Miran rushed inside the chamber one of the monks showed her, after all of them reached the shrine at the top of the hill. The shrine being famous from its hot springs and at the same time known as the place of spiritual cleansing – had separate cabins for both men and women.

Even though she left that annoying royal guard far behind her, the slightest memory of his way too confident acting in front of her, left Miran cringing at her own helplessness.

Does he think that he has me right inside of his palm? With clenched fists, she thought of how he stopped her from escaping last night and sneakily tried to mess up with her ever since.

Unable to shrug off the overwhelming frustration, she kept walking back and forth around the chamber with teeth gritted and hands gripping onto her long braid. Those two little, wenches – to leave me alone with that man? How dared they?! She internally cursed both of her "faithful" maidens.

Sulky she waited until they returned to her side again.

– “Did you two have fun?” Miran scoffed at them as soon as they appeared at the chamber’s door. With arms crossed in front of her chest, eyebrows furrowed and lips tightened, she gave them the scariest glare she could.

The cheerful expressions on their faces faded away in an instant.

“My lady?” unable to look into Miran’s eyes, both Eunha and Hyejin fell onto their knees and at the same time reached out their hands, high above their heads. Ready to be scolded and punished in the worst possible way, the maidens begged for forgiveness.

“No matter what you’re going to say – I’m not going to forgive you.” Miran looked away, not wanting to show them how her lips twitched slightly into a fair smile. No matter what, these two always knew how to soften her heart and keep her entertained.

“How could you leave me alone?” Miran cleared and put on a miffed tone again.

“Alone? Wasn’t that cute royal guard left there with you, my lady. We were sure that he was going to keep you safe.” Eunha pointed out, certain that saying such thing would lessen Miran’s anger. She didn’t expect that her words would only add oil into the fire.

“How could you be so sure, that he wasn’t going to do anything…” Miran ranted without thinking twice and started walking around again “...inappropriate to me?” she added while stuttering as her cheeks colored with pink.

“Did ...~ did he try anything, my lady?” Hyejin grasped Miran’s sleeve and asked alarmed by how her lady acted.

“What?” Miran blushed even more remembering what happened on the way to the shrine “No… he and I – I mean… it was fine. He didn’t do anything!” she stuttered again making the two girls to look at her suspiciously.

Miran avoided their eyes and looked down at her drenched shoes and bottom of her dress. “Oh Dear~ What happened?!” Eunha asked after following her lady’s eyes with her own.

“Well… I somehow missed the right path and ended up near the stream. The water wasn’t that high but, not wanting to extend the time spent with that man any more – I decided to somehow cross over.” Miran rubbed her temples embarrassed by her own stubbornness.

“In the end, I simply slipped.” she added swiftly and scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, while the maidens started bustling around the chamber to unpack the sacks each of them brought there.

“Here, my lady~” Hyejin gave Miran a towel and then pointed at a pair of white socks and new shoes she could wear. The dress being wet gave Miran a chance of changing into something more casual. Already tired of the overdressing way to much for a prince, who didn’t seem to give a damn about her look, Miran chose the gray colored clothing, monks gave to all guests visiting their shrine.

When the two maidens bustled around looking for ways of somehow warming up her legs, Miran sat at the mat in the middle of the room and tried to forget the cringe-worthy moments from a while ago. Not only when I tripped over at the path, but also at the stream – I seem like quite a slouch. She thought with eyelids closed tightly. How embarrassing?!

“My lady?!” she could hear his deep voice behind her back so clear, as if he was right next to her again.

“What now?” He mumbled to himself at the sight of the rocky stream in front of them.

“Are you afraid of water, mister …?” Miran scoffed through her shoulder, hoping that seeing such an obstacle, he would finally leave her and take a way around it.

Not knowing his name, she ended up awkwardly staring at him.

