Chapter 2 - TAEYEON

★★★

Of course, this would be a great day to enjoy the late summer flowers before they wilt for the autumn and winter seasons. Of course, this would be a great day to just sit in one of the palace gardens and enjoy some tea and talk poetry with some of my family. Of course, I’m suppose to be learning lessons from my instructor. Of course, of course, Mother is going to scold me once she finds out what I’m doing right now.

Oh no, Mother! She’s going to kill me once she realizes what I’m doing right now. Alright, alright, ignore the brain, ignore the brain, let’s not fall off the roof now, shall we?

I push thoughts of Mother out of my brain and focus on the task at hand. Roofs. Roofs are important for housing. Roofs are important for blocking the sun and providing shade. Slanted roofs are important for allowing fallen rain to run down its shingles. HOWEVER, SLANTED ROOFS ARE NOT GOOD FOR CLIMBING.

I try my best to balance myself on the slanted roof of a little palace. Not exactly sure which concubine’s palace I am currently on top of, but let’s just hope no one sees me.

Slowly, I turn my head around while maintaining my balance, and search for my friend. Where is that little....

“LEE SOONKYU! HURRY UP! WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!” I yell (quietly) towards my short friend.

“TAEYEON PLEASE SLOW DOWN” the shorter girl yelled (quietly) back. “Taeyeon-ah, we won’t be late, okay?”

“I know, I know, but we need to hurry.” I grumbled again (quietly), scrambling across the palace roof.

Aish, Soonkyu-ah, we’re supposed to be talking quietly! We can’t get caught doing this! I knew I was at fault just as much as she was, but trying to communicate while jumping from roof to roof isn’t exactly easy. There isn’t anything good about these palaces or these roofs. Well....at least they’re all connected so I can easily slink across from palace roof to palace roof and I won’t fall to my death! Hehe. Yeah. I don’t exactly want to die by falling off a roof.

“Soonkyu! We’re almost there! Just a little further!” I could already hear all the chattering of the hundreds of girls present today. And the perfume....ugh why so much perfume, ladies?

We finally reached Chrysanthemum Palace, but for today, it has been turned into the “concubine choosing” palace.  Other than the servants brushing and dusting the floor, no one else was there. In order not to be seen, I choose a spot somewhat far away from entrance, but close enough to see all the maidens. “It hasn’t started yet!” I whisper excitedly. “Make yourself comfortable on this roof, Soonkyu. We’re going to be here for a while.”

“Of course it hasn’t started, Taeyeon-ah. I’m always right” Soonkyu smiled, and lightly punched me in the arm. She looked around “Where are are all the girls?”

“They’re all waiting in the Golden Jade palace. We’re on the roofs of the choosing palace. You see that palace door right there?” I pointed to my right. “They’ll probably come in through that door and then line up right here. We won’t be able to see the king from our position, but that’s not the point.”

“Why do you even want to see the maidens again?” Soonkyu questioned.

I shrugged and ignored the question. Why did I want to again? Well, most of the time I was just curious as to what kind of women the emperor was going to choose. This palace...isn’t a easy place to survive in. Having grown up within these palace walls and seen my mother suffer through every living day, I knew how tough it was to survive in this place. Sure, the palace is a filled with luxury and riches, but people never realize that it’s hard to maintain all the luxury. And these women that will be chosen today...not all of them are fit to live in a place like this. I felt  sad for them.

Sometimes I’ll meet a very special concubine, who wasn’t doing this just for the palace wealth and glory. Those women were really one of a kind. Whenever I found a special girl, I’d always try to befriend them because unfortunately, those down-to-earth concubines are always so lonely.

“You know, Taeyeon-ah, we can’t always run around the rooftops and do whatever we want in the future” Soonkyu whispered, interrupting my thoughts.

“I know, but who can stop me?” I grinned. “Even Mother can’t control me.”

“Empress Dowager can’t control you because you’re the emperor’s favorite sister.” Soonkyu sighed, “Seriously, I bet no one would be able to recognize you as a member of the royal family, let alone an actual princess.”

“But that’s the point, Soonkyu, I don’t want to be recognized as a princess. To restricting, you know?”

And it was true. As early as I  could remember, I’d always hated the long dresses that we were required to wear, until finally, one day, I’d had enough. I’d gone up Father (our late Emperor) and asked if I could simply wear some “prince clothing.” Father had laughed heartily, I remember very clearly, and said, “Alright, I’ll let you. You can wear the pants, but you still have to wear a very long top. But try to at least act like a princess in other aspects okay?”

Our late emperor was a great man, and I missed him very dearly. However, I pushed the thoughts of Father out of my mind. I sighed, “Princess can’t do this, can’t do that, have to act like this, have to act like that. There’s no freedom in being a princess. And worse, princess are always married off to someone else. I don’t want that.”

To be married off to a stranger from a faraway land is my biggest fear.  I tried my best to be proper and to act like royalty --without deepening my whole princess aura. I wanted to stall time, so that I could fall in love at my own pace. Find someone that I truly loved, and not someone that the emperor or Empress Dowager were to arrange for me. I didn’t want to be married off as a political agreement. But that’s what happened to princesses. And I intended not to let that happen to me.

“It’s alright, Taeyeon-ah, I understand. I’ll help you, but we can’t stall time forever, can we?” Sunny said, pulling me out of my thoughts once again.

