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Mary sat on the edge of the bedstead after she had eaten up all the food whilst strictly being overseen by Bathilda. Taehyung silently stood near the door, clueless about what should be done at such a moment.

"Why on earth did you go wandering around in a place you have never been in before? Would you like to elaborate a little?" Bathilda sighed, taking a seat beside a remorseful Mary. "Dear, I understand– You might have been very much keen to explore the region but consider the circumstances, Mary dear. Even we, dwellers of Antares find it nothing less than misery to lead our lives in such frigid weather. Furthermore, you are foreign to this place. Dear God."

"I-" Mary faltered. Extremely overwhelmed with remorse, she hung her head low. What was she supposed to say? She could not come up even with the most invalid excuses.

"Oh no...Y/n will have me killed today." She thought and in a flash jerked her head up as the thought of the older flashed into her brain. "Y/n..." She turned to Bathilda and Taehyung repeatedly, forehead crinkled with fash. "I- I was with her. And we- we got separated in the crowd... We did. But she will be– fine, she...she will..." She nodded her head obliviously.

"She, too was with you?" Bathilda questioned with disbelief. "No, no. Honestly, I thought her to be wiser but–" "No, I was the one who persuaded her to accompany me." Mary quickly defended the older. "I- I believe she will be fine- she has the map with her..."

"Tae What exactly are you waiting for!" Bathilda turned to her anxious son and prodded him causing him to break out of the daze.

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Taehyung came to a halt at the entrance of the locality that formed a gentle slope of the dumped snow, beholding an unusual yet familiar figure. He squinted his eyes to get a clearer vision and drew closer to the particular silhouette of the cloaked woman. The woman, however, was too occupied with observing the parchment in her hand to notice Taehyung coming closer to her.

As he neared further it did not take him more than a moment to recognize the very familiar figure. Though cloaked with thick furs, his soul recognized her...the heartstrings he had fastened around her that pulled her into his lovely trance recognized her. His cold reddened lips from the rigid breeze parted into a heartfelt smile.

"Your Highness," he called her softly, not wanting to draw undesired attention. The woman came out of her thoughts with a start and spun around.

"You! Mr. Kim! What– what do you think you are doing?" she whisper yelled, clutching her chest. "Finding you, of course," he answered matter-of-factly. Surprised at his own boldness, he shook his head.

"Finding me? Me? Oh, would you like to tell me what sort of sorcery you practice that told you about my whereabouts? And if so, I believe you must know the reason that caused me to be here as well?" She cocked a brow at him.

"No, and...yes." He shrugged his shoulders and quickly spoke, beholding her puzzled and indignant profile, "Pardon my insolence, your highness but I do not practice any sorcery. But I do know that you are looking for er- your sister, the Aerys princess."

"Mary? So you know where she is? Tell me, where is she!" Choosing to chuck the unproductive conversation aside, Y/n asked, with a storming impatience inside her voice. "Is she alright? She has not managed to die yet, right?"

"I- " Fighting the urge if should request her not to give Mary a tell-off, Taehyung nodded and replied, "She is at our residence. And no, she has not managed to die yet." Taehyung grinned.

"Well, that's better. Because I am going to do it myself," Y/n grunted.

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Perhaps it was Mary's extremely fair fortune or Y/n's lack of desire to massacre her, however, Mary was not given a tell-off by Y/n at last. After Y/n had succeeded in calming Bathilda down who seemed too incited about their presence- Not only one! Two royals were present in front of her eyes, in her residence- the very thought had fascinated her to an unending extent.

In a fair couple of minutes, she never forgot to remind them how her lacklustre, murky manor had been enlightened with their presence. Hence, no questions were to be raised about how warmly the sisters had been greeted at the Kim Manor.

After Bathilda had been soothed a little, both Y/n and Mary bade their farewell and set off for the castle. Well, not before they had sworn to an eager Bathilda that they would be attending the celebration on Christmas Eve taking place at the manor.

Y/n knew that it would be much more difficult than this time. Nevertheless, this would not be her first time at all, would it?

She knew not if it was worth it– to stake her pride for people who probably meant nothing much to her. Nothing much. How funny of a statement... Wasn't it? As though Y/n Windsor was the woman to do such a reckless thing. Yet, she did it.

She knew one thing- that she lost against herself. She recalled her first conversation with Taehyung and the pledge she had made to herself afterwards. She had pleaded not to fall for any of his tactics. She didn't! What she fell for were anything but some filthy tactics. She wondered...what was it even?

