Chapter Text
In the Kingdom of Asteria, its king was in need for a same-aged child to grow with his 7-year-old daughter and protect her. They should be loyal to the royal clan and devote their life to the princess.
The throne room, where the king sat at the center of all the commotion, was filled with murmurs. He was checking the little boys and girls who were lined up in front of him, but it has been hours of rejecting. People were doubting if this was merely the king’s jest to pass time, even if they were well aware of his being great at strategy.
Five hundred fathers and mothers alike presented their child but the king has already rejected more than three-quarters of the children. More hours passed and the people’s doubts in the room worsened.
It was already the last child to be presented and people expected for the king to reject her, like any other child presented before.
“Name,” the knight at the king’s right ordered.
“Kim Jiwon,” her father spoke for her.
They went on the same process of questions and information the parent of the child must say to the king, and the king himself still laid his head on the hand that rested on the arm of the throne, even if this was the last child.
“And, where are you from?”
“Oh, just the countryside, sire.”
“From which direction?”
“East.”
It was the first time the king’s expression changes. He squinted his eyes to the father, who seemed familiar to him. He suddenly stood up, leaving the whole room to be taken aback by his sudden action.
He walked to where the father and child were standing, his purple robe swaying by the wind that have the impression of how he was truly a king (unlike the people’s previous doubts). His left-hand knight was following him at his back, while his right-hand knight stayed beside his throne.
As he stood in front of the father, he was eye-to-eye with him, even if it was a bit of difficulty as he hid under a shabby-looking cloak.
“Your name, again,” he asked with an accusatory tone, contrasting his small smile on his face.
“I thought it was only the child’s information that is necessary to disclose…Your Majesty.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” he replied to the man’s witty statement in a more cautious tone without faltering his smile.
He backed away from him to kneel to his daughter, being eye-to-eye with her just like he did with her father.
“And you are Kim Jiwon, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the child said with a bow.
“You seem like a smart child. You speak very sophisticatedly and have good manners,” his eyes now vanish with how he is smiling.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Very well,” the king says as he stood up, “it appears I have chosen a child to accompany Asteria’s princess.”
The people in the room, even some of the king’s knights, were in disbelief but applauded nonetheless. Everyone wondered how the king chose; but then again, he was only made king a year ago after his father, the previous king, died. Alas, he still hides behind his mysterious charm.
“Come now, I must let you meet my daughter,” he said as he put his hand to the girl’s back after they both bid farewell to her father, who only bowed slightly to him, and the other people in the room.
They were entering a small room behind where the throne was situated. It stored barrels stacked on one side and the other with glass bottles on racks. It was a wine cellar, Jiwon thought.
However, she was speculating why the king put her daughter in a wine cellar.
Why would he hide his daughter?
“I am a bit hesitant for my daughter to be shown to my people, especially when I’ve only been crowned a year ago. However, I do plan to hold a feast for her thirteenth birthday as a chance to let the people see their princess.”
Jiwon panicked when she realized she said her thought out loud, “I apologize Your Majesty, I did not mean to pry in familial affairs.”
“There is no need to apologize. Think of me as your father. Starting from now, we are family.”
Jiwon was shocked by the king’s good nature. As a reply to his kind words, Jiwon nodded too excitingly with a big grin spread across her face, in which the king heartily laughed to it.
She wasn’t used to feeling this warm, especially having a strict and tyrannical father. So, she was delighted that he decided to throw her away to a foreign land in the end.
“Rei? I have someone I want you to meet.”
After hearing the king’s voice, a little girl popped her head out of one of the rows of barrels and replied, “Yes, father?”
Jiwon being shocked would be an understatement. This girl, who was now approaching them, being called beautiful would also be an understatement. She had jet black hair that flowed up until her waist, fair skin that was smoother than any marble surface, and eyes that hid stars and constellations. She was the perfect epitome of an Asterian, Jiwon thought.
“Rei, this is Jiwon. She will be part of our family as she will protect and guard you at any cost. And Jiwon, this is Princess Naoi Rei of the royal clan of Asteria, both of us will be your new family.”
“It is a pleasure to finally meet the person who will be here for me when father is not around,” Rei spoke with so much grace that Jiwon was left speechless.
“No Prin- Your Highness, the pleasure is you- mine,” Jiwon stuttered as she took her hand, skin still smooth as how it actually looks.
In return, Rei mirrored the laughing expression the king was also wearing right now after seeing Jiwon’s face.
No one would relish in the fact that their families would leave them behind in a place they aren’t familiar with. And yet, Jiwon was thankful of how her father left her in a place she could now call home.