𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.

it is with a heavy heart that she enters the zhao estate; for several reasons. the main one being that it has been quite a while since she’d last seen jian and the last time she’s been, she found out about her best friend‘s declining health.

it doesn’t take long for them to lead her to him. he doesn’t look good. she’s so used to see him all self-satisfied, posing as strong. it’s like he’s not even trying to do that anymore. it’s unsettling.

she only nods when he apologises — she’s heard it before, many times. the words barely carry any meaning anymore, for if you say something often enough … it doesn’t matter anymore. sarang lets jian hug her but her arms hang limp by her side. she still hasn’t spoken a word and she doesn’t what to say.

when he tells her about everything that had transpired between him and fire lord sado, sarang‘s eyes grow wide. suddenly, everything about the way he’s acted just now make sense, the pieces falling right into place. “you did what?” she nearly laughs from sheer surprise. she would’ve never expected jian to follow through with his seemingly empty promises.

her expression is unreadable, she supposes. it must be something between bewilderment, confusion and admiration. he continues to speak and she listens intently, brows furrowing at his final words. she wants to thank him properly, but her tongue betrays her. she’s never been good at verbalising her emotions.

so, instead of trying to pull together senseless words that wouldn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, sarang pushes up onto her tiptoes and clumsily holds onto his face to connect their lips, for the first time in many, many years. it’s shaky, wobbly and not at all like in the romance novels she likes to read but it makes her heart beat faster all the same.

by now, haneul is used to seeing people of high rank attending his performances - with ticket prices getting more and more expensive with each passing year, commoners are less and less likely to attend his shows, and their seats are slowly but surely being filled by people of noble status.

it's not a bad development, per se, but when the nobility come to see him after his shows, he can't help but be a little surprised at himself, especially when it's royalty that requests an audience with him.

pride wells up in his chest when princess yuri herself compliments him so openly, for all to hear. her public approval of him would surely do him some good - not that he needs it.

"your grace," he replies with a polite and sincere bow. "i'm glad you took time out of your busy schedule to hear me sing. i'm honoured." their paths have crossed a few times over the past few years, he realises. still, it's a pleasant surprise every time she seeks him out to offer a few kind words.

whether they're genuine or not… that's something he'd rather not know.

haneul is a master of entertaining - that's what everyone has been saying for as long as he can remember. first his mother, then his brother, then the public … and yet he somehow finds it difficult to entertain guests in his own home.

he couldn't have left his brother's visitor waiting alone or with the servants, could he? that wouldn't have been very ... noble of him. though, struggling to make his stay more comfortable like this probably doesn't make it any easier for suguru, either. judging by his stoic expression, he probably wishes he was anywhere else but here - but maybe that's just his face.

after all, it's not like they know each other all that well.

having made sure that they are served fresh tea as well as a wide assortment of biscuits, haneul sits across from the other man, watching his every move like a hawk. he wouldn't want a guest to leave without eating at least one pastry. so he pushes the tray closer to suguru as a silent invitation.

"i apologise on behalf of my little brother," he says for the thousandth time, smiling apologetically. "it's not like him not to be there after inviting someone." unless suguru had invited himself? anyway, it's not his place to ask.

haneul is less than pleased once he finds himself in front of the establishment yiseon wanted to meet him at. he doesn’t do places like this one … and yet he couldn’t seem to say no once his friend asked him to come along.

frankly, there’s next to nothing he would ever decline when it comes to his best friend.

his best friend who he hasn’t seen in quite a bit — how could he, with everything that has transpired just a few weeks ago? everyone is still shaken up after what happened to house bae. he’s not even sure everyone’s returned from the spirit world. but that’s not something haneul wants to ponder about now.

once he enters, he is hit with the strong smell of alcohol. immediately, his face twists into a displeased frown. he spares a glance at the people frequenting the tavern and comes to the conclusion that yiseon wasn’t entirely truthful when he mentioned the good-looking military staff. there was hardly anyone who looked above average. typical!

“greetings,” he replies with a less sour face and makes his way through the small crowd. haneul might be happy to see yiseon but he doesn’t want him to know — he’d rather he see how displeased he is with their surroundings.

if this meeting had taken place years ago, sarang wouldn't have been able to keep her composure as well as she does now. there's still that lingering feeling of anger bubbling under her skin, threatening to seep out through her pores, but she keeps it all in check.

her face always betrays her, so she doesn't try to put on a poker face. her contempt is painted all over her face for everyone to see. and frankly, she doesn't care if people know she hates the woman in front of her.

she rolls her eyes at yeongja's tone; she sounds obsessed. "i've always done what i want, not what i've been told. autonomy over oneself is probably a foreign concept to you - i'm sorry for that. the only reason i'm not on lord zhao's arm is because i don't want to be." it's only half true, but she doesn't need to let yeongja know. speaking of jian, sarang wonders where he's gone. it's a good thing he doesn't have the nerve to approach her with the literal devil at his side, though.

bored, haneul watches the happenings unfold in front of him. frankly, he’s not too interested in the court’s politics and he doesn’t really want to know about what’s going to happen after house bae mysteriously vanished into the spirit world. he’d hardly known them anyway and judging by the fire lord’s words, it seems like they dug their own grave.

