Chapter 18

The Sprout Land: The Fall of a Kingdom (Quadlan Series)
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A/N

I'm sorry for the delay, as most of you know

I've had very busy months bc of my work

I had this chapter written for a long time

The next chapter is partly written, so it may take a while

but I'll try to update in max a month.

PD: Here is one of my fav moments of this story.

Guess which one is in the comments.

TW: mention of suicidal thoughts and compulsive eating

 

Seungwan knew from the beginning that the plan was a bad idea. Working with the enemy was always going to end up badly, but she wasn’t the one calling the shots. So she obeyed because she needed to feel part of something bigger, to work for her siblings’ future, to have enough money to put food into their mouths. And it would have been easy, but Joohyun wasn’t the person she thought she would be. She was royalty, of course, and she could tell just by her words’ choice, her intonation, her cadence, she could tell by how she walked and how she looked at her. But she also could tell she wasn’t the usual air-headed, pretentious, power-hungry royal. She was good, and she was kind, and a little naive, but she was good overall. And she fell for her, not—not in love, or anything, but she fell into something nonetheless. The princess stirred something inside of her that she didn’t want to address.

 

But now she has to, but it’s not a matter of decision. She doesn’t have a decision to make, she can’t risk Aeri and Sehun’s life. She thought she would never be able to trade their life for someone else’s, but now she feels like her need to protect Joohyun is on the brink of closing a line. But she trusts herself, she trusts what’s real, and what’s real is her family. She can only hope the princess will be able to understand when she finds out.

 

“Do you feel any better?” She asks, putting a hand on Joohyun’s shoulder, and it’s so out of place that she awkwardly lifts it, taking it back.

 

Joohyun munches on bread, and something akin to meat but she can’t bear to savor it and confirm it. It’s tasteless, and the way she’s sniffing is probably an indicator that she has a cold. But it’s too early to tell.

 

“I’m okay,” she says, focusing on her food instead, like it’s the best she’s ever had.

 

“No, you’re not,” Wendy says, smiling sadly. “But that’s okay.”

 

The princess only hums, keeping busy to have an excuse to not talk. She chews as slowly as she can until she doesn’t have any other option than to drink some water to push the burger down .

 

“Are you mad at me?” Wendy finally asks what she’s been thinking, sitting tentatively beside the girl.

 

“Why would I be mad at you?” The princess interrupts herself, munching on the rest of the burger with more force than intended, clashing her teeth together.

 

“Joohyun, please just talk to me,” she tries, still at a respectable distance.

 

“Do you agree with her?” It’s the only thing she says, busying herself again with swallowing a pill.

 

She knows what Joohyun is asking, and she vaguely thinks if she would be able to play the dumb card. But when Joohyun looks at her again, with her doe, manipulative eyes, she gives in.

 

“She’s known you for longer than I have,” she’s trying to explain herself, but she doesn’t miss Joohyun’s expression, realizing that she said the wrong words. “Just let me—,”

 

“Save it,”

 

“Joohyun, just listen—,”

 

“I said save it.” The princess rolls her eyes, standing up from her place on the bed, a dent on the mattress starting to go back to its position. “I’m going out. Don’t follow me.”

 

“You know Winter won’t approve of it.”

 

“You are her lackey now or something? Is everyone on her side now? Just—,” Joohyun stops herself, breathing through her teeth. “I don’t care whether she approves or not. I’m going out, you can go tell her if you want, I don’t care.”

 

“Joohyun, wait—,” but the princess shuts the door in her face, stomping with such force that the wooden floor creaks under her feet. She’s so mad that she fails to notice a lurking shadow behind D.O’s.

 

•••

 

“Was that necessary?” Jimin mutters after closing the door behind them. She leans against it, so Winter won’t be able to avoid the conversation. “For someone who is the smartest queen of Quadlans, you really are bad at reading the room.”

 

“I heard you the first time,” Winter says, in no mood to be scolded. “What else did you want me to say? She has this whole act of naivety going on, but she’s not as stupid as she acts. Please, her family was almost as bad as mine if not worse.”

