Heart of Ice

Hail

He stared straight at her, his strong arms circling around her waist in reassurance. She tried to break eye contact, but his eyes were like stones pulling her down into the deep dark abyss of sin and sensuality. He kissed her neck and inhaled the sweet scent of her perfume, triggering a warm reaction in the pit of her stomach. As his teeth grazed her neck, her eyes shut and her body relaxed in his arms. His hands brushed over her back, hands struggling to unfasten her dress...

The door to her room suddenly opened, and Yewon swiftly shut her novel and hid it beneath the covers before anyone could catch her. If her father found out she was reading that, she didn't know what he would do to her.

"Hail," messenger Don greeted her, putting his left hand on his heart.

"Hail," she replied, putting her left hand on her own as was the custom in her country.

"Princess Yewon," messenger Don said to her, "you father wants to speak to you about an urgent matter, and he requests your immediate company."

"Oh no," Yewon pouted. Any time her father "requests her immediate company," something bad would happen to her. Did he find out about the erotic novels she had been smuggling into the castle? Or maybe he found out that she had been going down into the kitchens to eat outside of their scheduled meals? Or maybe he was assigning another boring etiquette teacher to try and transform her into a "true Princess" like her other three sisters.

Whichever it was, Yewon was not looking forward to it.

After hiding her novel well under her sheets, she made her way to the throne room where her father would be. Don scurried behind her, giving her the guidelines she had heard a thousand times before about how to approach her father, the King of Galacia.

"Walk in slowly and immediately greet him with 'Hail,' putting your left hand on your heart. Keep your neck down and your eyes on the floor. Don't speak unless spoken to, and don't complain or question any of his demands. Don't raise your voice in his presence. Don't laugh unless he laughs..." blobloblo.

Yewon blocked the Don's voice as she continued walking through the chilled castle halls.

Winter had not been kind to Galacia this year. Not even the castle's thick stone walls could block the blizzard and keep them warm. Everyone inside the castle wore thick clothes, or else their bodies would freeze. Yewon had heard that their villagers were dying because they didn't have enough clothes to survive the deathly winter.

She rarely went outside of the castle, and so she wouldn't know about life outside of it. Her older brother Jihoon got to go outside though, and he told her that life there was tough. It was too cold, and their crops were dying as a result, leading too food shortages. Their people were starving and freezing to death.

The thought of her people suffering sent a chill up her spine, and she felt the heat escape her body. She suddenly felt colder than usual, and decided she needed to go back and get her overcoat.

As she turned to go back to her room, messenger Don stopped her: "where are you going, your highness? You father is waiting!"

"Don't worry Don; I'll be right back!" she told him, "I just need to get something."

"But you're keeping his Majesty waiting!"

"I'll be quick," she reassured him as she dashed back to her chambers. Messenger Don yelled for her to come back, but she ignored him.

She held her dress in her arms and ran back to her room. After retrieving the overcoat from her closet, she put it on and started making her way back to where Don was probably anxiously waiting for her.