ELVEN | K.TH

58

RINEI

...come on.

Didn't they have to at least try after saying yes to me like that?

"I did. He didn't respond, so I thought it was off."

"I tried, Princess. What am I to do if he's the one to not give me a reply back?"

Yeah, right.

They were literally children, the both of them. Was it really that difficult to overcome their pride for just once? All it really took was once.

I sigh.

And my frustration must show.

Arlen shuts the book she's reading with a quiet breath. Then she glances up in my direction, one of her perfect brows raising in curiosity.

"What's the matter?"

"It's nothing."

I didn't really want to bother her when it was her second day out of the infirmary.

"Clearly not." She says, with a slight twist of amusement in her voice. "Tell me. It's something with the men, no?"

My eyes widen.

How...?

"How did you know that?"

She gives me a relaxed, elegant smile. Her eyes glimmer, a little bit dangerously as she tucks a loose strand of silken gold hair behind the tipped curve of her pale ear.

"I mean,"

"It's unavoidable, isn't it? When you got two different men stuck in the same body. And it's even worse when both of them love the same woman."

I blink.

"Arlen, V doesn't love me."

She makes a disbelieving noise. But thankfully she changes the topic, her lip curling upwards.

"You gave that devil a name?"

I bite my tongue sheepishly. I'd forgotten she was basically enemies with V— after he'd hospitalized her like that. She probably hated his guts.

"...I didn't know what to call him."

"It doesn't matter." She says lightly, as if brushing the topic away. "So what's the main problem? They won't get along with each other, hm?"

I nod.

"I get that they don't like each other, but they're stuck with each other and nothing's gonna change that." I say, my brows furrowing. "They can't just—"

"Then you make them get along."

"...how?"

A smile glitters.

"You can easily play with men's hearts."

"Even if one of them is the devil himself."

_______________________________

TAEHYUNG

"Rinei?"

My voice echoes hollow in the room. My eyes skim over the empty bed— and her pair of slippers, lying unworn on the floor. There are no signs of her.

No signs of her, in the entire Palace. I'd looked for her since sundown, and now it was too dark for her to be anywhere else.

Then I hear the sound of low laughter.