They made their way to Auraline's courtroom, where this time she was not alone like last time. 

According to the theme, she was in a dress whose yellow resembled Ara's, only that as the sunglight poured in from the windows behind her throne specks of gold seemed to reflect off the fabric. While she looked like a phoenix, Ara couldn't help but feel like a canary. Also in the room, were two other people, who Ara guessed by their attire - were some type of advisors. 

"Follow my lead cousin, even though I know you don't like it but at least for her sake, outsiders are here," Septimus murmured under his breath before urging Jongho to follow his lead, to which Jongho complied albeit begrudgingly. 

"My Lady," Septimus greeted first as they all bowed, Ara curtsied. Upon that, Lady Auraline beckoned to the advisors to leave the room. They proceeded to back away and depart, but Ara side-glanced at them, and their garments of different colours contrasting the Court, stark blues and greens against the cream light-coloured background. 

"Who were they?" Jongho went straight to the questions after only they were alone. "Your spies?"

Septimus let out an exasperrated breath, "Joy-, Jongho for goodness sake you could have been more discreet about the question, I understand you don't 'get' our protocols but- "

"It's fine Septimus, having you know about this little bit of information isn't going to cause much trouble, just don't tell your mother about this just yet," Auraline winked as she replied. "Yes they do observe outside the Rose Court on my behalf. Now, we have other important things to discuss," her eyes went to Ara and she studied her carefully. "And you will tell me what else you know."

Jongho stepped forward, "You don't have to talk to her with that tone-"

"This is no longer a petty human issue, Joyeuse," Auraline said cooly. "I'm sure Septimus has told you about Ealdhun's death, the spies I had sent to observe him witnessed it all. He was murdered, in cold blood."

Ara knew she wasn't supposed to talk, but she did anyway. "Why didn't anyone stop it from happening? If your spies knew all along?"

"And stir the grass and rattle the snake? It'd be foolish to do that, Ealdhun's murder had been planned and there was nothing that could have stopped it. Despite that, at least we managed to know who was behind it."

"Who?"

"The Unseelie Court."

Uneasiness hung in the air, that Ara noticed even Jongho couldn't hide. Her, being a complete outsider could never understand the weight of those words. She looked towards Septimus, "I-is that a big deal? I thought Seelie and Unseelie were always at odds with each other," she said with what limited knowledge she had. 

"Yes it's nothing new, but the question is - why Ealdhun? Why only now? What had he done for someone from inside of Unseelie to take his life when he had left the Seelie Court so long ago?" his questions were rhetorical, he had an answer to them already. Jongho caught on immediately.

"Because he knew about Jocelyn and Serafia, and something more that would be a threat to the Unseelie Court. So they killed him before he could say anything else, it was for precaution."

Lady Auraline looked impressed, "Yes, that is correct. We suspected the same, and that bit of information should be kept under wraps for now. We don't want to cause a commotion throughout the Courts," she was hinting at something else, but decided against revealing it. "We think Serafia's doings in the human world have direct correlation to Unseelie, she was never banished for good as they had claimed."

"Faeries can't lie," Jongho argued. 

"They never did because no one questioned it," Auraline answered nonchalantly as she examined her painted nails. "But for what reason, we are unsure of. For that, we'll need more information. And I thought you were here the first time to save your handsome ghost lover, I don't see him with you. Has he been saved?"

Ara's cheeks flushed red, she was unsure of how to answer that question. 

"And where's your other friend? Shame he's not with you, I liked him," she noted, but there was nothing in her tone that seemed any serious. "Now girl, is there any useful information you can give me? And don't lie, I know you can do that."

"I...really don't know anything else, Your Highness," Ara said, even though she felt so hopeless. "I didn't even know that I could do anything else beyond seeing ghosts until now. I'm sorry..."

"No need to be sorry over things you are unable to do, child," she said rather bluntly. 

"You can tell her that without being rude," Jongho told his mother off. 

This time Lady Auraline didn't waver and looked him right in the eye, "I'm sorry if you found that offensive, Joyeuse. But better harsh truths over kind lies, is it not?"

"I don't think being considerate and having decency are mutually exclusive things."

Ara wasn't sure how this had switched from being about her to another stand-off between Jongho and Auraline. The deafening, unsettling silence didn't make things better. She felt so foreign, like she wasn't supposed to be there. 

She definitely was not part of this. 

"Err how about we go check on your brother again? I believe the healers are changing his bandages by now," Septimus tried shifting the mood and turned to Ara, anxiousness clear in his eyes. He wanted nothing to do with this as much as Ara did. 

Auraline held up her hand, "You two are dismissed, but I would like to have a word with my son."

Swiftly, Septimus took Ara by her hand and pulled her away despite her silent protests. Looking back, she watched Jongho stand on his own in the throne room, facing Lady Auraline in her throne without looking any bit nervous. Jongho had always been good at hiding his emotions, but once again Ara hoped he truly felt unafraid this time. By the time they were outside the court room, Septimus let go of her hand as they walked. 

