It had been weeks since she had last spoken to her father, he was holed up elsewhere dealing with whatever politics that he felt she didn’t need to be a part of. Her mother was somewhere, she hadn’t seen her in months. Except at the announcements held every month, but she kept a veil over her face.

The rumors among the staff was that she had gotten a scar from something that she didn’t want to show. But Saehyun knew her father was not abusive, so whatever was wrong with her mother’s face had to be more than just skin deep.

But if they didn’t want her to know then she wouldn’t push it. That meant no one to play with or speak to since she wasn’t allowed to leave the castle. The servants had gotten tired of her trying to make conversation with them as her interests differed from theirs.

She had to find something else to do, she knew her skin had gotten paler than what she had been before. But without agreeing to marry Prince Luhan, then she had no companions either.

She needed to feel the sun on her face. And she would do that today, no matter what. She got dressed in comfortable clothes and left her room. She wasn’t going to be holed up in there forever.

She stormed the hallways in search of her father, he was scurrying out of a room when he saw her headed his way. “Sweetheart, is something wrong?” He asked her nervously. Maybe he could tell that she was frustrated and he was scared of her.

“I want to go out.” She told him sternly, coming to a halt in front of him. “I want to get out of the castle.” 

Her father sighed, “No, you can’t. It’s not safe.” He told her, “I’ve told you this before.” 

“What’s not safe? I’ve been able to go out before. And I’ve been able to take care of myself. I don’t see the problem now.” Saehyun said, crossing her arms across her chest. She looked at him sternly, “What is it?” 

“You’ll lose your way and get lost. What will you do then? You can’t just risk yourself, you are heir to this throne.” Her father replied to her. “What else do you want to do? You can have another room to decorate.” 

She rolled her eyes, “If I bring a guard with me, will that satisfy you? I want to go outside.” She said, there was a loud groan that interrupted their conversation and Saehyun turned to try and find the source of the noise. “What was that?"

“Nothing.” Her father said quickly, “If you take a guard out then you can go. You have to be back in the castle before the sun sets.” He said, moving closer to the door he had just come out of.

“Really? Thank you, Father!” She said eagerly, running off to find a guard to go with her. She grabbed the tallest one she could find and ran out of the castle. She turned to see him when she got out into the town.

“Hello, princess.” He greeted her with a low blow.

She sighed, rolling her eyes at him. “Really.” She laughed, “Of all the people I could take to be my guard, I got you. Well at least you can defend me if anything happens.” She said.

“That’s reassuring, princess.” He told her, “Tao, at your service.” He said, “So what made you so desperate to leave the castle today?”

Saehyun shrugged as they started to walk casually among the crowd, “I don’t know. But it was getting too stuffy and I felt so trapped, so i had to get out.” She said, simply. They turned a c