•Epilogue•

The softest, warmest smile.

"What is it that made you so mad towards me?" She rolled her eyes and scoffed, hands folded before her chest. The endings of her pretty, dark short brown locks of hair rested beautifully on her shoulder.

If it wasn't for her restlessness, she wouldn't have burned her hair in the campfire they had the previous week, and she would still have long hair.

However, she still looked beautiful. Her top came up to her ribs, and she wore navy, loose pants. Her overcoat came up to her thighs, and if it wasn't for her eyes, people would end up thinking that she was a commoner, not a royal.

"Can you fuck off?" Siwoo hissed, almost stomping her geet down. "Haven't you done enough by embarrassing me like that already? Why do you say shit you don't know?"

Chaewon smirked. Her eyebrows raised suggestively as she loosened her arms and got a hold of her silky hair.

"Why? Isn't it true that you chose to see yellow as your first because you knew Hanbin's favorite color is yellow? Don't you think I'm doing a good job bringing you and your crush closer, hmm?"

Simon's fisted hand clashed with the table and Chaewon jumped at the noise. Chaewon's smile only grew more when Siwoo growled to hold her anger back.

"Oh my. You really do wish to have a good impression on Hanbin, don't you? Looking at you getting all fussy because of such a small thing."

"Bitch--" Siwoo sighed, telling herself it's not worth fighting. "Wait until I tell Taehyung about this. I'll make sure he lets you know what you did wrong this time."

"Threatening me that you'd tell my mom is of no point, my girl."

"What will Siwoo tell Taehyung?" Hyeon asked as he opened the door. The fact that the walls and doors barely provided any soundproofing just made it difficult for Hyeon to not hear what was going on.

And though he heard their entire conversation, it was only okay to act like he didn't hear them.

Siwoo kept quiet, just looking ahead and keeping her normal stern face that she always had. The strict training for Atlas warriors even included not smiling or giving off any sign that you may be sweet, so Siwoo had developed a habit of keeping a straight face always.

"Nothing much," Chaewon's cheery voice replied. "I was messing with my little friend here. That's all."

"Get out, Chaewon." Siwoo seethed when her initial anger towards Chaewon came back to her. Siwoo was trying too hard to not give Hanbin any signs that their past relationship could be brought back, and Chaewon always does something to make everything go bad.

She was done with Hanbin. She didn't want a relationship with him anymore.

If Chaewon kept doing this, Hanbin would keep trying to get back to her by telling her that even she loves him.

"Go, child. Your grandmother has been searching for you the entire day. And stop messing around with people so much." Hyeon affectionately patted the seventeen-year-old, guiding her to the door.

When Hyeon came back to Siwoo's room, now alone and without the extremely pretty girl beside him, he sat down on the bed and looked at Siwoo. He held her arm when she wouldn't look at him.

"Love, you okay?" Hyeon asks. "You seem so stressed."

"Dad," Siwoo pouted, tilting her head to the side to show him how heavy her head felt. Her puckering lips pushed out even more.

"I knew it was a bad idea when you came to me when you were ten saying you wanted to join the warrior training. It was too much for a child, and you had just got your vision back then."

"My mother gave me her eyes before dying for some reason, dad," her voice sank a little. "I couldn't just not do anything to make her proud after she did so much for me. Everyone hates her, but she still didn't give me any reason to hate her, so I can't hear anything against her."

"Who said what, baby?" Hyeon asked, knowing Siwoo had gone through way too much than she should have.

As a ten-year-old, she lost her mom and got to see the world for the first time. Mira had held her very tightly in her last moments before she went completely limp, and after that, all that had been heard was Taehyung's and Hyeon's crying.

She knew every one of them tried to save Mira but to no avail.

What had to happen, happened. Siwoo remembered her mother had been very happy when she was taking her last breaths, smiling and chuckling even though it made her pain increase.

Siwoo knew her mother finally found the happiness she was desperately searching for which led to so many problems and troubles for others. She was way too happy that so many shed tears for her mother and chose to be by her side and not hate her for her past deeds.

