The red star ascends…
Chapter One: Prince Yonin
The wind pulled locks of his brilliant hair from beneath his hood to dance in the red glow of dawn. He suppressed his shiver at the chilled gust, and his hand tightened on the pommel of his sword.
"Prince Yonin, we should leave soon," a feminine voice informed.
"Yes," Yonin replied, solemn violet eyes affixed to the horizon.
It was cold… There in the mountains, it seemed very cold.
He had no idea it could be so cold outside the palace…
In Kouka Empire, there was what was once Yonin's palace, Palace Hiryuu. At the time, the empress did not have an heir to the throne, nor a consort to supply one. She only had a fifteen-year-old prince, one she had raised with great care.
"Mother…" Yonin murmured, looking into the mirror with a pout, "My hair… It's… odd, isn't it?
Approaching her son, the cheerful woman smiled fondly. "It's not odd." Her hands folded in front of her, and her face gleamed with maternal joy. "Your handsomeness outrivals any precious gem."
The prince tugged a lock of his hair through his pale fingers and turned away from the reflective glass. "I do suppose I was born with an admirable face, but Mother…" he huffed, "this hair!" He pushed the brilliant wavy strands behind his shoulder as if in demonstration. "Why is it so red?" He repeated a confounded, annoyed expression displayed an innumerable amount of times in his young life. "Even my father had glossy black hair." A growl of frustration ripped from his lips, and he stomped away from his still-smiling mother, though the expression was becoming a little stiff. "It makes me look WEIRD!"
"That's not true." The empress nearly grimaced at being put in such an awkward, hormonal position, but looked to the side for support, "Right, Hae?"
Silent until this moment, the raven haired young woman in the room replied, "Yes, Empress Ila. I have heard no one say that the prince's hair is strange." She lifted her face up and stared directly at the prince. "But if I may be so bold to say…" Her face exuded profound seriousness. "... there's definitely something wrong with his brain."
Yonin halted immediately. His eyebrow ticked, and his teeth gritted. "Shut it, servant." Suddenly, he was in motion, throwing random objects, anything he could reach - a teapot, some tea cups, the occasional bottle of cologne - at the blue-clad girl, all of which she either caught and set safely to the side or batted away with a flick of the wrist. "Mother! Do something about this… this… Ugh! Even though she's supposed to be my servant, she's so… so arrogant!"
Now strained, Ila's smile held a hint of gentle chiding. "Now, now, Yonin. Hae is a childhood friend of yours, remember?" She supplied the reminder as if it would abate her son's irritation. By the way the fifteen-year-old continued launching personal affects at Hae, she could tell it didn't, so she continued on patiently. "Besides, Hae is the general commander of the palace guard at just eighteen. It only makes sense that she'd also be your bodyguard."
Yonin's scoff was haughty. "You don't understand! If I'm going to have a bodyguard, then the person should be cuter!"
"Speaking of cute…" Hae began, inspecting the empty, no-longer-airborne teacup in her hand with obviously faked interest, before her clear blue eyes snapped up to gaze at the prince before her. "You don't mind not looking 'cute' yourself?" Yonin's eyebrows furrowed angrily and his mouth dropped open, but Hae continued before he could speak, "She's already arrived. Lady Wan-soo that is."
The prince was on the move, dashing off in a blur of red hair and bright robes. "Why didn't you say that sooner?!"
Ila's smile fell away, and shock conquered her features. "Wan-soo?" She looked to Hae. "Is that the reason why he was so worried about his hair?" Hae's eyebrows rose in response. "Why would Wan-soo care about that? She's his cousin."
Hae pretended to take a sip from the teacup and blandly stared at the empress over the rim. "You really don't understand men, do you?"
The bridge of Ila's nose and her eyebrows crinkle up into a slightly-offended knot. "What?"
A young attendant, who had gone unnoticed since entering the room - besides nearly getting plowed over by a frantic prince, politely cleared her throat. "We must go, Empress Ila; you are behind in paperwork!"
'Wan-soo!'
Yonin dashed down the walkway.
'Wan-soo!'
He zipped past an unsuspecting laundry boy and just barely managed not knocking him over. After all, he hardly registered what was happening around him; in his mind, he could only see the innocent, smiling face of a young girl.
'Ever since we were children, she's always been by my side.'
In his memory, she laughed, head tilting to the side with her smile, sandy blonde hair swaying with the motion.
'My dear, sweet Wan-soo…'
Without swaying a bit, he rounded a corner, the palace wall obscuring whether or not there would be someone else walking around it as well.
'My beloved cousin, three years older than myself… Finally today…'
The air rushed from his lungs as he crashed into someone, a slight figure who clinged to his arms to keep from falling. "Oof!"
