#Forbidden city palace halls

[pursuitseternal]

“Wrap Me Up:” 🎀 A Merry (NSFW) for the Vampire Lord Astarion, “The Rogue You Were” Christmas Special 🕯️

Ascended Astarion x F!Reader | E | 5.6K of thawing his “Scrooge-ish” heart with bondage and ice play

Based on “A Christmas Carol,” because Astarion would be a total “Scrooge”

Part 2: “Yuletide in Faerûn”

Summary: He hates Yuletide, a time where he is haunted by the ghosts of Yuletides past, but you won’t let him remain so cold, not when all he needs is a little warmth and pleasure to thaw…

CW: Bondage, Ice Play, temperature play, Dom/sub tones, face fucking, nipple play, breast biting, blood kink, sex as healing, face the ghost of Yuletide past, make him look towards the ghosts of Yuletide present and future with you

AO3 link | Read “Rogue You Were” | Masterist

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Cazador was dead to begin with…. His palace redone, reclaimed by your love, your master. No longer some distasteful, neglected home of a miser and monster. It is the toast of Baldur’s Gate, the lavish, decadent crowning jewel of the city, and home to the man all admired and feared. Astarion, Vampire Ascendant.

Your love. Your Master. Your spouse.

But even still, as the streets of the city filled with snow, wet and heavy from the sea, as the air filled with the sights and sounds and smells of Yuletide, your home remained cheerless.

Cazador was dead, and so was the infamous Yule Ball he hosted in his decrepit halls—forbidden by its new lord and master. Astarion had no wish to carry on any of that monster’s legacy. A gala event meant to make his spawn work all the harder for victims at the risk of torture… a night of sumptuous darkness, where victims were aplenty, a prize for their master.

And so… Yuletide was banished. Halls were bright, but no more shining than usual. No evergreens or music or mirth. No gatherings or carols or banquets or dances.

And no… gifts. Those were his orders.

Orders that you understand, but ones that make you grieved. That make you wish to show him the true meaning of Yuletide. And you will show him tonight. To do so, you have been sneaky, subtle, deceptive. And above all… disobedient. But that only makes this plot of yours all the more delicious.

He’s been away all day, corrupting officials and threatening the right people. Turning the powerful into puppets, ensuring everyone pays their tribute to the most powerful being in all the realms. In fact, you think as you begin to peer out the window looking down into the drive, banks of snow scattered to the side and torches flaming to await the master’s arrival, he has been extraordinarily ruthless of late. These last weeks leading into Yuletide, he’s been extorting more money, squeezing favor after favor from the influential, securing all the wealth he could to line his own coffers. And all the while, he grinned that brilliant fang-toothed smile, laughing to be such a menace before the festivities.

Little did he know what you are doing in his absence. Your little secret.

It wasn’t easy to keep. You had to block out his mind, the little ways he liked to check on you from a distance, swirling into your thoughts down your bonded minds as master and bride. You were careful these last few days. Conveniently sending him only thoughts of how much he pleasures you… his hands gripping your ass, his fangs in your throat, his cock shoved to the hilt between your thighs or down your throat, the slick feeling of his cum or its rich and bitter tang….

And once he was satisfied, his presence would leave you, back to your own devices.

Even when he was home of late, he spent much of his time in the treasure vaults, counting and recounting your wealth… until he wandered back to your bed for sweet words of praise and pride in your victories… and for all the carnal ways he loved to consolidate that power with you.

And so, you were free to continue your little plan. You are free to complete your plan.

The eve before Yuletide, and you place a few finishing touches around the library. His favorite place. Not only because he was fond of books, but it is a room all of his own creation. A room free from the ghosts of Cazador’s abuse and violence.

A room all his own.

And now, you made it… festive. The air smells of fresh evergreen and holly, spiced rum punch and sugared sweets, candle smoke and… him. Of citrus and rosemary, that makes your mouth and your cunt wet. Your eyes peer out from the slit in the curtains, watching the snowdrifts billow up in the wind and weather, more flakes of white falling heavy in the night. All that soft, fresh fallen snow muffles the rattle of Astarion’s carriage as it glides up the drive.

Your heart leaps, your hand pulling the curtain back, making sure the light illumines behind you. Making sure he sees you wait for his return, his most beloved spawn in his most beloved room.

He is like shadow incarnate, his black cloak wrapped tightly around his body as it still flaps in the icy winds. Those crimson eyes catch your figure, backlit by the glow within, intrigued, suspicious, his smirking grin makes your quiver, even at this distance.

“Little love… whatever could you be up to?” His voice caresses your mind, sultry and purring to warm your soul.

“Oh, don’t be so cold, my love,” you throw back down the bond of your minds, “why not come and… make yourself warm?”

“Make myself…” he continues to purr even as he strides inside the doors to your palace, “…or permit you to warm me?”

“Come and find out, my darling…”

You can feel his approach, as if you travel as his shadow. Sensing the moment he undoes his clasp, the wet wool of his cloak flopping to the tile. Riding the movement of his legs as he climbs the stairs two at a time. Hearing the sniffs of that aquiline nose that makes a little growl resonate in his throat.

“What have you done?” he hisses into your mind, a pulse of rage and suspicion flaring down your bond.

“It will please you greatly,” you chide in reply, “as long as you overlook my loving disobedience.”

His presence pulls away, only because his hand tears the handle from the library door, the panes of its dark wood flying open to reveal him.

Where he fumes in the entrance.

Crimson eyes glow as he takes in the sight… the fresh scent of spices and sweets and evergreens making his nose turn up in disgust… his gaze scanning from the decorated mantle to the table of sweets, to where you await him near the window.

“My… defiant… little… consort,” he speaks steadily through his grit teeth. “Do you wish to tell me the meaning of all this before I punish you or will it be an extra sweet revelation I pry from you… during…?”

“Or, consider this, my love,” you give him a warm and sultry smile, “you let me, your beloved bride, your treasure, lavish you with some festive joy,” you gesture to the mantle and the table of spiced punch and sweets, “bestow upon you some adoring gifts to show my undying love for you,” you point to the two, small gift wrapped boxes waiting on the table, “and of course some very… merry… entertainment…” You would blush harder if it were possible, your hand tracing down the deep cut of your silken dressing gown. His crimson eyes darkening and dilating as it follows your touch on your own skin.

“You, of all people, my darling should know the dangers involved in tampering with the ghosts of the past that still haunt me…” he crosses the room in what feels like a single bound, his hands closing on your upper arms, his warm touch crushing you against his chest. “You are on some very thin ice… darling. Tread. Very. Carefully.”

“The Rogue I love wouldn’t shy from a fight, even against facing the ghosts that once tormented him,” you smirk up at his enraged face, you can feel his heart racing in a heady mix of emotion, see it throbbing in the veins of his neck. That powerful ascended heart. “Won’t you… at least open my gifts? Let me spoil you for once this Yuletide, as you have never been spoiled before…”

A single brow raises at that. “Well,” he sniffs, tilting his head, eyes falling to the boxes impeccably wrapped before him. “I do rather like being spoiled.” It was a quiet, begrudging sort of acquiescence. “And…” he sighed through his frowning, open mouth, “I suppose you did make a huge effort… even if it was a secret…” he hisses, suddenly giving you that gaze as if you are his next, most delicious meal, “…and disobedient… and deceptive sort of effort for me…”

You smile, such a saccharine look of innocence. “I’m glad you’re beginning to see it, my love.”

His hands fly to your chin, clasping around it before slinking down to claw gently around your neck. “I still expect much from you, darling, to make reparation for your… defiance, as loving as it might be.” You laugh, letting your throat vibrate beneath his touch, as he brings your lips in for a consuming kiss.

However brief.

He presses against your throat, breaking with that dark, conceited grin. “Now, my dearest pet,” he purrs, “impress me with your festive spirit…”

You give him that slightly pouting smile that seems to lower that haze of lust over his eyes. You keep his gaze locked, reaching for the large box,

wrapped in golden paper, tied with golden ribbon. He accepts it into his hands, sifting its weight, shaking it just a touch to feel something hefty sliding inside the container. Then, you see it, almost like the first trickle down an icicle as it starts to melt, the corner of his lips turns just a little higher.

His fingers grip the end of the bow, slowly unraveling it. “What is it?” he asks, a skeptical brow raised.

“The gift to help you chase away the ghost of Yuletide past, my love…” you grin, feeling so confident, so sure of your choices, of your knowledge of him more than he would even admit to his ascended self.

That wins you a twist of those full lips. Those crimson eyes flicker up to yours briefly as his long, dexterous fingers lift open the lid. “Is that a… crown?” pure amusement, voice tickled with the flattery only a perfect gift could give.

You reach your hands in, lifting the metal circlet from its box, the little interwoven strands of dark metal rising into little spikes. “Elegant and vicious,” you hum as you take it between your hands and raise it to rest on his tousle of silver hair. “Just like you, my roguish love.”

“Well if this is your idea of spoiling me with festive cheer…” he raises a brow, turning his head to test out the weight upon his head, “you’re exceeding my expectations.” He turns to the wall behind you, where you have draped boughs of holly leaves and blood red berries around the ornate and gilded mirror on the wall. A fixture in every room now, so he may bask in his own reflection when he wishes. He primps and preens before the glass, turning and twisting to view every angle.

“And I must say, you’ve really captured my power and prestige with something so deadly and…” He pauses lost to the silence as he lavishes in his own reflection, rubbing a finger over the sharpened edges of the points.

You sneak up behind him, where he is lost in his own reflection, that piercing red stare meets yours in the reflection. “A gift, reforged from the past… your old, sadistic master’s dagger, melted down to make you into the sovereign you have always deserved to be…”

He pouts, dramatic and whining and most of all, fake, “A dagger for a crown?” Sighing, he turns quickly to capture you in his arms. “I’ll say, it is the only acceptable repurposing of a blade. You’re lucky I love you so much, if you’re going to be turning my weapons into jewelry…” He presses his lips against your neck, “But even a crown worthy of my handsome head won’t spare you from your own recompense.”

“For my loving disobedience,” you laugh, arching your neck to expose even more of your skin. “And perhaps, you should open your second gift, my love, before you settle on any ideas of exacting such delicious… retribution. Especially now that your chilled heart seems to have thawed.”

“Me?” he rasps into your ear, “cold? Chilled? Cheeky little pup… do you forget that my heart beats now, my skin warmed over as your ascended lord?”

“Hmmmm,” you sigh, “why don’t you open that second gift, a little something to help you embrace the spirit of your Yuletide present and future with me, your own… forever…”

“Oh,” he smirked, wicked and ravenous, “if you’re my gift… and all the many ways I can play with you, I doubt you’ll fit in any little box, darling.” he gave a loud giggle, “but I can imagine how festive you would look… all wrapped up in ribbon…”

You feel his hands wandering over your body, his touch seeping its warmth through the fabric of your dress as he does wrap you in arms and presses you against his unyielding body.

“My little treat, ready to be unwrapped once she’s been very… very… good to me,” he growls in your ear. Shivers racing down your spine as you giggle. Your stomach flips upside down, despite the months of this… of being his, forever. Your body still gives you away with each encounter.

And you grin like a lovesick fool, reaching to the table beside you for that second, smaller package.

He palms its wrapped sides in a single hand, the other remains clutched firmly around your waist with his hand curved hard over the swell of your ass. He smirks, dark and playful, as he bites into the end of the bow and tugs the black silken ribbon apart with those gleaming fangs. The silk slides, no resistance as the bow comes apart in his mouth.

You know that feeling all too well. Of coming apart at the command of those teeth or lips or tongue… You love that feeling. Crave that feeling.

He lets it drop from his teeth to flutter to the floor, a finger flicking open the top of the box to fall to the same fate. Then his brows furrow, he lips drawing in a smile so wide, those perfect teeth glint in the flickering warmth of the firelight.

“My, my…” he purrs, lifting his touch from your backside to fish out the gift within.

It’s coiled, wrapped around itself, this long strand of thick and smooth, a long velvet ribbon, as crimson as his own eyes.

“Perhaps our minds are shared more than the bond formed when you made me, my love,” you taunt, a lilt in your voice as you press into him harder, letting the curves of your breast flatten, the panting of your belly push into his. “Now… are you going to finally let that cold, beating heart of yours be melted by Yuletide warmth?”

He cocks a brow, tilting his crowned head at that rakish angle, hand returning to claw around the base of chin. That free set of eager fingers slipping the gifted ribbon from the box. You gasp as those fingers pull you against his lips. He sucks and caresses with all the hunger that flares under his touch and behind his eyes. “I think I’d rather watch you melt, watch you puddle on my fingers and come when I say, my consort, beloved but also naughty.”

“Sounds like you’re burning to use your gifts, my love…” you growl between his lips. “My lover with the warm touch and the ice in his heart, a bit different than before, my love….” You rake your nails into his hair. “Now I can make you warm all over.”

He chuckles, his grasp easing around your throat, winding to the back of your neck to tilt you open for his tongue all the more. “Sounds like you’re missing that icy touch of your undead rogue, my treasure,” he snaps in return, biting down on your lower lip just enough to draw blood.

“And what are you going to do to remedy that?” you reply, a little moan coloring your voice as his hands begin tearing off your clothes.

“Shh, shh, shh,” he taps his thumb over your swollen lips. “Not a sound, not if you wish to earn my forgiveness, and perhaps receive a little sort of gift of your own in return…” you shudder in his arms, the only reply needed for him to flash you that feral, twisted grin. “Then lay down, my love, and warm yourself by the flames of the fire.”

A hand tugs apart the last laces from your dress, sliding the sleeves from your shoulders. “Oh, and you won’t be needing any of that now…” Your silken gown becomes a silken puddle around your feet. Your skin turns to gooseflesh as he scores his nails down your sides. He snaps his gift, your velvet ribbon, between his hands. “Get comfortable, my treasure, while you still can…”

His gaze scalds you, intensity beyond even your expectations. He is about to enjoy this… and you are too.

He lets you settle on the puddle of furs, the thick white skin of some animal that lines the floor before the fire. Back turned on you, he busies himself at the table of sweets and punch, the clatter of dishes enough to make you smile; he is indulging. You lounge, letting the light flicker over your flesh, letting the fire warm your skin, a cascade of heat over your back and shoulders and ass. One that almost rivals the heat that puddles and pools between your folds.

“Hurry,” you mewl, rubbing your thighs together. “I’m burning for you…”

“Don’t worry, my greedy pet,” he snickers from the table of refreshments, his back to you, purposefully hiding just what he is busying his hands with. You hear the silver spoon stirring the bowl of punch, the clatter of metal and the clacking of ice cubes as he chuckles to himself. “I’m confident there are many ways to cool that lust in your veins, darling.”

He turns slowly, his face leering at you, you see why he has suddenly begun a low rumbling laugh in his chest, a small glass holds a few of the cubes of ice, your velvet ribbon hangs over his wrist, and his eyes glow with that simmering power that crawls beneath his skin. Stalking towards you, you flash him your own fanged smile, running your fingers through the lush fur that cradles your naked form.

Astarion steps over you as you lie on your back, settling down to straddle your belly, making you work for every breath beneath his weight. “Now, for the toughest decision, just what sense to control as your reparation for such a willing… if loving… transgression.” He sets the ice down at his side, the silk of his breeches strained taught with his arousal as he covers you with his body. “Do I take away your sight to awaken all your other senses, do I gag that pretty little mouth of yours to make your screams deeper and richer… or do I bind your hands and make you crave only my touch for your release.”

He trails the soft, fluttering edge of the ribbon up and down your belly, your eyes following it, drawn to the way it makes your gaze flicker to his own straining cock. You snigger, gripping your nails shamelessly into his hips, running them down his thighs hard enough to score his flesh. Stopping only once you cup that erection you crave.

“I guess that seals your fate, my love,” he licks his lips, gripping your offending hands by the wrists to stretch them overhead. The velvet caresses your skin, soft and cool as he snugs it around you, tethering them together and binding them around the leg of the chair nearest you.

It wouldn’t hold you captive, not for real, but this… this was for fun… delightful divertisment to help him rekindle his… festive spirit.

And as he leans over you, satisfied with the work of his skilled fingers to bind your hands above your head, you moan when he slips his legs between yours. Prying you wider, grinding that confined erection against you, the slippery feel of his silken pants soaking with your arousal.

Wet and warm before the fire, every nerve ignites under his attention, flaming with your need to have his skin against yours. “Seems unfair,” you try to whine as your voice ripples more as a whimper, “for me to be so… unwrapped and ready for you to enjoy.”

“You’re going to have to beg and plead more sweetly than that, my darling,” he smirks against your whining mouth, capturing it with his. You taste the burst of flavors on his tongue, the sweet and spices of the punch, his tongue cool in your mouth from having imbibed it.

Just like old times. You shudder and moan to feel it tangle with your own, that flavorful concoction, the tingle of alcohol spiking your senses. “Mmm, delicious,” you moan against his fangs.

“Not as delicious as it will be as I taste you, my pet. Be a good little consort, plead so prettily, and you’ll get everything you desire tonight.” He gives a little extra, hips undulating into your slick, his breeches undoubtably ruined by your arousal. You groan at that ferocity, that untamable hunger. And you, you buck your hips to ride that friction. You give him what he wants, a loud mewl of your pleasure to tickle his punch-coated tongue.

“Very good,” he smirks, raising back to his knees. “I’d ask you to help me…” he taunts, rubbing his hand down the front of his decadently embroidered jacket, slowly letting his buttons free one at a time. “… but you seem already… tied up…”

“Oh, you must be feeling merry to throw such taunting puns at me, my love,” you smile.

“Hush, love,” he grins wickedly, tossing that jacket to the side, the firelight dancing over his ivory skin, rippling over all the rises and ridges of his torso. “Or if you insist on that insolent mouth teasing me, I might just have to find something with which to gag you.”

You smirk, hungry and defiant, as you stick out your tongue. A taunt. And an invitation.

