(Yeondeok Palace, Songak)

~Geolha's POV~

When I got up in the morning the rain had stopped. I thought I could just take a stroll in the palace, perhaps a turn in the gardens, since today Crown Prince Mu would be spending the day with his family, so I had time on my hands.

The moment I stepped out of Hyunhui Mansion though, I saw from a distance a procession of about a dozen maids passing by, with boxes and trays of accessories and jewels in their hands. I stared at them blankly and realized that they were walking in the direction of Yeondeok Palace, the residence of the 8th Prince Wook and Princess Yeonhwa. And then my eyes widened as I realized that I was hoarding a component of a precious item that belonged to Princess Yeonhwa. I had better take the chance to return it to her today. Promptly, I brought the bistre brown bead with me and followed the procession.

By the time I got there, Her Highness again had a look of displeasure on her face as she examined the jewelry that was presented to her, although this time she looked more haughty than angry.

"Nothing here really pleases me. Take all of it away," she said dismissively and was about to return to whatever she was doing, indoors.

"I believe Your Highness will be interested in this," I declared loudly and it didn't fail to catch her attention. Once she turned around she saw that between my fingertips was what she was missing. I stepped on the dais and explained how it came into my possession.

She signaled for one of her maids to collect it from me and fix her bracelet. There was no 'thank you', because how could a Princess ever be indebted to me?

Afterward, she motioned for me to have a look at the accessories that were offered to her. "None of these really interests me, no matter how beautiful they look. I still won't pick them, because they can't compare to what I already have and what I like the best," she said, with a smile that seemed to have encrypted her true meaning. "But perhaps my mind can be swayed, if the right person comes along and offers me a new perspective on things, or makes me see the benefit of wearing an accessory that I otherwise wouldn't have looked twice at."

"If Your Highness wishes for me to be that person, I shall gladly oblige," I replied and glanced at the items on the trays. They were all indeed quite beautiful, but one that would suit a Princess...that was not an easy choice. It was not just about the design but also the color. Bisque, for instance, might not match Her Highness' skin tone very well.

"How about this one?" I made up my mind and didn't take too long. I pointed at an azure bracelet, not made up of numerous beads this time. "It looks like something my lady sister would have liked. The color would look good on her, and it doesn't look good on just anyone," I added deliberately. I knew that saying this would not make the Princess very happy, but that was the point. She was probably expecting me to say something more flattering, but I was not about to praise her as I did not find any admirable qualities in her. I chose to say something unwise so that she would not consider me her intellectual equal and therefore she wouldn't pick me from her suitors. After witnessing how cruel she could be to her servants, and how temperamental, and now how picky, the prospect of becoming her husband was less and less appealing to me, and I really hoped that Prince Mu would not recommend me to King Taejo. If necessary, I'd even use Nangyung as an excuse and claim that I was not over her death yet so that I could get out of a second marriage that was no less desirable than the first.

As expected, she did not look impressed. "Take it home and give it to your sister then," she said lazily.

I smiled wryly. "Your Highness, I'm afraid I cannot accept that. It's too much. Hyeong has done nothing to earn it."

"Chaeryung," she ignored me and spoke to one of the maids behind her instead. "Take this to Lady Hyeong in Hyunhui Mansion. The rest of you, away."

As the lot of them went off to do as they were told, Princess Yeonhwa turned to me and eyed me condescendingly. "You don't think I can see through that?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, my Princess," I said monotonously.

"You're an unabashed liar," she commented, but did not mean to reprimand me. "Whenever people try to flatter or compliment me, it's usually easy to guess what they want. But you didn't do anything of that sort. In fact you're trying to insult me, implicitly and within the bounds of etiquette. That takes intelligence," she explained, and I believed my plan had backfired. "You do want something from me. Everyone does."

"With all due respect, Your Highness, that just doesn't apply to me. I know what I want and it's certainly not something you can dole to me, not even given your status and power as a Princess," I replied, thinking of Moongeum.

"Status and power," she stated. "Is that not something you want too?"

