(Howon Palace, Songak)

~Baekah's POV~

I woke up to good news this morning. I caught word of the announcement that my youngest brother Jung was going to get married! Most of us must have heard the news already, but right now I was the only one at Jung's residence congratulating him.

"Our 4th brother So and I were talking about it yesterday and we kind of predicted that it'd be you. And we were right," I said smugly.

"I don't know what I've ever done to deserve her, but she picked me! I get to marry her! Baekah-ya, you don't know how awesome that is," Jung gushed. He was grinning from ear to ear and his eyes were like thin lines now as the smile on his face was so wide. I was really happy for him too; he did like Lady Hyeong a lot.

"You knew that she'd pick you, right?" I asked him as we sat down and chatted. "I mean, she's closest to you. You see her very often. It makes sense that she'd make this decision."

"I couldn't have known for sure! I mean, I'm not sure if she likes that I'm younger than her. And then did you know that for a while I thought she fancied you?" Jung revealed.

"What?" I laughed. "That's impossible. What could possibly have given you that idea?"

"You know that she never really liked reading, but a couple of weeks ago I found her in the study in the middle of some books that she'd borrowed from you. To make her do something that she wouldn't normally like doing...I thought it must be because she likes you," he admitted, but realized how silly it sounded now.

"No way," I chuckled. "I've realized that she's not really that into reading. And that's alright. I guess that just makes her the perfect pair with you, huh?"

He beamed. "She and I are compatible indeed."

"What are your feelings for her though?" I inquired.

"Baekah, you know how I feel about her. She knows how to appreciate me. She's genial and genteel and generous. She always does nice things for our 9th brother Won and his family and she doesn't ask for anything in return. She's like that to everyone around her, even those that she's not very close with, like Lady Jo Sinye or Lady Hae Soo. She's kind to her servants too. You can see that from the way she treats her handmaiden. She has a kind heart and she makes me want to protect her."

Just as I had expected, he only had good things to say about Hyeong. I would only have good things to say about Myunghee too. Speaking of, I should really go to Yeondeok Palace to check on her this afternoon. I needed the reassurance that she was feeling better. I was getting angry that she had consulted so many doctors already but still, her health continued to worsen.

"I wish you a very long and happy life with her then. Many of us may learn to like the person we marry, but you get to marry the person you already like. I hope you realize you're very fortunate," I remarked.

"I know I'm blessed," he smiled proudly. "And you know, my mother the Queen will be meeting Hyeong this evening."

"I hope it all goes well for you and her tonight then," I smiled and patted him on the back. "But I want to ask you this, Jung-ah. You like her so much, but does she know that? And do you know if she likes you back?"

The expression on Jung's face had told me that he didn't have a single clue.

(Naklang Palace, Songak)

~Chronicler's POV~

The 14th Prince Jung walked his newly betrothed, Lady Hyeong, to his mother the Queen's residence. On the way, Hyeong clutched the bouquet in her hand tightly, as she felt that it was about to slip out from her hands because of her sweaty palms. She whispered to the Prince hesitantly, "Your Highness is certain the Queen would like the flowers, right?"

"Yes, flowers can't go wrong," said the 14th Prince reassuringly.

"Good," Hyeong nodded, and inhaled deeply to calm herself down.

Prince Jung wanted to make his betrothed feel more at ease, but then he also couldn't get it out of his mind the way his mother spoke to his 4th brother, her own son, the other day. Jung wouldn't dare to chastise his mother of course, but he really did hope that she wouldn't treat Hyeong the way she treated Prince So.

"Are you sure these flowers aren't triggering an allergy, Hyeong-ah? Your eyes seem a little swollen…" Prince Jung pointed out.

"No, no, I'm fine," Hyeong replied quickly. She didn't want to have to explain that she had been crying just now.

Upon their arrival, a maid led the both of them into the dining room where the Queen sat waiting. Jung proudly presented Hyeong to his mother, and Hyeong was careful to follow all of the formalities that were expected of her when greeting the Queen and meeting her for the first time. Hyeong found the Queen to be quite beautiful even though she must be around 40 years old now. Still, Hyeong couldn't help but shiver in fear, as the Queen's beauty was even more unsettling and unnerving. Hyeong remembered that Princess Yeonhwa was beautiful too, but ugly and horrific was the mercilessness when Her Highness whipped Lady Hae Soo and her maid Chaeryung.

Accepting the bouquet from Hyeong, the Queen looked truly pleased. "I like bluebells a lot. They're very pretty, just like you," she said to her future daughter in law, who smiled politely and said her thanks. Hyeong glanced at Jung unsurely, but there was certainty in the way he grasped her hand under the table. She was gripping his hand so tightly that he could feel the blood pumping through his fingers' veins with every heartbeat. He was relatively relaxed, but she was the opposite of relaxed.

However, even though the Queen praised Hyeong, she didn't like bluebells because of their sweet scent or because they were nice to look at. In truth, it was because of what bluebells signified: humility. It reminded the Queen that she was above many others. In fact, only the King and nobody else was above her, and she was immensely pleased about that.

