If there was one thing that changed after the ball, it was Mrs. Hwang's treatment of Tiffany.

After Taeyeon walked Tiffany back to her room, bidding her goodnight with a sneaky peck on the lips, Jessica and Sunny had bombarded her with questions, of course. She didn't see Mrs. Hwang though, and she waas worried how she would react.

She didn't need to worry. On the way back from the palace and for the months afterwards, her stepmother didn't do anything. In fact, she didn't do anything at all. She wouldn't even talk to Tiffany.

It wasn't that she was mad at Tiffany, not really, more just...scared. She didn't really talk to her stepdaughter, but neither did she order her around.

In fact, she hired a few servants back again, probably terrified of others finding out how Tiffany had been treated before, especially as Tiffany had become fast friends with Sunny and Jessica's friends. It was awkward at the dinner table, now that Tiffany sat with her stepfamily, but instead of her being the odd one out, surprisingly, her stepmother was. Evidently, Sunny and Jessica much preferred Tiffany's company over their mother's, but it's not like Mrs. Hwang could complain anymore. One wrong word.... she was walking on thin ice as it was from her past actions.

Honestly, nothing would have changed had Tiffany not known the Princess, because only through her connection with the Princess was there a consequence for Mrs. Hwang's actions. Before, what could Tiffany do to stop her?

Morals are so often pushed aside in preference to power, and it often isn't until after the fact that the wrongdoers are punished, when the abused gather the strength to rise up.

But life was significantly more comfortable now. Tiffany took showers in the shower(and didn't have to clean up the dirt), she wasn't responsible for the cleaning and cooking, though she occasionally helped out the frazzled new servants, and the only duty that she kept was to ride Prince, and to ride into town every week for groceries.

Tiffany and Taeyeon communicated extensively over the next few months, keeping in touch in best they could. Taeyeon told Tiffany about how well Zero was growing up and how much she missed Tiffany, and Tiffany told her about the townspeople and her activities that day.

Whenever they could, without it raising suspicion, they would ride a couple of miles to meet each other. Sometimes they would ride their horses in the forest, or Tiffany would make a visit to the palace.

Often, Taeyeon would come into town and visit Mrs. Oaks wih Tiffany. The two would bear gifts of enough food to last months, and the old woman would cook them a meal.

All in all, life was going pretty good. Friends, family, a lover, a comfortable life, Tiffany had it all.

As it had been quite a few months since the ball, the next time Tiffany saw her lover, she suggested for the girl to meet her family. 

"I'd love to meet your family," Taeyeon replied. "Except your stepmother. Your stepmother should be thrown in jail."

'And how would you look if you threw your lover's stepmother in jail?"

"Like a knight in shining armor."

"Your subjects don't know what she did," Tiffany placated. "Anyways, Jessica and Sunny need her. Maybe after the two of them get married?"

"Hmmph, fine. To be fair, your stepsisters didn't do anything to help you either, though."

"Well, they didn't make my life worse, and it's not very easy to argue against the one that clothes and feeds you, you know."

"You're too nice, Tiffany."

"I'm just understanding."

"And I love that about you." Taeyeon grinned at her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You're going to be the perfect fairy tale princess. Books will be written about your beauty and your kindness and your genius, and little girls everywhere will finally have someone worth looking up to,"

"Well, what's the fairy tale princess without her prince? Or her princess, in this case."

"A damsel in distress."

"That I was. And you saved me," Tiffany smiled adoringly.

Taeyeon couldn't help but to feel warm and fuzzy, grabbing Tiffany by the cheeks and pressing her lips to her own.

"Taetae!" Tiffany laughed, pulling away. "C'mon then, let's go home. You can meet Jessica and Sunny, at least."

"Yeah, yeah." Taeyeon rolled her eyes. She grumbled under her breath a bit about how the two weren't very nice to Tiffany and why she wanted her to meet them she didn't know.

"Hey," Tiffany stopped her, looking at her with a frown. "What's wrong with you?"

"What?"

"You shouldn't talk about Jessica and Sunny that way."

"I mean, it's true..."

"Why can't you just be happy about meeting my family?"

"They abused you, Fany. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

"First of all, Jessica and Sunny didn't do anythin-"

"Exactly! They didn't stop their stepmother even though they could!"

"Taeyeon, you don't have anything to do with this and I've already forgiven them! Why can't you trust me?"

