Scholarship Princess | Choi Seungcheol

32.

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The dinner skipped past like a fresh gulf of wind on a spring night. Seungcheol was satisfied to see Ari smile, her animated talks flooding his chest with renewed warmth. As Seungcheol found his feet at their familiar spot by the windows, he wished he could remain in that moment with Ari forever.

"Here." A chilled can of beer dangling before his eyes, Ari pulled him out of his imagination as she sat down next to him.

The porch that connected their two rooms boasted of lush green grass, soft to the touch. It was a space that had become their go-to now. The glass panes that gave them a peek into the other's room weren't so bad anymore. Hearing the tick of the can opening, the white fuzz sizzling in the late spring air, Seungcheol watched her take the first gulp of her beer.

Wiping the paltry stream that had escaped her pink lips and run down her chin with his thumb, Seungcheol laughed to himself a little, "Careful there, Ari."

Ari's eyes rose to glance at him for a second, the can breaking connection from her parted lips. She brushed the rest of the runaway beer roughly with the back of her hand. "Hmm?"

Seungcheol shook his head softly, the gesture enough to quench her curious eyes. "Do you know how worried I was when you left for those foreign lands all alone?" He asked, his eyes depicting the worry he'd endured in the hours she was away. Seungcheol looked down at his own can of beer, the sensation of its iced exterior somehow feeling colder today, "I almost followed you all the way there."

"So, why didn't you?"

Ari's question was sharp. She always knew exactly what to say, that one. Seungcheol couldn't face her. Instead, he opened a can of his own, sighing. "Because my father wouldn't let me."

"The King?" Ari sounded confused. So far, the King had been fair in her fight for the throne. Why was he interfering now? "Speaking of, the King withdrew support for any unofficial actions I would conduct." She remembered what had gotten her blood boiling in a foreign country, "I can't for the life of me understand why he hung me out to dry like that. As the King, shouldn't he have been more protective of a citizen like me? Abandoning me like that didn't make sense."

Ari suspected nothing. Seungcheol could feel the guilt in the streams of blood that ran through his veins. After all, it was the blood running fresh that was the cause of this. His father had wished to protect this lineage and in it, forced Ari into a corner she couldn't back out from.

"My father is using you, Ari."

Today. Today he would break the glass of respect Ari bore towards his father. It had to be done. And Seungcheol was ready to face the inevitable. "My father, no, the King never intended to give you a fair chance at becoming the heir. He's already made up his mind."

"What?" Seungcheol had his head down, his eyes focused on his sneakers at Ari's dumbfounded reaction.

But Seungcheol went on. He had to get it out cleanly, "The only reason you were allowed to compete was to motivate me into trying harder. That way, he could easily pass on the crown to his bloodline without angering the public."

"Yah." Her voice was hollow, disheartened. Ari placed a great deal of trust in her boyfriend, even more so knowing his competency as a Prince. He wouldn't lie to her, would he? "Seungcheol, look at me. Do you realise what you're saying?"

Seungcheol did, a pitiful frown etched on his face. Ari could tell he was being truthful right away. It was his eyes. They could never lie. And at that moment, those clear black eyes reflected the sincerity Ari couldn't help but accept. "How do you know all of this? Is this why you and the King were acting so distant last night?"

"I heard about it over lunch yesterday," Seungcheol confessed, feeling bad about it. The situation inherently helped him ease competition but it wasn't a fair win, "Father was reluctant to send me to a dangerous place. I knew we'd all gotten a little protective of each other after mom's passing but I had no idea that my father held such motivation."

Ari looked away, not wanting to believe any part of it. It was unfair.

"So what?" To go so far as to mention his mother's passing... Ari didn't want to face it. Was he defending his father or saving grace for himself? It infuriated her, "You're telling me that no matter what I do, I'll never win? All my efforts are in vain?"

"I'm sorry."

"Ha." Ari scoffed. He was sorry. The very sentence raged on like loud red signals on a moonless night. Anger burnt through her veins like well-oiled fire. It seeped into the cells of her very being, the injustice of it all finally settling in. "What are you sorry for? Becoming King?"

Her snide remark stabbed right where Ari had aimed her arrow. Hurt flashed through Seungcheol's eyes.

"You know it's not like that. I'm not proud of this situation either. I know what my father is doing isn't fair."

Ari folded her arms, anger bubbling up into tears. She looked up, breathing in deeply to stop the barrage of despair that beginning to topple over her. "I'm sorry, Ari." She heard him say. His voice was soft and his apology genuine. "I don't know how to stop my father. I don't agree with him but he's no democrat. He's been raised to be a King all his life. A monarch's word is final."

A Monarch's word was final. The sentence stayed with her for a long time after that. Even when Seungcheol had quietly gotten up to leave her by herself, the statement leeched onto her brain, unmoving and unthinking. Everything she had deigned to do, prove and stand had crumbled before her eyes. Fairness had been compromised. Ari had been denied of her life's work, all because she was born differently.

For a long time, Ari sat on the ledge, eyes unmoving and figure still. The moon blackened into the night and Seungcheol wrapped a shawl over her cold body. But Ari sat. There wasn't much that motivated her to move. And as the sun peeked into the estate, bidding goodbye to the cold night, Seungcheol who had been waiting sitting next to her, nearly tumbled from his sleep. He worried for her and for the storm his words had stilled. He couldn't move her mind but he could sit by her, wait and warm her until the morning came.

Eyes hazy and resistance fading, Seungcheol finally her dry lips move in the early morning. "A Monarch's word is final." She did not look at him. There was little emotion left in the eyes that had dried out in the cold night. Seungcheol could barely make sense of her words, the drowsiness catching upto him.

"I have to go."

She spoke to the hollow air, her whisper determined to make change. She stood up weakly, stumbling to the side when her legs had fallen asleep. Seungcheol extended a hand. He worried she would fall but Ari stopped him. "Its okay," She spoke, walking towards her room across, "I'll go by myself."

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