A/n: There'll be a couple of new characters in this chapter, but more importantly, Hae Soo will make an appearance! Please make sure to read till the end, especially if you guys liked Hyeong and Prince Yo! :DD

(Yeondeok Palace, Songak)

~Chronicler's POV~

Whilst Crown Prince Mu and Lord Geolha were in Heunghwa Palace discussing the matter of marriage plans for Princess Yeonhwa, little did they know that the Princess herself had taken matters into her own hands and was currently looking for someone to marry, someone who had a secure and stable position at the royal court, so she could use a marriage to him as an excuse for her to stay in Songak and gradually rise in power. Although, of course, she would not make her motives obvious. In spite of her ambitions and at the same time as working to make them a solid reality, she continued to carry out her duties as the only royal princess in Songak. For example, today, she had invited all of the young noblewomen at court to her residence, where they'd gather to make lanterns for the exorcism rite, whereas the maids, like Woljin and Chaeryung, would take care of the decorations too.

At the long tables in a large antechamber were dozens of young ladies including the consorts of the Princes of Goryeo. Seated closest to Princess Yeonhwa herself would naturally be her numerous sisters in law. Her eldest brother the Crown Prince Mu had several wives and concubines. Her 3rd brother Prince Yo had two wives, Lady Moongong and Lady Sinye; the former had brought her youngest sister Lady Moonsung along. Yeonhwa's very own brother the 8th Prince Wook had Lady Myunghee whose cousin Lady Hae Soo was also here, and finally there were Yeonhwa's 9th brother Prince Won's two wives Lady Kang and Lady Kim.

As Lady Hyeong was arguably the highest ranking noblewoman, after the Princess and all the Princes' consorts, she was allowed to sit near them. However, just because they were sitting close together did not mean that they actually shared a close relationship or that they liked each other. For instance, Hyeong observed that there was obviously a very strong sense of rivalry and competition between Lady Moongong and Lady Sinye, the consorts of the 3rd Prince Yo respectively. She had never met them before but she had heard of the former, at least. This was because Moongong's father, Park Younggyu, was the Vice Chancellor, which meant he and Hyeong's father worked together in the government often. Park Younggyu knew of his eldest daughter Moongeum's previous relationship with Geolha, but of course gave no consideration to a marriage between them when he could reap more benefits out of sending his eldest into King Taejo's harem instead. His middle daughter Moongong made a marriage that was just as successful, to the 3rd Prince, and even had a son and a daughter. His youngest daughter Moonsung was not of marriageable age yet, but there was no doubt she'd follow in her sisters' footsteps and become the woman of a powerful and rich man.

Anyway, from Hyeong's observation, Lady Moongong was doing everything in her power to outdo Lady Sinye. Even on the most trivial matters like how a lantern ought to be folded and pieced together, Moongong would not let go of any opportunity to throw snide remarks at Sinye's face. But Sinye didn't seem to mind it that much. Instead she was able to gracefully accept the criticism, actually thanked Moongong for pointing out her wrongs, and responded by saying that she'd strive to do better. This stirred up respect in Hyeong for Sinye but only more hatred and spite from Moongong.

Moongong was not the only cynic here, though. It seemed to Hyeong that Princess Yeonhwa and Lady Hae Soo, the young, innocent, and even a little lost, cousin of Lady Myunghee, could not get along. Hyeong watched as Her Highness' facial expression grew more and more disgruntled with every clumsy move that Hae Soo made. It made Myunghee upset that her royal sister in law was treating her little cousin this way, but she did not dare protest as she knew her place. Her Highness might embody decorum but her temper was not mild.

The Princess felt no need to hold anything back in her barbs, only seeking to humiliate Hae Soo. It was as if Hae Soo had done something to offend Her Highness in the first place in a prior incident, only Hyeong had no clue what it was. Even she felt bad for Lady Soo. Eventually, she didn't have to suffer under Her Highness' verbal abuse, but she was sent to do something even tougher: to prepare glue for the lanterns. If Hyeong or any other noblewoman was assigned to perform this task, they would doubtless have pleaded for mercy, but Hae Soo had them all taken aback when she didn't even look displeased, as if she didn't have any idea how strenuous this task was. They all stared at her blankly as she stretched her arms and followed her maid Chaeryung outside to make glue. They could say nothing, only inwardly wishing her good luck.

~Hyeong's POV~

Indoors, we ladies had spent an hour making lanterns now, and so Princess Yeonhwa allowed us all a recess. I was slightly concerned for Lady Hae Soo and wanted to see how she was doing with the glue. I found my way to the backyard and found Lady Soo lying on the table, her limbs dangling. I crept closer and found that she appeared to be asleep. Not dead, to my relief. Her face was full of sweat and she had stains and marks over it.

