VII: SEPTEM

“Papa.” I knock on the large wooden door. It opens, revealing my father with his rounded glasses sitting behind the desk. 

I close the door behind me. “I… have something up.” 

My whole family knows of my visions, however, only my father knows about my ability in poison manipulation. But for the thing I’m about to tell him, I think I will freak him out. 

He asks with a smile. “Yea?” 

“Um…” I wonder how I should tell my family about my new fiancé. Of course, I wouldn’t tell them the deal behind it, but no matter how fake it is, I’ll still need to tell them about the engagement. 

“I have a fiancé.” 

He raises his brows. “Fiancé?”

I nod. “It’s…” I hope my father wouldn’t die from a heart attack. “It’s someone unexpected…” I make out a smile. 

“Who?”

“It’s the Marquis.” 

A deafening silence follows, and all I can hear is the clock ticking by.  

My father’s pupils trembles and he purses his lips. “Is it a deal?”

I widen my eyes, then nod in pure honesty. 

He stared outside the window, watching the fluttering snowflakes rain the lands. My father knows what kind of person I am, after all, he was the one who taught me everything of survival - from the fake smiles to the poisonous roots. 

I might be a caring sister and a smiling daughter to Saeun and my mother, but to my father, I am the meticulous, logical and calculating daughter that grew in his hands.

“I’m sorry.” My father stares at me with his soft, drooping eyes. 

“I’m sorry that you had to bear the burden of our family.” He sighed. My father knows that I’m not a person who steps out of the boundaries easily. He knew that I must’ve been forced by some desperate reason to end up marrying the lord. 

Indeed, I was. 

If it were not the vision about being Princess consort, I would’ve rather lived peacefully with my family, sitting under the shades of trees and laughing against the cackling leaves. 

“It’s not your fault, papa.” I return him with a smile. It really isn’t. I only blame the King, who chose me as Princess consort. I only blame Kang Minhyuk, for removing our betrothal. I only blame Prince Myungsoo, who killed our family. 

“I am part of House Natura as well. I can protect our family too.” 

A gleam of moist passes through his eyes, but he blinks it off. 

“It will only last for a year, papa.” I reassure him. “And it’s only an engagement, it’s not like I’m actually signing a vow and living with him.” I chuckle.  

My father doesn’t look too reassured. He merely raises a faint smile and muttered. “If he crosses his lines with my daughter, I’ll have no choice but to put my life on the line.”

As professional deal partners, I think the Marquis wouldn’t cross his line. Though, even if he does do anything to him, I’ll make sure to kill him before he distorts me. 

“Don’t worry, papa.” I return a chuckle. “I will kill him before he does.” 

My father sighs with a smile. “If you know how to protect yourself, then it’s a relief for me.” 

……

“Are you crazy? Have you gone out of your mind?” My sister shouts across the room, while my mother stares at me in bewilderment. “H-How…. Why?” I sense the rippling fear beneath her voice as she shot up from the sofa.

“Don’t worry, mama. He’s…” I think of a word to describe our business relationship. “Nice.” 

Nice would be an understatement, but I have his cure in my hands, so I’m sure he wouldn’t harm me.

My mother shakes her head. She knows the court and politics better than I do. “Why?” She stares at me with eyes like saucers. 

“It’s okay.” I don’t tell her why, because I don’t want them to know of my horrifying vision. 

Instead, I reassure her. “He will treat me well.” Because he needs a cure. 

My mother looks visibly struck, and I don’t blame her for feeling terrified, but this is what I have to do for the sake of my family. 

Besides, he wouldn’t dare to do anything to me. 

I have his life in my hands. 

…….

After a short week, the King held a dinner with a handful of the districts. He invited the high lords over, claiming that he wanted some deeper conversations with the districts to learn of any updates. 

It’s not like he’ll change anything in regards to his policies. He’ll still force us to export all the resources to the capitol, he’ll still force us to engage into his plans, and he’ll still be in control of his games.

Everyone didn’t dare to tell him the truths of their district - how our people are all starving, how we’ve been struggling for decades, and how unrest is starting to appear in some districts. 

Instead, we all sit on our respective tables and only go up to him by order. We’ve already went up to the King, and my father had exchanged important conversations with him.

If I didn’t have a fiancé, I would’ve scanned my eagle eyes around the crowd to find a suitable man, but now, the man I need is sitting right there — on the right-hand side of the King, with a flattened, emotionless curl on his lips. He nods attentively to both the words of the King and the speaking silver lord. 

