The budding friendship with the Tenth Prince had somehow convinced him that holding his birthday celebrations at his older brother's residence instead of the palace was a terrific idea, citing reasons that Lady Hae had a knack of organizing events as such and the like.

Hae-soo didn't believe him for a second, especially after he came running to her the moment the king approved of the decision, waving his hands around in sheer excitement. But being the person to provide her the slightest comfort in the loneliness her new life brought her stopped her from rebuking him, allowing herself to be roped into preparations instead.

Days had passed into weeks and it was soon a month ever since she had last seen Wang So.

Their exchange hadn't ceased even when there was a lead in the investigation, though it was not as frequent as it had been on a daily basis.

Baek-ah was still on delivery duty and seemed to be peculiarly upset with the fact she had picked up the ability to read and write, for reasons unknown to her since she had always assumed he hated reading his hyung-nim's mushy words. Nevertheless, it didn't prevent him from peering over her shoulders every time she unraveled the letters, snickering to himself when Wang So confessed how dreadful palace life was, having gone such a prolonged period without seeing her. Not giving him the satisfaction of teasing her endlessly, Hae-soo had learnt to escape to the privacy of her room before opening his letters, from that day forth.

Luckily, the prince had divulged he would be attending Wang Eun's celebrations and she made it her priority to dress in her finest attire, apart from putting together a special gift for the first friend she had made in Goryeo.

When the actual day rolled by, the Eighth Prince's residence was decked in beautiful decorations and Hae-soo accompanied her cousin in making the final inspection, as the servants rushed to finish the preparations.

"I'll say." Princess Yeonhwa had arrived at the venue where they were overlooking the set-up, glancing around with disdain clear in her eyes. "This is nothing compared to what I held at the palace every year. I don't understand why Eun entrusted such a heavy responsibility to you."

Hae-soo moved to retort but her cousin held her back, tightening the clasp over their linked arms. "Of course, no one could ever precede the palace's festivities. I simply did the best to my abilities."

"Still." Despite Lady Hae's clear indication of unwillingness to react to her contempt, the princess refused to back down. "It's too mediocre."

This time, even the forceful pressure on her skin couldn't stop her from uttering, "But it doesn't mitigate the fact that you weren't placed in charge, does it?"

"Hae-soo!" Her cousin cried out, swatting at her hand when it appeared that Princess Yeonhwa had been severely provoked, gritting her teeth in annoyance.

Thankfully, they were timely interrupted by the princes' appearance, with the Tenth Prince hurrying the rest of his brothers inside. "How's the preparations going?"

Wang Eun was followed by the other imperial princes, their entourage dutifully behind them. Hae-soo scanned the crowd of men for the one prince she was looking for to no avail – there was only Wang Wook, Baek-ah, Wang Jung and two others she didn't recognize trailing after him.

Locking eyes with the Thirteenth Prince, all it took was a shake of head for her shoulders to slump in defeat.

"You look lovely today, nunim." The Fourteenth Prince praised, gesturing to the princess' outfit with awe.

Pleased with the compliment, Princess Yeonhwa smoothed her robes with a smirk planted on her features, almost to the extent Hae-soo had to turn away in order not to mouth the words that could potentially disgrace her in front of her brothers.

One of the princes she didn't know stepped forth, furrowing his eyebrows together as he scanned her. He appeared to be the elder among the princes present, with a beard surrounding the edges of his mouth. "I didn't know Wook has a fairy gracing his residence."

All of the heads snapped to the particular prince before following the direction of his acclaim, earning some chuckles in the process.

His pupils dilated with remembrance, gasping in understanding. "Is this the Hae-soo I've heard so much about?"

At her confusion, Baek-ah moved forward to introduce the prince. "He's the Crown Prince, Wang Mu."

A vision of the succeeding king appeared before her eyes – Hyejong, with an air of benevolence in his wake – as he smiled pleasantly at her.

She quickly bowed in gratitude, in complete atonishment that she had just met the future king, let alone be complimented by him himself.

"Hae-soo!" Wang Eun jumped to her side, zeroing into her facial features. "Why do you look so pretty today?"

The exhilaration felt contagious radiating from the birthday boy, judging from the way he was smiling eagerly from ear to ear.

"When do I not?" She whispered back, mirroring his enthusiasm with a grin.

"That's true." The prince nodded in assent before twirling around, taking in his surroundings. "Did you prepare all these for me?"

Before she could clarify, he had bounded back to his brothers, the Eighth Prince in particular. "Look, hyung-nim, I wasn't wrong. The decorations are amazing."

Wang Wook shook his head in amusement, motioning to her cousin. "My wife's the one who organized everything, remember?"

His younger brother seemed to have realized his mistake and smacked his forehead, looking at Lady Hae with a sheepish smile. "Thank you. It really is impressive."