The maids began to serve each dish for dinner, but when one of them was about to pour tea, Hyeong had stopped the maid and offered to do it herself. With delicate, gentle hands, she poured tea for the Queen, then for Prince Jung, and finally into her own cup. Hyeong had hoped that the Queen would interpret this as a sign of subservience, reckoning reckoned it would be in her best interests to get in the good graces of such a redoubtable figure. She had to bear in mind that she only got the blessing to be betrothed to a Prince because her family was in the King's favor, and she better do everything she could to keep it that way. After her brother Lord Geolha had confided in her the other night, she was learning to have the awareness that the family's interests would always trump her personal preferences.

"It pleases me to see that you are quiet and reserved and polite, Lady Hyeong. I'm happy to welcome you into our family. But I think it would be nice for us to get to know each other better," said the Queen. By that, she really meant that she wanted to know how easily controllable this young lady was.

"Yes, my Queen," Hyeong replied softly and demurely. Apart from those words and 'thank you', there wasn't much else she dared say. It would be better to hold her tongue than risk saying the wrong thing or speaking out of turn.

"What do you like to do in your spare time, Lady Hyeong?" The Queen enquired. Although her tone was tender, she could certainly sound very threatening and intimidating if she wanted to, and Hyeong would never desire to make that happen.

"I sometimes draw," Hyeong answered. It was true that she used to draw with Lady Myunghee and the 13th Prince Baekah, but honestly she hadn't done that in a while since Myunghee fell ill. "And I like to play chess," she added.

The Queen nodded in approval. "Do you read a lot?"

Hyeong dreaded this question. Whilst she was trying hard to come up with a response that would mitigate her disadvantage, Jung intercepted and decided to make a lighthearted statement. "Mother, if Hyeong liked reading, wouldn't she have chosen Baekah instead of me?"

The Queen smiled at her youngest child, but also because she was hoping that Hyeong was not a bookworm. The less she read, the less knowledgeable about politics she would be, and this meant she would be less likely to interfere with politics, which in turn meant that the Queen herself would get to call the shots when she'd become the Queen Mother, which she'd planned all her life. No matter which one of her two sons became King, as long as one of them sat securely on the throne, she would be the most powerful woman in Goryeo as the mother of the monarch. This was the only thing she had ever wanted. But in order to get that, she needed to make sure that her two sons' wives and concubines had to be tractable, in case any of them wanted to follow her footsteps by marrying the King and overtake her in power. Now, she felt safe in the knowledge that this little lady of the An clan would not cause problems. Hyeong had passed the test. For the rest of the meal, she was safe. As for the possibility that she'd be reduced to becoming one of the Queen's puppets when it was expedient, there was really nothing she could do to protect herself from that.

(Cheondeok Hall, Songak)

~King Taejo's POV~

I was having dinner on my own tonight, as usual. In my mind, I kept replaying the scene this morning when I met with Lord An and his daughter Lady Hyeong to make it official that Her Ladyship would be marrying my youngest son, the 14th Prince Jung.

To me, it didn't matter that much which son was chosen. I gave my approval and blessing anyway, but it was something else that really caught and haunted my attention. Someone else, actually. I couldn't get the image out of my mind.

In the morning, when I made my way to the Assembly Chamber where I would grant them an audience, at the door I already saw them waiting. Lord An was a familiar face, so there was nothing special. His daughter kept her head down in deference once she saw me, but her maid, standing right behind her, was slower to react, and still kept her head up for a moment before realizing she was supposed to bow. But that one moment was enough to catch me off guard. I was completely taken aback by how much she looked like Sooyeon. The young Oh Sooyeon that I, as an obscure colonel, was in love with so many years ago. I was so stunned that I thought I was going to have another collapse. I contained myself at that time, but for the rest of today I was troubled by what I had seen.

Did I really see what I thought I saw? Or were my eyes deceiving me? Was this just a trick of the light?

I knew I was getting older and my eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be, but for every excuse I would give, at every attempt I made to shove this thought away, at the back of my mind the urge to believe my eyes would resurface, and it was agonizing.

I placed my chopsticks on the tray and rubbed my temples tiredly as I thought about what Sooyeon had said to me the last time we really had a meaningful conversation, the last time she spoke to me as Sooyeon rather than as Court Lady Oh. She seemed so sure that we would have had a daughter had this child been allowed to live. It could just have been her wishful thinking, and I wouldn't blame her for that, but the maid I saw today — if Sooyeon had a daughter with me, I wouldn't have a single doubt that that was exactly what she would have looked like. And that thought gave me chills and made me feel guilty for allowing our unborn baby to be murdered, and for letting my first Queen get away with it.

But what if our child wasn't murdered? What if the Queen didn't succeed? What if it wasn't an unborn baby that Sooyeon was talking about; that's why she was so certain of the gender of the child?

Sooyeon, what secrets were you keeping from me?

A/n:

Dun-dun-dun! Isn't it nice that Baekah and Jung got to bond? \^o^/

As for Court Lady Oh's daughter...is she really alive somewhere out there? Could she be physically/geographically closer to her real parents than they think? :O

Now, dear readers, I would really like to know: did this chapter make you ship Hyeong with Jung more? Cuz there's gonna be more in the next chapter! So stay tuned and don't forget to shoot me a review! :D