He returns a comment that leaves the King in smiles and the lord with a curl on his lips. I watch him from afar, wondering how he had the court all grasped in his hands. 

He has weaved his webs and wandered through the courts, and yet he has got himself poisoned.

Who poisoned him? 

If he was smart enough to gain the trust of the King, he should be smart enough to avoid getting himself poisoned. 

I wonder how long this had been going on for him. Even from just a touch of a finger, I could tell there are thousands of toxins bundled up in a clash of troops, all of them battling in war with his own body.

A cure for him wouldn’t be easy, but with time, I guess I’ll be able to do it. Though I’ll need quite some time to explore every toxin and derive a suitable anecdote for him. I’ll have to tell him about this later.

I find myself staring at every action he does, from the lifting of his wine glass to the curling of his desolated pupils. 

While another lord approaches the King, the Marquis turns his head briefly and his eyes caught mine. 

I wonder how many ladies were brave enough to catch his eyes and matched his against theirs.

I blink, then turn away without a word. 

My sister nudges me silently. “Unnie…” She takes a cautious glance towards the Marquis. “Have you really… fallen for him?”

I raise my brows while she continues. “You’ve never stared at someone for so long. Even when you were betrothed to Viscount Kang back then, you never looked his way.” 

I give her a smile. “The Marquis will treat me well. Don’t worry.” By treating me well, I meant that he wouldn’t kill me. Rather, he’ll save my life in return for the cure in my hands.

She gives me an incredulous look, as if the sun has risen from the west, while I merely take a sip from my glass. 

……

Luckily, instead of watching lords fight each other, this time, we get an actual form of entertainment. Each house occupies a box and we stare down towards the curved stage, where musicians play and singers open their mouths. 

It’s another opera about the rebellion that started 75 years ago, when the civilians and districts had resisted against the old King’s rule.

Obviously, they make slight reverberations. Like how they wipe off the King’s tyrannical rule and shapes the previous monarch into a kind-hearted, gentle man. Like how they place emphasis on huge casualties made by rebel troops, but ignore how much more the sentinels have killed. Like how they make some districts become the villains, and make House Potestas the hero of the story. 

We watch, but with in mind that everything in this play is wrong. 

While everyone place their gazes downwards on the bellowing actor, I take a glimpse around the theatre. The boxes are shaped in a curved sphere, and while the King occupies the box in the most centre, the Marquis occupies the next. We sit further away, on the more curvy edges of the theatre, therefore, with a slide of my pupil, I could see the boxes of those in the centre. 

In the midst of a performance, my fiancé excuses himself. 

Usually I wouldn’t really pay attention to his absence, but after another bar of music, Prince Myungsoo excuses himself from the box. 

My vision did not tell me what Prince Myungsoo told the Marquis. I know he was contemplating a while ago, but I wonder if he’ll fall towards the Prince or not. 

I decided to sneak out as well. After another beat of the loud drums and bellowing voices, I sent a smile to my family and stretched out of the velvety chair. 

I pass through heavy doors and walk through red carpets. However, it seems like by the time I’ve found them within the hidden corridors and dark hallways, they’ve already finished the discussion. 

I stay behind the corner, as I watch them exchange nods, before the Prince exits through the other direction. 

I know Taemin wouldn’t agree to deals easily, just like how I spent a while convincing him a week ago. And even if he did agree to Prince Myungsoo’s deal, he would’ve saved some spots for himself, to ensure that he’ll come out of this safely. 

I should trust my deal partner, since I’ve already signed a deal with him. But I can’t help but to wonder if he’s really going to keep my house safe. He might save a spot for himself, but will he save one for me and my family? 

I guess I’ll have to work on the cure quickly, to remind him that he has his life on my hands.  

I wander back to the opera hall slowly, before bumping into a suited figure. 

My fiancé stares down at me with narrowed eyes. 

I fake a smile. 

He raises his brows. “How much did you hear?” 

A week ago, my legs would have melted into a blob of snow, but now, I stare back into his eyes. 

“All of it.” I say. 

Knowing that I lied, he nods and turns to walk past me. 

I pull him by the sleeve. “You ain’t going to wipe my memory?” I’m just curious — since he doesn’t know about my vision of him and Prince Myungsoo. I know that the Prince is trying to get him by his side, and I figured that he is probably still contemplating on his choices. 

But does he know that I have a g