Leaving Galacia was the hardest thing she had ever done. She said goodbye to freshly-baked, sweet Galacian bread, which she knew she would not have in Solen. She said goodbye to messenger Don, who told her that it would not be the same without her. She said goodbye to Tati, who cried and said she felt like she was losing another child. She said goodbye to the castle staff, with whom she had grown up and under whom she was raised. She said goodbye to her sisters, who all said that they wished that it were them instead of her. She said goodbye to Jihoon, who said he would never forgive their father for what he did.

Her mother and father were to go with her to Solen to attend her wedding and then leave her.

On the way there, she did not speak to her father; she didn’t want to. He had the tendency to get angry nowadays, and she did not want to face his reproach.

She spent the first few days at sea finishing her novel (which she had successfully smuggled into the ship without anyone noticing), and also thinking about what was to become of her life. Unlike in the novel, her life wasn't going to have a hppy ending with the person she loved...

She spent as much time as she could with her mother, knowing that the time with her was now limited. Her mother gave her the awkward talk about the consummation night (which Yewon thought was extremely unnecessary: she knew it all already from her novels). Yewon also had to the take syrups and elixirs that castle physicians had prepared for her to help her with fertility and ensure that the result is a boy and not a girl. They were disgusting, but Yewon took them thinking about how important it was.

“Mom, how old is the prince?” Yewon asked her mother as they sat on the deck, eating sweet bread that they had packed from Galacia for the journey.

“I don’t know,” she replied, “all I know is that he’s the oldest of his siblings and heir to the throne.”

“He’s probably over 30 then,” Yewon concluded with a pout.

Her mother shrugged, “maybe.”

“Solenese people are ugly too. So I’m going to marry an ugly old man, aren’t I?”

Her mother didn’t answer, but avoided Yewon’s eyes guiltily as she took a bite from her roll.

“I’m scared,” Yewon expressed.

“It will be okay…”

“But it won’t be. I’ll be a prisoner in that castle with some ugly prince who could hurt me if he wanted…”

“Don’t think like that...”

“But it’s true. He could hurt me, and no one will take my side over there. You guys will be far away from me, and I’ll be alone in that castle around people who would probably hate me.”

Yewon’s mother didn’t deny it. She just put her arms around her daughter and apologized for what she would have to endure.

-

They arrived in Solen after twelve days at sea.

It was hot.

That was the first thing that Yewon noted when she woke up from her sleep and descended onto the Solonese port, stepping foot in Solen for the very first time.

The sun shone ever so brightly in the sky, and it was hot.

After living in Galacia for so long, it was a strange feeling to go outside and feel warm. It was so foreign to her, so wrong, so unhomely, so strange…

But it was not only the weather that was different. Everything was different.

First and foremost, as the descended onto the port, the royal delegation waiting for them did not put the left hands on their heart; they did not say the customary greeting Yewon was so used to hearing. Instead, the delegation bowed to them and welcomed them to Solen.

They spoke differently. Although Galacia and Solen shared a language, the accents were so different. The Solenese accent is deeper and coarser, a lot less pleasant for Yewon to hear.

“Welcome to Solen,” said an attractive young man with long hair standing at the front of the delegation as he bowed.

Her father put his right hand on his heart and greeted the young man the Galacian way.

The young man seemed slightly unsettled by the greeting, but he masked it well with a surprisingly bright smile. He then held out his hand for her father to shake, and he did, but not without hesitation.

“I am Jeonghan, the prince’s advisor. I’ve come to you to the palace on behalf of the royal family. We hope you will have a comfortable stay in our blessed country, and pray that this will be the first step to reconciliation between our two nations,” he told them, still wearing that bright smile on his face. Yewon thought it felt so rehearsed.

Yewon had never spoken to anyone from Solen before; she had only heard about them. She knew that Solenese people hated Galacian people, and so she had always imagined them to be cold and bitter people. It was surprising for her to see this Solenese man seem anything but cold and bitter…

“You must be princess Yewon,” Jeonghan told her, directing his warm smile towards her.

She nodded.

“I hope you will come to love your new home,” Jeonghan said to her with a slight bow.

-

Their buildings were different. Their people looked different. Their clothes were different. The ground she walked on was different. Their voices are different. The horses and carriages they used to transport them to the castle were different. Everything was so overwhelmingly different, and Yewon felt like she drowning in unfamiliarity.

“It’s okay, my darling. It’s okay,” her mother told her, noticing how Yewon seemed so frightened of everything around her.

-

The Solenese castle was beautiful.

Solen was a much wealthier country than Galacia, and that was reflected very well in their palace. The high walls, the beautiful chandeliers, the golden tapestry, the intricately-designed carpets…

Yewon remembered that her people were starving, and she suddenly felt so resentful of all of this wealth.

