#joon-gi

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“No!”

“Yona, please consider—”

“No!” The princess whirled around, purple eyes blazing. “Father, I have told you. I want to marry Soo-won!”

“And I have told you! A marriage with Soo-won is not possible. I have acknowledged you wouldn’t enjoy a marriage with Hak, and another possibility has been offered. I have accepted. An Joon-gi is a kind man, and I imagine his daughter is much the same.”

Yona scoffed and muttered something under her breath, twisting her hair savagely around one finger. Il fought to keep his face calm and composed.

“Did you have something to share?”

“No, Father,” Yona said. She stared him in the eyes and released her hair. “I will marry An Lili as you command, though I fail to see how that would further our kingdom’s interests—I sincerely doubt she has been raised to be King any more than I have.”

His daughter gave a bow, the perfect depth from a princess to her father, and walked away, back held ruler straight.

Il resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. When Yona decided to use her lessons in womanhood, it sometimes seemed she grew two feet taller. Though… in this case, she was right as well. Joon-gi was just as protective over his daughter as Il was over his, so the idea that Lili could simply step into the role of king was a foolish one.

That would be rectified, Il decided, as soon as he could communicate as such to his general.

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“Absolutely not,” Joon-gi declared. His robes swirled around him when he turned away, but not before Il saw his nose wrinkle as though tasting something bitter. “We will have to find some other solution—my daughter will not be burdened in such a way.”

Il sincerely wanted to do… something. Banging his head against a wall, as Geun-tae so frequently suggested, was much too violent. Perhaps scream into a pillow. Yes, that sounded nice.

“But,” Joon-gi continued, turning back around. “Maybe they can share the burden. They will be two queens, after all, not a king and a queen.”

An excellent plan coming together, on the other hand, sounded even nicer. “I believe we are ready to continue with negotiations,” Il beamed his widest smile. Taking on half of the king’s crown was Yona’s best option at the moment, with the threat of a marriage to Soo-won still lingering.

Sacrifices must be made, even when they are one’s own beliefs, for the sake of one’s daughter.

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The next day, Il and Joon-gi set things in motion. The other generals and Soo-won all received personalized invitations to the wedding of Yona and Lili, and flyers were sent out all over Kouka announcing the soon-to-be new princess.

Meanwhile, in each of their castles, the two girls started new lessons in things such as politics and battle tactics. The generals would certainly be a large help once it was necessary for them to ascend the throne, but they would also need to be able to fend for themselves in court.

In that, Yona was more helpful than Il had hoped she would be. Offered lessons in the things her two closest friends considered interesting for the first time, she waded into the ocean of information, regardless of her lack of interest in the actual marriage.

The princess whirled from one side of the castle to another, from the library to a study and back again. Not even Soo-won could tear her away from her new responsibilities—but when it came to the actual wedding arrangements, Yona steered well clear. And when the day finally arrived, it was both the first time she saw the decorations, and the first time she met her betrothed.

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Crown Princess Yona and Lady Lili married at the end of summer, with the leaves changing color and a chilly breeze rifling through clothes.

The wedding ceremony was complete and the celebrations begun, both royalty and generals seated at the head table when Yona shivered, and Lili risked a glance her way. Her eyes met purple and she flushed. Turning away swiftly, she pretended to examine the food on her plate. Most of it was already gone, eaten in an attempt to avoid talking to her new wife, but there was a tiny piece of meat left in one corner. Lili speared it with her fork and swallowed it in one bite.

“Hungry?” A soft voice asked.

Lili grabbed an apple from a nearby bowl, took a bite and, just to spite her father, spoke around it. “Starving,” she lied. A bit of apple peel stuck between her teeth, and she wiggled it with her tongue. It didn’t move.

“Would you like more?”

Lili took another bite and shook her head.

“Are you sure?”

“Pos—” Lili finally turned to see her new companion and froze. The new apple bite, which she had again spoken around, slid halfway down her throat and stayed there. Lili coughed, swallowed, and coughed again when the piece slid the rest of the way down. “Princess Yona,” she said roughly.

The princess beamed, though it didn’t reach her eyes, and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Princess Lili.”

Lili almost choked again, though there was nothing to choke on.

“I thought we could get to know one another,” she said, her smile somehow becoming even more fake, though the blush that painted her cheeks was certainly real.

Lili opened her mouth, but no words fell out. She closed it and huffed. She hated falling back on the expected. “Get to know what?” she asked.

Yona hummed, the sound rough but sweet, like water over rocks in a stream. “I don’t know. What do suitors usually talk about?”

“We’re married,” Lili laughed.

“Well, yes, but—and I hope you don’t mind—it doesn’t quite feel like that yet. Not what I imagined. And we won’t have to rule for years yet, if all goes well..."

“What did you imagine?” Lili murmured. She set the apple down, and her hands twisted together.

“Sweet comfort?” Yona said. “Familiarity, but heart racing. Trust. I—I would like to get there with you someday, Princess Lili.”

Turning in her seat, Lili folded one leg over the over and gave Yona her full attention. A blush bloomed hot across her own cheeks, and she just prayed it wasn’t as deep as the one Yona wore. “I would like to be there with you someday, Princess Yona.”

She offered the other princess a smile, then cursed herself when her blush deepened further as Yona’s smile softened. She didn’t look so strict and princess like like that. She looked—well, she looked like any other girl their age. Albeit a cold one, Lili amended silently when shivers racked her suitor’s body again.

“Cold?” she asked.

“Mm, freezing,” Yona muttered. Her hands messed with her clothes, trying to tighten them around her.

“Would you like a scarf?” Lili blurted. Turning, she waved as calmly as she could at where Ayura and Tetora stood guard. It still felt like she was making a fool of herself, flapping her hand all over the place, but oh well. Needs must. It got their attention—and when Tetora hurried back a few minutes later with her request, and she stood to drape it over Yona’s shoulders and got another smile back in return, she thought she might know what her suitor liked so much about heart racing.

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