royal blood

15 | a slow love story.

yeri had practiced for the whole day. she was supposed to have a show at the national theatre in less than two months, but the whole situation regarding her brother had pushed everything back for yeri. she visited his grave daily, made sure the flowers were placed correctly around the grave that held a man yeri cherished.

she loved her older brother. he was a role model to her, a person who she should look up to. however, yeri became focused on her ballet career and forgot about her siblings. wendy and doyoung were closer in age, they had more to talk about and less things to act awkward about.

once she got back to the palace, her maid, miss. hong, welcomed her with a mysterious letter. once yeri took the letter, she immediately recognized the person who had written it. a small smile appeard on yeri's face, as she quickly opened it. she saw sicheng's name and couldn't help but blush.

miss. hong walked away, as yeri sat down on her bed. she read through the letter, smiling at sicheng's nice words. he wanted to be her friend. yeri looked at the letter, before she finally put it down. she looked out the window, before she got up.

yeri made her way to the library. she took a pencil and a paper, deciding to write something to sicheng. she could not leave him waiting desperately for an answer, and she was actually hoping he'd come back to ceham and spend time with his new friend.

yeri thought about the things she should write to sicheng. first of all, she should answer to all of his questions, but then she was unsure of what to start talking about. she doubted having anything in common with sicheng. aside from their time spent together at the orphanage, she did not know what sicheng liked.

suddently, her eyes lit up. he liked dancing. he used to dance when he was younger, and he danced with yeri in the grand ballroom from the baron's villa. yeri looked at her paper, before deciding to ask sicheng about his career as a dancer.

as yeri was writing her letter, she suddently happend to see a broken piece of a letter. she raised her eyebrow, unsure where this piece came from. yeri put her pencil down, taking the small piece of already yellow paper, seeing that it had a small drop of blood on it.

" if i ever die, .. " was the only yeri could see, but the handwriting felt a little familiar. then, her eyes widened, figuring out that it was doyoung's handwriting. yeri got up, as she thought about finding wendy. she got out of the library, running upstairs.

wendy was sitting down in her bedroom, drinking a warm cup of tea. she was shocked to see yeri in her room, so scared. yeri got closer to wendy, before handing her the piece of paper. wendy looked at it, as yeri took the cup of tea, preventing wendy from completely destroying it.

" yeri, where did you find this ?! " wendy got up, as yeri let out a small sigh. " yeri, this is clearly doyoung's handwriting. it mentions him dying, but there must be more to this sentence. he must talk about more about his suspicion. " she said, as yeri put the tea cup down on the coffee table.

" i found it in the library. while i was walking around to find something for a letter, i didn't see it, but as soon as i sat on the chair opposite of the window, i was able to see it. " yeri explained to wendy, who decided to go and check the library for herself.

wendy and yeri made it back to the library. suddently, yeri froze on the spot. her unfinished letter was not there anymore. yeri could clearly remember leaving it at the spot she sat when she found the letter, but it was not there anymore.

" sister, my letter is not here anymore ! someone clearly took it, even though it was here. where is it ? no maid should've come in, because .. because not too much time has passed since i came to you ! " yeri started walking around, as wendy turned to her sister, as shocked as yeri was.

" this is so weird, yeri. i have been in this library for hundreds of times since doyoung has passed, and i have never seen these pieces of paper. " wendy said, as she let out a sigh. " someone must be playing with us. " she announced, as the door slowly opened.

seulgi walked into the room, as she slowly bowed towards the two women. wendy walked closer to seulgi, waiting for her to tell the two that she was the one to take yeri's letter by accident and arrive to apologize for this mistake.

" ma'am, i have heard you and her majesty were talking about a letter. i am curious to see what happend, because i have had my letter to someone taken away without me doing anything about it. " seulgi said, as both yeri and wendy widened her their eyes.

as soon as she reached ceham, seulgi wanted to write a message for jaehyun. the moment she was about to finish her letter, it suddently disappeard without a single trace. seulgi was still searching for this letter, before hearing that wendy and yeri were put in the same situation.

" whoever is doing this, they are actually scaring us more than anyone else. "

—

it was a stormy night of august, four months before doyoung's passing, and wendy never felt so scared in her while. it was a terrible night, and she was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep for the full night. she sat on her bed, as the door opened.

doyoung made his way inside, as a smile appeard on both of their faces. doyoung walked closer to wendy, as he sat next to her. " i expected you not to sleep, so i wanted to stop by and talk to you for a few minutes. " doyoung said, as wendy laid down. " you know, it is almost the end of summer .. i expect autumn to be better. "

" i actually love autumn. " wendy smiled, as doyoung looked towards her. " it is a lovely time, a time where it might be warm, but not too warm .. " she said, as she slowly closed her eyes for a few minutes. " it is a time in which you feel .. both ways. "

" i prefer spring the most. it is the time where all flowers bloom and all animals return .. " doyoung began, as wendy looked at him. " i love spring, it is a beautiful time that makes me feel calm and welcomed. " he let out a sigh, before he laid down next to wendy. " if i ever die, i want to die in the spring. "

wendy hit his arm, as a small laugh escaped doyoung's mouth. he turned off the lamp, before he made his way towards the other side of the bed. wendy wrapped herself tightly around the blanket, as she turned to the other side.

oh, doyoung, he didn't die in spring.

—