The head court lady of Damiwon had an undeniable sharp eyes. She could see through Hae Soo. The kindhearted girl was too innocent to live in the palace and might get herself killed one day. She didn't want to see it, not because of her close bond with the Hae but because all of her heart, soul and body were too exhausted by the cruelty of the palace. Therefore, she would protect the girl as much as possible till the day one of them was able to leave this unhealthy place, even if she had to be harsh on Soo.
Court Lady Oh's strict discipline sometimes brought Hae Soo madness. But the girl could never get mad at her because she knew what she did was all for her sake. Days by days, she got to understand the court lady more and even know Hae Soo, herself, more. The lady told her about Hae clan. How supportive and loyal they were to the king before and after his ascendance on the throne, which explained why they gained the king's favor. Lady Oh was a friend of the Hae before she had become court lady therefore she had known Myung Hee and little Hae Soo.
"You were always a timid well behaved girl. I never know that memory loss can change one's character"
"It's incredible, isn't it?" Soo laughed awkwardly, brought up the tea and herbs to change topic.
Hae Soo respected the older lady and somehow saw her as a mother figure. But this time she could not understand the lady at all. It had been a peaceful morning when they helped queen Hwangbo with her aching shoulder. Hae Soo left the room first and was about to go out when a cry from a small room caught her attention. Peeking inside, Soo saw the crown prince who was in pain with a lot of scratches on his body. Atopic! She realized it at a glance because her mother got the same illness. Soo told the court ladies to get out of the way then helped the crown prince herself. He opposed at first but Soo appeared to truly know what she was doing so he let her be. But when she had only started, court lady Oh walked in and yelled at her
"Get out! This is not a place for you" The court lady shoved her down on the ground, away from crown prince. This was the first time she received such rude treatment from the lady.
After having a chance to be alone with her, Soo thought she could explained herself but she got scolded terribly by her instead. She also was told to not talk about the incident and crown prince's illness to anyone.
Hae Soo got punished by copying 10 times the book "Sage of tea". Now sitting under a deserted pavilion, she couldn't help feeling annoyed with the unfair punishment. And writing in Hanja was getting on her nerves. Looking down at her own ugly chicken scratch handwriting, she was even more furious. One hand she tore the paper apart, the other hand threw her pen away in anger. The little brush touched the ground then rolled down on the steep corridor. It rolled, rolled, rolled until being stopped by a foot. That person bended down, picked the pen up, looked around searching for its owner, then he smirked.
"Even you are angry at your incompetence of writing, do not realease your anger on the poor little pen" 4th prince's voice made Soo jumped in surprise.
Instinctively, she hid her writing away, which made So almost burst out laughing. However seeing her sulking face, he held the laugh in.
"What's wrong with you again?" He asked concerned but Soo didn't reply, turned her face away.
He patiently sat down opposite her then reached for her writing papers, yet Soo quickly held it back. So didn't give in and tried to snatch it from her hand. The two competed over the papers for a while until the girl gave up and let him have them. So gave her a triumphal look before reading the papers
"What is this writing?" He cried out in amusement "Don't you have any improvement? Is Baek Ah a bad tutor or are you a terrible student?"
"If you just want to make fun of my writing, then leave"
4th prince remembered that he wanted to know what was wrong with her, so he stopped and went back to the main point "Alright. So why do you have to write..." he looked at the papers again but couldn't figure out a thing what she was writing. So had to reach for the opened book in front of her "Sage of tea? Why do you have to make a copy of Sage of tea?"
"Not one copy but ten" She said displeased "A punishment from Oh sanggong"
So almost laughed again but received a stern looked from Soo, he cleared his throat "What did you do wrong then?"
It was as if he had just pulled the trigger of a grenade. Hae Soo burst out telling her side of the story which she had to hold in for almost a day.