'...After so long…'
Yonin's own hands reflexively grasped onto the thin, robed shoulders of the person accidentally assailed by his excited charge.
A bubbly giggle drifted up to his ears to pierce through the shocked daze, followed by a gentle voice, "You should be more careful."
He deliriously met sparkling green eyes, ones that smiled up with a warmth Yonin felt he had missed for far too long.
"It looks like you're doing well as usual, Prince Yonin."
'I get to see Wan-soo.'
Yonin hurriedly stepped back, a blush rising to his cheeks as his arms fell to his sides.
Yes, it was definitely Wan-soo, but it wasn't the cute little girl from childhood memory… no, before Yonin stood a beautiful young woman.
Wan-soo's hands delicately dropped to clasp in front of her, but she leaned forward to concernedly study the flustered expression on Yonin's face. "Is something amiss? You're panicking."
Yonin gulped down the heart that had leapt to his throat before hurriedly explaining, "I heard you arrived, so I came to receive you."
Wan-soo beamed and playfully pinched Yonin's cheek. "That is so admirable of you."
Yonin froze - shocked, pleased, but completely irritated at the same time - before he cleared his throat. "Y-You'll stay here longer this time, right?"
Wan-soo giggled again, her silky bangs falling into her emerald eyes. "Of course! I came for your birthday, a week away." She tilted her head again. "Speaking of your birthday, you'll be turning sixteen, huh?" She tried to reach up and pat Yonin's head and ruffle his hair, but only awkwardly managed it. "My oh my, you've gotten so big!"
Befuddled, Yonin blinked down at her. Wan-soo stepped back, leaving Yonin's tediously-prepared hair disheveled irreparably.
"So… Where is Empress Ila and Hae? I have yet to greet them!" Not waiting for a reply, she stepped around Yonin and whirled away with a skip in her step, a trait from the prince's dearest childhood memories that seemed to have stayed with Wan-soo.
'Treating me like a child.'
He huffed, wrenching his eyes away from the corner Wan-soo disappeared around.
'Treating me like a child.'
Another huff tore from the prince as he glared at the ground, his blush rising to a furious scarlet as his vexation mounted.
'Treating me like a child.'
His mind raced, fumbled as it reviewed the situation that just unraveled, and his chin fell as he stared at the walkway, the exact place she had been standing. Without realizing it, he began to voice his dissatisfied thoughts aloud. "This morning, I prepared the most well-crafted clothing, the finest colognes… even the highest quality herbal cleansing scrubs…"
Someone behind him sighed dramatically. "All that hard work… has gone to waste…"
Startled, Yonin snapped around to find Hae leaning against the decorative fence and nonchalantly eating a peach.
How long had she been there?
"Shut up!" he growled with no scarce amount of embarrassment. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he turned his back on Hae. "Dense Wan-soo…"
'To Wan-soo, I'm the same as I was back then, when we were children.'
Something ate at his heart. He was so lonely, he couldn't think of nearly anything else. The thoughts he could hold onto were foggy and blurry. His body could only wander anywhere his small feet could take him. Everything looked so dull, and what he saw didn't seem to reach his brain.
"Yonin!" a usually small voice called.
He paused when he heard the cry of his name, but continued with his lost shuffling, though he swayed his arms as if everything was all right.
A tiny hand landed gently on his shoulder to stop him. "I've heard you haven't been eating lately, and it's worrying me, so-"
Yonin shrugged off the touch and kept walking. He couldn't handle it right now. Wan-soo was always so happy and joyful and filled with light, and that light was pushing its way into the dark eating Yonin's heart. The light numbed the sadness, and that scared Yonin.
Erasing that pain… Was like erasing what happened, and Yonin's broken spirit couldn't take that.
"... I'm going over here, Wan-soo," he murmured, quiet voice wobbling.
Yonin wasn't really sure where "over here" was, but if it got him away from Wan-soo, from anyone, then it seemed like the best place to go.
But the lonely feeling clung to Wan-soo, and he listened intently to the sound of her feet shuffling through the grass to follow him.
"But-"
"Shut up!" He yelled, voice cracking as he choked back tears.
With the ruffling of cloth, Wan-soo's overcoat landed on Yonin's head and fell onto him. He grunted in surprise and naturally shrank into the comfort. "What-"
"It's all right. Nobody will see it if you do this," she whispered and moved closer to hug him from behind. "Now, it's okay to cry, because no one will see it."
The words echoed to Yonin's innocent, troubled soul and pulled out the tears so deeply locked within. He crumpled to his knees and covered his eyes with his hands as he struggled through all the sadness and pain.
"I…" He sniffled through a sob, "can never… f-fall asleep anymore."
Wan-soo patted his back consolingly.
