chapter 2 .ೃ࿐
♡♡♡
Lee Ae-Ra "Ivy"
Ivy had once again slept past the morning and into the hot afternoon, annoying the living hell out of her older sister. "Wake up Ivy!" Rina pleaded as she nudged Ivy after throwing her blanket onto the ground. "Please for heaven's sake!"
"What do you want?" Ivy yawned. "I want to sleep."
"Do you have any idea what's happening today?" Rina asked. “Or are you a bigger idiot than I had initially assumed?”
Ivy tried her best to remember things in her sleepy state. She knew that the day was a Saturday, nothing special, just one more day before she returned back to her school dormitory. She didn't have much plans going on as well, and that was when she finally remembered.
"I did invite my friends over. Did they arrive already?" Ivy asked and she has never seen her sister look more horrified. What the fuck was going on?
"Today is the day where I get to meet whoever father had arranged for me to marry." Rina explained, "And you invited your friends over? Your stupidity surprises me every single time."
"I don't see any problem," Ivy replied. She stared at the disappointment expression spilled onto her sister’s face, blissfully unaware.
"The problem is our parents, mum would be extremely mad," Rina explained once again. "Don't want her to scream at you on a Saturday afternoon." She sighed before continuing, "Go and get ready," Rina summoned. "You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of the Fermian royalties."
"What do I wear?" Ivy asked. She still wasn’t freshly awake and her brain was practically begging for more sleep.
"What do you think you should wear?" Rina replied, arms crossed, eyes narrowed at her sister, incredibly annoyed. "Night gown?"
Ivy took her own time to exit the comforts of her bed before she slammed her dressing room door shut without even realising that she used a large amount of energy to do so, she always did. Her parents would always complain about the loud sound she made and told her to be more gentle but she was already being the most gentle she could.
Her dressing room was connected to the bathroom and her bathroom had two doors. One leading to the dressing room and one leading to her bedroom. Her dressing room had a huge closet as well. It was huge enough to store all of her belongings.
She decided to look in the section of clothes where she placed all of her formal clothing, which was all of her princess clothing. She looked through the various hanboks in her closet and eventually settled on the blue one, as usual. Her love for blue was a love greater than all love, in the eyes of Ivy at least.
But first, she had one important thing to do. Sliding a small dagger into her jeogori, which she had loosen to ensure that the dagger wouldn't be uncomfortable while being strapped to her abdomen and where her left arm could feel it. She strapped another one to her thighs before finishing dressing herself up for the occasion. One can never let their guard down, it was always best to be as safe as possible.
She left the dressing room and stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, it was full of vines from her. She was a Terrane and she loved her ability. One small wave from her right hand was enough for the vines to untangle themselves from the secret that they keep for the young princess. A ceiling full of handmade daggers. She was also an Argent and was a dagger and sword making expert. She claimed to be one at least. She had a secret identity she used for her dagger sales to make some extra money on the side. She planned to run away from her royal life with her own money and the money she was planning to steal from her parents. Her inheritance money, that she was going to receive once her parents died but she couldn’t wait that long and she wasn’t crazy enough to have them killed. She had no love for life as a royalty, but that might just be how her family was like. She loved money though.
She had an immense love for all knife related items, her mother didn't though. Which was why she had to hide her treasures up on her ceiling. When she had to return to school, that was when she would pack it all into a bag and bring it into her dorm and somehow fit all of her knives, daggers, swords and other metal related weapons in her dorm. She started a small dagger selling business just so that she could clear spaces whenever she ran out of places to hide her daggers. She has been selling things for around two years and no teachers ever caught her, she knew how to work her way around. After all, she did cheat in several tests without getting caught, including the major ones. She had made the decision to stop however, wanting to see how far her brains could go if she actually tried to study. Though she was convinced she could never gain back her former glory. The Ivy Lee that was the top of her class.
The one that her parents loved.
"Ivy Lee!" Rina screamed. "You rat! Are you done yet?"
"Almost!" Ivy screamed back. "And fuck you!"
She had forgotten that her father wasn't very good at Esamese but he still understood the curse words. She screwed herself up. Curse her for having a foul mouth and mind. He only knew the curse words because a royal guard had snitched on her to her father that she was behaving like a low-life commoner.
