It was a 'special morning.' The white, delicate flakes of frosty water fell from the sky, fluttering their way down like the decents of butterflies. The first snow of the winter. It wasn't especially cold, nor was it uncomfortably wet and sticky. It was moderately cool, the sun's reflection on the snow brightening the entire kingdom. The children enjoyed a break from their studies, flooding the streets eating snowflakes and scraping the small amounts of cold frost from the ground to throw at each other. It was much too early for any real activity, and it was relatively peaceful in Baehwa.

If only I could say the same for myself.

I'm awakened by a rude knock at my door.

"Prince! Prince! The time has come! Another princess has come to see you! Maybe she shall be the one...?" the voice giggles in an unsettling manner. There's no doubt it's my chief minister, Jo Kwon. He's an... unusual character.

I kick the silk sheets off my body and manage to pull myself from my warm cacoon. My muscles ache from the cramped position I slept in last night and I stretch a bit to ease the tension. After a bit of a calming silence, I head straight for my bathroom. 

The door creaks open and I take a deep breath. My bathroom is pretty normal, considering the 'royal' background. White tiles, porceline toilet, wide sink. It's relaxing, if anything. The floor is cold, considering the winter season, and I immediately return to my bed for my slippers. I wash my face and take care of dental hygine and start up my bath. 

I strip and take a look in the mirror. I have a gauze around my chest. No, I'm not injured. I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that. I unwrap myself and begin to relax. It's a huge strain to have this tight around my chest. I let the bandage fall to the stone tiles at my feet and stretch my arms in big circles, allowing my s to release their strain from being constricted.

s, you may ask? Yeah. It's a strange story. To make it quick, being the only child of my family, a male heir was needed. Unfortunately for my parents, I was born, and well unfortunately for me I have to pull of this ludicrous incognito for what seems to be the rest of my life. That's why I have no attendants even though I'm a Prince. Sure I wouldn't particularly want to be babied like the generic prince does, but I really have no choice even if I wanted to anyways. Attendants dress you, monitor your every move. That's a definite 'can't happen, won't happen' for me. My door is locked when I'm at home and I'm usually kept away from others in case by some one-in-a-million chance that someone finds out I'm female.

I sigh and start my bath. It's just another regular day for me.

Chief Minister Kwon leads me down the corridor, a skip in his step. My brow twitches in annoyance. The long, empty hall echoes with each clatter of his shoes, and it just adds to my irritation. I'm not sure why I'm in such a bad mood today, but meeting yet another princess on the first snow of the season is a bit disappointing. The cold weather is perfect for outdoors sword fighting. I'd much rather be in the woods than in my stuffy old palace.

I hope I don't sound ungrateful or spoiled.

I sit at my chair. I'd call it a throne, but it's much too small to be called one. The red cushion contrasts well with the dark mahogany wooden frame, and I trace my finger along the golden fringe. It's much too early for this kind of occassion. 

A few minutes turn to what seems like forever, and I start tapping my foot. I'm getting more and more irritible as each second passes, and it won't be long until I just get up and leave. 

"Minister Kwon will the guest be here any time soon? I'm getting quite annoyed," I grit my teeth. He visibly appears to become nervous. I didn't mean for that to happen. I felt a little bad.

"The princess said 8:30, I assume-" theres a loud banging at the door, louder than the one I was woken up by earlier today. The ringing doesn't help my headache. "She's here!" Minister Kwon's eyes sparkle with excitement. "I absolutely cannot wait for you to meet her. I hear she's a beauty! I wonder if-"

"Just open the door!" I practically yell.

He immediately quiets down and pulls on the golden ring at the door, revealing a small figure and who I assume is her guard. The man takes her hand with delicacy and leads her to the chair opposite of mine.

I can already tell what kind of character this one is.

Her eyes have a sharp blue hue and they slant in such a way that says, 'I'm too good for you.' Her posture is dismissive and uncaring, a bit arrogant to say the least. They way she crosses her legs and arms are a bit hostile too, and I know this isn't going to go well.

She yaps on about this and that. Irrevelant things. I think she mentioned her name somewhere inbetween but I'm too uninterested to listen. I think she realizes my indifference because she an eyebrow at me.

"Are you even listening to me?" she says, her words basically dripping venom.

"Of course my lady," I emphasize the last part to show some kind of sarcasm. I didn't expect her to pick up on it but she does.

She takes a small bag from the sleeve of her robe and practically throws it at me. I open it, revealing many gold marks. I immediately pull the strings together to shut the bag. It's a dole-a payment by a princess to a prince to, in a way, 'pay' for their marriage. It's a stupid system, but that's what's been going on for the past few hundred years. There's no way I'm marrying this piece of work.

