"Nn..."

Hana woke up and slowly sat up, feeling more awake than she did earlier that day when she had her meeting with her father. She looked outside her window and noticed that it was still night time.

"Must be a little past midnight..." She looked around the room and found Donghae sleeping on the futon that she had requested be put in her room for him. While she was going in and out sleep throughout the day, Donghae told her that Myungsoo tried to carry her back to her room before handing her over to him. She then reminded herself of when he defended her when her dad was there. She didn't like him much but it wasn't like she hated him either. As a matter of fact, she was starting to grow somewhat fond of him.

"Myungsoo huh..." she muttered to herself. "I wonder if he's awake right now...Mm..." She looked out the window again and sighed. "I'm going to be bored now that I'm up...might as well go do something."

She chuckled to herself thinking that Donghae would probably throw a fit if he woke up finding out that she had left. She got out of bed and looked around for a piece of paper and pen. After finding them, she wrote 'Be back soon, went to Myungsoo's room to give my thanks.' She looked at the note after she finished and nodded to herself and placed it next to Itachi before walking out.

On the way, she saw some guards patrolling around and they all kindly greeted her. She wasn't completely used to it yet but she liked being around them better than when she first came. She took her time on the way to Myungsoo's room and looked at the walls, admiring the large portraits of the previous royal members of the Kim family. She thought that they were all beautiful people.

"Princess Hana?"

Hana's eyes widened and she whipped around to find Sungyeol with a shocked expression on his face.

"Ah! Sungyeol," she said with a big smile.

Sungyeol gulped and looked behind her towards Myungsoo's room without responding. Hana raised a brow at him and crossed her arms.

"Uh. Hello to you."

"Um, where are you going?" Sungyeol asked her, completely forgetting to greet her as he started fidgeting nervously.

"Myungsoo's room," she responded, giving him a strange look before turning around and walking on.

Sungyeol's jaw slightly dropped in panic and he kept opening his mouth trying to find the right things to say.

"You must be on the way there too if you were walking this way right? Let's walk together. I want to get to know more about the people working here. I knew mostly everyone who worked at the palace in Seoul but I haven't had the chance to meet everyone here yet so...might as well start with my husband's most trusted friend and guard, right?"

"Ah...yeah."

"You know, Myungsoo's not my favorite person in the world and he has an attitude, but there are good sides to him that I've seen already. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of those, not as a wife yet I think...but as a friend at least. But he gets annoying sometimes when he's...annoying."

"Wait! Princess Hana!"

Hana furrowed her brows and turned around. "Ah sorry, I'm talking too much aren't I?"

"No, you're fine."

"Then what's wrong?"

Sungyeol's mind flooded with excuses. If she walked into Myungsoo's room right now and saw Sora, who knew what kind of reaction she'd make? Either way, things were going to go one way or the other tonight. "Myungsoo doesn't like getting disturbed when he's asleep."

Hana looked at Sungyeol and laughed. "You're scared of little angry Myungsoo? I'm just going to see if he's awake. If not, I'll just leave." She turned back around and continued on walking.

Sungyeol hurriedly walked over to her. "Wait, it's not safe for you to be walking around here. I know that some of the guards like you now, but you were our enemy so some of them might act hostile towards you."

Hana sighed and punched his arm.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get. I can take a couple of guards myself so quit it already plus I don't think they're stupid enough to do that to your dear prince's wife. I'm just going to see if he's awake or not. What's the big deal?"

Sungyeol clenched his hands. Hopefully Myungsoo and Sora were done already because all hell was going to break loose in about a couple of minutes.

"So...you gonna answer my question?"

"It's...no big deal."

Hana squinted at him suspiciously. "The one time Donghae isn't with me and you can't even have a conversation with me without stammering. You can be friendly with me, you know."

Hana smiled at him and Sungyeol instantly felt guilty. They arrived at Myungsoo's room and they could hear sounds of people shouting coming from inside. Hana furrowed her brows in confusion and Sungyeol ran towards the door, blocking Hana's way and pressing his back against it. "Princess Hana, now really isn't a good time to-."

There were sounds of running footsteps and the door quickly opened and Sungyeol gasped, almost falling backwards before Hana grabbed onto his arm to help him from falling.

Hana's eyes widened as she saw the maid who tried to trip her a couple of days ago. She was in the middle of buttoning up her uniform and her bra was clearly showing. Hana looked at her up and down with muddled thoughts and still in confusion.

"..." Sungyeol muttered. "Sora."

