Chapter Text
Not in this timeline and nowhere near us, there was a kingdom formed by 4 dukedoms, and with the beginning of each season, a party was thrown at the king’s palace. Many years ago, each duchy had a season assigned, depending on when they were the most prosperous. The king’s palace was situated in the Spring territory and for obvious reasons, that was when the best party was thrown. It was a small country, with a very much-loved king but, no queen. The queen had died 5 years ago, and she was the one who started the seasonal tradition, the king just went along with it because he was madly in love with her wife. These parties were not the usual ones, they always had the 19th century fashion theme, even if they were well past that. The queen just loved the dresses and all the drama that went with it. After her death, everyone thought that the parties would stop, but they didn’t and no one dared to ask. It was a very sensitive topic, not only in the palace, but everywhere around the kingdom. She just fell sick, out of nowhere, and no healer, wizard or witch managed to save her. Her light slowly faded away and only thanks to the princess, the kingdom’s light did not die with the queen.
(…)
Now, late September, the autumn party had already started. The great palace was decorated with brown and yellowish motives; the cozy feeling of the huge fireplace and the sweet smell of pumpkin pie filled the air. The duke’s family arrived first, to then let the rest of the Autumn duchy’s population enter the castle and enjoy the evening. Every Autumn party, the center of attention was the duke’s daughter, Tzuyu. She was tall, with long brown hair and a beauty acclaimed around the whole reign. She was the princess’ cousin and together they lighted up every room they walked into. Tzuyu was a shy quiet girl, but everyone loved her, she just had this special charm that made your heart warm only with a smile. The girl was sitting by the fireplace, petting her fluffy dog, looking up the stairs from time to time, waiting, as everybody else at the hall, for the princess to come down, so that the party could officially start.
“Your Highness, are you ready? Your father, and literally everyone, is waiting for you to start the first dance.” – The maid whispered, knocking on the door.
“Yes, Jeongyeon, come in for a second, this stupid dress won’t let me breathe.” – the princess cleared her throat and whipped away a tear that was about to fall down her cheek, luckily before the maid could notice.
The young girl entered the princess’ room and helped her ease the knots from her corset. Even though there had always been the princes – maid relationship between them, they had been by each other’s’ side for so long that they felt more like sisters.
“I swear to God, I love the fancy parties and the big gowns, but I don’t understand why I have to keep using corsets. I feel imprisoned.”
“OH, come on, you drama queen, you know your dad loves these period parties, you have to dress accordingly. Plus, you look beautiful so shut your trap.”
“Aw Jeongie telling me I look pretty, that’s a once in a lifetime.” – The older knew just how to tease her friend.
“Don’t make me regret it.” – Jeongyeon said and pulled the lacing cord tightly, making Nayeon gasp for air, to then straighten the voluptuous skirt. “All done, now go get the crowd, princess.”
The girls laughed as Nayeon looked at her reflection on the mirror one last time before walking out of her room. Jeongyeon hurried before her, almost running down the stairs, nodding at the king to let him know that the princess was coming. He stood up, and immediately the rest of the guests did the same, turning to the stairs, excited to see the heir. Many were awed by her beauty and the reactions made Nayeon smile shily, as always, showing everyone her bunny teeth. She did a little bow and hugged her father, who was already waiting in the center on the dance hall. It was tradition to open the party with a King – Princess dance, it had always been that way, even when she was only a kid. As soon as they started to dance to the happy piano melody, the rest of the guests joined them in pairs.
“I’m sorry I was late; you know how long it takes for me to dress…”
“It’s okay as long as you’re okay, sweetie.”
They shared a sweet smile and before they knew it, the first song finished. Nayeon looked at his father with almost a naughty expression, to which he nodded, with a soft chuckle. That was her sign for her to run towards the fireplace and throw herself at her cousin to give her the tightest hug, making them both fall to the floor.
“I MISSED YOU, COUSIN!”