"No, my Princess. It is not worth dying for," I expressed plainly.

"Then what is?" She questioned. It appeared my beliefs were contradicting hers, and she might not like being challenged. "What would you give up your life for, Lord Geolha?"

I answered after a short pause. "Love."

She shook her head. "Then you are a fool, An Geolha. A fool of the worst kind. Completely hopeless and irredeemable." She sneered at me, but remained dignified and elegant to conceal her fury. I wasn't sure why she felt the need to do so, as she sure didn't mask her wrath last time.

I wasn't affected by her snide remarks though. "To me, making sacrifices to gain power and status is just as foolish, if not even more so."

"I don't do it to gain power or status; I just want to keep what I have, earn glory for my clan, and stay alive. To defend those I care about and deliver my retribution to those who have wronged me and made me suffer," she clarified impassionedly. But then she shut her mouth abruptly. Her lips, tightly sewn together, quivered. She seemed to have realized that she shouldn't have said that. After all, I didn't even say that she was the one who was making foolish sacrifices, but she seemed to think right away that it was her I was criticizing. She cared too much about what I said, which was not good as I just wanted to stay away from her, so I decided to say something that would make me sound stupider, so that she'd just send me away and never speak to me again.

"You're a Princess though. Who would dare wrong you and make you suffer?" I asked, feigning naivety.

"Too many," she simply said. "And nobody can protect me. It's up to me."

"Not even your future husband?"

"I don't look for protection in him. I look for value and benefit in a marriage. I like to be pragmatic," she claimed.

"In that case, I wish Your Highness the best of luck in search of a husband who can bring you what you want," I said perfunctorily. "Now that my work here is done, I shall return to my residence. Good day, Princess."

(The royal court, Songak)

~So's POV~

I was on the way to Heunghwa Palace to meet with the Crown Prince when I crossed paths with my 3rd brother Yo. I didn't falter or turn back to avoid his barbs. I wasn't afraid, just annoyed.

"On your way to feed on your prey, wolf dog?" He taunted and deliberately bumped his shoulder into mine. "We use chopsticks here at Songak."

"Wow. I never knew. How illuminating," I scowled. These jokes were getting old and had lost their effect on me. I used to get pissed off at it, but lately, I just couldn't be bothered. "Just get out of the way."

"In a hurry?" He questioned. "Who could possibly be eager to see you, though?"

"And where are you on your way to? Who would ever want to see you?" I shot back.

"My mother, the Queen," he revealed proudly, and sneered at me. It was the kind of pride that he could only have because he had his mother's love, the kind of pride I aspired to have, but probably could never.

I gritted my teeth and glowered at him. I'd let him get away with making fun of me because of my face, but he'd bring up our mother...it had made me incredibly jealous and angry. I wanted so badly to be welcomed at our mother's residence as he and my 14th brother Jung were. But I didn't think I'd ever be accepted.

"Why the long face? Glare at me all you want, wolf dog. I know you're jealous that you can never be on my level," he said pompously. "If I were you, I'd just run along and play with my own kind."

"Then I thank the heavens you're not me," I scoffed and pushed past him to get to where I needed to be.

(Naklang Palace, Songak)

~Yo's POV~

This morning I had taken the time to visit my mother, Queen Yu, as promised. I ran into the wolf dog on my way and, as we needed him gone, I made sure to make fun of him and make him feel bad so that he wouldn't want to stay at Court for longer than necessary. Of course he was jealous that Jung-ie and I had our mother's love. But what could I do? He wasn't worthy of it.

I was about to report to my mother on a few things as well, one of them being our plans for assassinating the Crown Prince during the exorcism rite. We needed Mu out of the way in order for me to stake my claim on the throne. As my mother had financed the construction of a temple outside of Songak, the monks there would be working for us. I believed they'd be of service regarding this attempt on Crown Prince Mu's life.