"Because… Father isn't there to read to me… and h-hold my hand…" He whimpered, clenching his fingers around the imagined hand of his father.
Wan-soo stilled in the midst of rubbing Yonin's back. "Oh.. It's because the empress' husband just passed away…" she whispered, mostly to herself, but Yonin heard it, and it made him curl up even tighter.
"Yes," he snuffled again, trying to keep himself from sobbing again.
Suddenly, Wan-soo darted in front of Yonin. "I'll be your father!" she declared, voice filled with determination.
Yonin's head jolted up, and he looked at her with wide, teary, surprised eyes.
"First, you need to eat!" She dug into the pocket of her robes. "See?! Have the pear my teacher gave me."
Yonin noticed that even though Wan-soo's stomach growled, she still forced the pear into his hands.
Later, Wan-soo was curled under the blanket with Yonin as she held his hand. Yonin almost told her that his father didn't lie in bed with him, but it was too nice for him to push her away.
"I'll do exactly what your father did and hold your hand until you fall asleep," she whispered, both of her small hands clasped around one of Yonin's. "So when your tears fall down, I'll wipe them away so no one will see." She smiled kindly. "So you can smile tomorrow."
Looking back on it, Yonin felt foolish. The pounding of his heart made it even more difficult for him to fall asleep.
'You are the most precious person in my life.'
His sigh gusted from his lungs, and he pushed away some of the longer strands of hair that fell into his face. He walked away, leaving Hae, leaning on the fence and eating her peach…
...But all the while, her eyes were locked on the lovesick prince.
The morning was bright, the clouds fluffy as they drifted across an azure sky, but Yonin paid no mind as he stepped through the open door.
"Good morning, Wan-soo! I have brought an assortment of sweets!" He declared… to a room empty but of one attendant.
The attendant, Min-soo, looked to him as she gathered up a tea set. "Oh, Prince Yonin. If you're looking for Lady Wan-soo, she's outside with General Hae."
He rushed out and to the railing of the terrace that overlooked a field set up for archery practice. Two horses trotted along, their eight strong, graceful legs kicking up dust in the morning light. Hae sat upon one, her bow lowered, arrow relaxedly poised, her face decorated with a fond smile. Upon the other, with her hair tied back, Wan-soo spoke with a smile and the occasional laugh, a bow in her hand as well.
Jealousy boiled in Yonin's gut, a scowl pulled at his lips, and his knuckles turned white from his frustrated grip on the railing. "No fair, Hae!" he hissed malevolently, "Stealing Wan-soo away while I'm not looking!"
His mother approached from behind, her ever-present smile… ever-present. "Now, now," she began, the words foretelling a chiding, and Yonin rolled his eyes, "You aren't the only one who hasn't seen her in a while."
Out in the field, Hae nudged Wan-soo, and said something - inaudible to Yonin - with that irritating, mocking grin with which Yonin was all too familiar. Wan-soo's only notable responses were a laugh and a nudge of the leg to stir the horse into a canter.
"Since they're the same age, they can probably relate more easily," Ila added, as if in after thought.
Yonin sighed and focused on Wan-soo's face as she nocked the arrow and drew back the bowstring. Her eyes narrowed, her brows furrowed with concentration. Beads of sweat curled down her temples and onto her face. So fierce, the expression filled Yonin with awe. Beautiful, determined, and graceful: a falcon prepared to dive. She banked and swooped, talons outstretched…
Fwt!
The arrow punched into the center of the target.
The horse pushed into a gallop, but the arrows found their marks, one after another in a precise barrage.
"I want to do archery with Wan-soo!" Yonin exclaimed, starstruck by Wan-soo's impressive display of skill.
"What?!" Ila cried, obviously appalled by her son's sporadic declaration. "Not a chance! I could never let you hold a weapon." Her lips tightened into a straight line as she watched Hae storm behind her friend, the heads of her arrows shoving themselves next to their comrades in the bullseyes. "Honestly, I don't even want those two to have them."
Yonin snapped to her, "Then why don't you do it, Mother?"
The empress' eyebrow wrinkled as she looked away. "I could get hurt, right?"
The prince seethed. "Urgh! Coward!"
"Yonin!" A feminine voice cut through their conversation.
Wan-soo led her steed to the base of the steps. "Come on down! Come ride the horse!"
Yonin was already rushing down the stairs when Ila reproachfully cried, "Wan-soo!"
Her niece smiled back reassuringly. "He'll be fine. He'll just be riding the horse."
Yonin gulped down his anxiety when he approached the large animal and its rider. Up close, it looked even taller, and he wondered how Wan-soo even managed to get up there. She noticed his obvious trepidation and offered her hand. "Relax. Hae and I will support you."
