Arcus // ATEEZ ✔

13: eyes and skies full of stars

As the door opens and Narae comes in with her head down followed by Wooyoung behind her, the rest of them in the library have dispersed from their short discussion, keeping Narae oblivious to what they have been doing. Instead she comes in to them in their original places, some at the shelves, some at the table while Serim is obediently keeping a distance from the royals. They go back to being somewhat distant with each other, as Wooyoung from behind Narae tries to gauge what they have been discussing. Narae drags her feet to the table, whereas Wooyoung quickly nudges Mingi to ask what they've been talking about.

"Not much," Mingi whispers as he leans against the book shelf, trying to appear subtle so as to not make it suspicious. He turns his head slightly to the right where Wooyoung is standing near him to ensure that the latter can hear him clearer. "Everything's going the way it's supposed to be... only... Hongjoong... we think that he's serious about his feelings towards her."

Wooyoung suppresses a chuckle before commenting, "It's bound to happen anyway, but it's a pity though. Seonghwa must be tired of having to act like he despises Hongjoong all the time; before Narae woke up from her coma they had a huge row in her bedroom. Their fights were so convincing I'm starting to think they're enemies for real."

"Narae really has no idea..." Mingi laments.

Wooyoung sighs before they gaze their eyes upon the princess, who is currently having her head in her hands, contemplating heavily. He says to Mingi, "Well, that is the plan; everything is going well. We just have to act accordingly."

Mingi does a slight shrug with his shoulders before leaning his head against the books. "It really is a pity though; the princess is starting to grow on me. I would be sad to watch her go."

Wooyoung pauses before pursing his lips. "I'm sure we all would, but what must be done, must. The only thing we have to do is follow and act when necessary." He winks to the prince of ice before getting back into his role he's supposed to have in front of Narae.

The hunt for the Arcus has barely seen a large leap forward, yet the princes who are starting to shake from where they are standing are making it harder for Princess Narae to decide on what she'll do next. Some of the princes are playing around with their powers, conjuring them as they try to take their minds off the possibility of going on an adventure that might cost their lives, when in fact they could've kept their mouths shut before they recklessly gave their agreements. All they thought was that it was going to be some stupid fun adventure, to which Wooyoung and Mingi seemed very convincing to them.

Right now, the two seemed the most regretful.

"Do you possibly remember on how you could have gotten to Opal's Bay in the first place?" Yunho asks, taking a seat at the table in the library. "No one we have heard of have gotten out of there alive, even if there is, barely. Some die after due to extreme burns from the dragons."

Narae cringes, the mental image of what lies at Opal's Bay making her think of the exact same question, one that she has no answer to. She should be the only one who's able to give the answer, yet even she is lost in the sea of questions that's about to drown her. Nothing comes to her mind that it feels like her head is simply a vast field of nothingness, with not even a single blade of grass able to grow from the lack of substance.

"I really have no idea," is what she has been repeating for the whole day, until she feels that is going to be her automatic reaction whenever people ask her about anything. "Our powers..."

"Do little on the dragons," Seonghwa helps her. "That's why no one is actually able to outsmart them. Best solution is to stay away from that piece of land, let the dragons roam on their own there. They don't disturb us, we don't disturb them. Nothing goes wrong."