“If you wish,” he growls happily, hands quick to unbutton his breeches. A split second, and he frees that cock, drips of his seed already seeping from its tip. You keep your tongue dangling as he scoots forward straddling your shoulders, until your mouth has nothing more to do than let him in.

With a groan, he thrusts into that familiar wet. Head thrown back, but not so far as to risk that magnificent crown to tumble off. He’s slow, languorous, savoring the way you’ve taken him so well. “Such a good little consort, earning your penance and more…” One hand knots in your hair at the crown of your head, the other you can’t see.

But you hear his movements, that dull clank of ice cubes on glass. And suddenly, you gasp, that frigid cold in his invisible grip, trailing its cold up your thigh. He’s so quick, his face scrutinizing your slacked mouth as he continues to fuck your throat, a twist of total delight on his lips as you shiver.

That is your only warning, the only inkling of his devious intentions before he slips that cube of ice between your folds. His mouth grins so wide, you see every tooth, his pleasure cemented as he thrusts between your moaning lips. Your body fights against his pinning weight. Thrusts begin to accelerate, timed with the swirls of that ice as he circles faster over your clit.

You feel the water beginning to drip, same as your slick, and your body shudders, heated by the fire and his body, frozen between your thighs as he still sweeps the melting ice through your seam.

Wave after wave consumes you, total swept away by the play of hot and cold, the merry dance of ice and fire that crashes through your body. It makes your buck and writhe, panting and choking on his cock between your cheeks. He withdraws a bit to let you savor your pleasure, pouring those praises over you once more, “Perfect, my treasure, coming for me so hard and beautifully.”

He chuckles, stroking his fingers through your long hair, lifting your head for a few really slow, really deep thrusts. Ones that you curve your tongue around and suck hard until you gag.

“Yes…” he growls, taking his cock back in his hand as he withdraws it from your now swollen lips, “good girl, so delicious… I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson of loving disobedience.”

“Savored the fruits of it, more like…” you grin, sultry, desirous, licking your lips clean of his juices that have already snuck out to coat your lips, your tongue.

That ice, so much smaller already, skates up your mound, your belly, settling it in your navel. “Astarion,” you screech as he leaves it there, as the chill settles over where you crave the heat and weight of pelvis, where you wish for him to crush you and fuck you.

“So greedy, little love,” he purrs. “And isn’t I who should be the greedy one? Denied any semblance of Yuletide joy for so long?”

“Then be… greedy… be naughty, and I will be very, very nice,” you giggle, deep in your throat as you watch him sliding down to settle between your burning thighs.

But not before he sneaks another ice cube from the cup. You lose track of it… until he grins with his mouth spread wide, his gleaming teeth biting down on that piece of ice, shining like crystal in the firelight. You shiver in anticipation. Waiting, watching for just what he might do next.

Angling down agonizingly slowly, his eyes lock into yours, his mouth aiming that fragment of ice for your already straining taught nipples. You scream again, bucking and writhing as the cold shoots right through you, racing down your every nerve. He laughs, taking that cube back inside his mouth, swirling that ice-cold tongue now over your flesh, sucking it hard between his lips.

“I will be undone, my love…” you groan, arching under his tongue.

“That’s the point,” he laughs darkly taking out that cube to rub over your other aching nipple as he teases and toys with it, “be undone before you’ll be… unwrapped, my darling.”

It steals your breath, making you writhe and tug against your binds as you feel every shiver down your spine consuming every sensation. Then he sets the ice, nearly gone back in your navel.

Heavy-lidded, Astarion licks his lips, dragging his tongue over his fang, announcing his next desire loud and clear.

“Hungry? Then get to it, greedy love,” you squirm and squeal as he gives a bite on your breast, just enough to bring a little blood to the surface. “Hgnf,” you groan as he drinks from you, those little hums and noises he makes as he feeds bring even more arousal pooling between your thighs.

You feel his cock hardening even more, as if that was possible, the union of your bloods, that tremor down your bond as he feeds from you, chin red with your essence. It makes him grind against your mound, cock twitching, a mind of its own to find that wet and clenching pressure he craves more than anything.

You feel that slow undulation, the tip of his length slipping into your folds, teasing just an inch inside you. The chair above your head scrapes across the floor, the ribbon snapping as you struggle against your binds. “Please,” you beg, “free me. I want you… I need you.”

“And why should I release you early?” he asks, barely raising his head from the pillow of your breast as he still laps at your blood. Eyes closed. As if he is too preoccupied to watch your agony. Even though you feel his smiling lips against your skin. “Just what would you do… if… I set you free?”

“Touch you…” you pant, feeling his cock dipping in and out again, shallowly. But he stills, unsatisfied.

“And?” he goads, slowing his tongue, eyes flickering up briefly at last.

“Cling to those powerful scars on your back, trace them since I know them all…”

Another dip inside your channel, slowly still but deeper as he withdraws equally slow.

“…and?” he smirks, licking his bloodied lips and chin.

You give a laugh, heavy with your need. “Clean your face from my blood, you messy thing…”

“Hmm,” he smirks wider, the lights catching in the red of his eyes as he scans your pale skin, where you pant and squirm beneath him. “Tempting, but…”

“Worship you,” you interrupt, “caress every inch of your ivory skin, grip hard into the clenching power of your ass as you fuck me… finally, run my fingers through your hair to keep that perfect crown on your perfect head…”

His lips twitch just once, a single arm reaching for that ribbon as the velvet release from your wrists. You groan, finally… finally touching him again, your voice rasping in your throat as he sheathes himself in fully. Already he commands a punishing pace, but you are so on fire for him, you crave it. You ride it all, legs wrapped tightly around his hips, your hands clutched into his hair, pinning that crown in place.

A good thing too, his body shaking as he loses all his control. His rhythm is feral and driven, giving no regard to anything other than filling you with his cock and making you burst with his cum. But he watches, arms pressed into the floor as his eyes drink in that sight of you. The way your bosoms sway, coated in his spit and your blood as they glisten in the soft light. The way your eyes lock into his, flickering every now and then to watch the way his pale cock spears harder and harder into you.

You snicker, a wicked idea in your head as you glance to the last cube of ice in the glass. “You wouldn’t dare…” he groans inside your head. But it’s too late. You’ve already snagged that chilling, hard lump, tracing it down the planes of his belly as you reach between you.

“Oh, I would…”

You have to be quick, but he lets you… his flawless reflexes could stop you… if he wants.

But instead he just groans so loudly as you press that ice at the base of his cock. Caressing whatever length of him doesn’t thrust inside as he fucks.

He shivers, his arms shaking as he lowers down on top of you. That crown falls into the furs at your side, but he doesn’t care. His mouth devours yours, his grunts and pants as you bring him to climax deafen you, reverberating inside your mouth.

And as the melting ice drips to your seam, you follow him into that wave of pleasure. Heat and ice, fire and cold blast through your bodies. His thrusts are merciless, slamming hard against the end of your channel, the pain adding to the heady mix that steals your breath and sends his name screaming from your lips.

He stills inside you, your greedy walls squeezing out the last of his cum, working against the twitching pulses of his cock. Resting his hot, damp forehead in the nook of your shoulder, he struggles to catch his breath. Nuzzling closer, you feel his warmth saturating your flesh, your arms wrapping tightly around his shoulders as he lays on you and in you.

“I… should thank you, my love,” he whispers, that tenderness he saves for your ears alone. “You never give up on me, never allow me to remain trapped, haunted by those ghosts of my past… however tormenting they may be. You have… done more than make my heart to beat again, to teach me how to love again. For centuries, at this time of year… I wanted nothing more than to take one of those stalks of holly and ram it like a stake through… his heart.”

Cazador’s. He won’t say it. Can’t say it.

“But with you, perhaps it is something just the two of us may… enjoy. To savor…”

“My love,” you whisper, placing a kiss into those silken, gleaming silver locks, “you don’t need to use Yuletide as a reason to wrap me up in pretty ribbons.”

“It is rather pretty, isn’t it?” he chuckles as he raises his head, “not as magnificent as this, however…” His hand closes around that metal circlet, replacing it crookedly on his silver hair. On that head made for a crown. “Seems like you’ll need one of your own, my little consort.”

“I’m open to all sorts of gifts from you…” you purr, catching his chin to bring his mouth to yours.

“Perhaps you need me to give it to you again, my darling?” he speaks into your lips. “Another lesson for me in finding the warmth of Yuletide? I might still feel a bit frozen in the heart, if you’re not thorough, you know…”

“Avernus would freeze over before I abandon you to such a fate, gods bless it…” you catch his lips in your mouth, a good long suck in that thick lower one as you nip it gently in your fangs. Tasting the richness of his blood, the thrumming of his power that rides his essence.

“Then gods bless it,” he growls, hand catching tightly around your chin, a slight drag of his still hardened cock inside you, “every time.”

#a very ascended holiday #Rogue You Were Christmas Special #astarion is Scrooge #I hope Dickens is appalled #a christmas carol #but way dirtier #ascended astarion #ascended astarion x reader #astarion romance #astarion x f!reader #astarion x female reader #astarion x tav #astarion x female tav #astarion x you #astarion x f!tav #astarion baldurs gate #baldurs gate astarion #baldur’s gate astarion #baldur's gate 3 astarion #astarion fic #astarion smut #bg3 astarion #astarion bg3 #bg3 #bg3 smut #baldur’s gate iii #baldur’s gate spoilers #baldurs gate smut #baldursgate3 #baldur’s gate 3

[kissagii]

stardance - prince!sae x knight!reader

a fic for a trade with the lovely @saenora <33

cw: 2.5k words, gn!reader, hurt comfort, sae is pretty rude (to reader), mild descriptions of violence, there's a failed assassination but no blood or serious injury

When the palace walls and king’s carriages proved at last too confining for the eldest prince of the Itoshi family, Sae was assigned a knight of his own. A soldier to fend off the creatures of the forests; to discourage burglars with a glare and blade; to guard a door in a palace so thoroughly guarded that at times even visitors struggled to enter. In his mind, his guard was an excessive layer of protection for an already coddled son, another attempt to shelter him from the kingdom he would one day come to rule.

But mostly, his guard was a nuisance. 

“With all due respect, your highness, just how long do you plan to look through these historical tomes that - if I may remind you - your father’s library already has.”

At the mere sound of your voice, he stopped flipping through the large volume in front of him. It wasn’t the one he wanted anyways, and neither were the twenty others the bookshop owner had presented him with. An honor to help the prince with his studies? Hah. If only the fools had what I needed. With a frustrated sigh, he motioned to leave in search of yet another shop.

“I’ll look until one of these shops has what I need.” He hardly looked back as he began making his way to the next bookstore. Technically, he was supposed to let you walk in front, parting the crowds around their crown, but in the near-empty twilight streets, he set a pace brisk enough to discourage anyone wishing to follow him, his guard included. For a moment, as the stars began to rise, he could forget.

Though peace of mind could never never last long. “Your Highness, it’s too late for you to be out. You know as well as I do that your father doesn’t like you being out in the city late, especially not on some wild goose chase for a history book that might not even exist.”

Sae knew that he should be returning to the palace. But in those grand halls, he couldn’t forget, not even for a moment. It was always someone or someone else pestering about something he couldn’t bring himself to care about. Courtship. Parties. Foreign gossip. Meaningless awards. Petty disputes between lords. His brother. His blasted annoying guard.

“Really, your highness, what even is it that you’re looking for?” You continued, beginning to get impatient. “Primary sources from the Cretaceous period? Because, I hate to break it to you, but crabs can’t write.” 

Against his better judgment, Sae nearly chuckled at that remark. Nearly. 

At this point, you didn’t know if Sae genuinely hated you or if his tendency towards bitter words was an overdramatized facade. Though whichever it was, it was slowly slipping further toward loathing as you urged him out of the library. It was a war of his stubbornness against your orders, and though the king’s own word should always win, it never seemed to.

Worn down by tiredness and the convoluted organization of his father’s library, Sae snapped. Once more you tried to convince him to leave and he turned sharply to face you, eyes darkened. Whatever curious stars had once been behind them had died out, leaving only the aquamarine void.

“Just leave me.” 

So this is how he’s playing this. You pulled out his chair, a not-so-subtle sign that it was time to leave, regardless of what he thought. “Your Highness, I’m strictly forbidden from leaving you. I’ll escort you to your room now.”

“I’ll get to my room on my own,” He muttered, waving you off, “One of the sentries can take me if they see me.”

“Sae. You’ve had a long night, it’s time for you to sleep. You can find your books on a clear head in the morning.” There was a certain firmness in your voice this time - you weren’t about to let him ignore you, regardless of the fact that he was above you in rank and had no obligation to listen to you.

“Don’t call me that.” 

“What, your name? I don’t answer to you, I’ll call you whatever I like.”

“I outrank you, remember. I don’t care if my father ordered you to make me rest, you answer to me, not him.” He refused to turn to you, gripping white-knuckled on the arms of his chair. If he squeezed them any harder, they might break. A normal soldier would stop provoking him now - you should stop provoking him now - but there was no point in shoving the frustration down any further. Sae was insolent, stubborn, lived on his own time, and wouldn’t take care of himself. But you would protect him. You swore so on your life and honor.  

“They’re not his orders.”

“Then whose are they?” He seethed, turning to look you in the eyes. Though he couldn’t see your face in the dim light, Sae was sure you were grinning smugly, taking some sick satisfaction in watching him snap. 

“Mine.” You stated plainly.

“Blasted nuisance,” Sae huffed, “You have no authority to give yourself orders. Leave.”

Suddenly he found himself being pulled by the arm, yanked up and out of his chair by a uniformed hand. Electricity prickled down his spine as he was forced to his feet. “I have plenty of authority to care about you and want you to take care of yourself because I know you wouldn’t otherwise. With that said, I will be escorting you to your room.”

Without sparing even a moment, you began pulling Sae toward the door. Your grip was far from rough - he could escape easily if he felt like it - but he saw no reason to struggle. He had hardly noticed the fatigue seeping into his body, sapping his strength as the night grew late.

Sae’s knight was an inevitability. A constant. Guaranteed to be somewhere in the vicinity, be it hovering at his shoulder or stationed at a doorway just out of sight. Even as he reclined in his barely lit sitting room, there was no mistaking the uniformed figure lurking in the shadows near the tightly bolted door.

“Aren’t I safe enough in here? You can leave,” He waved you off halfheartedly, “Get some of that sleep you’ve been hounding me incessantly about.”

Your laugh floated over from the dark corner. At least someone had the energy for humor at this hour. “Believe me, if I weren’t under direct orders to stay here until Kento comes to replace me, I’d be comfortably cuddled up in my bed. Like you should be right now.”

With a sigh, Sae stood from his reading chair and made his way to his bed. He was hardly tired, but pretending to sleep would at least give you peace of mind. The last thing he needed was yet another person overly concerned about his safety, especially not one who was only concerned because it was their job.

Or was it? 

I have plenty of authority to care about you. 

Your words echoed in his mind. That hadn’t been on his father’s orders – none of the insistence that Sae cared for himself had been. It was, startlingly, the first time that concern for his safety had extended past duels and burglars and-

“ASSASSIN!!!”

Sae turned his head sharply, watching as a badly illuminated figure entered his room from the moonlit balcony, empty glass bottle in hand. His heart stopped in his chest. His feet wouldn’t move. He urged himself to run, to make his way to safety, to make his way toward you. The most he could do was turn and watch you as you charged.

The assassin stepped up behind him. The bottle came crashing down.

The last thing he registered was you running toward him, sword drawn, radiant like starlight incarnate.

“Good morning, your highness. How’d you sleep?”

Of course, the first thing Sae would hear after coming to consciousness would be his knight’s voice. Classic.

“What… what happened?” At some point, he’d been moved from the floor to his bed, and the lack of light from outdoors meant it was still night. The only people in the room, as far as he could tell, were him and the knight.

The knight chuckled. Someone ought to teach them that assassination is not a laughing matter.

“Well, some fool managed to climb up your balcony and hit you over the head with an empty liquor bottle. He got you pretty good, but at least you didn’t get cut by the glass shards. The doc said you’ll be fine in a day or two.” Somewhere across the room, your uniform rustled as you stood to leave, satisfied to know that Sae was alright. “Well, I’ll be going now. Kento, Miroku, and Tatsuki are outside if you need anything, but I’ll hopefully be back before you wake up. Get some sleep, you’ll need it.”

As Sae watched you retreat, he felt the sudden urge to reach out toward you; to thank you for saving his life yet again; to savor your company just a little longer. All that escaped his lips was a croaked, “Don’t-”

“Huh?” You turned, “Don’t what? You’ve gotta be specific if you’re giving me orders.”

Struggling for words, Sae sputtered, not entirely sure what he wanted. Don’t hate me? Don’t abandon me? Don’t resign from your post and never return?  “Leave.”

You sighed, turning back again. “Being evasive, I see. Good to know you’re back to normal. Goodnight, your highness.”

“Wait- No- Don’t leave. Stay. Please.” Sae didn’t realize, but he was reaching toward you with his hand as if trying to pull you back toward him. But of course, you were across the room, and  his fingers couldn’t find purchase.

“Your Highness, you’ll be perfectly safe, I promise. There are two guards outside and one on the balcony… I can tell Kento to come inside if that would make you feel safer.” It pained Sae how you didn’t look him in the eyes as you spoke – you hardly turned to face him. But that was about the treatment he deserved, considering how he had treated you, pushing you away and still expecting you to save his life.

“It’s not- Stay, Y/n, please. I- It’s nice. Having you around.” He begged, voice breaking. He cursed himself for sounding so foolish, so unnecessarily vulnerable. You were his guard, nothing more.

Oh, how he wished it was more.

“Oh. I guess… I guess I could stay,” You murmur, striding back toward him, “For what it’s worth, you’re not half-bad of a guy to guard. Following you around all day is pretty fun… even when you’re mad at me.”

