Chapter 6. Disobedience.

Chaeyoung waited until her maids left her room to stand up and run towards one of the folding screens behind her. She took one of the rings from her jeweler and used it to open a secret door behind it. She was surprised almost no-one knew about that secret passage, but, she didn’t complain at all: it had been great to be able to go to her brother’s chambers without getting noticed. She took a candle and lighted it, making sure the folding screen was closed before she started to move through the dark corridor.

"Oh! Chaeyoung!"

Tae Hyung greeted her sister and offered her a seat next to her, between him and Jimin, their cousin. Lord Jungkook and his eldest brother, lord Seok-jin were also present.

"Do you have a secret passage?! Woaaah! That’s so cool, First Princess!" Seok-jin exclaimed.

"Thank you, milord."

"So…" Jimin intervened. "Now that we are all here… why did you want to meet us so sudden?"

The First Prince stared at everyone with his intense eyesight, threatening them with his eyes. Everyone gulped, except Chaeyoung, who rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Why is he always so dramatic?”

"If the information I’ll give you today leaves this room, I’ll make sure you get arrested for high treason."

"Do not pretend to be a tough guy now, Tae Hyung. You’ll never betray us, so, keep talking and maybe someday you’ll say something intelligent."

Lord Seok-jin threatened him for a few seconds, and Tae Hyung almost believed his joke.

"Seok-jin! You scared me… "

Tae Hyung pouted and Jungkook sighed in relief: for a second he thought that they will be arrested by the offensive vocabulary his older brother had just used with the First Prince of Joseon. They were friends, but… Tae Hyung was still a prince.

"Alright, now that the ambiance is less tense thanks to my amazing skills, you can keep talking prince Tae Hyung."

"Well… As you know, Chaeyoung and I had been able to find a cure for the king. Chaenggie, do you have the book I asked you to bring?"

The princess nodded and put the book opened in the table, with all the information about the remedy showing.

"It is called the Ginkgo tree, and his fruit looks like a silver apricot. It has properties to control blood pressure and decreases the fatigue and basically all the symptoms the King is showing."

"But…" Tae Hyung added. "It only grows at the private gardens of the Forbidden City. And that means the Queen has forbidden us to negotiate with the Emperor to get it."

"There aren’t more alternatives?" Jimin asked. "Maybe aunt is already trying to find some, that’s why she denied the negotiations…"

"You are so sweet that sometimes I wished I could kill you, Jimin."

"Tae Hyung! Do not be disrespectful to poor cousin Ji!"

"Alright, Chaenggie. But, no, our mother doesn’t have an alternative plan. She is always in a good mood and calls me TaeTae when she has it."

"It’s been years since she has called you TaeTae, brother. All because you wanted to be more like a man or some bull..."

"Which doesn’t contradict my theory neither… What was I saying? Gosh, Chaeyoung, stop interrupting!"

"You were talking about how the Queen doesn’t have an alternative plan…"

"Right, lord Seok-jin. Thank you. For that reason… I want to do a secret expedition, with some trustworthy allies. I want to enter at the Forbidden City, take some fruits of the Ginkgo tree and come back to save my father and the country."

Everyone gaped at Tae Hyung, for different reasons, but causing the same confusing effect on the Joseon Prince. He hadn’t expected those reactions.

"Are you insane?!" Chaeyoung yelled.

"Best idea ever! I’m in!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"But… wouldn’t people notice our absence?" Jimin asked.

"I should have just stayed at home… these babies… every time they open their mouths; I have to hear stupid ideas." Seok-jin added.

"But… lord Jungkook? How can you agree on something so silly?!" Chaeyoung scolded him.

"Forgive me, my princess. You are right…" Jungkook scolded Tae Hyung too. "Are you insane?!"

"Traitor! But… I do not see your point sister."

"It's the stupidest idea you ever had... Because you are the First Prince of Joseon! Do I have to remind you that in the current situation, if father gets worse and Jeongwan becomes king, you’ll become the Crown Prince?! Do I have to remind you that right now you are in charge of the whole Palace administration?! Do I have to rem…

"I get it, Chaeyoung, I get it. Don’t you think I haven’t thought about all this already?"

"Have you?" she questioned.

"Of course I have! But we all know that if father dies, the Chinese Emperor is going to increase the pressure in Joseon once again. And everyone knows that Jeongwan is too kind and won’t be harsh enough with the Emperor if something happens…

"Excuse me. I do not wish to be impolite or something…" Seok-jin intervened. "But Queen Mi-young has the biggest guts’ in the whole nation… I wouldn’t worry."

"We need time to make a definitive deal with the Qing Dynasty or wait that a new Emperor, more open-minded, takes the throne to stop the tensions between the two nations. And father has worked so much on that matter that, honestly, or it’s him who ends them, or no-one will never can. We need King Seung-hyun. And… honestly, I need my father."

He seemed so needy and sad that Chaeyoung couldn’t help it but hug her brother tightly. Little she cared about the giggles the other three were doing, because, honestly, she needed her father too. Maybe because Ha Yi had left the Palace too soon from the King’s point of view (she was almost twenty when she left, usually, princesses got married earlier) that Choi Seung-hyun had always had a special weakness for Chaeyoung. She was the only daughter remaining at the palace. And, the First Princess felt a special connection with her father.

"But, TaeTae… you need to understand. You are needed here in the Palace. More than ever."

"But we need to get the remedy…"

"I know, and that’s why I’ll go instead."

"WHAT?!" the four men yelled.

"Do not look at me like that… Why shouldn’t I? And do not tell me because I am a woman because you might not leave this room alive and you know that."

She threatened them, using that characteristic Choi’s intense eyesight, one that for many years, nobody knew Chaeyoung had inherited too.

"It’s not safe…" Jungkook intervened.

"Says the man who a few minutes before was all in… "

"You cannot go alone, cousin. There are at least 25 days of distance between the two cities. And you need to cross the Kangnam Range, which is known to be full of bandits trying to attack the convoys that cross the border every day…"

"I know how to be sneaky, Jimin."

"Yes, but… how are you going to be able to hide from