Wang Yo, 3rd Prince

It was a pure coincidence. He had been walking away from his favoured pavillion, for once without an when he had seen an unusual movement near the pond. The pond that he knew to be near that one's residence. He still did not know what but he had made his way towards the pond. And there he had found a small figure who was sending stones into the water.

What was a child during unattended that too in the palace? No matter it was something that was not appropriate for the palace and he will not stand for any disrespect due to lack of proper conduct. So he had made his way, intending to get the child back to the caretaker and then he will let those fools know their wrongdoing.

"What are you doing here?" he had said as he stood behind the girl, dressed in decent green silk hanbok now that he look at it properly unlike cotton like he had initially thought. At his voice, the girl turned around and he had been hit. Not physically but mentally because of those pair of eyes. That pair of eyes that reminded him of another small child who used to look at him like that. A child that he did not want to remember at all.

"Who are you?" Her voice was small and quiet and only reason he did not immediately strike her for speaking to him in such an informal manner was he knew that a child will not know that faces of royals at least not till they were present more frequently on the royal court and the child was clearly young, just a little older than an infant.

"I am Wang Yo" His name will be enough as the names of royal princes would be something that all noble children will know. He could see the moment, his identity registered inside the child as her eyes widen, and she stood up immediately. Good, at least the girl wasn't a fool.

"Greetings, Hwangjanim. It is a pleasure to meet you. I always wanted to meet you after what I heard about you from others."

Well, unintentionally he had gained a source of information it seemed. His mother will want to know just what the nobles were telling their children about them, and this child's family will be in his debt as soon as he her to them.

"And what do others say about me?" And he look at the child for the first time, and noticed some thing that he had missed before. A mask on her face. A mask. Another thing besides the child's eyes that reminded him of that other child.

"That you are scary." So his power was known. "But Omma says that you are just hurt and confused."

Hurt? Confused? Him? Just which family was this child from, that a woman had thought of him as someone that was not sure of his mind. Now it was not only the caretakers that he was interested in. He wishes to personally see the face of this woman.

"Why does she say that I am confused?"

"It is too long for me to remember. But, I know that Appa wish that you were…"

"I was what…"

"I don't really remember. I'm sorry, Your Highness."

It was no use asking a child anyway. He will hear it personally. But the child will be able to give him this answer.

"Who are your parents?" And for the first time, there was a change on the child's face. A hint of fear where before she had on a face of childlike innocence. So this child was from a family that will be in trouble if others learnt about their presence on the palace grounds. "Are you refusing to answer me? You know the punishment for refusing to answer a royal prince do you not?"

The child had looked down at the ground briefly and looked up and there he had seen another face merged with her eyes back then. And when she had given an answer to his question, that had he had gained an informant from an household that he had never thought to actually keep an eye on.

"Wang So and Hae Soo." That answer had sealed the child's fate.

Park Soon Deok

She was nervous. Why would she not be? She will be married in less than a month that too to the person that she secretly love for so long. That's why she was even more nervous right now. Before Byul, the house of the 4th Prince, who was also her Hyungnim as her father's oldest disciple, was a place of comfort and she felt as if she had set foot into another world away from the palace. But now it was different.

Before she was just a bodyguard for the lady of the house, but now she will be joining the same family and her title will be the same as Lady Hae Soo, even if Lady Hae technically was a Princess as well due to her adoption into the Wang clan. Now entering this place with escorts behind her, and wearing a hanbok as well, that too an expensive one, it is overall an uncomfortable situation. But what can she do. She has to do this formal greeting and as soon as she finishes it, hopefully she will be able to come back and enjoy the company of Woo Hee and Hae Soo Agasshi without all the extra eyes around them.

Wang Eun, 10th Prince

Wang Eun was nervous. Sure he had been shocked at the news of his marriage but he didn't really pay a lot of attention on that announcement till he heard the name of his fiancee. Park Soon Deok. The bear girl. The one that always sent him those bear furs for his birthday. A girl that was more like a man. But the very first time he had seen her in a hanbok, his heart had skipped for some reason, as he had seen her running towards them in a hanbok with her hair flying when Soo had collapsed in front of her prayer stones. Since then for some reason, his heart always ache or he will get a sweaty palm when he had to talk to that bear girl.

