#daldahye

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ━━  @daldahye 、 another door opens ⋆

𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆,  his words ringing in her ears like a bell that won’t stop sounding.  already they give her a headache.  though dahye wishes it, she can’t pull her eyes away and tell him that he should think before he speaks, considering who it is that he’s speaking to.  perhaps he doesn’t realize the cruelty of his own question, coming from his lips, to her - it cuts like a knife.

for choi deoksu is the man who intends on marrying her, but not for cause like love or anything of the sort.  it’s an arrangement of convenience: no one lines up at the door of jung dahye for her hand in marriage, he doesn’t want to love anyone except for yi hyeyeon.  (  at the very least, she thinks, she’ll be free from the flames that lick her heel.  )

“ would you like it if i believed that, my lord?” she asks cryptically, finally managing to pull her eyes away.  “ truly, though, i think - ..” her eyes cast instead in the direction of his - towards a certain princess, the one that holds his heart.  “ you only have someone if you’re pretty.”

he pauses, his head tips to the side, to allow her to proceed with her thoughts ; unsure of how to take her tone, and the way the words had melted into thin air. “no, i want to know what you believe.” and not what you think i want you to, but these are words he does not say. for while they were acquaintances, secrets of his own buried in their vows to one another, he knows they are not close enough for things he shouldn’t say to ears that deserve better.

“that isn’t true,” he starts definitively, breaking his own rule of competence, to delay his outlandish tongue as his eyes follow his words -- taking them away from what once was to what now would be, watching the way they flicker. “it is much more than beauty that one can desire in a person.” and while he says this, his brows furrow -- uncertainty sinking into his own blunt features; roughened by the cold, harsh winter. 

pressure amounts to a weight on his shoulders. one akin to the heaviness he once felt all those years ago ; one that had eagerly lowered his inhibitions and had gotten him to turn in three long years of his life for the cruelty of war. he had given his life back then, this time it comes back in a tenfold, hankered down by the views of the world and the approval of a father who never really saw deoksu as filial as he vowed to be. 

it builds until he feels suffocated, going day by day with his father’s voice in his ear and his expectations sung through an intricately-spoken speech. deoksu knew what was expected of him but, he was wary. could he really subject someone to a lifetime with him? knowing where his actual loyalties lay? wasn’t that, too, just as cruel as the life that’s been handed to him? 

( but pressure is a funny thing, it frustrates a person -- continues to feed off the stress they accumulate through continuous delegation until they give in and, he breaks )

his sights are on a girl he’s known for much longer, filled with his secrets she had promised to keep and he knows no one better to bring such a proposition to. it’s why a soft hand tugs at her own, pulling her close to seclusion where ears could not hear them and his own voice could fill hers. 

“dahye-ssi,” he pauses, suddenly realizing how compromising his next words may be. it’s been so long, could he really do this to her? “i have something to ask of you.” 

his confusion is quickly masked by amusement. for one to know him well, it is said to be quite the unfortunate circumstance and yet, here is dahye retelling a tale that he’s sure even his closest friends wouldn’t admit to. “and, pray tell, why would that be?” he grins, a softening of his eyes as his gaze drifts from the roar of life that’s centered in their universe to the girl by his side. 

the gaze stills, leveling with her own. a slight wondering of whether it was her turn to fib awakening within him at her words ; a notion that’s quite uncommon but never unwelcomed. despite it, he chuckles heartily ; turning his attention to her, wholly. 

“is the me of today not to your enjoyment?” this one brings a furrow to his brows, a playful tone donning his words for added measure, “what could i do to make it up to you?” for if his life were to be in her hands, and the plans dealt with precise expertise, deoksu couldn’t afford to wrong her now.

a royal wedding ; accepting.

“it’s unfortunate we can’t bask in it more often.” and there were no words spoken truer. the commotion that came along with a wedding was overwhelming, and it was a royal wedding no less. it was bound to be loud and demanding of attention. 

but seora only had so much energy to expend. in fact, she found herself tired already, her cheeks hurting from the polite smiles that was required of her. “don’t you wish to you could just run away from it all?” 

she doesn’t mean for the question to slip. the thought was supposed to be buried deep in her heart, it was nothing that needed to be known. how much she loathed the royal lifestyle she lived. and it was certainly no thoughts fit for a wedding. 

“forgive me, that was out of line, wasn’t it?”