"Y/n?" Mary softly called while struggling with the sloppy pathway.

"What is it now Mary? Oh! now don't even bother to sugarcoat because I am not going to forgive you. I only stayed quiet because of Madam Kim." Y/n snapped.

"Ooooh, someone really wants to impress someone- all right, all right...just kidding..." Mary veered her words quickly earning a furious stare from Y/n and picked up her pace.

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Y/N did not trust Bertha with all her pride for nothing.

Passing the castle guards with a group of servants carrying groceries, Y/n and Mary both hurried towards Y/n's chamber and saw an anxious Bertha waiting for them in front of the chamber.

"Your Highnesses! You both are back! A-Are you alright? Thank goodness..." Bertha stepped forward with visible perturbation on her face.

"Yes, we are, Bertha. Everything was fine here as well, I believe? No one found out, right?" Y/n said while entering the chamber, removing the shabby cloak from her head.

Bertha grinned and nodded proudly, "Not a soul, your highness. Although the Queen did question me a lot, I managed to keep everyone away from your chamber, all of them. The Antares King too made many attempts to get inside. After I refused to let him enter, he threatened me, said that  You will not want me to disobey your betrothed and that he will have me in the dungeons.

"The audacity he shows is quite impressive, no qualms about it. What did you do?" Bertha's grin went so wide that now all her teeth were on display. "I went inside your chamber and feigned to ask for your consent to let him enter." Bertha came to a halt, her teeth still on display. Y/n cocked her brow suppressing a huge grin and asked her, "And what would be the reply you made?"

"I told him that you asked him to keep his nose out of your matter," said Bertha. "But I also asked him not to take it by his heart since you get extremely when interrupted during your nap."

"Splendid. Off you go now, Bertha. We will be at the dining hall on time," said Y/n and immediately made up her mind not to forget to give Bertha a fair number of goods as Christmas presents that would be of her use. Certainly, she could have shoved a handful of gold under Bertha's nose. She was only a lady in attendance after all. But again, Bertha had been doing her many favours.

Favours.

She never hesitated to admit...

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"Any news from brother Yoongi?" Mary asked casually, as her occupied hands carefully continued her previous needlework, the only job which could keep her seated all calm and concentrated for a long time.

"Not yet... This is stupid! He always– always does that." Y/N whined and shut her book feeling a little too irritated. Well– what else she could do when the person whose letter she waited for the most occasionally ghosted her and found it entertaining?

"Perhaps he's trying to be a little mysterious," Mary suggested.

"Oh yes. Very intriguing, charming in fact." Y/n sneered.

"Well, I have never seen you so much impatient over anything. That's new!"

Y/n made no answer and rolled her eyes.

"I need some air," she said and hurried outside the chamber.

"Enjoy!" Mary waved and beamed until her silhouette disappeared. She put her hand down and sighed. A small smile crept up on her lips reminiscing the past few days spent in.

Y/n had changed.  Over the past few days, there had been changes– in her demeanour, her talks, the way she smiled. And she had strong reasons to believe that the Armourer, Kim Taehyung had contributed a lot to make it happen. It seemed most surreal, their first meeting, Y/n's little resentment towards the hopeless man for no good reason, seemed to come at a cease as well.

As much as she had been dying to bring up his name, Mary had held herself back these days. It was only a matter of time before she realized it– the cold fortress was now only a few steps away from falling apart entirely.

Mary's nursemaid had once told her– Callous hearts often melt in the right hands.

Mary now knew that she had meant the callous soldiers who rode horses, held swords, and bore scars– the cruel heart being melted by the soft gazes of a commoner healer, a maiden with soft hands and a gentle voice. 

The cruel heart did fall into the right hands this time. But there was no rigid soldier, no commoner with soft hands. There was a hopeless romantic man, waiting for a love story that might or might not be true. There was an ambitious woman, a to-be ruler waiting for a throne she might or might not have.

But those hands... They wouldn't let go. They would hold the heart, pass warmth until the heart itself would refuse to go back and pull the other with the strings of undying love and passion. Their hands would heal the soul until the soul would seal the other with the most blissful kiss...

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* It's been literally 20000 years. *Peeks*

Let's set a goal. I'll post the next chapter if this gets 15+ votes. And I see I got some new readers. Y'ALL VOTE AND COMMENT! How would I know if you'll love this story or not?!