His eyes fluttered open, and immediately a wincing ache came over his body. Every muscle he had was dead, and his legs felt like lead. He grunted as he touched his forehead and noticed that it was wrapped in gauze with a few herbs.

He looked down, and saw his left leg entirely wrapped by the white material. He tried to lift it, but it seemed unresponsive.

He looked around his surroundings, and saw many things that were a stark contrast from the luxury that he lived with all his life.

The walls and floor were made of wood; an indication that told him whoever lived here was not wealthy. There were shelves of books in the room, some strange-looking tools on a desk, and antique decoration hung up on the walls. He stood up with his right leg, making the floor creak. He walked around slowly, wondering and looking. He peered out of the windows, and could only saw trees and trees and more trees.

He heard noises, and followed the noises to a wooden staircase that seemed to lead to the source of the sounds. Without hesitation, he ascended down the staircase slowly with his hand gripping the railing.

He sat down when he was near the bottom and peered to the left through the wooden railing. From his vision, he could see a robed figure bustling around and doing some sort of activity. Light smoke was coming out, and he wondered who on earth the person was.

"I can hear you." A voice spoke, catching him off guard. He peered at the figure again, yet the person seemed to show no sign of acknowledging him even though his presence was declared.

He stood up, and descended down to the bottom of the staircase.

There, amidst what he assumed to be a kitchen, was a huge black cauldron. Smoke was coming out of it, and the content inside was a glowing green. On the walls were herbs and leaves, on the cabinet shelves a bunch of glass bottle and jars stood. A table was on the side.

But what amazed him was a girl, no a woman, with red hair standing beside the cauldron with a frown on her forehead. Her face was streaked with something black, yet he could still distinguish her features. Her red hair shone in the sunlight coming through the windows, and he was sure he had never seen such an intense red in his life.

Her round brown eyes looked at him, and opened to speak.

"How do you feel?"

It took him a few moments, of staring, to straighten himself when he heard the husky yet melodious voice.

"I'm....fine." He answered, scratching the back of his head.

The woman turned her back to him, fiddling and searching for something on the shelf. She turned back with a bottle on her hand. She opened it and poured it into the cauldron.

"You must be hungry. I'll cook some food after I'm finished here."

She said, as she examined her cauldron. She took a whiff of the smell, and frowned as she turned to look at her spell book for directions.

He stood there, just looking at her bustling around and pouring things and reading. Somehow, he thought it was both strange and fascinating at the same time.

She unscrewed the jar of red powder dust and scattered a handful of it inside the cauldron. Smoke seemed to rise even more intensely as she did that, and she frowned as she looked. 

Suddenly, an explosion erupted, staining her face and clothes and make her hair all wriggly like snakes. She waved her hands frantically to disperse the smoke, and she coughed from all the dust that was generated.

It failed. Her ingenious concoction blew up to pieces. What remained inside her cauldron was a gross black liquid.

Great. She sighed, reaching to close her spell book. She'll have to try again tomorrow.

She heard a noise, and turned to find the man suppressing his laughter at her disheveled appearance. His snorts were loud as his mouth started to curve. She hurriedly grabbed her mirror, and inspected herself.

She smiled, and soon she joined him in laughter.

---------------------------------

"What's your name?" Seunghyun asked the female as they walked side by side in the forest. After they finished laughing she said she was going out to get firewood and he insisted on going with her. Somehow, he thought she was....unique, even though he just met her.

"Bom." She answered, stepping over a log. The man seemed nice enough, and he didn't look at her like she was out of her mind. She was all to familiar with the stare. But something was different with his gaze, and she wondered what it was.

"Spring? That's a beautiful name." He commented, glancing to see her shrugging. He picked up some more firewood and added it to the stack on his arm.

"How did you fall down the cliff?" She inquired. The sun was up in the trees, and soon it was going to be noon. The forest was as lively as ever, with the birds chirping and the insects buzzing all about.

"I was just...I don't know." He admitted with a sheepish smile, hopping on his right leg. She turned to look at him questioningly, but turned away like she was about to say something.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Seunghyun." He answered, wondering if she would recognize him as the Prince.

She seemed to have no recognition whatsoever as she continued walking. In a strange way, he was relieved.

"So uhhh....what were you doing back there?" He voiced the thing he had been wondering.

She seemed a bit hesitant as she spoke.

"Trying out a spell."

His eyebrows furrowed as he pondered over her answer. 

"What does that mean?" He asked, like a kid asking his mother.

"It means I'm trying it out to see if I can create it successfully and use it." She answered matter-of-factly.

"What?" 

She turned to look at him, like he was mentally disabled.

"I'm a witch." With that, she kept walking while he stopped.

A....witch?

"A witch?"

She nodded, her red hair fluttering. "Yeah. You know, the kind in fairy tales? Except the eating children and killing the princess part."

A witch? He had heard stories of witches before, but he had never meet one.

Let alone a pretty one, at that.

"Show me." He found himself saying. It seemed to ludicrous to believe, and he needed to witness it himself.

She looked at him with an eyebrow raised, the turned to scan her surroundings. She plucked a flower bud from a nearby bush.

She held the tiny bud in her hand, gazing at it for a few moments. Then, just like magic, the bud bloomed into a beautiful pink flower in her palm.

He watched, in amazement as she put the flower behind her ear and kept walking nonchalantly like nothing happened.

"Hey wait for me!" He called when he regained his composure.

-----------------------------------

"Who are you?" 

He looked up from his food when he heard her question. She had her back to him as she stirred the boiling soup in the metal container above the crackling fire. Growing up, he seldomly ate ordinary food. Yet today, he was devouring a bowl of ordinary tomato soup like there was no tomorrow. There was something about homemade food that felt comforting.

"Where are you from? What do you do? How old are you?" She inquired as she put in more firewood. "Are you married?"

He hesitated as he looked at her squatted figure near the fire. He didn't want to lie to her, yet something told him he shouldn't reveal his true identity.

"I'm a....traveler. I'm from the next town. I was just traveling by this forest when I fell down the cliff." He lied, feeling guilty as he said it.

She didn't seem to pick up anything as she continued to stir the soup.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a....merchant. I trade and sell and...you know." He scratched his head, his eyes not looking at her.

"Do you have a wife?" She turned to look at him as she asked the question.

"I'm....about to get married." He blurted, not having the heart to lie to her eyes.

"Congratulations." She smiled. "It must feel pretty happy to unite with your true love." She said, and felt a sense of déjà vu. Was she becoming like Hyori?

He didn't reply to her immediately, just sat there with a look in his eyes.

"Yeah." Was all he said.

If only she knew what 'Princess' Jiyeon was like.

She turned again and smiled at him over her shoulder. He smiled back, and felt a foreign feeling of serenity washed over him.

Little did both of them knew, from that moment on, their lives were going to be changed.

---------------------------------

UPDATE! TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!

I'M HAVING A 3 DAY WEEKEND, SO I'M THINKING OF SHOWERING MY READERS WITH UPDATES! STAY TUNED!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT! 

READ, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, ADD ME, VOTE, ENJOY!

SEE YA!