I throw it back at her with as much force and carelessness she gave me. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to decline your offer," I say, trying my best to be polite despite the circumstances. She gives me a haughty scoff. It's almost as if she thought I was actually going to marry her and she couldn't believe she was getting rejected.

"Excus-" she stands up immediately and before I'm able to finish my word, slaps me across the face. I readjust my jaw and calmly call for my guard to have the psycho escorted out. I run a hand through my hair as she's taken out the door. I look to Minister Kwon only to see his disappointed face.

"You actually thought she'd be 'the one?'" I question, my voice raising. I don't mean to take my anger out on him, but I can't help it. My temper gets the best of me.

"I-I'm sorry, m'lord, it's just-"

"No. I'm getting some air. Don't wait up for me," I cut him off and head for my dressery.

I can feel my temper rising. After meeting so many needy or impolite princesses, I've had it. This must have been my tipping point. Of course I do want to find love, but this whole acting like a prince-it's not going to end well even if I do find someone. Once they find out... I don't want to think about it. By the time the worst of my anger has passed, I've changed out of my royal clothes into something more undetectable. Grey shirt with long sleeves with ties at the neckline with loose slacks. I grab my swords-bag and burst out the back door. I can hear a few of my advisors calling after me but I ignore them. I head for the stables.

The stable is quite large, despite my having only two horses. It's wooden and has several rooms. Hay is spread all over the ground and water and food trays line each stall. It's homey in here. Warm too, but a little smelly. I head to the farthest stall from the enterance to see my favorite horse, Puremi. It means 'Greeny' in what I believe is English. I'm not sure why I named her that. I remember having a calf named Puremi when I was very young, but she died a few years ago. Maybe I named her that to deal with it. I don't know.

I put a cloak on Puremi before putting a saddle on her. She happily greets me, neighing and exhaling quickly. I give her a lump of sugar and pet her nuzzle. It's always so calming to be around animals-well, animals that are friendly. I mount her and set off for the forest clearing where I practice my swords fighting.

The winter air feels amazing through my short hair. I'm starting to breath heavily as well. My pace matches Puremi's perfectly. I pass by the church, a few bakeries, and a few insignificant merchant stores. No one recognizes me thankfully, most likely due to my ordinary clothes and ruffled hair. I smile to myself. Getting away from the royalty life is great.

I cross the bridge that hangs over the lake to reach the beginning of the forest. Green. Green foliage and the scent of musk envelops me. This is my real home. 

I finally reach the clearing I've been looking for and prepare my equipment. There are three large logs standing upwards from the ground. They act sort of like training dummies. I warm up before starting, then take out my sword. It's a long sword, the blade's cross section made of diamond. The hilt is decorative yet functional. It's wrapped in black-dyed leather, an emerald right below the cross-guard. It's my birthstone. It sits in a sort of pocket that looks like a sun. The rays around it are made of metal. It's a sword that is very dear to me. 

I begin my practice, and time passes by quickly. The yellow hues of the sunset are taking over the once blue sky. I take a deep breath. I'm sweating more than usual and I don't feel the cold air anymore. I polish my blade and sheath it. I should probably go back.

I start packing up when I start to hear rustling. Something's coming. I unsheath my blade and stand ready to fight, whether it's a person or a wild animal. The sound is getting louder and more violent, and unconsciously my heart starts beating faster. I guess I'm getting nervous. I haven't really fought anything in a real-life situation before. I'm alone too, so that doesn't help my anxiety.

A few bushes part ways for a figure. It's not a wild animal, thank God, but I can hear barking from farther away. I guess this person was being chased. I slowly approach them, sword still in hand. It's a girl. Great. I bend down as she struggles to get up. 

"Uh. Need some help there?" I offer. She looks up at me like a deer in headlights. I can't help but notice a huge burn scar across the right side of her face and shoulder. Disregarding that, she's pretty.

"Hello? You there?" I tease. She still hasn't responded to my offer. She seems startled, but takes my hand regardless.

"W-we have to run!" What? I'm taken back by her excitability. 

"We have to go! Therearewolveschasingmeand-" I cut her off.

"Woah, now. Slow down I can barely understand you-" The barking I heard earlier is getting louder. The girl starts trembling.

"Get behind me, everything's gonna be alright, ok?" I give her a thumbs up and prepare myself.

My heart is beating fast again. The pumping of adrenaline is making my stomach turn.

Silence engulfs the two of us. Only the roars of the crickets can be heard.

RAWLRF

The snarling surprises me enough to make me jump, and I hear the girl behind me fall to her knees. I hope she hasn't fainted. I predict the direction the animal pounces in correctly and wound it enough to where it won't be moving for some time. I know there are more coming.

Two, no-three more wolves appear, and I'm starting to get antsy. I slash and block, slash and block. I eventually get in a rhythm and rid of the last of them. I take a deep breath.

