Kingdom

90. Court Manners (5)

Yoongi returns to his chambers in a hurry, as if chased by an army of violent soldiers. His back hurts from the fall, his thoughts and feelings are all over the place, his body shakes with rage and frustration ... and what is that other bitter sensation spreading through his veins? Disappointment? In who? Her? Or himself? Or in this whole situation.

The Princess of Ilsan infuriates him in ways no one has ever done before. At times he wants her, at times he hates her - it is a whirlpool of contradictions that he has never experienced before.

Listening to the Princess declaring that she supports the King's ideas in front of a room of non-believers felt weird. She, who called him evil; she, who refused him multiple times; she, who lied to him and sneaked out of the Palace...

She said she will always take his side.

It felt strange, almost unreal. It wasn't unpleasant or disturbing, just unfamiliar. Yoongi has always been standing there on his own. He is used to it - to be alone on the other side of a barricade. Now she is there, too - an ally or an intruder?

In the dream from last night she took a sword to fight a demon in order to protect him. Or to protect herself?

The many years of experience with people has taught Yoongi one thing - everyone protects their own interests. Whatever they do is because they have a hidden motive. Everyone is selfish. Yet, the Princess is so difficult to comprehend. He can't understand the reasons behind her actions; he can't place the pieces together and worst of all - he feels too emotionally unstable to think in a rational way.

He throws his robe by the side, without giving a fuck where it might land; and kicks his shoes off in various directions, equally uninterested where they might end up. He grabs a small bottle of soju and drops down, next to his desk. His thoughts keep running in circles, bringing more questions and no answers.

If Nori went to the market with Mira to buy clothes or trinkets, why hide it? Is not such a big deal. Unless she doesn't trust the King or thinks he will punish her for what she did.

Yoongi opens the bottle and drinks a few big gulps of the liquid in one go. His throat burns. He throws the bottle away, almost choking on the large amount of alcohol he consumed in one go.

Fucking poison. Everything tastes like poison. He grabs his head and leans his elbows over the desk. His heart keeps pounding fast - it has been going at that pace ever since he kissed the Princess on the swing and it doesn't want to calm down. What the hell was Yoongi doing? Kissing her in this way. He almost got hard as she moaned into his lips. Fuck, that fox. Why is she messing with him in this way? Even if he is in control of the situation, it seems she is the one having control over him.

Nori is so damn confusing and Yoongi is so damn confused. Above all he is confused about how he feels about everything that happened.

It hurts him to think she is hiding her excursion out of the Palace because she thinks he will punish her; it pains him even more to think she might be planning something with Mira - a way to separate him from the witch; and it terrifies him to think the Princess might be having plans of her own, using Mira to achieve her secret goals...

No matter her motives, Nori lied with ease and that is the most concerning factor of them all. Yoongi would have believed her if he didn't know the truth. She is that good, her innocent expression completely unreadable.

What else might she be lying about? Out of everything she says - what is true and what isn't?

Yoongi grabs the jar of water left on his desk and drinks from it like a man who has spent weeks in the desert. He remembers the taste of her lips; the glimmer in her eyes the second before she kisses him. When she is kissing him, it seems to be the only moment when she is honest. And fuck, he craves that truthfulness. He craves to feel more of her clumsy but passionate way of kissing. She is getting better at it, so much better...