However, it was hard to get over the loss of someone, may that someone be good, bad, harsh, or sweet.

But she was allowed to see the world after that because of her very dear mother who had made it clear to everyone that they needed to use her eyes to enable Siwoo to see the world.

It was true that when the healer, who was also a witch, asked her which color she wanted to see first, she said yellow of the sun.

It wasn't because she wanted to see the sun. It wasn't because she wanted to see the pretty yellow flowers that everyone likes, sunflowers.

She wanted to see what beauty looked like, and she had grown up listening to just every freaking one calling Chaewon pretty because of her "ember eyes" but it was also jealously that burnt in her.

She was pitied. She was shown sympathy.

She wasn't ever adored.

Chaewon was adored and loved by just everyone that existed. No one had ever seen anyone as pretty as her, so they just got attracted as soon as they saw her.

But for her? It was all somehow connected to her dead mother who had been nothing but a blessing to her. Mira had taken such good care of her and had showered her with every little love she could before she died.

But Chaewon...

"Chaewon keeps saying that now that I can see things with my mother's eyes, I shouldn't start thinking everything I see is mine too. She keeps mocking my mom for troubling Taehyung, and I can't even do anything about it because she isn't entirely wrong."

Hyeon sighed. God, handling a child all alone while bearing the consequence of the death of a dear one was just too much.

But he would do everything he could for his child. Mira had made him promise to take care of her and never let her feel the absence of her mother, and Siwoo had been such a smart and patient child even after she first heard the news of her mother's death.

Just... Siwoo had grown up mentally too fast. She tried to be mature and ignore even the little childish desires she has. She started speaking like an adult too quickly, started earning money even as a child, and did just everything an adult does including taking care of her father.

"I can't tell her much, Siwoo. She's been bland and just straightforward about everything since she was young, and I can joke about her behavior but have no right to correct her about it."

"Let her be, dad. I'm just annoyed by her right now, but I'll be okay, Don't worry."

Hyeon patted her head softly. "Let me worry, darling. You're the only one I can worry about so let me worry and think about you, yeah? Don't try to make my suffering less by keeping things to yourself because that just hurts more."

Siwoo wrapped her muscular arms around her father's neck, smiling brightly. "I don't hate Chaewon," she consoled him. "She's just very annoying, the opposite of the king, her dad. Both the king and queen are so sweet but she seems to have gotten only their bad qualities."

"It's not like that..."

"I like her, dad," Siwoo said, rather half-heartedly so her father doesn't go complaint to Taehyung about all these trivial things. "She's a great human being."

*-*-*-*

Taehyung sorted out a few old portraits that were laying in his and his husband's room as Jungkook just sat and tried to teach their second son, Junghwa a few things about royalty he was curious about.

Taehyung was fazed and couldn't concentrate on the father-son conversation. All he could make out was that his curious, studios son was yet again trying to gain information about things that make him curious.

As a fifteen-year-old, Junghwa did quite too many things that couldn't be ignored. He had already gained all information on how a kingdom runs, and he was doing more difficult things now.

Though, as a beta, he didn't look strong and even personally he neither had any interest in being strong or playing any games nor training on the grounds. Chaewon was perfect at that, at anything other than sitting in a place for too long.

She just couldn't stay still. She would get all so restless if she was forced to stay still for too long, and just like that she had burnt her hair the previous week and had several scars of past cuts she inflicted on herself while sword training.

Taehyung and Jungkook knew that their vulnerable, sweet son could understand everything about the world but not the cruelty of human nature. He was vulnerable and sweet-hearted.

He'd several times ask them why wars are fought, why omegas didn't have equal rights since the beginning and still are treated badly in other places. He asks them why his uncle Jin had to suffer so much to finally start liking uncle Namjoon.

The answer to all of them was that humans were cruel even when they were supposed to be more understanding.

"You have something more to ask, love?" Jungkook asked, seeing that the glint in Junghwa's eyes didn't vanish even after Jungkook explained everything about orphanage kids to him, the thing Junghwa wanted to know about.