Sure enough, she heard her father screaming back at her for cursing once more. It has been a habit of her's ever since she was 5. She heard people on the streets swearing and she soon picked up the habit, her older sister swore too. Her sister was smart enough not to swear in front of their father, not that he would care, she was his favourite. Loved her enough to have her in an arranged marriage.
Ivy tried to finish dressing herself up as quickly as she could. Her gungnyeo would do her hair for her, styling it with a delicate phoenix cheopji. Another hairpin used was one made by Ivy herself, thanks to her abilities. It was a jam styled binyeo, with a flower made from jade at the very top alongside other small floral designs made with the metal Ivy used to make the hairpin. Her hair was carefully styled to look like cheopji meori. She put on her favourite pair of pastel blue gatsin shoes before heading downstairs where everyone waited. The gatsin were shoes only worn by the royal family due to their noble status in the country.
"How fast," said Rina, looking as annoyed as ever. "Your friends just arrived."
Ivy had forgotten about her friends while she was dressing up, all that was on her mind was looking her best as wearing the best outfits she could. If there was anything about Ivy, it was her forgetful memory. She would be the last person anyone trust to give a reminder, she would need a reminder to remind people. Even so, she would still forget things.
Rina forced Ivy out of her room and to where her friends waited. It seemed that her two friends knew of her latest trouble because the both of them had the disappointed look that Ivy had seen multiple times.
"What did you forget this time?" Asked Ashvina, her eyes looking down on Ivy. "Do I have to remind you about everything?" Her posture had reminded Ivy of a mother, the way Ashvina had her arms crossed and her tone sounding extremely motherly and caring. Yet it had the tone of mild frustration as well.
"Well you have been reminding me about like… every single thing," Ivy replied. "And do you guys remember the Fermian prince?"
"The one that is going to marry your sister?" Afrina asked. "Don't tell me he's coming today…"
"Yeah... he is," Ivy replied. "I may hav- have forgotten." Ivy hated her stuttering. She hated it more than anything else in the world. She longed to converse like a normal person. She didn’t stutter often but there were bad days where she would just stutter in every single sentence. She hadn’t realised that she had a stutter until she was 5 when her parents decided that it would be funny to make her about it, while also scolding her for being born that way. Her father had a mild stutter too.
"I am not even surprised anymore," Ashvina sighed. Ashvina was like the mother of the friend group and Ivy was like the youngest child causing the most trouble while Afrina was the older child, occasionally obedient but still got involved with Ivy. The both of them were not well behaved and shared a brain.
"Didn't your father say we're not supposed to be here?" Afrina asked, Ivy could sense the panic that was beginning to show itself in Afrina’s voice as her eyes darted around the palace, looking at everyone, seemingly trying to avoid Ivy’s father if he was in the area. "What are we supposed to do now?"
Ivy shrugged as she looked around, not wanting to maintain eye contact with her friends. She was glancing at the gungnyeo, the palace maids walking around the palace as a thought clicked in her mind. Surely, her father wouldn't mind if she dressed her friends as gungnyeo right? It would hide her friends from the guests. What could be a better idea?
She explained the ideas to her friends and they have mixed feelings about it. First, how were they going to get the costumes? Second, all of the gungnyeo were noticeably pale skinned and her friends were not, they would stand out amongst the crowd. Lastly, her father knew what her friends looked like since he had met them all before due to how often Ivy brought them over despite his warnings. It seemed that Ivy had no way out. Her grand plan would not work out at all.
"Why can't we just hide in your room?" Afrina suggested. "Your room is huge."
"Why d- didn't I think of that?" Ivy replied.
"Because you are Ivy," Afrina replied as they made their way out into the yard and into another part of the castle, where Ivy's room was. Where the bedroom of the entire family was.
Ashvina appeared amazed at Ivy's vines all over the ceiling while Afrina placed their luggage in a corner of Ivy's room. "You still haven't cleaned up your table," said Afrina upon noticing some of the mess that Ivy had allowed to accumulate. "It's so messy, how do you even do your work?" It was funny that Afrina had decided to lecture Ivy on her messy table when Afrina’s table was as messy.
"I just threw them to one side," Ivy replied. Ashvina simply shook her head as she arranged Ivy's table without her permission. Ivy didn't mind it though. She didn't care if her table was neat or messy, she can still work with it, it's still a table. She could still work with that.