She then shared her thoughts with me but I wasn't really listening because I was preoccupied with thinking about the events yesterday. The sweet and sour striped bass was lovely, and so was the spinach soup, but that wasn't the highlight of the day. I was hung up on Hyeong. The delicate fingers of her small hands crossed behind my neck that marked a moment of complete trust in me. The innocent, yet at times mischievous, look in her pretty eyes that was so unfeigned and precious. The slight pout of her mouth when I teased her, which I liked to do. And most importantly, her smile. I'd just get a warm, delightful feeling when she smiled. Like the world was better. It made me want to reach out and gently tilt her chin upward and then —

"Yo-ya," Mother scolded, but not harshly. "It's important that we stay focused. Where have your thoughts gone?"

I concealed my own smile by taking a sip from my cup of tea. "I was just thinking about my kids," I lied. I didn't really think of lying as 'good' or 'bad' as so many people liked to categorize or define. I just thought of it as a necessity at times. In this case, I didn't think Mother would like to see that my thoughts were not undividedly for our important plans regarding the exorcism ceremony, especially for a girl that wouldn't yield any benefits to actualizing our ambitions to place me on the throne. Mother would not be interested in hearing about it, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

"Lady Moongong will bring them to visit me later, right?" asked Mother.

"Yes, that's correct," I replied. "Woongdo has grown a lot taller. Younggi has not been giving her mother an easy time, but we love her all the same."

"It's perfect that you have one son and one daughter. It's enough. It's not advisable to have more," she said seriously. "You only need a son to be your heir and a daughter to be sent to a foreign power for a political marriage and diplomatic peace. Any additional children would just bring about succession crises."

I thought about it. If my royal father, King Taejo, had only had Prince Mu and Princess Chuja, the former become the next ruler of Goryeo and the latter married off to Khitan, all of my younger siblings and I were 'unnecessary', and we would indeed only pose as competition or a threat to the Crown Prince's supposed inheritance. I was not the only one among my brothers to vie for the throne, I knew, but I also knew that I was most deserving of it, especially in terms of my savvy and how much support Mother and I had been garnering.

"You're right, Mother," I said deferentially.

"And your two children should be raised to know very well what is expected of them," she added. By that, she meant that they were pawns in politics. The sooner they'd learn this and accept that this, for them, would be the reality, the better.

"I understand, Mother."

"It's a bright future to think of, Yo-ya. Once you are King, Woongdo will be invested the Crown Prince, and Younggi will be a royal Princess whose status will surely be above the pesky Hwangbo Yeonhwa," she said, at first sounding pleased and tempted, but her tone turned sour toward the end. The Hwangbo clan was a great obstruction for us. They were just as powerful as Mother's family, the Yu clan, and they also had my 8th brother Wook and sister Yeonhwa as their pawns.

Additionally, Mother and Queen Hwangbo were sworn enemies. Although Wook and I didn't make this rivalry personal, Yeonhwa certainly did, even if she wouldn't openly disrespect me, her elder brother.

Similarly, Mother took every chance to humiliate not just Queen Hwangbo but also a lot of other royal concubines. She needed to make sure the others recognized her as the woman who held the most influential position in Songak and in the King's heart. But then because the King doted on the only daughter he had by his side, she was even more hated by Mother. It wasn't helped by the fact that Yeonhwa was politically adroit and ambitious as well. Whereas Mother wanted to get rid of Yeonhwa, I held a different view. It would be damaging, and a waste of resources, for both the Yu and Hwangbo clans if we were constantly trying to take down the other. But if we were to join houses and combine forces, we would be invincible. As such, I was considering the option that I could marry Yeonhwa instead.

Our discussion was halted when her maid entered the room to inform us that Moongong was here with our children. We were going to have lunch together. It would be safer for Moongong and the kids to remain unbeknownst to our treasonous schemes, so we put those thoughts away and invited them into the chambers.

A/n: I've had fun writing about the different views and opinions each character has and what their priorities in life are. I thought it would be important to establish their mindsets so that their actions and decisions will make sense later on. I hope that you enjoyed reading about them too.

P.S. Readers, do you agree with Yeonhwa that Geolha is foolish for putting love first? If you could only have either power or love, which one would you choose and why? Share your thoughts with me in the reviews below. :D