Arcus // ATEEZ ✔

4: visitors of the realm

When Serim had told her all of them are a unique and interesting bunch, it could barely prepare her for the actual meeting. For one, her nervousness of meeting these people face to face made her forget the faces. The stacks of papers with their profiles are now arranged neatly on her desk, no chance of her getting another look before she greets them.

Before she could prepare for the meeting, without another second of asking whether she is ready, she is whisked away to the dining hall. The maids follow her wheelchair's pace that is being pushed by Serim. Apparently, her parents, or more specifically the queen, has asked Serim to make sure Narae arrives at the dining hall on time. The princess has a habit of not turning up when she finds that any particular event will not keep her interest for more than 5 minutes - she is known for her blatant shamelessness in ditching anything she deems uninteresting.

Her attitude has also brought shame to her family in the past, but as always, she gets away with it just because she's the princess of Inis. The biggest mystery in the whole realm, or possibly the whole empire, is how a princess like her still managed to gain a lot of adoring fans.

"Do I really have no positive attributes?" she whispers to Serim as the latter helps to smooth her hair down with her right hand, and pushes the wheelchair with another.

"Your Highness, I have told you that you're pretty-"

"Not those physical and superficial stuff. Like my attitude, how are they all so... negative?"

Serim feels grateful that the princess can only face the front without being able to see what kind of expression she has on as she answers, "You can probably get better answers from other people around you, princess. I was told that the rest are all so eager to meet you for after so long."

With that final remark the doors are opened for her and all heads, some with faces she vaguely remembers while some with faces that are completely unfamiliar to her, turn to her. She takes a large gulp of air as she is slowly pushed along the hall, going over to her designated place where instead of a chair, an empty space is left for her beside Seonghwa so her wheelchair is able to be pushed in.

With all eyes on her, Seonghwa stands up to take over her wheelchair from Serim, and the lady-in-waiting politely steps back before retreating to the corner of the dining hall, where she is expected to stand for as long as the dinner is going on. With the prince's help accompanied by a soft smile, Narae feels less tense, but that's because she's only focusing on looking at her brother's figure instead of the guests around them.

She tries to count the number of guests without actually looking directly at their faces, but her brain refuses to cooperate when she can barely remember the names of the realms and what each of them are supposed to represent. As her hands are shaking violently under the table, she feels Seonghwa's hand sliding into hers and she looks to the side to see her brother nodding encouragingly at her, the twinkle in his eyes apparent to show that he will be there for her.

She feels reassured but gets startled when one of the elderly, presumably the king of one of the realms, has his voice booming throughout the hall, "Look at how inappropriate they are, such a shame."

"And who are you referring to, Kang Youngsoo?" Narae's father picks up a glass before taking a sip, before the other guests take it as their cue to be able to dig in their first course of the meal.

"Why, I'm referring to the two hooligans from the Ylang realm. Those two trouble-making twins who call themselves the princes of the realm, but has no regards in acting like one. Look at this, the guests and even the one we're celebrating are here yet the two are nowhere to be seen. Such a disgrace to their very own realm."