It was not only Yewon that harbored resentment. As they walked through the halls and were led to their guest rooms to wash up and change, many Solenese people walked by them. And when Yewon’s eyes met with their’s, she could feel that they hated her.

She hated them too.

She even hated this Jeonghan person, no matter how kind he appeared. On the contrary, his kindness made her resent him even more. It was no secret that he, as a Solenese man, hated them, the Galacian royal family. Why act like he was happy to have them here, when he wasn’t? This Jeonghan was just so fake to her, and she resented him for it.

She stuck beside her mother, feeling surrounded by enemies. Even the guards who were tasked with protecting them were suspicious.

-

Her parents were led to their room first. Separating from them was so difficult for her. As he parents entered their room, Yewon felt like she was stripped and vulnerable.

“Your room is close,” Jeonghan reassured her, “just a minute away.”

Yewon nodded and followed him through the unfamiliar halls, trying to memorize the way from her parents’ room so that she could go back to them.

There was a young woman with a rounded face waiting outside the door that Jeonghan was approaching. Her head was down, her hands together in front of her. She was wearing an apron and a regular dress, and so Yewon guessed that she was a servant in the castle.

“Lady Sungyeon, good to see you,” Jeonghan greeted her. They bowed to each other.

“I’m here to receive my assignment, my Lord Jeonghan,” she told him.

“Of course,” Jeonghan said. He turned to Yewon. “Princess, this is Lady Sungyeon. She will be your maid for as long as you are here in Solen.”

Lady Sungyeon bowed to her, but did not make eye contact and kept her eyes on the floor.

Yewon was tempted to put her right hand on her heart and hail, but held back immediately when she remembered she was no longer in Galacia.

“So these will be your chambers, Princess. If you need anything, just let Lady Sungyeon know, and we will get it for you. The welcoming ceremony is in five hours. You may rest and bathe and get dressed in that time. Anyways, I must be going now. I look forward to seeing your highness at tonight’s ceremony.”

With that, Jeonghan bowed and retreated. The guards opened the door to the room for Yewon. She entered, and Sungyeon followed her inside.

The room was large and beautiful, much grander than anything she ever had in Galacia. The ceiling was high and lavishly engraved with intricate geometric patterns. There were large cushiony chairs of bright colors and floral embroidery. There was a fireplace coated with gold and silver. There were large paintings of mountains and waterfalls. There was an enormous bed with red satin sheets that seemed like the coziest thing in the world to Yewon.

Yewon was tempted to climb into the bed and just sleep, but she was conscious of Sungyeon standing there watching her.

Yewon turned to Sungyeon, who lifted her head for the very first time since Yewon met her. When Sungyeon’s eyes met hers, Yewon felt a chill down her spine. There was so much hatred in Sungyeon’s eyes, hatred that Sungyeon did not even try to hide.

“Would you like to bathe, your Highness?” Sungyeon asked. Her voice was calm and sweet, but her gaze was like arrows piercing Yewon’s skin.

“I… okay,” Yewon responded.

Sungyeon then made her way behind Yewon, startling Yewon and causing her to turn around to face Seungyeon.

“What are you doing?” Yewon asked

“Undressing you, your highness,” Seungyeon answered.

Yewon then realized yet another difference between Galacia and Solen. In Galacia, a person’s body is sacred and private. It is covered with layers and layers of clothing, and only shed in private. In Solen, that is clearly not the case.

“Oh… it’s fine. I will undress myself,” Yewon told Sungyeon.

“In Solen, it’s always the maids who undress the princess,” Sungyeon explained. “If you want to adapt to living here, you have to let me undress you.”

“I can adapt later,” Yewon told Sungyeon.

“With all due respect your highness,” Sungyeon said, “but you cannot enforce your own customs while you are in this country. This is not Galacia; this is Solen. You have to abide by Solen’s rules. Not your own.”

There was so much bitterness in the way Sungyeon said it, and it almost felt like she was spitting at Yewon.

Sungyeon did not wait for Yewon’s permission. She stepped behind Yewon again and began to undress her.

Yewon didn’t stop her, mostly because she felt like she had no power at all. In some ironic twist, her maid was the one presiding over her, not the other way around. She immediately started feeling sick as the sensation of being imprisoned dominated her.

Sungyeon was quite quick and aggressive as she undressed Yewon, and so it did not make it any easier to be exposed. And so for the first time since she was an adult, she stood completely in front of another person.

Yewon’s arms circled around her bare body as Seungyeon led her to the bathroom, in which the water had already been prepared.

Yewon stepped into the bathtub, as Sungyeon approach the water stove and began to fill the tub.

The water was scorching hot, making Yewon cringe in pain.

