“Good morning all of you,” the girls watched as tall man with a serious expression stand before them all dressed in a dark blue suit. His lips were downturned, his eyes like a hawk as well as his nose similar to a beak, “I presume that you aren’t aware of what happened yesterday,” he fixed the sleeves on his blazer, “Eric-sshi who was running the competition has been sent on temporary suspension after it was discovered he was giving unfair treatment to one of the candidates.” There was talk among the women, Eunsun bit her lips.

“So my wife Hyori and I will be taking care of you for the next week until he returns, which means I should introduce myself. I am Jang Donggun, secretary for the Prime Minister. I will be taking care of any legal or financial enquiries and Hyori will deal with any other queries.” Donggun smiled as a gorgeous curvaceous woman walked into view. Her orange dress was figure flattering as well as showing her lovely legs.

“Hyori-ee will be talking to you now,” he kissed her on the cheek before bowing to the women.

“Alright ladies,” Hyori said her tone of voice intimidating to the candidates, “I’ve been informed that you were given the task of writing down your dreams and aspirations is that right?” There were feeble nods.

“Ok, well I’m not going to worry about that,” Hyori was handed a magazine in which she held up, “instead I am going to run a little challenge. We will have you all choose one makeup, skin or hair product and you will have your photo professionally taken with it and the winner will be the one who best represents her product. We will be sending samples of the products to your rooms and then in three days time we will start the photo shoots with the first twenty five going by age.” The women all seemed to like this, Eunsun was a bit reluctant.

“Alright I will see the first twenty five this Thursday,” Hyori clapped her hands, “you may go.”

***

Eunsun was going to the stairs when she tripped over something. Her face hit against the edge of the stair. She sat up, a stinging pain just above her eyebrow.

“That’s for getting a better place to stay,” she turned to see three women eyeing her with a nasty intent, “why does a plain thing like you get your own bathroom as well as room service?” Eunsun changed her position so she was sitting on the step.

“How come you also get maids? We have to run around for ourselves?” Another added, “It should be you serving us.” Eunsun touched her eyebrow, she was bleeding.

“She’s not worth the attention she gets,” the third said as they began to leave, “why is she even here?” Eunsun wasn’t sure what stung more, the cut or the cold words from the women.

She came back to her dorm to find the girls were out. She saw a note on the table, ‘are at a debriefing. Will be back in half an hour, love Gyuri, Seungyeon, Hara, Nicole and Jiyoung’ she smiled before she went over to the window. Soo-yoon was playing with some soft animals with a picnic rug on the lawn. Eunsun left her room to join her.

“How are you?” She asked after signing it to her, the lessons were paying off.

‘Good,’ she replied patting the blanket for her to join. Eunsun kneeled on the rug her head spun and she almost lost her balance.

‘Are you alright?’

“I’m just a bit faint,” Eunsun said through a smile, she must have lost more blood. Her vision was blurring so she bent her head down to put it between her legs.

“Soo-yoon!” Eunsun blinked, it was Youngmin calling, she could hear him striding along the grass towards them.

“Eunsun-sshi is that you?” She leaned forward and then rocked backwards, “whoa,” she felt hands touch her back to stop her from hitting the lawn. Eunsun found herself looking up into the kings’ soft eyes.

“What happened to you?” He asked letting her sit up by herself.

“I fell,” she fibbed still light headed.

“Let’s get it checked out,” Youngmin stood again and gave her a hand up, Eunsun’s pulse skipped a beat from the physical contact with Youngmin.

“Come Soo-yoon, I’ll get the servants to take your things to your room,” Soo-yoon nodded as she stood, dusting off her dress.

“Can you walk by yourself?” Youngmin asked Eunsun. She nodded, “yes I should be able to thank you.”

***

Youngmin took her to his private quarters. Eunsun had never seen anything like it, the feature wall was royal blue with a portrait of the king and his family hanging, and the bed had four posts and was gold. The foot rest had purple velvet with a gold frame like the bed; Youngmin spoke to Soo-yoon for a moment while Eunsun was motioned to sit on a chair. The cushion sewed into the seat was soft and plump.

