"You have a beautiful baby girl, Lady Oh"

Lady Oh's eyes suddenly welled up with joyful tears as the handmaiden handed her first born. Her daughter. Seol Hwa.

Just as she was about to caress her daughter's face, King Taejo entered her quarters. He mirrored her happiness as Seol Hwa cried sharply, sensing the arrival of her father.

"You did well, Soo Yeon", he said, before Lady Oh handed him his daughter. She had Soo Yeon's eyes and lips, like her exact carbon copy. "I'm sorry she had to be born this way"

Soo Yeon suddenly sat up straight, facing her King with all the seriousness and calmness she could muster. The mere memory of her child almost being taken from her even when she was conceived summoned anger in her system. It was all because of Queen Yoo's schemes to get the concubine miscarried. The princess's resilience to her own life thwarted over the Queen's evil plans.

But now, Lady Oh must think rationally. All for the sake of the first princess of Goryeo.

"If it is for the princess's safety from Queen Yoo, then I don't care", Lady Oh said calmly, taking back the now sleeping child in her arms. "No one must know of this. Only the two of us, and someone that I deeply trust"

"I'm sorry, Soo Yeon", the King replied wearily. "I'm sorry that our Seol Hwa will have to live under her killer's roof"

"As long as she is taken care of, then I have no worries", Soo Yeon said with a determined look. "Our child is strong, I know it. When is Queen Yoo's birth due?"

"According to Jimong, it is either tonight or tomorrow morning. Either way, this will go according to my plan to keep our child safe", King Taejo said.

"Can I say goodbye to our daughter, my King?" Soo Yeon pleaded, a look of dread slowly filling her eyes. King Taejo nodded grimly as Lady Oh talked to her sleeping child one last time.

"I will always love you, Seol Hwa", Lady Oh said, hugging her daughter to her loving arms. "And wherever your path will take you, just know that I'm always with you. Your father and I will always be"

A day later, Queen Yoo went on labor. It was a hard birth for her, and at the last push, she loses her consciousness.

The King was later informed that their female child was stillborn. Although saddened at the death of his other daughter, it dawned on him that it will now be an opportunity for Seol Hwa to be recognized as a true princess without revealing her true birth. He bribed the doctors of the Queen to replace the stillborn child with Seol Hwa.

Queen Yoo never suspected anything as she opened her eyes later, only to find the sleeping form of baby Seol Hwa cuddled in her waiting arms. She was joyful at her first sight and embraced the child like any mother should.

King Taejo smiled warmly, but his eyes conveyed secret sadness - sadness that his daughter Seol Hwa would grow up to a different mother, a Queen who actually tried to kill her. And that she would have to abandon the name that Lady Oh gave her for her new identity as Queen Yoo's daughter.

"What shall we name her, my Queen?" King Taejo asked her first wife.

"Sae Woon. She shall be named Sae Woon, like the moon flower that blooms in our gardens at the peak of night time"

END OF PROLOGUE.

[A/N: This is my Wang Yo fan fiction for Scarlet Heart Ryeo. The official female character is dubbed as the 1st Princess of Goryeo]