Thank you to all my readers c: Please enjoy!

Shin Hye's face was still slightly flushed at the eunuch finding Jong Suk and her in such a compromisng position. Even as she was thinking of it, she could feel her cheeks redden. Still, it was the first time she had ever seen him really let loose, with full on grinning. Smiling really does give a person justice as the sages have once said, actually brightening Jong Suk's features and showing off his bright teeth.

It was nighttime when Jong Suk walked in, face solemn, a dark contrast to his bright face earlier.

"What's wrong? Is the Emperor worse?" Shin Hye wondered. 

"No, it's the Second Grand Prince. It appears he's fallen ill at hearing of his father's grim news. A maid found him collapsed on the floor. He was barely breathing, and the physicians found out his respiratory system has failed." He looked as though he didn't believe that that was the whole story.

"Come on, spill it. You look as though you've got something on your mind." 

"It's just that a few of the physicians say that it's weird that the Second Grand Prince could fall so ill at a time like this, and I agree completely. He was perfectly healthy. And I know that he's stronger than this. Especially when the Emperor is such a condition, every member of the Royal Family should stand strong together."

"You think it's foul play?"

"Perhaps. It's definitely possible." He suddenly remembered. "Oh, Shin Hye," he was slightly embarrassed to continue but didn't let it show. "The Emperor asked us to marry soon. I think it's to deter Mi Seung from doing anything foul." They both knew the rule that whoever is Emperor could have any unmarried or ungiven girl as his disposal.

"You don't mean that the Emperor wants Mi Seung as his successor, do you?"

Jong Suk sighed, deciding to fall onto her bed with a plop. "No one knows who he's going to pick but the Emperor himself and the Ministers. It's best if he's being cryptic or else we would have a political split between Mi Seung's supporters and nonsupporters. In the middle of all this demon business, the Imperial Palace is in such an uproar." He rolled up on his belly to look at her. "This wedding business is going to add to the chaos as well. Hopefully it won't be adding oil to the fire."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Hey, I never asked to be forcibly removed from my Temple and get engaged to you. Besides, get off my bed. You'll get the sheets dirty."

Jong Suk stuck his tongue out in return. "And I never asked for a wife. So we're stuck with each other. And you know these are my compartments you're living in right? So techically it's my bed." He raised an eyebrow in return. "What, I am a Prince after all. I get to have some luxuries like having huge houses. It's not all tents for me just because I'm a general." 

Shin Hye snorted. "Yah, still, get off the bed. I wanna sleep, and your clothes are dirty." 

Jong Suk just buried himself further into her sheets and pillows and murmured something. His voice was muffled by his face in the pillow, but to Shin Hye, it sounded suspiciously like "don't know why I had to be kicked out of my bedroom in the first place" and "share the same bed anyways." 

"Yah! Get that out of your head!" From outside the house, shrieks of laughter and muffled shouts could be heard by the passing palace servants.

"Hey, the General seems less cranky than usual, don't you think?" One guard mentioned to another as a maid poured some soju for both. 

"Of course. When I forgot to shine my sword at practice yesterday, I thought I was done for! I mean, usually he would have made me like wash out the chamberpots or sharpen all the training swords, but he just said not to forget it next time."

"It's probably the Fire Seer's doing," the maid mused.

"Not the first time a man has been bewitched by a beautiful girl. Shame her skin burns anyone. Remember how mad the Royal Prince