The cheering villagers made the whole ordeal all the more embarrassing, as they clearly had only just learned about the change of plans and could barely disguise their amusement. Prince Donghyun soaked in the cheers with blowing kisses and excited waving, while Minwoo kept his head down and refused to make eye contact.

The following party had been worse. The prince had held onto his arm the whole night and made him try every food available. This may have been fun in any other situation, but being stared at by the villagers and seeing people whisper behind their hand as the prince held out juicy berries for him to eat.

For a second day on the job he was feeling dangerously overwhelmed and out of his depth. How was he supposed to behave around the actual real prince without risking beheading? Or more likely being exiled. He wasn't sure if beheading was still a thing they did.

When the sun began to lower in the sky the prince put his hands on Minwoo's shoulder and smiled fondly at him. “Tomorrow you will do that again, but put a little more spirit into it, won't you? I'd like to be convinced!”

Minwoo nodded back, a little thrown off by this. “Of course, your highness.”

“Prince Donghyun, please.”

“Of course, Prince Donghyun.”

The prince gave him a heart pat on the shoulder before heading back to the palace. Minwoo could just make out the shadows of royal guards silently following him from a distance. He briefly wondered how dangerous it must be to be one of the monarchy.

His thoughts were interrupted by someone approaching and pushing a drink into his hands. He turned, a little startled, and saw the princess -or rather, the actress who had played the princess- stood beside him smiling.

“Oh, hi!” He smiled awkwardly at her, unsure how to handle the situation. “Um, Princess..?”

“Only when the prince is around. Yoon Bora.” She held out a hand to shake.

He took the hand and nodded. “No Minwoo. I guess you were surprised today...”

“Surprised? I was shocked! I've been the princess every day for five years!”

He swallowed. “Oh.”

“It was nice to have a break,” she said, seeming to take a little pity on him, “but now I don't know what's happening. I don't want to be made redundant.”

“I'm sure they won't do that. You've been here so long, they'll definitely keep you around.”

“They should keep me around. But with the prince being so unpredictable suddenly I'm wondering if they will...”

“I'm sure they will.” He gave her an encouraging smile.

She smiled back. “You're cute. I'm not surprised the prince changed his routine.”

Minwoo blinked. “Huh?”

“Watch out, he has a tendency to get carried away when he's excited.”

“Yeah... I can see that.”

“You shouldn't keep to yourself. Make friends, otherwise you'll have no one to turn to when he starts to get really over the top.”

“Is that likely to be soon?”

She smirked at him.

He gulped.

“Drink and enjoy yourself,” she advised him before turning away and heading towards some of the female villager-actors who were chatting happily.

He sighed and looked down at his drink, then glanced around awkwardly. He didn't know where to begin when it came to making friends here. Did it matter the role of the actor or was everyone pretty much the same when the prince was gone? The only person he had really wanted to have any conversation with had just walked away.

Just as he was trying to work out who to talk to, someone tapped his shoulder gently. He turned to face a taller man with a broad build and a strong face, smiling at him in a way that made him feel like he'd encountered a long-forgotten friend.

“Hi, good work today. You did well, since the situation as strange.”

He blinked. “Oh! Thanks a lot. I improvised...”

“We were impressed. It's a good thing you're new and remembered all the steps clearly.”

He nodded a little, slightly lost in conversation now.

“Oh! Sorry, I'm not in costume,” the man said, a little embarrassed, before holding a hand out. “I'm one of the Enemy Knights. I'm Kim Hyunseong”

“Ah!” He grinned and shook his hand. “It's good to see your face. I'm No Minwoo.”

“Yeah, 'Sir Minwoo',” Hyunseong chuckled, repeating the prince's tone of voice.

He sighed a little. “Yeah.”

The taller man gave him a sympathetic look. “How about we plan some fights or something?It will be difficult to work with one person to battle. Let's work something out for tomorrow.”

He felt relieved to have found someone he could speak to properly, even if it was just about work. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Come sit over here with some of my friends,” Hyunseong said, encouraging Minwoo over to a large table with several people sat.

As it turned out there were a lot of roles he wasn't aware of among Hyunseong's friends. Lee Jeongmin was a bard that spun tales of the prince's great deeds or the made-up horrors that haunted the castle grounds for the prince's entertainment, and made silly songs about the other actors for everyone else's amusement. As soon as Hyunseong had sat, Jeongmin had leaned against him like a pillow. More strange, though, were the twins Jo Kwangmin and Jo Younngmin, who played the role of Mysterious Advisers and would speak in riddles and finish each others sentences whenever the prince wanted them to, either before a raid on the make-believe castle or just to follow him around during the day when he was feeling less excitable. The twins seemed so unlike each other and so uninterested in each other, Minwoo was having a hard time believing it.

He had to admit, though, the company made him feel a lot more secure about his job.