DIVINITY ♛ LEE JENO

THREE

"Are you even listening?"

The sound of an annoyed girl's voice cut through his thoughts. Jeno looked up, masking his dazed expression. He nodded whilst sitting up in the cushioned chair and scanned all four faces surrounding him. His forearms rested on the oval table they were sat at. The tension in the atmosphere was palpable. His inattentiveness only added fuel to the fire. "So, what do you propose?" Mark watched as the boy shifted uncomfortably and his eyes avoided contact.

"Could you remind me of the question again?" Jeno cracked a nervous smile, earning a not-so-passive exhale from the hothead across from him. "You're missing training to be at this meeting. We're basically giving you paid time off. The least you can do is listen to the words we're saying right now." Jisung practically hissed. The raven haired boy had been on edge all weekend while they sat on this decision.

"Chill out," the female voice spoke again. Seorin shot the fire shifter a glare and it didn't waver as her eyes met with Jeno's. "Princess Liu Meilin. She wants to meet with us here. Her kingdom has been sieged and she has no place to call home—"

"So does that mean we have to invite her into ours?" Jisung interrupted. Seorin's mouth fell agape. Arguing was an understatement of what the couple had been going through the past few months.

"Jisung." Jaemin spoke sternly. If there was anyone who was tired of it, it was him. At least Mark didn't have to go home with them. Whatever fights they started at work only carried over at their shared house- and the walls definitely weren't soundproof.

"Why does this concern me?" Jeno wondered out loud. Truthfully, he had not a single clue as to why he was sitting amongst the leaders. The only reason he agreed to coming was because it was an order.

"Princess Meilin has lost her homeland; she's lost her military. It's not an assumption, but a fact that she is going to propose to form an alliance with us to use ours." Mark spoke before either of the lovebirds could. "We only have so much of a say in that and we can't even figure out if we're accepting the meeting with her. You're our deciding factor, General Lee."

Jeno's expression didn't change. It still held the same lost expression, wishing he were anywhere else than his position. "She wants us to fight for her war?" he asked.

"We assume. We assume we're going to meet with this girl just to start a war we didn't plan to be apart of." Jaemin stated, earning a frustrated look from Seorin. "We aren't starting a war. You realize we don't know what she's coming to us for. We're basing this all off of theory. She deserves a chance to speak her peace." she pleaded.

"So we invite her into our capitol, then what? Do you know who her mother was, Baek?"

"Exactly. We only know her mother. Her mother is dead, Jisung."

"And we possibly will be too if she steps onto our soil. The Jade Kingdom is notorious for assassinating anyone who doesn't side with them. It is too risky."

"For the love of God, can you two cut it out?" Jaemin groaned, slamming the hand onto the wooden table. They silenced themselves quickly at the sound, but the red in their eyes still remained. "We didn't call Jeno here to waste his time hearing you two argue. We get enough of that at the house." he rolled his eyes, facing the military man. "Lock in, General. We don't need you wasting our time either." he finished, growing impatient with everyone except Mark, for once.

A potential war, Jeno sat on the thought for a minute. Jisung was right, but Seorin was just as correct. If there was anyone who could make this decision, it was him. It was true that the former queen was a notorious figure. She wasn't called the Mad Queen for no reason. The Jade Kingdom also wasn't mysterious for no reason. Despite the remoteness of the castle and its villages, they had very few allies.

Few alliances could mean one of two things. Either the wishes they propose to other countries were too rash and unrealistic— typically resulting in some mysterious death following— or that the kingdom was just that well off. The rumors aren't far fetched when they say that the Jade Kingdom has enough gold to buy the entire world. Either hypothesis was likely.

"I'm gonna be honest, there's no predicting what's going to happen." he began, finally saying something that kept all four of them quiet. "I've never heard of this Princess before. I've barely heard of her mother's passing. I've barely heard about this siege." he looked down as he fiddled with his thumbs. They've grown dry and cracked, callouses roughening the edges.

"If you came to me expecting to know an answer right away, the truth is, I don't know. We all don't know until we meet this Princess ourself. Does that mean war? I couldn't tell you."

War.

God, even thinking of the three lettered word exhausted him. All of a sudden his breathing hitched. The air around him grew warm, causing a spike in his own body temperature. His thoughts fogged quickly and logic was being replaced with flashbacks. He was out west. There were bodies on the ground. Although he couldn't make out the faces, he could make out the armory of his fellow soldiers. They were scorched and oozing red.

"I can't say I'm ready for another one of those, neither are my men. We lost a lot of them over the past two years— thanks to our allies." Although the Republic hadn't declared war on anyone, they were sent out to fight other people's wars. Jeno's had enough of that.

"But I raise the question, how do you four want to lead? Do you want to ask others what they can do for you, or what you can do for others?" It didn't matter if he's had enough of that. What mattered was that he was the General. He was more powerful than them in any decision regarding war.

The bags under his eyes grew heavy. His neck began aging prematurely, exposed to the sun out on the battlefield for days on end. His arm had just recovered from a previous injury. There was no doubt that Jeno was absolutely exhausted from fighting wars- but that didn't matter.

"We will all talk to this Princess. I'll make sure the Republic will not enter any wars on my command."

three— command

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jeno <3 how are y'all feeling about the plot so far? not much has happened lol, but ill be introducing meilin very soon! as well as reintroducing our old characters hehe