…so no head?
oh my god. Ohhh my god. I AM THINKING ABOUT THEM
is this canon? no. not right now. I think I might be able to pull something like this off with Sonnet if I played my cards right but idk. Because at this time, Gale would have “quit to work in the Lovesong district” (read: only working for Sonnet in secret) and Sara would be getting her doctorate. so sonnet is our only option. but. rn. let’s just traumatize Kai a little. shake him around
!!cw for themes of suicide and potentially unnerving sexual language!!
obligatory “I’ll regret tagging you in this once I turn 18 but I only have so much longer to write stupid shit” tag: @svwhssftr
Kai’s dress shoes rhythmically rapped against the slick floor as the sun lowered above him. The Palace halls were so, so empty. The once bustling festivities of The Moonlight Festival had braked to a screeching halt. Whether it was the murder of a Council official in broad daylight or the imminent crowning of The Empress, Kai wasn’t sure.
His forearm shook as he shifted his weight into the armory’s door. He knew exactly where to find Noeul.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kai snapped. “Sonnet sent my ass up here to find you. I was planning on watching the coronation safely from my own home, but no! Your selfish-“
Kai’s voice trailed off as his eyes widened. Noeul finished polishing the gun in his hands before aiming it at his own throat.
“I’m not coming back from this, Shirogane,” he whispered, precisely painted fingers trembling.
Kai wasn’t one for comforting. In reality, he agreed that Dalseum probably would be better if Noeul offed himself. But Marie wouldn’t make it if he did. The scared little girl who boldly told him to ‘fuck off’ couldn’t survive yet another blow to her psyche.
“Your daughter is waiting for you,” Kai said. “She looks beautiful. If you see one last thing, it really should be her.”
“Marie doesn’t know what’s happening,” Noeul hummed, his voice tinged with tears. “Marie just knows she’s our puppet, and she’ll play that role no matter what happens. Maybe Crow was justified, just up and fucking over our entire family like that. We’re all a train wreck, Kai, and I caused it.”
“Took you long enough to realize,” Kai said under his breath.
“Where’s Porter? Isn’t he supposed to be helping her?” he asked, slowly lowering the gun.
“Porter’s dead,” Kai said, clearing his throat.
“He’s what?”
“Blaire sliced off his head in the middle of the Lovesong square. She’s heading towards The Palace, and I don’t think she’s coming for the coronation.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay,” Noeul said, his face static. “Sonnet knows what they’re doing.”
“Adam and Crow are with her. If one goes down, then they all go down.”
“Three birds with one stone,” Noeul half-joked, tucking his pistol into his ostentatious coat.
“There we go,” Kai awkwardly clapped. “The cameras are all set. I’ll make sure all of The Palace doors and windows are locked. God, could you imagine that? Those low-lives crashing the coronation?”
“If they do, I’ll take care of them.”
“Are you sober enough to aim?”
“No,” Noeul scoffed. “I’ll kill ‘em, anyway.”
“You’re a classy man, Sang.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Oh, shit!” Kai exclaimed, peering out the window. “What do you bet that’s them?”
Kai pointed at three fuzzy figures on the outskirts of The Cocktail Quarters. With everyone else preparing for the coronation, they were the only thing that possibly could have been moving.
“Good luck, Blaire.” Noeul sarcastically pressed his lips against his fingers and blew a kiss through the window.
“Chea’s probably stressed out of their mind.”
“They don’t have enough of a mind to possibly stress,” Noeul said, rolling his eyes.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Sonnet was always my second choice. It was never paradise.”
“And which choice was I?”
“I was never going to marry you. Really, I can’t stand you.”
“Glad to know the feeling is mutual.” Kai nodded as he readjusted his scarf.
“I can’t wait for this to be over,” Noeul sighed.
“The whole Blackbird mess?”
“It’s going to end one way or another. No matter what, I’m killing myself after this.”
“Even if you take back the Blackbirds?”
“I might fuck Blaire one last time before I go. Just to watch her realize that, in the end, none of us are going to win.”
“Ugh, really? She’s got all these stretch marks and saggy tits now. She’s not the Blaire you knocked up.”
“Doesn’t matter. Her pussy’s the same.”
“Whatever you say. Shit, can I join you?”
“Since when were you interested in women?”
“I’m not interested in fucking her, but watching her reaction would be funny.”
“God, don’t even mention it. I can’t be visibly hard for my daughter’s coronation.”
“You’re going to kill yourself right after, so why does it matter?”
“I want to go with some dignity left.”
Noeul took a deep breath as they approached the ballroom’s entrance.
“This is it,” he whispered, his hands still shaking.