 

“She’s going through a lot right now, Minjeong, do you really believe this was the right time to tell her that?”

 

“Was it ever going to be a good time to say something like that? She’s twenty-three, for the Ancient God’s sake. She’s not a kid anymore.” Winter rubs her forehead so hard that she leaves a red mark after. “Why do you care so much about her? You don’t know her, but I do. She can handle this. So stop acting like I’m the bad guy.”

“But you are,” Jimin says, closing the distance between them, invading yet again Minjeong’s personal space. She’s probably asking for a death wish, but she can’t care less. “What we are doing is not something good people do, Minjeong. I don’t know if you’ve noticed. The least you can do is talk to her.”

“Maybe you should be careful with your words. You’re in no position to demand things, and in no way our agreement means you suddenly have the right to call me out on something. I am what I am, and I won’t change for you or anyone, so stop trying to get through me.”

The Queen looks at Jimin’s hand grabbing her wrist.

“And be careful where you touch me,” Winter murmurs, using her free hand to hold Jimin’s chin. “Unless you want to go to bed with me.”

 

•••

Seulgi watches as the girl with the purple hoodie, who she identified as Jimin, slaps the blonde girl’s hand away. The only confirmation she needs comes when Jimin starts to play with her hair and Seulgi sees it’s black, the same shade as Jimin. She observes Jimin’s back, the crown princess eating just as messy as she remembers her. But then, she gets distracted, something catching her eyes. She’s not sure if it is what she thinks it is. She thinks it might be a mistake, but then the blonde girl puts her hands on Jimin’s, and Seulgi just knows. Still, she needs some type of confirmation.

Then, Jimin rushes to the bathroom, the blonde girl close behind her and Seulgi realizes her time has come. She’ll have to improvise and hope that her theory is incorrect about Jimin and the blonde girl. She uncaps the little bottle around her neck and spills its content on the drink before following right behind.

•••

 

“Do you know this place?” Seungwan changes her tactic, grabbing two of Joohyun’s French fries.

 

They’re sitting inside D.O’s, Joohyun munching on another burger like she has barely eaten in days. And maybe it’s true, but it’s a weird sight to see a princess with her hands covered in sweet mustard while she practically swallows burger crumbs from her plate. Meat burger crumbs. She doesn’t eat particularly faster, but her movements feel disorganized, almost frantic like she’s not sure what to eat first.

 

“A little. It’s been a long time,” the princess says sincerely. “I used to come here with Min—with Winter, Kyungsoo always watching over us while we strolled around with a bag bigger than us, filled with candy we would steal from the witch’s house.”

 

It’s a fond memory, one that she holds close to her heart, even after what Winter said about her brother.

 

“I’m older so I always tried to take care of her. Her parents could be... used to be,” she corrects herself while dragging a french fry through the sauce remains. “A lot.”

 

“I guess I can see that.” Wendy shrugs. “A happy person wouldn’t do what she does. She’s probably in a lot of pain.”

 

“Do you really believe that?” Wendy nods. “She enjoys hurting people, Seungwan. You can’t seriously believe she’s a good person.”

 

“I don’t think she’s good. I just think she’s… complicated. Just like me, just like you are.”

 

Joohyun keeps the purple hoodie up her head, her back turned toward the main entrance behind her. Seungwan reaches to fix it, but Joohyun dodges her hand, leaning against the chair. She then wipes her hands using three napkins, crumpling them into balls and putting them on the tray, ready to throw away. She puts more sweet mustard and ketchup on the fries, and when Seungwan tries to steal one more from her, she slaps her hand away.

 

“Stay away from my fries.”

 

Joohyun is on her second burger when it seems like she finally realizes what she’s eating and grimaces while slowing down. Seungwan hesitates with her hand in the air, before putting it on top of Joohyun’s dirty hands.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she murmurs, pushing Joohyun’s face up with her free hand.