She can always throw her items somewhere else to make space. Just that it would cause more mess. A mess that she couldn't be bothered to clean. She was used to the mess, it comforted her. Perhaps it was due to the fact that her mind was just as messy. She loved mess. The mess was comforting to her somehow, a reminder that Ivy was Ivy.
"Just hide in my closet and don't touch my things," Ivy instructed as her friends opened her closet door and looked around in awe. The rich life of a princess came with privileges, which included the ability to have anything she ever wanted. Things that even her friends yearned to get their hands on.
Afrina whispered something into Ashvina's ears and the both of them started laughing. She was confused, an emotion she always felt in math class. "Go away Ivy!" Said Afrina as she spotted Ivy still standing outside the closet.
"Screw you!" Ivy replied. “I'll be back soon. Don’t miss me too much!"
“Gross,” was all Afrina needed to say. Ashvina didn’t respond, only a sigh came from her.
She quickly used her hands and with a swirl of her fingers, vines appeared from the floor and wrapped itself around the doorknob of the closet, locking her friends in there.
After she was satisfied with her work, she informed her friends about what she had done and Afrina didn't have the best reaction, screaming about kidnapping. But Ivy didn't care and headed towards the Great Hall of the palace.
Her sister was already there, alongside their parents. They were sitting on their thrones while Rina stood beside their father. She signalled for Ivy to quicken up her footsteps which she did. After she got ready and stood beside her sister, the first thing she did was to ensure that she looked good, before her father decided to pick on every little imperfection.
"Hopefully the prince isn't so bad," said Rina. She was dreading this, she has been ever since she found out. Her future was dependent on how nice a man would be. A man. It was horrible. Ivy was secretly gloating that she did not share that fate. But she couldn’t show it for fear that Rina would freeze her to a wall.
"It's not like you can change who you're going to marry overnight," Ivy replied as she tip-toed to try and get a glance outside the windows in search of her future brother-in-law.
"A girl can dream," Rina replied as she waited impatiently, Ivy could tell that she was fidgeting as well. Both sisters could never survive in a room littered with strangers alone without freaking the hell out.
Ivy and Rina stood in discomfort as they adjusted their dresses and posture. Ivy could never stay in one position for long. She just couldn't do it. It was like torture, she needed to move from time to time. She itched to move while standing still like a statue.
Their parents seemed to be happy as they were smiling and talking about how good it would be for their country's future. Definitely not Rina's though, Ivy could tell. Rina would spend it all in misery with her new royally stupid but hopefully handsome husband. Rina had said that she would rather stare at a good face for the rest of her life if she was going to be married off against her will. Being married was bad enough but if her husband had a terrible face, Rina might just fling herself off a cliff. It would be the same as sending her into the fiery pits of hell.
Given Rina's personality, the marriage wouldn't end well. Especially if the prince can't handle her cold demeanour, her judging eyes, her lack of words which were replaced with her facial expressions. How could a marriage be expected to work if he could not handle the ice cold princess? Ivy wondered if he would be able to handle Rina with her masked personality enough to be able to see how she actually was like.
The palace doors slowly opened, allowing sun rays to spill onto the wooden floor, followed by the Fermian King. He was well dressed for the occasion, wearing a friendly smile on his face for the joyous occasion for the adults. His hair was covered by his ikseongwan, the crown worn by Yeosyan kings, the Fermian king wore it too since he was ethnically Yeosyan. Ivy pictured the king with a balding scalp in her mind and had to control her laughter, she had no idea why her mind sent her that thought. Maybe it was due to the fact that her own father was losing his hair and now she views men his age as bald people. The thought of a shiny forehead that could work as a mirror kept finding its way into Ivy’s mind and she had to swallow her laughter each time. Rina stared at her with judging eyes and her face twisted into an expression of embarrassment for what she had to call her younger sister. It seemed that Rina had no idea what was going on in Ivy’s mind and to be frank, Ivy doubt her sister wanted to know, given the amount of time Ivy had said the most horrendous things straight out of her mind.
His wife, the queen, soon followed behind him, with several of their gungnyeo dressed in a dark blue chima and green jeogori. The queen herself dressed in a violet chima and a dark purple jeogori.
Next up was the carriage and two princes stepped out of it. Ivy's eyes turned to the tallest one out of the two. He had a cuter face too. Their ikseongwan had covered up their hair, leaving the state of their hair to Ivy’s imagination, while her and Rina’s hair were styled in cheopji meori style, their hair riddled with hair pins for the occasion.