Two short women, supporting Yonin? "But-" he attempted to protest, but Hae was already boosting him up with her astonishing strength.
When he still resisted, Hae muttered, "Hae will die under the prince's weight soon…"
"I will not resist kicking you!" the flustered and angry teenager snapped while grabbing on to the back of the saddle.
Wan-soo giggled and extended her hand again. "It's all right. You love horses, don't you?"
His grasp accepted hers, and a blush bloomed on his cheeks despite his resistance to it. "Yes."
'But I love you more.'
With Hae, her physical prowess was amazing yet predictable; she wasn't captain of the palace guard and general of the Wind Tribe for no reason. But the strength with which Wan-soo tugged Yonin up caught him completely off guard. Soon enough, Yonin sat upon the horse, Wan-soo practically in his lap.
She giggled at the prince's awkward posture and tugged his arms around her waist. "Lean in close to me. I'll support you."
'Oh god, her voice, her scent…!' Yonin reeled, eyes squeezed shut as Wan-soo's voice vibrated from her back and into his chest. When she shifted in his arms, he reflexively tightened his hold around her waist and was surprised by the firmness there.
"Yo-nin! Let's play!" A far-off memory called.
'She was such an adorable little girl when she was a child, but now…'
Wan-soo was definitely not a little girl anymore.
Yonin cleared his throat. "Isn't this a violation?"
Wan-soo froze, confused. "Hm?"
"Oh!" The prince exclaimed in a panicked, rambling tone of voice; indeed, the rest of his words tumbled out of his mouth in a cringe-worthy waterfall, "I mean, it feels like you're used to handling men. As if you've brought them to your home frequently."
'Oh no, what am I even saying?!'
He decided to end his statement with an awkward chuckle. "Aha."
Over her shoulder, Wan-woo smiled stiffly, blankly, with no verbal response.
Yonin's amethyst eyes widened, and even more heat rushed to his cheeks. "No way -"
"Well, uh," Wan-woo tittered, trying to smile placatingly. "No, don't get the wrong idea. We've been discussing to whom I will be engaged."
A shock punched Yonin's nerves. 'Engaged?!'
"Huh? I didn't know that…" Yonin babbled, flustered, jealous, stunned.
She shrugged sheepishly. "Well, it hasn't been decided yet." She looked embarrassed enough to sweat. "Let's stop talking about this. I can't talk about this with you."
Indignation heated Yonin's blood. 'She's still treating me like a child!'
Yonin was grown, too! He was a young man, a perfectly capable adult! Why couldn't Wan-soo see that?
"I-I'm about to be engaged, too."
It was Wan-soo's turn to widen her eyes with surprise. "Huh? To whom?"
"To Hae!" Came Yonin's immediate reply.
After which ensued a pause, where Yonin questioned everything and felt his bodyguard's eyes searing into the back of his head.
'Idiot! By that I mean - It's obvious that the first name that would come to mind is Hae's! But I can't help it, right? She's the only girl that I know besides Wan-soo who is close in age. So stop staring at me with those suspicious eyes, servant!'
But his false admission only made everything more complicated. Yonin was more than certain that Wan-soo would never approach an engaged man, especially if that man were engaged to her best friend! The "engagement" wasn't at all real, but Wan-soo didn't know that!
'Well, now I truly regret this.'
Really, nothing could be done to salvage the situation except for some awkward backtracking, so the prince hurried to do just that.
"Uh… I mean-"
"That's wonderful!" Wan-soo chirped, genuinely happy as she patted Yonin's forearm. "Congratulations."
"Wan-soo was too cruel," the red-haired prince despaired, his face buried in his opulent sleeves and an aura of gloom hanging about his slouched shoulders. "To think she'd believe such a lie…"
Had, standing behind the prince, stared at the ground blankly. "You're the one who's cruel." She paused, more likely for dramatic effect than genuine reflection. "And annoying."
All in the room ignored the general's comments as Empress Ila regarded her son with an all-to-serious face.
"Your getting married might not be a lie."
Stunned, Yonin uncovered his face and turned to his mother. "What?"
Unphased, Ila continued, "Naturally, we must choose an appropriate partner."
"Mother?" Yonin said faintly.
Hae and Min-soo watched silently and felt the tension in the air. The conversation had barely started, and they in knew it was not going to go well at all.
"You'll be sixteen soon. Being engaged wouldn't be such an odd thing, would it?" Ila waved a hand languidly. "I've been wanting to discuss it, anyway."
"No…" Yonin said, first as an automatic response, then with more conviction, "No! Wan-soo is the one I -"
"It can't be Wan-soo," Ila cut in, calmly, as if to balance the fiery passion exuding from her son.