As the guard noticed her sudden curiousness of him, he leaned closer and said “~V (*bui)~” with a cheerful smile and dozens of sparks glowing in his eyes. Miran pursued her lips tightly when he shook his head slightly to fix up the messy fringe covering his eyesight. She drawn back her face away from his intimidating gaze.

“B..ui? What kind of a name is that?” Miran pouted while avoiding looking at him. Immersed in her thoughts, she found an idea of naming someone with such a name quite ridiculous. What was it supposed to even mean? She thought.

“Are you underestimating my parents’ will, my lady?” V asked, sounding extremely offended, which made Miran look at him with her big and innocent eyes.

“Do you think they were some kind of fools?” Hearing the serious tone of his voice, made Miran regret her thoughtless words immediately.

“I didn’t mean that...I just thought it sounded short and certainly unusual. I’ve never heard such a name.” she replied with right hand put to her chest “Forgive me if what I said made you feel uncomfortable.~” Miran added and quite tentatively waited for his response.

“Yes, I admit it is original, but isn’t it cute also?” the guard replied after a full of tension moment of silence and sent Miran another cheeky smile.

With furrowed eyebrows, Miran puffed her cheeks quite wavered when he winked at her as if there wasn’t anything wrong or inappropriate in it. Just as if it was another of natural habits of his – to be winking at random women. Miran grimaced with disgust.

Not sure how to react to such a behavior of his, she glared at how he nonchalantly observed the stream. Again while being with him and seeing all the different faces he could put on so easily, she felt like a toy in his hands.

What is his purpose? She thought unable to understand. Could it be that he’s truly concerned about me? She wondered every time he looked at her with those warm and honest seeming eyes.

– but what makes him this way?

Knowing that he knew her deepest secret about the escape last night and how she really felt about the arranged marriage with the crowned prince – Miran felt weirdly vulnerable in his presence. What if he revealed it to anyone? She was afraid to even think.

Miran never saw her father being furious about any of her reckless acts, like visiting the garden or the village on the other side of the hill, hanging out in the forest with her brother and his friends – but to bring him any shame?

Even though she didn’t know what could happen if she failed or stood against her father’s masterful plan of linking with the royal family… Miran couldn't imagine what his rage would be like, if she did something like that, but the fear in her was unexpected.

Taking a risk of escaping last night was like putting her life on the line – Miran realized after V stopped her and she came back to her bedroom.

“Isn’t it, my lady?” hearing him asking while being so immersed in her own thoughts, left Miran looking at him dumbfounded.

“V? It’s cute – right?” he repeated and inclined his head slightly just like a curious puppy would do after hearing an unknown sound.

“I… well… if you think so~” Miran stuttered and gazed at the water flowing down in the stream. “Your parents must’ve loved you tremendously. To see that you value the name they gave you so much – they must be great people?” she added after taking a deep breath and looked at him with a swift smile.

After saying that, Miran couldn’t recognize what his reaction was supposed to mean. V stared at her for a moment with an arcane expression and she wasn’t able to guess what could’ve possibly be going through his mind.

“Wha~!” Miran got startled when he shouted and threw his hands up in the air all of a sudden “What a great day – to be seen as a cutie by such a beautiful girl.” his words left Miran with her jaw hanging open.

What a womanizer – she stated in an instant, but still his words fired up a light flame of chills inside her stomach. His face lit up after seeing her puzzled reaction, leading him into taking a step closer to where she stood.

“I think that after all what we went through, I deserve to be called by my name by you, my lady~” Miran gaped at his sudden statement. With his hands crossed in front of his chest, V proudly looked down at her full of shock face.

“We? De… deserve?” Miran frowned clearly feeling uncomfortable at how the distance between them shrunk again. She stiffly straightened her back, showing that she wasn’t putting up with the way he acted towards her.

“I’m very good at calculation and till now – it’ll be a third time of me coming to rescue you~ And except that, aren’t we close already?” V asked and confidently rubbed his chin with one hand.