Mirae looked over at her sister and she could tell the elder was almost at her breaking point. It would only take one more thing to piss Kyung off before she took her anger out on the next poor soul. But the younger thought it was amusing, never in her life had she seen her this upset. Sure she had gotten annoyed before, but never pure anger. And this time she wasn’t even mad at her siblings or the staff, she was furious with Namjoon. 

The respect Kyung held for her own father was powerful. She admired him and everything he did or sacrificed for his people and children. And as she grew older and more mature, she understood him and his position. From there the respect only grew stronger. Namjoon was always so kind and patient with everyone, he always put everyone else’s feelings before his own. And Kyung was unfailingly number one on his list. 

And now she was angry and for what reason? Mirae was more than happy to find out, even if it meant poking the bear and pushing her to the edge. 

“It must be amazing,” She interrupted their silent trip to their rooms. “Haneo sounds so lovely, so perfect…”

Her gaze trailed upwards towards Kyung’s face to see her reaction. She noticed the elder biting the inside of her cheek so as to not say anything she might regret. Kyung didn’t even flinch hearing Mirae speak and continued to look forward. But her eyes held most of her feelings at that moment, flashing with indignant anger. She tried to stay composed and calm, but her hands were already balled up into fists. 

“...it almost seems it was purposely meant for you, like a gift. But why accept a beautiful and thoughtful gift from father...when you can instead act foolishly because it wasn’t what you wanted.”

As quick as the blink of an eye, Kyung quit the act of acting mature and unbothered. She didn’t even seem to show repentance as she stood over the younger who she had just pushed away. The few servants who were around turned to find the odd scene. They hadn’t paid any mind to the two before, and they now wondered if they should get involved at all. 

Kyung had pushed Mirae into the wall out of anger, knocking down a vase or two that decorated the hall. Words didn’t even come out of as she was too shocked at what she had done. But just because she was shocked didn’t mean that she regrets it at all. She was angry and annoyed and couldn’t hold it in any longer. She had to take it out on someone, and what better person than to take it out on her childish sister. 

“What?!” She hissed, resisting the urge to cower away in fear from the evil girl beneath her. 

Mirae looked over at the vase to her side that was knocked over by the shoving. It was a ceramic vase with a royal rose and grey gradient. There were black, elegant, and clean lines that made it look like the surface was previously cracked before. But the letters carved into it were most important to note. 

She carefully picked up two larger pieces and handed it up to Kyung. She was hesitant at first but she eventually took the shards from her. Maybe it was because she was curious about what Mirae was doing. Or maybe she knew exactly where the fragments had come from. A sinking feeling in her stomach confirmed this.

There were a few letters etched onto the ceramic and filled in and smoothed with gold. The two pieces read,

ANG SEU
UEEN, MO
KINGD

GI II
HER, AN
OF JOH

Her eyes traveled upwards slowly towards the wall above Mirae. A large painting of woman towered before her surrounded by a chased gold frame. She was a beautiful older woman, just barely visibly aging. Her skin was very fair with smile lines around , and an ivory hand rested on her cheek in a thoughtful pose. She looked much like Kyung with straight black hair and dark eyes, they even smile the same.

Tears weld up in her eyes but she tried her best to hold them in. The elder looked back down at the ground and next to her sister was not only the remnants of the vase. Beside her was the dust from the ceramic and coarse, sand-like grey particles. A pang in her heart arose, this wasn’t just any old vase but an urn. 

KANG SEULGI II
BELOVED QUEEN, MOTHER, AND WIFE
OF THE KINGDOM OF JOHWA

The urn of her mother. 

Kyung darted her eyes to meet with her sister, a harsh stillness in her glare. The younger could only let out another chuckle as she replied that she had pushed her into it. Mirae ultimately concluded that the breaking of the urn wasn’t her fault, but Kyung’s and her sudden reaction. But the elder felt this wasn’t true. 

Although she did break her demeanor letting her anger out on Mirae seemingly all of a sudden, she knew her sister had irritated her on purpose. It was like she knew Kyung would act in such a way, calculated the roughness of the shove and the direction and angle where she would land. Even if this sounded impossible, Mirae was so evil that this idea wasn’t farfetched. 

Kyung couldn’t bring herself to speak, all she could do was cry. She was angry at her father, enraged with Mirae, and sad about her mother. With so many emotions running through her, she broke down and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. She dropped the ceramic pieces with her sister and started to walk away. 

As far as she knew, the only thing that she could confirm, she held all fault in pushing her sister and knocking down the remains of her lovely mother. 

“How could I be so dumb?” She found herself speaking lowly. “Why? What have I done?”

She spoke in a whisper but the hall had been silent and anyone could hear her soft sobs. As the servants were already scared of Kyung, they were more terrified to see her like this. She was even more upset than she normally was, this meant she could be harder on them than before. Nobody wished to take a step towards her to comfort her. 

But before the elder could escape into her room, Mirae stood up and spoke.

“Don’t worry unnie,” She said trying her best to hide the mischief in her voice. “I don’t think you’re dumb, you just have bad luck thinking.”

Kyung stopped with her hand on the doorknob already halfway turned. She had the option to ignore Mirae and continue into hiding, but she didn’t. She didn’t understand why she wanted to listen to the younger more, even after all she had said that night. The elder was hurting and she didn’t want to hurt anymore, but her body refused to follow her thoughts to slip away. 

I really am a fool. She thought.

“Yeah you got mad and you pushed me, but I don’t blame you. It was a sudden reaction to a situation and emotion you’ve never experienced before. Don’t you see?” She heard the footsteps of the younger get closer very slowly. Kyung felt her body shudder at the way the younger spoke to her, her voice honeyed with a matter-of-fact tone. It was like she was being studied not only by her actions but what she was thinking about at that very moment. 

Mirae continued. 

“You only ever do what you’re told, and no one else is here to direct you on how to deal with your emotions. How can you possibly think for yourself? You are a fool, not because you are dumb, but you rely too much on others to make decisions for you.” The younger found herself chuckling and placing her thumb and forefinger