With his hand in hers, Shirayuki already feels a little different. Perhaps it is the spacious ballroom and the select few dancers encircling the floor, perhaps it is knowing that this hand once held poisoned apples and offered them as a treat that was more of a threat, perhaps it is knowing that where she stands now is different than the palace in Clarines, different than being by Zen's side.
It is Raji who twirls her now, and for a moment, she breathes in the potential, the chance that for some people would be a chance of a lifetime, but for her is just life and a little bit of a risk. When the proposal came, she was still nursing a wound that lay somewhere deep in her chest, and here, she is nursing the possibility instead.
"Thank you." It's a whispered plea and a bit of an apology.
"You needed help, and I had nothing else to do." Shirayuki regrets the words right away, especially when that look of guilt and shame passes through Raji's eyes as he looks away, as if to hide it, though she saw it before he could. He's too expressive for his own good sometimes.
"That shouldn't have been the case." He tells her, stubbornly, and for a moment some of his stubbornness that read like childishness years ago comes out genuinely and selflessly, "You deserved better."
"I'm just a peasant from Tanbarun." Shirayuki tells him, and when he looks scandalized, she wants to laugh. It's the honest truth! And besides, that's the woman she's always been anyway.
"You've never been just a peasant from Tanbarun." And Raji leans closer as if to whisper a secret to her, and perhaps it's impulse or perhaps it's just sheer forgetfulness of the crowd around them, but whatever reason, he presses a gentle kiss on her cheek, enunciating his point with touch rather than tone.
"I grew up with a normal life." Shirayuki can and will still argue this point, and Raji still looks at her as if to say, what about your life has ever been normal?
"No one has just a normal life." He points out and twirls her around, "Everyone's unique."
And Shirayuki sighs.
"And some things are just common. I wasn't royalty, didn't grow up with noble connections. I worked a bar and a pharmacy and then ended up meeting royalty after that. The abnormal part comes second." She points out.
And Raji shakes his head.
"It was your grandparents' bar. And you ran your own pharmacy when most people are too young to know a thing about herbology. Sadly, you caught the eye of a prince and met another one, but still..." Raji ignores this, all of this, what led them here.
"And I got a broken heart out of the deal and ended up accepting a marriage offer to help out a different prince." Shirayuki shrugged; it sounded all so matter of fact from her.
"And that's not something to be taken lightly. You deserved better." The sincerity in Raji's voice still floors her. He can be stubbornly persistent, if dramatic about it, but when it's borne out of compassion, it is enough to floor her.
"And so did you." Shirayuki pointed out, a little tired of this argument going in more circles than they are.
"Nah, I'm still not a prince you can be proud of." Raji shrugged off the compliment, and Shirayuki wonders how he doesn't see what she's come to see, that she's gotten a chance to see for a while now and now gets to see clearer than ever.
"You are a better prince than you give yourself credit for." Raji came a long way, and Shirayuki just wishes he'd believe her words, but somewhere along the way his ego deflated and turned in on itself.
"You'd make a far better queen than I'd make a queen. Rona would too." Raji pointed out, and Shirayuki just looks at him, this dramatic prince that replaced selfishness with selflessness and she can see a man that really will do wonders with Tanbarun, partly from all of the hard work and his ability to change.
"I'm not that suited for queenship." And Shirayuki wonders how a peasant girl goes from commoner to Court Herbalist to a prince's fiancée; it still feels unreal.
"You're smart and honest and strong and you've changed a prince." Raji smiles, and Shirayuki sees not for the first time how she'd make a good queen for this king, even if she's not normally one for queenship and even if another country couldn't see it. She dreads seeing Zen or Izana for diplomatic meetings, but for now, she just has to focus on their engagement announcement that will be here before too long and preparing for a wedding that she never expected years ago.
Somehow a favor has turned into this, and she already hopes that something new will bloom here where the ashes of her old broken heart are and the careful arrangements to help save a nation. And hopefully that newness will be love emerging from its cocoon; already, there is the love of friendship here and the determination to do good, that could be sowing the seeds that will get them through the coming years.
And she can't imagine a different family to be marrying into, or at least not after how well the king has taken this whole thing or Rona and Eugena's kind excitement; they all want the best for Tanbarun and the best for Raji and somehow she fits that perfectly for them and for Raji, and a new opportunity definitely has bloomed from a proposal by letter and the new beginning that brought her back to her home country just a different part.
It's with Raji's hand in hers that they step forward with a new announcement for their kingdom.