Both Yeosya and Fermia's kings bowed down at each other as Ivy's father opened his mouth. It finally brought the image of a shiny balding head out of her mind.
"So who is the lucky prince?" He smiled, speaking in his native tongue. Rina seemed nervous and her hands were basically fists now, her breaths irregular as she tried to keep her composure. Ivy was sweating, as if she was the one getting betrothed against her will.
"My second son!" The Fermia King replied, smiling brightly, a stark contrast to the expression his second son portrayed. "Come here Junghyuk."
The tallest one stepped forward unwillingly and looked up, right at Rina. Ivy turned to look at her sister and was surprised at her sister's reaction. Instead of the expressionless, unbothered face she was expecting from her sister, she looked like she remembered something. A look of shock appeared and stayed on her face, she was stunned, her mouth slightly opened and her eyes opened wider in shock. Ivy had never seen her sister this surprised at something, a guy. A male. Did her sister finally find someone attractive for once? Ivy for sure found him very pleasant to look at. It was hard for her to believe that someone like him had a father that looked… very not like his father. In other words, ugly.
"You know him?" Ivy asked, eyeing the prince before eyeing her own sister.
"I think he was the boy I helped," Rina replied, which sounded almost like a whisper and Ivy had to lean closer towards her sister to hear what she was saying. "The one with an injured arm."
"The one you talked about for a week straight and suddenly forgot about his existence?" Ivy asked. She remembered coming home from the Mystic seeing ceremony and her sister rambling about some cute guy she saw. How he was hurt and his eyes reminded her of a curious cat. A cute little kitten. The only guy that had Rina gushing on for days, until she forgot about him.
"It would be splendid for Junghyuk to stay with your daughter until she is of age," said the Fermian King. "Meanwhile, the rest of my family shall stay and discuss the upcoming engagement ceremony and wedding."
Ivy and Rina turned to face each other. This could only mean one thing, Rina would have to talk to the prince. Rina hated talking to strangers, even if they are overly handsome, rich, tall, exactly her type. Rina wasn't exactly fond of human interaction, it was like poison to her soul. She was allergic to it. The idea of being perceived by strangers was like being force-fed cockroaches to Rina. It was the only thing she hated about being a princess.
"Your son could share the same room with my daughter as well!" Said father, sending Rina into shock. Her eyes widened and her whole head turned towards him with a look that spelled out ‘how dare you’. Rina was appalled at the sudden sentence, never had she expected something as hellish as that. Even Ivy was surprised as her entire head turned towards the back of her father’s head, mouth agape. Rina couldn't sleep in the same room with her family members and closest friends, there was no way she would be able to sleep with a whole stranger in her room. It was the same as sending her into hell. Surely their father knew of it.
"What?" She asked, loud enough for him to hear but too soft for the Fermia Royalty. "So soon?"
"You're marrying him either way," father explained. "It is for convenience. I trust you to be able to work it out.”
Ivy had no idea how her sister was going to deal with this. She doesn't even like being in the same room with strangers, much less sleeping together, that was a recipe to unleash hell. It seemed that with all of the years they had spent raising Rina, they knew nothing. Years down the drain, wasted on something only they cared about. It was like they never bothered to be proper parents.
"But I barely know him!" Rina protested, looking as though she was ready to lunge at anyone. Ivy feared that her sister would start to throw icicles at everyone, impaling and killing some in her cold rage.
Mother rolled her eyes and decided to speak in her native language. “Couldn’t you just tolerate it?" Mum's Yeosyan wasn't the greatest and she was more fluent with Cainese. Rina wasn't the type that enjoys change, and she knew that, but mother always expected people to change to fit her purposes. Like she was at the top of the world.
"But mother, you know Rina doesn’t enjoy change," Ivy explained back in their native tongue. She just reminded her mum how Rina doesn't really enjoy sudden changes. A part of her knew their mother didn't care, she didn't favour Rina much. What had gone wrong in their upbringing? Rina had the face of their father while Ivy herself shared a face with her mother, it seemed that their faces were the reasons. Or at least that was what Ivy had thought.
