Chapter 3

Author

When the two of you reached a crowded place, you pried your hand from Myungsoo's grip.

"Let me go!" You shouted, narrowing your eyes at him. "Thief!---I mean, Myungsoo or whatever your name is, why did you act rashly! Do you have any idea that we were in front of my father?!"

"And I saved you." He interrupted, looking around to see if he lost the Royal Guards then he gazed seriously at you. "I saved you but you're scolding me? If you wanted your father to be treated nicely then why did you run away from him? Didn’t you say he abuses you? For God's sake, if he does that, don’t ever show yourself to him because no one can protect you again."

Oh, right. You thought. I forgot I actually lied to him about my father...What do I do?
 "Myungsoo-shi---" He cleared his throat.

"No need to be formal." He said.

You rolled your eyes and saw the Royal Guards looking around for you. You hurriedly squeezed Myungsoo's hand, eyeing him and immediately you led him to an old library. Letting go of his hand, you closed the door and looked at the librarian.

"We're going to read a book," you said with a soft laugh and went around, looking at the books in bookshelves while Myungsoo was following you. "Just act natural," you murmured to him.

After an hour of sitting around, then walking and taking glances at book's cover, finally, the person you've been waiting for arrived.

"Misun-ah," Woo whispered from the doorway, unaware of her tears falling down her face. When you turned to face her, you smiled and ran toward her and gave her a warm hug. When pulling away at the same time, she handed you your flute.

"Oh, my flute..." You said in a sweet tone, taking your flute. "Thank you for bringing it to me, Woo-ah."

"How did you find us?" Myungsoo suddenly came up to interrupt the two of you having the sweet friendship moment.

"Oh, my hero!" Woo exclaimed. You gave her a disgusted look while the librarian shushed her. Woo lowered her voice. "My hero, thank you for saving my best friend."

"I have a name, milady." Myungsoo said, tilting his head. "My name is Kim Myungsoo, not my hero." Woo blushed.

You poked Woo lightly and pouted at her, "He's right. Don't call him 'my hero', whatever you say he doesn't look like it. He's just a," she moved closer to Woo's ear and whispered, "Thief." Woo gasped and couldn't believe it. Myungsoo, who heard what you said, crossed his arms over his chest.

"As a matter of fact, I am actually a hero. So, milady, you can call me 'my hero' because I saved you and not just you, but also your stupid idiotic ugly friend." Myungsoo glared at you sharply and you did the same.

"I may be stupid and idiotic, but I am never ugly." You curled your hair behind your ear, acting like a mighty princess.

Myungsoo stared at you without saying anything; Woo could feel the intense atmosphere between you and him.

"You guys, we really need to leave. The royal guards are still searching for us, even me..." She pouted. "Oh, I hate it when I get involved." She muttered to herself. "That guy earlier, he is also searching for 'my hero'. I don't know what to do, everyone's going crazy! Misun-ah, if your father sees you, you will really get punished!"

"She gets a punishment from me too." Myungsoo said. Your eyes widened as well as Woo's.

"What?" You and Woo asked in unison.

"You will do whatever I say, milady. If you don’t want me to show you to your abusive father."

"Abusive father?" Woo asked insolently, staring at you with strange expression.

"Okay," you said with a deep sigh. "What kind of punishment?"

* * * 

The three of you successfully got away from the Royal Guards and by that time, Queen JinHye showed your letter to King Jeongmyong while Sungyeol's nose was flaring like a train's and he still couldn't get over what you said in the letter.

"Then, what should we do, yeobo?" Queen JinHye asked.

"There's only one choice we can do." King Jeongmyong replied firmly. Sungyeol, his parents and Queen JinHye waited for his choice. "We shall search for our first daughter, Baek Miri. And when we find her, our Misun will come back and leave that..." He started whimpering like a baby, making the intense food hilarious. "And leave that man she is living with!" He shouted.

"She's living with a man?!" Sungyeol asked loudly, standing up and punching the table with his fist. "A normal man? Not a noble prince but an average man?!"

"A man who said I am abusive," King Jeongmyong's voice turned cold and low. "I wanted to take him to prison but I have decided to do that only if Misun won’t return to us after we find our Miri."

"Oh yeah? And what if we don’t find Miri?" Sungyeol asked.

"The man will go to prison and Misun will return to us forcedly and marry you."

"No way! I'm not the only noble prince around here! Just go get Lee Byunghun; he's my prince stepbrother so just get him to marry Misun! I don't like Misun because he called me an ugly duckling!"

"Oh, sweetie," his mother tried to calm him down by patting his back. "Don't worry; you'll always be a beautiful swan for me."

"Not helping, mother." Sungyeol said and sat back. "I meant what I said."

"And that is a big 'No'," the King said. "End of discussion." He finished and went out of the Kitchen.

* * *

Make her leave, bro. She doesn't belong here. She's way on top of us; we don’t need to keep her here. We might get expelled from this world," Yunho told Myungsoo. "When I say expelled, I mean, we might get killed and we'd die forever."

"We can fight against them." Myungsoo said, he wasn't afraid at all. Maybe, not until he realizes that he is going against the King. 

"No. I'm bringing her back to where she really belongs," Yunho said and started walking away. He stopped when he saw Woo coming in to their house. "Woo! What are you doing here?" He asked. Myungsoo turned around and met Woo's unstoppable in-love gaze.

"Have you seen Misun-ah?" She asked in a dreamy tone.

"Yeah, I'll go get her." Myungsoo said simply and went to the backyard. Yunho sighed and went closer to Woo, snapping her out of her dreamland.

"Woo!" He shouted.