"I did nothing wrong. She didn't listen to my explanation. She scolded me, threatened me. What's wrong with helping a person who is suffering? And with the crown prince, I was correct about everything but..." Suddenly, she remembered that she must not talk about it and stopped. 4th prince's went serious, so she just jumped to the conclusion "Anyhow, I did nothing wrong" Soo finished her releasing of temper, turning away, silently prayed that 4th prince wouldn't ask her about the forbidden subject.
"You don't happen to know about the crown prince's illness, do you?" So asked in a lower voice despite the fact that there were only two of them in the deserted pavilion.
"Huh? What is that? I never hear about it?" She played dumb but it couldn't get over with 4th prince
"Watch what you say. You might not see the sunrise tomorrow, if you're not careful"
"You know about it too" Hae Soo stated in relief. That meant she didn't have to hide it from him.
"And you still think you did nothing wrong? What if you had made the crown prince worse? You'd already be dead. You should know Oh sanggong let you off easily" So patiently explained. And finally realization came to Hae Soo.
"Maybe you are right" She admitted timidly.
"I told you already didn't I? This palace is a scary place." He reminded her of the ugly truth. "Maybe it doesn't suit a person like you" He dropped the comment which was more like talking to himself than to her.
"Will I ever get out of here?" Soo sighed deeply in sadness, looking at the birds spreading their wings flying under the high blue sky. 4th prince followed her gaze, also looked up at the sky.
"If we get married" So broke the silence. Soo mentally startled when the prince talked about their marriage. "When we get married" he corrected the word "If you don't like living in Song Ak, I will let you go wherever you want"
"I can freely do everything on my own, go wherever I want?" She widened eyes, turning to him
"Yes, you can" He nodded as confirmation. And Soo gave him a bright grin.
"Pinky promise" She held up her little finger at him. 4th prince looked at it questioning, which made her grin wider. This whole thing about marriage turned out not bad at all, she thought. And she also had a lot to teach this Goryeo era prince.
Hae Soo's misunderstanding toward court lady Oh had been sorted out after the talk with 4th prince. Listening to their advice, Soo started to be careful in her actions and speeches. However, for a person who wore heart on sleeve like her, it would be a very long way to go.
To Soo's amazement, the next day, court lady Oh came to her and said she could take part in Crown prince's illness treatment with one condition that she must extremely be careful and mustn't leak the information to anyone. Soo happily agreed since she could feel herself being useful again. Little did the girl know, it was all because her fiancé had had a small talk about her with his oldest brother.
Thing went smoothly for Hae Soo lately when her herbal tea earned the favor of the king. Crown prince's health got better with her help. The princes came to Damiwon more often. Watching them enjoying her handmade tea brought a glow of happiness inside her. If only they could stay forever happy like this.
But thing that made Soo excited the most was the writing lesson with Baek Ah at night. He had change his teaching method. Instead of teaching her the technique, he gave her poems which were already written on paper then she would put white paper on it and copy exactly the handwriting. Her writing did improve. Gradually, it wasn't Baek Ah that she needed but only his handwritten papers. She had not known 13th prince had such neat beautiful handwriting which excited her everytime receiving a paper from him. Until recently, Baek Ah didn't give her any new one.
"Why don't you give me new poems anymore, Baek Ah nim?" Soo asked while copying an old poem.
"You can still practice on the old ones" He didn't bothered to look at her but focused on cleaning his flute.
"I'd like to practice on a new one. Just write it for me now" Soo pleaded, reaching out for his hand.
"What can I do? It's not my writing that you have used to practice." Baek Ah confessed the truth "So hyung is busy lately"
"They are from 4th prince?" Soo hit the table in surprise
"Why are you so surprised?" Baek Ah raised an eyebrow at her. Then realization hit him "Did you think it's my handwriting all the time?" A mischievous smile spread on his face "You like it, don't you? You like my 4th hyung's handwriting. Aren't you moved? He spent his time writing poems for you. It was also him who suggested this method to teach you to write"
Hae Soo was lost deeply in her own thoughts while 13th prince was looking at her in expectation. All he wished was these two people could have a happy marriage based on mutual love but not a political one.