Sae groaned, wanting nothing more than to hide under his bedsheets. Half the time when he snapped at you it was just to provoke a clever quip or witty insult from you who never seemed to care, and the other half the time, when he stepped too far, his stubbornness left the apologies aching in his chest.

“I’m not mad. Not usually,” He muttered, not entirely sure if you could hear or not. Sae assumed not, from the way you settled into one of his sitting chairs, leaning your sword belt against the arm. 

No, don’t sit there- The words were on the tip of his tongue, but you spoke first.

“I’ll sit here as long as you want, but you should get to sleep. Let me know if you need anything, alright? I’ll do my best to not doze off.”

“There is one thing,” Sae said, internally shuddering at how foolish his request seemed. But it was you, and you wouldn’t make fun of it… right?

You chuckled. “Spit it out before I fall asleep. This chair is ridiculously comfortable.”

“Come sleep with me. Propriety be damned.”

You looked at him incredulously, not believing the words that exited his mouth. A sentence you had long given up on hearing. But the response that forms bypasses that yearning entirely.

“Aww, does His Royal Grumpiness get cuddly when he’s concussed?”

He sighed and scowled – though the snarky reply made his heart skip a beat. “Shut it, Y/n. I’m serious. I’d like to be close to you.”

“As you wish, Sae,” You smiled, taking off your uniform coat and discarding it on the same chair that your sword leaned against. Sae watched you intensely as you removed your shoes and climbed into the soft, powder blue sheets. He’s quick to wrap his arms around you, drinking in the warmth of your skin. 

If only for a night, you could be his. You were his. And he was yours. By the witness of the stars. His troubled soul was held in the comfort of another, melting into the tenderness of an embrace outside of the reach of prying eyes. For the first time in far too long, the tension left the prince’s muscles, eased out by the soft breathing of his knight, his friend, his beloved.

In the silent depths of night, sweet words were whispered in dulcet tones. 

“I love you.”

Bonus: Two Weeks Later

Exactly two weeks after the ridiculous attempt on Prince Sae’s life, Aiku – Captain of the King’s Guard and your somewhat-direct superior – summoned you into his office.

Not pleased to be away from your job for too long, you intended to make this quick.

“Let me guess, you need help training new recruits? Because if that’s what you want, I can’t do it. I’m with Sae full time now,” You said, standing in the doorway. Aiku looked at you from where he leaned against his desk, letting out a soft chuckle.

“Familiar with His Royal Highness, are you?” The Captain asked, smirking, “Well, therein lies the problem.” 

You furrowed your brow, not entirely understanding what he meant. “And how is that an issue? You’re plenty familiar with His Majesty the King, why should I not be the same with the man I guard?”

“It’s not quite the same. Rumors are spreading, you know, and if things continue like this then you might be reassigned.” 

“Really? Why? I keep Sae perfectly safe, no?” Captain Aiku stepped toward you, straightened posture making him seem unnervingly tall. He lowered his voice, as if worried someone would overhear. “Listen, Y/n. Let me put it this way: If the king catches you and his son making bedroom eyes at each other one more time he will replace you. The rest of us on the guard don’t exactly appreciate it either.”

Suddenly a gentle wrapped around your waist, the newcomer’s chest pressed comfortingly against your back. You didn’t have to turn around to know that Sae had come to intervene, tugging you gently away from the Captain.

“Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but I will look at my knight however I please. If my father chooses to reassign Y/n, I will deal with him myself.”

i'm such a sucker for royalty au

#imagine ⋆｡°✩ #sae x reader #itoshi sae x reader #sae itoshi x reader #blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #sae x gn!reader #sae x gender neutral reader #blue lock x gn!reader #blue lock x gender neutral reader

[fatehbaz]

On the night of April 30, 1541, the Ming Ancestral Temple in Beijing was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. [...] 

[T]he fires forced the Jiajing Emperor to resurrect one of the dynasty’s most expensive, difficult, and destructive projects: the logging of old-growth timber in the far southwest of China. Disaster struck again in 1556, when fires burned the Three Halls that form the central axis of the Forbidden City. The Three Halls burned yet again in 1584. Through the end of the sixteenth century, repeated damage to the imperial palaces forced reconstruction. Yet the lightning strikes in Beijing were also a disaster for the old-growth forests of the southwest, where the logs to build the palaces had first been cut in the early 1400s. As logging supervisors soon learned, ancient trees could not be felled on a regular basis. Officials pressed ever deeper into the gorges of southern Sichuan and northern Guizhou to find them, bringing massive transformations to the environment in the process.

---

The foundations of Beijing were laid between 1406 and 1421 by the Yongle emperor, a junior son of the Ming founder, who moved the court to his personal appanage in north China. [...] Grasping the sinews of power that connected his court to far-flung regions of the empire, Yongle pulled one million laborers to Beijing to build his palaces.

Because the weight of Chinese buildings is carried by their pillar-and-beam frameworks (liangzhu), monumental buildings required monumental trees (Figure 2). So Yongle also dispatched a similarly large labor force to the old-growth forests of the far southwest to cut the fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and nanmu (Phoebe zhennan) that grew straight and tall enough to be used for imperial construction.

We cannot be certain just how many logs were cut to build Beijing, but the figure must have been astounding. In 1441, two decades after the completion of the project, 380,000 large timbers were left over from the earlier construction. By 1500, these too were gone, used for repairs or too damaged by rot to be used for construction purposes.

---

In the sixteenth century, logging officials wondered how their predecessors had been able to obtain so many giant timbers. Li Xianqing, who supervised more than 40 logging sites in the 1540s, noted that large trees could still be found, but they could only be transported out with great difficulty and at great expense. The majority had to be discarded as hollow or insect-damaged.

Even when a quality log was found, it took five hundred workers to tow a log over mountain passes.

Skilled craftsmen were on hand to build “flying bridges” (fei qiao), stone-lined slip roads, and enormous capstans (tianche) to tow the logs up slopes (Figures 3 and 4). In the remote forests of the southwest, loggers faced attacks by snakes, tigers, and “barbarians” (manyi); “miasmatic vapors” (yanzhang, probably malaria); storms, forest fires, rockslides, and raging rivers (Figure 5). Labor teams had to carry their own food and often starved. At the rivers, logs were tied into massive rafts bound with bamboo for buoyancy, towed by teams of 40 men, and then launched on the three-year, three-thousand-kilometer journey to Beijing (Figure 6). Only a small fraction of the trees reached the capital in a condition where they could be used for palace building.

---

Expeditions exceeded their budgets up to fiftyfold.

One official remarked, “the labor force numbers in the thousands; the days number in the hundreds; the supply costs number in the tens of thousands each year.” Another saying held that “one thousand enter the mountains, but only five hundred leave” (rushan yiqian chu shan wubai). To make matters worse, logging mostly occurred within territory that was under only loose Ming control [...].

---

The Yongle Palaces were said to replicate the otherworldly atmosphere of the old-growth forests where their pillars originated. The presence of these timbers in Beijing linked the capital, materially and symbolically, to the southwestern landscape of cliffs and gorges where the trees had grown.

But ancient sentinel trees could not be reproduced on demand. The fifteenth-century logging project was a millennial event, removing the growth of hundreds or even thousands of years. Later officials were forced to come to terms with the transformations their predecessors had wrought in the ancient forests. Eventually builders had to switch to smaller, commercially available timber, using ornate artisanship and commercial efficiency to substitute for the austere majesty of the early Ming palaces, and the thousands of years of tree growth on which they rested.

---

All text above by: Ian M. Miller. “The Distant Roots of Beijing’s Palaces.” Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia no. 39. Autumn 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

#abolition #ecology #colonial #imperial #plantation

[sweetcarrotsandroses97]

Summer | JJK

Hello Darlings!!!

Pairing: royal guard!Jungkook x princess!Reader, prince!Jimin x princess!Reader (ft. Yoongi & Hoseok)

Summary: In which you, princess of the Gyeongdong Dynasty, were in the middle of wedding plans. An arranged marriage that would guarantee your father's bloodline to stay on the throne.

Or in which you are assigned a new royal guard that swore to protect you with his life. Jeon Jungkook. That's his name. A name you could never forget. A name that, slowly but surely got engraved not only on your memories but also in your heart.

Love, politics, betrayal and desire. All in ancient history. A love that never should have happened, two souls that wouldn't be allowed to be together.

Warnings: angst, fluff, talks of arranged marriage, eating, love, historical au, forbidden love, betrayal, royal au, more angst (prepare yourself for it), ancient traditions. (I think that's all, if I forgot to mention something and you consider I should put it here, please let me know!)

Word Count: 9.4k

*A/N Hello everyone, thank you for giving this story a chance. This is my first time posting for Jungkook in here so I really hope you'll like this first chapter of my four-chaptered series. If you liked this, please let me know in the comments!! I'd also like to know your thoughts for the next part :)

*Banner made by me.

The sun was shining outside the big halls of the palace, the golden rays kissed the freshly cut grass and illuminated the place beautifully. How you wished you could go out there and sit under a tree, enjoy the warmth of the season and live without a care in the world.

However, you found yourself only wishing to do those things as your eyes stared out of one of the many opened windows of the palace, watching how the guards paced from place to place while the maids carried important things.

"Your highness, which silk would you like for your wedding dress?"

That brought you out of your thoughts, turning your gaze down to where one of the maids was presenting you with different kinds of silk but to you, they all looked the same. It was getting tiring having to decide so many things for a wedding that would be celebrated up until winter.

There was so much to do in such little time. And it was stressing you out not only because of the time but you weren't enjoying the preparations at all. This wasn't what you wanted, you didn't even know who your husband was going to be and that just wasn't right. If your father arranged your marriage the least he could offer was to know who your soon-to-be husband was going to be and get to know him as best as possible.

"I can't decide. I'll leave it to your professional opinion."

You said to the royal seamstress, she bowed at you and said, her eyes glued on the floor as you stood up from where you were sitting.

"I'm honoured, your highness."

A small smile graced your lips before you made your way out of the room, your dress trailing behind you as you left the place without another word.

A sigh escaped your lips once you were outside of your room, the sun kissed your skin delicately as you kept your gaze forward, admiring the beautiful gardens of the palace.

You still couldn't grasp the fact that you were going to get married in a couple of months. It was just way too sudden that your brain hadn't processed the information yet.

Every week, you were allowed to leave the palace for a day followed by guards and only able to walk around certain parts of the city. The people welcomed you with smiles and open arms each and every time you visited the city. You, the princess of Gyeongdong, were loved by the people and they couldn't wait for you to be their queen.

But since your engagement was announced, you leaving the palace was out of the map now. Your father couldn't risk something happening to you when the wedding was so close, furthermore, you were his only daughter after your mother passed away after giving birth to you, your father's princess as well as the kingdom's next ruler.

"Princess!"

You turned around at the sound of the voice of one of your closest people in the palace. The royal counsellor's son and a dear friend of yours, Jung Hoseok.

When he arrived next to you a smile was painted over his lips, he bowed down at you making you frown a bit.

"Stop it, I've told you many times before that you don't have to bow in front of me."

He chuckled, his hands behind his back as he straightened back up.

"Yes, I have. There are so many guards and court ladies that could see and that wouldn't be good for me, princess."

You sighed at his answer. He had said it time and time again but you just wanted to have a normal friendship, was that too much to ask? Maybe it was. At least for now.

"I'm sorry, you are right. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because me."

Hoseok smiled and that made a small smile paint over your own lips. That was a power only he had, he would smile and it would make you smile too.

"It's alright, I can be sneaky when I want. Especially to the kitchen. They never know when I was there."

That made you let out a snort before laughing completely. Forgetting about proper manners or who could be watching you at the moment, you just lived that fragment of time. Enjoy it how it should be enjoyed.

"Speaking of..."

He continued, bringing his hands in front of him only for you to notice the small package covered with white fabric. You smiled widely at him.

"...I managed to sneak out some fish-shaped pastries."

You let out a squeal while Hoseok unwrapped the package and opened the lid for you to see he had bought your favourite dessert.

"Thank you, Hobi! I've been craving this since last week!"

With that, you took one and immediately began eating it, savouring the sweet flavour inside your mouth as you closed your eyes for a moment.

"Why didn't you just order for the maids to bring some pastries to your room, your highness?"

You sighed, swallowing the sweet treat only for then to say, your joyous face turning slightly sombre when the bubble of happiness was suddenly popped with reality.

"I am not allowed to eat anything like this, at least not until my wedding day. King's orders."

Hoseok's eyes widened in surprise at your words. Panic flared through his features as he came to the sudden realisation that he was disobeying the king's direct order. He looked around frantically, searching for people nearby that had witnessed him giving you the pastries while you continued to munch on another bite of the sweet treat.

The next thing he did, however, made your eyes widen as the remainder of the fish-shaped sweet was taken from your hand rather abruptly only for Hoseok to throw it in his mouth at the end. It all happened too fast you were left staring at your best with a dumbfounded face.

"Yah! Why did you d-"

You cut your sentence when you spotted one of the court ladies followed by a group of maids appearing in your peripheral vision. You quickly straightened your back while Hoseok hid the package he was holding behind his back, swallowing the remains of the pastry he took from your hands.

The court lady bowed when she stood in front of you, the other maids mirroring her actions. When she stood back up, she said, her voice cold and her attitude as strict as always.

"My Lady, His Majesty; The King, has requested your presence at the main hall."

You curtsided softly, a soft smile on your face.

"Thank you, I shall go there immediately."

And with that, you turned around and began walking along the large gardens with Hobi following you at a proper distance. When you rounded a corner and were out of the court lady's sight, you sighed. Hoseok caught up to you and you smiled at him.

"Thanks, Hobi."

Those whispered words made him smile, he looked back before saying.

"I should probably go back, I'll see you later, princess."

You nodded at him with a soft smile over your beautiful features and he bowed slightly at you only for then to fast-walk to the opposite direction from where you stood. You were left alone again and took a deep breath before you continued on your way to the throne room where your presence was requested.

"Her highness, princess Lee (y/n), has entered the main hall!"

The eunuch announced, you walked towards the throne with your hands clasped in front of you, your head low as you made your way across the place.

"You wished to see me, Your Majesty?"

You said, you gaze glued to the floor after you bowed at your father. He chuckled a bit, before saying.

"Princess (y/n), your fiancé, Prince of the Park family will be visiting us this autumn, the wedding will be held here, in the royal palace. I expect you to behave accordingly, dearest."

You bowed to him, not surprised at all with the news as you were already aware that the man you were going to marry was coming to stay at the palace, thanks to one of the maids who eavesdropped a conversation between two of the court ladies.

"I will do as you wish, Your Majesty."

He nodded, allowing you to retreat back to your room. The moment you were out of the main hall you let out a deep sigh. This was it. You were really getting married by the end of the year. You just hoped that the Prince of the Park family would be a nice person and would treat you right. Perhaps there would be no love in that marriage, you didn't expect it at all but the least you could get was the rightful place as his wife and Queen of Gyeongdong.

It was unfair, yes. Had you hoped to meet your only true love while being a child, of course but that wasn't your story anymore. You weren't a princess that needed to be rescued by a charming man only for then to fall in love. You had a duty with the kingdom, with your father and with yourself.

This marriage had to happen, even if you didn't totally approve of it. It was something that had to be done and there was no turning back.

"The Princess is getting married this winter."

The announcement made the royal guards look towards their superior as he stood at the doorway of the place they were having dinner.

"Her Highness is so lucky."

"She is marrying a Prince."

"Obviously, she is really beautiful."

"I wish I could get someone as beautiful as the Princess."

These and more murmurs could be heard in the room where all the guards enjoyed their warm food. But then, their superior, Captain Min Yoongi said, his voice back to its commanding tone.

"Yah! I didn't tell you all this for you to fantasise about your non-existent love life. This is important, the Princess needs to be guarded with more attention now that the wedding is close to the agreed date. Now, finish all your dinner and we will begin with the night's patrol in a couple of minutes."

With that, the captain left the place. Going back to his own personal quarters until it was time for the patrolling.

Meanwhile, at the guard's dinner table, the murmurs and comments didn't stop.

"They say Her Highness is marrying the Prince of the Park family."

"No, no, no, you heard it wrong. She is marrying the Kim's family first born. I heard they are the wealthiest family after the royal family in all of Gyeongdong."

You paced back and forth in your room. Tomorrow was the day that you usually went down to the city and left the confinement of the palace. But now, you were prohibited from leaving the royal grounds. The hot summer air entered through the opened windows and you stopped pacing. It would be of no use if you tried to convince the head court lady to let you go out.

She would immediately tell your father and that wouldn't do any good. Right now, you don't need any more prohibitions, what you needed was to get out of the place, just for a day. Clear your head from all the wedding plans and stuff that was forced into you.

You sat down with a huff, your skirts puffing out with your action. There was no-one that would take you out of the place tomorrow as they'd all fear the consequences if they got caught.

Perhaps I can beg father one last time. I'll beg on my knees if I have to.

With that thought in mind, you stood up from your crouching position and grabbed one of the lanterns in your room before you left the comfortable place and walked along the gardens, the lantern illuminating your path as you made your way to the King's palace.

-

"Your Majesty, Princess (y/n) has requested an audience with you. She said it was urgent."

Said the king's personal royal guard. He then told him after taking a sip from his cup of tea.

"Let her in."

The guard bowed and walked towards the closed doors, he opened the entrance way and you entered your father's room. Your head hung low. When you found yourself standing in front of him with the table with his dinner being the only thing between you both, you commented in a soft voice.

"Your Majesty, forgive me for coming here late at night but I have a request to make you."

The king sighed, putting his small cup on the table and giving you his complete attention.

"Go on."

You gulped, preparing the words you were about to say. It was now or never.

"I... I wish to go down to the city tomorrow."

You heard him take a deep breath and you screwed your eyes shut. Had you been, perhaps, too direct with your petition?