He carried him and placed him on his lap, raising his eyes questioningly. "What? Ask me whatever you want to."

"If Atlas' orphanage was as good as you explain it is, then why didn't mama get to live in the orphanage with proper facilities? Why did he suffer before grandma found him? Why did grandma bring him here if she didn't want to adopt mama?"

Taehyung's attention got drawn to them now, after listening to her son's doubt.

"I wouldn't be able to marry your father if any of those things happened, Hwannie. Why do you wish that happened?"

"I..." Junghwa shrugged and smiled sweetly at his mom. "I just wanted to know."

Jungkook thought carefully about his question, wondering how his son could be this smart. There could only be one conclusion of everything that happened in the past and maybe is happening even now, "Nothing can be perfect, Hwannie. Atlas is good, a bit more just, but it isn't perfect."

"When will it be perfect?"

"When..."

"When more people as determined as mother Atlas is born and are determined to give birth to an equal society where, different from what mother Atlas said, all the ranks are given equal rights. If alphas keep quiet just to protect the omegas or think that omegas aren't supposed to be spoken against, then instead of alphas, omegas will be bad. If I wasn't an omega, her highness, Youngmi, wouldn't have helped us much and we would have still had to live by ourselves."

"Then grandma is wrong," Junghwa said, crossing his arms. He did love his grandmother, but he didn't like that she did treat his mother badly a few times.

"She did just as society thought her, so she isn't wrong."

Nearing his forties now, Taehyung had stopped being petty and angry about such small things. He had long forgiven Youngmi and had started being normal to her, laughing and speaking to her just like nothing happened between them.

However, he didn't hide his entire story from both his children who grew up too fast.

Way too fast.

It feels like just a while ago he had come back to the palace and saw Jungkook holding a baby Chaewon tightly in his arms, glaring at Mira and giving her the punishment she deserved.

Just a while ago--Taehyung could swear it hadn't been long-- Jungkook had tightly held his hand when he was giving birth for the second time. Taehyung hadn't cried or even made a loud noise, but Jungkook's voice had been shaky every time he whispered soothing things to him, and towards the end when it got too difficult for Taehyung to push the child out, Jungkook even started crying.

Just how did time pass so fast?

Chaewon was so small just a while back. She had started learning to speak proper words and putting them in proper sentences. From playing around in the garden and spending all her time doing just something, she had grown so smart and tall.

As Taehyung thought about her and Jungkook continued to cuddle with Junghwa while talking to him in a soft and sweet voice, Chaewon barged into the room.

"Hello, king and queen and prince of--"

She wasn't given enough time to finish her dramatic greeting. Taehyung seized her by her arm and pulled her closer, ever ready to start yelling at her.

"How many times, Chaewon?! How many times did I tell you to start behaving properly? There's never been a day people don't complain about you to me!"

"Let people speak whatever they want. We should only do whatever we--"

"Keep those things with you! Do you know how angry I get when you trouble Siwoo?! She didn't even need to come to complain today; her friends came and told me how much you annoy her. Can you just stop all this Chaewon? I don't say anything for the small things you do, but you cannot hurt that girl."

"I don't do anything at all," Chaewon said in a slightly offended tone. "Even I was surprised that she got so mad today. All I did was bring up her ex-boyfriend and she--"

"She doesn't like it, does she? You knew she doesn't like it and that's why you even did it. Is that a good thing?"

Chaewon shrugged, shaking her head like these things didn't even matter. "I just don't say stuff to you, but it doesn't mean she's an angel. She says shit too. She annoys me just as much as I annoy her. You can't get mad at just me."

Taehyung breathed out a deep sigh, looking at Jungkook for help. Jungkook instantly sat up straight and patted Junghwa, telling him that he would speak to him later.

When Junghwa was going out, Chaewon gave his head a light slap, laughing when Junghwa instantly flinched away, already expecting her to do something like that.

"Chae," Taehyung warned.

