Seulhee entered the private chamber behind the throne room, thanking the page for guiding her there. The room was sparsely furnished with only a bookshelf, a writing desk, a round table about an arm’s length across in diameter, and a few chairs. The king sat behind the desk, flipping idly through a thick leather-bound volume. He gently set the book on the desk as Seulhee approached.

“Your Majesty,” she greeted him, giving a curtsy.

“Good afternoon, Seulhee.” She had no idea how the king had looked before his imprisonment, but she surmised that the recent years’ events had taken a toll on him, for he looked older than his twenty-some years.

“Why have you summoned me?” she asked.

“To give you this,” the king answered, placing a dark wooden box on the desk in front of him. It was made of polished wood, wider and longer than her head was tall, and as deep as the width of her hand. He beckoned her forward to see as he lifted the lid.

Seulhee took a peek and gasped. Inside, cushioned by black velvet, was a collection of jewelry, from pearl necklaces to tiger-eye bracelets to sapphire rings. Even though she didn’t know anything about pricing jewelry, she had no doubt that these pieces were worth more than her parents earned in a year, probably even five. She looked back up at the king, eyes wide.

“Where are these from?”

“The late queen’s dowry.”

Seulhee glanced at the king, unsure of what the gesture meant. “Shouldn’t you keep these? I mean, if they belonged to the queen…”

The king merely laughed. “These are just pretty objects. They don’t have much meaning for me. The one thing that carried sentimental value for both of us, I have already. The rest is just going to sit around and collect dust, so I might as well gift it to you.” As he said this, Seulhee noticed a single earring dangling from his right earlobe: a bird set with aquamarine stones, silver chains acting as tail feathers. It must have belonged to the queen, Seulhee realized.

“For your services to the Crown, you are being rewarded,” the king explained. “Since these probably have little practicality for you, I will have someone sell these for excellent deals and collect the sales money to give to you later. You won’t go hungry again.”

“Your Majesty is too kind.”

“Not really. You deserve it. Also, I think I shall have Sungyeol spell the money for you so that if anyone tries to steal it from you, they will be marked by it. I think he will have fun with that.”

“Will it leave permanent damage?” She imagined burnt skin and shuddered.

“No, but it will be quite shameful for them to go about in public with the words ‘This knave has attempted to steal what has been given to Seulhee by His Royal Majesty King Woohyun the Wise’ on his face.” Despite everything, the man still had a sense of humor after all.

“Oh. Well in that case…”

***

A few days later, Seulhee began the journey home. This time, she was accompanied by Sungyeol, who would be going to see his parents for the first time in a very long time.
In order to travel light, Seulhee only brought a fraction of her reward money with her. The rest sat in a vault back in the palace, guarded by quite a few spells that Sungyeol had set. If she ever needed any of the money, she would only have to open a small purse she carried on her person and speak the amount she needed, and it would appear.

As Sungyeol explained on the road, the spell was linked to Seulhee’s person, and the money could only be freely given, so anyone who tried to coerce her to cough up any money would suffer the same consequences as someone who tried to directly take it. Since she knew nothing about magic, he didn’t bother discussing the mechanics of the spell but simply assured her she wouldn’t be robbed.

When Seulhee saw her village on the horizon, a wave of nostalgia crashed over her. Even though she had spent a very small proportion of her life outside of the village, somehow, those few months had been enough to distance her from the place of her birth. Perhaps that was growing up.

She and Sungyeol went their separate ways to see their parents.

“Mom? Dad?” she called out as she stepped into her house. The structure seemed so fragile and tiny compared to the palace.

Her parents rushed forth from the bedroom at the sound of her voice. “Seulhee!” They enveloped her in a tight embrace, and that was when she began to cry, remembering that she hadn’t even said goodbye to her father.

***

Sungyeol came by to visit Seulhee once he was done reconnecting with his own family.

“How was it?”

“Very odd,” he replied. “Awkward, too. At first they were angry at me for not keeping in touch, but then they realized that I’m an adult now and that I have a life of my own. I’m not their little boy anymore.”

“Because it totally hasn’t been years since you were little,” she teased.

“I’ve been tall, but only more recently did I become mature.”

“I know…both of us have come a long way.”

“If you’re going to marry my daughter, you’ll have to get through me first,” Seulhee’s father remarked from across the room.

Sungyeol bowed to him. “Sorry, sir, but her hand is not mine to take. I have to go back to the capital. That is where I belong, now.”

“It’s a pity,” her mother murmured. “You’ve just found each other again.”

Seulhee shrugged. “He can write letters to me. Besides, we’ve always been just friends, Mother.”

“No, not just friends” Sungyeol objected.

“Then what?” she demanded.

He grinned widely. “Best friends.”