"We have already discussed this. I will not let you leave this place until you are married. Go back to your room."

His words made you feel hopeless, trapped in a cage. A golden cage. A lump began forming in your throat due to his harsh tone but you wouldn't back away that easily. Your father's eyes widened when you sank down on your knees, your eyes leaving the ground only to lock them with the man who raised you.

"Please. I beg you. I'm not asking you this as the Princess and future Queen of Gyeongdong but as your daughter. I feel trapped here, it's suffocating. I promise I'll behave completely when the Prince and his family come to the palace but I plead to you to let me enjoy the little time I have as an unmarried woman.

I promise I won't disappoint you, father. Please, don't keep me here like a trophy. Please just let me go out once a week. That's all I'm asking."

There was silence after you finished, a silence that was beginning to feel asphyxiating. There was no noise that could be heard, not even the rustling of the wind outside and you could swear that you'd be able to hear a drop of ink landing on the ground with how silent the atmosphere had suddenly gone.

"Go back to your room, (y/n). I don't want to discuss this any further."

You let out a defeated sigh, blinking back the tears that had gathered in your (e/c) eyes. Standing up, you bowed at your father and said before leaving the room.

"Goodnight, Your Majesty."

When you found yourself back in your room was when you finally let your tears go. The lantern you were carrying was left abandoned near the entrance way as you made your way to your bed setting. You didn't even bother to change from your dress and laid down over the soft covers.

You already knew that once you got married you wouldn't be able to leave the palace unless it was some kind of political matter that would require your presence otherwise you'd stay in the palace grounds forever.

And now, when you had the chance of enjoying the last remains of your time alone, your father prohibited it. The tears rolled down your cheeks as you curled yourself under the blankets, the tears were a reflection of your anger and sadness but mostly a feeling of hopelessness that had settled in your heart since the news of your engagement was announced.

You didn't know when exactly you fell asleep but when you opened your eyes again, you were met with your room illuminated by the early sun rays. You sat up and rubbed the sleep from your eyes, when you stood up you heard one of your personal damsels say from the outside of your room.

"Your Highness, your new clothes are ready."

Walking towards the entrance way, you opened the door and let the maid as well as two more women who always assisted her in dressing you inside the place you had slept last night.

One of the three women inside began arranging your bed setting while another one displayed your clothes for the day. You had to admit it was a beautiful dress with a deep blue purple and puffy skirt and a white top which had details in light blue. The silk of the dress seemed soft at the touch and you could swear it was as all your dresses were made with the best fabrics of Gyeongdong.

"My Lady, can we assist you in getting ready for today?"

The maid who had spoken not even five minutes ago outside of your room asked, her voice was gentle and she kept her gaze lowered. Her words triggered something inside you. What was the point in getting ready if no-one was going to see such fine clothes? No-one, other than the people at the palace saw you walk around the gardens so, was it really worth it using these clothes when all you did was stay inside all day?

No.

That was what you answered to yourself. It wasn't fair, it wasn't needed. It wasn't worth it. You were deep in thought as you let the three maids dress you up with the beautiful dress that was, indeed, very soft to the touch.

When you came out of your thoughts, you were sitting on the floor as delicate fingers ran through your hair, combining it and styling it properly. Just as the maid was about to put a couple of pins in your hair, another one of the damsels suddenly said, making you look up from your lap.

"Princess, His Majesty is coming here!"

You stood up, dusting off your skirts only for then to go to the door. The three maids followed you. When you opened the entrance way and found yourself in the doorway of your own palace you saw how your father stood in the garden in front of your door. Captain Min stood at his right as four other guards stayed behind the King.

You bowed, your damsels mirroring your action until you spoke in a clear yet emotionless voice.

"Good morning, Your Majesty. What can I do for you this early in the morning?"

The king let out a deep breath, you lifted your head and looked at your father, your hands clasped together in front of you.

"I am assigning you a personal royal guard,"

That instantly caught your attention, the look in your eyes changing to one of hope upon hearing that sentence.

"only with him by your side are you allowed to leave the palace grounds."

You had to bite down on your bottom lip to suppress the smile that threatened to grow on your face.

"First Officer Jeon,"

Your father named out and one of the four guards stepped at the front, kneeling in front of his king. From your perspective, you could tell he was tall and well built, you stood in the doorway without moving, expecting your father's next words.

"you are to keep the princess safe until the day you die. Her safety is in your hands. You must accompany her to wherever she wishes to go and never let her out of your sight. That is your duty as the princess' personal royal guard."

The man you came to know his name was Officer Jeon then said, his voice low and certain of his next words.

"I swear no harm will ever fall upon Her Highness as long as my heart is beating. I'll protect her with my life."

You swallowed at his words, the severity of his vow downing on you.

"Very well, stand up Officer Jeon. Princess (y/n), you are now free to leave the palace just remember the rules, I don't want you going out everyday or staying out until late at night."

You bowed once more, a wide smile over your lips.

"I appreciate your generosity, Your Majesty. I promise to follow the rules to the fullest."

The king chuckled and you straightened up, a gleam of happiness in your eyes.

"Very well then, I shall take my leave."

You all bowed as the king left, Captain Min Yoongi and the other three guard following him as they began discussing some plans of safety for Gyeongdong but your mind couldn't care about their strategies at the moment as the happiness of going out once more clouded any other thought that could cross your mind.

First Officer Jeon turned around, facing you. You smiled at him before looking at one of the maids that were smiling among themselves.

"Bring me my outer robe and small handbag, please."

"Right away, Your Highness."

The damsel quickly went inside your room to fetch the items you just requested, in the meantime you turned towards the man whose duty was to protect you at all costs. He was looking across the garden, perhaps he hadn't been this much in this part of the palace. You thought to yourself.

The summer outer robe in white silk was placed over your shoulders and you grabbed the bag from the maid's hand. You thanked her before skipping along the small steps until your feet landed on the green grass that covered the outside territory of your palace.

"Shall we go, Officer Jeon?"

You walked down the first steps of the palace, the main gate opened and you felt like you could suddenly breathe again. A sigh escaped your lips as you ventured through the gate and out of the palace, a golden prison.

Your personal guard was trailing behind you, keeping a proper distance between you both. You watched him from the corner of your eyes, approaching the city as you two walked towards it.

"You can walk next to me, you know?"

First Officer Jeon looked at the back of your head upon hearing those words.

"That wouldn't be proper of me, Princess."

You pouted slightly before you turned to face him while still walking backwards to the city. His eyes widened a bit at your action and took in how care-free you looked.

"But what if someone attacks me and you are standing behind me? You should always walk by my side."

A soft smile was plastered over your features while still facing him. However, he ignored what you said and commented, his voice a bit more distant than before.

"You will trip if you walk like that."

It was a statement rather than a possibility and that had you frowning up at him. If he was going to be like this then your little trips to the city and nearby villages were going to be a bit dull, at least until you got to your desired destination.

"I won't! I don't lik-"

But your sentence got cut off when, just as he predicted, you tripped with a small rock. You gasped when you felt your body being pulled down to the ground by gravity, the heavy skirts of your dress not allowing you to gain back your footing.

It was only when you felt a firm hand grasping yours and a pull over your body when you were back on your feet.

"I told you you would trip over."

Officer Jeon said, his voice cold and distant but you were able to catch a tinge of humour behind his words. A soft blush painted your cheeks when you realised he was still holding your hand in his surprisingly warm one.

Out of a sudden you felt shy, retrieving your hand from his grasp and taking a couple of steps away from him as you hadn't noticed just how close the two of you were a mere second ago.

"That... that was- it wouldn't... aish. I don't like for people to walk behind me, I feel like I'm being followed. Just... just do me the favour, could you? Just walk next to me, I promise you won't get in trouble."

He sighed, looking around before agreeing with a silent nod.

"And, thanks by the way. For not letting me fall down."

He bowed slightly, the both of you continuing your path down to the city.

"I was just doing my work, Princess."

You had to bite down on your lip to keep the smile from shining all over your face. He indeed took that vow to heart. You thought. Looking up at him, you noticed just how handsome your personal guard was and a warm sensation spread all over your body.

"So... tell me. What's your name? How would you like me to call you?"

Your question made him look down at you for a split second but you continued to watch him with curiosity. If he was going to always be with you, at least you could be friends?

"I am the First Officer of the Royal Guards, Jeon Jungkook. You can call me as you please, My Lady."

Jeon Jungkook.

You had to admit the name suited him. You blinked at him and said with a smile, more of asked him though.

"Is it okay if I call you just by your first name?"

Jungkook kept his gaze straight forward as he answered your question.

"As I told you, Princess, you may call me as you please."

You smiled at him, some silence falling between you both. It was a comfortable one and you just knew that you and Jungkook would get along pretty well. You could feel it.

"It's the Princess!"

A villager exclaimed when he caught sight of you with your royal guard walking by your side.

"She's back!"

"Her Highness has arrived!"

This and more exclamations were heard among the people that were suddenly surrounding you and Jungkook. You gave a sweet smile to all the people who greeted you and bowed respectfully at you, their Princess.

Jungkook was alert, keeping an eye on you while checking the place. The crowd began getting bigger and bigger and to him, that only meant the risk of something happening that could put your safety on the line was increasing.

He had never seen the people from the city so enthusiastic about someone, however he could tell you were really loved by Gyeongdong's citizens.

With a smile, you received the little gifts from the people all while Jungkookk never left your side. You could feel how tense he was when there were too many people around you but, even if you had only met him that same morning, you felt safe with him.

You knew that as long as he was next to you, no harm would come over you. It was strange but for some reason, he radiated that sense of protection.

Later that day, you sat under a wide tree located in the middle of the village, Jungkook was standing at your left side, his eyes scanning the area like a hawk. You opened one of the bags you were gifted that a kind, older woman had given you. A smile was painted over your face when your eyes landed on the fish-shaped pastries you loved so much.

Jungkook looked down at you as you giggled softly and began eating the sweet treat.

"You can sit down, you know?"

You voiced out after having swallowed the pastry. When you looked up you found him already looking at you.

"And don't say "it's not proper" you can sit down and still keep me safe."

Jungkook sighed, of course it was not proper for him to sit next to you however, your care-free spirit slowly but surely got to him and he was about to crouch down on the floor next to you. But how could he? He was just your royal guard, people could misunderstand his actions for wanting something from you which wasn't true. He had one duty and that was to protect you at all costs but it seemed you were making it difficult with your soft aura and kind spirit and it was just the first day with this new job.

"No, Princess. I must stay here, I have a place next to you and that is as your royal guard."

Now it was your time to sigh, you knew he was right but was it really that harmful to just try to be friends with him? Perhaps he viewed it that way but you couldn't help it, you had been so alone your entire life that it was only natural for you to try and establish some kind of relationship in terms of friendship.

"I'm sorry. You are right."

With that, you stood up, not feeling in the mood to stay there any longer.

"You don't have to apologise, Princess. It is, after all, my job."

Another sigh escaped your lips as you began walking along the path that led to the palace. Jungkook following you from behind and he couldn't help but think how his action ruined the enthusiastic mood you were in some hours ago however, he knew it was necessary to set the boundaries since the very beginning otherwise something harmful could happen between him and you, the lonely princess who was destined to be queen and possessed a big heart.

When you were back at the palace, Jungkook made sure to escort you to your room but as you were about to enter the place, you turned to him and said, a soft smile over your lips though not as wide as when the both of you had parted from the royal grounds.

"Thank you for coming with me to the city."

He bowed down at you, not saying a word. When he straightened back up he was met with the sight of you holding a small bag towards him.

"You can have them, you looked like you wanted some of them. I won't be able to finish them all anyway."

Jungkook took the bag from your hand hesitantly, his fingers brushing yours for a split second before the contact was broken.

"I appreciate your generosity, Princess. Rest well."

You smiled a little wider at him, your hands clasping in front of you.

"You rest as well, Jungkook."

With that being said you entered your room, sliding the door shut. Only when Jungkook saw that you had closed the door did he begin walking back to his own room.

He let out a deep breath as he sat on the floor, the little bag you had given him before going back to your room was still in his hand and he couldn't help but open the small package. Surprised struck Jungkook when he saw the fish-shaped pastries inside. Had he been too obvious when he looked at you while you ate them? Maybe he was.

A soft smile adorned his handsome face as he took one out and began eating it. He had never before met you in person, he had never before been in your presence and certainly not that close as today but he couldn't deny that the Princess of Gyeongdong was a kind-hearted woman, blessed with her mother's beauty and her father's intelligence.

As he finished the pastry, he couldn't help but think that his words were a little harsh to you. You were only being friendly with him but he was afraid he could get you in trouble for such indecencies. But if you didn't mind him being that close to you, was it really a problem?

He recalled all the times he had seen you. From afar. And you always looked to be quite lonely for the future queen of Gyeongdong. You were always immersed in yourself and, even in those countable memories he had of you before he became your personal guard, your eyes seemed to sparkle when someone talked to you, when someone, anyone, brought you out of your little bubble of loneliness.

You had been extremely happy that morning when you got to know he was going to be accompanying you to the city and Jungkook couldn't describe the way your eyes had lit up when you found out he was going to be around you until you got married, maybe even after that.

Perhaps there was still time to change your perspective of him, maybe he could get you to open a bit to him. Yes, he was supposed to protect you but that didn't mean only physical harm but emotional pain too. If what you needed was some company afterall, he was more than capable of giving you that.

He would try, he had to. Jungkook couldn't picture you, the sweet Princess, not smiling at all. It was one of your many beautiful qualities. And maybe, he could be the person you needed to bring you out of your self-absorbed world.

Besides, he didn't intend to be involved with you, not even in friendship. So, was there a problem at all?

One Month Later

It was early in the morning when Jungkook found himself walking towards your room. His own bedroom was close to yours in case anything happened. Well, as close as it was proper for it to be. He made his way through a path he now knew by memory as every day, for the past month, he had waited for you outside of your room only to never leave your side throughout the day up until it was nighttime and the both of you had to part ways.

Jungkook could tell that you were now more relaxed in his presence than the beginning, even if you had seemed okay at first when he practically was glued to you, now it was so normal to you that you even felt strange in those rare moments when he wasn’t with you. 

He also kept his own promise, he set the boundaries with you and the pair of you existed as just that, employer and employee. He was meant to protect, you were the one he needed to protect. That was it. Or at least that was what Jungkook told himself every night before going to sleep.

When he stopped by your room, he got surprised, nearly alarmed as you weren’t there and the door was opened. He cursed under his breath and turned around, already with some places in mind to search for you until he spotted one of the maids.

As he approached her, he noticed it was the woman who always helped you get dressed in the mornings, she also did your hair and makeup for the day.

"Excuse me, is Her Highness in the royal grounds? I just came here but she isn't in her room."

The damsel put down her basket that had in it clean, white sheets and replayed almost immediately as she could sense Jungkook's panic laced voice.

"She is in the practice grounds. Or at least that's what she commented this morning."

Jungkook thanked the kind maid before jogging off to the practice grounds of the palace.

The moment he arrived, he was met with a swishing sound across the air followed by a muttered curse. Peaking over through some bushes, Jungkook sighted you standing in the middle of the place, a bow in your left hand while the other held an arrow.

You were wearing a fine and beautiful dress with a white skirt and light pink top all made in expensive silk. Jungkook watched you shoot another arrow to the target mark, your eyes focused and you breathing even. Your posture could be improved but you had gotten the hang of it. He watched as you took a deep breath before letting go of the arrow and he couldn't help but watch not your actions but you.

He admired how beautiful you looked dressed in such fine clothes, with your hair styled to perfection and how you carried yourself. He watched how your left hand gripped the bow tightly up until your knuckles turned white, such delicate hands that he had seen holding unharmful items like a paintbrush or a book, were now holding a dangerous and powerful weapon, if used correctly.

As the arrow travelled through the air, time seemed to go in slow motion as he watched a couple of rebellious strands of hair fly slightly with the movement. But his trance was broken when the arrow landed a couple of feet away from the target mark, on the ground.

A frustrated sigh escaped your lips as you walked towards where other arrows rested. Ignoring the quantity of how many arrows you had already fired and now rested on the floor, you positioned the arrow in your bow and prepared yourself to fire it.

"You need to relax, Princess."

The sudden voice said from behind you startled you causing the arrow to fall on the ground before you even had the chance to fire it. A gasp escaped your lips as you turned around only to be met with Jungkook who approached your figure with calculated steps.

He was wearing his usual uniform in a deep shade of blue, a sword attached to a belt that hugged his waist but something about his presence that morning intrigued you.

"You scared me."

Was your statement once he stood at arms length. He looked down at you and you held his strong gaze.

"I apologise, Your Highness. I didn't mean to."

You relaxed and let out a defeated sigh.

"You have good skills but your posture can be improved."

At Jungkook's words you lifted your gaze, meeting his dark brown eyes with your own once more. He gestured towards your bow with his chin and asked, his voice gentle like a summer breeze.

"May I?"

You nodded, handing him your bow. The warmth of his fingers brushed yours and you had to bite back a smile. He crouched down and picked up the arrow that had fallen from your grasp a moment ago.

Jungkook positioned himself and you watched his every move.

"You are too tense while holding the bow, if your hold is firm but at the same time gentle it will give you stability."

You listened carefully to his explanations as your eyes were glued to him and for the first time since he became your personal guard were you able to admire him. Properly admire him.

Your gaze landed on his focused face, on how his eyes were put on the target mark and nothing else. Then, you travelled to his lips and marvelled on the way he was pulling back the arrow until it touched the corner of his lips softly. His jawline was defined as if it had been sculpted by the gods.

His broad shoulders carried years of training and you could see how his muscles could be traced even with more than one layer of clothing. His veiny hands held the bow and the arrow with expertise and you found yourself trapped in a trance in which only Jungkook existed.

He fired the arrow, hitting the target in its centre. You looked amazed at the clean shot he did and he commented, giving you back your bow.