"Chaewon, come here, darling," Jungkook said, smiling brightly at her. Chaewon skipped to him, reciprocating his smile with a brighter one.

She jumped on top of him, getting tucked easily in his strong arms. He held her tightly while she made herself comfortable before slowly speaking up,

"You know I hated Mira, right? I told you several times how I didn't even want her to escape the prison after what she did to us. Your mother did show her mercy, which was unexpected from someone who always holds grudges, but there was a reason we just couldn't stay angry at her."

"Because she was suffering while being away from her daughter and you both couldn't stand it because you were parents too?" Chaewon said in a bland tone. "You've told me that already, dad."

"Siwoo is Mira's blood, but she's much more than just Mira's daughter, Chaewon. You don't need to be close to her or treat her very well, but you need to respect that she's someone who already is suffering. I hope you don't find pleasure in hurting someone already hurt."

"We're partially friends dad," Chaewon sighed. "She's been a bitch--"

"You aren't going to use such words," Taehyung scolded even though he had now buried himself under the piles of boxes, not missing the chance to correct herm.

"Anyways," Chaewon continued, "I was saying that she's been bad to me too. She's pushed me many times and growled at me even after knowing that we're both half-royals and her aggression could cause me problems. I'm just giving back to her what she does to me. I take up her mother several times not because I hate Mira, but because it affects her a lot."

Jungkook shook his head and showed his dislike of the situation.

"Don't do this. If this is how you think things will work then just stay away from her."

Chaewon's shoulders softly fell.

"I don't want that..." She whispered.

*-*-*-*

"You're here again."

Siwoo's legs crushed down on the twigs on the path. Her flowy dress swept the muddy ground and got dirty, but she didn't really care about that.

She was far too deep in the forest, so finding Chaewon there made her shocked. It was late at night too, and Chaewon hated nights so she just stayed inside her palace.

Today, she was out, in front of her, taking shaky and deep breaths to calm her raging heart that thudded against her chest as she had ran all the way there.

"Well?" Siwoo asked. "What do you want? I'm not really I'm in a good mood so you can expect to get punched across your face if you say something annoying."

"I came t-to say sorry, but you're so damn bitchy that I don't want to apologize now."

"Then go back home, bitch. Don't do dumb stuff like annoying. I'd like to see you embarrass yourself in other ways, not like this."

Chaewon's face went blank. She sighed and shrugged, telling herself how much time she wasted on these things.

"Wait, let me just take you back. I don't think you'll be able to--"

"Do you hear that noise, Siwoo?" Chaewon asked, getting all so serious suddenly. "It suddenly started when I was on my way here, and I can still hear it. It sounds like footsteps..."

There was complete silence for the next few seconds. Siwoo's eyes grew dark. If it was some normal time, Chaewon would have stopped every other thing to admire her beauty, her long brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Come here," The alpha girl whispered, grabbing Chaewon's arms. Her hearing strength was better than average alphas because she had only depended on her hearing throughout her childhood. She could easily hear the heavy crunching sounds of leaves.

"It could either be the alpha of a rogue group or it's just some other animal," Siwoo explained to Chaewon.

The sounds just got louder, and they were left with no other option but to hide in a hole on the ground, covering themselves with dried leaves.

They kept quiet, holding each other tightly so they aren't noticed. Siwoo could fight, but she didn't have any weapon whatsoever, and she wasn't overly confident in herself to just jump in front of whatever that heavy and huge creature is to fight it.

Chaewon hid her face in Siwoo's shoulder, pouting. She snuggled her neck and took it the alpha's scent, savoring it. She was mildly surprised when Siwoo patted her head and shushed her in the softest way.

They stayed there for a while until the sound disappeared, and even after that, they stayed there until they were entirely sure that there was nothing outside.

Siwoo broke away from Chaewon and examined her getting slightly worried when she noticed how red Chaewon looked.

Chaewon was still clutching onto the alpha, hating that she couldn't get to smell her as strongly as before when she was buried into Siwoo's shoulder.

