countless obstacles are standing in the way from the entrance to the palace and heon’s bedroom. he shields his face with casual streetwear, hiding from any onlookers, especially ones with blood ties to heon, and bribes his way through the castle. many, frustratingly not all, knights are more loyal to money and favors than they are to rules and royals so he finds some way in at least.
in all other instances, sunwoo could waltz into the palace in the kingdom of hearts, say he was on official business, and no one would question or bother him. it was much different if he wanted to enter casually, and perhaps sneak into a princess’ room.
the problem is, he isn’t sure he’s ready for people to know yet -- mostly because he’s not sure what they are, if they are. sunwoo only knows they like spending time with each other, fighting and arguing over something is usually involved, as well as maybe... hand holding and kissing. he knows they crossed the lines between friends but sunwoo doesn’t want to assume anything other than that. besides there would also be so many questions and details they’d have to iron out as royals, all of which would make a blooming relationship so complex and tiring.
he huffs, knocking on heon’s bedroom door, looking down the hallway nervously. finally, heon answers and he is safe from having to sneak any further. sunwoo shuffles in quickly, sighing in relief. “took you forever to answer the door,” he says with a pout, furrowing his eyebrows. he takes off his jacket and cap, revealing a more poised way of dress, his usual loosely fit white shirt, and black slacks. he has his long hair pulled up half way, though his bangs are still in his face, like a perpetual curse. “was scared jiae or eunae were going to see me. don’t think your dad or step-mom are around though, so at least the security wasn’t as intense as it usually is,” he says, still obviously a little stressed.
sunwoo takes a moment to look around heon’s room before looking back at his princess. he smiles softly, walking closer to her and placing his hands on her arms. “sorry,” he says quietly, not meaning to take out any frustration on her. “how are you?”
“I've been drinking, I've been doing things I shouldn't do. Overthinking, I don't know who I am without you. I'm a liar and a cheat, I let my ego swallow me and that's why I might never see you again. I'm alone in my head looking for love in a stranger's bed, but I don't think I'll find it. 'Cause only you could fill this empty space.”
what is one of your muse’s biggest fears?
jaejin doesn’t really have any fears, he really can’t afford to have any because he tells himself that having fears will not only make him ‘weak’ but they could also be used against him and get in the way of his plans. though, it’s all just mostly a lie and something he’s forced himself believe over time. in reality, he does have at least one fear, and that is something that heavily revolves around insu. deep down he’s afraid of insu finding out what he’s planning, afraid that insu will end up getting hurt somehow ( or even that the other will try to step in to either stop him or even try to help ). it’s the reason behind him ending their friendship 12 years ago. to protect insu from any possible dangers that would come with jaejin trying to take down the queen of hearts and get the throne for himself.
what is one of your muse’s biggest secrets?
his biggest secrets... the first one is one that no one besides his private knows, his goals in life. the reason why he went from not caring about the throne to wanting it all. he’s been able to hide his true intentions over the past 12 years, though it’s only a matter of time before some begin to figure out what he truly has planned behind that charming smile he uses around others. his other secret? even though he’s dead set on gaining the title of king and taking over the spot that his mother is in, he actually has hidden how he feels about insu since the day that the two first met and he showed the other male around the kingdom of hearts. even back before he cut off all ties with insu, he had a special place for the other in his heart, and despite him practically being cold-hearted at this point - somewhere deep down inside of him, he still has that feeling of ‘love’ for him.
what is one of your muse’s deepest desires?
his deepest desire of course is to take the queen of hearts down. the throne would just be a little bonus that comes with that if the day comes where he’s able to successfully accomplish his goal. he won’t let anyone get in the way of him achieving what he wants, even if he has to play dirty in order to do so. jaejin will use those that he can as ‘stepping stones’ to get to the end of this game even if it does end up ruining some relationships he has with others. to him, this is the cruel world that they live in and he believes that those who are too weak, too soft-hearted, won’t make the cut no matter how hard they try. in his eyes they need to be ruthless, they need to learn that they can’t trust or depend on anyone around them because they can easily stab you in the back later on.
what is one of your muse’s biggest regrets?
his biggest regret is even falling down the rabbit hole, for allowing himself to become the person he is today and losing the one person he truly loves and cares about. he regrets not being able to tell insu that he loves him and regrets not being able to stay by the other male’s side all these years, though he didn’t want to drag insu into the middle of something that could possibly end up physically harming him. in jaejin’s mind, he did this to protect the other male and that’s what he will continue to tell himself as he moves forward, what he will continue making everyone ( including insu ) believe. another regret is that he allowed himself to become like the queen of hearts in some ways, causing him to even turn against his twin sisters who he once actually cared about and would truly smile and laugh with. his sisters who he would honestly do anything for and protect from any sort of harm or threats that the world threw at them.
which other royal/knight does your muse think is their biggest competition, and why?
jaejin sees anyone who has potential as competition, even his own sisters, because it just means that he has more people getting in the way of him getting what he’s been going after for the past 12 years now. maybe if he wasn’t so determined to take the queen of hearts down then maybe he still wouldn’t care about the throne or even being a prince, however, it’s because of her that he’s going down this path and he wants nothing more than to see her fall and lost her title as ‘queen’. if this means that he has to think of others as threats then so be it.