"Would you like to try again, Princess?"

You nodded and took the bow. Jungkook walked where the rest of the arrows were and picked one up. He handed it to you and you took it softly from his grasp. You positioned the arrow and prepared yourself to shoot.

You silently gasped when you felt a large hand over your left one, the one holding the bow and it took you less than a second to realise it was Jungkook who was guiding you. You smelled his scent from behind you and felt the light pressure of his body at your back but it wasn't uncomfortable, on the contrary, you felt safe being this close to him. It was... Soothing, to say the least.

"You need to relax your hand a bit more."

Following his instructions, he smiled.

"Good, now take a deep breath. Straighten up a bit more and concentrate."

You did as you were told, closing your eyes and relishing in the comfort Jungkook provided. The warm feeling of his hand over yours was nearly overwhelming. The moment you opened your eyes again, the only thing you could focus on was on the target. Letting go of the arrow, it travelled through the air with a mute noise and landed directly on the mark.

A gasp left your lips and Jungkook let go of your hand just as you turned around and looked up at him. Your smile showed pure happiness, a happiness he was responsible for and for some reason, that settled a spark of proudness in his chest.

"I wasn't aware that you knew archery."

He lifted an eyebrow, almost in a teasing way.

"I am a royal guard, Princess. Of course I know how to shoot an arrow."

You laughed at his words. Stupid, of course he would know that. You scolded yourself inwardly, thoughts masked by a soft smile.

"Do you have any plans for today, My Lady?"

His question brought you out of your embarrassing state and you let out a sigh upon remembering what you had to do today.

"Not much really. I don't think I'll be able to visit the city today. The King ordered a seamstress to make a new dress for me, for my birthday ceremony."

Jungkook nodded, walking to a nearby bench only for then to sit down, all while keeping an eye on you as you practised your archery skills for a little more time.

"Isn't your birthday in autumn, Princess?"

You looked up at Jungkook while he kept his gaze glued to the front.

"Yes but the King prepares everything with so much anticipation as you may already know, the day I was born was when other events occurred at the same time like the Queen's passing and Gyeongdong's victory against the Jejin kingdom in the north."

He looked down at you only to lock his eyes with you and he was able to read the sadness behind your explanation. Jungkook couldn't imagine just how lonely your life had been, with your mother dying in childbirth and formally meeting your father when you were three when he returned from the war.

He knew you suffered as a child even when you were the Princess and had access to whatever you wanted at any time of the day. A lonely girl with a planned future. He knew you were to become Queen in winter, the ceremony occurring the same day as your wedding day was scheduled.

"Have you ever met him?"

His question made you blink, parting your gaze from his penetrating brown orbs.

"No. I've never met the Prince I was promised in marriage. But I guess that's how arranged marriages work, don't they?"

A humourless chuckle followed your words and Jungkook could easily tell that you didn't want to get married, at least not in this way.

When the both of you arrived to where the seamstress was waiting for you, Jungkook stood in the farthest corner of the room making himself invisible as the kind lady began taking your measurements and explained to you what kind of fabrics you were allowed to wear for your wedding day.

You picked everything with a dull expression, already tired of all the wedding preparations. Your eyes drifted here and there toward Jungkook, secretly hoping that he would also look at you but his gaze was lost in the place. He kept his head low and never did he make it for you both to lock eyes, even when he felt your gaze over him from time to time.

-ambience-

"Hobi, are you alright? I haven't seen you for nearly two weeks!"

You whispered-shouted at your best friend. It was early in the morning, so early that the sun wasn't out yet, the sky was still dark and silence drowned the palace. You stood outside of your room still wearing your sleeping clothes, your bare feet touching the fresh grass as Hoseok had woken you at such an hour saying that there was something important he needed to tell you.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, Princess. There's something you need to know,"

Even in the darkness, with the only source of light being a small paper lantern he carried in his left hand, you could see the seriousness behind Hoseok's words, whatever he was about to tell you was, indeed, important.

You signalled him to continue and he said, his tone low, words carried with the hot summer breeze of the early hours.

"I've been away for sometime because I travelled with my father to the North. As you may know, the news of your wedding with the Prince of the Park family had reached every town of the country but suspicious activity was reported to His Majesty a month ago."

Now that was definitely urgent for you to know. There was someone that was organising something. Something bad.

"That's where Jejin was situated before my father conquered it, isn't it?"

Hobi nodded, his usually cheerful eyes now filled with worry. Worry for you, his best friend. For Gyeongdong and for his family. The possibility of war had increased and if the problem didn't get solved not only the royal family would be in danger but all the innocent citizens of Gyeongdong.

"His Majesty suspects that a rebellious group is taking Jejin's place, trying to take the throne which also means stopping your wedding, Princess. The King also believes that the group is being controlled by one of the Ministers."

Your eyes went wide when you heard the last sentence. Was truly a traitor sitting in front of the King in his own palace? You looked around you, suddenly feeling insecure about being in your own room. You realised then that Hobi had spoken of such secret information outside of your room, in the gardens. What if someone heard?

"Let's go inside, it's dangerous for you to be telling me this in the gardens."

Hoseok shook his head, his worried eyes never leaving your figure.

"No, Princess. That would look suspicious if anyone had their eyes on us right now. I only came here tonight to give you fish-shaped pastries."

His words were whispered, even when in the silence you feared they could be heard. The next thing you knew was that he was giving you a package covered by soft fabric, just like every other time he had given you sweets. A forced smile was latched onto his face, trying to make this look as normal as possible.

You eyes the package and slowly took it from his grasp.

"Smile, Princess. I just gave you your favourite treat. Smile and go back to your room and keep smiling until you close the door."

His instructions were said between clenched teeth and airy words, all while keeping the gentle look on his face. You did as instructed though Hobi could tell you were scared, it was reflected in your eyes.

"Thank you for the pastries, you know how much I like them."

With that said, you turned around and walked to your room, your smile never leaving your face. Once in the privacy of your quarters, you sat down on the floor while processing everything Hoseok just said to you.

A traitor.

A traitor in the court.

Marriage.

Jejin.

Traitor.

Danger.

Possibility of war

A traitor.

Your mind kept swirling around those words, not grasping the fact that there was someone who didn't want you to become Queen, who didn't want your father's bloodline to stay on the throne.

You looked at the package Hobi gave you, something inside you telling you that what was inside it were not fish-shaped pastries. You untied the fabric and pulled out the box only to find a letter there. Without giving it much thought, you unfolded it and quickly recognised Hoseok's handwriting.

Princess, there wasn't enough time for me to tell you this but you need to be careful. Captain Yoongi informed me that you now have a personal royal guard to keep you safe, that's good. You can trust him, he is a good man.

You need to stay alert, don't trust anyone other than His Majesty, Captain Yoongi, my father, me and of course Jungkook. He'll keep you safe.

I wish I could tell you everything's going to be alright but I can't be sure, at least not now. You cannot be alone now, please. Stay close to Jungkook, it's for your own safety.

Hobi.

That letter was the last piece of information you needed for realisation to fall upon you. Whatever was happening was dangerous and it threatened your safety.

You felt a sudden urge to go to Jungkook, be near him. He made you feel safe and now, when things could get difficult, for some reason he grounded you from your own thoughts and fears. You could trust him, you knew that since day one. He was going to protect you and that night, you slept with the vow he made to your father about keeping you safe. You were aware that no harm would ever fall over you as long as he was with you.

However, little did you know someone had seen your entire interaction with Hoseok in the gardens. Someone hiding behind the bushes in the darkness of the early morning.

Jungkook rowed the small boat to cross the lake. You sat opposite him, your expression bored as you leaned over one of the edges, your arm supporting your head while your eyes were glued to the crystalline water.

You had barely talked since he went to your room that morning, the usual spark in your eyes was gone, leaving empty yet still beautiful (e/c) orbs behind. You didn't smile as brightly as before, your smile carried a sadness with it, a sorrow.

He wanted to ask you what was wrong, he wanted to know. A part of him needed to know. Jungkook didn't know why he was having such strong needs, such emotions. He was only meant to protect you, to keep you away from harm and that included any type of harm.

Suddenly, he stopped rowing but that didn't make you look up from your lost gaze in the waters.

"Princess,"

You hummed when you heard Jungkook speak to you though you didn't look at him, your eyes continuing to gaze down at the waters below.

"may I ask you a question?"

"You already did."

Was your response. It was dull, something in it ached in between the words. It wasn't normal of you, for as long as Jungkook himself could tell. He sighed, before speaking again.

"Are you alright?"

You blinked when he asked that as you rose yourself from your leaning position over the edge to finally look at your personal guard. Your eyes carried something he had never seen before.

Worry.

It was crystal clear, at least to Jungkook. You were worried about something and, for some strange reason, a reason he didn't know, it worried him too to see you like this. It physically pained him to see you, the care-free and sweet Princess in such a sour mood. Carrying such heavy weights over your shoulders.

You didn't say anything, you couldn't. You were scared, you were worried for the kingdom, for your father, for Hobi, for yourself, for your life. It was too much. Too much to process in a single morning. Too much information that it overwhelmed you to the point of tears watering your eyes.

"Is it something about what the counsellor's son told you this morning?"

You gasped at his statement. Jungkook wasn't going to deny it. Yes, he had seen your interaction with Hoseok that very morning, he had seen the way you smiled when he gave you a small package, even when the gardens were drowning in the darkness of the early hours of the day, he could tell you were smiling thanks to the small source of light that was Hoseok's lantern.

"You didn't have the right to do that. You are my royal guard but you can't invade my privacy like that!"

The way you raised your voice at the end made him mentally curse himself. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that.

"I'm sorry, Princess. It was an accident. I didn't mean to spy on you."

You narrowed your eyes at him, somehow deep within you, you knew he was telling the truth but you didn't want to believe him, you didn't want to slide it off. He had invaded your privacy and that was out of the line.

"He went there to give me my pastries. You know I'm not allowed to eat them until my wedding day. Hoseok is my best friend but of course I don't have to give you any explanation of my decisions. You are meant to do a job so just... just do it. Stop trying to always make me happy, life is not like that! Stop it, just... stop it. Please."

Your words crushed his heart, not because of what you said to him but because they only proved his beliefs, something had happened, something that was hurting you.

"You only have to do what you were told to do. You don´t have to care for me, not in this way. You are asking if I'm alright and as you can see, I'm not physically hurt so stop caring so much, you don't have to do it."

The look he gave you the next second was enough for you to know that your words, even though they were cruel, had gotten to him. Tears brimmed at the corner of your eyes and you did your utmost to blink them back. Jungkook stared at you, his jaw clenched and you felt like he wanted to say so many things to you but he was refraining himself.

His eyes bored themselves into yours and in that moment you wished the water would swallow you completely so that you wouldn't face him.

That's good. You have to stay away. You have to stay away from me so that you can't get hurt. Please, Jungkook. Just back off.

You thought to yourself as you continued to watch each other. The atmosphere tensing.

"But... what if I care?"

A tear rolled down your cheek slowly. No, please don't say that. Please... He ran a hand through his hair and looked back at you.

"I care for you, Princess."

You closed your eyes, letting the tears freely fall down your cheeks.

"You can't."

Whispered words reached his ears. Making his heart shake with the need to hold you, promise you that it was going to be alright.

"But I do."

You opened your eyes, looking at Jungkook through blurry vision. His eyes were filled with tears and you felt an ache in your heart at the sight of his tears.

"You weren't supposed to. You were only meant to protect me, Jungkook. That's it, nothing else."

He sighed, his eyes lowering to your trembling hands resting on your lap. He had a sudden urge to hold them. To hold you. To comfort you.

"I know. Love is blind, Princess. No-one gets to choose."

You took a shaky breath, calming yourself a bit only for him to continue.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I'll... I'll accept the punishment for my actions, Your Highness."

He lowered his head, ready to accept whatever consequences there were for his actions. In that moment, Jungkook realised you were untouchable, the forbidden fruit he had come to desire, an expensive and beautiful jewel he could never have.

"No."

At that, he lifted his gaze and looked at you who gazed at him with such hurt in your eyes it forced him to swallow the lump in his throat.

"You are not getting punished for this. No-one should. It... It just happened and I couldn't... I wouldn't be able to see you go."

A tear left his eye, rolling down his cheek while leaving a wet trail over his honey skin.

"I care for you too, Jungkook."

That was the moment the seasons changed. The warm days were over and both you and Jungkook knew that. It was forbidden, it was socially unacceptable, a disgrace.

You were engaged, the Princess who was going to become Queen while he was only your personal guard. Meant to protect you of any harm. But he was just that, a royal guard. A handsome middle-class man caring way more than needed for you, King Lee's only daughter.

He, as well as you, were aware that colder days were to come soon. And just like that, with simple words that revealed each other's heart, the summer days were over.

Four Seasons Taglist: @seokout

May 28/2023

Likes, Reblogs & Comments are really appreciated!!!

~Masterpost

#jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook angst #bangtan #jeon jungkook fluff #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook x you #jimin x you #jimin x reader #jimin x reader angst #park jimin #jeon jungkook #min yoongi #jung hoseok #bangtan sonyeondan #방탄소년단 #전정국 #love #arranged marriage #historical au #royal au #bts fanfic #sweetcarrotsandroses97

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in February 2024

01/02 Visited ReBoot (Moray Computer Recycling) in Forres. 🖥️

As Warden, opened the Queen Elizabeth II classrooms at Gordonstoun School. 🏫

Visited Lossie Community Hub at the Warehouse Theatre, in Lossiemouth. 🎭

Unofficial Sir Tim, as Chair of the Board of Trustees, attended the opening ceremony of the Zimingzhong 凝时聚珍: Clockwork Treasures from China's Forbidden City exhibition at the London Science Museum. 🐉🧧🕰️

03/02 With Sir Tim As Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Wales and Scotland at Principality Stadium in Cardiff. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏉

05/02 Visited Dressability Clothing Alterations Charity in Swindon, to mark its 25th Anniversary. 👗🪡🧵

As Commandant-in-Chief (Youth) of St John Ambulance, attended the dedication of a new Community Response Unit in Devizes, Wiltshire. 🚑

06/02 Held an Investiture at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

As Patron of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, attended the launch of Nottingham West Primary Care Network’s Interactive Group Therapy at Plumptre Hall. 🩺

As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association Limited, visited GH Hurt and Son in Nottingham. 🪡

With Sir Tim As Royal Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, attended the announcement of the winner of The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering at the Science Museum in London. ⚙️🥂

07/02 As Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Logistic Corps, visited the Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment at St George’s Barracks in Bicester. 💥

As President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, visited the Commission’s Headquarters in Maidenhead. 🪦

As Patron of Catch22, visited the Commissioned Rehabilitative Services at Community Links in London. 🔗

08/02 As Vice Patron of the British Horse Society, visited Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre in West London. 🐎

As President of the Royal Yachting Association, attended the Annual Luncheon at Trinity House in London. 🛥️🥪

09/02 In Wales, Princess Anne; 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

As Royal Patron of the National Coastwatch Institution, visited Worms Head Station in Rhossili, followed by a Reception at South Gower Sports Club in Scurlage. 🔎🍾

Visited Newport Medieval Ship. 🚢

Visited Newport Transporter Bridge which is undergoing maintenance. 🌉

10/02 With Sir Tim As Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between France and Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. 🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏉

12/02 As Patron of Swinfen Telemedicine, attended a Meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine. 💊

As Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, held a Dinner at Buckingham Palace. 🎓

13/02 Held an Investiture at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

As Master of the Corporation of Trinity House, chaired the Quarterly Meeting of the Court at Trinity House. 📆

14/02 As Royal Patron of the National Coastwatch Institution, visited Hengistbury Head Station near Bournemouth. 🌊

As Colonel-in-Chief of the Intelligence Corps, visited I Company at Hamworthy Barracks in Poole. 🕵️‍♀️

15/02 Visited the Ordnance Survey National Mapping Agency in Southampton. 🗺️

With Sir Tim Attended Evensong and the James Caird Society’s Dedication Service followed by a Reception in Westminster Abbey, to mark the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Sir Ernest Shackleton. 🔭🧭🇦🇶

16/02 Visited knife crime community group ‘Off the Streets’ North Northamptonshire in Wellingborough. 🚫🔪

20/02 As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, visited Laxtons Limited in Baildon near Bradford. 🧶

As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, visited Marton Mills in Otley, West Yorkshire. 🪡

21/02 In Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Princess Anne;

Visited Agemaspark Precision Engineering Company. ⚙️

Visited Haith Group Vegetable Processing Machinery Company. 🥕🥦

As Patron of the Butler Trust, visited HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Doncaster. 🚓👮‍♀️

As Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Carmen, attended a Joint Services Awards Dinner at Painters’ Hall in London. 🍽️

22/01 Visited London South Bank Technical College and Lee Marley Academy. ✏️👷

As Patron of Save the Children UK, visited Mary’s Living and Giving Shop in Wandsworth. 👚

23/02 unofficial Departed Heathrow Airport for Namibia 🇬🇧✈️🇳🇦

24/02 unofficial Arrived at Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia. ✈️🇳🇦

Representing The King, Princess Anne called upon Mrs Monica Geingos (widow of Dr Hage Geingob). 🖤

Unofficial Sir Tim represented Princess Anne, Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, at the Six Nations Rugby Match between Scotland and England at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏉

25/02 Representing The King, Princess Anne attended the Burial Service for Dr Hage Geingob at Heroes’ Acre. 🕊️

Later attended a State Luncheon given by The President of Namibia at State House. 🍽️

26/02 unofficial Arrived at Heathrow Airport from Namibia. 🇳🇦✈️🇬🇧

With Sir Tim Attended the British Horseracing Authority’s Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards at Ascot Racecourse. 🐎🏆

27/02 With Sir Tim Attended a Service of Thanksgiving for the late King Constantine II at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle with members of 🇬🇧, 🇬🇷, 🇩🇰 and 🇪🇸 royal families.

