Chapter Text
The first time Soo-Won proposes, Lili laughs in his face.
They’re in the castle library, where they spend most of their time together. Especially now that it is summer and they’re forced indoors to escape the unbearable heat. He’s reading something political she couldn’t care less about while she is slowly picking her way through a tome about economics. It’s a weak spot in her knowledge base and she needs to strengthen it if she wants to convince other people to spend their money to better the Water Tribe. She’s in the middle of a page about the history of the barter system when Soo-Won says, “I think we should get married.”
It takes her a moment to process the words. When she does, she looks up to find him staring back at her with a carefully blank expression, patiently waiting for her to respond. Like he’d just proposed they have soup for lunch instead of proposing marriage. It’s enough for her to ask, “What?”
“We should get married.”
It still does not make sense, so she says, “You can’t be serious.”
“I am perfectly serious,” he says, looking the part. He’s sitting up straight, gaze focused on her, voice calm and clear. He wants to marry her. And she laughs.
“No way,” she says once she’s calmed down a little.
“May I ask why?”
Weird question. The answer is obvious.
“We would both hate it,” she says.
“I wouldn’t hate it.”
Mild confusion slowly began to replace her mirth. He wasn’t laughing with her and telling her it was all a joke. He still looked serious. But he couldn’t be.
“Of course you would hate it,” she says. “You don’t want to marry anyone.”
He nods slightly to concede the point and says, “True. It doesn’t change the fact that I am expected to take a queen.”
“And you want me to be that queen?”
“Yes,” he says simply.
“That’s-“ She doesn’t so much cut herself off as have no idea where to go next. There are too many responses. Finally, she settles on, “I regularly commit treason. Why on earth would you think I would make a good queen?”
That gets her the first hint of a real emotion from him. He smiles slightly at her confession and says, “To me, that shows you’re brave and cunning. Excellent qualities in a ruler.”
“Why?” She asks, baffled. “Why me?”
“You know more than most about the inner workings of the country. It would be easy to work with you,” he says. It sounds rehearsed, like he’s said all this before. Has he- did he make a pros and cons list about marrying her? She doesn’t know whether to be offended or amused, so she settles on a combination of both.
“We also spend most of our days together,” Soo-Won continued. “We get along well. I like our time together. Do you?”
She can’t answer him. He’s right - she enjoys the little parts of the day they can carve out to see each other, even if it’s only to read separate books in the same room - but admitting that would be conceding ground she isn’t willing to give given what’s at stake.
“You’re knowledgeable,” he says, “and everyone here already respects you. You are the most obvious option for me to marry.”
She’s not in love with Soo-Won. Obviously. She has a type and he’s basically the exact opposite of it. She’s grown fond of him, but in the way one grows fond of a weird cat that keeps showing up on your doorstep. You agree to feed it and sometimes it hangs out with you, but neither of you ever really get close. The cat is a little creature that sometimes lives in your home and Soo-Won is Lili’s weirdest sort-of friend. The fact that she does not love him and he clearly does not love her makes it easy to say, “I’m not going to marry you. That’s a terrible idea.”
He nods once, accepting her rejection.
“Alright,” he says. “Please think about it, though, and let me know if you change your mind.”
She won’t.
The next proposal comes from Kye-Sook. Thank everything holy that it is on Soo-Won’s behalf.
“Lady Lili,” Kye-Sook says, “it would be to everyone’s benefit if you would agree to marry Soo-Won.”
He has her cornered in a little-used hallway deep in the castle. She’d been bored and wandering and was now regretting not staying in her quarters and staring at the wall. It would have been less painful than this conversation.
“Why are you asking me this?” she asks. “You hate me.”
He grimaces and says, “Feelings should not come into play in matters of the state.”
She bites back a laugh. He really does hate her.
“In any case,” Kye-Sook says, “I have a list of reasons a partnership between you and his highness would benefit all parties involved.”
He pulls a scroll out of his sleeve and, numbly, she takes it. Point number one: she knows certain things about certain events. What.