“I can see that… but please get off me, everyone’s looking at us… You’re anything like a princess, Nayeon.”
“Oh, so you didn’t miss me?”
“Okay, fine… I missed you. But only a tiny bit.”
The younger rolled her eyes when she felt another hug, but she obliged. After a couple of minutes, they finally stood up and were about to start walking towards the stairs, but someone was calling their names. They turned around and saw an unexpected familiar face.
“OH GOD, JIHYO??? What are you doing here???” The older asked, extremely confused while hugging her childhood friend. Jihyo was the heir of the Summer duchy, and since she was almost the same age as the princess, they had been friends since they can remember.
“That is all you have to say!? No ‘you look gorgeous, Jihyo’, no ‘ I missed you, Jihyo.’” The girl joked, giving the princess a mocking look, something only she dared to do. The three of them laughed and then she turned to Tzuyu to wrap her in a very tight hug. The height difference was almost comical. “Would you stop growing?! These kids nowadays…”
“Maybe you should stop shrinking!”
The girls laughed again, group hugging, before rushing to Nayeon’s room, they had a lot of catching up to do.
“You haven’t told us what you are doing here yet, you ass!”
“I’m gonna be honest with you, Nayeonnie… I missed Jeongyeon…”
There was silence for a couple of seconds, before Nayeon burst into laughter, while the other two just shared serious looks.
“Wait, are you… serious? Is there something between you two? I KNEW SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED DURING THE LAST SUMMER PARTY!”
This time, it was Jihyo and Tzuyu the ones laughing loudly.
“Don’t get me wrong… I did miss her, but that is not why I’m here. So, I’m guessing Tzuyu didn’t tell you about our plan.”
“I didn’t have the time… you got here sooner than I expected…”
“What? What plan? Guys if this is about another birthday party, please don’t, last year was a mess, you two are terrible at keeping secrets…”
“Hey, it was not that bad, you ungrateful child! But no, it’s not that either. Tzuyu, do the honors.”
“Well… we’ve been thinking… that we should… do a friend trip!”
“SURPRISE!”
“A friend trip? Where to?” The eldest seemed confused, even worried about what the girls might say next. She had a bad feeling.
“To… THE WINTER DUCHY!” Jihyo and Tzuyu said in unison. There was silence for a minute that felt like an hour.
“No. I’m sorry, guys, but you know we’re not allowed there. No one is. It’s dangerous, we don’t know who lives there anymore. Besides, I’m sure dad won’t let me.” Nayeon had gotten extremely serious and she only got like that when someone mentioned her mother.
“Oh come on… We’ve dreamed about this since we were kids, and it’s the only part of the kingdom we’ve never visited. You’ll need to know what’s in there before you’re the queen!” Jihyo pouted, taking Nayeon’s hand. “I know it could be dangerous, but maybe it isn’t! and you two can bring Jeongyeon and Dahyun. We’ll be okay!”
“PLUS, we already talked to the king and he agreed. We’ll have to take two guards with us, but we can!!” The youngest added with a sweet smile. “We have everything planned out. We’ll leave in a couple of days and spend a week at the autumn fortress, and then we’ll start our way to "Winterland". Also, you don’t have to worry about missing the winter party, the king said we can postpone it a couple of weeks.”
“Damn… you really have thought of everything… I don’t know… let me think about it tonight, I’m still not sure…”
“It’s okay, Nayeonnie, take your time.”
“Just keep in mind that even if you don’t come, Tzuyu and I, will still go.”
Nayeon rolled her eyes and they all laughed and talked about everything and nothing after that. An hour or so later, Jeongyeon knocked on the door once again, coming in with Dahyun, who closed the door behind her. Another round of hugs and catching ups followed, with a couple of awkwardly shy looks shared between Jihyo and Jeongyeon, and a lot of comments about it by the other three.
Like that, the evening passed by and they all went to sleep, some with more things than others running through their minds.