Their father ignored the conversation and continued talking to the Fermian Royalties, as if nothing was wrong and he didn't force his favourite child into a marriage to prevent a war. Not once thinking of her own feelings, but only his personal gain. Everyone but his own flesh and blood.
Maybe it wasn't so bad being her father's least favourite child. This was worthy of a celebration, for her anyway, not Rina. She did not have to worry of an unwanted marriage and live however she desired. She wondered if her father would even care.
"I am actually done with this," Rina whispered into Ivy's ears. “I just want this to end.”
"No way out for you anyway," Ivy replied, as she went back to looking normal in front of the strangers. "Unless you flee of course."
"Yeah that's definitely possible, since I am not a recognisable face," Rina cursed. A look of annoyance remained stuck on her face. A deathly stare looking straight at her future man as she whined to her little sister.
"Yeah you're pretty forgettable," Ivy replied in a sarcastic tone. "Don't think anyone gives a shit about you."
Rina rolled her eyes in response as she looked back at the prince, he didn't seem happy with the planning as well. He kept looking away whenever his father tried to talk to him, pretending to admire the palace's walls. Maybe he was actually admiring the walls considering it was his first time back after years. The walls were pretty, to Ivy.
"At least you're not the only unhappy one," said Ivy, after noticing that Junghyuk was the only one with a gloomy expression while everyone else in his family looked like they were at a party.
"You say that as if that makes it any better," Rina snapped. “Or changes anything in the slightest.”
"Better than nothing," Ivy smiled. "Poor thing, having to go through with an a- arranged marriage."
Rina has had it with Ivy and stopped replying verbally, only responding with an eye roll. It was a normal thing between the siblings, a day passing by without Rina rolling her eyes at Ivy once would be the day world peace happens.
"I can see that!" Ivy replied. "I am not a blind bat."
Rina rolled her eyes again as she looked back at her future husband. Ivy couldn't wait to tease Rina even more about it. It was a blessing not to be her father's favourite, she didn't have to deal with arranged marriage at all! Her father wouldn't value her enough to have her marry into another family to benefit the country.
"Alright girls, you can go back to what you were doing now. Your mother and I need to discuss some things with the Fermia Royalties," father explained, his head turned around to face the only girl he has ever treated as his own, Rina. But the message was for the both of them.
Ivy quickly left without even saying goodbye as she sped up her pace and ran back towards her room, she didn’t care about what kind of image it portrayed to the Fermians, she just wanted to get out. If only she ran like this during her sports lessons.
"Bitch you wouldn't believe how han—" Ivy swiftly waved her right hand to remove the vines on her door as she spoke and slide it open. The door opened to reveal no one, not a single trace of her friends. "Where did you guys go?" Her eyes darted around the room, her breath locked in her throat for fear that something unimaginable had happened to her little family outside of her palace life.
Then she remembered, her dressing room was connected to her bathroom wasn't it? What if her friends had made their way there? Oh devil's shit, she knew what they were going to do. They were going to scare her weren’t they? They definitely would do that. Catch her off guard and surprise her from the bathroom. She felt like a genius for figuring out their little plan. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew them well.
"Surpr-!" Ivy flung open the door to her bathroom only to be greeted by something out of her expectations. She had predicted nothing.
The bathroom door burst open as a wave of water gushed out. Ivy let out a short, yet high-pitched screech as it happened, no doubt that it was from both Ashvina and Afrina. Ivy did not see it coming and she was soon swallowed whole by the wave of water, every part of her was now soaking wet. Her hair and hair pins were busy dripping while her friends were all laughing. Even Ashvina was laughing and was in on the plan, was the world ending?
"What the hell?" Ivy muttered as the water on the ground started to evaporate at an unbelievably high rate, thanks to both Ashvina and Afrina being Aqualis. Also thanks to them was the fact that Ivy was now drenched in water from their magic. Fun. Amazing. Life-changing.
Afrina and Ashvina were laughing hysterically while Ivy walked into her closet room and changed into a new set of clothes. This time, she changed into a simple hanbok, with dull colours that made her look like a village girl. It was an outfit for the days when she did not have the energy to look her best.
"That was my favourite dress as well!" Ivy sulked as she left her dressing room, her lips forming into a pout she didn’t notice. She carried her wet clothes and opened the door with the intention of just throwing it alongside the laundry for the very next day, until one of her gungnyeo appeared by her door and offered to place it with the other clothes for laundry. “Thank you,” said Ivy as she waved her gungnyeo goodbye.
