Chapter 7. Escape. Part I.

"Your majesty." Chaerin bowed to the Queen and sat next to her.

"Tell me, lady Chaerin." 

"According to the Second Palace Lady, the First Prince has been asking to get some cheap clothes so he doesn’t spoil his expensive clothing while training with his sword. He has been too kind and quite flirty with the eunuchs and the maids to get some favors." 

"More than usual?" it infuriated her, how well-aware her son was of his good looks… "Gosh! Why is he so like his father when he was young, Chaerin?"

Mi-young had not known her husband in his younger teenager days, but, apparently, to what Daesung and her mother-in-law told her, he was quite a player back then. Not in a erted way (most of the time), but he knew he was handsome and knew how to use it. Luckily that ended when he fell in seriously love for the first time. “Maybe my son needs that too, only time will tell.”

"I am afraid I don’t have an answer for that, Mi-young." 

"Something more?" she rolled her eyes.

"Third Prince Jimin has asked some the maids to give the First Princess some dried snacks since she seems to be in some kind of a diet, because, apparently, the First Prince teases her about her weight." 

"Chaeyoung never listens to what Tae Hyung tells her… that’s indeed strange. Keep an eye on them, please." 

"Of course, Mi-young." 

"And tell Jeongwan to come tonight to dinner with me and his grandmother, we have things to discuss before the next State Council." 

"Something more before we officially start our day?" 

"Officially or unofficially?" 

"You know I love to work in the shadows, Mi-young." 

"Tell Yuri to keep an eye on the Thai ambassador too, he spends too much time with the Chinese ambassador and they met a few weeks ago at dawn to pray. I do not think they were praying." 

"Alright, it will be my priority." 

"That would be all, Chaerin. Go and start your duties, I know you have plenty." 

"Yes, Mi-young."

Chaerin bowed to her friend one last time and left the room to let her finish her make-up. Since she was a married woman and was already showing her wrinkles, nothing too fancy was expected. So, instead, she took her time to think about the situation inside the palace, smiling because people still thought they could still keep secrets from her.

Only if she knew there were secrets she didn’t know.

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"I do not think I will be able to look like a man, ever…" 

"You just need proper make-up." Pranpriya said while ending her last test on her.

"But you should really think of trying to lower your voice a little, or even better, avoid to speak." Jisoo suggested.

"My voice it isn’t as high as you think it is…" 

"Yes, it is, Chaeyoung." 

"Never mind… so, can we review the whole plan again, please, Jisoo?" 

"Alright… so, tomorrow is the Dongzhi Festival, families will gather together and the King and the Queen would have to do a public ceremony to show the balance of the nation… This year the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess will take their place as the main protagonists of the ceremony, right?" 

"Yes…" 

"So, they will go to one of the high temples at Hanseong to do the rituals." 

"Which means most of the security staff will be focused on them since outside the Palace risks increase." Pranpriya added. "Jisoo, Seok-jin and I will go with our families to greet the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess because we are the eldest. So no-one could say we have helped you to escape because we won’t be even near you." 

"You will dress as a eunuch and meet with me at the East garden, near the Palace walls, princess Chaeyoung." Jungkook reminded her.

"Why the East garden? I think it would be best the north one, it is nearer our route…" 

"Because princess…" Jungkook took a small piece of paper from his pocket, with a detailed hand-made plan of the Royal Palace. "Since the east garden is the closest to the guards’ dormitories, they take for granted security, so there are fewer guards patrolling there… they think they can notice things better… but I have tried to sneak around a few times this past two weeks and nobody has noticed me. Take a look, princess, I have drawn the routes the guards usually take when they are on patrol. They change the patterns every day but if you pay enough attention, they are cyclical."

Chaeyoung took it amazed, and, when she turned it around, she saw some strange numbers.

"What are these numbers, lord Jungkook?" 

"The guards’ changes schedule, princess. If we meet after the first dong of the night, we can be outside the Palace in less than fifteen minutes."

"Impressive, lord Jungkook."

He blushed and started to explain to the princess what was his plan to leave the city without getting noticed. So she could be more prepared.

"I still don’t understand why Jungkook has to go with Chaenggie and not Jimin as I proposed." Tae Hyung complained.

"Because we all know the Queen suspects you and Jimin, since you were the ones in charge of getting all the supplies and Jungkook and Chaeyoung were only your minions. As I cleverly suggested…" Seok-jin boasted, his confidence was unparalleled. "That’s why her majesty has insisted you stay with her helping with the preparations for the State Council meeting she has next week. Because she wants to keep you controlled." 

"We have already agreed on this, cousin. If there is someone skilled enough to protect Chaeyoung, is Jungkook." Jimin added.

And the young lord blushed again with Jimin’s compliments.

"You are also good, prince Jimin." 

"Yes, but we need the best. Be honest here." 

"I still find it amazing that after all those years of training, you have not yet reached my level, prince Tae Hyung." Jungkook tried to focus the attention on someone else, and Tae Hyung clearly pissed, trapped the young lord’s head between his legs, punching his head in the process. "Ah! Stop! That hurts!" 

"Then retract from your words, lord Jungkook!" 

"Never!"

Jungkook was able to escape the Prince’s trap and took a chandelier at the princess chambers to face Tae Hyung and threaten him with it.

"Do not dare, Jungkook-ah!" 

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"Really, sometimes I would like to punch father in his arrogant face, strongly." Yixing complained.

"Then join my team, Yixing." his aunt Hyoyeon proposed. "Almost everyone in this household is already in."

"Should my father know about that?"

"He’d rather not, please. We had had peaceful lives until now." she begged half joking. "B