"I don't want you telling me who my lover can be!" Yonin spat vehemently, amethyst eyes blazing like his hair.
"Yonin," came his mother's soft but stern reprimand, "Up until now, I have given you everything you have asked of me. Whether it be exquisite hair pins, the finest clothing, a villa, a personal garden - anything except a weapon. But…" She shook her head slowly. "It doesn't matter how many times you ask me; I cannot give you Wan-soo."
Yonin sat, stunned, eyes distant and tearful as his mother spoke.
"You the prince of the Kouka empire. The woman who becomes your wife will also become this nation's empress."
Outside, the rain pattered on the roof, and Hae turned her head to watch the droplets fall down instead of the prince who was slowly wilting into himself.
But Yonin wouldn't give up just yet.
"Wan-soo is your sister's - Aunt Yuon's - daughter," he said quietly, head tilted forward and a red curtain of bangs obscuring his eyes. "She possesses royal blood, does she not?"
The ensuing pause was filled with rain and the threat of tears, but Ila stood her ground. "She does. But I will be the one to choose who my successor shall be."
Bitterness unfurled in Yonin's heart. "Why…? Wan-soo is an excellent woman." He forced his voice to stay steady, though he could not meet the empress' gaze. "You're afraid of weapons, and you don't strike others, either. You are a cowardly empress."
Ila did not bow her head, nor did any anger bleed into her face or voice at the implied comparison. "I truly am a cowardly empress." Her voice grew heavy with wistful, noble sorrow, much like the solemn drops of rain on the empty walkways of the vast palace. "Your father was attacked and killed by a rebel. Everyone in the empress' family must face the threat of these kinds of dangers. Knowing this, I didn't bother to remarry." Looking back on this moment, Yonin would realize that he had never heard his mother sound so lonely. "Yonin…"
"You want Wan-soo to be happy, don't you?"
"I don't understand."
Pale fingers curled into soft silk.
"I don't understand, mother."
'Then…'
Yonin stared sullenly up at the stormy night sky.
'It doesn't matter if the woman who becomes my wife makes me happy?'
He'd cried himself empty already, and now he sat against the wall in a state of languid, contemplative depression.
'Me…? I can't achieve happiness?'
He blinked slowly, and a small innocent face flashed behind his eyelids.
"Yonin. You're not alone, Yonin."
The prince's heart ached and lurched and wilted at the memories.
"I'm here. I'll always be here for you. So smile!"
His eyebrows furrowed with sorrow, and his eyes stung again. He was wrong; there were more tears. There were always more tears.
"But… mother is right…" he whispered with a broken sigh. "Even if mother allowed it… I'm just a child to Wan-soo…" He curled his arms around his knees and tried to blink the burning from his eyes. "It's no use." He sniffled. 'From the very beginning, Wan-soo and I…'
Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter.
He lifted his head at the sound.
'Is that the sound of rain…?'
Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter.
'No.'
It was too loud, too strong, too solid.
His heart fluttered like a frightened bird.
'Those are footsteps.'
A sickly feeling washed over him, a sensation that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. A feeling of being observed.
He turned his head, and there, at the corner of the walkway, lurked a shadow.
Yonin blinked and gulped. "Who is there? Hae…?" He hoped beyond hope that it was Hae… "It's Hae, right? Stop. I'm not in the mood for your stupid jokes." … but a nagging itch in his skull whispered that it wasn't.
The shadow's hand reached out, sprawling, grasping, and Yonin shuddered away, throwing himself from the ground and dashing away. He ran, ran, ran, panting, tripping, fleeing in animal panic.
His mother's words stabbed through his brain.
"Your father was attacked and killed by rebels."
His heart jumped into his mouth. Attacked and killed.
'It can't be! This can't be happening!"
Lightning cracked and roared, tearing the night sky asunder in a flash of blinding white. The shadow of his pursuer fell around him like a heavy black cloak.
'He's right behind me!'
Yonin skidded around a corner, his loud footsteps hardly registering with the sound of his pulse pounding in his ears. He slammed through the nearest door and heaved it shut behind him. Gasping for breath, he pressed his forehead to the wood. Claw-like, a hand curled into the shoulder of his kimono. A tug reeled him back on his unsteady feet, and he was falling into someone's clutches.
"No!" he cried, hands scrambling out in a bid to grab the door. "Stop! Let go of me!"
'Someone, please, anyone - Wan-soo!'
"Yonin?" a concerned voice breathed, like an answer to his prayer.
He jolted, tearful, finally recognizing the hands on his shoulders, the voice in his ear, and the warmly-lit room into which he had barged. There, kneeling on the floor with him, was -
"Wan-soo!"
Her hands fell away, and she smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Did I frighten you? When you came bursting in like that, I thought you needed to talk."