28/02 As Patron of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, attended the Emergency Medicine Trainees' Association Annual Conference at Hilton Newcastle Gateshead. 💉💊

As Royal Patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, attended a Rugby League Reception at Leeds Rhinos Rugby Club, in Headingley, Leeds. 🦽🏉

29/02 unofficial Departed from Heathrow Airport for the United Arab Emirates 🇬🇧✈️🇦🇪

Unofficial Sir Tim, as President of Never Such Innocence, attended a 10th anniversary celebration for the charity at Edinburgh Castle. 🏰

Total official engagements for Anne in February: 44

2024 total so far: 85

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in February: 6

2024 total so far: 23

FYI - due to certain royal family members being off ill/in recovery I won’t be posting everyone’s engagement counts out of respect, I am continuing to count them and release the totals at the end of the year.

#busy princess 👑 #please see red comment #aimees unofficial engagement count 2024 #princess anne #princess royal #tim laurence #timothy laurence #court circular #february 2024 #not all engagements are on here ❤️

[hc-geralt-23]

The Dragon and the Witcher: A Tale of Love and Destiny

Chapter 1: The Convergence of Worlds

As the sun set over the vast plains of the Continent, Geralt of Rivia found himself on a seemingly ordinary contract – exterminating a pack of vicious monsters. However, a strange portal suddenly materialized before him, swallowing him whole. As Geralt fell through the swirling vortex, he could feel the very fabric of reality being twisted and torn around him.

When he regained his senses, Geralt discovered he was no longer in the world he knew. Instead, he found himself in the heart of Westeros, a land of dragons and noble houses, in a time long before the rise of the White Wolf. Confusion and curiosity filled his mind as he looked around, absorbing the sights and sounds of this unfamiliar land.

The sprawling city of King's Landing stretched before him, its towering structures reaching for the sky. Dragon banners fluttered in the gentle breeze, and the distant sound of swords clashing echoed through the city streets. Geralt could sense that this world was unlike any he had encountered before, both in its grandiosity and the palpable aura of power that surrounded it.

Chapter 2: A Targaryen Discovery

In the capital city of King's Landing, meanwhile, the Targaryens were gathered to witness the birth of their newest member – a girl named Y/N, the firstborn child of Viserys and Amma. The child bore the unmistakable silver-haired beauty of her Targaryen ancestors, a rarity even among their family.

Unknown to even the wise maesters of Westeros, Y/N possessed a powerful magic inherited from her dragon-blooded lineage. Her arrival into the world had unknowingly set events into motion, opening the portals between realms and drawing Geralt and his destiny closer to the House of the Dragon.

As Y/N grew, her connection to the dragons became evident. She had an innate ability to communicate with them, understanding their thoughts and needs as if they were her own. This gift both fascinated and frightened her, for she recognized the responsibility that came with it. Yet, she also longed for a life beyond palace walls – a life of adventure and purpose.

Chapter 3: The Witcher and the Dragon Princess

As Geralt acclimated to his newfound surroundings, he soon came across the magnificent dragons housed within the Targaryen stronghold. Drawn to their awe-inspiring presence, he couldn't help but marvel at their majesty and beauty. It was during one of his visits that he stumbled upon Y/N practicing her archery, her silver locks gleaming in the moonlight.

Drawn to her beauty and grace, the Witcher cautiously approached the young Targaryen, his heart slowly awakening to emotions he had long buried. Y/N, too, felt an inexplicable connection to Geralt, sensing a kindred spirit in him. It was as if their destinies had intertwined, guiding them toward this fateful encounter.

As the two spent time together, they discovered their shared sense of isolation and longing. Y/N yearned for freedom beyond the constraints of her birthright, while Geralt carried the weight of being an outcast due to his Witcher mutations. Their conversations flowed effortlessly, their laughter echoing through the halls of Dragonstone.

Chapter 4: Forbidden Love

Despite their growing affection for one another, Geralt and Y/N knew that pursuing a romance was riddled with complications. The Witcher hailed from a foreign land, and Y/N, a princess, carried the weight of her family's expectations. Their love seemed destined to remain a secret, buried beneath layers of duty and societal norms.

However, fate conspired against them as whispers of their clandestine meetings spread throughout the kingdom. While some viewed the union as an opportunity for an alliance, others saw it as a threat to their own ambitions. Geralt and Y/N found themselves caught in the crossfire of political games and power struggles, their love put to the ultimate test.

Chapter 5: Trials and Tribulations

As tensions heightened, Geralt's unparalleled prowess with a blade became essential in protecting the woman he loved and her dragon-kin. Battles against rival houses and supernatural threats alike united Geralt and Y/N in their fight for survival. Together, they embraced the challenges they faced, their separate skills complementing one another.

Their shared experiences and the trust they built cemented their love, giving them the strength to face the countless obstacles thrown their way. Geralt, with his stoic determination, became a beacon of strength for Y/N, while Y/N's unwavering support and inherent magical abilities enchanted Geralt and bolstered his resolve.

Chapter 6: The Prophecy Fulfilled

As the final battle between the rival houses loomed, a prophecy spoken by an ancient seer emerged, intertwining Geralt and Y/N's destinies. Only the union of a Witcher and a dragon-blooded Targaryen could end the cycle of chaos that haunted both realms. It became clear that their love was not just a personal affair but a destiny that transcended their individual lives.

Geralt, armed with his knowledge of monsters and the elixirs that enhanced his abilities, stood side by side with Y/N, whose mastery of magic and command over dragons became pivotal to their success in the upcoming battle. Together, they harmonized their unique talents and shattered the chains of despair that threatened to consume their love and the world around them.

Chapter 7: Union of Worlds

With their enemies vanquished and the realms once again at peace, Geralt and Y/N celebrated their triumph, reveling in the love that had blossomed under the shared admiration of their respective worlds. They knew their love had defied fate, crossing boundaries to forge a unique bond between two realms.

Joined by their loyal companions, including the Targaryen dragons, Geralt and Y/N embarked on a new adventure – exploring the uncharted territories of their intertwined destinies. The worlds of The Witcher and House of the Dragon became forever linked, with love acting as their guiding light.

Epilogue: Infinite Paths

Though their journey would always be fraught with uncertainty and danger, Geralt and Y/N faced the unknown with unwavering determination and profound love. Their choice to defy the constraints of their respective worlds united them in a truly extraordinary tale, forever etching their love into the annals of history.

"The Dragon and the Witcher: A Tale of Love and Destiny" serves as a testament to the power of love, bridging the gaps between worlds and propelling two souls toward an everlasting bond. Through the sheer force of their will and the magic that bound them, Geralt and Y/N's love endured through the ages, inspiring generations yet to come.

#geralt imagine #geralt of rivia #the witcher #house of the dragon #geralt x reader #geralt of rivia imagine #the witcher x reader #the witcher imagine #the witcher fanfiction

[lilpotatjj]

Can you do Bella Ramsey x French fem!reader pls :)?

Masterlist

A/N: Took me some research for the Language. I don't know much french soooo...pls don't throw the Baguettes on me.🙈 If there is something totally wrong pls text me.

Summery: Just a short funny and sweet story about Bella in Paris, a day after her Dior Fashion Show

Bella ramsey x frenchReader

Many people, paparazzis everywhere and the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Paris. The Dior Fashion Show is finally over and Bella totally exhausted.

Finally arrived at the hotel, she falls directly into bed and immediately falls asleep.

Paris is great. Many sights and all the culture promises a lot of fun.

The next day, freshly showered Bella wants to look around the city. After all, she's not in France every day. Dressed a bit more covered with cap, open hair and sunglasses, she sets off.

First, she goes to one of the popular bakeries for breakfast and then straight to the Eiffel Tower. When she arrives, she is completely amazed at how big the tower is in real life.

"Cooool" She takes a few photos and was just about to go on when you of all people suddenly collides with Bella

"Aïe! attention!" You look at Bella and pause for a moment.

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" Her British accent gives you chills.

You know the voice.

As if you heard it only yesterday.

"Bella? Bella Ra-"she almost smacks her hand right over your mouth.

"Ssshh" She puts her index finger over her lips and finally takes her hand away. "Please don't say this so loud, otherwise paparazzis will come again" you nod, collect your thoughts and try to realize that in front of you is a British actress, who is also forbidden good looking and...whom you just ran into.

"Sorry. I was just taking pictures and didn't see you." You remain silent and still can't believe it.

"Aah...Parles-tu anglais?(english?)"..."Tu m'entends? (Can you hear me?)" She tries hard to speak french.

"Oh oui, I mean yes I can speak english"

"I thought you didn't understand me."

"It's ok. I just didn't expect to find you here. I'm surprised" you look at the Eiffel Tower. "Shall I show you around? Maybe I can help you if there are communication problems" you say helpfully.

Bella takes a breath while she thinks. "Why not, ok?" Suddenly two women come towards you.

"Ce n'est pas (isn't that) Bella Ramsey?" one of the girls says.

"Tu te trompes (you're mistaken)" You grab her arm and the two of you move on quickly.

You go to the Palace of Versailles and look around inside. Huge halls and beautiful paintings from the baroque period adorn the rooms.

Old, large furniture stands around as if you were in the past. Bella is obviously getting nervous. "Hey is everything ok?"

"There are some from yesterday's show...if they see me then everyone will know I'm here" she sounds almost panicked.

This is not how Bella had imagined the day. She wanted to spend a chill day in Paris.

Your eyes fall on one of the huge cupboards and without hesitation you grab her arm again.

"What the-" with a jerk you are both in the cupboard, almost body to body, you both look at the door and hope that no one will open it again.

"Pardon......"

"For wha-" she begins but falters as she looks you straight in the eye.

"M...merci?" Her cheeks turn red, but it's almost completely dark in the cupboard, the reason you can't see it.

You both hear your breathing, quickly, as if it's not oppressive enough, your heart puts in a speed run.

"mignon" just a whisper from your mouth.

"what?" Bella looks at you questioningly. "I said you're cute"

Bella can't find an answer and just stares at you.

"Sorry..." you look at the door and hear no more voices outside. As you try to open the door, you only feel a hand on yours.

"Wait...please" she speaks softly and your eyes fall on her. "What is it, we can get out. Nobo-" a kiss interrupts your sentence. Completely surprised, you close your eyes anyway and respond to her kiss.

"Pardon" now it is Bella who speaks while you look at her silently.

"Why did you do that?" You look at her guiltily.

"I just...you're cute too."

"Oh....well, we should probably go and see the rest before we fall asleep in here" you smirk sweetly at her which she returns and you both sneak out.

#bella ramsey #bella ramsey x fem!reader #bella ramsey x reader #bella ramsey x y/n #bella ramsey x you #bella ramsey fanfic #bella ramsey fluff #bellaramsey #romance fanfiction #fanfic #bella ramsey drabble #bella ramsey fic #bella ramsey blurb #lgbtq

[bloobluebloo]

There was a small hylian man in the city forbidden to him, but he was permitted to stay, because he was polite.

He was helpful, at least in intentions, and chipper in conversation. He sat on the wall when sun fell, taking his optimistic smile with it. He paid proper fare to spend the night in privacy, or else stayed not at all. It was, after all, impossible to get him to stand still.

For the first time in his life, Ganondorf was not the only man among the Gerudo.

He was a secret in name, lest other men use him as an excuse to trample the law. The new guest was able to uphold the bar to entry through his works- he had fought to protect the people twice over. Any lecherous slug would have to rise to his measure to be given the equal of his reward. Ganondorf lived in the city because he was of the people, no less a sister than any other daughter raised within the walls. He lived as they did, cursing the noon day heat and midnight cold and brushing down the seals anyway. He did not need to prove himself. He was someone the outsiders refused to understand.

Except, perhaps, this little hero who bought every piece of jewelry and cut of meat the moment he had the rupees for it. When Gan had spoken to him, he made no comment on his height or broad shoulders. Gan asked if he had a favourite seal yet, after his many visits. The hylian did have a favourite- all of them, and he prattled on about the sand seals for twenty minutes before he noticed the time passing.

It was no wonder that Riju spoke for him, and after watching him spar with the guards in the courtyard, even less a wonder that Buliara agreed.

The next time he and Link spoke, he meant to ask his thoughts on a male among the gerudo. Instead, somehow, he asked if the hylian had seen horses in his travels. To summerize the next four hours of their conversation, Link had seen horses. He knew a fair bit about them, too, and to Gan's delight he had a little slate that captured the likeness of things, and more than half of the captures Link had made were of horses.

"You're inviting trouble." Bularia said, with a sternness in her voice she had learned from her mother. "If you reveal this about yourself, you are presuming it is sufficient context for his behaviour to change. Either he has presumed, or he has not, and he has chosen accordingly already."

Gan sat in the frame of the window and let the water framing the palace run through his fingers. "What friends keep secrets for fear of their knowing?"

"Oh?" She leaned her shoulder against the wall. "You are friends, now?"

Gan huffed. Her point was clear.

"He keeps thousands of secrets, Ganondorf." Bularia softened her tone. "For the same reasons and many more. To divulge your one when there can be no balance-"

"Invites trouble." He rolled his eyes. "How can you trust him at all, then?"

"His actions speak," she replied, easy as anything. "But he is still an outsider. You trust a guest with your finest plates, but not your mother's jewels. I will not forbid you to speak with him- it will draw his curiosity. Do not invite trouble."

She left him to return to her post. She gave orders in the hall, and marched with assurance over its rugs. She left him in the window to ponder all the ways that he might invite trouble.

And then he noticed a shadow.

He leaned out the window.

Link was sitting on the roof, eating from a pita stuffed with potato and lamb.

"She knew you were there the whole time, didn't she?" Gan asked.

Link shrugged. And through a mouthful of good food, "Prohblee."

Gan leaned out of the window until it hurt his back. "Have you ever seen a bear?"

Link grinned.

STOP THAT’S TOO CUTE 😭😭😭

Link probably figured it out the second he spoke to Ganondorf anyways but of course, of course they spoke about horses for hours horsegirls as they are. Is Link going to tell him about how he has ridden bears…🤭

#ganonthots #bloothots

[inky-duchess]

I hate disagreeing with you, but on the throne room issue, in the UK at least, I kinda have to. The various photographs of the throne rooms at Buckingham Palace and St James' Palace show them more along the lines of holding a couple of dozen people, rather than hundreds. Throne rooms are where the monarch gets work done and deals with people one on one, they are not big display halls for the masses.

I'm talking on average. You are correct in saying the UK is on the small side. Look at The Basilika the throne room of Constantine, St George's Hall in the Winter Palace, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. The Hall of State in Stockholm, the Throne Hall in the Japenese Imperial Palace. These are rooms for ceremony, grandeur and shows of power. They strive to be imposing to as many people at once as impossible.

#ask answered

[wheelchair-wizard]

Irish Mythology

VOL 8. Cliodhna. Queen of the Banshees.

Clíodhna: Queen of the Banshees

In the verdant hills of South Munster, where the veil between our world and the Otherworld is gossamer-thin, Clíodhna reigned supreme. Her ethereal beauty was whispered across the emerald landscapes, and her name echoed in the rustling leaves of ancient oaks. But Clíodhna was no ordinary banshee; she was a goddess entwined with both sorrow and desire.

The Three Birds of Clíodhna:

Three birds accompanied Clíodhna—a trio of feathered emissaries whose plumage shimmered like rainbows. Their melodious songs held the power to heal, and their wings bore them across the realms. These avian companions feasted on apples from an otherworldly tree, their beaks stained crimson by the fruit’s magic. When they sang, the air itself danced to their tune, and mortals who heard their harmonies were blessed or cursed, depending on fate’s whims.

The Forbidden Love:

Clíodhna’s heart, though steeped in mystery, was not immune to love. Her gaze fell upon Ciabhán, a mortal man of courage and grace. Ciabhán’s eyes mirrored the sea, and his laughter echoed through the cliffs. When he hunted in the forests, Clíodhna would wait for him by the shore, her silver hair catching moonbeams. Their clandestine meetings transcended the boundaries of existence—a banshee and a mortal, entangled in a love that defied the cosmic order.

Manannán Mac Lir’s Music:

One fateful evening, as Clíodhna lay on the rocky shore, lulled by the rhythmic waves, Manannán Mac Lir, the enigmatic Sea God, emerged from the depths. His harp strings sang of forgotten memories, of lost cities beneath the waves, and of love that spanned millennia. Clíodhna listened, her heartstrings resonating with each haunting note. Manannán’s melodies summoned a colossal wave—the very essence of Tonn Chlíodhna, “Clíodhna’s Wave.” It rose, a liquid titan, and swept her away.

The Diverging Legends:

Legends diverge at this juncture. Some say Clíodhna drowned, her form merging with the ocean’s embrace. She became the guardian of shipwrecks, her mournful cries echoing through storms. Others insist that she transformed into a swan, her feathers iridescent, her song both melancholic and hopeful. As a swan, she glided upon the waves, her eyes reflecting the moon’s silver path.

Carrig-Cleena: The Palace Beneath the Sea:

Her palace, hidden within a pile of ancient rocks near Mallow, bore her name—Carrig-Cleena. Its walls shimmered like mother-of-pearl, and its halls resonated with the whispers of lost lovers. Clíodhna’s memory lingered in the salt-laden air, in the cries of seabirds, and in the hearts of those who dared to listen. The Blarney Stone, kissed by countless pilgrims seeking eloquence, was said to have formed from a fragment of Clíodhna’s magical rock.

And so, Clíodhna, Queen of the Banshees, dances between realms—a paradox of love and lamentation. Her story, like the sea, remains both mysterious and eternal, etched into the cliffs and carried by the tides.

Note: Clíodhna’s tale is a delicate thread woven into Ireland’s rich mythology, a reminder that love transcends even the boundaries of life and death.

Christy,

Male, Husband, Dad, Family man, Friendly, Easygoing.