The smoke from the pot of glue emitted an unpleasant smell that made me cough, which woke Hae Soo. "Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed and bolted upright. "I knew this would happen." She went immediately back to stirring the glue mixture in the large pot.

"Are you alright, Lady Soo?" I asked hesitantly, covering my nose and mouth.

"Perfectly fine! I can do this no problem," she smiled confidently. I was just awestruck that she could still manage to smile when in face of such adversity. And she didn't just seek to barely get it done; she even wanted to do it well. Clearly she was not to be underestimated, and if Princess Yeonhwa took Hae Soo to be anything less than strong and determined then Her Highness would be mistaken.

As I was too surprised to speak, she did. "You must be Lady Hyeong, from the An family," said she. "I remember Your Ladyship because my friend Chaeryung told me her friend Woljin, who serves you."

"Yes, that's me," I nodded. "But, Hae Soo," I said hesitantly. "Why are you doing this? You're a noblewoman; this is not a lady's job. Just leave it to the manservants to do it; you could supervise them instead...which I'm sure you'd much rather do?" I just couldn't come to terms with how at peace she was at being sent to do hard work that was not befitting for her rank. Yes, I knew she was doing this at the orders of a Princess who was not to be defied, but shouldn't Soo at least feel offended about it?

"Oh, no, no. I wouldn't do that," said Hae Soo resolutely. "I'll prove to her that I can tackle whatever obstacles she hurls my way, so she'll treat me with respect, even though I doubt that she'll do that with a lot of people," she explained, whilst rubbing her forearms. Her muscles must be sore by now and I felt so bad for her. I wanted to help her out of this situation more than I wanted to help her get this done. I really, really, really didn't want to get my hands dirty, but then I felt so guilty just watching her struggle on her own and not lending a helping hand.

"After all," she added and smiled, looking content. I had never seen anyone look content while making glue. Either Lady Hae Soo was full of surprises or she was not in her right mind. I didn't get a full account of what happened from Myunghee, but it must have had something to do with the time she apparently got into an accident and hurt her head. "I did promise Prince Wook that I would make an effort to make myself useful and do whatever I can to lessen his burdens. He treats me so well, he and my cousin Myunghee both, of course. It's really the least that I can do to repay them."

Her words had a profound impact on me. It made me think that I had always taken my servants' hard work for granted and still believe with such conviction that they are inferior to us aristocrats. In fact it should be the other way round: we highborns without our servants and attendants would actually be nothing, because there'd be so many household chores and tasks that we had no clue how to perform.

"Here, why don't you have a rest and I'll...err, try to take over?" I volunteered. She deserved a rest, and my newfound respect for her had overridden my disgust at having to do such 'lowly' tasks. I had only met her for an hour and yet she had this effect on me. What an interesting girl, mature and wise beyond her years. She was only a few months older than me as I was about to turn 16.

"Don't worry about it! Just leave it to me," she insisted. "You must be tired from making so many lanterns. You should take a break and relax."

"I…you know, Hae Soo," I suggested. "I don't mean to criticize your handicraft but...how about you let me teach you how to…'properly' make a lantern? So that you could help out with that instead of suffer here."

"Oh, you are willing to teach me that, Lady Hyeong? I'm willing to learn, but you might find that I'm slow," she joked. "Thank you for your offer though. I'll be sure to take you up on that, but right now, I'm not suffering," she explained. "Whenever I think to myself that this is something in my power, this is something that I can do that will make Prince Wook have one less thing to worry about, I'll do it happily. I have no complaints whatsoever."

I was thoroughly impressed by Lady Soo. "Your Ladyship seems to have a very close relationship with His Highness the 8th Prince."

"Yes, I do see him a lot. And he teaches me a lot of things. The ways of the court, whom I should beware, and of course, most importantly, how to read and write!"

My jaw dropped. "Surely...surely the Hae family can afford a brilliant education for you, Lady Soo?"

"Oh, well, that's true, but…" she scratched her head embarrassedly and drew my attention to how messy her hair now was. "Ever since I hit my head, it seems I've forgotten many things and I've become a lot clumsier. But as Myunghee tells me, I've also transformed into a much cheerier person, so I guess that kind of makes up for it?" She giggled.

I smiled. "That's true. You are indeed a very cheerful person, Hae Soo." It was nice to meet her actually.

Eventually, Princess Yeonhwa had allowed Hae Soo back into the antechamber and assigned someone else to make glue. It was now time for the ladies to have a snack. An assortment of cakes and biscuits and dumplings and other delicacies was prepared. They were so scrumptious and the ladies were so hungry that very soon, many of the dishes were cleared. I watched as Lady Sinye reached for the last piece of crystal cake but it was promptly snatched up by Lady Moongong's deft move of the pair of chopsticks in between her long, slender fingers. Everybody stared at them silently now, half of us eager to be entertained by the showdown between a man's first and second wives as was always the case, the other half hoping nothing too bad would happen.

