#cwnabi

i’ve got heaven here right by my side @cwnabi​

past thread! 

here she is... yet again. 

she swears it’s not intentional that she keeps on finding herself here. in fact, with it being the third time she came here, she’s starting to be a little more familiarized with the hearts kingdom at this point. all she needed to do now was try to familiarize herself with the spades kingdom. but with the fact that she didn’t know anyone there yet, she knew that it would take a while... maybe longer. unknown to her, she had already met the prince of the spades kingdom... but that’s for her to figure out another time. 

the people in the hearts kingdom that she’s met so far are so kind to her, though. when she ran into tsuki and yurye (at separate times, of course), they were very kind enough to show her around the castle, even if with yurye it wasn’t her first time there. and when she had met eunae back at the clover kingdom, the princess was kind enough to compliment her piano playing and they both befriended each other so that ahyoung could teach her how to play. she wonders if it’s normal for the people of the hearts kingdom to be so kind. in contrast to her own kingdom, she feels like she gets along with more people here. 

though she’s able to find her way around the palace more, there was one place where she felt like she couldn’t find anywhere in this grand building: a bathroom. it makes sense that there’d be more than one, but she can’t seem to figure out where one could be. she didn’t need to go immediately, but she preferred to go now so that she wouldn’t be in much discomfort when she returned back to the clover palace. as she walks around, looking all around from where she walked, she failed to look right in front of her until it was already too late: she had bumped into someone. 

she was already preparing an apology in response (as the klutz that she is, it’s become instinct at this point), but when she looks at the person that she bumped into, her face drops in shock. oh god. oh god. out of all the people... out of all the days... the one time she makes a complete fool of herself because she refused to use her brain for one second, she bumps into perhaps the most prettiest girl she’s ever seen in all of the kingdoms... her face heats up immediately with embarrassment and she bows her head multiple times. 

with @cwnabi​ location: kingdom of hearts’ palace

with the weather getting colder, jiae finds herself craving sweet treats a little more than she usually is. unfortunately, she can't exactly abandon her duties during the day to bake whatever her stomach is begging for. not that she could do so even if she had enough time to spare. the palace chefs always usher her out of the kitchen the minute she steps into it, saying that the kitchen is not a place fit for a princess as highly regarded as jiae to be in. they promise they'd be happy to make any of her recommendations, though, but jiae is definitely biased when she thinks that food she makes with her own hands tastes the best.

so it's 1:03 am when jiae turns on the lights in the palace's kitchen. the place is spotless, proof that no one has stepped foot in the room since the staff cleaned up after dinner time. it's the only time she can sneak in and try out new recipes she has bookmarked.

tonight's menu includes s'mores brownies, perfect for the autumn season and jiae's sweet tooth. after years of figuring her way out around the kitchen, jiae knows where all the ingredients and baking utensils are. setting up the counter takes almost no time, and she's already preheating the oven when she hears it.

footsteps. they're soft, but audible in the silence of a mostly-sleeping palace. jiae curses under her breath as she rushes towards the light switch and plunges the room into darkness. ducking behind a counter, she crouches low and waits for the footsteps to recede. she's done this routine a few times; it's usually just a guard passing by on duty, unaware of the princess's baking escapades. she just has to let a few minutes pass and—

“If I learned anything from my mom it’s to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

if there’s something that jaejin learned over the past 12 years, it’s that you can’t really underestimate others, especially those who also have their eyes set on the throne. this proved to only make things more difficult for everyone fighting for it, even more so for jaejin himself since it just meant that he had more people standing in his way of carrying out his plans and getting what he wanted. it was an uphill battle that he was fighting, and in the end he had come to realize that he would have no choice but to at least create an alliance with someone in the meantime to help him take out the competition.

so, after thinking long and hard about the matter, jaejin had run through the list of individuals that could at least prove to be useful in some way to him. yes, there were many options out there, though there was one person in particular that had seemed to catch his attention and stand out more than the rest. baek nabi.

of course, he despised the idea of teaming up with anyone for such matters, but he seemed to be getting nowhere at this point with the constant growing competition so it was time to put his own ego to the side and make at least a temporary alliance in order to hopefully speed this whole process up even in the slightest. even his own private knight had suggested that he find someone who could manage to get by without raising suspicions among the others within the kingdom, compared to a private knight roaming around the halls trying to gather any sort of information he can for jaejin to use against every individual.

jaejin lets out a small sigh of annoyance as he makes his way down the hall, having received information on where he could possibly find nabi at this time of day. he occasionally manages his usual charming smile as he meets others along the way, of course having to keep up his façade in order to not raise any questions, and it isn’t until he finally spots the female that he truly becomes straight-faced and serious. he approaches her, only stopping once he’s a few feet away. “there you are. i’ve been looking for you.” he states this as stares at her for a moment. “i have something to discuss with you, that is, if you’re willing to agree.”