"Oh," Woo looked at Yunho then smiled. "Your friend is so handsome, Yunho-oppa."

"Oh," Yunho was disappointed. It was obvious in his voice. "Yeah, he is."

Meanwhile, you were at the backyard. You were sitting on a big rock, playing a  beautiful lullaby with your flute while you were near a small pond.

A man in black, his whole body covered with only his eyes seen, was watching you from a distance. Myungsoo slowly walked behind you, listening to you playing the flute.

The man hiding suddenly caught Myungsoo's attention.

Who is that guy? Myungsoo thought and secretly pulled out a 'Kunai' from his pocket and threw it at the man but the man dodged it. You stopped playing your flute, eyes almost popping out; you stood up and saw the man in black. He managed to look at you in the eyes but as quick as a ninja, he runs back to his rope and jumped off the wall. Removing the ropes away before Myungsoo catches him; he jumped down and groaned but successfully landing his feet on the ground. 

"Aish! I lost him!" Myungsoo kicked the tree and cursed many times.

He came...He really came...You thought about the times when you played flute back in the Palace and an unknown man with unknown face would listen and watch you. You felt so glad that he found you again.

Myungsoo sighed and turned his gaze at you. "Hey you! That Seo Woo girl has come for you." He started walking away but he came back as if he forgot to tell you something, he faced you again with that clueless face. "Tonight, we've got a mission to do."

"Mission? What is it?"

"We're going to steal in a noble's home. The Lee family." He said.

"Lee Family?" You remembered Lee Sungyeol. "Wait- No! Not that place!"

"Yes, we are going there. Whether you like it or not, this is part of my punishment. Which is not literally a punishment, but because I saved your life even though it was against me, you have to follow whatever I say and other than that, I am blackmailing you."

"How dare you!You? Blackmail me? You're doing that to this mighty princess, mister! How could you?"

"Tch," he clicked his tongue. "Mighty Princess huh? If you call yourself mighty, then why did you run away from your father? And a Princess? You don’t look like a princess at all!" His words totally offended you, but then, you remembered that no one should know about this not before your birthday.

I'll show you, mister. After tomorrow, I'll show you and you'll regret what you just said to me! You thought, gritting your teeth with anger.

Suddenly, he walked toward you and grabbed your flute away from you. Before you could get it back from him, he ran and shouted "I won’t return this unless you come with me!"

Oh great. You sighed in absolute disappointment.

After that, you met with Seo Woo and had a talk with her. You did the laundry just as Myungsoo ordered and Woo helped you. It was a hard thing to do but you were joining every minute of that day because you felt like an average girl living in an average house full of fun people. That includes Myungsoo and Yunho who were practicing fencing in front of you and Woo while doing the laundry.

Woo was amazed with the two but most of all, he couldn't take his eyes off Myungsoo.

* * *

It would only take a few more hours before you're going to go and join Myungsoo in a mission. You put on a man's clothes and run your hands on your hair as you gather your hair, tying them up in a ponytail.

Finally, when the sun went down, you left with Myungsoo. It will be a disastrous journey, that’s what you had been telling yourself but you tried to be positive, wishing you guys wouldn't get caught.

You and Myungsoo reached the Lee Family's home and managed to get inside without getting caught. He asked you to stay guard outside while he goes inside a room.

You waited for him to come out until finally you found someone coming. It was Prince Lee Byunghun or simply L.Joe. The room Myungsoo went to is his room anyway, and you knew that. You panicked as you knocked on the door, murmuring "He's coming!" over and over again.

Myungsoo didn't have a chance to get something with him. He quickly went out, his heart almost jumped and eyes widened in surprise when he found L.Joe in front of him, glaring like a devil.

"Oh sh*t!" Myungsoo exclaimed and before L.Joe could attack him, he did the first move. The two fought fist to fist, until both of them took a long wooden stick and started hitting and shielding. You watched them, frightened and nervous to death.

"Please stop! You two, stop it!" You screamed.

What the heck is the Princess doing here? L.Joe thought while taking glances at you and to the opponent attacking him. He was really distracted of your presence especially your loud shriek. He suddenly tripped, his body tilted sideways as he fell into the pond.

"L.Joe!" You yelped and quickly ran to his direction. Myungsoo held a grip of your wrist but you kicked his stomach so he could let you go and dive in the pond to save L.Joe from the deep pond and as far as you had known him, he always hated that pond since childhood.

"Misun-ah!" Myungsoo shouted and waited for you to resurface with L.Joe. Once you had L.Joe with you, you gasped for air and helped him up leading him out of the pond.

"Let's go before we get caught," Myungsoo said but you ignored him. You would feel guilty if you leave L.Joe like that, he was unconscious, he can’t swim and his arm was bleeding. Having no idea where it came from, you panicked and gave him a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

You haven't even pumped his chest yet but he started coughing out water and fluttering his eyes open.

"Your Highness..."

"L.Joe, are you okay?"

When Myungsoo heard how L.Joe addressed you, his eyes widened in disbelief. Suddenly, guards came rushing towards him and grabbed him. He struggled to get away from them and then other guards also grabbed you and dragged you away. Myungsoo kept on shouting your name until you disappeared in the hallway.

"Let him go," L.Joe commanded his guards, groaning because of his wounded arm.

"But Prince L.Joe-"

"Just let him go!" He yelled at them and finally they unravel their grip on Myungsoo's arm.

L.Joe made a brief eye contact with the guards, shaking his head at them as if telling them to give him some times with Myungsoo. The guards nodded and bowed resignedly before leaving.

L.Joe turned to Myungsoo and stared deeply into his eyes.