"Oh, did you want that?" asked Moongong phonily. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take away from you something that you loved so much," she said, appearing polite but it really did seem that she was talking about more than just the crystal cake. She must have been hinting at how her husband, the 3rd Prince, was taken from her by Sinye when she came along and married the Prince. And then it had struck me that just a few days ago I had met their husband Prince Yo, but hadn't actually made our acquaintance.

Before Sinye had the chance to reply, Princess Yeonhwa noticed the tension and piped up. "If my Ladies enjoyed these cakes, I'll instruct the kitchen maids to make more tomorrow."

Sinye first thanked Her Highness cordially, then turned to Moongong calmly and said, "my Lady has nothing to apologize for. If Your Ladyship would like to have the last crystal cake, by all means it is yours."

"Now, that's very kind of you," Moongong replied icily, but did not keep the crystal cake for herself although it was trapped in between her chopsticks. In front of everyone, she had placed it into the bowl of her 15 year old sister, Lady Moonsung. "I was actually saving it for my little sister. It's her favorite snack, after all," she said, and nudged Moonsung lightly, as if giving her the cue to deliver a rehearsed line.

"Thank you, Lady Sinye," Moonsung said shyly.

The tension was diffused and the recess had ended. It was time for us to go back to making lanterns. We needed a lot of them.

When the day had finally ended and even the sun was about to finish work, Princess Yeonhwa had thanked us all once again for helping out. "It is thanks to all of you that the exorcism rite will go smoothly with all these lanterns to dispel malicious spirits," she said gracefully. All of us curtsied in return and one by one, with our handmaidens, returned to our respective residences.

It was once again when I was about to leave another Prince's home that I had crossed paths with the august, charismatic 3rd Prince Yo. He was clad in black this time, with a blue vest, and carried a sword with him. I thought that must have been his costume for the upcoming rite.

Obviously, I wasn't planning on seeing him again, and neither was he here to see me of course; I supposed he was merely dropping by to pick up his family and be on their way back home together. What a caring and devoted husband His Highness was! I knew that all of the Princes were also here at Yeondeok Palace to prepare for the exorcism ritual in their capacity, but Prince Won wasn't even bothered to come by for his wives.

"Your Highness," I bowed and greeted Prince Yo as I should. With my best smile, of course, as I kept thinking about what he said to me the other day. I wondered if he still remembered me, since I had only occupied his attention for a few moments, yet he had invaded my thoughts every now and then these few days.

"My Lady," he replied politely, but he just wore this smirk as if it was part of him. It wasn't malicious, just playful, in a sense, and teasing. Definitely very teasing. "Is it just the setting sun, or are you for some reason blushing?"

I now flushed madly, and had to look away even though he was so pleasant to look at. I groaned inwardly when I wasn't able to come up with a reply at all, even though I was panicking and running around wildly in my mind and ordering myself to think, think, think! But no, my wits had left me. They had deserted me when I was in greatest need of them.

"Looks like it's definitely the setting sun, then," he said deliberately when I couldn't say anything in reply, and he sounded so very amused.

"Your Highness is making fun of me," I protested, albeit giggling softly. "It does a lady no favors to be mocked by a Prince." I was able to look at him now. I even found that he was smiling at me now rather than smirking. In fact, it was a smile that was even more dazzling a view than the beautiful sunsets of Songak. As I did not know him well, I had only heard accounts of him and it seemed many of them stated that His Highness was a dispassionate and aloof man who'd frighten the people around him. That he was driven only by his political ambitions and cared for nothing else. But I felt differently, even before he told me that I need not be afraid. I failed to understand how others could have perceived him as cold and unfeeling when all I felt was hot when I was around him. And here I was, feeling these feelings that I never thought I'd ever feel.

"But somehow that has managed to earn a smile from you," he remarked. His tone had turned gentler, so it didn't feel like he was up to something that could make me suffer.

"Your Highness," said someone else. Which meant I no longer was the center of his attention. I wasn't too upset, though, I found that it was just his wives looking for him. I must have kept them waiting for too long. I could only bow at Lady Moongong and Lady Sinye apologetically.

"Let's go home, shall we?" Lady Moongong simply spoke to her husband and ignored my presence. "I'm sure Woongdo and Younggi miss their father."

Oh, so the 3rd Prince had two children already. Interesting. But I learned nothing more about him and his family as he headed home with his wives. I'd only think about my conversation with him, and the way he made me feel.

A/n: Thank you for reading! There'll be more about Yo and his wives in the next chapter. Interesting backstories ahead! Until then, please review! :DDD