"I do trust you!"

"But you disagree with me about something you have no part in!"

"Excuse me? I have no part in my lover's life? The one I rescued her from?"

"I'm not just an object you rescued, and you don't have have the right to forgive them or not, because you weren't the one that was hurt! I was, and I didn't think they hurt me, so just trust me on that!"

"Oh, so I don't have the right to think bad of a criminal who hurt someone else? Just because they didn't hurt me?"

"I'm not saying that Tae, I'm just trying to say that you haven't experienced it like I had and you shouldn't be making these bad judgements about people you don't want to get along with even though I, the person you think you're doing this for, wants you to get along with them more than anything!"

Tiffany walked away from Taeyeon, and despite her anger, Taeyeon went after her. She was frustrated, yeah, but meeting her sisters wasn't worth losing Tiffany over. Nothing was worth losing Tiffany over.

"Hey, wait-"

"What do you want now?" Tiffany asked irritably.

"I- uh..."

Taeyeon took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry."

Tiffany rose an eyebrow. 

"Are you just saying that or are you actually sorry?"

"I'm actually sorry! Tiffany- I- I was wrong to imply that I had a better judgement of your stepsisters than you did. I didn't mean that, and I shouldn't say anything about them before I meet them. I know that your family is important to you, and I- I still wanna introduce myself to them, formally, regardless of what I think about them now or in the future."

Tiffany narrowed her eyes.

"Promise you won't say a bad word about them?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"I won't, I swear."

Tiffany finally relaxed a bit. "Fine. You can meet them. But you're not off the hook, you know."

Taeyeon nodded. "I know."

"You're still gonna do it?"

"Yes."

"Even though it won't get you out of trouble? Why?"

Taeyeon smiled softly.

"Because not doing it will get me in trouble, and nothing is worth losing you over, Fany-ah. I can't say I'm glad that I fought with you, but I love you and I want to remember every time we fight that no matter who's wrong or right, no amount of disagreement can defeat my love for you."

Tiffany smiled.

"Thank you, Taetae. I'll remember that too. I love you."

Taeyeon sighed, taking Tiffany's hand gingerly, makin sure she was okay with it. 

"You know," Tiffany said, not looking at Taeyeon. "My dad always told me that love was a feeling, but a relationship was a choice. It's the choice to stay together despite rough patches, and when two people make the choice to break up, that doesn't necessarily mean they're not in love."

"I'll choose to stay with you. Forever."

"I hope you keep that promise."

"I will."

The two of them rode back to the manor, which was small compared to the castle, but homey.

"Tiffany!" One of the new servants welcomed her back with a smile, thenn immediately stiffened when she saw Taeyeon. "Your highness," she bowed.

"Relax," Taeyeon smiled. "Can you take Prince and Ginger to the stables?"

"Yes, your highness!" the servant scrambled to do her bidding, making Tiffany chuckle as she lead Taeyeon into the manor.

"Everyone's so nervous around you," Tiffany teased.

"Well, you're not," Taeyeon grinned.

"That's 'cause I know you're nothing more than a big, dorky teddy bear who was somehow born as a princess," Tiffany grinned right back.

"I'm your teddy bear! Perfect for cuddling, hugging, kissing..." she wiggled her eyebrows, eliciting a loud guffaw from Tiffany.

"Dork," Tiffany rolled her eyes, but she gave Taeyeona big kiss on the cheek.

"Here!" Taeyeon puckered her lips in an exaggerated manner.

"Fine..." Tiffany did as she asked, pressing her lips to  the princess's. Both of them were smiling into the kiss before Tiffany pulled away.

"C'mon," she said, leading Taeyeon into the house. Turning right out of the hallway, they entered the parlor where her stepmother and stepsisteres were sitting.

"Tiffany! Hello, your Highness!" Sunny greeted brightly, sending a smirk their way. "We thought you'd never come in! You sure did take your sweet time outside."

The couple blushed, Tiffany's hand squeezing Taeyeon's arm.

"Sit, sit," Mrs Hwang ordered, calling a servant over. "George, get Tiffany and Her Highness some tea."

"Yes Ma'am," the boy went, disappearing around the corner. 

Taeyeon and Tiffany sat down at a couch across from the fireplace, thanking George when he handed them tea.

When they had settled down, Jessica looked the princess up and down, looking apathetic and mildly unimpressed. Taeyeon suddenly understood how Tiffany felt when she met her parents.

