Sefina Hale wants one thing and one thing only - to save her parents' dying sugar plantation. She doesn't care about her friend Elia's plight to win the king's heart, she doesn't care about the healing tensions of the war between Mavacuria and its n...
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"Yoongi."
"Sefina."
"Yoongi." She sighed, her breath clumping into wispy clouds between them before floating up to the overcast sky. "Why am I even surprised you're here?"
"Your guess is good as mine. Honestly, I'm surprised no one in the castle has suspected my involvement with the rebellion."
She doubted that much. From the beginning, she had been leery of Yoongi – he was a Sihanese representative, and as such, he wouldn't be the friendliest towards any notion of a Mavacurian monarch ruling over his homeland. Although she had quickly learned to enjoy his company, no one else in court had. Every time he hadn't been in the room, people had murmured about the likelihood Yoongi of harboring radical tendencies.
And for once, the court had been right. Sefina just had to figure out how radical of a rebel Yoongi was.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she lifted an eyebrow. "So, are you on team Jungkook or team Jin?"
"What?"
"I've been here for less than a day, but I've gathered there's a little division in the rebellion," Sefina said. "There's people who follow Jin and call for Jimin's blood, and then there's Jungkook's faction, which wants...well, sanity."
He scoffed. "When you put it like that, I feel like I have to say I'm on team Jungkook." He turned down a narrow path towards a heavily forested section of camp, leaving Sefina no choice but to follow. "But really, I don't care who sits on the throne. A handsome-looking squirrel could wear the Mavacurian crown, and I wouldn't give a rat's ass if it meant Sihan were independent again."
"Any squirrel would look handsome, if it wore a crown."
"That's what you took away from all that?" Yoongi blew out an exasperated breath. "Right. Well, whose team are you on?"
The necklace at her throat demanded that she answer 'Jungkook'. Still, she didn't agree with his deception and involvement with the rebellion, even if his intentions were noble. He wanted to protect the nation's people, yes, but what personal bridges would he burn to get there? Jungkook believed his ends justified his means, but she wasn't so sure. Sefina hated liars, and hated being lied to.
"I just want the violence to stop. Same as you, anyone could have the crown - if there even is a crown." Snow shifted beneath her boots, and it almost felt like sand, if she closed her eyes. "I wouldn't mind the Hilmore Isles being freed, either."
Yoongi twisted towards her, smiling. "Looks like we made our own little team."
"How long are you planning to stay here?" she asked. "Don't you have to be back soon to Mikido submit your Platinum Council proposal?"
"Yeah. It was the Platinum Council that made me consider that Jimin might be okay on the throne. I have a proposal for work-study program in Sihan. If it's approved, our unemployment rates would drop while our education level increases. A win-win, really," Yoongi said. "And it would give me time to figure out a safe plan to win back Sihan's freedom with Jimin overseeing it in the meantime."
