#↺ — ꜰɪʟᴇᴅ: hyein01.

[secondeve]

CUPID DE LOCKE, ft @time222pretend:

(...) as it stands right now, they sit alone at their table with no one paying them much if any mind. after all, what's the importance of women if a man isn't around to take notice? hyein sighs and begins to speak more plainly. "is this a call out of duty or because the royal family is ignoring their demure little princess?" cocking her head to the side, she smiles again at jieum a little more warmly this time than before, "i'm safe in assuming it's the latter?"

it's the names that divide them. yang, shin⏤better, worse. and park⏤best.

so she's supposed to have won. jieum thinks she has, until the cards flip open on the table and she's left with a bad beat and empty table settings at a funeral. maybe she ought to be grateful that she's got a seat at the table at all, but that's not much of a consolation prize when she'd wanted the crown.

she's used to settling for second best, second founding family. yang hyein sits alone at a table, second in ways different from her but first in all the ones that matter. all except the most important way, and it sits on jieum's ring finger, resized to fit.

so, settling means it's better to be sitting with someone than alone at the best table. her eyes glance over at the room where nam chunja's casket sits, the recipient of the biggest honour for the next three days. she doesn't make a quip about the old woman, because she's not that kind of girl, only thinks of it inside and doesn't let it leave the confines of her teeth. "oh, no, you looked like you needed company."

lord knows that she does. jieum doesn't bother acknowledging the truth in hyein's follow up, simply sliding her gaze over the other woman when her words turn sharp, out of earshot from the people who mean something. "did you expect the former?"

she's used to being overlooked. it would almost be easier, if not for the fact that jieum thinks she's owed so much more than that. but that's no matter⏤she's going to get her flowers, one way or another. starting with the soil they grow on.

she leans in to speak, like they're equals. they're sitting at the same table. but hyein has the yang land on her hands, and jieum has open palms. returns the smile sent her way, the curve of her eyes that go along the horizon of goero's land. "there isn't anywhere else to go, is there?"