"May I ask for the reason of your visit?" I ask, curious. I notice the orange tint coming from the windows. We've been talking for who knows how long, yet she hasn't brought up the topic of marriage once. It's been enjoyable, though. When I'm with her, time seems to have no meaning. As ironic as it sounds, she's... cool. Laid back and relaxed. Very comfortable to be around.

"Well, if you haven't guessed, I'm not here about a marriage agreement. Father sent me here to make an arrangement, but I'm not very willing at the moment," she seems to realize the possible hurtfulness of her statement, "Not that there's anything wrong with you, it's just that I feel as if it's a bit of a bother throwing yourself at men and begging them to marry you. But you wouldn't understand that, I guess."

I sure would have if it weren't for the whole prince facade. I guess I should be thankful in that way. It seems demeaning the way she put it. 

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault you were born male and myself a female."

Oh the irony.

"Anyways, I do have a few matters that I would like to address with you," she says, calmly flattening the folds from her dress. 

"Is that so?"

She's about to open when I hear a clattering at the door. My eyes immediately dart to Taeyeon, but she's just calmly looking at the books on the shelves. The double doors burst open.

"H-hi!" a dark-haired, bubbly girl in a servant's outfit stumbles through the enterance, a rolling cart in tow. I try to recognize her but her bangs are obscurely hiding her face. There are many servants here with long, dark hair, so there wouldn't be a great chance that I'd be able to remember her name.

She rolls in the cart so noisly that Taeyeon physically jumps up from her book. The wheels rattle and the plates shake, clanging on the metal in such an ungraceful matter.

It's strange, because Taeyeon looks as if she has some kind of interest in the servant. She bobs her head from her book to take a look at her.

She heaves a sigh and energetically puts her hands on her hips. "All done! Mr. Kwon asked me to get you guys some sweets," her attention turns to Jessica. "You're pretty! Have I seen you before? I really love your dress! I think it'd be better if it was pink though..." her attention span is probably along the lines of two seconds. I wonder why I have her as a servant in the first place?

I expect Jessica to be annoyed considering her calm demeanor, but she giggles softly. "Thank you. And my name is Jessica. I'm a princess from the kingdom up north."

The girl smiles brightly, "Wow! I've always wanted to go see your snow up there! I heard it's a thousand times fluffier than ours!" her eyes twinkle as if she can already see the fluffy white flurries of the icy cold nation, "Oh! My name's Tiffany, m'lady," she smiles even wider, "It's very nice to meet you!" she extends her hand out for a shake. 

Just like she has been keeping me on my toes, Jessica unexpectantly firmly shakes Tiffany's hand.

She giggles again, "Why, you're such a card. Prince Soonkyu you have to let me bring her back with me. I haven't met anyone so bubbly in a while."

Tiffany's cheeks grow pink and she scratches the back of her head. "Hehe, ya think so? I'd be more than happy to go!"

All this has happened too fast and I'm trying to regain my ground. "Maybe so, after you tell me what it is that you wanted to say," I throw back, hoping to get our conversation back on topic. 

"Oh that's right. Tiffany and Taeyeon, would you two mind waiting outside for a few moments? I need to talk to the prince alone."

Taeyeon still has that surprised look on her face and Tiffany whines, "Aw~you're no fun! Ok! C'mon... um... Tae... Taeyeon? Taeyeon, right? Yeah, let's go!" she grabs Taeyeon's hand and pulls her out, her face still ridden with confusion.

The door slams shut and Jessica turns to me with a serious look on her face. The lively atmosphere suddenly dies.

"I need to tell you that... I've heard of a rumor concerning the safety of your kingdom, and of mine." A rumor... for our safety? She doesn't mean...

"A plan. A plan for war. The northwestern kingdom," she points to the map sitting under the glass on my desktop, "seems to be building up some kind of standing army. Heaven knows what for, but I don't want to be taking any chances. I have a pretty good knack for predicting wars and the like, so I'm almost 100% sure that an invasion will happen in the near future."

A war. It dawned on me that I've never really been involved in any real war, or conflict, for that matter. Sure I received a bit of military school in my early teens, but what use is it if I've never experienced a fight first-hand? Would I even be prepared for this?