"Baek Ah nim" Soo finally looked up at Baek Ah, "I think from tomorrow you don't have to come here tutor me anymore"
"Ok, good for me then. I have better thing to do with more beautiful girl than you." Baek Ah shrugged unconcerned "Not that I say you're not beautiful" He added in hurry, worried that Soo would be sad but the girl didn't pay any attention to what he said.
That night Soo spread all the paper on her table, looked at them, admired them. Her fingers traced each word one by one. They were all from 4th prince. It felt like she had discovered a whole new side of him. Her handwriting would resemble his, her fiancé's. She might not notice but it was the first time Hae Soo referred 4th prince Wang So as her fiancé.
Meanwhile, the poem 8th prince had written for her was kept in a locked chest hidden deeply in her belongings. It was still in there but she had more out here.
4th prince had never stayed in his quarter in the palace. Everyone knew it. Everyone except Hae Soo. She rarely went far from Damiwon. The only prince's quarter she had ever visited was crown prince's therefore it took her a while to find 4th prince's, only to know that he didn't stay there but live on astronomy tower.
"Why does he insist on living in the palace only to stay in astronomy tower?" She asked annoyed while walking all the way to Jimong's dwelling.
When reaching the top floor of the tower, Soo felt like dying of exhaustion. The small tidy room was empty, much to her disappointment but she at least knew he, indeed, lived there. Soo didn't intend to intrigue into his private life and was about to leave but something on his working table caught her attention. Soo looked around then took cautious steps toward it. There was laying an unfinished poem written in a too familiar handwriting. She picked it up carefully. But before she was able to read, another hand seized it from her
"What do you think you are doing?"
Soo startled, turned back "You. Since when have you been here?" Soo asked in surprise as 4th prince, without a noise, was standing right behind her back.
"Since the first step you set on this room. I want to see what would you do in my room without my presence. Can't believe that you'd start stealing thing from me"
"Stealing? I am not" she argued but then realized that with the evidence in his hand, all of her reasonings would be invalid
"Yeah right!' He said in sarcasm but then didn't want to torment her anymore, he dropped the topic "So what are you doing here?"
"I come to say thank you" Soo said indifferently without looking into his eyes. It was weird that every time she wanted to say thanks to him, she couldn't say it properly. "Thank you for the poems. They're very useful" She mumbled shyly
"It's nothing." He dismissed it
"Come to Damiwon then" Soo said, slightly glanced at him "I haven't seen you there, recently."
"Are you..." So narrowed his eyes, leaned down, face to face with her "telling me to come find you at Damiwon?"
"Yes" Soo was dumbfounded at first, felt uncomfortable each time his face was too close to hers. Then it clicked inside her head what was his meaning "NO" she cried out loud, took a step backward, remained her personal space. 4th prince smirked. "I mean you come and have some tea, like other princes do. I can prepare something which helps you sleep well, as a thank you present."
"Or maybe you can give me a drawing in return"
"Drawing?" Soo tilted her head, wondered what kind of drawing he wanted from her
"The happy face. You drew one for Wook in return for his poem, didn't you?" He reminded her.
Soo froze for a second then turned away, hiding the sadness in her eyes. The emoticon, she had forgot it. And there were a lot of other things she wanted to forget too. "Sorry. I can't give you that"
Soo left in hurry, leaving So alone again. He opened the paper snatched from her before and read the unfinished poem
Green, O green is the willow, placid, peaceful the flow,
Hark and I hear on the river, songs from my ...
Song of bamboo twigs written by Liu Yuxi, he thought it was a poem of beautiful landscapes at first but it turned out a love one.