When she accepted the praise with a modest bow, Princess Yeonhwa's grim expression didn't dissipate from her features as she stepped forward. "Orabeoni, I'm not feeling well. I'll be retiring to my room."

The Eighth Prince arched an eyebrow questioningly but Hae-soo knew he understood the underlying meaning enough when he glanced to her cousin and back, before nodding. "Go on and recuperate well."

Wang Eun didn't whine nor protest much when his older sister departed, leaning into Hae-soo to murmur. "Is it bad I'm glad she won't be here?"

She couldn't resist to giggle out loud and shook her head, watching the said princess disappear out of sight. "Not at all."

"Did you get started without me?" A new voice called out in the direction of the entrance and all of them whipped around to identify the latecomer.

Yet another prince filtered through the threshold, only his appearance was a complete contrast in comparison with his other brothers. With a hint of cleverly applied eyeliner smudged around the corners of his crescent-shaped eyes – a phenomenon that confused Hae-soo immensely; how did one get ahold of such makeup in the era and who could have possibly taught him how to perfect the winged eyeliner lying around his orbs? – and a smirk seemingly plastered permanently across his lips, he sauntered over with a trail of home servants behind him, all having their heads lowered meekly.

Even Wang Eun appeared to be cowered in his presence, stammering out a greeting. "Of course not, Yo hyung-nim."

The address alerted her to the fact that it was the Third Prince Wang Yo in front of her, whose image was replaced by a more sinister-looking version of him pulling back a bow, a treacherous laugh erupting from his lips.

If meeting the future monarch Hyejong was remotely intimidating for Hae-soo, coming face-to-face with the next sovereign-in-line had the blood in her veins running cold immediately.

"Good." Wang Yo's smirk deepened before turning slightly to beckon a servant closer. "Because I'd hate to take back my gift."

When the engraved box was brought to him, the prince opened it to every one to see, causing their faces to fall.

"Isn't this the jade supposedly presented to the king–" Wang Eun was the first to break the silence, though his shaky voice didn't convey half of the fear he was feeling at the moment.

"Indeed. And I thought you were dense." His older brother mused, closing the box and passing it to another servant. "There was four in total and I picked one out especially for you, Eun."

"If the king was to know about this, no one would go unscathed." Baek-ah cut in, his lips a tight line.

The other prince Hae-soo had yet to learn his name held his hands up, stepping between the brothers. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind it. After all, Queen Yoo's not a force to be reckoned with."

Wang Yo laughed heartily in despite of everyone else's solemn expressions, slapping his brother on his back. "Won's right. Are you not accepting my gift, Eun?"

The way he spoke of his younger brother's name was taunting, challenging, almost as if he was daring him to try.

The Tenth Prince glanced around warily – to the matching looks of pensiveness on all of his brothers' faces before falling to Hae-soo's perplexed features – and gulped, nodding tentatively. "Thank you for your gift, hyung-nim."

After the mood was dampened by the Third Prince, Hae-soo caught Wang Eun wandering aimlessly around when his other brothers went for a drink, deciding to bring him out of his funk by giving him the special gift she had prepared.

"Where are you taking me?" He all but whined, as he was being dragged reluctantly by her towards the quiet pavilion away from the noise.

"Just hold on and follow me." She pacified him and continued tugging him forward, even when his steps started to become sluggish.

"Are we there yet? I'm really–"

The prince was instantaneously silenced when he was met with the sight of the usually empty pavilion, now decorated with the paper cranes she had folded night after night and the table filled with the snacks the glutton inside him would surely enjoy.

"Wow." He exclaimed, mouth falling slightly agape. "Is this all for me?"

Hae-soo nodded, watching him take in everything before his eyes. "I wanted to thank you for being my friend in Goryeo, for entertaining me when I was bored."

His lips curved into a satisfied grin, bowing modestly.

"So I wanted to give you something special." She announced, before clearing .

The prince waited in anticipation when her lips parted, beginning to sing.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. To my friend, the Tenth Prince. Happy birthday to you." Hae-soo finished with a clap, to which he mimicked enthusiastically.

"What are you even singing?" He queried after a moment, scratching his head questioningly.

A laugh elicited from the back of . "It's the birthday song. Hae-soo's version."

"Hae-soo's version." He repeated, mulling over briefly before breaking into a huge grin again. "I love it. Can you sing it again?"

Before she could answer, Baek-ah's voice interrupted. "I can't believe you're enjoying this all by yourself, hyung-nim."

Their heads turned to find him appearing from behind a column, Wang Jung following closely behind. "Nunim, are you going to sing for me too?"

Wang Eun huffed at his younger brothers, waving them off to no avail. "Why are you ruining my present?"

He tried pushing them away but they remained firmly rooted to the ground, no sign of moving any time soon.

"Just sing for us, and we'll leave." Baek-ah declared, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly, and Wang Jung nodded in assent, mirroring his stance.