with everyone gasping and mumbling around him, it’s hard to concentrate anyway. so he doesn’t.

his eyes scan the crowd for familiar faces, trying to see their reactions. most look alarmed but many of them seem just as disinterested as he is. some even appear to be crying — must have been close to the baes, he supposes.

a tug on his garments distracts him from the scenery, capturing his attention. once he realises that it’s yunxia, he smiles gently and helps her get the tassel off himself. “my lady,” haneul greets her formally and quietly, as to not draw attention to himself.

sarang lets herself sink into the embrace easily — faintly in the very back of her mind, she wonders when they had last hugged but in this moment, it seems stupid to think of something so unimportant. like that, she can’t find it in herself to speak for quite a bit. it’s so awfully unlike her, normally jiyu is never able to shut her up.

it’s fine he says but sarang only shakes her head in response, tightening her grip on his garments until her knuckles turn white. “no!” she hiccups, “nothing is fine! yerim almost died! hyeju almost died! you almost died!” she’s staying the obvious but she can’t help herself. sarang has been alone with her thoughts for way too long at this point, having made up worst case scenarios during every second of every day that has passed since the catastrophe.

“just — what would i have done if you didn’t come back?” the question hangs heavy in the air. many times she has thought about the prospect of jiyu falling in battle but it has always felt so … far away. like it’s nothing she should worry about just yet. now that she’s got a taste of what it’s like to worry about her best friend, she doesn’t think she can stomach the thought of him going back out to sea.

the first few days spent at the bae estate are nothing short of sarang‘s personal hell: she is not allowed to do anything or speak to anyone for what feels like years. never mind the fact it’s only been a day or two. she’s got away without as much as a single scratch which she should be happy about it but it only gives her more time to think about the events that had happened.

sarang had been outside when it all went down, alas she has no idea what actually happened. she’s tried to talk to servants, anyone, but no one wants to tell her anything.

at least not until today.

when she wakes up that morning, she is finally told that there is someone that would like to speak with her. still, sarang wouldn’t have expected it to be her brother out of all people.

sarang flinches a bit at the younger woman’s touch. it came unexpected and it was certainly rougher than she’s used to. not even her older siblings handle her with such brute force. she finds herself thankful that all she used to do when she was younger was push sarang around a little bit. even with their difference in age, sarang wouldn’t have stood a single chance against the youngest zhao.

sarang silently comes to settle on the fact that she would like to see her older sister with a sweetheart. she would deserve it; even if she thinks that they aren’t really allowed the luxury of a fun fling at the moment. or ever, really.

hyeju pulls her out of her dreamland in an instant. “pardon me?” she speaks, but it’s only out of reflex. of course she knows full well that hyeju is talking about the letters that have recently passed between the seok and the zhao estate — and she surely doesn’t mean the ones addressed to lord jiyu.

sarang scowls when she realises that hyungjun is shielding his hand of cards from her not-so-sneaky gaze. they’ve done this countless times before. every time she tries to sneak a peak and every time she is shut down. at this point it’s not even about who wins the game, it’s more about who manages to secure second place. all three know jiyu is the one to win every single game every time, no matter the circumstances.

“pardon me?” sarang raises her eyebrows at her friend. she’s heard about chanyul holding some sort of ceremony to determine his next spouse to be but she hardly even considered showing up herself. “i thought you would’ve known me better by now, really.” she draws another card to distract from herself for just a moment. “i would rather drink poison than marry a yi.” she declares, quiet enough to not be overheard through the walls of the establishment but loud enough to make a point.

haneul only laughs at jiyu’s remark. “how do you know i have enough free time to indulge in other artists’ music? you know i spend every free minute of my day caring about my own craft.” frankly, it has been a little bit since he’s last composed a song but jiyu doesn’t need to know his mind has been pre-occupied with other things. he can probably guess so anyway. he’s always been smart.

sarang moves to take the documents from the other’s hands. it’s heavy and made from expensive material, the front cover beautifully crafted. she’s always had an eye for beautiful things, even when it comes down to things others would usually perceive as quite boring. truthfully, sarang had never understood how one could view economics as boring. there’s absolutely nothing more intriguing to her — must be because she’s awfully curious by nature.

the numbers don’t look promising and judging by the way yunseo is looking at her, she is sure that he is very aware of that himself. she shakes her head continuously as she reads through pages and pages of nothing but disappointment. “whoever handled these finances has done a pathetic job.” she comments nonchalantly. she knows redport has always been more fruitful during less peaceful times. that’s just the price you have to pay when you base your income on the military.

haneul finally decides to give into hyeju's words and shut his mouth for the time being. it's not even like he's much of a help in this state anyway -to say that he is a little frightened would just be an immense understatement. normally, he would be embarrassed to be so openly defenseless but in this very moment, he can only hope that the both of them make it out alive.

it's not long until they finally reach the ominous bazaar the spirits had talked about and once they get there, haneul is unsure of how to react to what he sees. it's strange in a way that is comforting - it looks just like any market place would, just ... empty. he's truly never seen a bazaar as lifeless as this one.