is it really lucky? I can’t guarantee they’ll be as gentle with you as was the King.”

“Paying handsomely that lad is—a whole five thousand coins. That’s nearly quadruple what our other items typically sell for. Consider it a compliment if you may, that you’d be worth such a high price for your beauty.”

“He won’t give in to cowards like you,” she spat, anger winning in all the emotions whirling inside her. “I don’t know what you’ve heard but I’m nothing to the King.”

The sneer on the boy’s face deepened. “You overestimate him. On the contrary,” he said, his eyes locking onto hers, freezing her in place. Then, “You mean everything to him.”

Then suddenly she was transported to the deck of the ship, her thin nightgown blowing with the gentle breeze, the brand on her back burning like the fire of a thousand suns.

“This is the one,” she heard Heechul say.

“How could you?!” She shrieked at the man behind Heechul as recognition filled her. “He trusted you!”

Heechul scowled and the slap came so fast.

The man kneeled down, offering his hand. “Hanbyul, come with me.”

She struck him with a ferocious glare before spitting out, “Go to hell.”

With a sharp gasp, Hanbyul jolted up from her sleep, heaving for air to clear her bleary mind. It’d been a while since she’d had a nightmare that bad, she’d almost forgotten the dreaded feeling.

Perhaps it was because she was alone that she felt even more anxious than usual. Yunoh had opted to sleep with Mingyu that night and with just her alone, the room suddenly felt too large, too empty.

She slipped off the bed and grabbed a light cardigan from her closet before heading out to the hallway. It was still dark though she had no idea the exact time and she felt a long day ahead of her already, knowing she wouldn’t possibly dare go back to sleep after such vicious memories resurfaced.

Without any set destination in mind, she began wandering the halls of the palace. Her nose reacted before her mind did as she caught a waft of cookie batter. She hadn’t realized she’d gone so far down the hallway she was nearing the kitchen but now pure curiosity itched at her as to who could possibly be baking at such an hour.

Gently, she creaked open the door to the kitchen and her eyes widened at the sight of Jaehyun covered in flour with a perplexed expression on his face.

He didn’t seem to notice her through his intense concentration and she made no move to make herself known.

“Why doesn’t it taste the same,” she heard him grumble under his breath as he sifted through the ingredients. “Something’s missing…”

Hanbyul watched as he examined ingredient after ingredient before it clicked in her mind with startling realization at exactly what he was trying to make.

“Try adding cinnamon.”

Jaehyun jumped, nearly dropping the bag of chocolate he was holding. His eyes flew to meet hers as she gingerly stepped out from behind the door.

Wracking his mind for something to say, the best he could come up with was—

“Oh.”

He wanted to smack his head against the table at his inarticulate foolishness but when a small giggle left Hanbyul subconsciously, he couldn’t hide his shock.

“Are you laughing at me?”

Hanbyul immediately covered and she bowed profusely. “I’m so sorry, your Highness. I don’t know what came over me.”

Jaehyun could see her walls climbing back up and he let out a chuckle. “I’m just joking. I know I probably look like a mess right now.” He motioned to his dirty clothes and mussed hair with a wry, amused smile.

It truly was a sight to see, the wariness and curiosity battling in her large, doe eyes but it seemed curiosity eventually won out as she took a careful step forward, pulling the cardigan tighter around her.

“How do you know this recipe?” She asked in a soft voice.

With a wistful smile and a tender gaze he replied, “We made it together.”

It was the first time he spoke of their past together since she entered the palace, even if it was just a small memory. And even though she feared it, feared what he would say, feared that she would never measure up to the girl from his memories, she couldn’t deny her curiosity.

When she didn’t interrupt him, he continued. “You said you were never good at making cookies and so we decided to try together. I accidentally dropped all these different chocolate chips into the batter…and the cookies ended up turning out pretty good,” Jaehyun finished lamely.

