Arcus // ATEEZ ✔

3: one who breaks the rule

Although she's given the best treatment possible by the maids; dressed in the finest fabric, taken care of like she's made of glass, fed all, as what she had learnt, her favourite food, it doesn't change the fact that her mind is a blank canvas. Add the scribbles with the information given by Serim in the early morning, but even that seemed like a fever dream. She woke up from a month-long coma to find that she's the only princess of Inis Realm, a name that, although sounds weird to her, flows from her tongue easily.

No matter how much details she has been getting, there's still something that feels ominous; like she's not supposed to be there- or is it just the people being cautious around her? But why? Was she adopted? Was that why the queen kept on insisting she's a princess, because she wasn't supposed to be by blood? But it doesn't align with how freakishly similar she looks to Seonghwa, and even with the scrutiny of the portraits of the king and queen, no one can tell that she's not part of the bloodline. So that's not it.

The accident. Not one, not Serim nor Seonghwa would want to tell of her accident, so she can't tell how she got into the accident, or what kind of accident it was; all she knows was that she had hit her head pretty badly which was what induced her coma. Was it her own doing, or someone else's? A deliberate or pure accident?

Too much questions yet not one to turn to ask. Besides during breakfast and lunch, the king and queen only seem to be apparitions who would come and go as they like. She hasn't run into them except for when they eat together at the dining hall; according to Serim this is normal as they are busy with their duties to rule the realm.

According to Serim too, dinner this evening would be quite special as they'd be joined by some of the royal family members of the other realms. Just a celebration of the princess' awakening, as she had put it.

As the corset is tightened around her figure, she takes a sharp breath before wondering how she should behave in front of the other royals, now that she knows they're not even here because of the simple reason of them being happy seeing the princess waking up. She finds it hard to allow herself to act like the previous Park Narae when she's been told that so far, her actions are all the opposite. She wonders if she'll be made a laughing stock during dinner, considering how fun it would be to play around with a princess who has no idea she is one.

After her suffering to attain a what they claim as a much more 'elegant' figure, she's fitted into cream-coloured high heels, her face caked with makeup as her hair is let loose to go past her shoulder blades, the pendant of her diamond necklace accentuating her collar bones.

"How do you expect me to behave among these royals? Surely you can't expect me to remember all their names and faces with just... these." She jabs her fingers at the profiles of the royal members printed out for her to skim through. Their faces, names and descriptions are all swirling in her head.

"Nothing to worry, Your Highness. Although news about your memory loss has travelled to the other realms, I assure you your older brother and cousin would do their best to help you through the evening. They'll make sure none of them would lay a finger on you. If this goes without saying, the princes from the other realms are very much intimidated by your brother, and no less by your cousin too, Prince Wooyoung. I might have to emphasize again that you," she clears her throat, "do in fact scare them. They find you intimidating, although..." She lets the other maids leave them alone in the room and continues when the door is shut. "...you dated three of the said princes. You even dated twins, at the same time, without either of them knowing."

"Excuse me?" she reels back, this piece of information making her scoff. "Dating twins, at the same time?" She puts a hand on her chest, "Me? The respected princess of Inis two-timed twins?"