Jessica sits back in her chair and crosses her legs, eyes meeting mine. "I ask for assistance."

Mine? I should be the one begging for her help.

"The northwestern kingdom is extremely close to mine. Only a few hundred miles between borders. Within a few days of the start of an invasion, it'll be too late for us to prepare anything... and our walls will be overtaken quickly."

Now that I took a second glance at the map, the two kingdoms are very close. She was right. The northern kingdom is on the smaller side too, so their army couldn't be more than a hundred thousand.

"And why would you be asking for my help in particular?" I ask, still curious as to why I'm involved.

"Well to be honest... my father wants everything to do with your kingdom. He's always on about your economy, military... even you, Sun Prince. That's why he made sure that this was the first place I went to once I became of age to marry... I'm sorry. I can't bring myself to marry any prince at this time but... at least help me out with the war. If I am to bring any news of you back to my father, it at least has to be this."

I can't just simply give a 'yes' or 'no.' War is a major investment. Not only financially-it involves the innocent lives of the kingdom itself. But if it's true that the northern kingdom could be overtaken in just a few days... the opposing force would have almost doubled in size and power. Our kingdom would certainly be next on the hit-list. If it's for our own protection...

"Ok. I'll help you, but I will send a portion of our troops over. If things get too terrible over there I can send more. I'll deliever the message and we can arrange the alliance agreement officially." My heart races a bit as the words leave my mouth. 

Jessica looks satisfied. "Thank you. A hundred times thank you. You will not regret this." I can't be all too sure myself. I smile nonetheless.

I bid farewell to Jessica and send her to one of the guest rooms. She will be staying for a couple days so there is sufficient time to prepare and organize the agreement and troops' transportation. 

Tiffany seems to have been called over for another assignment because I don't hear her anywhere within the hallway. It's almost supper time and I have an hour before I'm called to the dining room. 

I wander aimlessly around the hallway when I feel like I'm being followed. I take a look over my shoulder, but nothing. 

A few minutes later, and again, the same feeling. Still, I turn around, and no one. The stress is probably getting to me. I turn my back once more. 

It's been at least twenty minutes and still, I feel someone's presence. I can even hear the clattering of shoes on the tile behind me, echoing up the seemingly endless height of the walls. I still can't see anyone. Maybe it's my own heartbeat echoing in my ears.

A minute or two later I feel inclined to look back. I decide to slowly turn my head over my shoulder. I finally see it. A bit of dark hair peeking from the corner of the wall I just passed. A couple of pale, slim fingers too. I slowly and quietly approach it, careful not to let whoever is behind the wall know. Once I'm in arm's length I quickly grab the digits gripping the wall. 

I hear a quick shriek and find a guilty looking face peeking out at me. 

"Have you been following me?" 

She fixes her dress with her free hand and nods shly. I get the notion that she's probably bored or lonely. It's a big palace. I can get that.

"Taeyeon... you want to go see the horses? We have guard dogs too. Would you like to go visit?" I remember how well she treated Puremi. She'd like this.

I see the faintest smile and I lead her outside. 

The evening sky is beautiful. The last bits of sun setting reflects an orange tint on the white snow on the ground. The sight is warming and pleasant.

It's still very cold, and I look at Taeyeon and her sleeveless dress. She's trying to hide her discomfort, but her goosebumps tell a different story. I go to take my jacket off, but I realize that I'm still holding her hand. I give a quick apology and proceed in taking my extra article of clothing off and draping it over Taeyeon's shoulders. She seems surprised and looks at me curiously.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Take it. Now c'mon, the horses are around that corner," I give her a reassuring smile to let her know that I mean it when I say that I'm fine and motion her to follow. She walks just a little closer now. Still a bit far, but less than the usual two feet.

I open the wooden door for her and her eyes light up. The two horses are in the middle of eating, but they slow when they see I've brought company.

Taeyeon smiles brightly for the first time as she plays with the horses, watching their lips flip over their noses to show their gigantic teeth. She laughs too. Honestly, it's loud and obnoxious, but completely charming at the same time.

