Chapter 9. The Game starts.

Both state councilors feared that day: the moment when Queen Dowager, Uhm Jung Hwa, will lose the control of the budget inside the Palace because a new Queen was in charge of it. Since Sandara was sad all day and despised all the state affairs, she accepted everything her councilors, specially his older brother, the Left State Councilor Park Houng-Jun, suggested. And he used his influence to get even more benefits for his clan.

"But I think it’s too early, milord" the Left State Councilor affirmed.

"Tradition says that in less than a week the Queen must have control of her royal duties in order to balance the nation. I thought you trusted our Confucianism traditions, don’t you, Park Houng-Jun?" Right State Councilor, Park Sung-woo questioned.

“Because you loved your daughter Bom dearly, if not, I would have thought you plotted to murder her. Your family is suspiciously rising from the ashes, Park Sung-woo” Houng-Jun thought. After the death of her sister, he had lost part of their power and had to share it with the inferior branch of his own clan: the Parks of the East. Queen Dowager was merciful and after a lucrative deal she accepted to keep quiet about his misappropriation of funds. But he feared the new Queen decisions: “How can I control her too? She doesn’t seem interested in anything”.

"Park Sung-woo is right." the King said. "I will respect traditions. The Queen will take charge tomorrow morning, and I want no replies."

With his regal image, King Seung-hyun left the two state councilors alone, faking smiles to each other.

"You are screwed up, my dear Left State Councilor. Your illegal activities will rise to the surface. Finally!"

"If I fall, your illegal activities with the military and uncontrolled trade with the Northern Provinces will be known by the king."

"You have no proves. If you had them, I will already be in prison." Park Sung-woo smirked. "And I am not."

Both men looked at each other with resentment and the tension between them grew. After all, since the former King, Choi JoonHong, raised them to the position of State Councilors, the two factions of the Parks fought for the power. It killed Park Houng-Jun inside, to see how the inferior clan of the Parks was now his rival, after years of hegemony of his family.  A long and uncomfortable silence was cut by Park Sung-woo.

"You might feel angry: my clan has surpassed yours." he paused, letting his bittering words float in the air for a second. "But don’t worry, Queen Qing Mi-young is a stupid girl raised by women and girls. I highly doubt she will be a threat."

"Why do you seem so happy about our new Queen, Right State Councilor?" Park Houng-Jun asked, feeling suspicious.

"Why do you seem concerned by a fool woman? Relax. It’s me who’s going to destroy you, not a foreigner."

"Is that a threat?"

By the look on Park Sung-woo’s face, Houng-Jun could see his determination to destroy his clan. But he wasn’t going to be left behind: after this meeting, all his spies will start working.

"Don’t be scared of the Chinese . She can be easily controlled." he bowed a little. "Have a nice day, Park Houng-Jun."

"Have a nice day, Park Sung-woo."

And both men left, unaware the Chinese they were talking about was listening.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The clouds were so black it seemed night had arrived, the Gods were angry and the thunders which resounded all over the palace even made the furniture move. Once again, the bed beside her was empty when Mi-young awoke at daybreak and she couldn’t control the feeling of loneliness that consumed her heart.

"Good morning, my Queen, may I enter?"

The sweet voice of Seohyun, her lady-in-waiting, made Mi-young get up from her bed to go and open the doors of her room. Some servants were waiting, bowing on the floor, but she only took Seohyun’s arm, and forced her to enter. The others were left speechless.

"But, milady, today you have your first meeting with the Palace staff, we shouldn’t play games."

As the new Queen of Joseon, it was expected from her to get full control over the Palace organization: food, staff, supplies… all you can imagine. For seven years the Queen Dowager had been in charge of this task, but, now, it was her turn. And since the King didn’t take in consideration her for anything, she was going to do this difficult task her way. “Not that he’s going to bother about my existence or what I do: he hasn’t spoken to me in a week and we sleep in the same room nightly” she thought.

"Tell all my entourage to get all the Palace accounts during the King’s reign.  I’m not going to leave this room until I have all the documents here."

"But the Queen Dowager is waiting for you in her chambers!" Seohyun’s face was the manifestation of terror.

"Do as I command."

Seohyun looked at her friend amazed: it was the first time Mi-young was this authoritative and scary, and it was so sudden. Yesterday night she was all sweet and caring towards her and the royal children, but today, it seemed as if she was a different person.