“Add cold water,” she told her maid.

“Will all due respect, your highness, but in Solen, we always bathe with hot water. It’s more hygienic to do so.”

Yewon felt silenced by that.

Sungyeon continued pouring scorching hot water into the tub, making Yewon wince every time. Her skin turned a red as a result. Eventually, Yewon got used to the scorching water, but she was not used to having another person bathe her.

It hurt. Sungyeon’s hands were strong against her scalp, and the bath brush she used was rubbed against her skin with so much force, it felt like the bristles were nails scratching against her back.

Yewon wanted to tell Sungyeon to stop or to be more gentle, but she felt powerless. This was Solen, and this woman bathing her was Solenese. If this is how they bathe in Solen, then Yewon had to accept it.

-

She got to sleep for a few hours after her bath, and thankfully, the redness of her skin from the bath faded and she was back to her regular shade.

She woke up to the sound of a castle servant boy placing a tray of food on her bedside

“Oh, your highness, forgive me for waking you,” the servant said, bowing to her. “I was just asked to bring this to you from the kitchen, in case you were hungry.”

Yewon was indeed hungry. She looked towards the tray and saw an unfamiliar kind of soup with an unfamiliar kind of bread.

“Uh, these are Solenese dishes,” the server said to her. “Carrot soup and Solenese bread. I hope you will like them,” the server said and bowed to her before retreating.

When the servant boy left her room, she immediately took the tray to a table in the corner of her chambers and began to eat.

The taste of the soup was unfamiliar, but it was not unpleasant, especially because she was already so hungry. The bread, on the other hand, was hard and salty, so completely different from her Galacian sweet bread, which was soft and a lot more appetizing than this.

She wondered if she would ever have Galacian sweet bread again.

As soon as she was done eating, Lady Sungyeon entered the room with a dress in her arms.

“Your highness, you have to prepare for the ceremony,” Sungyeon told her. “Please stand and let me dress you.”

The dress was much different than anything she was used to in Galacia. It was made up of fewer layers, made of different material, and a lot more exposing than anything she had ever worn. In addition to all of that, it was a lot more uncomfortable.

The top of the dress had to be tightened around her back like a corset so that it outlines her chest and her waist. Sungyeon tightened it to the point that Yewon felt she couldn’t even breathe.

She didn’t ask Sungyeon to loosen it though, because somehow, she knew that Sungyeon would say that this is how they did it in Solen.

Sungyeon also styled Yewon’s hair, and her scalp was in pain from how Sungyeon pulled the strands in Yewon’s hair and styled it in the typical Solenese bun, and decorated it with flower pins.

When she was finally ready to go to the ceremony, the realization hit her that she was going to see him. Prince Seungcheol. Her future husband. The one who would occupy the position in her life she had dreamt so much about.

She was nervous about it. Although she knew she wouldn’t like him, and she knew he would be old and ugly and cold towards her, she still felt nervous. She wished he weren’t too old or too ugly, too mean or too hateful. She wished he were not as cold and as bitter as Sungyeon was. She wished he wouldn’t be violent. She wished he would smile.

Maybe I will love him, Yewon thought hopefully. Maybe this is the beginning of a romance novel.

A voice in her head was telling her to get back down to reality and stop living in fantasy. This was not a novel, and she will not experience a dreamy romance with this person.

-

She met her parents before she made her way to the ceremony, escorted by Solenese royals.

Her parents were in Galacian attire, and so Yewon, in her Solenese dress with a Solenese hairstyle, felt like she had finally broken away from her heritage. She felt distant from them, like she didn’t belong to them anymore. She hated it.

“You look beautiful, my sweet,” her mother said, but her words were tinted with remorse.

Yewon did not look beautiful; she looked Solenese.

They walked with the escorts through the intricate castle halls, and with every step Yewon took, her anxiety increased. Especially because her mother was giving her guidelines as to how to greet and approach people at the ceremony. It was too much to remember, and it drove her mad.

She was going to see him, her husband, the person who will be in her life for as long as she lived. The person with whom she would consummate. The man who could make her life a living hell if he wished.

When they stood at the doorway of the ballroom in which the ceremony would take place, Yewon felt like she was about to faint from both anxiety and the tightness of the dress around her chest.

The door opened, and Yewon looked up to behold the man who would become her husband.Yewon immediately spotted him sitting beside the Solenese King and Queen. He also gazed at her, and for a long moment, their eyes met.

He was not ugly nor old, but there was an unmistakable coldness in the way he looked at her.

A/N: And Cheol finally appears. I’m really sorry if this is a boring chapter, but it is very important and necessary. Note that there are details in these opening chapters that will be important later so pay attention. :P seriously nothing in this fic is added randomly just for the sake of adding things lol /hint hint/