Even Sunny narrowed her eyes at her.

"So, Taeyeon," Sunny squinted, "Do you have the means to make Tiffany happy?"

"I- uh, yeah, I do," Taeyeon said, surprised. Nobody's ever asked if she's had the ability to do anything before, because of course she could, she's the princess.

"Not just financially. Tiffany enjoys riding and the outdoors and she likes meeting new people. How can I be sure that Tiffany won't be locked up in the castle like some sort of glass figurine?"

"Oh." This, Taeyeon could answer well. "Well, I also do enjoy the outdoors and I managed to escape that glass cage and hunted with a band of male hunters for years, so I would be the last person to allow anyone to treat Tiffany that way. If they try, I will take her with me on walks and hunts myself."

"Hmmm...fair enough," Sunny mused. "You aren't just trying to get under her skirt, right?"

The couple blushed.

"Sunny!" Tiffany reprimanded.

"Of course not!"

Sunny shrugged casually. "You never know."

"Do you love Tiffany?" Jessica asked. Her cold, unsympathetic aura made Taeyeon shiver.

"I do, a lot. She's my world," Taeyeon said.

"Why?"

"I mean, there's no one reason. She just makes me feel like I'm floating. She's smart, kind, beautiful, I love her laugh. I always feel the need to be better for her, because she deserves only the best and there's nothing better than Tiffany."

Tiffany grinned at her, tears in her eyes. Taeyeon smiled back adoringly, squeezing Tifffany's hand gently.

Jessica stared blankly at her for a couple of seconds, then blinked and smiled lazily.

"You're not too bad, Kim Taeyeon. I can call you that, right?"

Nobody called her by her by that besides her parents, but she stuttered out a yes anyways.

"I think I'll just call you Taeyeon though," she mused and Taeyeon could only nod. Princess or not, Taeyeon could feel the cold power practically radiating off of Jessica and she was, though she hated to admit it, terrified. Even her dad would probably sit down and shut up in the intimidating presence of this woman.

"Relax, Taeyeon," Sunny smiled, and Taeyeon couldn't help but think that didn't trust that smile. After all, she was the sister of the "ice princess" and she had spent the last few minutes scrutinizing her, too.

"I-okay."

Sunny burst out laughing. "Don't be so nervous! We're just playing around with you, we're sure that you're a great match for our Miyoungie.."

"Soonkyu,"

Jessica cut both of them off, "but if you hurt her we aren't scared to tell the rest of the world and you'll be publicly shamed forever."

"Yes!" Sunny grinned, and Taeyeon really didn't trust that smile. "But seriously, Tae, we're just looking out for Tiffany."

"Someone's gotta do it right? If her father's not here, well, we're taking her place now. Us and our five other friends that aren't afraid to beat your short up if you treat Tiffany badly."

Tiffany let out a loud sniff, jumping to her feet to hug the two tightly.

"Thanks, guys."

"What are sisters for?"

"Ditto."

While they had their sisterly reunion, Taeyeon sat on the couch watching them fondly. Jessica was intimidating and Sunny's bipolarness absolutely terrified her, but the end of the day, they were just there to protect their sister as best as they could.

They weren't so bad after all.

Spring and Summer came and went, as did Taeyeon, and soon it was Fall again. It was crazy to think that just a year ago, Tiffany had been stuck living in a house, abused and taken advantage of, struggling to find happiness, and now she was living in the same house as a valued member of the family and she had a lover who took good care of her and always put her first.

It was strange for her to think of how things could change so quickly, and for the better. Though she had spent the last ten years feeling alone, all she needed was a of luck in the form of Taeyeon to turn her life rightside up again.

With the advent of Fall also came the advent of hunters, and the band of strong, burly men flocked into town once more. And once more, Tiffany made her way over to the pub for some fresh meat.

From the moment she entered the dimly lit mead house, all eyes were on her.

"Hey! It's the pretty lady again!" 

"You still single?"

A few men wolf whistled at her, and there were more than just a few elevator eyes.

"Wanna on my meat?"

"Hey pretty lady!"

And suddenly, she didn't think it was such a good idea to come in. 

She was wrong. It was a great idea to come in, because her overprotective girlfriend heard one wolf whistle and one nasty comment and she was over before Tiffany could even react to the leering, jeering men.

"Hey!" She growled at the hunters, a hand com