Yonin whirled on her, his panic reawakened, and gasped out, "Wan-soo, th-there's someone - a stranger - following me!"
Wan-soo's emerald eyes snapped open wide, and she gracefully stood and opened the door. "There's no one here."
Yonin's thoughts raced, nearly crashing together.
'He ran away? But if it were a palace guard, he would have called out to me.'
It was someone else. It had to be.
Yonin clutched himself in his shivering arms, heart not once slowing as terror clawed at the edges of his mind.
'I was targeted.'
Cold sweat curled down his temples, and all of his muscles and tendons quaked beneath his skin. Once again, the empress' words once again echoed back to him. "Everyone in the empress' family must face the threat of these kinds of dangers."
'Targeted because I am the prince? Because…' he gulped, not noticing that he was rocking back and forth feverishly, 'because I am the empress' son?'
"Yonin?"
The prince held his head in his hands as the gentle call only mixed with the cacophony of hysteria surging in his mind.
"Yonin!" A small hand clasped his shoulder.
He yanked himself from the touch. "Nooo!"
The silky fabric of an overcoat fell over his head and back, and Wan-soo used it to carefully drag him closer. When his teary eyes fell open, they met sandy blonde hair and a tender verdant gaze.
"Listen. It's all okay. I'm right here," she cooed.
Yonin froze, and all the levees broke at once. His face crumpled up, tears squeezing from his lashes, and he whimpered pitifully, "Wan-soo." He lurched back a little, though he clutched the overcoat tight to his shoulders. "No, I… I can't be here with you," he croaked,
"Why not?" Wan-soo asked, her sweet face still concerned.
'If I'm here, you'll be in danger, too,' he thought, though he couldn't bring himself to say it aloud.
Meanwhile, quiet realization dawned on Wan-soo's face as she misinterpreted the young man's hesitant pause. She abruptly stood. "If you'd prefer to be with Hae, I can take you to her room."
Yonin hastily shoved the overcoat from his head. "What?"
Wan-soo turned away. "Isn't she your betrothed?"
A small noise of frustration rumbled in the back of the prince's throat. That lie was going to keep coming to bite him in the posterior, it seemed… "N… No, she isn't."
"There's no need to hide it," Wan-soo replied, a bit of amusement bleeding into her tone with her next statement. "She's going to be angry if she finds out we were alone together."
Yonin's amethyst eyes stared at her back and the glossy blonde hair swept over her shoulder. 'No, Wan-soo… No. It's not like that.' His lips moved soundlessly, until, finally, he cleared his throat and managed to have words rasp out. "I…" he hesitated again. Could he really tell her? 'It's all right if you don't see me the way I see you… So…' It felt like there was sand in his mouth, so he gulped again. "The truth is, I…" His tears continued to fall freely as he whined, "Wan-soo…"
He might not ever have her, nor the life he yearned for with her, but… 'I'm allowed to have these feelings, right?' He might be a prince, but, first and foremost, he was human.
"For so long, I've…" The lump in his throat stuck as Wan-soo turned her striking eyes back to him. "I've…" Blushing fiercely in embarrassment at his inability to articulate himself, he held his face in his hands.
"Huh? Looks like the rain is letting up," she commented.
Yonin's hands fell away, and he looked at the woman he loved so dearly with bewildered eyes.
'She's… She's pretending not to notice…'
Wan-soo smiled her innocent, disarming smile. "I'll walk you to your room. A guard will stay with you.'
Yonin reached out a paled, shaking hand. "W-Wan-soo, I -"
The young woman swatted his hand away with a sharp SLAP!I
The prince recoiled. Shock was becoming all too familiar a feeling to Yonin.
"I'm sorry, but please don't get so close," Wan-soo murmured, pivoting away once again. "I might get the wrong idea.'
The wrong idea…
Yonin eagerly latched onto those words. His blood thrummed in his veins, and he leaned forward, slender fingers curling into his kimono. "How so?"
Wan-soo coughed awkwardly and tugged on her loosely bound hair. "I mean - the way you're acting - it's like you're…"
'Wan-soo?'
Was she… starting to understand? The notion made him heedlessly blurt out his next words. "What if it's exactly what you think it is?" His face fell, and he contemplated the wording of his next question more carefully. "Would it bother you if it were?"
From where he was slowly standing, he couldn't hear Wan-soo's great exhale, but he saw it heave her delicate shoulders.
"It… It would be a problem." Wan-soo turned back to Yonin yet again in their jerking dance of a conversation, and she held her forehead in her hand as a blush stained her cheeks. "If I suddenly started thinking of you as a man, I wouldn't know what to do."