“Thank you dear,” Youngmin leaned forward to place a kiss on Soo-yoon’s forehead. Soo-yoon went to leave when she signed to Youngmin one more thing.

“I love you too,” Youngmin said smiling as the door closed. He then went over to Eunsun.

“Now, let’s see what we can do here.” He went to a cupboard humming away as he opened the door to take out a first-aid kit. Eunsun lifted her eyebrows as he closed it and came to kneel beside her. He opened it up and took out a piece of cotton wool which he sprayed with antiseptic.

“How come the king of the country has a first aid kit in his home?” She asked as he dabbed it gently against the wound. She winced.

“Sometimes a king can do things without needing the help of his servants,” he told her, finishing his cleaning. He put a hand on her forehead to examine it.

“Hmm thankfully you won’t need stitches, but I would be careful, I’ll just grab a band-aid.” Eunsun nodded as he stood up and went to the same cupboard. As Eunsun sat the words of the women were replaying in her mind:

Why does a plain thing like you get your own bathroom?

It should be you serving us!

She’s not worth the attention she gets!

Her eyes began to sting from unshed tears but she refused to release them in front of his majesty. He knelt beside her to place the band aid over the wound.

“Were you aware of Eric’s favoritism towards you?” Eunsun stared at him.

“His favoritism towards me?”

“Yes it’s because of that I had to send him away,” the king threw the paper into the bin, “did you ask him for those things?” Eunsun sat solid in her seat.

“Well…?”

“No I didn’t…”

“Then what’s his reason behind the clothes, the suite and the maids…?”

“I don’t know!” Eunsun burst out, “why don’t you ask him?! Oh wait he’s not here!” Eunsun realized her mistake, covering .

“I had to do what was necessary,” Youngmin said remaining composed, “for the sake of the kingdom!”

“How is that ‘doing what is necessary’?! Does he like me or something?”

“That isn’t what he should be doing.”

“Then what am I doing here?!” Eunsun stood up from her seat but wobbled, she grabbed the side of the chair, “why am I even here when I don’t look like the others.”

“You were chosen.”

“Chosen based on what?! How I look?” Eunsun pointed at herself, “This isn’t a model’s figure so I don’t understand why…”

“Why are you so angry?!”

“Because I can’t stand being here!” Eunsun breathed in and out, her heart racing, “those candidates are nothing but shallow, they call me plain and unworthy how am I supposed to react?” She bit her lips as her eyes burned again, “I haven’t seen my Uncle for so long. I miss him more than anyone could ever know,” she wiped the edges of her eyes, “and you, misjudging me like this when I thought you were better than that your majesty.” She took a quivering breath, Hwang was watching her, and he seemed disappointed.

“Sorry for wasting your time,” she bowed to him and made a quick exit.

***

When she got to her room she packed a bag full of clothes and decided she would indulge herself for once and took a shirt, a pair of jeans and a jacket from the clothes Eric had bought her. She wrote a note to the girls and then left ignoring the startled comments of the servants.

“Omo what’s this?” Nicole found the note and her face changed, “she’s leaving?!”

“Yah what does she think she’s doing?” Gyuri sighed, “She can’t possibly leave without saying goodbye.”

“Yes but what about us?” Seungyeon asked, “who are we suppose to work for?”

“I suppose we may be given to someone else,” Gyuri suggested solemnly.

“I don’t want that,” they turned to Jiyoung; “I like her. She actually treats us with respect. Did you hear what happened? She was purposely tripped by some of the other candidates.” They all looked to their leader waiting for her response.

Oh dear Eunsun exploded XD. LOL I was told by a subscriber that my character was ‘too perfect’ so I thought, ‘crud if I don’t make her more human she may stop reading,’ which I guess is part of the reason behind this chapter. Thanks for reading.