Kingdom

17.Shadows of the past (2)

"Jungkook? My guard?" Nori asks, confused.

"Yes, your guard, I want to know everything there is to know about him." the Lady confirms, her eyes burning with excitement. The Princess, however, looks confused and hostile.

"Why? Why are you interested in him?" she asks.

The Lady bites her lips in hesitation. She was too quick to ask about Kook. The Princess might consider Mira's infatuation with the guard to be wrong and improper. Yoongi called Nori "righteous and moral". Mira needs to be careful. She can't risk ruining her relationship with the future Queen.

"Princess, my brother invited me here to be your friend." Mira says, daring to look directly into the Princess's eyes. "He thought that we can become close because we share many similarities - we are both women with foreign blood, married to men we didn't know before the wedding. But because two people's fate is similar that doesn't mean they are alike, don't you think?"

"Yes, our values and viewpoint on life could be very different." the Princess agrees.

"Indeed." Mira says."Yet, I honestly hope we can be friends, as different as we might be."

"I hope so, too," Nori says, but her eyes remain cold.

This morning the Princess looked sweet and harmless. A shy girl, wrapped in a robe too big for her, with eyes full of timid interest. Now Nori is dressed in fine clothings, her hair decorated with golden jewels, her posture tense and controlled. The Princess looks flawlessly beautiful, distant and unattainable. Whatever Yoongi told her, put Nori on her guard, turned the little bunny into a fox.

"Aren't you hungry, Your Highness?" the Lady says, reaching to take a bite of food, even if her stomach is tied in a knot. She feels less confident now, almost inadequate in front of the hostile gaze of the Princess. "You must try this meat, it is very good".

"I am not hungry," Nori says without moving.

"Still, you need to eat, Your Highness, please try the food. They have sent us only selected delicacies."

The Princess looks at the many plates placed on the table in front of her. She remembers the way she refused to eat at the banquet, the way she refused local people's hospitality. Nori feels too nauseous and anxious to even think about eating and yet she takes the chopsticks and reaches to try the food.

"It's good." she says, hardly swallowing, trying to fake a smile.

Mira suddenly laughs.

"Did I say something funny?" Nori looks at her confused.

"I must confess, I got a bit intimidated by you for a moment." Mira smiles. "But you were too cute just now. Your expression was adorable."

"You were intimidated by me?" Nori raises an eyebrow.

"Must be the clothes and that tense cold look. You are still angry at Yoongi, aren't you?

"Yes, I am. There is no point denying it." Nori says with a sigh, abandoning the chopsticks and her attempts to eat. "I should apologize for talking about the King as I did earlier. But you already understood that me and him don't get along."

"Yes," Mira says with a suggestive smile,"I see there is some tension."

"But I don't understand what Jungkook has to do with anything? Why do you want to know about him?" the Princess asks, looking at Mira with growing suspicion.

"Princess, I know a lot about you and I find you likeable," Mira says, avoiding the question, "but you know little about me and you might doubt my intentions. I rarely speak about the past but I want to share my story with you.I hope this could help us get closer. Would you care to listen?"