Yewon didn’t know what to make of this. Her country had prevailed, but it wasn’t good news. She wasn’t happy. On the contrary, she felt consumed by this irreversible despair for those lives that were lost and so worried for those who were taken captive.

If she had never married Seungcheol and remained in Galacia, this would have been the happiest news to her. She would have celebrated the victory; she would have been proud of the fact her men had captured Solenese fighters. But so much had changed, and she found that she really had become Princess of Solen. Those captured men were her men now, not the enemy’s. Those lost lives were her loss. She thought about those in the hospital– their sons, fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins and friends would have been killed or captured, and it made her miserable.

And her husband– captured? What was her father planning to do with Seungcheol? He could not possibly be planning to hurt him; he was her husband, her father’s son-in-law for crying out loud. She couldn’t imagine what would happen to him as a captive, but she had faith that no one would hurt him.

He was alive. That was all that mattered.

-

As she was trying to write a letter to plead that her father release the captives, Seokmin was let into her room with one of his fake sealed letters.

“Your Highness, you have to listen to me,” Seokmin suddenly told her in a hushed voice. He sounded desperate, and when she glanced at him, she noted that he had bloodshot eyes and looked extremely anxious.

“What’s wrong? Why are you whispering?” she asked him.

“The spies… th…they were… they were ordered to help you escape the palace,” Seokmin told her hesitantly. His breathing grew a little louder. “Now. Please, no time to waste. You have to leave, now.”

“What? Why?”

“Think about it, your highness. Galacia now has Solenese captives. Solen has nothing on Galacia… except you. They could hurt you in order to blackmail His Majesty your father into releasing the captives.”

“They wouldn’t hurt me,” Yewon replied to Seokmin; it was an outrageous thought, really. The King and Queen of Solen treating her as a hostage, or, even worse, hurting her. It never occurred to her that it could possibly happen.

“They would,” Seokmin told her. “Another spy is now in the King’s meeting with the officials. They are already planning to use you as their bargaining chip­…”

“I don’t mind being a bargaining chip,” Yewon decided. “If that’s the only way to ensure the safe return of all the captives… I don’t mind.”

“What?” Seokmin had started to lose his breath. He didn’t seem to understand why she would possibly want to give Solen the advantage of keeping her hostage with them.

“Seokmin, please calm down,” she told him, not wanting him to have an attack all of the sudden.

“I can’t calm down,” Seokmin replied through his loud inhalations. “Princess, if you escape with us now, Solen will have nothing on Galacia. Our country will be able to win the war. Don’t you understand? We can exchange Seungcheol for all the occupied lands they stole from us, and then exchange the rest of the captives for weapons. And then we can mobilize, and we can defend our lands and finally win the war…”

Win the war.

Those words made her feel hollow. For a long time, she thought the war was over, but here it was, being reignited again after Seungcheol stupid battle decision.

Somehow, she hated those words. She didn’t want to “win the war.” She only wanted to end it.

To win the war would mean that the war will continue. More lives will be lost, more unnecessary pain and destruction. And so the prospect of Galacia winning the war did not appeal to her in the least bit. To go with what Seokmin was suggesting and to try and escape would only ignite more fire between the two countries, and that is the last thing she wanted to do.

“I don’t want to,” she told him, much to the surprise on his face. He didn’t seem to understand– why didn’t she want to ensure Galacia’s victory? Why didn’t she cooperate? Why was she giving Solen an advantage by staying?

“But your highness…” he began, but before he could complete his sentence, the door barged open, and the King and many guards trailed inside.

“Kitchen boy! What are you doing here?!” The King asked thunderously with a glaringly suspicious look in his eye. Seokmin looked like he was about to pass out in that moment.

“I called him, your majesty,” Yewon answered on Seokmin’s behalf. “I wanted to ask for some tea...”

The King relaxed a little at that. “Bring her tea to the courts,” he told Seokmin with an unkind scowl. He then turned to Yewon: “And your highness, I ask that you follow me to the courtroom, where you will stay until further notice.”

She knew what was happening; she knew why they were taking her. They were guarding her. She was suddenly an important asset on whom the fate of this war depended, and they could not lose her. She was a hostage.

It was now much too late for her to agree to escape with Seokmin now, and she did not want.

Though, in some ways, she felt almost like a traitor to her country. By refusing to cooperate with Seokmin, she denied it the chance to emerge victorious in the war. She decided to neutralize the power that Galacia had instead of adding to it.

She bowed to the King. “I understand, your majesty. You have my full cooperation.” She trailed behind the King obediently as the guards surrounded her. She glanced apologetically at Seokmin, who looked so shaken and frightened by what was to come.

-

She stayed in the courtroom the rest of that day, sitting in a heavily guarded room with the King and many other palace officials. She had no chance to see Seokmin again. He didn’t even come with the tea she had told the King he was going to prepare for her.

She only went back to her room to sleep, and even then, there were four guards in her room, standing alongside her. She was not even allowed to bathe or to change without them. She felt like a prisoner in that palace all of the sudden, not a princess.