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[peculiar-author]

[Sims 4] MDZS - Qishan Wen - Nightless City 不夜仙都

Hi All!

This is the last blog from my Sims4 MDZS Build series! Last but not least, the most powerful, wealthiest, and main antagonist in the story's first half is Qishan Wen Sect, Nightless City.

Source: https://modao-zushi.fandom.com/wiki/Nightless_City

Quoted from the moda-zushi.fandom, the Nightless City gained its name from the saying that there was no nightfall in their residence, which was comparable in size to a city.

When I look at the concept and the architecture, it reminds me of the Forbidden City, an actual site still preserved in Beijing, China. The fact that City is used to describe Wen Sect's residence shows how big and powerful Wen Sect is.

In the nightless city, there are some notable palaces like The Scorching Sun Palace and The Inferno Palace, which was Wen Ruohan's torture chamber.

However, as we have limited space in Sims and lack of reference from the series, I found a nicely built forbidden city replica by a Chinese user. With an additional touch, I renovated the lot to be suitable for Wen Sect's residence.

Welcome to the Qishan Wen - Nightless City!

FIRST LOOK

This is a replica of Forbidden City, and I think this suits well for Wen Sect's Nightless City. The color is red, and we have the long big stairs that also can be seen in the scenes where Wen Ruohan gathering his armies for war.

THE ENTRANCE

The entrance is very similar to the Forbidden City. This is a super iconic grand entrance that welcomes you to one of the wonders of the world.

An additional touch is the Wen Sect's emblem rug.

STAIRWAYS TO THE THRONE

After the gate, you'll see the long, high stairs to reach the throne.

This is the throne area of Nightless City.

OVERALL LOOK

1st Floor

The overall look is dominated by red pillars and lanterns.

Lounge to entertain guests

Kitchen & Tea Bar

Entertainment Hall

2ND FLOOR

You can see the stairs clearly, and the complicated architecture.

Personal Office Room

2nd Floor Layout in the main building for main family bedrooms

This is one of the rooms inside the main palace, the room I built following the traditional Chinese layout.

This might be the most complicated lot I have ever seen while playing the Sims (after Harry Potter's Hogwarts). The fact that all these details and rooms can fit into a 64 x 64 lot still left me wondering how long it takes to assemble all of this.

THE SECRET CHAMBER

There are 3 levels of basement, which leads to the secret chamber in the lowest level.

The original creator of this building created an amazing underground chamber. This space is definitely well thought-out and well put that it looks amazing. I imagine that this is the place where Wen Raohan does his demonic cultivation in the middle of the pond. The space is also facilitated with a nice onsen and a lot of other rooms.

The space consists of spa spaces, massage, another bedroom, and a beautiful underground garden.

Overall, Nightless City is the most impressive in terms of details and the most massive in terms of size. I didn't make a lot of changes for this build as it is already complicated and very heavy to play. LOL.

Of course, I put some customized elements like the Wen Sect's emblem rug on every strategic spot.

You can DM and message me to get the link to download the lot.

Happy Simming :)

#sims4 #sims4 mdzs build #sims 4 mdzs #mdzs #wensect #nightless city #weiwuxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the untamed #xiao zhan #wang yibo

[hangelbel]

Beijing, the vibrant capital of China, is a city steeped in rich history and culture, offering a plethora of tourist attractions that cater to every interest. Visitors staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing are in for a treat, as they are conveniently located near some of the city's most iconic landmarks and must-see destinations.

One of the top attractions near the Grand Hyatt Hotel is the legendary Forbidden City, a sprawling palace complex that served as the imperial palace for centuries. Visitors can explore the ornate halls, grand courtyards, and lush gardens of this UNESCO World Heritage site, gaining insight into China's imperial past.

Just a short distance from the Grand Hyatt is Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world and a symbolic heart of modern China. Here, visitors can see important sites such as the Monument to the People's Heroes and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, as well as take in the grandeur of the imposing Tiananmen Gate.

For those interested in Chinese art and culture, the nearby National Museum of China offers a treasure trove of artifacts spanning thousands of years of history. From ancient ceramics and scroll paintings to modern works of art, the museum provides a fascinating glimpse into China's diverse cultural heritage.

Nature lovers will also find plenty to enjoy near the Grand Hyatt Hotel, with the lush greenery of Jingshan Park just a short walk away. This peaceful oasis offers stunning views of the Forbidden City and a serene escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing provides the perfect opportunity to explore the city's top tourist attractions, from historic landmarks to cultural treasures, ensuring an unforgettable experience for visitors of all interests.

#hangelbel #hotels

[lingyunxiang]

Ms. Anne Shi Liu Xiuzhi, Chairman of the Bower Museum of America for six consecutive terms

The recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for Distinguished Immigrants (the highest honor award in the United States for the founding spirit of inclusive multicultural groups) has devoted himself to the museum business for 27 years, with his lifelong pursuit of "letting the world appreciate the beauty of Chinese culture."

Under her promotion, the Bower Museum has invited more than 350 experts and scholars from the Chinese cultural and museum circles to give lectures in the United States, and organized more than a dozen heavyweight Chinese cultural themed exhibitions. For example, the Forbidden City Treasures Exhibition toured five major cities in the United States for two and a half years and was very popular among the American people. Another example is the Xi'an Qin Terracotta Warriors exhibition, which attracted more than 500,000 visitors and was named one of the top ten museum exhibitions in the United States in 2008 by Time magazine. Another example is the China Five Thousand Years Exhibition, Empress Dowager Cixi’s Life in the Summer Palace Exhibition, Sanxingdui Jinsha Cultural Relics Exhibition, Xinjiang Cultural Relics Exhibition, “Snowy Land Collection” Tibetan Cultural Relics Exhibition, Tang Sancai Exhibition, Miao Silver Jewelry Exhibition, Qi Baishi’s Calligraphy, Painting and Seal Engraving Exhibition, “Guo Pei: A series of exhibitions such as "Beyond Fashion" and the "Feast of Costumes" also have their own characteristics and wide influence.

The Bower Museum (founded in 1936) located in Santa Ana, Orange County, California, USA, is like a gleaming "window on China", allowing more and more Americans to experience China up close. The breadth and depth of culture. The museum currently houses more than 100,000 pieces of cultural art from all over the world, and has been rated as one of the must-see museums by the American Association of Museums. In particular, the China Exhibition Hall, which displays the splendid Chinese culture, is second to none in California.

#Bower Museum #lingyun xiang

[thejackmeister-mongolhistory]

THE GREAT KHAN'S PALACE AT QARAQORUM

In Qaraqorum, the Mongol Imperial capital from the 1230s-60s, the Great Khan held his residence twice a year. First built by Ögedei Khan, and refurbished by Möngke, it was in a "Forbidden city," to the south of the main city of Qaraqorum, a separate, walled-off section which had numerous secondary structures and palaces for other members of the Altan Urag and their servants. The structure was known was the Qarshi to the Mongols (palace) and also by a Chinese name given to it, the Wanangong, Palace of Eternal Peace.

The Qarshi of Qaraqorum/Erdene Zuu monastery is the sqaure at the bottom of this topopgraphic map of the site

While the Qarshi is no longer extant, we have a fairly good understanding of its position and layout thanks to the numerous references and descriptions of it in Chinese, European and Islamic accounts, and comparisons to the sites of other 13th century Chinggisid palaces (like Kondui palace).

The Qarshi consisted of a central, main hall (often singled out in sources for its magnificence and height), flanked by two smaller halls ("naves", in William of Rubruck's eye-witness description, who compared the entire structure to a church). It was built by Chinese craftsmen and this layout matches certain Chinese palace designs, though modified for Chinggisid tastes. In the Orkhon Valley, Siberian larch along with local granite quarries were use in the city, and must have featured extensively on the palace. Labourers were brought in to make dried-bricks and kilns for roof tiles on-site for most of the rest of the construction.

With the abandonment of the city by the fifteenth century, the Qarshi fell into disrepair. By the late 1500s, the Erdene Zuu monastery, was constructed on the site of the palace, likely reusing what remained of usable building material. While Erdene Zuu differs in layout, it likely offers a clue to the orientation of the earlier structure

You can learn more about Qaraqorum's role in Mongolia's production networks in my latest video on nomadic blacksmithing:

#mongol empire #chinggis khan #genghis khan #Qaraqorum #karakorum #Youtube

[duhdumb89]

A Forbidden Happiness | Chapter 25

"Why is Jiayi spending so much time with Royal Grandmother?" Asked Yiqiang.

"Aiyo, what's that face for?" Asked Xiang gui ren, wiggling their clasped hands, "You're always complaining about Jiayi and ordering her around. Now that she's someone else's problem, you're jealous?"

"I'm not jealous! But Pi'er and Molan are too short and can't get kites into the air like Jiayi. And Bolin can't climb trees or catch frogs like Jiayi. I'm bored,"

Huahuan tugged on Xiang gui ren's other hand, "Xiang niangniang, wouldn't it be nice to see something at the Hall of Pleasant Sounds?"

Xiang gui ren glanced at her. It was like Yiqiang's voice went in one ear and out the other.

"It would be nice," she said before turning to back Yiqiang, "The Empress Dowager is giving Jiayi the honor to paint her portrait,"

Yiqiang's eyes furrowed, "But it only took Jiayi a few days for each of our portraits,"

"I've heard that the troupe just learned Peony Pavilion," said Huahuan, "We should ask if Royal Father wants to see it with us,"

"Huahuan, Xiang niangniang is talking to Yiqiang. Behave yourself," said De gui fei.

"Oh," Huahuan craned her head to the side and finally noticed her little brother.

De gui fei gave Xiang gui ren a worried smile. She couldn't ignore how Huahuan treated Yiqiang either. Xiang gui ren didn't know if it was better or worse that Huahuan wasn't malicious in her behavior. It was like Yiqiang was a painting or a servant. It never crossed Huahuan's mind that Yiqiang was a person, let alone her brother.

"Her Highness wants the sort of portrait you hang in the halls of the ancestors. It'll take some time," said Xiang gui ren.

"Oh," Yiqiang said as his shoulders slumped.

"Don't worry," said Molan, squeezing Yiqiang's shoulder, "Jiejie will be done in no time,"

"Meimei," De gui fei began after Huahuan and Yiqiang had gone to their lessons for the day, "I–"

"Don't apologize, jiejie,"

"No, I have to. Seeing Yiqiang, I'm filled with guilt. Even if I never said a word against him when Shu pin, I'm not better than those maids who let him get so sick. That's why Huahuan is treating him like this,"

"Jiejie," said Xiang gui ren, grabbing De gui fei's hand, "How much could you do? I heard His Majesty was so furious about that Shu pin person. You couldn't read minds. Who could've imagined how bold Yiqiang's old servants could be?"

De gui fei didn't look reassured by her words. Poor jiejie. There was always too much going on in that head of hers.

"Ow!" Xiang gui ren feigned pain and clutched the smooth ridges of the scar on her face.

De gui fei crowded close, "What's wrong? Are you hurt? I thought the doctors said you were in perfect health?"

Xiang gui ren tweaked De gui fei's nose and laughed at her outraged gasp. 

"I said not to worry, and all you do is worry! Aiyo, where is the gracious, virtuous goddess the gugu described so long ago?"

De gui fei's ears blushed, and she hurried away.

"Jiejie! I was joking!" Xiang gui ren said, running after her.

De gui fei wouldn't look at her but didn't shake her off when Xiang gui ren held her hand again.  Molan picked up Thunder as a mass of servants with carts of construction materials bowed to them.

"What's all that for?" Asked Xiang gui ren.

"It's that time of year for Shoukanggong* repairs," replied De gui fei.

"Shoukanggong?" Echoed Xiang gui ren, "Won't that disturb the other dowagers?"

"There aren't any other dowagers in the Forbidden City,"

"Didn't the late Emperor continue the selections until his death? All those girls couldn't have possibly died, "

"No," said De gui fei, "They exist, just not here. After the late Emperor's death, The Empress Dowager was...kind and let the other dowagers leave the forbidden city and live with their sons and daughters,"

"What if they had no children?"

"They live in the summer palace, or they were sent to temples,"

"That's allowed?"

"It wasn't, but The Empress Dowager has enough connections in court that it became allowed,"

Xiang gui ren snorted, "What? Does she think they'd form an army against her?"

De gui fei leaned in, "The Empress Dowager didn't make many friends on her journey to where she is today. Peace would not come easy with the other dowagers here,"

Serves the old bat right. What right did that old bitch have to be peaceful with how she was tormenting Jiayi? Jiayi returned from The Empress Dowager's palace stiff and drawn tight with tension each day. She refused to say anything about what The Empress Dowager was doing to her, only mumbling about the honor she was given.

"The Empress Dowager is The Empress Dowager," said Xiang gui ren, mouth sour,  "What could anyone do to her?"

"Someone like Dowager Noble Consort Ling? It–" De gui fei covered her mouth, "It's not good to speak about that,"

Dowager Noble Consort Ling? The Empress Dowager feared her so much that she cast her out of the Forbidden City? That was interesting.

De gui fei's face turned grave, "Meimei, there's something I need to talk to you about, privately,"

---

The surge of emotion that swirled through Xiang gui ren was hard to decipher. Did she want to laugh or cry? Maybe both?

"Jiejie, you're mistaken," she said in the privacy of De gui fei's rooms, "Jiayi could never be His Majesty's concubine,"

"It's no mistake. Ever since that first night, I've had people watching her. The Empress Dowager is telling her how she'll support Jiayi's family when she becomes a concubine and how quickly she can rise through the ranks with her talents. The Empress Dowager is plying her with gifts and silks,"

Xiang gui ren threw up her hands, "So what if she's doing all these things? Jiayi would never become His Majesty's woman. She can barely stand the sight of him,"

De gui fei pursed her lips, "Meimei, you're lucky. You fell in love with His Majesty, and he brought you here to live our the rest of your days. The rest of us? We're our family's greatest hope. Each maid and eunuch here is living for their parents and for their brothers and sisters.  Even if Jiayi wants no part of The Emperor, how can she say no when she has the chance to do so much for her family?"

"Even if Jiayi wanted to do this, why would His Majesty bother with her?"

"The Empress Dowager has timed His Majesty's visits during her painting sessions. His Majesty isn't a fool. He knows what The Empress Dowager is doing,"

Xiang gui ren bit her lip. This was bad. How would Jiayi live as His Majesty's concubine? What would she do when he flipped her tag? Jiayi would spend the rest of her days suffering for her family, crushed under a man who made her skin crawl. It was barbaric. It was the sort of thing she thought she left behind at the brothel. 

Xiang gui ren couldn't let it happen.

However...

Maybe Jiayi only hated His Majesty because she didn't know him the way Xiang gui ren knew him. It wouldn't be so bad then, would it? She wouldn't have such a hard time. If Jiayi made the right moves then His Majesty would treat her well. Jiayi would be a good mother, too. It wouldn't be all bad. They could still be close.

Xiang gui ren put Thunder in her lap and pet the dog's wrinkly little face, "Let's say–let's say Jiayi has become a concubine. If it made her happy, would it be that bad?"

"Have you lost your mind?" De gui fei whispered, "Of course, it would be bad. The Empress Dowager is Shen huang gui fei's most powerful backer. She'll steal Jiayi away from you in a second,"

"What does Shen huang gui fei have to do with any of this?"

Xiang gui ren felt dread pool in her stomach as De gui fei revealed Shen huang gui fei's true face. Xiang gui ren knew that the other woman wasn't honest with her intentions but, she could never have imagined what a murderous snake she was. 

"The Empress knows about this and says I shouldn't involve myself, but what good will that do?" said De gui fei, "His Majesty left Huabao in Mongolia. Of course, Shen huang gui fei will feel slighted. There's no telling how soon Jiayi will turn into another Wang Rong, if we let things go too far,"

Shen huang gui fei was going to turn Jiayi into another Jiang pin? Jiayi didn't have a jealous bone in her body. Besides her paints, Jiayi readily gave away almost everything. Jiayi made Thunder several little jackets out of the silks she was given on her birthday. If Pie'er even glanced at a piece of food, Jiayi would relinquish the whole plate. But what would happen if Jiayi was pushed too far? If her family was threatened? Would she decide that eliminating her former mistress was an end to her means?

---

While it felt like Jiayi had spent an eternity in The Empress Dowager's presence, each day felt as hard as the first. The Empress never stopped mentioning and updating her on Wei Jiayi's family. She'd even threatened to send Jiayi home to visit them for the new year. It was only through sheer force of will that her hands kept steady for The Empress Dowager's portrait. Jiayi spent every second in that palace waiting for the other shoe to drop. The ink sticks that Jiayi was using were like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was too bad she was never in the mood to appreciate them. 

Jiayi's mood blackened further when The Emperor stopped by which was happening more often than not. Jerjer gugu or The Empress Dowager were always finding something fascinating in the painting that His Majesty just had to see up close. Jiayi's shoulders ached with how hard she forced herself not to lean away when the man hovered over her shoulder. When The Empress Dowager concluded the sessions, she would give Jiayi an incredibly decadent piece of jewelry. A ring, another bangle, earrings, what have it. Each day, The Empress Dowager personally pressed them into Jiayi's hands.

Today, it was a gold ring with a piece of imperial jade the size of a quail's egg. The ring band was so covered in kingfisher feather's it almost looked completely blue. Jiayi slipped the ring off her finger. She walked to the same alcove Prince Han caught her with The Empress Dowager's first gift many weeks ago. These days, Prince Han was usually there, waiting for her. Each time, Prince Han would look at The Empress Dowager's gift and say it was inappropriate for a maid of such low standing to have and relieve her of it. Jiayi didn't know when it happened, but she found herself looking forward to it the most. 

At the start, all Jiayi could do was thank him and return to Xiang gui ren as quickly as possible. As the days went on, her and Prince Han's conversations became longer and longer. Prince Han asked after Xiang gui ren and Yiqiang and Jiayi asked after Prince Han's health. Soon, the conversations became less stilted, less polite, and more filled with quiet smiles.

