❛ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ❜ | jsc

2

the young girl moon aera sat with her three friends at the balcony of the east wing of the royal castle. she was leaning on her best friends shoulders as he was drawing the sunset with a variety of paints.

she shifted to see her friend nahee and haechan holding each other's hands, looking at each other in love and giving each other a peck every now and then. she rolled her eyes at the pretty love birds whole looking away.

"gross" she mumbled as she sighed. they didn't have to shove it into her face that they had found their soulmate. everyone could notice their bond being strong without them kissing each other every other second.

renjun glanced at his friend with a slight grin. "are you sure you aren't just jealous?" he snickered, his grin growing.

aera looked up from his shoulders and rolled her eyes once again. "what do i have to be jealous about?" she asked the boy, slight annoyance heard in her voice.

renjun's grin had grown into a full smirk. "oh i don't know, maybe that they have found their soulmates and you haven't" he teased the annoyed girl. he always enjoyed teasing her.

aera shrugged her shoulders while sighing. "i don't know renjun. i don't really want to meet my soulmate, i don't even think i even believe in a soulmate"

renjun placed his painting on the ground and turned all of his attention on his best friend, his smirk slowly disappearing as he felt the mood turning rather serious. "why not?"

"well, it just seems too good to be true. how can there only be one person for us. one person who we're destined to fall in love with." the said, taking a moment. "what if he doesn't want me? what if it all goes wrong?"

renjun's eyes softened. "you're thinking too much aera. love isn't something that comes at ease. you have to go through trials like that. i think that's the whole point of why the bond of a soulmate is so strong."

aera nodded and leaned her head back onto renjun's shoulder. "well as for now i only need you and nahee."

"what about me?" haechan said, his voice high pitched, acting hurt.

"hmm i have to think about it" she said, a playful emotion appearing on her face. "well, even though you're very loud and annoying, you can join the list too"

haechan rolled his eyes. "whatever, i don't need you either, i only need nahee" he said while giving her a kiss.

the young girl shook her head before turning her attention to renjun again. "i just don't need someone right now"

renjun picked up his painting. "who knows, maybe he's the one that needs you." he said without looking back at her.

———————————————————————————

that night, aera walked through the big empty corridors of the palace. the only people walking around at this time of the day were the guards on night patrol.

she couldn't sleep so she had decided to take a little stroll. the girl lived in the palace with her father, moon jongho. her father was the tutor for the young crown prince and as the prins was a soon to be king, her father needed to be at the palace every day. besides teaching the young prince, gave the older man advice to the king.

however, living in the palace wasn't always magical and nice as people thought it to be. there were strict rules:

1. 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆
2. 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅
3. 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅

and so it went on.

due to these rules, she had never spoken to the royal family. she didn't see them much too, since they were mostly in the northern wings. only important people, such as her father, were allowed in the northern and western wings.

however, haechan being a guard, was allowed to talk to the majesty's. from what she had heard from him, the king was a very strict man, only expecting perfection from each and everyone. the queen however was a bit nicer, she still strived for a great kingdom but was bit less stern.

the oldest son was told to be just like his father wanted him to be, a perfect young king. he had taken the throne in another kingdom as he was being married to the princess.

the crown prince however, was told to be cold and heartless. people feared his reign would be just as cold as his image of him. but through haechan she knew, that the prince wasn't as cold as people thought him to be.

she was curious about him, she had never seen him. not even for one moment had she seen him walking around the corridors. it was as if he was never around. which was odd, considering he was still a teenager, soon to be young adult.

as renjun was one of the guards in training, she had thought he had seen the prince once, but even he had never seen him around. the only person who had spoken to him was haechan.

but their friendship was only for them. haechan never told them anything about the young prince and they never asked haechan. aera felt it wasn't her place to know about the prince.

she was drifted out of her thoughts when a voice was suddenly heard. she turned around to meet one of the guards. "my lady, it's late. you should get to bed"

aera nodded and bowed at the older guard. "i'll go back to bed in a bit, i was just taking a little walk as i couldn't sleep."

the guard nodded and smiled at her. "okay, but don't make it too late" aera nodded and watched at the guard walked away from her.

she continued her way to the balcony where she had sat this morning only to be surprised by someone standing there. it was a tall boy, his features appearing to be handsome through the moonlight.

she hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should approach the person. she shrugged the thought away and took a few steps to the person. when she was about to tap his shoulder, the boy turned around.

"sorry i didn't want to scare you" she said, feeling a sudden nervousness.

"it's okay, i was just about to go anyway" he exclaimed. before aera could say anything else, the boy was gone. she stared into the empty corridors, wondering who the boy was.

turning around, she admired the beautiful sight of the moon and the stars as her mind shifted back to the conversation she had with renjun earlier.

would there really be someone waiting for me?