*Knock knock*

“Come in.” Kyuhyun answered to the knock on the office door. He was surprised that Haejin entered the room.

“Haejin ssi, please sit.” He gestured to her and she sat down smilingly.

“Kyuhyun ssi, I’m here to ask you for a date. Ever since our first date, I thought that we should follow up.” She said while blushing.

Kyuhyun stuttered as he tried to reject her politely. “Haejin ssi, I think that we should not meet again for that purpose.’

Haejin froze when she heard that. “Why?” She asked

“I have no intention to marry, I’m afraid that I will be wasting your time. You deserve someone better.” Kyuhyun explained.

“Is it because of the dark queen?”

Kyuhyun remained silent. “How could you fall in love with her? She is nothing but evil.”

“It is our destiny to be tortured this way, loving someone we can never love.” He said.

“You know that no one will support you.” She said proudly. “I know, but I just want to be with her.”

Ryeowook sat around the pond, throwing small pebbles into the water to create ripples. Tears were flowing out as she threw them. Kyuhyun who was at the nearby pavilion walked to her to ask “What’s wrong?”

“It’s been 1 month and I still can’t remember a thing.” She replied sadly.

“It’s okay. Take your time.”

“But I can’t remember a single thing about our past. I want to know how we met, how we became best friends.” Kyuhyun tried to hold back his guilt for lying to Ryeowook that they were friends.

Kyuhyun sat down beside her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Let me tell you a story.”

“Reall? I love stories!” She cheered.

“In a long long long time ago, there was a large kingdom. And in the kingdom, there was a prince well-loved by his citizens. He was kind, handsome and intelligent.”

Ryeowook laughed.

“What?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Are you talking about yourself?” Kyuhyun just smiled and continued.

“One day, the prince met a beautiful girl and was mesmerized by her. But the girl was very mean to him, she tricked him into very embarrassing moments. There was once, she put a classmate’s underwear into his bag and accused him of being a ert.”

Ryeowook giggled and said “She’s so evil!”

“But the prince knows that the girl likes him too, just that due to some reason, they couldn’t love each other openly.”

“What reason?”

“Anyway, the girl did something that could destroy the whole kingdom one day and she became a wanted criminal. The prince had to endure the pain and catch his love to save his country.”

Ryeowook pulled Kyuhyun’s sleeve in tears and said “He wouldn’t kill her right?”

“When the girl was caught, she asked the prince if he loved her more or his nation. The prince lied to her and said that he love his nation more. From then on, the girl was under life imprisonment, hating the prince for the rest of her lifetime.”

“Pabo pabo…” Ryeowook cried.

“But of course, the prince never stopped loving her.” He grabbed Ryeowook’s face and he kissed her forehead.

“So did the girl forgive the prince in the end? Since he love her so much….”

Kyuhyun smiled at her and said “I don’t know yet.”

“If only the girl knew how much she was loved, she wouldn’t be so evil right?”

Haejin returned home crying to her father. “Haejin ah, what’s wrong?”

“The light master rejected me for the dark queen.”

“Mwo?”

“He said that he loves her and he wouldn’t let her go.” Haejin said crying.

“Is he crazy? I knew that he had a soft spot for the dark queen but I didn’t expect him to be so into her.”

“Maybe she cast a spell on him?” Haejin instigated.

“Taeminnie play with me!” Ryeowook chased Taemin around the garden while Kyuhyun was looking through his documents.

“Sir, save me! Ryeowook ssi never gets tired!” Taemin pleaded as he kept running away from the bubbly dark queen. Ryeowook’s only playmates now are Taemin and Kyuhyun since the other servants are still afraid of her.

“Ryeowook ah, give Taemin a break.” Kyuhyun giggled.

Ryeowook stopped and ran to Kyuhyun to lie on his lap. “I’m so bored.” Taemin took the opportunity to run away to take his long needed break.

Just then, they heard a soft weep. “Did you hear that?” Ryeowook asked as she sat up and strain her ears to hear.

“What?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Someone is crying.” Ryeowook stood up and walked into the forest behind the garden. Kyuhyun could hear the sounds of crying too and he followed Ryeowook into the woods.

They walked a distance into the woods and soon arrive at the foot of a medium sized tree. A child was sitting there, hugging its knees crying.

“Why are you crying?” Ryeowook squat beside the child, his hair. The little boy lifted his head and at that moment, Kyuhyun knows that he isn’t an ordinary boy. He is a tree spirit.

Immediately, the protective Kyuhyun held Ryeowook’s arm to pull her further from the spirit especially since most beings in the nation should hate the dark queen. “What’s wrong, Kyuhyun ah?”

“He is a tree spirit.”

Ryeowook looked at the pitiful boy in amazement. The tree spirit cried even more seeing them avoiding him. But the kind hearted Ryeowook was unable to leave the boy alone. She pulled away from Kyuhyun to hold the boy’s hand.

“Tell me? What’s wrong? Let me help you.”

The boy sniffed his nose and said “I can’t find my mama.”

“Your mama?” Kyuhyun asked.

“She said that she would come back for me after she found the magical stone to make us grow resistant to fires. But after so many days, she hasn’t returned.”

“Oh no…” Ryeowook said.

“Where did you mama say that she would be getting the power?” Kyuhyun asked.

“She said that she will go beg the dark queen to give us some power.”

Kyuhyun froze as he slowly peeked at Ryeowook who was still unaware that she’s involved in this matter. “The dark queen? Who is she? Can she really give powers?” Ryeowook asked innocently.

“The elders say that she will need something in exchange so my mama was willing to give her 1000years of her life in exchange.” The boy sobbed.

Kyuhyun shook his head as he thought of how the dark queen is capable of taking advantage of everyone.

“So let’s go find the dark queen! Kyuhyun, do you know where she lives?” Ryeowook exclaimed.

Kyuhyun stared at her blankly as he thought ‘She’s right in front of me, pabo.’

“She…she lives in a tower near the palace but I heard that she escaped last month. My mama could have missed meeting her but where would she be? Why isn’t she back yet?” The little tree spirit said.

“Then we should go to the tower!” Ryeowook grabbed the boy’s hand. “Kyuhyun ah, lead the way!”