"Your Majesty…"

But her expression was fierce and full of determination.

"Lady Seo Ju-hyun, go."

Seohyun bowed and left the room, with a horde of impatient servants waiting for her news.

"We need to get all the accounts for the last ten years to the Queen’s chambers. She won’t leave the room until she gets them."

"But…" one of the eunuchs tried to say. "That’s not how it works…"

"I don’t know how it works, but the Queen wants them. Would you dare to disobey?"

Mi-young could hear from the outside that everyone was moving to get what she demanded, although they were complaining. But, honestly, she couldn’t care less, and, as expected, it caused what she wanted: confusion.

While waiting for everyone to return, Kwon Bo Ah entered the room with discretion, clearly angry with the Queen stubbornness: thanks to her, all her staff was failing to carry out their obligations and she had to reorganize the entire schedule in a matter of minutes, so Gyeongbokgung won’t be filled with people who didn’t know what to do.

"Sorry, my Queen, but you are being really disrespectful. You just can’t change the traditions because…"

But she couldn’t speak any longer, because Mi-young covered Bo Ah’s mouth.

"Then, tell me, First Palace Lady, how does it work?"

Mi-young set free Kwon Bo Ah, who serene herself and started speaking, still speechless.

"Every morning you will receive a report of the scholars from the department of finances, with the money the Palace has and with recommendations to spend it. Then, you create a budget with their help and it is presented to the King, who makes the final decision."

"Do you think I will blindly trust the information given? I don’t allow my own husband to have control over me, less a bunch of corrupted scholars who will council me to spend money in what they want."

"Not all are corrupted" Bo Ah affirmed with offense.

"Then…"

Mi-young took Bo Ah’s hand, looking at her with admiration and respect. The eldest Kwon couldn’t help but let her anger fade away a little.

"Help me to find the corrupted ones, First Palace Lady. You know this palace and the people working here better than anyone else."

"Why this sudden decision, milady?"

But she didn’t answer: Mi-young rose from the floor and opened her arms, giving Bo Ah permission to help her to get dressed. The First Palace Lady knew there were some things hurting the Queen’s soul, but it wasn’t the right moment to speak openly about them. After dressing her in a red and white hanbok, Mi-young chose some simple jewels, because she detested feeling excessively ornate. She was about to finish to fix her hair, when the King entered her chambers, without warning.

"What. Are. You. Doing?!"

The veins on his neck were so prominent that it seemed they were about to explode. His eyes so angry and his jaw so tense that Mi-young had to step back when he entered, without stopping to look at her with a stare that could kill.

"Leave" Mi-young ordered to Bo Ah.

"But…" she hesitated: the King seemed so angry that she worried the Queen will be punished.

"Thanks for your loyalty, but, I can deal him."

Seung-hyun wide his eyes, unable to believe her: “she can deal with me, hahaha! She doesn’t know me at all”.

"I am the King, you can’t deal with me! I deal with you!" and he exploded. "DO YOU KNOW HOW DISRESPECTFUL IS YOUR ATTITUDE? MY MOTHER IS ANGRY AND THE ENTIRE PALACE HAS GONE CRAZY BECAUSE OF YOU? HOW DARE YOU TO DEMAND ALL THOSE ACOUNTS SO SUDDENLY? EVERYONE IS MAD AT YOU, YOU KNOW? I DON’T KNOW HOW DOES IT WORK IN CHINA BUT HERE YOU SHOULD ASK BEFORE DEMANDING SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT!"

And Mi-young let him charge for almost ten minutes. He was so into it that his checks were getting red, as if he was so angry that he had forgotten how to breathe. Suddenly, a thunder boomed intensely and rain started to fall with strength to the floor. And Seung-hyun seemed to recover from his rage. “At least he has some respect for his wife and doesn’t beat her when he’s angry as my brother does with Song Qian.” Mi-young thought in relief.

"I know you are right, my King. I should have warned to avoid this unnecessary chaos."

And she closed the distance between them, only apart a few inches from each other. Seung-hyun smelled badly: probably because he wasn’t able to get ready for the day because of her.

"But I won’t say I’m sorry." she affirmed with determination.

