The lights from video equipment and the flashing of cameras blinded me. Byung Soo put his hand on my elbow as we walked down the stairs. People hollered my name, screamed questions, and waved their hands to try to draw my attention. I kept my gaze down, not wanting to make eye contact, and forced myself to continue smiling.

As soon as I saw the car come into my line of downturned vision, I was relieved. The trek from the front of my house to the car had been the longest walk of my life. Byung Soo opened the back door for me, letting me slide into the car before he took the front passenger seat.

“They are likely to follow us, my lady. I wouldn’t do anything you wouldn’t want them to see until we are ahead of them.” Byung Soo looked back at me with serious eyes. He had put on sunglasses and for some reason it made me want to giggle.

“Okay.” I pulled on my seat belt and slid my bag next to me. “I thought you were going to call me Mo Yeon.”

“In private. In public we must maintain courtesy.” He turned back to the front and nodded at the driver. “This is Jong Hyuk. If I’m not with you, Jong Hyuk will be.”

“Hi.” I smiled at the face in the rearview mirror.

“Nice to meet you, Duchess Kang.” He nodded his head at me. He was close in age to Byung Soo, with gray streaks in the hair at his temples.

“Technically, I haven’t gone through any ceremonies. I’m just Mo Yeon.” “Ceremonies are only a formality. You were born a duchess.”

I took a deep breath and looked out the window. I tried to not look behind us, not wanting pictures of me staring out a rear window to end up on the news. A car similar to the one we were in had taken the lead and I was pretty sure another had followed us.

“Do you think they’ll follow us to the school?”

“It’s likely, though the dean was notified and promised they would not be welcome on campus.”

“The dean?” My heart stopped. Who had called the dean?

“It’s a common courtesy to let the staff know when there may be an issue with media. Plus the duchess is visiting a couple of the programs while in town.”

“Oh.” It wasn’t a long ride to my school. We had rented a house nearby. As if he could read my mind, Jong Hyuk pulled into the parking lot for the Natural Sciences building.

Jong Hyuk pulled the car up to the curb and Byung Soo hopped out immediately. He opened my door and I slid out. A man exited the car in front and a woman from the car behind us. They each took up a place behind me as I walked to the office. Byung Soo didn’t take the time to introduce us as we hurried out of the cold. The people in the news vans and cars were all scurrying to try to follow us. We entered the building quickly and I flashed my student ID to the security guard. He waved us through and I took everyone up a flight of stairs to the floor with the offices.

We could hear the security guard telling the reporters they weren’t allowed in the building as we climbed. When we got to the office I shared with several other graduate students, I sighed in relief. I turned and looked at the three people in suits.

“Mo Yeon, this is Jin Seok.” Byung Soo nodded at the man. He was tall with a shaved head. I held my hand out to shake. His palm engulfed mine and his smile was very formal.

“A pleasure to meet you, Duchess.”

“Mo Yeon or Mo Yeon.” I sighed when Byung Soo cleared his throat. “At least when we’re alone, please.”

“And this is Pyo Ji Soo.” The woman was younger than both of the men. Probably close to my age. She was wearing slacks and a button-up shirt under her winter jacket.

“Nice to meet you.” She shook my hand firmly. “Please, call me Ji Soo.” “Nice to meet you, Ji Soo.” I looked over my shoulder at the door and saw the shadows of my co-workers leaning toward the door. “Well, might as well let you meet the idiots I work with.”

“I heard that.” Ye Hwa’s voice hollered from the other side of the door as the shadows cleared out of the way.

I opened the door to find Ye Hwa and two other graduate students staring at us. I moved aside so the others could come in and waved in their direction. “Guys, meet the suits. Suits, meet my co-workers.”

“Are you really a princess?” Ye Hwa leaned forward. “And please tell me we’re going to meet the prince.”

“What? No.” I set my bag down on my desk and opened it to find my notes for the next class. “And no.”

“But you’re royalty, right? Your face was all over the news this morning.” She reached over and turned the monitor of the guy next to her so we could see they were watching a live stream from one of the local stations.

“Turn that off!” I walked over and hit the monitor button.

“Geez, you can’t blame us for being curious! We’ve known you for years and you never told us.” Ye Hwa crossed her arms. I ground my teeth and counted to five before answering. Ye Hwa was not my favorite person in the program.

“I didn’t tell anyone. Because I didn’t know.” I frowned at everyone. “C’mon, guys. Don’t be weird. I’m the same ol’ Mo Yeon. I just have a royal ancestor.”

“Leave her alone, guys. We’ve all shoveled crap with her and spent hours studying manuals.” Daniel, one of the doctoral students, said from the back of the room. I let my breath out in relief. Daniel was a good guy and the others listened to him. I smiled at him and he nodded in return. “We’ve all got enough to focus on.”

I looked over at Byung Soo and lowered my voice. “Could you guys wait outside?”

“When is your class?” His accent drew the attention of some the closer people.

“About thirty minutes.”

“Very well. I’ll wait outside with Jong Hyuk. Ji Soo will stay with you. She tends to blend in and make people less uncomfortable.”

“Why can’t you all go?” I hissed the words between my teeth.

“Lady Kang, someone will be with you at all times in public. I must follow the duchess’s instructions.” His face was impassive and I knew our whispering was making everyone even more curious so I gave in.

“Fine. Ji Soo stays. Everyone else goes.” He started to say something so I cut him off. “Ji Soo stays and everyone else hangs out in the background. No flying-V formations or people circling me like a mama bear protecting her cub when I go anywhere.”

“Yes, my lady.” Byung Soo bowed his head before exiting the room.

“I’m going to do a few things before I leave. Intro to Wildlife isn’t for thirty minutes and it’s in this building, so won’t take but a minute to get to.” I jerked my head toward my desk.

“Sounds good to me.” One thing I had noticed right away was Ji Soo had an American accent. 

I dragged a chair next to my desk for her and pulled out some papers, thumbing through my notes for today’s lecture, but my attention kept being pulled to the manila folders. I opened the one Ja Ae had sent and studied the first few pages of notes. There were copies of birth certificates, a ship manifesto, and a few deeds for property in New York. Then I found the family tree. It was very generic-looking, no picture of a tree or fancy calligraphy. Just a chart, listing descendants. I traced down the lines until I found my mother’s name. There had been other branches but they had all ended in one fashion or another. A blank space was next to my mother with a line that led down to my full name.