“Shoot a fag point-blank and fuck a bitch up for me before you blow your own brains out, alright?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I’ll almost miss being your side piece.” Kai leaned to kiss Noeul’s neck, sinking his teeth into his flesh to mark him.
“Damn it,” Noeul seethed, swatting Kai away. “I’d say I’ll miss you, but I don’t want my last words to be lies.”
“It would only be appropriate.” Kai shrugged as he patted Noeul’s back.
“I’ll see you on the other side, Shirogane.”
“Godspeed, Sang.”
Kai somberly nodded as the ballroom doors creaked shut. Kai bit his bottom lip as Marie eagerly hugged him and excitedly showed him her coronation hanbok and all the bells and whistles attached. Noeul’s death would break the poor girl. Hell, she’d probably feel like it was her fault.
As Kai turned to leave the palace, the caught a glimpse of puffy black hair and the blade of an axe out of the corner of his eye.
The Blackbirds had arrived.
He made direct eye contact with Crow, and the poor boy’s eyes swelled as big as his hair. He mouthed something to an unknown figure below him, but Kai grinned at him as he unlatched the window.
“Welcome to the coronation!” Kai winked as he waved Crow inside.
“What the fuck?” Crow laughed. “Do you think we’re that stupid?”
“I’m not armed. I’m serious.” Kai raised his arms and turned around. “I have no reason not to let you inside.”
“Don’t trust him, Crow,” Adam snapped, pulling him under beneath the ledge of the window.
“Is that you, Belle?” Kai cackled. “Man, it’s been a minute! How’s that navel piercing healing?”
“Go to hell, Kai,” Adam replied.
“Well, I surely won’t be the only one.” Kai calmly slinked out of the window and left it open. He saluted the Blackbirds before he started on the short trail back to his townhouse in The Cocktail Quarters.
“The cameras are rolling. Give them a hell of a show, Sang.”
2 notes
·
View notes
I was reading the novel and this time something caught my attention that I don't know why I had overlooked it before, and that is how Athy talks about her life in the orphanage. Athy says that the children in the orphanage knew things that the children should not know, that she had to fight for what she wanted and that when she left that place she felt a kind of freedom.
To me, that screams abuse.
It bothers me that the fandom so overlooked the fact that Athy was abused not only in her first life (neglect) but also in her second life and I'm sure it must have been hell. I wish the manhwa had put more emphasis on this because many fans overlook Athy's trauma when she is literally the character who suffered the most.
Yes, to me it's canon that Athy was heavily abused in her second life. Adding to what you said, I remember her mentioning having to literally fight for food (a bowl of rice), or how they got a single sad birthday celebration per month. That's also where her initial fixiations with candy, money and her genuine love for studying come from, as Athy herself admits, she never had those kinds of luxuries (she mentions having to eat expired food in a "haha funny" way, but if you think about it for two seconds, it's just tragic. Like, she died from overdosing on sleeping pills to deal with the cold). I know a thing or two about how orphanages operate from my field of work and acquaintances, and kids in those institutions suffer from abuse in all sorts of ways while being completely ignored by society. I'm not from Korea, but going by what Plutus wrote and reading about the subject, the situation seems to be similar or even worse.
If I want to get overanalytical, part of her depression while living alone could be a consequence of the treatment she received at the orphanage. It's super common for kids in those situations to end up with depression, PTSD, having issues forming emotional connections, facing prejudice, etc. It's also canon that she was verbally and physically abused at her workplace. Athy treats her death as an accident, but in my opinion it's implied that it was a suicide, perhaps not in an "active way", but her behavior was edging the line. Which is again, common for people with that background. I think this plot point is interesting, as to my knowledge suicide is a taboo subject in East Asia. Most manhwas don't have their FL reincarnate after that.
I get what you mean, that part of Athy's trauma is often overlooked, but it probably has to do with most people not reading the novel and with Athy herself not really acknowledging it. She mentions her life as Lee Jihye at the beginning of the story, and then very rarely brings it up. But if anything, that's pretty consistent with how Athy deals with her trauma and negative emotions, refusing to acknowledge they exist until their weight is too heavy for her to endure. I like this piece of characterization a lot, but it leaves us with many questions that are hard to answer when Athy herself doesn't remember or actively tries to forget the trauma from her past lives. You could draw some parallels with Lucas and Claude's respective ways of dealing with trauma, loss and trying to forget (but Athy's mindset is more healthy and not so self-destructive lol).
Also yes, to me Athy is the character that has suffered the most by far. Not like this is a competition, but *gestures at LP* and the fact that she was a working class woman in Korea while the other characters (sans Lucas and Diana, I guess) are and always have been rich aristocrats in pseudo-France says enough /hj.
50 notes
·
View notes