Her parents were to leave that morning.

After breakfast, Yewon had a few hours with them before they left her indefinitely. Heaven knows when she would see them again, and if she would evem see them again.

It was so difficult; her only connection to her home country was now leaving her alone in this foreign palace filled with enemies and with a husband who outright admitted he hated her.

Yewon did not tell them that. She even pretended that the consummation actually happened, and lied saying that it was not very hard for her, and that it did not hurt. Both of them seemed relieved to hear it.

“Remember Yewon, try very hard for this son,” her father told her for the hundredth time. “It’s very, very important.”

Yewon did not need to be reminded. She already knew how important it was, and it was stressing her out more than anything else.

-

The send-off at the front gate of the castle was the hardest thing in the world.

Yewon told herself that she would not cry. She needed to be strong in front of her parents so that they don’t worry about her. More importantly, the King and Queen of Solen, as well as her husband, Seungcheol, would be there with her when she said her goodbyes. She did not want to embarrass herself by crying.

She tried to remain strong, but when the time had actually come, she broke down.

Even as she bowed to her father, who had never really been a father to her before, she cried. Her father had wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead (a gesture he had never shown her before), telling her that he was so proud of her for being strong enough for Galacia.

She sobbed when it came time to hug her mother, who also could not hold back her tears. It was so embarrassing, but Yewon could not help it. She hated appearing weak in front of all these Solenese people, but her heart was being torn to shreds. It felt like the world was tearing her apart from everything she ever loved and putting her among a cold, cold bunch of people.

She had to pull away from her mother eventually, who entered the carriage after that without looking back, covering her face as the tears poured. It was unbearable to watch her mother leave her sight.

“People of Solen,” announced her father before he entered the carriage himself, “thank you for your hospitality the past few weeks. Thank you for your efforts at peacebuilding, and thank you for discharging your troops from Galacian soil. We hope this peace will last forever. I just have one more thing to say: My daughter is in your hands. She is to be protected and honored as the princess that she is. If I hear no more than a rumor that anyone had harmed a hair on her head, Galacian troops will march and I will expend all of my power in making sure your country pays.” Her father turned to Seungcheol: “protect her, Prince Seungcheol. If you hurt her, mark my words, you will regret it…”

“I will protect her, your Majesty,” Seungcheol told her father with a bow, “your threats are noted.”

Her father bowed back, and then turned to Yewon one more time. “Hail,” he told her, putting his left hand on his heart.

She could not even return the greeting, for her eyes were welling with unstoppable tears. How she missed the traditional greeting of Galacia; a greeting she had once found so irritating was suddenly the most beautiful sound in the world to her.

Her father smiled sadly in her direction and walked into the carriage. Yewon watched as the carriage moved further and further away from her, and in the moment when she could no longer see it, she felt lonelier than ever.

-

Yewon spent the rest of that day in her room. She refused to come down for lunch and dinner. She refused to get up to be dressed. When Sungyeon came to bathe her, Yewon completely ignored her and refused to get out of bed.

It was only in the evening when Sungyeon began to use force.

“Get up, your highness!” Sungyeon nearly yelled. “You are a princess; you have responsibilities. I will not let you sit down all day and cry when you have a duty to Solen!” Sungyeon grabbed Yewon’s arm tightly and tried to pull her out of the bed.

Yewon only pulled her arm away, even when Sungyeon’s grip was becoming painful.

“Stop!” Yewon finally screamed at her maid. “Leave me alone! I don’t want to do any of these duties. I don’t want to bathe in scorching water. I don’t want to wear those suffocating dresses. I just want to be alone…”

It was then that the door opened and Seungcheol walked in.

“Why are you both screaming?” Seungcheol asked them.

“I was just trying to get her to bathe, your highness,” Sungyeon told him as she bowed. “She refuses to get up.”

“I don’t want to get up,” Yewon muttered, wiping her eyes from the tears.

Seungcheol turned to Sungyeon: “the princess needs a few days to herself. She is exempt from all duties for five days, so please do not come to her chambers until you are called. You are dismissed.” Sungyeon bowed to Seungcheol and left the room, leaving Seungcheol and Yewon alone.

That was the only good thing that happened to her that day. No Sungyeon for five days. Yewon wanted to thank him, but didn’t want to make him think he had any power over her.

“Did you forget?” Seungcheol asked her.

It was only when he asked that she remembered that they had “postponed” their consummation until tonight. But she was definitely not in the right emotional state for something like that tonight.

“I’ll let you finish mourning,” he told her, almost mockingly. “You have five days. After that, you have to start fulfilling your duty as the princess of Solen.”

“I’m not the princess of Solen,” she said through her sniffles. She refused to take on that title.

“You are,” he insisted darkly. “Whether you like it or not, you belong to us now, and we are not Galacia. We do not let our princesses run free whenever they desire. All our princesses will take baths every single day, and be dressed to perfection every single day. All of our princesses go to every royal event, every meal, every meeting. All of our princesses learn etiquette, philosophy, and languages. All of our princesses, if married, have a duty to bear children for their husbands. You are our princess now, and so this behavior from you will not be tolerated forever. Good night, princess,” he said coldly, turning to leave.

Did he have no compassion? thought Yewon. She did not need to be scolded at a time when everything in her life was changing, when she just said goodbye to her parents whom she will possibly never see again.

He was such a cold person, she thought.

She felt herself drown in a way that she had never experienced. It was not simply “sadness” that she felt, but something a lot more profound. The world around her seemed darker and closing in on her, and there was not a single light nearby.

She had nothing to look forward to in her life now. No epic romance, no Galacian sweet bread, none of her mother’s embraces, none of Tati’s stories, not even her romance novels. She was now a political pawn in this prison of a palace, around people who do not care about her at all.