At the palace of Westland Empire, on a bench at the south garden, a guy was sitting down. He had a firm and tall built with golden brown hair. His very sharp eyes complemented his almost perfect feature. He seemed like he was watching the afternoon sky scenery, but apparently the guy was daydreaming. His thought was wandering to one day from a week ago when a special occasion occurred in his country.

It was a very special day for The Westland Empire. The country had marked its national day for the 200^th year. The Emperor invited all noblemen from empires, kingdoms and nations around their territories to celebrate the national day. On the day they had an official ceremony and by then they would continue with a big festival.

“What do you think about the celebration Yi Fan?” his father; The Westland Emperor asked him when they were sitting in the celebration hall.

“It’s going really well, Dad.”

“I see that people enjoy it. Good for us, then.” the emperor smiled.

“Anyway, have you found someone decent yet?”

It was a question that Yi Fan had heard for the umpteenth time from his father. Whenever they were in big gathering, the emperor always asked the same thing.

“Dad, you know I don’t think about it yet.”

Yi Fan voice seemed calm but his head started throbbing. His father might be didn’t know that he hated this question very much. The emperor often would continue to interrogate him with full interest while he couldn’t dodge it at all.

As reserved as he was, he would resist his father ways of nagging and suggesting just to made sure that the emperor would feel contented left him alone after that as soon as possible.

“Well, you should start to think about it soon. You’re twenty two this year.”

“Yeah, I will.”

To his surprise, his father didn’t say anything more and went to meet other noblemen around. Yi Fan inhaled a deep breath, he was so relieved that a sheer smile shown on his face.

                                                                                                *          *          *

Everything wasn’t complete if no royal dining added in big ceremonial day like this. So when the dinner time announced, Yi Fan sat down beside his father in their great dining hall. Beside him Prince Yi Xing was sitting, his own cousin; son of his father’s sister.

Soon, the emperor started to pray then followed by a long speech. Something that Yi Fan thought was useless as people were only thinking about food at the time like this.

As they began to eat, Yi Fan noticed a beautiful girl who sat at the opposite side. She had long brownish hair and small pinkish lips. He looked at her with curiosity. She seemed like she didn’t enjoy the dinner. She was staring here and there without touching her own food. It was strange because in big event like this, people forced to stay attending all the boring ceremonial processes until lunch or dinner time came.

It didn’t take a long time for his father to notice it and decided to try to solve her problem.

“Doesn’t the food taste good, Princess Sooyeon?”

The girl was taken aback when she was caught by the emperor himself but she managed to smile and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It actually tastes good. Um, I only don’t feel like eating right now.” she answered.

As soon as she said that, a woman beside her nudged his shoulder which made the girl flinched.

“Pardon my daughter, Your Majesty.” said the woman immediately.

“Hohoho, as long as we don’t make our guest hungry, I think it’s alright. You can eat whenever you like Princess Sooyeon, don’t hesitate. We’ll try our best to satisfy our guests today.” the emperor explained.

The princess and her mother smiled, nodding to the emperor.

“Hah! Of course you don’t feel like to eat this time because you had an early start before us.” suddenly Yi Xing spoke.

“Pardon me?” the princess furrowed.

“Hmm, how should I say it properly? I feel that you’ll be ashamed if I say the truth.” Yi Xing stopped digging his food while looking at the girl with glinting eyes.

As his cousin and his long time friend Yi Fan acknowledged if Yi Xing had a glint in his eyes, it meant danger. Danger, as when he exposed Yi Fan’s first wet dream to their family members or when he pushed some princesses who stalked him to various watery places.

“What do you do, Yi Xing? Stop it!” his mother glared beside him as she could sense his son’s intention.

“It’s nothing Mom, I only saw her stealing some foods from the back kitchen earlier.”

Yi Xing chuckled. Of course his mother couldn't stop if he had made intention into something.

“Well you know, pretty much when we were busy attending the ceremony, she was there preoccupied with all the foods.” he added while laughing uncontrollably.

Sooyeon gasped hearing her secret exposed by Yi Xing’s statements. The princess couldn’t hide her reddened face.

“Tsch, Yi Xing. How could you always sweat on little things?”

Yi Fan’s aunt aka Yi Xing’s mother switched-off the situation. She didn’t forget to pinch her son’s thigh, hoping it would emphasized the effect so that his son could stop making a fuss.

“Ouch, Mom!” he winced in pain.

“Don’t be so stingy! You heard your uncle said, let people take the food whenever they want.” she added while smiling around to gawked people.