Sora froze at the sight of Hana. "You ! This is all because of you!" All of a sudden, she raised a hand to slap her but Myungsoo smacked it away before it could hit her.

"I want you out of this place by tomorrow afternoon."

Hana's jaw dropped at the sudden remark and Sora bit her lip before running away terrified. Hana looked at Myungsoo in shock, completely ignoring the fact that he was half . She then looked at Sungyeol and let go of him and looked away with a disgusted expression before walking up to Myungsoo.

"What's the meaning of this?" Hana snapped. "I can't believe you just fired her like that! What did you do to that poor girl? Did you and Sungyeol plan some sick joke on her?"

Sungyeol crossed his arms with a big frown. "But she was rude and a terrible maid anyways!"

"That's not the point. What did you do?"

Myungsoo clicked his tongue and walked away from her towards his bed. "There you go again. Unnecessarily worrying about other people...You don't know anything so stop assuming things. It's what didn't happen that got her so worked up, alright? This . Why are you even here? Were you going on one of your stupid adventures around the palace again? It's late already."

"You're ignoring my question! It wasn't an accident that I came here!"

Myungsoo ignored her and sat on his bed, resting his back on the headboard.

"Wow. Okay, don't respond. Here I was thinking about thanking you for what you did for me earlier today."

Myugsoo's eyes widened. "Wait...so you were coming to see me?"

"Bingo, ."

Myungsoo turned away from her, feeling awkward and not knowing what to say.

"You're a handful, you know that?" She walked up to him to yell at him some more but then stopped as her eyes met his bare chest.

Myungsoo looked at her and followed her gaze down to his chest and sees the hickey that Sora had left earlier. "Oh ..." he grumbled. He then looked at Hana who had an expression that he'd never seen before and suddenly had the urge to come up with justifications. "Really, nothing happened." He slowly started getting up from his bed but Hana only stepped backwards. Myungsoo furrowed his brows at her and she turned around to leave quietly. Sungyeol was still standing awkwardly at the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Princess Hana..."

Hana only sighed and walked past Sungyeol but Myungsoo followed and put a hand on her shoulder to say something. She turned to look at him but her gaze made him unable to speak and she forcefully pulled herself away from him.

"Hana-shi!"

Myugsoo's eyes widened and the group looked outside to see Donghae running towards them.

"Donghae..." Hana muttered. She then looked at Myungsoo, not able to meet his eyes. "I don't want to talk to you for the time being so don't try to talk to me... bastard."

Myungsoo's jaw dropped and Sungyeol snickered. They watched Hana go to Donghae, who looked very worried as he waved a note around her face and scolded her for leaving the room without him. Myungsoo cursed under his breath and walked over to his bed before burying his face into his pillow. Sungyeol watched Donghae and Hana leave and then looked at Myungsoo. "Weeeeeell, always ing things up, aren't we?"

Myungsoo sat up and grumbled to himself. Sungyeol closed the door and walked in, grabbing a chair to sit across from him.

"I'm not in the mood to talk," Myungsoo said.

"What happened to you and Sora?" Sungyeol asked, ignoring him. He thought Myungsoo  was going to punch him to get out of the room but he started ranting anyways.

"Nothing, man. That's the thing. Nothing." Myungsoo buried his hands in his hair in irritation. "She was bragging about how she tried to trip Hana the other day and called her worthless and then I don't know. I got pissed off and pushed her away and told her to leave. All that happened was this damn hickey."

Sungyeol tapped his knee curiously. "So you tried to sleep with Sora to 'reset you head' because you got jealous of Hana and Donghae, but then you got upset when Sora started badmouthing Princess Hana..." He then chuckled. "You're confusing, man."

"I wasn't jealous!" Myungsoo snapped. "It just pisses me off that she's always relying on that ."

Sungyeol sighed and crossed his arms and legs. "What's your deal with him? He hasn't done anything but you're always pissed off at him."

Myungsoo didn't respond and Sungyeol just rolled his eyes. "Okay so...nothing really did happen then."

Myungsoo glared at him. "What's the point of lying about that?"

"Mm...dunno. Maybe because you didn't want Princess Hana to know. Maybe you were worried about what she was going to think."

Myungsoo kept on glaring at him and Sungyeol shrugged. "I'm just being honest, man. You should be too."

Sungyeol got up and left. Myungsoo groaned and lay back on his pillow, resting his head on his hands. After that, he had the hardest time sleeping for the rest of the night.

---

Early the next day, Hana was going through control training with her aunt Park Bom, just as her father had told her. It started off rough since Hana was still somewhat tired after her sleeping pattern got disturbed from the whole day of sleep the day before. As a result, she had the hardest time focusing. Using her hands separately, she was supposed to heal two fish that Bom had stabbed and save them at the same time.

