Chapter Ten     “So, when did you guys first met?”   Luncheon with the Thai prince proceeded smoothly after a rather roughly start. Prince Ten turned out to be quite the playful and trouble making type, which explains why he seemed to take every situation relatively frivolous. I now completely understand why he tried to joke around our introduction for now he appeared to be easily flushed, far from his over confident self from before. Truthfully, I find it really cute and prefer it to his cocky self.   “Hmm, where should I begin?” said my cousin, Taeyong, who decided to answer my inquiry. He looked at the Thai prince and the two shared some goofy grins.   “I’ll tell,” said Ten whilst raising his glass of water, “hyung and I share one common passion and that is dancing. Hip-hop, my chosen genre, apparently was not so appropriate do be practiced here in the palace—and I believe you would agree with me for this, Princess, but the walls no matter how beautiful, sometimes feels suffocating.”   “I cannot agree more.” I addressed.   “So this punk,” said Taeyong, “went to Korea without the knowledge of his higher ups. He bravely went out to the streets and basically mingled with anyone who can dance, luckily I found him, or else he could’ve been taken advantage by thugs or gangs. It was quite brave of him honestly.”   “How did you do that?” I asked out of bewilderment and curiosity. “Can you even speak Korean?”   “A little. I learned here from the palace.” Answered the Thai prince. “Of course I brought a few of my staff with me, but only those whom I really trust. Hyung, I told you everything was kept under control. I knew what I was doing.”   “Yeah right.” Taeyong snickered, as if saying Ten didn’t really understand what he got himself into. “I met him in one of the dance clubs and recognized his face. I knew he was the Thai prince but just to make sure I gave him a little test.”   “So what did you do?” I asked further.   “I greeted him in Thai and within a split second he responded quite merrily.” Answered my cousin whilst he chuckled. “I then asked if he was who I presumed him to be and he only answered when I told him that I am of royalty too. Had to show his staff my ID for them to be sure, after that it just went downhill.”   “Hyung and I are the perfect dance partners.” Said Ten with a sheepish grin. “Only that I dance better than him.”   “Who are you challenging, huh?” asked Taeyong.   “So should I assume you got caught?” I asked once more.   “Are you kidding me? My house was surrounded by helicopters one day and we were raided by what looks like the Thai Special Forces on Black Ops.” Said my cousin, looking agitated just from the memory. “He ended up staying with me for about a week or so and then boom, I was being raided as if I hoard drugs or illegal firearms. I was even subjected to questioning! Good thing uncle saved my for this useless punk happened to have no military power unlike you.”   I laughed. “Really? I could only imagine. They probably thought you’re holding him hostage?”   “I don’t know and I don’t have any intention of knowing.” Said my cousin and we laughed some more.   There were only three of us in the table for I am yet scheduled to meet the king and queen of Siam. The rest of our staff had a different banquet in another room because one cannot simply share a table with royals, even Youngho. Technically he can if someone invites him to, just like what happened during dinner Monday evening, but since this was not my banquet, I have no authority over here, moreover, the Thai Prince didn’t know of our affiliation so we were left with no choice.   “That’s why I invited you here, hyung.” Said Ten. “I wanted to make it up to you. So tomorrow I would like to invite you to our private island, you can call it our Summer Palace. We can all relax and have some fun there, and we don’t have to worry about the paparazzi either. How does that sound?”   “Sweet.” Cooed my cousin, immediately stating his approval.   “Well, I see nothing wrong with that.” I answered in agreement as well.   “In the evening, I will be hosting a ball in the Summer Palace and I would like to invite you guys as well.” Added the Thai prince. “Would that be alright?”   “Sweet.” Taeyong immediately answered once more. Of course because there is no set back to this for him, whilst I had to think about it very carefully. We weren’t informed about a certain ball to be held while we visit Thailand. I suddenly don’t feel right about this.   “I wasn’t exactly informed about this.” I ended up answering instead.   “I’m sorry, it was kind of urgent.” Said Ten. “The details were only finalized this morning, so we weren’t able to inform you in advance. But even so, I hope you can still accept my invitation, Yeona.”   I couldn’t see a way around this, anyway, what could a harmless ball do? “Of course, it would be my pleasure to be your guest.”   “Thank you very much.” Answered he. “I will make sure to hand you the complete list of guests for tomorrow’s event. I know your security would want to make sure you are safe.”   “Thank you, please do so.” I answered him. The luncheon ended and the Thai prince excused himself to attend some of his duties whilst my team and I proceeded to our one last schedule for the day. I met up with my people on the hallway near our designated exit, while Thai servants were escorting us.   “How was lunch, your highness?” asked Soojin as she bowed and the rest of the team followed.   “Merry.” I simply answered. “His highness invited us to a ball that he will be hosting tomorrow evening, in the Thai Summer Palace.” I informed. “I suggest you communicate with his secretary to know the full details. He also promised us the complete list of guests, I presume Kang ahjussi would want to have a look at it.”   “We will take care of it, your highness.” Said Soojin, “for now we have the press conference on schedule. If we proceed on time there will be no more setbacks and the rest of the day will be free for you.”   “Thank you, Secretary Kim.” I answered and immediately proceeded to our vehicles. I was so eager to end today’s schedule and finally have some rest.   “Yeona.” I suddenly heard someone calling. I looked back and found Youngho chasing after me. “You need to take your medicine.” He reminded me with a warm smile and I halted my steps.   “Right, I forgot. Thank you for reminding me.” I told him before I reached for some pills he had prepared for me.   “Well that’s my job.” He answered with a sheepish grin.   “You’re doing great.” I answered and took the medicine. “Thank you, doctor.”   “Not quite, but soon.” He remarked with a witty wink and my immediate answer was to roll my eyes. I miss his kind of playful, the one that I am used to. “I’m so glad, lunch is over. It’s such a pity I can’t spend it with you.” And back he is again to his cheeky antics.   “Really? I barely even remembered you.” I kidded. Truthfully I was glad that I could be freely around him again. I am not exactly friendly to strangers and having people that I am familiar with is my utmost comfort.   “I’ll take that as a challenge, princess.” Said he. “I’ll stick around like a leach so that by the time I’m gone, you can’t help but miss me.”   “I’d like to see you try.” I accepted. “Make me.”   He cooed with a cheeky grin and I simply laughed. “Tsk. Better not be sorry, okay? I stay true to my words.” We were causing quite a noise in the golden hallways of the Grand Palace but we weren’t exactly conscious. We spoke in Korean so nobody can actually understand us. Yet it isn’t a strange of a saying that the palace has eyes and ears everywhere.   — —   The interview was held in a lavish hotel, not far from the Grand Palace. This place would also serve as our home for the night. Reporters from across the globe came to ask the most random questions that you could ever imagine. Of course, the common ones were asked too like how do you find Thailand, do you like the whether, what do you say about foreign relations between Thailand and Korea, did you try having Durian, etc. they all appeared very simple but my words were chosen carefully. The last thing I want is to offend somebody and even if these words may sound harmless, we never know what it could bring.   “We will be entertaining three more questions before we end this press conference.” Said the host, which made me sigh internally. Finally I can rest.   One foreign reporter raised his hand and was acknowledge. “I am Luke Brandon from CNN news, United States of America. First of all, it is an honor to be apart of this conference with her royal highness, the crown princess. Now my question is, how was this visit come about, were you invited by the royal family of Siam? And for a follow up question, if yes, may we know for what reason? Thank you.”    I gathered my thoughts before answering. “I received an invitation from the Crown Prince of Siam, yes, but even without so I would still consider visiting one of our strongest allies in trade and tourism, which is this beautiful country, Thailand. I believe I was invited in order to strengthen bilateral relations and also for the remaining monarchies of Asia to gather together and get to know each other more.”   Another reporter raised her hand. “I am Zhang Zijun from the People’s Republic of China, and my question for her highness is does this mean we would be expecting a marriage between the royal families of Thailand and Korea?” Everyone in the room happened to be taken aback from her brave question. Even I was momentarily bewildered, but I flashed a confident smile before I answered with the air that I am practiced to carry around.   “As everyone may, or may not know, I do not have any siblings and since I am entitled to a throne I cannot be wed to someone who also would inherit a crown like I am. His highness, the Crown Prince of Siam and I are acquaintances and this already serve proof to the strong alliance of our two nations. Regarding marriages, I cannot say I am aware if there is any in between our families, and if there is certainly it will not be coming from the immediate Royal Family of Korea, most especially from me.”   “Alright, we are down to our last question.” Said the host and a number of arms shoot up in the air. He chose the very first hand he noticed.   “Good afternoon, your highness, I am Duanphen Bhuwakul, and my question is, are we going to hear wedding bells soon coming from you? And for a follow up question, if yes, can we get a hint of who’s going to be the lucky