Jiayi knew men and women weren't supposed to be alone like this, but Sang'er was there, so they weren't doing anything wrong. Prince Han was her friend. She stared down at the ring and smiled. Jiayi wondered what Prince Han would say about it.

"Uglier than usual,"

"Matches the original owner perfectly, don't you think?"

A shadow stretched over the corner. Jaiyi's heart began to race.

"Jiayi!"

Sixth Prince shot around the corner and barreled into Jiayi's legs, Prince Han behind him. Sang'er struggled to hold an excited Thunder in his hands, who eventually squirmed away and began to paw at Jiayi's skirts.

"Sixth Prince, what are you doing here?"

Sang'er tightened his grip on the kites and toys in his hands, "Sixth Prince missed you so much that Xiang gui ren asked that Prince Han bring him to you to fly kites in the Imperial Garden,"

"I didn't miss her!" Sixth Prince said, glaring at Sang'er, "Only Jiayi knows how to get the kites out from the trees. And I wanted to show you all the tricks that Thunder learned,"

"Sixth Prince I–"

"Xiang niangniang already said you could!" Sixth Prince interrupted.

Jiayi smiled and fixed the collar of his cape, "Alright,"

Sixth Prince yelped as Thunder nipped at his ankles before running off.

"Little rat!" He said, scampering after her.

"Sixth Prince!" Sang'er yelled, running behind him, "Be careful! Slow down!"

Prince Han didn't spare her a glance and walked past her. Any manner of servant could see them, so it was only proper that Prince Han walk in front of her and that Jiayi trail after him, head bowed. It did sting a bit.

"No reward today?"

Jiayi caught Prince Han's eye as he snuck a glance at her.

"A ring," she whispered, "Heavy enough to break your finger,"

"Let me see,"

Jiayi smothered her smile and pressed the ring in the open hand behind Prince Han's back when the coast was clear. Her cheeks tingled as their fingers touched.

---

Jiayi's cheeks were still sore from smiling late into the night. Prince Han was in fine form that afternoon, wrestling and running after Sixth Prince, who was tucked away in bed. Jiayi's mood was even more brightened by the fact that it was mid-month, so she was free of The Emperor's presence for the night.

As the nights grew colder, Xiang gui ren spent evenings in De gui fei's rooms. The Emperor favored Xiang gui ren but found it too far to give her the same long burning coals that higher-ranked mistresses were granted. Jiayi set down a fresh cup of tea by De gui fei and then Xiang gui ren's elbow.

"Your Highness, mistress, won't you have some tea to warm your hands?"

De gui fei glanced up at her, a peculiar look in her eye.

Xiang gui ren sighed and slapped her cards on the table, "I might as well. Jiejie is too good at this game. Lucky for me, we were playing for fun. One wrong move, and I'd have to wear your clothes back to my room!"

She took a big gulp and hummed, "That reminds me! Hupo," Xiang gui ren said, calling for De gui fei's maid, "Bring the list jiejie and I were working on today,"

"Withdraw," ordered De gui fei after taking the papers.

"Now," said Xiang gui ren, leaning over De gui fei's shoulder, "What do you think of Ying as in clever, as a name?"

Jiayi blinked when she realized Xiang gui ren was talking to her, "Ying? It's very pretty,"

"Qiao would fit her better, in my opinion," De gui fei said, her voice brittle.

Xiang gui ren scrunched her nose up, "No, no, no! Aspiring? I don't like it. I want something prettier for Jiayi,"

"For me?" Said Jiayi.

Did one of The Emperor's new women share a name with her? Jiayi would've preferred to be called A'Yi, instead of being called something completely new, but she hadn't much choice.

"Of course for you! His Majesty will probably have the Department of Internal Affairs pick a name for you, but they have no taste. Jiejie and I will pick something lovely and tell His Majesty for you,"

Jiayi was becoming increasingly confused with each sentence that came out of her mistress' mouth. Why would The Emperor or the Department of Internal Affairs have anything to do with her new name?

De gui fei picked up her tea, "I told meimei that first-class attendants aren't given honorary titles, but she was just so happy for you,"

"I don't understand what you mean, Your Highness," said Jiayi.

Xiang gui ren laughed, "Look at her still playing dumb! Jiayi, we already know. His Majesty is planning to make you his woman,"

–––––––– * Palace of Longevity and Good Health

#wattpad writer #wattpad #historical #perioddrama #ruyi's royal love in the palace #qing dynasty #WIP #writing #writer #chinese novel #cdrama #booklr #work in process #writeblr #empresses in the palace #costume drama #historical fiction #the forbidden city #web novel #a forbidden happiness

[rafor]

Chapter 66 - Past and Future - The Glitch

As the king, I had a daunting task ahead of me. I had to travel across the lands, spreading the news of the calamity that befell our kingdom and that of the Crashing Thunder. A good portion of their people perished, and their defenses were weakened. Many dragonesses were left without their mates, and chaos threatened to engulf them. I also had to visit the kingdom of Aura, a place I had not seen in a long time. It was a bitter journey, but a necessary one.

The kingdom of Aura was a shadow of its former glory. The academy that trained the guardians was in decline. The students lacked discipline and skill, and the teachers seemed weary and hopeless. The temple, where the guardians used to worship and train, was deserted and dusty. I felt a pang of nostalgia as I entered the sacred hall. It had not changed at all, but it reminded me of all the meetings that had been held there. Generations of guardians, elemental dragons who could wield any power, had devoted their lives to protecting Aura and its ideals. They were heroes in their own right, but they also acted as judges and executioners when needed. Their sense of justice was relative to Aura’s interests and sometimes clashed with other kingdoms.

The city around the temple was not as bad as I had heard. People still went about their business, trading, chatting, and laughing. I blended in easily as a shadow dragon, changing my appearance as needed. No one tried to kill me or capture me, unlike in the Griffin Kingdom, where I had a close encounter with death. Then, at the Kingdom of the Crashing Thunder, I also met Taranis, the Thunder Guardian dragon, for some reason. He recognized me somehow, even though I looked nothing like before.

“You’re a shapeshifter and a multi-elemental creature?” he asked me.

“Dragon, sir. Multi-elemental dragon and probably a shapeshifter. Why do you ask?” I replied.

“What’s your name?” he pressed.

“I’m Nox. And you must be Taranis, right?” I said.

He chuckled. “I never told you my name. What’s your real name?”

I realized I had made a mistake and exposed myself. But there was no point in hiding anymore. So I told him the truth.

“Well, we’ve met before. You might remember me as Raphael, but I didn’t look like this back then.”

He nodded. “I see. You’ve changed a lot. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing well, thank you. And you?” I asked.

He proceeded to tell me about his life after my disappearance, his views on the evolution of life, and many other things that bored me to tears. He was surprisingly talkative for someone who had been mainly a quiet guardian for so long. I had to cut him off somehow, so I interrupted him politely.

“That’s very interesting, Taranis, but maybe I could also share some of my stories with you? I’m sure you’ll find them entertaining. It’s one adventure after another.”

He agreed and listened attentively to what I had to say.

I recounted to him the events that had shaped my life: the aftermath of the incovenience at the forbidden fallen kingdom of the wyverns. My capture and escape led me to meet Freya, who offered me a new life. The series of misfortunes and miracles that led me to the palace multiple times. The blossoming of our love and the tragedy of my death after a duel. The journey to the Bright City, where he interrupted me with curious questions. The reunion with my family and the return of Akira and Fyrenthos, the Sunflares. The accidental encounter with Erebus, the Shadow Dragon Guardian. The horrors of the Earth Dragons and the wonders of the Water Dragons. The first visit to the kingdom of the crashing thunder and the unexpected glitch with the portal that sent me back to Erebus and his spell that gave me a new chance. The discovery of an underwater tunnel under a waterfall, where I learned more about the water dragons’ history, and finally, my comeback to my kingdom.

As I spoke, I realized how much I had lived in less than thirty years. It was a lot for a dragon. Most of them would stay in one place for centuries, living a simple and boring life, until they felt the urge to change. But I was different. My mind was restless. Every day was a new adventure, and every year was precious. Despite my youthful appearance, I always felt that one day I would miss this.

He looked at me with a strange expression after I finished speaking. “You know, you have a lot in common with someone I once knew,” he said. “Who?” I asked, curious. “The elder brother of Erebus. He was somewhat like you.” I was surprised. “Erebus had a brother? I never heard of him.” He nodded. “He does. He’s still alive. But you’re better off not meeting him. He’s not a kind-hearted shadow dragon like Erebus. He’s a visionary, always plotting something in his dark mind. I don’t know what he’s up to these days. It’s been ages since I last saw him.” I wanted to know more about this mysterious brother, but he refused to say anything else.

My journey took me to the kingdom of the griffins, where I had the opportunity to reunite with Calida. She was one of the first friends I made in this world, and she taught me how to use the portals that connected the different kingdoms. As I revealed my true form as a human, I was greeted with joy and astonishment by the queen, who still remembered me. Calida and Mira, another griffin I had met briefly before, eagerly plucked a feather from my angelic wings as a souvenir. I felt a surge of happiness and nostalgia mixed with confusion. Why were they all so kind to me? What did I do to deserve their affection?

I explained to Calida the glitch that had occurred with the portal, changing my form and locking my powers. She frowned and said she had never heard of such a thing before. She was the expert on the portals, and she was supposed to know everything about them. She promised to look into it and see if she could find out what had gone wrong. My visit to the kingdom of the griffins was brief but pleasant. I did not stay for the night, but I enjoyed a feast with them and listened to their stories. As I was walking around the city, I saw a familiar face that made me tense up. It was Fulgor, the gray griffin who had attacked me years ago. Well, his sons did. He looked at me and nodded politely. “Good evening, Raphael,” he said calmly and walked away. I was stunned. Where was his hatred? His malice? His arrogance? I asked Calida, Astra Rhrea, the Queen, and Mira about him. They told me that he had been captured and imprisoned for several years, but he had been released and rehabilitated. He had shown remorse for his actions and had helped in the development of the kingdom. No one knew why he had done what he did or why his nephews had joined him in his aggression. But they had stopped their attacks and had disappeared from sight.

I left the kingdom of the griffins with a heavy heart. I had many questions and few answers. I transformed into an eagle and flew across the sky, heading back to my own kingdom. I soared high above the clouds, avoiding any danger or distraction. At one point, I experimented with turning myself into a cloud of fire, which I had done accidentally before. It was a fast way to travel, but it also made me dizzy and nauseous. I decided to stick to my eagle form until I reached my destination.

I returned to my kingdom at dusk, the hour when Solara and Freya usually meet for their evening flight. I followed them stealthily and joined them without a sound, smirking at their startled expressions. They stared at me in disbelief, then blinked twice, and then Freya exclaimed, “Oh Nox, you’re back! I’ve missed you so much.” I wrapped my wing around her and said, “I’ve missed you too, my love.” She peppered me with questions about my journey. I recounted my adventures in every kingdom, sparing no detail, even the ones that delayed my arrival by a few days. She listened with rapt attention and said, “You have to take me there someday. It’s been ages since I last visited those lands.” I smiled and said, “How about our wedding anniversary? I’ll show you the wonders of the world.” She laughed and said, “That sounds wonderful. Thank you.”

Solara interrupted our tender moment with a remark that had nothing to do with our conversation. She said, “I see you’ve grown fond of being an eagle like me, haven’t you?” I looked at her and said, “It’s a great way to travel. I feel like I could soar forever like this.” She nodded and said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I chuckled and said, “More like a maybe. I wouldn’t want to live like this forever, but if I had to be stuck in this form again, I wouldn’t mind it too much.” Freya looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, “What? You’d rather be an eagle than a dragon?” I shook my head and said, “Of course not. You know how much I sacrificed to regain my shapeshifting ability so I could be a dragon again, like you.” She smiled and snuggled closer to me. We flew for a while longer, enjoying the night breeze. A couple of hours felt like nothing compared to the days I had spent in the air. Then we headed back to the palace, where I resumed my dragon form and collapsed into bed. Freya cuddled up to me and said, “You have to tell me your story again tomorrow.” I kissed her forehead and said, “I will. And maybe I’ll write a book about it too. You know, so it won’t be forgotten. Maybe a tale for our future legacy.”

She gazed at me with a hopeful smile and asked, “You’re really looking forward to the future, aren’t you?” I smiled back and said, “Who knows? The future is full of surprises, but I know I want to share it with you.” I tried to sound romantic, hoping she would appreciate my sincerity. She leaned in closer and whispered, “Then show me how much you want me.” She puckered her lips, ready for a kiss, but just as I was about to oblige, a flash of memory jolted me. I saw Siveth’s face, her scaly skin, her sharp teeth, and her cold eyes. I jerked away from Freya, feeling a surge of nausea. She looked at me with confusion and concern. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Did I do something to upset you?” she asked. I shook my head and said, “No, no, it’s not you. It’s just... I don’t know if I can kiss anyone anymore.” She frowned and said, “What? Why not? Am I a bad kisser?” I said, “No, of course not. You’re amazing. It’s just… something happened to me. Something I don’t want to talk about. I’m sorry. Maybe we could just cuddle?” She reached out and touched my cheek gently. “Hey, you can trust me. Whatever it is, I won’t judge you or tell anyone else. Please, let me help you.” I sighed and said, “Okay, but promise me you won’t take it personally. It has nothing to do with you or us. It happened before I came back to the kingdom to repel the attack.” I paused and looked into her beautiful eyes. She nodded and said, “I promise. Go on.” I took a deep breath and chose my words carefully. “I was exploring the river in the jungle in the form of a Water dragon. I didn’t have Erebus’s permission, but I was curious and restless. I found a waterfall and dove into its depths. Siveth followed me. When we were deep underwater, she ran out of air and started to drown. I tried to bring her back to the surface, but it was too late.” I stopped and swallowed hard. She said softly, “That sounds terrible. But how does that affect your ability to kiss? Did you shapeshift and carry her out?” I continued the story: “I couldn’t shapeshift because of Erebus’s recent spell. If I did, I would have risked losing all my energy and drowning myself. So I did the only thing I could think of: I gave her some oxygen from my mouth. As a Water dragon, I had that ability.” She raised her scaly eyebrows and said, “You mean you... oh, wow. That must have been awkward.” I said grimly, “That’s an understatement. It gets worse. When she woke up, she tried to kiss me back. And she was awful at it. She must have planned this all along. She trapped me underwater in a long and disgusting kiss that felt like torture. You have no idea how big she is compared to me in that form. It makes me sick just thinking about it.” She said sympathetically, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But you know what? That was Siveth, not me. I’m Freya, and you always loved my kisses.” I said weakly, “Yeah, I did love them. But… I still can’t get over what she did to me.”

She pulled me close and whispered, “I’ll be your remedy. Come here,” and we kissed. She was soft and sweet, and I felt a surge of relief. I had moved on from the past. As we deepened our embrace, I heard a faint giggle, and I said, “Did you hear that?” She asked, “What?” I said, “Someone laughed, and it sounded like it was here.” She glanced around and said, “There’s no one here but us, and no one laughed. Did my kiss make you hallucinate?” I wondered if she was right, but then I heard another laugh, and I said, “Wait, you still didn’t hear that?” She said, “No, you’re going insane maybe, ahaha.” Then I realized who it was. I recognized that voice. It was Luna’s voice, our daughter’s voice, and the first one was Juno’s voice. They knew how to make a vision connection. I snapped out of it and said, “Who is making a vision connection with me?” There was silence—total silence. Then I said sternly, “You better tell me or I’ll find out by myself and there will be terrible consequences.” They revealed themselves, laughing nervously. "Sorry, dad, it was us. You caught us. Juno and Luna.” I said, “Why are you laughing?” They went silent again. Then they said sheepishly, “We may have done something bad, but you’re going to kill us if we tell you.” I guessed and said loudly so Freya could hear, “You were spying on us?” and I shared the vision connection with Freya too, making her join our conversation. They laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, we may have been. We heard you laughing from a distance and got curious. But dad, did you really kiss someone other than mom?” I felt my face turn red, even if that wasn't just possible; scales don't change colors. Freya looked embarrassed too. I said defensively, “I didn’t kiss anyone else other than mom.” But Luna said teasingly, “But you just said that you kissed a Siveth. I think that’s what they’re called. An Earth dragon maybe? I never saw one for real. They say they’re big, dangerous, and great lovers.” I replied firmly, “Enough. No, they’re not great lovers. They’re just big and dangerous. An Earth dragon that sees you won't hesitate to make you their breakfast.” I said that, hoping to scare them a little bit, even if that’s not something a father should do. They took it as a challenge instead. Luna said bravely, “First they’ve got to catch us,” and Juno added confidently, “And I’d kick her face if she ever tried to catch me.” Freya started laughing too, and I felt outnumbered. So I tried to regain control of the conversation and said seriously, “Stop laughing. This is not funny.” They didn’t stop, so I added threateningly, “If you don’t stop, I’ll shapeshift into an earth dragon, and we’ll see how brave you are then.” There was a moment of silence, then Freya said nervously, "Ok, that’s a bit scary now.” I winked at her and gestured for her to relax. I was joking, of course, but Juno and Luna started laughing again. They said mockingly, "Oh, we’d love to see that. Come on, we’re waiting, ahah.” I replied playfully, “Alright, then get ready,” and I broke the vision connection, blocking them out. Then I said softly to Freya, “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry. I’ll just show them what an Earth dragon can do. Like a game.” She chuckled and then said, “I know. Go ahead and be an example and scold them for me too. After all, we’ve both been victims of Earth dragons. Ahah” I was about to burst out laughing, then I got out of bed and went on with my plan.

#chapter #dragon #dragons #elements #fantasy #literature #mystery #story #poetry #adventure #the_glitch #the rise and fall of raphael