The following day, she was escorted back to the courtroom. She expected the room be to filled with palace officials, but was surprised to find only the King and the Queen sitting on their thrones, and Soonyoung in another chair to the side of them. She bowed before the King and Queen.

The King then asked the guards to leave. All of them. Even the ones at his side, which had always been stationed there for as long she remembered. The courtroom became strangely empty, and something told her that the King was about to tell her something gravely important.

“Princess Yewon,” the King called out to her solemnly. “We need to know: is there any chance at all that you could be pregnant?”

“No, your majesty, there is no chance,” she answered honestly.

The King heaved a heavy, elongated sigh. He looked stressed out, the most stressed out Yewon had ever seen him. She could only imagine the magnitude of pressure he would be experiencing in that moment. He had the fate of his country in his hands.

“When does your menstrual cycle begin?” he asked.

“In two weeks or so,” she answered him.

He nodded, and then said, “your highness, you promised me your cooperation, and I will take you up on that promise. Your country now has the upper hand in this war. If they decide to battle, they could win it and take more lives in the process. I feel like our only hope right now is to appeal to the union between you and Seungcheol and call for abstinence on both ends. For peace.”

She nodded in agreement– this was exactly what she wanted. She didn’t want Galacia’s victory; she wanted peace. And for that, her interests aligned perfectly with the King of Solen’s. She promised him her cooperation, and he told her what he wanted...

“Your father will ask to exchange you for Seungcheol. And so you will have to return to Galacia. While you are there, your father could annul the marriage and therefore sever any hope for conciliation. But, if you were pregnant­­...” he trailed off to watch her reaction carefully.

“If I were pregnant, the marriage could not be annulled as easily,” she completed. She was beginning to understand what he wanted.

“Exactly. But, unfortunately, Seungcheol is not here to impregnate you,” the King glanced to the side, and Yewon knew that he was looking in Soonyoung’s direction.

“I understand, your majesty,” Yewon replied to him, eyes on the floor from the shame of that errant and scandalous prospect that was on everyone’s mind.

“And you also understand that Seungcheol would claim the potential baby, right?”

“I do,” Yewon replied.

“In that case, it’s settled,” the King declared. “And all of this is in full confidence, Princess Yewon. If this scandal ever comes out, our family will face grim consquences. You will not reveal this to absolutely anyone.”

She nodded. She understood that they were entrusting her with something that would be a dark family secret now.

“Bed with her as often in the few days she will be here,” the King said, turning to Soonyoung. “Starting right now, immediately. I will tell the guards that you two will be doing official, confidential business together, for which all guards will be stationed outside of Princess Yewon’s room. No one will disturb you.”

“I understand, your majesty. I hope it will work,” Soonyoung said. He glanced towards Yewon, who was still unable to look up from the floor.

And so, she and Soonyoung walked side by side to her room, guards walking behind them. Her heart was beating wildly out of control, and she remembered how she tread those very halls with Seungcheol on her wedding night. And somehow, she felt the exact same way as she did then right now.

Everything was a mess. This arrangement was a mess. She was a mess. The situation with Seungcheol was a mess.

And it all happened way too fast for her to process. Walking with her husband’s brother to her room so that he may “impregnate” her, all so that she may stay married to the Prince of Solen, so that she could maintain the political association between the two enemy countries. Such a load was now suddenly placed on her shoulders, a load that was so heavy she had to resort to this shameful arrangement.

She tried to relax– she knew she had to do this. She didn’t have the luxury to be too nervous, too unprepared, or too unwilling. This was her life now; she had to come to terms with the fact that her body did not really belong to her anymore. She felt that now more than ever.

When Soonyoung and Yewon were in her room, the guards closed the door, leaving the two of them alone.

Yewon turned to Soonyoung, who looked just as uncertain as she was.

“Looks like this was destined to happen after all,” Soonyoung chuckled awkwardly.

“I guess,” Yewon said trying to sound normal, but instead she just sounded choked up and restless.

“Well, this is not how I imagined I would end up sleeping with you,” Soonyoung said. “I was hoping the circumstances would be a little happier. I thought we’d be married and all. But this… this isn’t very… encouraging,” he added uncertainly.

“Let’s just get it over with,” she suggested, reaching out to the back of her dress. He reached out and took her arm to stop her.

“No,” he said, “you just… relax, okay?” He placed her arms at her side and stepped behind her, undoing the laces himself.

This is so wrong, her mind was screaming at her as he gradually undressed her.

When her dress fell off her body, she felt his warm breath on her neck from behind her. He began to kiss her shoulders and neck sensually, and it somehow relaxed her; it made her unwind and no longer feel the uncomfortable knot in her stomach which had formed because of this whole arrangement.

Eventually, she cast aside all inhibitions, closed off her mind and let her body do the thinking. Soonyoung somehow made it so easy to do that– so easy to forget, so easy to relax, so easy to feel, so easy to just embrace the carnal sensations he was evoking throughout her body.

A/N: I’m sorry the chapter is late, but better later than never! And yeah I look forward to your reactions lol.