They managed to get home safely, in the end.

Siwoo didn't leave her alone until they were in the palace, afraid that Chaewon was sick and would pass out if she was left alone.

Chaewon's feet moved on their own and she was standing outside her parents' room. She could hear them laughing inside and felt slightly guilty for butchering their happy time, but she had to really tell them something.

The first thing she saw after going inside was her parents buried in the blankets, cuddling. Taehyung was barely even visible to her, but she could hear Taehyung say something about growing more gardenia or something.

She went ahead and threw herself on them, earning a flinch from Jungkook and a shriek from Taehyung who pushed the blanket out of his face to see who was there.

"Chae!"

"I'll not be mean to Siwoo from now," Chaewon said, knowing that it couldn't be helped anymore. Siwoo was there when Chaewon needed her, and Siwoo only lost her cool or hurt Chaewon after Chaewon had done something mean to her.

She didn't want that annoying relationship with Chaewon anymore.

"What happened to this pig of mine?" Taehyung asked, knowing she never turns her back to her words. If she said she won't be mean to Siwoo, she wouldn't be mean from then. "What made her realize her dumbness?"

"Mom, I just said I'll be good to her. I didn't say I'm going to marry her."

Jungkook frowned at that. His hands were so used to patting her hair whenever she was nearby that he couldn't stop himself from doing it now too, and Chaewon instantly clung to him, and gave him a big smooch on his cheek before getting up and hopping away.

"I have no idea what she's up to now."

Jungkook nodded, agreeing that he also was unaware of what was going on in Chaewon's mind.

However, it was a relief that she decided to be good to the girl because Siwoo deserves to have a good friend like Chaewon.

"Well, she's very unpredictable. I have no idea if this is good or bad now. It could mean that she's going to be very close to Siwoo or she's going to do even worse things than before, and I can't tell what's what."

"Let her be," Jungkook advised. "Even though we cannot accept it, she's a big girl now. Let her do as she wishes, and only when she messes up, we'll interfere."

"How can she mess up now?" Taehyung asked curiously, his bright eyes twinkling in the candlelight of the room.

"By turning back on her words? Maybe... by hurting Siwoo or maybe by marrying her."

Taehyung laughed at that, shaking his head, so sure that Chaewon and Siwoo wouldn't fall for each other. Nevertheless, Jungkook thought about the possibilities of both the cases he mentioned, knowing none of them were impossible.

It would be shocking if they ended up together, but Jungkook whatever it is, they don't fight with one another. It would be much better to see them get along.

And about marriage...

Jungkook wasn't letting his darling marry yet. She was a baby; she cannot marry just yet.

"She grew up so well," Taehyung mumbled, smiling oh, so warmly when Jungkook brought him closer to his embrace, pecking his head.

When silence fell, their hearts thumped against their chest, dancing in pure joy, knowing things turned out well.

It was so difficult to be in each other's arms like it is now, but they'd suffer a million more times just the way they did now if it meant they would come together in the end. And they'd suffer another million times if it meant they would have a beautiful family like now.

"You kept all your promises, Jungkook. All of them." Taehyung held his lovely mate dearly. "From the promise of not marrying Mira to the promise of never betraying me, loving me, and taking care of me and our family. You don't know how lucky I am to have you."

"You forgot one thing, Tae," Jungkook rubbed Taehyung's back. "I'm still keeping my promise of loving you more every day by knowing you more. Once we reach the end, I want you to hug me like you're doing now and tell me that I kept this promise too, and at that time, I'll believe I loved you right."

Taehyung could just smile.

Just smile through the feeling of being loved the most, being treasured the most.

There was nothing better than that.

x-x-x- The End -x-x-x

Finally, the end :>

Was it okay?

Anyways, Thank you all so much for the support. It's difficult to find time to write, but all the support you give me really makes me want to dig out time for writing.

You've reached the end of "Scintillating Ember Eyes"! Thanks for reading, and please do support my upcoming books too.

Aight. Bye :)