"Stop stop," Bom said, walking up to Hana.

Hana slammed her hands on the table in frustration as Bom smacked Hana's back with great force. "Your focus isn't where it needs to be right now. Go get some fresh air."

"No. I can keep going."

"At this rate, you'll overdo it. You're supposed to heal both of these at the same time so you can learn how to control the flow of your power but you're giving off too much power on one hand and not enough on the other. It has to be balanced or you'll keep wasting precious energy. These fish were given from the fishermen at Seoul so I don't want to waste any more. Go cool off."

"But-"

Donghae went up to Hana and flicked her forehead. "Come on Hana-shi."

Hana clicked her tongue and went along with it and followed him out of the palace ward. Bom huffed and watched them leave, shaking her head. "I'm going to have to stay another day if this keeps up."

There was silence as Donghae and Hana walked towards the training grounds outside of the palace. Hana usually had something to talk about but she was completely quiet.

"Are you still bothered by what happened last night?"

"Not in particular..."

Donghae frowned and Hana still didn't say anything.

"...Honestly, I didn't think it would bother you this much. Although it's rare nowadays, some of the Kim's did have concubines back in the day."

Hana rubbed her arm. "I know...but even so, it still knowing that the person I call my husband does those things."

"It's not like you guys are in love with each other or anything. Don't feel obligated."

She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "It still bugs me..."

When they arrived at the training grounds, the place was loud with the cries of men as they practiced kendo with their bamboo sticks, the firing of guns, the whipping sounds of the bows and arrows, and the scolding of the instructors as some soldiers missed their targets.

"Man, looking at them makes me feel bad. They're training so hard." She looked at Donghae as he gazed upon the soldiers with admiration. She smiled lightly and thought of Seoul.

"Yeah...they remind me of the soldiers back home. We're all the same no matter how you look at it," Donghae said.

They then fixated their eyes on two men that were practicing kendo. One of them in particular kept getting critical hits from his opponent. With a of his sword, the opponent hit him once more.

"Damn it!" The man took off his protective mask and threw it to the ground. It was none other than Myungsoo. The other man also took off his mask and it wound up being Sungyeol.

"Come on, don't give up, Myungsoo! This is a good way to clear that head of yours. You need practice anyways, you !"

Myungsoo left the sword area angrily and went towards the shooting range and took one of the guns from one of the soldiers and stood in his lane. He aimed it at the human paper targets and emptied all the rounds, hitting all of the critical spots which were the head and the chest area.

Donghae's eyes widened. "He's terrible at swordsmanship but he knows how to handle a gun."

Myungsoo smirked and handed his empty gun to one of the astonished soldiers whose eyes were on the ruined target. "And that my dear soldier is how you do it."

The soldier bowed. "Yes, your highness!"

"YOU HEAR THAT BOYS?! GET YOUR MOVING AND HIT THOSE DAMN TARGETS PROPERLY!" yelled one of the instructors.

Sugyeol shook his head but was smiling nonetheless. Myungsoo let out a huff and wiped his forehead and took off the rest of his kendo protective gear and threw it at Sugyeol. "Take care of that for me will you? I'm taking a break."

"Lazy ..." Hana grumbled as Myungsoo started walking their direction. Myungsoo lifted his head after fixing his shirt and slowed his pace as he saw Hana and Donghae watching him.

Hana furrowed her brows at him and turned away to head back inside the palace. "Let's go Donghae. I'm pumped. I'm not going to let him show me up."

"...right."

Myungsoo glared at them as they tried to ignore him. "Oi! Oi, wait!"

As Myungsoo's footsteps drew closer, Hana grabbed Donghae's long sleeve and pulled him along with her as she tried to hurry inside but her attempts deemed futile as Myungsoo grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. Donghae grabbed Myungsoo's arm in retaliation and pushed him aside.

"What?" Donghae asked, glaring.

"I'm trying to talk to my wife so if you could move aside, Mr. Guard."

Donghae furrowed his eyes at him and looked at Hana as if asking for an order to do something but she was trying to free herself from Myungsoo's grip instead.

Myungsoo then moved in closer to his ear and whispered quietly. "Know your place."

Donghae moved back and glared at him. Hana looked at the both of them and she kicked Myungsoo in the shin.

"What the hell-ow!"

"Are you threatening him?!"