The memory felt too intimate to share with her when she had no recollection of the past them. He didn’t want to use their past memories to pressure her into returning his feelings just because she had done so in the past.

There was more to the story, she could tell but before she could say anything, she blinked and it felt like a whirlwind of déjà vu.

Shooting him a pointed look, Hanbyul made her way to the kitchen counter after putting away the rest of the ingredients and Jaehyun quickly intercepted her.

Leaning down, he quickly stole a kiss that drowned out her oncoming protest, though she managed to mumble against his lips, “You’re not playing fair.”

Hanbyul stood on her toes, pressing her lips to his once more and Jaehyun reciprocated immediately. Just as they broke apart, she quickly gave him a light shove, using his distraction to her advantage, and maneuvered around him to check the batter.

There was a mixture of white chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate—he probably spilled the bags in there—and when she dipped her finger in for a taste, she could sense a sprinkle of cinnamon.

“How did you even do this on accident?” She turned and asked, her hands on her hips.

“I just thought the more chocolate the better,” Jaehyun confessed with a guilty smile that still melted her heart. “The cinnamon was an actual accident though.”

“It’d be a waste of batter to throw this out. Let’s just bake it and see how it goes,” Hanbyul mused and they both began working to roll the cookie dough into smaller pieces to put into the oven.

When Hanbyul finished setting the timer for the cookies, Jaehyun immediately reached out and pulled her into a hug. “I missed you.”

Hanbyul felt herself blushing. The words always were always nice to hear. “You already said that,” she said softly though she tucked herself deeper into his embrace.

“I know but I really did. I thought about you every day,” came his response. “A lot has been happening with the anti-Neo faction showing more activity. They’ve proven to be very aggressive and violent against Kingdom supporters and I didn’t want to put you at risk for being associated with me.”

“I—“ love you. The words came to her mind so quickly and suddenly, Hanbyul felt lightheaded. The conviction of her feelings were sincere and she in a sharp breath at the realization of it.

She loved him.

She clutched her head and in a breath through grit teeth.

What was that?

She didn’t know if she was imagining the memory based on Jaehyun’s explanation as it felt so fuzzy but the emotions coursed through her with such intensity it made it seem so real.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun rushed over and she tried to calm her beating heart at his blatant concern. He didn’t touch her but she could see his muscles tense in case she fell and he needed to catch her.

Hanbyul stared at Jaehyun with an indiscernible expression and he returned her gaze curiously yet cautiously.

The feeling of love and desire from her memories was still so fresh in her chest that being so close to him made her think dangerous thoughts.

“I-I’m fine,” she replied, her cheeks slightly flushed. Her head stopped spinning and when she pulled her hand away, she found small specks of blue glitter lingering on her palm.

She stared at it with confusion before quickly wiping it away. Jaehyun still looked at her with worried eyes as if she would keel over at any moment and Hanbyul softened. Perhaps it was because of the sudden memory that the warm feelings towards him lingered in her mind but she couldn’t stop herself as she said, “I didn’t take you for a midnight baker.”

Jaehyun blinked in surprise. She seemed surprised herself at her attempt at conversation after nearly avoiding him like the plague. Perhaps it was an after effect of her nightmare but she couldn’t bear the thought of being alone at the moment. After a beat of silence and no attempt to flee, Jaehyun felt his heart lighten with hope.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he confessed, making his way back around the kitchen counter to the bowl of cookie dough.

That was when Hanbyul noticed the dark circles under his eyes that indicated that this wasn’t the first time he’d had a restless night. It made her wonder what kept him up at night. Did he have nightmares too?

“What about you?”

She seemed startled by his question as if she were daydreaming of something else and she grabbed the hem of her cardigan as she tried to hide how flustered she was for spacing out. Jaehyun almost let out a laugh at how her habits were still the same as they were in the past. He didn’t know the woman she was now but he recognized the parts of her that hadn’t changed and that was her stubbornly shy personality.<