Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

7 Flowers

Unnerved, she notices that as soon as she had arrived here: Seonghwa and this man had said basically the same things. You can always look for me to accompany you eating. I am always worried for a 'lady' like you. Do not try to find the true identity of the Shadow King or there will be consequences. It seems like they had been trained and possibly practiced everyday to repeat the same sentences. Or are they trying to play games with her? Being nice but secretly taunting her with a smile plastered on their faces.

She narrows her eyes at Wooyoung, who shrugs. "There are just a lot of people trying to do that. I'm not saying that you are one of them, but it's always our duty to protect our king. Like how it is your duty to protect your queen." Every word that comes out of his mouth sounds like a threat to Akira. She cannot evaluate whether the man beside her is discreetly trying to tell her that her mission is completely destroyed, or he is just a man who likes telling stories - all with the smile that does not leave his face. "Anyway, I'm happy that you're here. At least I won't be seeing only the same faces for the time being. It's a fresh change."

She keeps quiet, still not used to his over-friendly ways.

"My name is Wooyoung by the way - you will find me occassionally in the palace since I live here. You can always say hi to me whenever you see me. Though I like to spend time outside the palace more - it's more lively there." He whispers, "The people around here can be a bit... boring." His voice returns to normal. "I think you've met Yeosang and Seonghwa, right? If you want to get familiar with the palace's surroundings you can look for San - he knows the palace well, even more than I do. He's one of the servants here, though I do not like to call them that. Servants or not, they're still humans."

She only listens to his blabber while finishing up her dish, but her chewing gradually stops as she hears the names one by one. They are the names of the suspected Shadow King - a list given by Yunho. She forcefully swallows the bolus of food when the realization hits her. She had stuffed the list inside her luggage, which she does not have with her now. If they ever find out about that list, surely only the worst will come to her. She will get scorned by both of the kingdoms and her fate might not end well.

As she looks around trying to think of a way to quickly get out of this man's grasps, she hears him call out someone. "San, there you are! I was just talking about you." The man called San walks over to them, holding a bucket full of fresh laundry. He gives a quizzical look. "She is the ambassador that we've been talking about."

He nods slightly, but does not give any more acknowledgement. She can't help but to compare everything that's going around here with her kingdom - if one of the servants ever did that in Lucida, they will be executed right away, in which of course, is her job. In Lucida, hierarchy is everything. The colour of your blood puts you in your rightful place. But here, in Nyla, it seems like the people do not care about their positions. Servants seem to walk around freely without having to have their heads down all the time and a man like Wooyoung - which she does not even know who he really is and what his job at the palace is - kept on mentioning that all people get treated with respect. They seem to treat the palace as their playground and there are no rules here. All people are of the same level.

Well, except for the Shadow King.

"Maybe you can show her around the palace. I'm going to be a bit busy later-"

"Flirting with girls?"

"No," he replies with resignation. "Why do you guys always treat me like that? Look, I don't always flirt with girls."

She does not know what has gotten into her, but Akira replies almost swiftly, "You did try to flirt with me."

San holds back his laughter as Wooyoung looks at her in disbelief. "Miss Akira, I cannot believe you betrayed me like that."