I decide to join her after a while, seeing how much fun she's having without me. I startle her as I approach suddenly, but she immediately returns to making my horses do silly things. We're soon making them do tricks for sugar lumps. It's gotten to a point where we're just laughing like maniacs, and I honestly can't tell you the last time I've laughed this much.

We've only ten minutes before dinner, and I tell Taeyeon that we should really get going. I don't get much time to just goof off like this. It's a lot of responsibility keeping up with all of this... I really cherish these moments of acting like a child.

I almost forget to bring Taeyeon to one last place before heading back for supper.

"Hey, come see this," I say once we reach the housing for the guard dogs. They're really friendly to the residents, and I'm pretty sure one has just had puppies.

Her face is priceless. She's completely overwhelmed. She kneels on the floor and the dogs and puppies immediately pounce on her, or nudging her. Taeyeon's naturally tiny and the large number of dogs overwhelm her. 

It soon calms town and she gets up, hair disheveled and messy. She's smilling so brightly, and she props herself against a wall as she sits down.

One of the newborn puppies is struggling next to her with a piece of ginger. One of the care takers for the dogs discovered his interest with the root and has been bringing them for him ever since. He's small and scrawny, definitely the runt of the pack, and he doesn't seem like he'll get too big as he gets older. Taeyeon takes notice of him and she pets the little one gently. 

He drops the little piece of ginger out of his mouth, appearing to have lost interest. He crawls slowly and struggles to get on Taeyeon's lap. He finally does as she lifts his behind up and onto her thigh.

"Aren't you cute," Taeyeon says, scratching under the puppy's chin with her finger. 

I walk towards them slowly. "You wanna keep him?" I offer. She looks up at me surprised. "Really?" 

I nod and motion towards the little one. "Yeah, why not? He seems to like you a lot. He's small too, I don't think it'd be a big deal having a little pet in the palace. It's almost time for dinner. You coming? Bring him with you."

She gets up slowly holding the little black puppy in her arms. "Thank you," she says, letting the ball of fluff nibble at her finger.

"Of course," We couldn't make a guard dog out of the little guys anyways. At least she could have him. I turn and smile at Taeyeon. "Let's go back."

After dinner Taeyeon headed back to her room with the puppy. She couldn't think of a name for the boy and decided to name him 'Ginger,' after the root he was so fond of. I found it a bit strange, considering Ginger is usually a girl's name. 

We said our 'good nights' and I went to my room. Today was... actually not all too bad. I'm glad I got the chance to spend some time with Taeyeon. 

I head to my bathroom to get ready. The same routine, as usual. By the time I hit the bed, the reality of today's events occured to me. 

Here I was, about to send my kingdom into war, and I was having fun with a girl. 

I rub my forehead, trying to ease the stinging stress. What a cruel world this is.

I still can't help but feel content with making Taeyeon smile so much today... I just can't make up my mind. Did I do something good with my time? Should I have spent my time at the barracks to help comfort the soldiers? Should I have done something more beneficial to the kingdom itself?

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as I hear a knock at the door.

It's faint and hesitant, so I'm not cautious as to who would be behind the door.

As it opens, I'm caught with a shy smile and a pair of eyes hidden behind black fur.

"I just wanted to thank you... n-not about Ginger here... but for today," she says as she extends the hand she's not holding Ginger with to give me something. A bracelet, purple and pink. I furrow my eyebrows at the gesture.

"I-it might be a bit girly... but that's really all the dye I had," she says, hugging Ginger a bit tighter. I can see him struggling.

To be honest, pink is probably one of my favorite colors. I'd never really tell that, considering that might blow my cover or spread some weird rumors, but I'm delighted with the gift. Taeyeon was really talented.

I put it on my left wrist and smile. "It's wonderful. Thank you, Taeyeon," I can't help but feel a warmth in my stomach. It's not that I haven't gotten presents before... it was just... different. The way it was presented was sincere, not beneficial to her.

"G-good night," she smiles and turns on her heel, quickly retreating to her room. I close the door and fall back on my bed. 

I look at the bracelet with the little light the moon provided me through my window. I smile again. Maybe I did do something good today.