"I knew that Jongho never really liked Lady Auraline, but I wasn't aware that he didn't like her this much," she admitted.

Septimus could only sigh, "Like mother like son, and if my cousin hears this for sure he won't appreciate it. But it's the truth," he said, hands in the pockets of his navy blue trousers. "Knowing my aunt, they're both just as headstrong and sharp-tongued. You would say they have more similarities than differences."

"Is it true then? About what had happened to his dad?" she querried. "He told me before that his dad was cursed to love Lady Auraline forever, and when he returned to the human world he died of heartbreak."

She had expected Septimus to be taken aback, get offended by such claims - but he didn't look half as surprised as she thought he would. Instead he shrugged lightly, "The Fey soughting human lovers by trapping them in spells is nothing new, common even. But do you believe that to be the truth in this case?" he raised an eyebrow at Ara.

"So it...isn't true?"

"The truth can be whatever you want it to be, if no one truly knows the whole story - neither do I," he answered. "So I cannot tell whether the version you know is right or wrong, neither can I tell you what I know because I never asked Lady Auraline about this. It is something I think, that is no longer relevant to the present. Instead, I think checking on your brother seems like the more important issue now."

"You seem rather fond of my brother's wellbeing, Prince Septimus," she said with curiosity. "May I know why?"

He scoffed, "Because after close examination of his face, I've decided he's far too young and handsome to not be alright. He has very pretty eyelashes."

Whatever that meant, Ara decided not to ask further.

Hongjoong was alright, in fact.

He was still fast asleep, but the healers definitely had done a good job in mending the damage. When she and Septimus had just arrived back in the infirmary, the healers were in the middle of removing the bandages. As they propped him up, he was left shirtless and exposed and Ara was unsure if Hongjoong would have appreciated being half while getting handled by strangers. 

Septimus didn't seem to mind either.

She watched them do their work efficiently, spreading a green paste onto the visible wounds, reeking of eucalyptus and moss and a mixture of other herbs before covering them with fresh bandages immediately after. They checked his pulse and fed him a type of thick white liquid. "I've made sure they've diluted it so that it won't be too strong for you humans," Septimus assured.

"What is that anyway?"

"Tree sap from the Hanging Forest," he answered, as if it made total sense. "We usually harvest it for health supplements, but consuming the diluted version of it quickens the healing rate for humans."

"And if it's not diluted?"

"You'll either die an agonizing death or go mad, or both. I don't remember which version of the story was true," he admitted. 

"That's great to know..." It wasn't. 

Soon after Ara was allowed some alone time with Hongjoong (she had to politley shoo Septimus out the room). Once in a while she feed him water as instructed by the healers, watching him so he wouldn't stir and rest on his back. When she was little she had landed herself in the hospital with a scalding fever, Hongjoong had been sixteen at the time. He had never fallen sick, or had he been hiding it well every single time? Now they had changed places, the guilt on Ara's shoulders was heavier than ever. 

Yunho, can you hear me?

But once again there were no answers, and Ara could feel her own heart break a little. There had to be a reason, maybe Yunho needed more time to think about it, about them. Ara told herself to be understanding, even though she wanted him around with how many things had happened in such a short amount of time. Frustrated, she rested her head on the bed, next to Hongjoong and closed her eyes for a second. 

What am I going to do? What am I supposed to do?

A few moments later she got up when she noticed the pitcher was empty, looking around and noticed no other healers were there. Without any other option, she wandered out the infirmary in search for a sink or pipeline. At the same time her eyes studied in awe, the beauty of the Rose Court that she never had a chance to really admire. The paintings that extended from ceiling to ceiling were finely illustrated and hand-painted, reminding her of artwork in Roman buildings or the Sistine Chapel she once saw on a travel brouchure ( she had always dreamt of travelling to Rome). And the longer she studied the drawings she realized they were telling a story. 

Her eyes were so focused on looking upwards that she did not notice she had wandered off to the kitchen near the servants' quarters. The aroma of freshly baked bread and mutton made her stomach growl, but she was already on her way out the back door leading towards the demesne. It opened up to a lush green garden filled with rose briar trees, berry bushes, and a crystal clear lake that was unmistakenably, the Mirror Lake from the days before that stretched out until she spotted the place in between the two pink hawthorne trees she and Yunho had once stood. 

She didn't want to remember that, and yet she did. 

"My my, you grew to be so like your mother, Araminta."

Ara whirled around by the sudden voice, and saw the strange woman hiding behind the trees. She had dandelions for hair, eyes resembling the colour of mercury, her tattered lilac dress hanging loosely from her body and as she crooned at Ara, Ara could see that her tongue was split like a snake's. Cautiously, Ara backed away. "Who are you? How do you know me?" she demanded. 

The odd faerie bared a menacing smile, "I knew you from the womb, little girl, I see the prophecy has begun to unfold,"

Ara's heart raced, "Who was my mother? How did you know her?"

"Your mother was none other than the Corpsewitch!" and the faerie continued to laugh.