would your muse eliminate their biggest competition (between current muses only; no NPCs) if given the chance? why or why not?
to answer simply: yes. he would honestly eliminate them without giving even a second thought on the matter. it’s really nothing personally towards them, though he wants to be the one in the end who takes his mother down with his own hands. at this point, those who do decide to trust in him are nothing more than just pawns in his big game of chess. those who he treats as nothing more than little puppets to toy with and use to his advantage in order to help get him one step closer to sitting on the throne and taking his place where he thinks he belongs. if this means that he would have to eliminate them in order to get what he wants, he will do so without hesitation.
if your muse did not become a royal, prince(ss), or knight, what would they be doing now?
if he had been able to life a normal life, jaejin would want to be living happily with insu ( whether it’s as a couple or even just friends with his unrequited love ). he would be would be working at some small cafe somewhere, a relaxed job that doesn’t require him to do some desk job or even paperwork. living a life where he could be free to just be his true self with the one person he loves by his side. he would have a better relationship with his sisters, laughing and joking around, caring for one another like he should do as their older brother. jaejin would probably have a better relationship with @cwneunae, @jiaecwn and @cwnheon than he does as a prince.
what would your muse do if their title was suddenly stripped and they were banished from the palace?
if that were to happen, jaejin would be pretty pissed, especially since he’s spent 12 years planning to take over the throne and even ruined relationships with those that he was once close with. all of his hard work would go to waste and he would try to fight it, though if there’s nothing he could really do to keep his place he would have no choice but to accept it ( even if he doesn’t agree with the reasoning and believes no one is more fit for the throne than he is ). though maybe that’s what he would need to happen in order for him to open his eyes and see what sort of monster he’s become over the years, that he’s wasted all of these years becoming something that he once despised when looking at his own mother. the thing that he had once told himself he would never become and the reason why he had once wished he could live a more simple life away from the kingdom. a monster that was consumed by the darkness and greed.
if your muse could do something that would normally cost them their title but without receiving those repercussions, what would it be?
he would take the chance to get rid of anyone who had enough potential to take over the throne, end them so that he could easily sit in the spot as king with no worries of anyone attempting to take what he’s been working hard to take over since he was 18 years old.
if your muse had the choice to either a) gain the crown but their best friend is killed, or b) save their best friend but lose the crown, what would they do?
jaejin would love to say that he would take the throne, to let his best friend be killed, however it would probably be easier said than done if he didn’t have the feelings that he did for insu. even though they haven’t spoken or properly seen one another since 12 years ago, he still has those same feelings towards insu despite how well he manages to hide them from others. so even if he did lie and say he would choose the first option in a heartbeat, he would be lying to himself and to others as well. in reality, if it came down to gaining the crown or saving insu, he would choose the latter without any hesitation. he wouldn’t be able to live seeing the other being killed, it’s why he had ended their friendship in the past so that he could avoid such situations. of course this would mean throwing away everything he’s worked hard for up until now, though he would give it all up just for the one he loves even after all this time.
at the costume party, chatting it up with @cwnheon
hyunsu recognized her from somewhere; he just couldn’t seem to put his finger on it. was she an ex-fling? someone that he pushed the buttons of for fun? her name was on the tip of his tongue, but for some reason he could not think of her name for the life of him. of course, it didn’t help that he was a few shots in and the loud bass ringing in his ears also made it hard to focus. damn. what a shame. there was no way he was going to solve the mystery, especially not at a party like this.
oh well! hyunsu was sure that he couldn’t remember the girl for a reason. if he truly forgot her, then perhaps she was simply not that relevant to begin with. he was too drunk to care about some random lady, so it was best to just forget about it. but wait— was she looking this way? he couldn’t quite tell, nor did he want to find out.
oh god, this was embarrassing. hyunsu stood there staring at her for a hot minute. did she really catch him in the act?
it was too late to pretend like his eyes weren’t just glued to her face, but that didn’t mean he cared enough to not still try. almost instantly, the prince turned his back and prayed that maybe just maybe this lady would just leave him alone. that was the least she could do, right? spare his pride and just walk away!
sometimes nari roams the halls of the castle and day dreams about what it would be like to be a princess. the smallest part of her wants to know what it would feel like to be important, to be waited on hand and foot. she wishes that people would turn to listen when she cleared her throat to speak or give her the faintest amount of attention when she has something to say. perhaps, if she was an elite knight like her father, she’d have a little more ability to choose and at least her opinions would matter.
being a first class knight isn’t bad. you’re never really thrust into danger or made to lie or kill anyone, unless the circumstances called for it. but it was a lot of patrolling, escorting, attending to royals like waitstaff. at least if she were a private knight, she’d only have to be that for one and if it was heon, she’d have no problems doing so. there was a little more freedom however, more time off in shifts rather than working big assignments or constantly having to be on edge.
nari walks down a familiar hallway, knocking a few times before opening the door. “princess,” she says with a smile, wrapping her arms around heon’s small waist and placing a kiss on her cheek. “are you ready to have a night of fun? i brought candy and movies... the whole works really.” nari pauses to look into her friends eyes and heave a happy sigh. “feels like forever since we did this, i’m so happy i’m here. what should we do first?”