 

Joohyun instantly relaxes, and the animosity she was feeling fades away. Then, nausea comes. and she stands up, rushing towards the bathroom. She stumbles to an empty stall with Seungwan following behind, falling to her knees before emptying her stomach’s content all over the toilet and a little on the floor.

Seungwan doesn’t even hesitate nor gawk, holding Joohyun’s hair up for three solid minutes, brushing her fingers against her back in a soothing manner. She doesn’t stop even when Joohyun stands up, but she changes her hold to her waist, brushing her fingers over her uncovered skin.

“Do you feel better now?”

The princess nods, stepping aside when she only wants to lean on Seungwan.

One of the stalls opens and a girl with black hair steps out, briefly looking at them. Her gaze doesn’t hold, and Wendy sighs in relief.

“Can we go?” The princess says softly, dropping her gaze to the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll go pay for the food while you wait for me by the entrance, okay?”

Seungwan doesn’t try to touch her again and she exits the bathroom, leaving Joohyun to clean her hands and mouth alongside the other girl.

She stays hidden under the hoodie, splashing cold water on her face. She doesn’t even look at herself in the mirror, feeling the presence of the unknown girl beside her. She turns the faucet off, turning around to leave.

“Ouch! I’m so sorry—,” the girl says, opening her eyes in genuine shock, her drink spilling all over Joohyun, the red-colored ice staining the purple hoodie.

“It’s—it’s fine,” Joohyun mutters, hiding further into the hoodie. She feels weird looking at the girl’s intense eyes, so she avoids it, exiting as fast as she can.

When Joohyun closes the door behind her, Seulgi ends up all by herself inside the bathroom, mouth hanging open in shock, realizing three things:

One, that girl wasn’t Jimin.

Two, her theory was correct, but she got wrong the who.

And three, she ed up big time.

•••

Joohyun guides Seungwan around, wandering for another hour. It seems like the sunset will come faster than they thought because the sky starts to turn orangy. The sea is not close to there, but there’s a river on the other side of the town. They don’t talk and Seungwan keeps her distance, and Joohyun feels the anger come back to her. She’s never been an aggressive person, but lately, she feels like she’s full of rage, like a ticking bomb about to explode, like a balloon filled with hot air until it explodes with a resonating pop. Sometimes, Seungwan’s touch helps her to calm down, and butterflies take over her stomach and rib cage, and her heart beats faster. She’s sure she doesn’t love her because she doesn’t know her at all and she can’t trust her completely, but she sometimes feels like she could love her, and maybe that’s a start.

They end up sitting on the rocks. This time, they don’t go in, just getting their shoes off and submerging their feet in the strange, yellowish water. The river separates two towns, and on the other side, they can see the fallen sign of Butterpond, some of the pipelines used for transportation going under the water and disappearing from their sight.

“Are we going to talk about us?” She says finally, noticing that Joohyun has zero intention of speaking.

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Sosha-kun
A lot of you must hate me right now, but I felt like it was the right ending for the story. I have more ideas that I may or may not develop in a sequel hehe. Please comment everything you think about this story

Comments

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hiyerimie
27 streak #1
Chapter 14: To be honest, I've read the sequel at a glance and I want to jump straight to the end of the story 😭
hiyerimie
27 streak #2
Chapter 4: I can imagine how poor Seungwan is here 😭
hiyerimie
27 streak #3
Chapter 3: aww soo sweet 🥰
winrina__09 #4
❤️❤️❤️
Baeismine03 #5
Chapter 24: So wendy is death?
reveclean
#6
Chapter 12: idk if I can still finish this 🤧
Adele101 #7
Chapter 24: Wow, i really like the story. Even though some of the chapter still confuse me, but i did enjoy it
Thanks and cant wait for the sequel
Qila98
#8
Chapter 24: Wow cant wait for the sequel
qiugui #9
Chapter 24: finish it in two days, cant wait for the sequel
WluvsBaetokki #10
Chapter 24: Whaaaaat wait... WHAT