10th prince's birthday was coming close and Eun went absolutely gaga over it, did his best to make sure that Hae Soo wouldn't forget his birthday. Soo had tried but she couldn't forget it if 10th prince reminded her everyday and every single time he met the girl. She just knew exactly the perfect present for the birthday boy.
As Father of many children and the king at the same time, king Taejo didn't understand all of his children but he did know his favorite ones. Yeon Hwa used to be one of them. Beautiful and intelligent, she was the daughter of whom he felt proud and treasured the most. Until he saw ambition and greed in her eyes. The ambition might be his trait but greed was definitely Hwangbo's. If she had been born a boy, that child would be a huge threat for the crown prince. Yeon Hwa should not live in SongAk. It would be the best for him, for her, for the princes, in general, for all of them. He told her of his intention already. And today he just wanted to come clear with her, despite of her liking or not. And since when the king cared about his children's liking?
"Your Majesty, you really want to send me away?"
"I asked province governors to nominate good candidates for the position of princess's husband. You'll soon receive the list and select among them. How do you think?"
"I listen to all of your arrangements, father" Yeon Hwa hid her displeasure behind a fake smile.
"Good!" the king nodded at his daughter. "About the marriage, I granted one for your 4th brother but delayed the wedding, do you wish yours to be before or after the wedding of 4th prince?"
"As the younger sister, it's only right for me to be wedded after older brother" She replied politely but all she thought about was buying more time and delaying the marriage of her own as long as possible.
"Alright! I will consider it so that you won't have to wait too long" King Teajo said in contemplation. Just right then, the door of his chamber opened, walked in Hae Soo with the court ladies to serve the king tea.
"Your Highnesses" Soo bowed down, greeted the king and princess Yeon Hwa.
"It's time for tea already" The king smiled in contentment once the tea scent filled up the room "Yeon Hwa, you haven't tasted Hae Soo's tea, have you?"
"No, father. I haven't had that honor" She replied, the smile never left her face. She saw Hae Soo pour another cup of tea and serve her. It tasted bittersweet exactly how she was feeling at that moment "I can understand why you favor the tea of Hae Soo now father. You should keep her in the palace for a long time so that she can serve you this good tea everyday" The princess said in a good-daughter voice that could pleased any parents in the world.
"You're right. If I delay the wedding of 4th prince and Hae Soo, I can have both two daughters for me" King Taejo laughed happily "How do you think about it, Soo?" He turned to the girl of Damiwon
"Everything as you wish, your Majesty" Soo's answer pleased the king and made him laugh more, meanwhile the princess hid her smirk behind the teacup until the king addressed her again
"Right, Yeon Hwa. Every year, it's you who prepare birthday parties for the princes. This time let Hae Soo organize birthday party for your 10th brother"
"Your Majesty?" Both girls asked in surprise. Yeon Hwa had everything prepared already. While Soo was shocked that an outsider like her was allowed to prepare the event of royal family.
"Eunie has always been fond of Hae Soo and enjoys spending time with her. Let's just say this arrangement is my present for him"
Yeon Hwa left the king's chamber with clenching fists. She felt like being humiliated by her own father in front of outsider. That girl Hae Soo, what was so good about her. She got married to the royal family. The king liked her. Most of the princes loved her. Meanwhile the princess like herself would soon be casted out of the palace. It wasn't fair. Jealousy rose inside like an uncontrollable monster had just been released from the cage. She couldn't accept it. She would never accept it.
"Did the king call you to discuss about your marriage again?" A voice pulled Yeon Hwa from her train of thoughts. She regained her posture and hid away all the emotions. Turning back, looked at 3rd prince, she smiled
"Orabonim"
"You... just be mine"
"What?" 3th prince Wang Yo's offer swept the fake smile off the princess's face.
"You could be the Queen of Goryeo. But the wife of a province governor? Even it's a powerful clan, I cannot bear to see that"
"Then how might your dream go?" She asked in a challenging voice with a slight smile
"My dream?" He heaved out in disbelief "you want to argue that even in your desperate situation. My dream is... Goryeo"
Yeon Hwa's smile went wider "You are very fearless. But how can I know of your true competence that will put you on the throne?"
