DIVINITY ♛ LEE JENO

FIVE

There were now eight people in the room, silence hung over their heads just like the discomfort in the atmosphere. Meilin gulped, the smile on her face stuck in place. The double doors shut behind them and everyone stared blankly. "Who are the other two? We weren't notified of any other people being present." the one with black hair and amber colored eyes broke the quietness.

"He meant to say his name is Park Jisung, our fire leader." the only other girl gritted her teeth, shooting a nasty glare at the boy. "Excuse the lack of formality. It's been a long week, our energy is.. low." she continued, examining the three that stood before her. Though, she found herself in an odd lie. The work week was indeed draining, but her energy wasn't exactly low. In fact, the energy she sensed from the foreign figure was compelling, something she had never felt before.

"You must be Baek Seorin. You're more beautiful in person, really." Meilin's eyebrows raised, her back lowering into a bow. "This is my brother, Yangyang. Previous inheritor, now my knight."

"Why the switch?" Jaemin questioned, looking the long haired boy up and down. His appearance was interesting to say the least. His suit was a tad more wrinkled than the man next to him, tie crooked on his chest. "Not my vibe." Yangyang shrugged, earning a quirked eyebrow from Mark.

Meilin's smile turned into an awkward one, mentally cursing the boy she couldn't believe was older than her. "This is my other knight, Sir Ten. His family has sworn to protect mine for decades." she explained, motioning towards the other male next to her. "May I ask again, why are they present?" Jisung questioned in a not-so-kind manner, tongue pressed behind his front two teeth.

"We've encountered hundreds of your guards in the span of thirty minutes being here. Princess Meilin has us two— I wouldn't feel necessarily threatened, Park Jisung." Ten explained sternly, chin up in proper manner.

"Trust me, no threat was taken." his amber eyes cut through the stone man. Meanwhile, Seorin looked up in what she couldn't decipher as either annoyance or embarrassment, the color in her eyes shifting to that familiar red hue. "That's enough talking, Park. Princess Meilin, what brings you three here?" she spoke through a forced smile.

Tough crowd, Meilin thought to herself. She took a deep breath, avoiding eye contact with the hothead across the width of the table. "As you all may know, the Jade Kingdom was recently under attack. Two weeks ago, the Sujo Clan had raided our villages and sieged our castle. You've all had experience with the Sujo Clan, if I'm not mistaken."

Jisung's mind immediately went to the thought of his sister. It had been years since the incident, but it felt like yesterday that Seongbin tried to take Minseo's shifting. He was now fully listening, staring at the Princess intently.

"During the attack, an aggressor took my shifting." Most people's attention went to her eyes, seeing them plain and brown. "I've come before you to ask for help. I would like to seek shelter here in the Republic. Shifter-centric cities contain the energy to block out bad spirituality coming for someone's trail." the first request had been proposed. Doable, most of them thought with caution.

"Secondly, I would like to form an alliance with your military-"

"No can do, Princess Meilin." a deep voice cut her off fast. Her head shot towards the figure with broad shoulders, blank eyes.

"You haven't even heard me out." Finally, her smile formed into a worried frown. Jeno sighed loudly, standing up to be just above her eye contact. "General Lee." he introduced himself briefly, bowing a bit lazily. "The Republic will not be engaging in any more wars. We've just fought out west overseas, my men are tired. Not to mention, we don't have the funding at the moment. I respectfully decline, Princess Meilin." he explained. Jeno stared at her a bit longer. Her eyes were big and round. Despite being brown and lackluster, they held some sort of innocence. Maybe everyone's eyes seemed innocent while you were constantly fighting enemies, though.

"The Jade Kingdom will fully fund your army. We can grant you in gold once my kingdom is taken back." Meilin acted quickly, but the General didn't seem amused. "And in the event our army isn't enough to defeat your invaders? You won't have that gold to pay us in if we were to lose." Na Jaemin cut in. He grew to be levelheaded, logical too.

"What's in it for us?" he added.

Meilin thought quietly to herself. You wouldn't be able to tell that nerves were nipping at her skin. Her posture still stood tall, chin not tipping downwards. She knew she couldn't give out too much information, or too little. That's what kept the Liu's mysterious. "You don't know what's out there." she began, swallowing her saliva once more.

"The Jade Kingdom isn't far from the Republic. You do know that you guys are next, correct?" The five were listening with their full attention.

"It doesn't matter if you are ready for a war, it's coming— soon. You don't know when, you don't know how, but I do. My kingdom is the one that has been attacked, I know how that clan is going to attack the Republic too." she further explained. "If you're not fighting against them alongside me, you're going to fight them alone nevertheless." Although the news was scary, Meilin's tone was far from it. The delivery was oddly gentle. Her voice was soft.

"Like I mentioned before, there was that one attack from a Sujo Clan member right outside of your city limits. I'm sure you've taken who he was after into the Republic. They can't track them down here, but they're not idiots. They know that person is here— and that's exactly why they'll attack. That's exactly why they attacked me."

Choi Minseo.

"I'll tell you everything you need to know while anticipating this attack. We're stronger together, whether you think so or not." Meilin continued standing confidently. That same silence washed over the room, this time filled with contemplation. She was starting to believe she was a bit too in over her head, or that her mother was right about the Republic.

"Let's propose a compromise for now," Jaemin sighed, making sure neither Seorin and Jisung had time to start an argument with one another. "You can remain in the Republic for the time being. You will tell us about this attack and then afterwards, we will act accordingly. We can't promise you our army, Princess Meilin. Not right now." Jaemin spared a glance at the General. Tiredness wasn't hard to spot in his expression.

Meilin turned to her left, her eyes meeting with Ten's. The knight gave a clear nod, head bobbing up and down. A feeling of disappointment built up in her chest as she realized she hadn't even gotten to her third point— but figured they would never agree if they could barely fulfill the first two.

"I agree to your terms."

five— the first proposal

—

okay wait this military stuff is honestly kinda boring LOL. pls...... bare with me... ill update fast to get past it and onto more fun stuff :")