“'Number twenty-two: Lady Lili knows his highness does not like papaya.'” Lili looks up from the list. “Why does that matter?”
“If a new chef joins the kitchen and accidentally sends his highness papaya for breakfast, you could eat it for him.”
Lili blinks at him.
“I’m going to go set myself on fire now,” Lili says, spinning on her heel. “Goodbye.”
The third proposal comes from Soo-Won again. Kye-Sook is relentless in his pursuit to get her to accept Soo-Won’s proposal, and after a month it begins to wear her down. She takes refuge from his newest tactic of offering her random things while she tries to outrun him in the halls - pearls, a new home for her attendants - by ducking into Soo-Won’s office. She knows he’s probably in there at this time of day and hopes he won’t be too upset by her barging in on him.
“Hello,” he says, seemingly unbothered by the woman throwing herself uninvited into his space.
“Hide me from Kye-Sook?” she asks.
“My office is yours.”
She ducks behind a large stack of books just as Kye-Sook gives his customary two knocks before entering.
“Your majesty,” Kye-Sook says. “I apologize for the interruption. Is Lady Lili in here by any chance? I have some business to discuss with her.”
“Nope,” Soo-Won lies. “I haven’t seen her.”
There is a pause in which Kye-Sook clearly debates what to do next. He had to have seen her come into the room, but he couldn’t go against his king. Damn, why hadn’t she thought of using Soo-Won as a buffer earlier? This could have saved her so much grief over the past few weeks. She's normally a fan of facing her problems head-on, but there are some things that are just easier to avoid altogether. Kye-Sook and his lack of boundaries is one of those things.
Once he’s gone, she throws herself into the chair across from him at his desk with a sigh.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Soo-Won asks.
“Your advisor keeps trying to propose to me for you and it’s weird.”
Soo-Won frowns slightly and says, “I asked him to stop doing that.”
“Well, he hasn’t. If anything, he’s gotten worse.”
“I’ll talk to him again. You have my sincerest apologies.”
She waves off his apology. He had nothing to do with it, so no need.
“Can’t you just get engaged to someone?” she asks. “That’d get him to leave me alone.”
He smiles ruefully. “Yes, I’m sure that’s true, but finding a suitable marriage candidate is proving difficult at the moment.”
“How hard can it be?”
She’s sure there are plenty of women more accomplished and less head-strong that would be a better fit for royalty. Someone nice, maybe, who will do charity work while he does whatever it is kings do with their days.
Soo-Won looks at her like he’s trying to figure out how to say what he wants to say, or if he should say it at all, before he says, “As you pointed out when we had this conversation originally, I don’t particularly want to get married. I don’t get a choice in the matter. What I do get to choose is who I marry, and you are still the only person I have met that I would want to spend my days with.”
“Oh,” she says. It’s all she can manage. This whole situation is throwing her off. They aren’t supposed to do this. He isn’t supposed to like her, and she isn’t supposed to want him to. She’s supposed to be annoying and he’s supposed to be a mystery for her to solve. This whole thing they have going on is tentative at best; it works, but only just. Adding anything extra into the mix is just asking for disaster.
“I am meeting with other candidates,” Soo-Won says, “so no need to worry. This won’t be your problem for much longer.”
“You’re serious about this,” Lili says.
Despite the pros and cons list she was still ninety percent sure he’d drafted before the first proposal, she had assumed he’d asked her on a whim, or had been pressured into finding a wife as soon as possible and she was the closest unmarried woman he could find. In this no-win situation, though, he’s choosing her specifically and is giving her the space to make her own decisions.
“Of course I’m serious about this,” Soo-Won says.
She feels like she’s just missed a step walking down stairs with the way her stomach flip over itself. Affection, she thinks, and just a touch of sorrow wash over her as she steels her resolve. She’s about to change the course of both their lives. Whether this is a good or a bad decision will remain to be seen. For now, she says, “Alright. Tell me what being your wife would entail.”