Seung-hyun looked at her fumed, but let Mi-young time to explain herself: she had also given him the time to release his anger. He owned her that.

"As a Queen I wish to have full control of the Palace treasury, so I hurried everyone because I want to know every detail as soon as possible. I will keep my commands about documents and archives, and I will ask for fully detailed reports. That’s not going to change."

"But you need to respect the traditions."

"And you should have respected them too and consummate our marriage. If I can’t control the Palace administration as I wish, my brother, the Emperor will know about it. And you aren’t in a good position to disobey the Emperor’s wishes, my King."

Seung-hyun was scared and fascinated about her: she seemed sweet and caring, but also raised to be a ruler who won’t accept to obey orders if she thought they were useless. Definitely, his new queen wasn’t the type of puppet he expected her to be.

"But you are right and I will try to give orders with proper time. Do I have your permission?"

"Why do you ask if you’re going to do what you want?" he smirked, and Mi-young had to control her facial expression, so he couldn’t see how she was melting.

"Just to be polite. I’m determined to play the game in this Court and win, my King."

"Okay then."

And he moved even closer, to her ear, and whispered so softly not even the best of the spies could have been able to listen.

"If there’s anything suspicious let me know, my Queen."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Taeyeon awoke at night. Soft candles lightening the strange room where she had been sleeping. Suddenly, she remembered everything (her kidnapping, her sickness) and felt as if a herd of horses run on top of her. She couldn’t move her body properly, and felt pain when she tried to get up from the bed. Suddenly, a rough hand helped her, and she could sit in the bed with less pain.

"Where am I?"

"A good morning would have been nice, you know, princess."

"I’m not it the mood of greeting my kidnapper, you know, pirate."

"Don’t copy my phrases."

"They sound cooler if I say them."

And Jiyong was about to reply, but the princess’ expression turned painful, and she covered her head with her hands.

"Asshhh… my head."

"It’s the karma."

"Shut up, you pirate!"

"That tongue! I should leave; I am making a princess curse. What a bad influence!"

"Then leave, please. Ah! And give me a weapon and food so I can escape, thank you. Here" and she signed the bed legs. "You can put them here."

Jiyong winked and looked at her in shock: “How is she able to joke in a situation like this? She’s kidnaped! It seems she’s still that fool teenager, although her physical appearance has changed a lot”.

"Nevermind…"

"Heeey! What the hell are you doing?!"

"That tongue, princess."

Jiyong took Taeyeon in his arms, strongly, and placed her on his shoulder, as if she was a potatoes sack. Then, he started to move through the room, packing all he could with his left arm.

"I don’t ing care about my tongue, stop!"

"Ash… those kids, how badly they are raised." and he continued packing. "We need to stop a wedding, and you can’t stay here alone. I trust Kiko, but not his lusty and dirty men. Trust me: you’ll be better with me."

"I highly doubt that! Put me on the damn floor!"

"Hey! You can’t scream like that if we want to be undetected by Nomura Shuhei’s pirates."

He through Taeyeon on the bed again, and sat in her belly, forcing her to look at him in the eyes. Afraid, she started to fight back with strength, kicking him in the balls in the process. He screamed in pain.

"Aaaaah, princess! Be quiet!"

"Noooo! Leave me and return me to my family! I won’t stop! NEVER!"

"You give me no option, sorry, princess."

With resignation and his eyes blanked, Jiyong kicked Taeyeon on the neck, and she felt unconscious on the bed once more.

"The only woman I like beating is Yuri and when we combat, sorry, princess."

And just in case she awoke again, Jiyong put a cloth on her hands and mouth, because he wasn’t going to let a spoiled princess to interrupt his awesome plan to stop a wedding to let one of his men be with the girl of his dreams. He had even planned a speech, for God’s sake!

Once again, he took the Princess, who was heavier than he thought (and his back was paying the consequences) and left the room through one of its windows. The dark night as the only witness.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: after a tough recovery I’m here again with more Silver Dragons! Sorry for the delay! And since I have left the topfany couple quite abandoned, this chapter is for them. Two stubborn leaders with strong ideals and hate for corruption. But also accept when they’re wrong.

Sorry because there isn’t a lot of action in the episode: I’m preparing the next one, with the wedding interruption and some other surprises.

Thank you all for the message of support! You’re sweet ^^