"You are doubting me?" Yo was surprised that there was someone that had doubts about his competence
"Unless you can show me" The challenge in her voice was more obvious
"What do you want?" 3th prince got curious
"How about... getting rid of Hae Soo?" The daughter of Hae clan, fiancée of 4th prince, the favorite of the king and even the crown prince.
Yo's face turned serious for a second, then burst out laughing "You think I will get involved with your girly jealousy?"
"If you can only see this simply as a girly jealousy, then I have nothing to talk with you" Yeon Hwa said her last words then left. 3rd prince stayed behind, confused of what his half-sister had said
The king's order got Hae Soo both nervous and excited. She had planed to prepare a small birthday party Korean style (not Goryeo style) for 10th prince. Now, maybe she needed to enlarged it into a big party. Most of things she could have other court ladies done for her but there were things that she needed to make it herself.
"What are you doing?" Soo jumped in surprise, almost had a heart attack when 4th prince emerged from nowhere asking what she was doing. How he could suddenly appeared behind her back without her knowing was still a mystery
"Can you stop jump scaring me like that?" She held her heart tightly.
"I didn't jump scare you. I walked in here" He said innocently
"What do you want then?" Soo asked impatiently as she had to finish drawing pictures of 10th prince then make paper flowers for the decoration
"You told me to come here, remember? What is this unwelcoming attitude?"
"Oh right, I forget it. My bad" She put down the papers and pen, ran up inside to make tea for 4th prince. Watching her running for him, his lips couldn't help curling up a smile.
Now two of them were sitting in the bathing house, near the bath lake. Wang So was having his tea as promised while Hae Soo was drawing chibi pictures of 10th prince without noticing 4th prince's stare was on her all the time. The focus on her face fascinated him: the way she chewed her upper lips, the frown she gave at a wrong drawing, the fallen hair on her forehead and the way she pulled it back to place. So didn't know how long they had sat like that until Soo looked up and met his eyes
"If you're only sitting there and do nothing, then you can help me?"
She shoved the papers and scissors in his hand and showed him how to cut a paper flower. He reluctantly did at first but after a while he found it funny and started making more. They spent the whole evening together in a comfortable atmosphere, a little teasing, a little bickering, more laughing and smiling.
4th prince put the scissors down when it was time of midnight. Soo had fallen asleep on the table with the pen still in her hand. So tiptoed over to her side, watched her sleeping peacefully. A curl of hair fell over her face, so he pulled it back as gently as possible, tried not to wake her up. He could sit there and watch her sleep the whole night but remembered how painful her neck could be when she woke up tomorrow, he decided to bring her back on bed. Slowly and gently, So held her shoulder and lifted her head. With one arm kept behind her back, he let her head lean on his chest while his other hand tried to pull the legs under the table out. Soo stirred a little. He halted, thought that she was awake but she didn't. After waiting some seconds, he continued pulling her legs out. Soo stirred again, this time she woke up really, slowly opened her eyes. Their eyes met with Soo didn't understand what was going on. 4th prince immediately dropped the arm supporting Soo's back, made her fall backwards, head hit hard on the floor.
"What are you doing?" She groaned in pain, made an effort to sit up and rubbed the back of her painful head. 4th prince felt sorry a little but then shrugged it off
"Go to your bed" He gestured her to leave but the stubbon girl didn't have any intention to stand up
"I have to make these flowers into chains" she said still in her sleepy state, reaching out for the paper flowers but So held her arm
"Do it tomorrow. Now go to bed" She tried to peel his hand off but failed "Do you want to go to bed yourself or me to take you to bed myself?"
Defeated, Soo stood up and made her way back to her bedroom. So's eyes followed each step of her... with a deep frown.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.