"Damn woman. Come with me." Myungsoo pulled her forcefully and dragged her with him into the palace but Doghae stubbornly followed, maintaining a gap between himself and the other two. Myungsoo sighed and turned around to look at Donghae. "I told you to leave us for a minute, didn't I?"

Donghae didn't respond and Myngsoo just clicked his tongue and kept on going. "Stubborn..."

"Hey! Slow down a min-where are we going?!" Hana tried to pull away and Myungsoo's grip only got tighter. She winced at the slight pain but he didn't notice.

"Prince Myungsoo. You're gripping too tightly," said Donghae.

Myungsoo stopped and looked back as she tried to wriggle free from his grip. He sighed and loosened it and they eventually arrived at his room. Myungsoo looked at Donghae and pointed at him then at the floor. "You, stay out here."

"If you promise that you won't do anything," Donghae told him.

Myungsoo glared at him in response and went into his room with Hana, closing the door shut before locking it and letting go of Hana's wrist. Hana panicked and backed away from him but Myngsoo stayed with his back to the door, not moving.

"I'm not going to do anything weird to you."

"Obviously not or else Donghae would kill you!"

Myungsoo sighed and ran his hand through his slightly sweaty hair. "Donghae, Donghae...Listen. I just want to talk."

"Well, I don't want to. I told you not to talk to me for the time being!" Hana huffed and went to the opposite side of the room. She leaned against the wall and the both of them looked at each other quietly as she rubbed her wrists and shook her hands to relieve the pain.

Myungsoo sighed. "I'm sorry if I hurt them."

"Shut up."

Myungsoo huffed out of his nose in annoyance. "...How's your training?"

The skin between Hana's eyes wrinkled as she looked at him with a confused expression.

"It's...fine. None of your business."

Myungsoo rolled his eyes. "Listen. About last night...I swear that nothing happened."

Hana pursed her lips together and looked at him. His eyes didn't waver and the tone of his voice seemed stern enough, but she still couldn't help but feel upset.

"I don't care if nothing happened between you two or not. Fact of the matter is, you were thinking about doing it with her."

Myungsoo groaned and pushed himself off the door and walked over to her. "Okay, that was dumb of me but nothing happened. I brushed her off before it went any further! Isn't that enough?"

"You're so confusing! You're mean, then you're nice, and then you're with another woman even though I'm your wife, and then you're mean and then the cycle happens all over again! I know we've just recently started getting to know each other, but damn you could at least tell me! It's not like I like you or anything...but it still when the person I call my husband is doing these things behind my back."

Myungsoo scoffed and furrowed his brows at her. "Do you really have the right to say that?"

Her eyes widened in surprise as he walked closer. "Back off or I will hit you again."

"I'm asking if you have the right to say that I can't go off and do things with other women."

Hana gasped in annoyance. "Are you seriously asking me that question? I know your family isn't against the idea of concubines but at least tell me! I'm not used to it, you know! For generations, our families have always been monogamous so this is all new to me!"

"Do you have the right?!"

Hana flinched at the rise in his voice and pressed herself even further into the wall, but there was no escape. Myungsoo clicked his tongue angrily and put a hand on the wall beside her head as he used his other hand to raise her chin so she could meet his eyes.

"Do you have the right to say that...when you yourself are looking at someone else already?"

Hana raised her eyebrows and turned away from him. "I don't know what you mean."

"I'm talking about Donghae."

Hana glared at him. "Stop saying things like that. It's not like that."

"Yeah right. I bet you guys have done things together already."

Hana smacked a hand across his cheek angrily and Myungsoo stiffened as he looked at her, bewildered that she even dared to hit him.

"Donghae is just someone I'm very grateful to, Myungsoo. I haven't done anything with him."

"That's not what it looks like. Didn't you think that that frustrated me too? You're always with him. You say that we should make this treaty worth something but then you don't even give me a chance to apologize to you when I know for a fact that I've messed up! I'm sorry already...just don't hate me."

Hana was at a loss for words and she huffed in frustration and pushed him away and went towards the door.

"Are you seriously walking away?"

"You just wanted to talk right? Are you done?"

Myungsoo paused before answering and rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. I tried."

Hana turned slightly to look at him before looking at the ground and unlocking the door and leaving the room. She then saw Donghae outside waiting for her.

"Ah, Hana-shi.."

Hana looked at him and slid her hand down her face before stopping at . She didn't know that Myungsoo felt that way about Donghae and she didn't know that she had also hurt him. But she was too stubborn to accept it and couldn't believe that Myungsoo was the type to feel like that. The friendship and relationship that she had tried to achieve with Myungsoo was once again back at square one.