Minyoung and I simultaneously jumped upon hearing the unfamiliar voice and we exchanged glances in horror before hurriedly standing up on our feet. She proceeded to bow to the stranger and hastily apologise. I, however, could not help but scrutinise the tall man before me with suspicious eyes. The look in my eyes momentarily flickered in awe and I could hardly believe myself as a blush crept onto my face.

“Have I not seen you before?” he questioned me in a voice filled with curiosity rather than sternness.

I bashfully shook my head as a bright smile appeared on my face. Skin so fair, eyes radiating with gentleness, such heavenly beauty!

“No, dear sir,” I answered in the softest voice I could muster as I reached up a single hand to pat my reddening cheek. “This meeting is our first.”

The handsome gentleman smiled almost knowingly at me. “This cannot be the first time that our eyes have met. I would not forget so pretty a face. What is the name of the fair maiden lurking about this late at night?”

“My-my name?”

He nodded with eyes that sparkled in the night.

“Uh, it’s Haesoo,” I lied quickly. “My name is Haesoo.”

“Haesoo?”

I slowly nodded, although I was pretty sure that I was completely unconvincing. The real me came racing to the surface and I was prepared to run for my life when he began to chuckle good-naturedly.

“So you are friends with Haesoo, then?”

I sighed but there was no time for me to respond when Minyoung pulled me behind her and shot the handsome stranger the sharpest glare she could and snapped, “What does it matter if she is Haesoo or a friend of Haesoo’s? What indecent man approaches young girls on the street at this time and asks for names? We will not demand to know your identity or report you to the authorities if you turn away and leave this instant!”

The handsome stranger was as taken aback as I was and he was trying not to laugh whilst he held up his hands in defence. “Worry not, my friends. What harm could I possibly inflict? I was merely curious about the fearless girl who spoke carelessly about my third brother. Upon second glance, you really are familiar. Were you not at my eighth brother’s residence today with my third brother?”

My smile faltered. It was another prince and Minyoung had just yelled at him whilst I had lowkey tried to flirt with him and also told a lie. How brilliant.

“Your Highness is correct in his presumptions,” I said quickly, bending myself into a bow to hide my embarrassed face as Minyoung fearfully fell to her knees in a kowtow. “Please forgive the careless actions of Lady Yura and this servant Minyoung. We have wronged Your Highness and ought to be punished severely.”

The prince shook his head with that bright smile of his that never seemed to fade. “Come now, there is nothing to forgive. We are just having fun out here on the streets of Songak, aren’t we? It would seem that Lady Yura does not recognise me.”

We have never met before and you are a prince in disguise! How could I possibly recognise you?!

“Your Highness is correct,” I gracefully replied. “Lady Yura is lacking.”

“I am Baek Ah, the thirteenth prince of Goryeo,” he told me and with that, my eyes lit up again.

The thirteenth prince! No wonder he is so handsome and so gentle! Known for being the most handsome man in the nation as well as for his impressive skills in music and art. It is a shame that his maternal relatives are from the fallen Silla dynasty, hence, his status being slightly lower than the other princes