Nursing your wounds.

"You called for me, Crowned Head?" Soojin speaks out, walking into the waiting tent, watching Yun Ki stand up from his seat as soon as he sees her waft in.

Soojin's eyes read no emotion.

Almost as though she was an extraterrestrial being, with no trace of humanity.

They're pitch black, cold and Yun Ki feels a sense of alienation as he watches her look at him with no expressions.

Now that was a little suspicious.

The thing about Yun Ki was, he was good at reading people.

He took pride in his ability to catch onto vibes, process whether they exuded positivity or not.

His gut feeling, which he'd call his intuition, was rather strong.

He believed that decisions made by the gut, were never wrong.

To him, Soojin was everything his crumpling world needed.

Stability, unadulterated innocence and mercy.

Those were the three virtues Yun Ki's aching soul was in dire need of.

Soojin was just, different.

In Yun Ki's eyes, she embodied the spirit of something so valued and precious, dainty fingers as his own, could stain her soul.

Precisely why he was so hell bent on having her preserved, as though she was made of wax- timeless and yet easily moulded.

He hated how easily she could get manipulated if one tried.

He'd have to tighten reins around her, of course.

She lit up the room when she walked in.

She had the gentlest gestures and well, when she wasn't being openly sarcastic or insubordinate, getting to sit by her side and soak in the positivity she exuded like an endless fountain, Yun Ki felt the creases on his forehead clear up.

He was well aware of how he'd thrusted upon her a relationship that had left her broken and shattered, much like a mirror who's shards would pierce through your skin every time you tried to fix it.

However, he also knew that Soojin was the only one who could prevent him from collapsing under the trials and tribulations he'd created for himself.

His Father had taught him that company played an integral role in how one shaped out to be and being around Soojin could perhaps move him to be a better version of himself.

Or so he'd been hoping.

Facts aside, Soojin was exuding a vibe unlike hers for the past few days and Yun Ki was under the impression that perhaps, he was reading too much into it but that wasn't the case.

How could he be getting mixed energies from her end, repeatedly?

Walking towards her, he bows before her respectfully and she returns the courtesy.

He scans her face, form the glabella on her forehead to the mental protuberance.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face, Sire?" Soojin asks, reaching a hand up to her forehead and running the pads of her fingers worriedly over her cheeks before Yun Ki grasps her wrist, gently.

She would wipe away the blush she'd applied.

"N-No, nothing. Y-You look graceful." He replies and before he can process what he's said, his eyes go wide much like Soojin's.

"—I uh-uh mean, you look like a Queen." He stutters, nervously.

Soojin grasps Yun Ki's hand over her own wrist, lightly.

"I suppose so, Your Majesty. You'd summoned me for a reason?" She questions, getting down to business.

Yun Ki watches his grasp loosen as he lets go of her.

"Well, I have news. Hear me out, The King of Silkim knows about us." Yun Ki explains, a white bandaging wrapped around his thumb, rouge staining its outer coating.

"What does he know?" Soojin asks, eyeing the wound that lies poorly wrapped around.

"He knows we're in an unconsummated marriage. I'm afraid he'll let this slip to his Kingdom and you know how tittle-tattles spread past the masses. Baekmin does not need a scandal right now. Not at the hands of their enemy Kingdom, in the least." Yun Ki says, pacing before Soojin as low cheers are heard from outside the tent, the mob enjoying the dance being arranged by The Concubines.

They were in fact, quite the entertainers.

"What do you need me to do?" She asks, eyes trained on the blood that seeps past the tight bandaging.

"Play by my rules, Soojin. Play the doting wife. Don't give him a chance to suspect us or our motives. For once, be my lawfully wedded wife and grant me the pride of having one up on that scoundrel, Min Hyuk." Yun Ki speaks, clenching his wounded palm, tightly.

"Your Majesty, you're bleeding terribly.." Soojin gasps, grabbing onto his hand and watching blood percolate past the wound down to his inner palm.

"Ah yes, it's a cut. It'll heal soon.." Yun Ki looks at his own wound, seeming unbothered.

Soojin however, grasps his wrist and pulls him with her to the reservoir at the end of the waiting room.

"H-How could you be so irresponsible? It'd get infected and you'd have to get it amputated.."

Undoing the messily done bandaging Soojin discards the blood stained linen.

"-And who dressed your wound so filthily? Were they trying to cut off your blood supply?" She questions, raising his hand closer other eyes to inspect the laceration.

Truth be told, Yun Ki often nursed his own wounds.

He didn't like looking vulnerable before others.

"It's so deep. What happened?" She asks, dipping his hands into the cold water in the reservoir that'd now need to be discarded.

"Uh, I cut myself." Yun Ki utters, staring at her side profile, eyes furrowed in tension and lips pouty.

How could he tell her he had gashed his one hand on the blade of the knife to try and make a statement?

How could he tell her this when she was looking nothing short of an angel who'd descended on Earth just to tend to a tiny cut on his nimble thumb?

"How will you hold the reigns now?" She asks, lifting his hand from under the water and pressing down over the wound to promote the clotting.

"I'll mana—aaah!!" Yun Ki exclaims and flinches with her tight pressure over his sensitive cut.

Soojin's eyes soften and she retrieves the pressure over his thumb, watching his digits turn back red.

She��d realised how she'd portrayed her vulnerabilities of seeing someone in pain, before him.

Yun Ki stares at her devotion, however.

He'd never been tended to, unless there was a favour of sorts involved.

He'd never been cradled.

A part of his, the innocent child-like wonder of his, was being nurtured by Sooji as she played the dutiful wife.

Just as Yun Ki is about to say something, the doors of his tent open wide, allowing a rather sweaty and panting Areum to walk in, causing both Yun Ki and Soojin's trance to break and eyes to meet the invader.

"Did I, Did I perhaps disturb something?" Areum asks, sweat covering her forehead and matted strands sticking to her cheeks.

Soojin lets go of Yun Ki's injured hand, washing her own blood covered fingers under the reservoir before Areum walks to Yun Ki.

"You haven't disturbed a thing, he's all yours.." Soojin speaks, wringing her hands dry and making a beeline for the exit.

Yun Ki's desperate eyes watch over her leaving in a rush and he wishes he could ask her to stay by his side.

That's until Areum is gasping out loud and coddling his hand in hers.

She's bringing his thumb to her lips and yet he wishes they were someone else's lips.

Maybe the lips of the one who'd shown a tinge of concern upon seeing his blood.

Yun Ki had been injured far too many times.

Hell, he had a 3 inch scar across his eye.

A tiny cut over his thumb was no big a deal to him.

Yun Ki looks over at Areum, who's looking at him with love and dedication and yet, she's not the one he wants.

He releases his palm from her hands and nudges past her, following the woman of his dreams, who was supposedly giving him a rather hard time.