Shortly after agreeing to Rain's request, An excused herself. She had enjoyed herself a more than she thought she would and was honestly glad she had come to this event. She had nothing better to do, and she found someone she could talk to in the future without being annoyed or without looking for ulterior motives in their eyes.
She was forced to stay in The Northern Kingdom the majority of the time out of obligation of her marriage contract. It honestly disgusted her. However, she did not have a say. Existences that lay far above her made this decision and she had no choice to abide by their will. If what she is hearing is true, this child will be staying here for the next 6 years so stopping by to talk every once in awhile would not be so bad.
However, she had fulfilled her obligation to stay for the night. It was getting late and nobody would bother her now if she left. She was instructed to stay for a while, not the whole time after all and although she felt a bit bad about abandoning the child who would certainly be swarmed after her departure, she valued her own interests more.
'Can't say I blame her for leaving either.'
Rain and An both knew she was throwing him to the wolves, which Rain had decided to just brace himself and hope for the best. He couldn't leave whenever he wanted after all. However, fate seemed to have something else in store for him.
""Good Evening.""
"Yo, bastard."
Three voices resounded as he unclenched his eyes which were scrunched in anticipation. These voices instantly caused the crowd which was surging forward to immediately reel back. It was pretty obvious even without knowing the voices, who they were.
The three legitimate children of the Mo family had arrived. It seems I have caught the attention of all three of them.
This was of no surprise to me. I saw the way Fang was looking at his stepmother. It's similar to the way my mother looks at me, but with lust and admiration rather than affection. The other two would just be jealous or interested. They had probably attempted to form a relationship with their stepmother at some point and been brutally ignored. Not that Rain would have done it any differently if he had been in her position.
Mo Fang smiled pleasantly, perfectly masking his jealousy, extended his hand. Taking it, Rain decided to show at least some modicum of respect.
"Good evening."
Acknowledging them, Rain responded to Fang and Na's greetings. He didn't glance even spare Enlai a glance.
"May I-"
"Oi, are you ignoring me?!"
Fang attempted to broach the subject he was clearly most anxious about, but his brother interrupted him. A flash of rage flashed across Fang's face, though he hid it well. He was clearly annoyed about someone getting in his way of figuring out if Rain was a potential threat or not.
This told Rain two things,
One: he didn't care much for the bonds of family, or at least his brother
Two: he was irrational enough in his obsession to think a nine year old child could be a potential interest of an older woman
"Oh, I thought you might be referring to someone else. Good evening to you as well."
Rain didn't apologize as most would. It wasn't his mistake.
"Well I was. Who the fuck did you think I was talking to? There's no one else around? Anyways, why the fuck did the ice b- I mean stepmother, come up to you."
Rain did not miss the flash of fear that came through his eyes as he corrected his language. He had clearly been... disciplined for that sort of language before.
"To answer your question, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps it was because I was standing away from the crowd? It makes it easy for me to stand out... Not that I was trying to stand out to get her attention at all, it's just... I don't know many people in the palace and I'm a but shy to try to butt in on a conversation."
Anticipating a rebuttal, Rain decided to end this. He clearly gave a half hearted reason that they wouldn't believe but also showed he was just as confused and that he wasn't planning on this. They couldn't be so unreasonable to assume he knew their stepmother's motives, but he could cut them off of suspecting his from provoking her interests on purpose.
Rain was not panicked. He had six years to plan for all the options of this inevitable night and he gathered the general information at least. Had he not, he probably would have panicked. This would end badly as Rain had a habit of cursing when scared. It was like a defense mechanism.
Enlai was upset that he didn't have anything else to ask and Fang was obviously relieved. Rain wasn't an actor or a liar by any means, but since he was being mostly truthful, it didn't matter.
"...I see. I'm sorry to come up and try to question you all at once. It's just that each of us have reached out to our queen at one point or another to try to form a connection, but the results... were less that satisfactory. We would like to form a relationship and would welcome any hints you could think of as to why she came up to you."
Rain paid close attention to Fang's word choice. The fact that he said queen instead of stepmother was particularly interesting.
"Perhaps it would be best to try set yourself apart? You were all surrounded by crowds and even if she wanted to talk to you, it would have been awkward to interrupt all those people, even if she had the status to do so. Pardon my assumption, but you probably don't see her around the palace often, especially not when you are alone."
Fang laughed. Rain had fed perfectly into his suspected delusions. Fang just needed to stand out. That's all it was. She didn't ignore him because she wasn't interested, but because of all the insects that surrounded him. Surely, when he got enough power to stand alone as she and his father did, she would approach him.
"Thanks for the advice, however it would seem that the crowds still have words to stay and, of course, it is my obligation as prince to listen to them."
'So he's going for king, huh?'
Fang walked away, taking Enlai with him by distracting him with promising to introduce him to his female insec- acquaintances he had made tonight. Mission successful.
"Excuse me, I have some questions."
Mission failed.