POV: Hae Na Ri
"Why does the staff have numerical names?" I ask.
He tilts his head, disturbing the strands on his temple. "It's to keep their identity confidential and work professionally."
"For the masked guards. But the cleaning staff, I am sure it's probably easy to find out their identities for a lot of people."
"Why?"
"Sorry, Your Majesty?"
"Why does it bother you?"
"It doesn't–" I can't complete my sentence. The lie wouldn't come out smoothly.
He looks at me curiously, his body turning towards me. "It's not like it hurts them."
I frown. That's the problem about these people.
"I read a book once. It was an alternate world where animal meat had become infected and humans had resorted to eating other humans. The ones they ate were specifically bred for it and called females and males.
"But they didn't eat people with first and last names, and even if they did, they never openly mentioned it in public," I tell him. It was one of the few books that I regret reading but I would never call it bad.
I know it's a reality that can 100% come true under those circumstances. Human evil has no boundary.
Hajoon smiles grimly as if he finds the story ridiculous. "...Nari'sshi, you read weird books. I assure you we are not eating humans in this world."
"I am glad for that."
"It's a rule. Rules maintain peace and order."
"I know, but humans should have human names, " I say simply. "We are not objects or robots."
His face falls.
A dark storm seems to form up behind his eyes, his jaw setting hard. But when he speaks, his tone is neutral and I can't comprehend if he is furious or not. "Why do you say 'we'?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't work here, you aren't the staff. So why group yourself with them?"
There it is, the spoilt rich brat peeking through. "What's them? It's all of us. His Majesty, I and everyone here. We are humans, we have that in common. I don't have to be directly affected by something to care about it."
I have done something dangerous and disgusting; I have grouped him with us, other, lowly humans.
Though he doesn't look disgusted.
I can't tell what he is feeling.
Slowly, with soundless, even steps, he comes closer. He has assumed the regal posture again, hands behind his back and walking like a crown rests on his head. My heart skips a beat. My hands tighten around the doorknob.
Jincha, I am in trouble!
He moves till he is standing at an arm's distance, and even then he stares–or glares–at me silently for some moments. Is he trying to intimidate me?
I stand patiently and remember to not break eye contact. There are times when you are brave and there are times when you just have to look brave.
Well, remember Nari, he could be a figment of your imagination. You can't be scared of something not real. Even if his cologne wafts to you and his eyes are alive.
"Very few people dare to question me to my face," he says quietly. "Even the President shakes under my gaze. What makes you look me in the eye and say my rules are wrong?"
The possibility that you aren't real?
"Not rules. One rule," I say, holding up a finger. I put on an innocent smile too, to emphasize how harmless I am. "And I am not saying your rule is wrong. I am showing you another perspective. The perspective of your people."
I pause, now hesitating. My smile is fading away. "Doesn't it bother you too? Being called Your Majesty this, Your Majesty that all the time?"
A crease appears between his dark eyebrows. This time his frown is clear, the storm behind his eyes intensifying. I have touched some cord there.
I take a step back, feeling like I have hurled a matchstick at a pile of leaves sprinkled with petroleum. I will be lucky if I only end up on the streets and not in those white cells.
"But it's your home, your kingdom and your rules. Good night once again, Your Majesty," I bow and reach out to close the heavy door.
He grabs it.
"It's not my kingdom," he murmurs, his intent stare piercing into me. "Its people are mine, and the kingdom belongs to them."
It takes me some moments to understand he is responding to the abrupt words I had spouted recklessly.
This isn't the response I expected.
He opens the door wider. "I heard from Mrs. Kang that you have been calling the staff English names."
My mouth falls open. That's an exaggeration. "I only assigned them names and called them by those names only in my head!"
"I get it, you can call them English names. I will tell Mrs. Kang to announce that every staff member can select an English name for themselves." He smiles slightly, and I understand that disturbance behind his eyes isn't fury. It's something else.
But this easily?
I find myself momentarily at a loss of words out of bafflement. He says and does a lot of things that baffle me. I wish I could see what goes on inside that head of his.
He adds afterwards, "Major reforms and changes were made after the late queen's death. The protocols regarding the household staff were put in place by Mrs. Kang after being approved by me. Now a change after years, it's going to offend Mrs. Kang. Can you handle that?"
His tone turns playful near the last sentence, but I know he is serious.
Well, as long as she doesn't try to kill me. I wouldn't be here at the palace forever, anyway.
I tilt my head. "I will see."
★☆★☆★☆
POV: Ryu Ha Joon
After Nari leaves, Hajoon closes the door and stands like an old and neglected statue in the ballroom that makes him look small with its tall ceiling. His gaze wanders to the mirrors overhead, reflecting him in pieces.
His mind is flashing with a memory of his mother's stern face as she had said to Sunwoo's father, "Humans should be addressed as such. We are living breathing beings, not products."
Sunwoo's father had smiled. "Her Majesty used 'we' instead of 'they'. The late king's judgement was right. I see that you will be a great queen."
He doesn't know what the conversation was about. He had only caught this snippet when he had entered the room without permission.
There are only two groups of people around him who stand against him brazenly.
One group is always trying to protect him, while the other would love to see him dead. People like Sunwoo, Mrs. Kang and Jae Hyuk fall under the first group and people like that cunning President fall under the second one.
But Hae Nari?
She is a group of her own.