Kyung had never been one for arguing over something so trivial, she didn’t really care what Mirae’s problem was. Almost every day the younger was trying to get in her sister’s face in a shouting match in which she was the only one being loud. She felt like an adult staring down at a child throwing a tantrum, just watching this ball of energy and anger firing insults and spit.

What the Princess did enjoy was to instigate the younger in the way that always gets to her head. She would speak to her calmly and condescendingly. Mirae always got super angry for a couple of reasons and would return it with louder yelling. She hated this because she felt Kyung was acting better than her by taking a higher, more sophisticated road. The younger also hated being treated like a child, and this was what the eldest was personally trying to achieve.

Mirae’s eyes were watering, maybe because she was so angry it made her upset. Narrowing her cold, reddened orbs with a lethal stare as they burned a hole into her sister. But her big dark eyes didn’t affect Kyung at all, her thick armor-like skin took the painfully piercing eyes without flinching. It just made her smirk wider, she was a strong enemy her sister couldn’t take down.

Or so she thought?

“Namjoon might love you, but everyone else thinks you’re a fool.” 

Mirae glares harshly at her sister with much hatred in her eyes, like she wanted to kill the elder. But she couldn’t because she was untouchable. Not invincible but she just couldn’t get to her because Jimin was still trying to place himself in the middle of the fight to protect his older sister. He didn’t care to know what the siblings were fighting about now he just wanted it to stop. Their arguing always felt inaudible and ridiculous to him

Over the seemingly incomprehensible shouting that was Mirae’s tantrum, Kyung understood these few words that spewed from the enraged girl. Although the younger kept yelling, she stopped speaking for a second to take in this bold statement provided to her. The elder knew that instigating this quarrel would’ve heated the argument, but she was hoping Mirae would’ve gotten too annoyed and walked away. This is normally what would happen during sibling disputes.

But she was surprised to see herself become bothered by the insult of a livid child. Hurls of insults Kyung was able to brush off and not pay any attention to, but this? Did Mirae just hit the right cord? The thread that could unravel the charade of grace this princess had worked so hard to perfect. Over the shouting of Jimin and his attempt to diffuse the situation, the eldest questioned her wanting to know what the meaning behind that statement was.

“Can you kids please get out of my kitchen?” Head Chef Jongin shouted, clearing the room of the angry young woman.

A churning feeling crept into Kyung’s stomach, she could only describe it at nerves. But from what? From her sister, of course. She was getting into her head for once, her words eating at her “strong armor”. What Kyung didn’t like this feeling, but realized it was rightfully deserved as this is what she probably made Mirae feel. Intentionally undermining her confidence and destroying the tough persona encapsulating every ounce of tender vulnerability. Kyung instantly regretted provoking the argument and paying any mind to the hurtful words from her sister.

Everyone else thinks you’re a fool, huh?

The Princess just wished to shake it off, but how could she when she spent so much time perfecting her image conforming to the demands of outside influences. This couldn’t be true, right? She was no fool, but a Princess and to-be-Queen followed to the letter on the pages of the books in her royal lessons. 

She didn’t know what to say or do but to take a deep breath. When she sighed her bottom lip jutted out, redirecting her breath towards her bangs. The thin black hairs ruffled upwards then resettled over her eyes. There wasn’t much to do but to just let it go. She had no energy to speak or even to thank Jimin for helping, her mind was too clouded with this new information. 

Kyung had to think it over and organize her thoughts better. She thought to ask her sister about it again later, but would she even return with a response. It was worth a try nonetheless. Her mood ricocheted between dismal and humiliation, not being able to get those words out of her mind. 

Her eyes trailed down to the ground in thought, on the way they landed on the satchel her brother had across his torso. The tattered, green cloth bag looked oddly familiar, like the one their mother used to have. What was he doing with this? She thought, stepping towards him only to take a closer look. Jimin kept the bag away and ran out of the kitchen.

She wanted to ask what the bag was for, where did he find it and why did he even have it in his possession. All of the Queen’s belongings had been thrown and locked into a chest and hid away in the undercroft. She had been wanting to enter it and look for the aforementioned chest but was always too busy and was afraid of being caught. She thought to ask Jimin for help, but not tonight.

Tonight she had bigger things to worry about. 

Walking out of the kitchen following behind her siblings, she had almost forgotten what her father had told her not too long ago. He was to make an announcement at dinner, mentioning to his daughter privately that it was good news about the throne. For the first time since then, a small smile crept on her face. This was the perfect thing to ease the thoughts of her sister’s words from before out of her mind.

Kyung wanted the throne because she felt she was the only one deserving of it. After countless years of tentatively concentrating and showing up to her lessons every day and the many hours in that stuffy boudoir she grew to hate. Maybe it was because what was supposed to be her own private room, much like her father’s cabinet, had been turned into an abusive classroom where Lady Huang taught and scolded for hours. 

Although she grew less and less angry as Kyung got older, she still put a lot of pressure on the young girl. It wasn’t ever fair, the Princess thought, that she focused all of her attention on her and not Mirae. Kyung did everything as told always while her sister did close to nothing in those lessons if she even attended at all. The elder has a sneaking suspicion that her father told Lady Huang not to worry too much about his other daughter to save her sanity and energy. Which only made the class worse for Kyung. 

As for Jimin, he was always sneaking around as well. He was always the mischievous type and hid well from other officials. And when he did attend royal lessons, he brown-nosed his way to passing marks. Her brother had a sort of charm towards both men and woman and this made Kyung a little jealous. He didn’t even have to try to gain the acclamation and respect of others, while she worked her behind off to meet that same standard. 

This and the fact that she was more mature made her feel more deserving of the Throne of Johwa over her two younger siblings.

Kyung entered the grand space of the dining room, encircled with gold and maroon walls and bronze reliefs of angels and soldiers lined the top. Three brightly lit chandeliers hung over the huge mahogany dining table, the light glimmering through the voluminous crystals. The walls were decorated wit