A/N:

Finally ya'll get to see Chaeyeon!! and next update, kwonchaeng will finally meet *wink*

Trigger Warning for domestic violence and coarse language.

Her dream came in a series of flashes.

It was dark. It was always dark. 

The ground was still wet from the rain. She was running, but each step became heavier as the wet mud dragged her down.

But she had to meet him. She promised to see him––to run away.

Suddenly…

She was on a horse, galloping through the woods

.

.

.

She was falling!!

Chaeyeon lets out a yell. Preparing for impact.

Then, it was dark again.

++

Princess Lee Chaeyeon always had the same dream––nightmare, as it were. 

The dreams started after her failed attempt to escape the palace some three years ago. Over the years the details got blurrier and more confusing, but some images remain, and the desperate feeling that nestled in her stomach she could still feel even as she woke up.

In her dreams, Chaeyeon was desperate to meet someone, a man with a face that she regrettably couldn’t picture anymore. There were small things that she could recall. Like his uniform––he was a palace guard. Chaeyeon remembers his kindness, his attentiveness, even the smile lines of his eyes. But just like her dreams, each feature and exchange of words, and there weren’t many to begin with, all faded into her subconscious with each passing day.

After such images would taunt her in her sleep, Chaeyeon always woke up abruptly. She should be used to this by now, she thinks as she got out of bed. Her bare feet touched the cold ground and jolted Chaeyeon from her sleepy state.

The princess glanced slowly around her chambers, noticing how the morning light was just starting to creep in through the windows. Her maidservants wouldn’t be coming to fetch and ready her for breakfast for maybe another hour, and Chaeyeon likely couldn’t go back to sleep after her dream. In the end Chaeyeon chose to kill time by getting ready on her own.

It would have been a perfectly normal start to her day––Chaeyeon waking up too early and dressing herself for the day just quietly waiting for her maidservants, if not for the large wooden doors of her bedchambers suddenly swinging open, banging onto the wall so loud that Chaeyeon yelped, whirling in her vanity seat to face the intruder.

The King of Oneiric stomps in, his face scowling, seething with anger and frustration, and his hands were clenched in fists at his side. And Chaeyeon knows from experience that seeing him like this was not a good sign.

Chaeyeon stands quickly, then curtsies, lowering her eyes to the ground. The King of Oneiric is her father, but he is still a king, and he demanded the utmost display of respect in his presence from everyone, even his own daughter.

“Your Majesty,” Chaeyeon greets.

For a few moments, her father only paced the room, muttering angrily to himself, most of his words being just profanities directed at someone Chaeyeon didn’t know who. Not letting the curiosity get the better of her, Chaeyeon stays silent, looking down and slouches slightly, trying to make herself seem smaller, if that were even possible. 

Finally, after what feels like a lifetime, her father stops pacing and stands in front of her.

Chaeyeon slowly looks up to meet his eyes, already worried with what he was about to say. And she definitely didn’t expect the words he says next.

“You leave for Izland in three week’s time, and the wedding will be held a week after you arrive.”

“Wedding? Am I attending a wedding in your place?”

The King visibly clenches his jaw. “You will be marrying the Queen of Izland,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Me? and... The Queen?”

Chaeyeon has heard about the queen. Everyone has too. Her return to take the crown was almost like magic, her appearance so sudden as if appearing out of thin air. Everyone thought the heir of Izland had either died long ago or was a recluse. The truth was, no one heard from her since the almost assasination on her birthday ball when she was young. The former King and Queen of Izland only announced the assasination but never confirmed the state of the princess after.

Chaeyeon was far too young to remember what truly happened then, but she knew of the gossip around it. How it was likely Chaeyeon’s father, the King of Oneiric, that hired the assassins. Although it couldn’t be proven, tensions still rose, and the war between the two kingdoms was brewing for the last decade until it finally came to a point that was irreversible––her father murdered the Izland monarchs

There were a few outcries and discontent from other nearby kingdoms after King Youngjun’s dishonourable act. But none of them had the power to do anything. Everyone thought Izland was on the way to crumble, especially with the only known heir presumptive was the deceased