"Don't disrupt my present–"

Hae-soo hummed to herself before clearing again, garnering their attention.

In front of her were the first three friends she made in Goryeo on her own effort, who gave her nothing but warmth in the nights she contemplated drowning herself in order to go back to the future and escape the hell Princess Yeonhwa had descended upon her.

If they wanted a song, that was the least she could do to give back to them.

All three pairs of irises stared eagerly at her and she barely suppressed the urge to break out into laughter, instead of indulging them with the song they so desired.

"The days that pass by painfully, in the stillness of the day and wind. Because I like the sunshine, I smile."

She in a breath, closing her eyes to lose herself in the self-composed song she literally just concocted, hopefully it was sufficient to express her heartfelt gratitude.

"Passing by so busily. Even among those heartless people. Because I like my friend, I smile."

When Hae-soo's eyes snapped open again, there was a flash of movement she had barely registered and her gaze averted to find Wang So there. The night of the assassination attempt – where she tried chasing after him – he had proven too fast for her own two feet to follow, without a doubt attributed to the martial arts he had picked up over the years. His stamina was boundless, given how he had ran all the way from the palace and into the city, not even bothering to stop and catch his breath.

But now there he was, standing by the edge of the lake, heavily panting through his nose, his torso heaving with each inhale of breath he took to fill his lungs. Almost as if he had ran countless of miles in order to reach his destination, just to be able to see her.

With the heartbreaking smile that graced his lips, Hae-soo knew with certainty that he had awaited the moment of their reunion with just as much as anticipation as she had and her own smile broadened just enough for him to know she reincorporated his sentiment.

Everything else seemed to have slipped away after their eyes locked and nothing mattered in the moment except him being there with her, looking every bit enamored his writings had always conveyed.

"If I find a place without loneliness, come with me to that place. Let us go together, friend."

She fixated her gaze on him the whole time since noticing his arrival, staring back at her with his jaws falling slack. Stifling a giggle, Hae-soo pried her eyes away to see Wang Eun starting to clap, to which his brothers followed soon afterwards.

"Wow, nunim." Wang Jung applauded heartily alongside his older brothers, having not yet realized their new company. "That was great."

Baek-ah started to open his mouth to comment as well when he caught sight of Wang So out of the corners of his eyes, making him chuckle in the process. "Alright. A deal's a deal. We'll be leaving, now."

His younger brother groaned outwardly, tugging onto the Tenth Prince's sleeves as a last ditch effort to stay. His hand was swatted away to his chagrin, when Wang Eun whirled around to face her.

"I mean," Baek-ah's forearm went around his hyung-nim's to grab him in a headlock, earning an outraged grunt of protest. "We will be leaving. Now."

The two of them hadn't been made aware of Wang So's presence when all their attention were focused on kicking their way out of his tight grip, getting dragged away against their own will.

Hae-soo laughed at their antics before meeting his awestruck expression, which hadn't been wiped off his features.

"I thought you weren't coming." She confessed after it appeared he wouldn't break the silence any time soon.

The words seemed to have brought him out of his reverie, when he coughed and sputtered before composing himself, delighting her with his behavior.

"I promised, didn't I?" He shrugged, stepping onto the pavilion himself.

When it was Wang Eun, Baek-ah, Wang Jung and her on it, the pavilion had appeared to be rather spacious. But now that she was alone with him, the space was confided to the tiny distance between their frames, with the Fourth Prince towering over her.

Every inhale, every exhale, every heartbeat. Hae-soo could feel both hers and his distinctively.

"And–" Wang So carried on speaking, reaching into his cloak. "I have a gift for you."

Her pupils dilated and she finally glanced up to meet his unyielding gaze, causing her breath to catch in . "Isn't– Isn't it the Tenth Prince's birthday? Why are you giving me a gift, instead?"

"Because I want to." He responded, as if it held answers to all her questions.

In a way, it did.

The prince continued reaching into his robes, clutching the gift in his fist before taking her hand, holding it out in order to place it upon her palm.

A hairpin stared back at her, with peonies carved delicately around the tip of the accessory. It reminded her of–

"The handkerchief you gave me." Wang So finished her thought, closing her grip around the gift. "I ruined it but I've found a better replacement for it."

Her fingers traced every curve of the hairpin – from the white petals to the blue butterfly resting atop the red flower buds – like she had done dozen of times with each letter he sent her, etching his handwriting to her heart.

"I love it." Hae-soo murmured after remaining silent for too long, long enough for the uncertainty to start forming on his features once again. She hated how terribly he must have been treated to have the seed of doubt planted in such a short period of time, to second-guess everything that had ever happened in his life.

But when she was rewarded with a brilliant grin spreading from ear to ear that had wrinkled around his eyes, a thought formed in her own mind.

Is it selfish that I want this side of him all to myself?