It was so weird that he had asked Beak Ah what was happening to him. And he had laughed at him. Really he had laughed so hard and didn't even answer him. Jung said that was what he felt before a fight but he didn't think that was what it was. Then he had finally asked So hyungnim, after his marriage was announced. Because if there was something wrong like him he wanted to know. He still remember how So Hyungnim had looked when he had asked him. His face for moment had turned dark and he had seemed so sad, but then his awkward brother had hugged him and had whispered to him.

"Eun-ah, that is love. You love that girl, don't ever let her go. Also make sure to tell her."

Love.

He love Park Soon Deok.

He couldn't believe it when So Hyungnim said that but after a while he could see it. Like the way those love poems described how you will feel about your lover, that was what he is feeling towards the bear girl. So even if he hadn't known, he was getting his wish. He was marrying a girl that he loves, like he had said to Hae Soo a long time ago and he will make her happy.

But how can he make her happy, when it was so hard for him to stand in front of her. He couldn't even speak without stuttering especially when he look at her face. Is that how Hyungnim feels when he sees Hae Soo, because if Hyungnim manages to talk to Soo that too without stuttering when he feels like this every single time, then his Hyungnim is a greater person that he thinks.

Since he couldn't speak to her nevermind he couldn't even stand in front of her, so that's why he had start to send her gifts. All the gifts that he heard that a pretty girl likes or the one that lovers give each other. Not that it was not working. It has been so long but he still have not received a reply or even a sign that she understood what he was trying to tell her. So he was going to tell her today. Right after she was finished with her greetings, he had asked Soo, who had been so happy to hear his request that she had even helped him plan his confession, to create an excuse for Soon Deok to come into one of the small rooms near the courtyard without her escorts so that he could tell her. He had to tell her. He has to. He will tell her.

Wang Beak Ah, 13th Prince

It was useless. All of his charms that usually got him somewhere with a lady was not working. Woo Hee, the hidden princess of Hubeakje had still not said yes to him. She was happy when he was playing music to her and Hae Soo, but as soon as they were alone, she was like a stone and was always so formal with him. But he will not give up. Because slowly he could see her melting and her lips moving towards a smile when he look at her, But it was really slow. All of his charms was nothing. In order to get even a chance for Woo Hee to agree to have tea alone will be like a really hard martial art training session. But there was no giving up, not when without noticing his heart now completely belongs to her.

Hae Soo

It was hard to keep a smile on her face. Even with all the good things that she knew will happen as soon as Eun-nim confesses to Soon Deok, or how she knew Woo Hee was falling for Baek Ah-nim, and so many other things that was better this time around, she can't forget the dark. The dark clouds of enemies that never seem to disappear from their lives. It was more evident today. Because tonight, she knew that her dear prince, her husband was going to the royal prison to be face to face with their attackers. Her Wangjanim that did not want to be a monster but he will once again have to be surrounded by darkness and she could not imagine how much it will hurt him. Not to mention how much it scared her. Because she never wants him to be known as a blood-thirsty royal.

Wang Yo

It has been a month. A month since he had start to meet up secretly with that child. Seol. That child was different and capable of causing him pain. Because looking at her, and probing her for information gently over the various meetings did not make him happy or feel glee at all. He thought having a upper-hand over that prince will make him happy but instead it was doing something to his mind. For some reason, all the memories that he had thought to have forgotten from his early childhood were slowly entering his mind again. The eyes of Seol and her innocence was reminding him of his brother. The brother that he had turned his back on just like

Mother had said so but now all he is feeling is pain.

But his feelings nor his mind was not important. Not when that child had unintentionally revealed a really good information. There was going to be something going on with the child's father tonight and it was something that had made the child's mother nervous. And it had something to do with prisoners. That was all the child could remember but it was enough.

The only prisoners that were of interest were the assassins in the hidden prison. And if that hunting dog was going to be there then it was sure to be an interrogation and if he could learn some hidden information, then it will help him become the Crown Prince especially if he manages to hear something scandalous about the Crown Prince or his supporter. Maybe he will learn something that will help to fulfill his mother's wish to get the 4th Prince out of her sight.