"I hate you gu-guys so much right now," Ivy muttered as she crashed onto her bed. "A- assholes."
"Don't worry we hate you too," Afrina laughed. "What's with your ceiling? It has more vines now."
"She definitely made even more blades," Ashvina explained as she sat down on Ivy’s bed. "Otherwise she would've gone insane."
"A- and bingo!" Ivy replied while beaming, she waved her hand facing the ceiling, causing the vines up there to separate, some vines grabbed onto a few new daggers and brought it down for Ivy to show her dear friends her precious hand-made items.
"Look at my new favourite!" She said with a wide grin, holding a blade with a black shade instead of silver for the blade, it also had a dark purple handle and the top of the handle seemed to have a black widow spider. “I might just n- name this Widowmaker."
Afrina and Ashvina admired all of the new daggers and looked at it all in awe. Afrina wanted to keep one of them and Ivy let her. She was going to sell them anyway, so why not give one to her friend for free? And once again, Ivy had just remembered something that she had forgotten for weeks now. She kept forgetting to give Ashvina her birthday present. It has been almost a year now and she still hasn't given it to her. What was Ivy if not a girl who forgets everything to ever exist.
"Wait Ashvina I have something to give you," Ivy announced as she hopped off her bed and walked to her drawer. "I forgot to give you this since last year."
Ivy could sense Ashvina's slight disappointment at the last sentence even without facing her. "I am not even surprised anymore. When will you start remembering things?"
"Never," Ivy replied while looking through her messy drawer. Even her drawer wasn't free from the messiness. It took her a good five minutes to finally find what she was looking for. A small dagger which can also be used as a hair stick. She knew for a fact that Ashvina would love this. First reason being, Ashvina loved hair accessories. Second reason being, it was a pretty design. That was it, there were only two reasons. What more does Ashvina need?
"I found it!" Ivy grinned as she showed Afrina and Ashvina the small dagger-hairpin. Ashvina was visibly surprised and amazed at the sight of the item held by Ivy.
"Is this supposed to be my birthday present? From last year?" She asked.
"Uh no, it's your dinner," Ivy replied, tossing the gift over to Ashvina. She managed to grab it mid air and began to examine it closely. Her eyes scanned every single detail her gift had engraved on it. There her name was, carved in the middle of the pin. She loved it.
"Be careful with that!" Afrina urged as Ashvina almost pricked her finger on the very bottom of the pin. "That looks sharp."
Ivy joined the girls on her bed as Ashvina examined every inch of her new gift, which was months late. She seemed to really like it. Of course she would, Ashvina appreciates every single little thing. Ashvina didn’t care much for gifts but she loved the gifts given to her made with a bonus, effort and thought.
"Can I use this as a hair pin?" Ashvina asked. "This looks like one."
"It's a dagger disguised as a hair pin! I had the idea to make it in the dead of night when I couldn't sleep. And since I had nothing else better to do, why not make it?" Ivy explained. "And it's a p-p perfect gift for you too!"
Ashvina immediately tried to tie her hair with her newly acquired gift. Ivy watched as Ashvina used the top half of her hair, trying to tie it into a neat bun before inserting the hair pin. It was her first try and yet, it looked unbelievably neat, as though it was done by an expert. To be fair, Ashvina does know how to style hair very well, she hated having her hair untied and letting the winds ruin it all. The complete opposite of Ivy.
"Devil's shit it looks so good!" Afrina squealed as she took a look at Ashvina's freshly tied bun. "You should go to school like this everyday. So pretty. I love it.”
"Exactly!" Ivy continued. "It's our final year anyway, just do whatever we want. We have to leave a good memory for our teachers, you know."
"I don't think you need to try and let the teachers remember you," Afrina stated. "For devilish's sake, you're a princess! Who wouldn't remember that?"
The trio talked for hours, their conversations were as long as both Kings of Fermia and Yeosya talking about the future of their countries the arranged marriage would grant them. The only difference was that the trio's talk was nonsensical and the topics were ever changing.
♤♤♤
"I'm hungry," Afrina mumbled. The sun had already set, gifting the sky a purple-blue hue, with the stars sparkling amongst the sea of hazy looking clouds, the crescent moon smiling down on the people below, looking as beautiful as ever.
