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What, you're back again?! And I was just start-er, finishing this chapter! Come on, give me a break. I can recommend books like Little Women, Pride and Prejudice or Little House on the Prairie.

Not interested, you say? You just insulted many dead and FAMOUS authors! Cough cough!

You say you wanna continue reading this chapter because you think it's interesting. Fine. Let's go, we're going on a trip.

Got your bags? I'm just joking but you probably already knew that.

Now come on, I need to go to Target and get some Lindt chocolate. Time's a'wasting!

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"The Banquet Hall, please," I murmered to my phoenix. We took off in the air and skimmed the lake's waters once again. The phoenix landed right in front of the door and I hopped off. It bursted into flames as the Court members clapped their hands.

What unsettled me was the look that some of them gave me. It was like an evil glint in their eyes and it stayed there.

Holding my head up, I walked to the center of the hall and took my seat on the golden throne. The whole hall was bustling with activity and I noticed a very large crowd at the back corner of the hall compromised of a lot of young Court members. Strange.

"Thank you all for coming here, please, take your seats,"a high official clanked her glass with a chopstick. 

"Today is a very important day in our history. The crowning of the Mama is one of the most revered days of the year and today is no different. The Mama is the face of our world and without her, there is no role model. There is no one to look up to as an example," she continued. "The Mama is the paragon of our world."

Everybody clapped politely at that little speech. 

"Let us make a toast to the Mama for a long and prosperous life!" The official raised her goblet and so did everyone else."To the Mama!" they all cheered and downed their goblets in one gulp. I sipped the water and set it down.

"Enjoy yourselves!" The room bursted into polite conversation and small talk. 

"You should go talk to the Guardians," Aiyoung muttered as she made her way up.

"Am I supposed to not leave my seat?"I questioned. 

"Only after everyone gives you the gifts," she explained. The beeline had already started and Aiyoung slipped away, blending in with the crowd.

Most of the gifts were paintings, sculptures and precious jade objects that I recieved politely. I can't say I'm interested in them.

They were probably worth a lot of money though. An idea started to bubble in my head.

The line was long until the last person (a short girl) gave me a simple jade necklace which she looked apprehensively at. "P-please, take this," she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

"You know what, you keep it,"I murmered, making sure no one was glancing. "I don't need it."

"I-is it because of...all that?" she glanced at the treasures piling up on the table and it made her sob.

"No, no, silly, this is yours, right? Keep it," I smiled as I tied the necklace behind her neck. "See, I have one too, but yours is much prettier." I showed her my ivory stained jade necklace and she smiled.

"Thank you," she whispered and ran away, smiling. I rose, watching her little stature disappear in the crowd.

"Wow, that was a generous thing you did," one of the officials noted. "I haven't seen an act like that in a while."

"It's what we should do," I replied, gazing into the distance. "Excuse me, I think that's all of the gifts." I made my way to the back corner of the room, pushing through all of the mobs of girls screaming. 

"Hey look, it's the Mama!" One of the boys shouted. The girls immediately curtsied and scurried off to the other corners of the room. 

"Whoa, whoa whoa, look who we have here, it's the Mama!" Another boy whooped. 

"Can I ask you something? Are you drunk?" I asked pointedly, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, he is, sorry about that. My name's D.O., this is Chanyeol," he motioned to the tipsy dude. 

"Yeah, um, do we bow?" A tall guy with dark eyebags asked. 

"Please, don't," I hurried to respond. "I've had enough of the bowing and curtseying already," I motioned to the gift tables at the front of the room. "However, I would like to know your names, if you wouldn't mind."

"Tao." "Lay." "Baekhyun!" "Suho." "Kris." "Chen." "Sehun." "Luhan." "Kai." "Xiumin."

I nodded politely and smiled. "That's...great! My name's Hyunjae and I shouldn't be talking to you." I nervously glanced around as I took off my headress casually. 

"Ooh, R-E-B-E-L!" Chanyeol whooped a bit and I rolled my eyes.

"You guys, why... what has he been drinking?" I grabbed his goblet and looked inside. "It's... grape juice? You serious? He's tipsy on GRAPE JUICE?" I put down the goblet in exasperation. "And here I thought it was baijiu or something?"

Half of the members looked at me in confusion. One of them-Lay, I think-whispered to them something.

"Sorry, some of us speak only Korean and don't understand Chinese," he explained apologetically. 

"I guess I'll just speak Korean!" I chuckled. Everyone here seemed to be so tense (except for the tipsy one) and it was getting on my nerves.

"So... have you met my annoying sister Aiyoung?"

After a long time of discussing my sister, I headed back to the throne and started to take a sip.

By now, her stomach could be one of the top ten worst thunderstorms ever in history and could even beat the dryness of the Sahara.

Hey, I didn't speak up for a while! Be glad! 

"Please, would you like a beverage with that?" A girl curtsied as she held up a goblet of grape juice. "Courtesy of the chef," a girl next to her said.

She was one of the evil glinters.

But before I could take a sip, time froze as the room became completely still.

----------Tao's POV.

After slapping Kris's arm playfully, he made his way through the frozen crowd of people and took the plate of food as well as the goblet. He went outside of the Hall, holding the supposedly poisoned foods and dumped them into the river. The river turned a swirling color of black for just a second and then it turned normal. He took the empty plate and goblet and headed back inside the Hall.

She still had to eat so Tao hoped she liked spaghetti and coconut shrimp. He filled the goblet with some plain water from Lay's goblet.

He returned the objects to the Mama, making sure to place the goblet in the girl's hand. Running back to his friends, he resumed time again.

The room continued it's bustling activity. Tao smiled as he saw the Mama drink the goblet of water.

"Why'd you do it?" Kris asked, patting his back.

"She's nice." Tao briefly glanced at her again and then went to eat.