                                                                                                  *          *          *

The next schedule was entertainment session. All amazing dances, songs, martial arts, and everything presented by each nation that they had invited. It was Yi Fan least favorite time on a celebration because his father always ordered him to approach some noble girls out there and he also always didn’t forget to spy on him.

Tonight was slightly different, he decided to watch Yi Xing’s prior victim. He was curious about her because it was his first time to know a princess who did something interesting, interesting enough to be caught by Yi Xing’s forgetful brain.

Someone who lived long enough in their palace would know beside the fact that the royal cousins were gorgeous; they also had their own flaws. As their advantages, the crown-prince Yi Fan was the quiet and well-reserved one while Yi Xing was the easy going and straightforward one.

Yi Fan was always being cautious before he approached someone. In the end, sometimes he would find a decent acquaintance after years of careful familiarization but most of them couldn’t even mentioned as his friends as he wasn’t a very sociable person.

Yi Xing was very energetic and he loved to go out often. But as fast as he knew new people he could easily forget them and didn’t recognize them on the next occasion. It frequently happened to girls as plenty plenty of girls always introduced themselves to him.

Meanwhile at that  time, the princess didn’t look like she enjoyed the excitement of celebration. Yi Fan watched that she didn’t join the group of gossiper princesses who were whispering in the corner of the hall, neither involved herself to high-fashioned clique there who were wearing the latest excessive gowns and accessories. She was just stood alone next to the drinks table while taking a sip from the glass once in a while.

When the dance time announced, Yi Fan felt an urge to ask that girl to dance. But since he was born he never for once asked someone to dance. Maybe with his personal teacher who was an old lady was an exception. He didn’t know why he felt it, but his body started to walk toward the princess before he could think more.                                                                                      

Sooyeon felt a touch on her right arm and she turned abruptly to meet a gaze from a crown-prince she had seen on the dining hall earlier.

“May I dance with you?” Yi Fan bowed besides her.

“Oh, of course?” Sooyeon gave her hand to him.

She wasn’t in the mood for dancing right now, but she didn’t have a choice. Her parents would strangle her if they found out that she had rejected a dance from a crown-prince. A crown-prince who had this country, corrected. Moreover, she had made her parents ashamed when the other prince exposed her behavior cruelly in front of many people. So, she must be doing everything nicely now for the rest of the day.

“I am Wu Yi Fan, Your Highness.” said Yi Fan while leading the princess to the dance floor.

“Yes, I know you. The Westland’s Crown Prince.”

“You know me?”                          

“Yeah, if I didn’t know you why would I be here?” she sneered.

“Oh yeah, you’re right.” Yi Fan smiled sheepishly at their awkward talks.

As for him, he didn’t realize that such a girl like her existed before his cousin made fun of her on the dinner.

He thought for a while about what he should say to her next.

“Uhm, what do you think about this celebration?” he started a conversation with a lame topic again.

“Could I be honest?”

“Yes of course, in fact you should. Why would you saying something dishonestly?”

Sooyeon raised her brows staring at him.

“Um, you can continue.” Yi Fan wanted her to stop make him nervous. What was that raised brows for?

“As always, event like this was boring for me. It’s wasting my time.” she shrugged while they were moving along.

“Got it. I don’t like dance party too. But, you know, this is a part of our duties, something to maintain relationships between countries.” Yi Fan commented.

“Then why did you ask me to dance?”

Yi Fan couldn’t answer, “Um, I- I don’t really know, right now.”

“Wah, you’re working very hard just to maintain our countries relationship!” she chuckled sarcastically.

“No, it isn’t that I mean-“

“You see, most people come here to flaunting their wealth or trying to reassure their noble positions through various ways. They think maintaining relationships is very important, just like you.” she said bluntly looking straight at Yi Fan’s face.

She looked annoyed but Yi Fan didn’t say anything, as he couldn’t explain what the real reason behind his action to ask her a dance right now. How could he say something that he didn’t understand either?

As they continued to dance in silence, Yi Fan found himself lost in thought seeing the girl in front of him. This girl was so tiny compared to his tall built. She seemed so fragile but strong at the same time. When she was talking, her voice was small and soft but her eyes determined her intent.

He also found that he couldn’t turn away from her eyes and her lip, those things made such a high-impact on him when she was smiling. His heart was throbbing but it wasn’t like how his father did to his head. So, when the music ended, Yi Fan released the princess half-heartedly.

“Thank you for dancing with me, Princess Sooyeon.” Yi Fan bowed.

“You’re welcome,” answered Sooyeon, smiling brightly to the prince.

She was very happy that now she had her free-time back.

Since that day, the crown-prince couldn’t stop thinking about her.

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AN :

Hello! How do you think about the first chapter?

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