SALVE | l.ty + k.jn

introduction.

❝ be my peace,

i have enough pain. ❞

♔

━

3013 

Simplicity.

Kim Jennie stood in front of the large mirror of her room as her mother took a brush through her long, dark brown hair to soften the curls she'd just completed earlier.

Jennie had always wished her hair were the color of copper- like her friend Lisa.

Maybe even a strawberry blonde- like Rosé.

Or a bold black- like Jisoo.

But, no.

Jennie's hair was to be a dark brown- her mother said. It suited her. It was simple.

Jennie didn't argue, as she couldn't deny, she was quite simple.

As her mother picked up the cosmetic brush with a soft, pink end (just like everything else in Jennie's room), Jennie held in a sigh.

Her mother dipped the bristles of the brush into a loose powder of what Jennie liked to call, 'scarlet stardust'- better known as blush.  Jennie, along with all the others, owned many different shades.

Today, her mother had chosen a soft, dolly pink.

Sweeping it lightly across Jennie's cheekbones, the pigment had immediately brought a flush of color to her pale face.

"Are you excited?" Her mother asked, unable to hide her own excitement in her voice as she set  the brush down back onto the white vanity gently.

She was to make sure her daughter looked perfectly prepped and primed for her big day.

Jennie only stared blankly back at her reflection.

"I suppose." Jennie mumbles.

Her mother's lips twist down in a slight taste of satisfaction at her daughter's reaction, but then maintains her smile nonetheless.

This is what she was preparing Jennie for all her life. If Jennie wasn't ecstatic, fine. She'd be excited enough for the both of them.

"Maybe one of those men will like your sass, who knows, missy?" Her mother replied, only half-jokingly.

Jennie fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"Oh, yes, mother." Jennie says. "I'm sure a man will truly get off on my nonexistent will to live, I'm sure he'll love that..."

"... Kim Jennie."

Jennie remained silent.
And then not forgetting her manners, she apologizes.
"Forgive me, I'm quite nervous about being sold off to live with some stranger in whatever environment and family he has." 

Her mother shook her head with a tsk-tsk at her daughter's evident satire. 

"Honey, you're not being sold off. You're being betted off." Her mother corrects, and Jennie almost rolls her eyes. As if that had made anything better.

"And my little Jennie, with your beauty and intellect, will surely get bid into a wonderful home." Her mother placed her hands on Jennie's shoulders, staring at both their reflections in the mirror.
Seeing herself in Jennie.

"Surely, a son of an estate will bid on you. I know it." Her mother says, clutching tightly onto Jennie's shoulders.
"You must become a wife of an estate. You must-"
Jennie gently pulled herself out of her mother's grasp.

"Mother." Jennie says. "Don't get ahead of yourself."

The Estates were the wealthy, powerful families that lived in large mansions and at the top of the social ladder.
It was every girl's dream to become part of an estate's home.

Her mother quietly ruffles Jennie hair.
"You'll make me so proud." She murmurs, and Jennie immediately felt guilty knowing all her mother had done to get her prepped for years to become the perfect girl fit for a perfect home.

Jennie couldn't just ignore it.
It was inevitable.
She had been prepped all her life to be bid off.
Might as well be bid off to a member of the estate.

Jennie sighs. "Alright, mother." She says.
"Worry not, your daughter will become a member of an estate family."
Turning to her mother, she forced an overdramatic smile. "Happy?"

Her mother beamed, tucking a strand of stray hair behind Jennie's ear.

"But, mother..." Jennie interjects, then pauses, knowing it is not a question that should be asked.

Jennie proceeds, anyway.

"Must I do everything for a man?"

Her mother pursed her lips.
Moving behind Jennie, she gently forced Jennie's head up with both hands.

Jennie is again, met with her own reflection.

"Jennie." Her mother coos soothingly.

"Yes, mother?"

"Behind every powerful man is an even more powerful woman."
Her mother says.
"Remember that, dear."

━

this book may not be suitable for everyone's preference.
mature audiences only.
any similar works are purely coincidental.

do not copy.