“Yeah, you’re right. This can’t go on forever, but I intend to do this for as long as possible.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find your true love. I promise. Just keep trying, okay----

“THE EMPEROR HAS ARRIVED! EVERYONE, CHOOSING WILL BEGIN IN A FEW MOMENTS” a loud voice boomed down from below.

“Nevermind. Come on, Taeyeon-ah, it’s starting. Let’s get comfortable.”

★ ★ ★ 

Two whole hours had passed by already, and we’d only gotten through last names starting from An to Goo. We’d examined every girl that had come in so far, seen who’d been chosen so far, and discussed, out of the chosen ones, who would  last a long time in the palace  once they became a concubine. All of them seemed pretty bland, and I had no idea what dear brother Emperor was thinking. I know I’d already forgotten most of the ones he’d chosen. The sun was really starting to heat us up, but luckily, I’d found a shady place on the rooftop to shade us from the heat. Soonkyu was starting to get restless, and I was starting to fall asleep. Asleep and restless. Definitely not a good combination for two people lying on a rooftop.

“Come on, Soonkyu-ah, let’s just stay up here for another hour or so. If things don’t become any more interesting, we can go back to my palace and eat some pastries or something.”

“Alright, fine, but you better get me those peach pastries that I really like once we get back, or else you’re dead.”

I laughed at Soonkyu’s grumpy demeanor. “Of course, of course, let’s just watch now okay?”
 

★★★ 

I glanced up at the sun and tried to gauge the time. The third hour is almost up, and still not an interesting…

“Taeyeon, after this last group of girls, we’re done. I’m getting down from this rooftop!” Sunny whispered beside me.  “Come on, Taeyeon, this is the last group we’re watching, might as well actually watch it.”

I nodded, and looked down from my position. For the past two, almost three hours, not one of the girls had noticed us. But suddenly, one of the girls looked up, slightly flinched  in surprise at the sight of Soonkyu and I on top of the roof, and looked back down immediately.

“SOONKYU! THAT GIRL JUST SAW US!” I whispered. “DID YOU SEE THAT?”

“Wait which one??” Soonkyu asked quickly.

“That one! The one without any earrings.”

“The one in that pale, shabby dress?”

“Yeah, her!” I looked at the girl again, but this time, her head was bowed, as was the custom when kneeling in front of the emperor.  Awwwhh, I want to know how you look like.

“Her dress isn’t very vibrant, unlike the other girls. She doesn’t seem like she really wants to be here.” I chuckled. Very interesting. I like this girl already.

“Yes, her dress isn’t very vibrant, but doesn’t mean the king won’t notice her.” Soonkyu countered.

As if right on cue, the head worker in charge of the concubine choosing read from his list: “Hwang Miyoung! Age sixteen. Father, Hwang Chunjun, level four official of Rejun province.”

“Hwang Miyoung. Miyoung...the name sounds a bit old” I heard the king say. “But you’re only sixteen. Lift your head up so I can see how you look.”

This girl named Miyoung lifts her head up and my breath caught in my throat. She’s beautiful. Unbelievably beautiful. Her name does not do her beauty justice!  Don’t choose her, brother, let her go home.

I’m not going to lie.  There was just something about her that pulled you in.  And it wasn’t even just her beauty, she seemed like such a nice person. I really wanted to get to know her better right then and there. I almost considered jumping off this roof and down to the ground to introduce myself. But I stopped myself before I did anything stupid. But the king...he’ll definitely want to choose her.

As if on cue, the emperor announced, “Miyoung, a name that doesn’t suit your young beauty.” He paused, probably to think. “Hwang Chunjun, he’s a very smart man. I assume he teaches his daughters well?”

“Yes, your Highness” the quiet girl replied. She made no effort to grab the king’s attention.

“You must be one of Hwang Chunjun’s quieter daughters.” the emperor chuckled. “Ah, I have lots of faith in that old Chunjun. I’m sure his daughter will not fail to please.”

There was then a moment of silence before the head worker announced that this Hwang Miyoung had been selected.

I sighed. This girl was definitely special. She hadn’t even said a single word, and the king decided to keep her! She hadn’t even tried to make the king get to like her. And she sure didn’t seem like she even wanted to be there. And yet she was chosen.

There’s always girls who are chosen to become a concubine but didn’t want to in the first place. I’ve grown up in the palace my whole life, and those types of concubines either were forgotten and ignored or completely withered away and died out of loneliness. And this Hwang Miyoung girl is probably going to be destined to the same fate.

NO. She won’t be destined to that fate. I won’t let that happen. I refuse to have another innocent soul wither in away in this palace. Once was enough. I won’t let it happen again.

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And that’s another chapter for you all. I hope yall kind of get  a feeling as to Taeyeon's  character? And yes, she is the king’s younger sister, aka Princess Taeyeon.

Empress Dowager = the mother of the current emperor. ‘Dowager’ is just a title, not the emperor’s mother’s real name haha

I’ve been thinking whether I should keep this in first person or switch it to third person form. It might be easier to write in third person for future events where other people make choices that affect TaeNy but I haven’t decided yet. Comment and let me know what you think I should do?
 

Leave some comments, constructive criticism, questions and suggestions? Anything I can improve on is great really! Thanks for reading~