"The maids should be starting to cook right now," Ivy replied. "They usually start around this time."
The Fermian Royalties also decided to stay for the night, so Ivy's friends couldn't leave her room at all, since they weren't allowed to even be in the palace in the first place. Ashvina was in the showers when Afrina started talking about how hungry she was. That made Ivy hungry as well.
"How long are they going to take," Ivy whined.
"You just said that they probably just started cooking!" Afrina responded, judging Ivy, who was now laying on the ground and shaped like a star. “How is your patience as low as your math results?"
"It's not my fault that math is hard!" Ivy replied, her face facing the ceiling. "I was so good at math until they added in letters.”
Ivy could hear Afrina laughing and the sound of the bathroom opening. Out stepped Ashvina with her hair drenched and fully clothed, she was using a towel to wipe her hair dry as well. "I could always help you in math," Ashvina offered. “I don’t mind. Teaching others makes you better too.”
"You've said that like a million times throughout our friendship, I would be richer than Ivy if I received some money each time you said it," Afrina replied.
"I could always pay you for your help," Ivy replied, sitting up from her bed. "With love!"
"Your love is enough to make me want to disappear from this place," Afrina retorted, staring at Ivy with fake disgust.
Ivy enjoyed flirting around with her friends as a joke. Ashvina would mostly ignore her and change the topic, only flirting back a few times while Afrina either rejected her or flirted back. Somebody had to be the one who was confused all the time in their friend group. In their case, the crisis was Ivy not knowing her own sexuality and being a flat out mess. She decided to just not put a label on herself, because fuck it all. She would live life however she wanted, screw labels, who needs those?
A knock on the door nearly caused Ivy to scream. Afrina and Ashvina immediately scrambled about, Afrina practically flew from the floor and ran to hide inside Ivy's dressing room and did their best to lock it from the inside. Ivy had told one of her gungnyeo that she had friends over and she needed to cook two more dishes, to which the gungnyeo complied. She also knew not to tell the king, or else Ivy would be in trouble.
Ivy opened the door and let the gungnyeo in, telling her to place all of the food on the ground and thanking her, while also apologising for the trouble she had caused, bowing to her gungnyeo, which got the maid all awkward and straightening Ivy out. The gungnyeo quickly left as Ivy called for her friends to come out of their fancy hiding spot. Ivy was the slowest eater while Ashvina was the fastest. Afrina had to tell Ivy to shut up multiple times just to get her to finish her meal faster instead of talking the entire time, so that Ivy could send one of her gungnyeo up to collect the dishes before everyone slept.
The remainder of their weekend went by the same way as well. Hiding away until the Fermia Royalties left. At night, Ivy would try to scare her friends with urban legends and crime cases, she enjoyed those. Afrina thought that she was a psychopath for reading about urban legends at night while Ashvina shrugged off, calling it a weird hobby of Ivy's. While the trio had fun, Rina was suffering with her new fiancé, she had no idea how to talk to him and Ivy was useless, she had barely any social skills as well. So most of the time, Rina escaped her own room and went to join Ivy. Rina knew Ivy's friends and they were rather close, though they hadn’t interacted once throughout the weekend as Rina had shut herself out from misery.
Ivy was just glad that she didn't have to be involved in some arranged marriage bullshit for world peace. She'd let the world rot as long as she could live her life in peace. The world wasn’t as important as her happiness.
Sunday however, was less fun compared to Saturday. They had to pack their bags for school and Ivy still had some homework that she hadn't even finished. Afrina reassured her by saying that she could finish those in the middle of the night. And she almost did, Ivy gave up on maths, as usual. Ashvina guided Ivy as she did her homework and she finally finished it after one agonising hour. It felt like the most torturous hour of Ivy’s life.
Either way, the trio packed their items and got ready for school, riding alongside Ivy in her royal carriage, heading towards Daewon for their final year. Ivy had to sneak her friends into the carriage as well. It was a sneaky weekend for the trio before they headed back for their final year of school with university waiting ahead for them. It was their final year.
Strangely enough, Ivy felt as though she was going to miss it. She spent most of her life there, meeting people like Afrina and forging bonds she wished would never be undone. Though there were some moments she hated at school, but she would still miss it. The things her friends got up to, all of her stage performances. It was going to be one hell of a year wasn’t it?