Yonin sated, dreamy-eyed, until he flushed with indignation. "How do you think of me?"
"Huh? Well, as a brother."
"I know that!"
"O… Okay." She scratched her head. "Sorry, I just don't know what to do in situations like this."
'She's blushing so hard..' The sight made Yonin's heart swell and race in all the right ways. "Oh…? But what about all those engagement discussions?"
"Well, they weren't my idea. I can't even imagine getting married yet."
A small, fond smile cracked Yonin's lips. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward. "Wan-soo, do you think of me as a man now?"
She put a hand over her mouth. "More or less…" Her arm dropped as she looked away. "I can't hold your hand and sleep beside you anymore. I'd lie awake all night from nerves."
Violet eyes rolled, and the prince scoffed haughtily. "Ha! Only now? You're more childlike than I thought."
"Wh-What?!"
He jabbed a finger at her. "I started feeling that way when I was six years old! You're a late bloomer."
Wan-soo's head jerked. "That's amazing, Yonin! You did? About whom?"
"You, of course!" he snapped, hissing with frustration.
She leaned back defensively. "O-Oh, right."
The prince's ire faded quickly. "Well, anyway…" He gazed down adoringly at her. "If you're even a tiny bit interested in me, I'm all right with that, for now." His voice broke a little, and he turned away to wipe his tears.
As Wan-soo's hand petted his back soothingly, he could only think, 'Mother, I really do love Wan-soo. I don't know much about countries and rulers, but when she's with me… I couldn't be happier.'
Five days later, there was a party held at Hiryuu Palace to celebrate the prince's sixteenth birthday.
One could not ask for a better day for a party; the sun was bright and warm, the breeze gentle and fresh. Still, the empress cried bittersweet tears.
"Dear me, sixteen!" Her hands clasped over her heart. "My little boy, all grown up!"
Yonin stood before her, an ornate headpiece in his hair and fine clothing adorning his tall, gangly form.
"Happy birthday, your highness," a noblewoman greeted.
"Happy birthday," a court gentleman echoed enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, the prince indignantly tugged on his vivid locks. "Mother, my hair keeps falling down. It's awful! I wanted to put it up elegantly today!"
The empress' chin dropped to her chest in mortification. "It's hopeless. You're only thinking about your hair. Acknowledge people's greetings, won't you?"
Once again, the prince wasn't paying any attention, instead scanning the crowd for…
'Wan-soo!'
She was across the walkway, and dressed in a lovely kimono and aquamarine overcoat that complemented her silky blonde hair. She looked gorgeous, some angelic vision. Yonin frantically turned to his attendant, who already held up a mirror for him to check and adjust his appearance. He had no choice; she had nearly reached him, so it'd have to do.
"Yonin," Wan-soo chirped, waving.
The prince's blush burgeoned into a red to rival his hair. "W-What is it?"
She smiled joyfully. "Hold out your hand."
He did eagerly.
"I got you…" she set the object on Yonin's open palm. "... This bun pin."
The round band was carved from a pale wood. Gold filigree set into it branched out like gently curling vines. Small emerald and pink gems peeked from between the gaps in a mimicry of foliage and blossoms. The pin that went through to hold the hair in place seemed to be made from that same wood. Yonin held it in his palm like it was a frail bird.
"Sorry for giving it to you only now. I thought it would look lovely on you.'
"With my hair?" Yonin scoffed, trying to hide just how affected he was. "My hair's red and frizzy and always out of control. This won't look good on me."
Wan-soo blinked. "Huh?" She reached forward, cupping a lock and watching it curl around her fingers before spilling like water. "I think your hair is wonderful. Just look at it. It's such a beautiful red. Like the sky at dawn."
Yonin stared down at her in awe.
'It was so simple.'
He lifted the pin and held it to his chest. In that moment, Yonin loved his hair, too. Misty-eyed, he met Wan-soo's gaze. Both flustered and shy, they stared for a moment, before suddenly noticing a certain dark-haired general lurking at their sides. They reeled away from one another, faces flushing red.
"Hae?!"
The general crossed her arms and regarded the prince with a bland expression. "Her majesty is searching for you, your highness."
The empress! Yonin hadn't even noticed that she had wandered off! He whirled away. "Ugh! I bet she's drunk!"
Hae waited until Yonin was out of earshot before speaking again. "Well, I figured this was how things were."
Wan-soo turned to her. "Huh?"
Hae shrugged. "I'm sure you can persuade her majesty, Lady Wan-soo. Good luck."
"It's not what you think, Hae." The corner of her lip twitched up. "And can you not be so formal? Just call me Wan-soo like you used to do."
A hint of a self-deprecating smile. "I know my place.'
