“Does he care?” I said to myself as I watched Sae Jin drink his evening wine. Tonight he really is in his full element. This year is the year of the black dragon and he decided to host a full on ball to ring in the New Year. Everyone who was anyone was here. Men in freshly tailored suits and women in expensive gowns while wearing pounds and pounds of makeup.
It made me sick to the point of throwing up.
But why am I surprised? This was always my world; I was just always too young to appreciate it.
I turned towards one of the full length mirrors, which was plastered on the wall, and looked myself over. Tonight I was dressed in a deep blue gown that had a conservative top but a flowing train that ran two feet behind me. My hair was decorated with fine crystals imbedded in the intricate bun that was sitting on top of my head. Tonight Sae Jin made me sit down and be fixed like I have never been before. He said that I looked beautiful.
But why do I feel so artificial and hideous?
I grimaced and turned away from the mirror and began walking towards the grand stair case. I had 3 full glasses of red wine and I was feeling a bit under the influence, so I decided to retire from the evening by resting a bit.
Before I even reached the first step I heard Sae Jin call for me.
“Yuri Na! Why must you leave so early? Come and enjoy alongside your future husband.” He yelled.
I turned around slowly to face the crowd whose attention he had directed to me. Everyone knew who I was and knew the disgraceful family that I belonged to.
I could see it in their gazes, they were all eager to see just how Park Kim Su’s daughter was going to react to the command that she received from her fiancée. I smiled at them all and said, “As a future lady of this home, I see it fit that I leave before my intoxication embarrasses my future husband.” With that I quickly turned and sped up the stairwell.
I smiled as I heard them all gasp and whisper their petty remarks towards me. Tonight I wasn’t going to worry about my image. I was going to rest if it was the last thing I did.
As I approached the 2nd floor I noticed that the light in the attic was on. I found this odd because no one ever went there.
When I had first arrived to the castle, Sae Jin had made it clear that the attic was strictly off limits. I had always wanted to know exactly why but was always too coward to ask, and since tonight I was defying him; I decided that I would find out.
I reached down toward the train of my dress and ripped it off, so that it wouldn’t trip me, then I began my climb towards the attic.
The stairs just seemed to keep on rising and it felt as if the attic’s light was venturing farther and farther away from me, but I knew that it was only my mind playing tricks on me once again. I finally reached the attic’s door. I reached my hand toward the knob but I never made it in there.
A wave of dizziness drowned me in a wave of unconsciousness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I awoke to a strange darkly lit room, I was almost positive that this wasn’t my suite. As I looked around my inference proved to be true. The bed that I was on was facing a wall of curtains. I got up carefully not to make any noise and went towards the curtains, I pulled one back and discovered that the curtains covered a wall of windows.
I looked out the window and saw Sae Jin below having his morning meal as usual. His relaxed stance made my heart ache. I hope he wasn’t upset with me after the show that I made last night. I had embarrassed him in front of many of his guests, and for what? Cheap laughs later?