Jangmi tightened her grip on the champagne glass and grimaced a smile at one of the royal ladies talking to her, trying to be polite and act like she was still paying attention. But how could Jangmi stay calm when she just walked into the room wearing the dress that Jangmi had been eyeing for months. MONTHS. Jangmi had been following the Hearts fashion designer, Anne Marie Lee, ever since she saw her fashion line walk the runway in 2019 and when she announced that she was going to be designing a new limited single dress for this year, Jangmi instantly reached out. And from their emails, Anne Marie had made it clear that Jangmi was definitely at the top of her list of consideration.
Yet, only two weeks ago, she suddenly received an apology letter from Anne Marie that one of her store Managers had mistakenly sold the dress to the youngest Princess of the Hearts Kingdom. Jangmi remember ripping the letter in anger. Total bullshit. Anne Marie had changed her mind and hadn’t bothered to tell her until two weeks before the ball. Of course, Jangmi had other options, but it wasn’t the dress that she had been waiting for. And now the Hearts Princess was wasting the beauty of the dress away.
“Excuse me for a second, I just can’t seem to take my eyes off of her dress.” Jangmi motioned towards the princess and apologized to the royal lady before gliding her way across the ballroom to Heon.
“My, what a gorgeous dress.” Jangmi gleamed sweetly, “It definitely makes you look stunning.”
the news spread throughout the castle quickly, whispers flitting from palace guards to chefs to cleaners and everyone in between. jiae, however, was there at the source; she stood behind her mother and father as the young girl announced her presence to the world, declaring her intentions for the throne as the rightful spawn of the king. it took everything in jiae to keep from expressing her disdain, maintaining the smallest of smiles possible. she knew, from her ventures into the kingdom, how intimidating it could be to look royalty right in the eye, and jiae had perfected this expression over the years to show she meant no harm. that she could be trusted and she would do anything to help.
it’s the same expression she wears when she finds herself outside the stranger’s bedroom.
(no, not stranger. this is her sister—half-sister, she chastises herself internally, following the sour taste in her mouth when she swallows. in that split second, jiae decides that she’ll call the girl by neither of those titles, nor will she ever refer to her as a princess. so, okay, maybe stranger is the most accurate).
jiae figures she should formally introduce herself. it’s been a few hours since the... the child’s appearance, enough for her to settle in, what with the lack of personal belongings she seemed to have brought (it has to be barely a quarter of what jiae herself owns, and that doesn’t seem very princess-esque of her, so there’s another reason to never use that word again). she imagines that the girl must feel pretty overwhelmed with this sudden grand change to her life, and there’s nothing worse than adding even more pressure on her.
so jiae plans to do just that.
she knocks on the door twice, wasting no time in waiting for a response, before turning the knob and pushing the door open slightly. “excuse me,” she calls out, peeking her head through the crack. “is this seolheon’s room? this is princess jiae, just thought i’d check in with you and see how you’re settling in.”
Knives and Pens
Location: kingdom of hearts
a closed starter for @cwnheon
jaejin honestly wasn’t very big on parties, he never had been even when he was younger, though he still did have to keep up his act of the ‘charming prince’ after all, an act that mostly everyone within the kingdoms seemed to believe over the years since he had decided to become greedy for the throne. if he had to pretend he was even somewhat of a decent human being - which he wasn’t at all, then that’s exactly what he would do.
aside from those that did believe the façade he put up for those around him, there were some that just didn’t fall for this act. one of those being none other than his younger half-sister, ahn nanseolheon. he remembers the first day that she had shown up, remembers how he had realized that he had one more person to worry about when it came to the throne and getting in the way of what he desired, and honestly it was nice in some sort of way that she had managed to figure out that he wasn’t exactly the ‘brotherly’ type of prince that others believed him to be. it just made it easier for him to not have to fake a smile or even act like he cared for her.
the only time that jaejin did have to get along with the female was during events in which others were present. he still had to play his part right? though, behind closed doors the two would often make the snarkiest remarks to one another, even share a few glares here and there which showed that the two didn’t plan on becoming best friends anytime soon, or probably never would even in the future.
as they stand beside one another, jaejin glancing around the room and eyeing all of the ‘competition’, he keeps that same fake smile plastered to his face even as he speaks in a lone tone for only the female to hear. “you know, it’s not too late for me to convince the queen and king to send you back to where you came from. it would be more fitting for you, besides” he pauses as he finally allows his gaze to fall onto her, the smile on his face turning a bit more into a smirk. “you don’t even have the slightest chance at the throne. you’re fighting a losing battle that you won’t be able to win.”
he’s taunting her, knowing very well that she won’t back down, though it’s still interesting to get some sort of reaction out of her. did he believe that she truly had a chance? not really, especially since she had practically showed up at their doorstep claiming to be the king’s daughter. jaejin still didn’t believe it to be true, figuring that the female had schemed this whole thing from the beginning, however, there was still some slight chance that it was in fact true.