Wan-soo huffed dramatically, her hands tucked into opposite sleeves as her chin fell. "That's harsh, General Hae."
Hae looked away, scanning the crowd of nobles indulging a bit too much in the rice wine. "Anyway, my lady, I wanted to ask you a question." Her blue eyes narrowed. "I can't pin it down, but something doesn't seem right. Do you feel it, too?" She looked back to the noblewoman next to her. "It's like someone's snuck into the palace."
Wan-soo exhaled roughly, her brows furrowing. "You know, Yonin mentioned something similar."
Immediately, Hae's focus sharpened. "What?"
Wan-soo nodded. "It might be wise to keep a close eye on everyone who comes and goes today."
Hae spun on her heel and walked away. "Very well. I'm counting on you to look after his highness, Lady Wan-soo."
Wan-soo chuckled awkwardly. "I told you, it's not what you think, Hae. And aren't you supposed to be his guard?"
Hae waved over her shoulder dismissively.
Night descended quietly upon Hiryuu Palace. Stars winked from high above the ornate rooftops. There was no sign of the party that had been in full swing just an hour ago. Yonin welcomed the silence. It let him think, wonder, and sigh with a swollen, fluttering heart over the events of the day. He looked into the mirror, his eyes lingering on how the torchlight reflected off his brilliant locks.
'Wan-soo said she liked my hair.' The bun pin sat upon his head, a handful of hair twisted elegantly within it. As soon as Yonin was in private, he had an attendant help him put it on. 'I'm never going to be able to stop thinking of her this way.'
"It doesn't matter how many times you ask me; I cannot give you Wan-soo."
A cool breeze washed over Yonin as he left his room, his hand dragging gently along the railing. 'I'm going to talk to mother! I can't forget Wan-soo. If I explain, I'm sure she'll understand.'
He paused as the stillness of the night sent a shiver up his spine. He dismissed the chilling animal dread. 'It's so quiet now that the party's over. Everyone drinks too much.' He remembered seeing Ila drink sakazuki after sakazuki of rice wine. 'Mother was awfully drunk, too. I hope she'd sobered up enough to have an actual conversation with me.' His lips tipped up and a gentle blush heated his cheeks. 'If not, I'll just go to Wan-soo's room.' A longing sigh heaved from his lungs. 'Oh, Wan-soo. I want to see you again soon.'
When he arrived at his mother's door, he gave himself a moment to collect his scattered thoughts. The door was already ajar, so it gave a little beneath Yonin's fingertips when he touched it.
"Hm?" His red brows knitted in the center of his forehead. 'Drunk or not, you're the empress! You shouldn't be this careless!'
He was on the verge of writing this off as just that, carelessness, when that shiver of dread crawled beneath his skin again.
'No, something's not right. There's not one guard posted. And I didn't see a single soul on my way here. There's usually several guards making their rounds.'
Shaking, he pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.
"Mother?"
The sudden change in light made it hard to see, but Yonin could hear water dripping onto the floor. Quickly, his eyes adjusted.
Two silhouettes. A sword. His mother. She swayed. The sick sound of a blade leaving flesh. She fell to the ground with a THUD! Dead weight. Drenched in crimson. Blood unfurling upon the floor like gory wings.
"Ahhhh…" her last breath came, wet with the blood spilling from her lips.
"Mother!" Yonin cried. "Mother!" He fell to his knees, crawled to her. "Mother!" He cradled her head on his lap, her cap falling off, her ebony hair pouring out to pool in the blood.
A footstep drew his frantic eyes upward. He saw the red drops continue to fall to the ground, the second silhouette, the bloody sword flashing like lightning in the lamplight.
"Oh… you're still awake, Prince Yonin?"
Clutching his mother's body, Yonin stared, frozen in terror and shock. There, with blood upon her clothes, upon her fair cheek, was none other than…
'Wan-soo!'
CHAPTER ONE END
A/N
Draconicmaw pushes her glasses up. "Soooooooooo… Genderbent. Like, everything. For the most part." She sighs, rolling her shoulders. "This is actually a huge undertaking. I plan to replicate EVERYTHING in canon. This is 100% following the canon storyline, although this will, culturally, be set in a different world than canon. You know, matriarchy and all that jazz. If anyone has any advice or help with genderbending the names of the characters, that would be wonderful! With English you just change Michael to Michelle, but the names in this are not that simple."
She rubs her eyes. It's late at night right now and Draconicmaw's bed is calling her name. "By the way, the name of this fic is based on the second OP of Akatsuki no Yona, called Akatsuki no Hana, or, 'Flower of the Dawn.' I know that Yonin is super prissy (so is Yona. So is Tae-jun, and that bitch is a dude.), but this is a different culture with different gender expectations."
"Anywho, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!"