"W-watch out!" I hear the girl yell at me. Crap. There's another?

I don't turn fast enough, and the large grey animal has already clamped onto my leg. I yelp in pain. The burning shoots up to my hips and I furiously slash at the wild canine. Quickly the animal falls, and the girl runs to my side to help get the wolf's clamped jaw off my ankle. 

I don't think my bone is broken, but there's a significant amount of blood gushing near my heel. I in some air.

"I-I'm so sorry," she doesn't even look at me, but I already feel bad. It's like I just killed a bunch of puppies, rather than wild wolves.

"H-hey," I get out, "It's ok. I'm fine, see?" I make my best I'm-ok face. She doesn't even smile, so I feel a little disappointed. I try to put my hand on her shoulder, but she jumps before I can.

"Let me... help you. I'm sorry...this is all my fault," she runs to grab the bag she was holding and takes out what I assume is a first aid kit.

She uses a small towel to apply pressure at my wound to stop the bleeding. The pain has subsided notably, but it still hurts. While she does this, it's silent. Kind of awkward. I try to start up a conversation.

"So... how did you get here?" stupid question. She obviously walked here. She seems to notice my uneasiness, but still answers nonetheless.

"I walked... or rather ran," she gets out. Nothing I didn't know. Stupid question.

"Um... so what brings you here? I don't think I've seen you before," she tenses a bit. I know I've hit a sensitive subject. Change the subject! Change the subject!

"U-uh so what's your name?" I panic. She lookes at my face. I still can't get over her burn scars. It doesn't run far enough to reach her eye, but it takes up most of her cheek.

"Taeyeon... Kim Taeyeon," she mumbles. For whatever reason I smile at this. I resist wanting to say, 'that's a great name' to avoid any cliche.

"What's your name?" I'm surprised she asked. Guess it makes sense that she ask me after I asked her.

"Soonkyu. Lee Soonkyu," I mock her way of introducing herself and it makes her pout. 

"That name is familiar," she says.

"Yeah... I'm kind of a prince," I chuckle, "The Sun Prince, to be exact." She seems to realize my status. I hope it doesn't scare her off.

"I... I'm kind of a princess myself," I'm taken aback by her mocking me, but then the reality of her words hit me. Princess? She definitely doesn't look or act like one. At least the generic princess, I should say. But hey, I'm a prince that's a girl so who am I to say this?

"Oh really?" I want to push for more but she seems extremely uncomfortable. I stumble to my feet and offer her a hand.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what is a princess like yourself doing out here in the forest at night?" looks like the yellow hues of sunset have turned to black. The guards are going to send a search party or something if I stay any longer.

"I... ran away," she looks down at the ground, playing with the blades of grass under her feet. I start feeling guilty for whatever reason.

I'm conflicted to offer to take her to the palace. She is a princess, well at least she says she is. Though I remember hearing about a crippled princess before. She looks frightened. I think she knows I have to leave soon.

"Would you like to come with me? Back to town? I'm sure you can stay with my family, considering you have nowhere to... go," she starts playing with her plain, beige dress. 

"I don't want to be a bother..." she mumbles.

"It really is no problem. The palace is quite large. I'm sure there's plenty of room for you."

She doesn't really answer but I know she means to accept my offer. I try to take her hand but remember how jumpy she was when I took her shoulder. Instead, I motion for her to follow me to Puremi.

She seems to brighten up after seeing her. She calmly pets her nuzzle. While doesn't smile, her eyes do. I make a mental note to take her to the stables often. I help her up and then mount Puremi afterwards. 

"We're gonna be off now. Hold onto me, okay? I don't want you falling off," she makes a face. I feel kind of bad to force her into this. I don't want to make her think I'm trying to take advantage of her or anything. Maybe I'm overthinking this.

She reluctantly grabs my waist and we return to the palace. It's getting very cold now, so I ask Puremi to speed up. 

We reach the stable and I help her dismount. I lead her to the palace, but she stands not even an arms length away from me. I rub the back of my neck.

I'll find her a room and deal with the questions tomorrow, I decide. I'm hoping for at least a calm evening.

I open the back door and I realize Taeyeon is standing behind me. I guess she doesn't deal well with people. I was hoping to be greeted by the warm lights of my house, but instead I'm welcomed by at least a dozen of my guards and advisors staring me down.

I unconsciouly step backwards as a flurry of questions are thrown at me. I turn my head to make sure Taeyeon's still here. She is, so I sigh of relief.

It's going to be a long night of explaining.

New story (: I hope you like it. If you have any questions, let me know! I think my writing style is changing a bit, so I wanted to try something new. I hope it wasn't too slow or boring. Thanks for reading ^^ Until next time~