Jinhee fought against the drunk Chanyeol for what seemed like an eternity but she eventually gave up and stared up at the blanket of stars in the sky, as she felt him her chest, struggling to open her robes. She tightly squeezed her eyes closed and felt her body go numb to try and protect herself from the attack. Suddenly she felt the weight lift off of her body and she slowly opened her eyes and saw Chen and Sehun leaning over her, trying to pull her free from the thrones. She heard groaning and grunts off in the distance but she couldn't see anything until the two men pulled her free. Once she was standing, Chen wrapped a large blanket around her shoulders that he had pulled from one of the horses that were standing by them. Jinhee looked over and saw Jongin sitting on top of Chanyeol's chest and hitting the man with all of his strength. Chanyeol was groaning in pain as Jongin's fist connected with his face and blood splattered.

 

"J-Jongin....please.." Jinhee's voice was weak and shaking with nerves but through all the chaos, Jongin heard her and paused his beating to look over to her. "Your majesty...please...I want to leave." She pleaded and without a moment of hesitation Jongin jumped to his feet and was at his wife's side. He brought her over to one of the horses and helped her on before jumping on after her, making sure she was safe in his arms. Jinhee melted against his chest and clung onto his clothes as if she were going to blow away in the wind. Jongin could feel her shivering against him in fear and the anger within him refused to lower.

 

"Chen, make sure he is punished." Jonin growled to his friend before taking off to the palace. Both Chen and Sehun stood over Chanyeol who was knocked out and his face was a mash of red and purple from the bruises rising to the surface of his skin.

 

"People become stupid for love." Chen muttered and looked to Sehun who couldn't take his eyes off of the man. Soon the guards came and dragged Chanyeol off to the holding cells until they could deal with him in the morning. One the couple made it to the castle Jonin hopped off the horse and helped his wife down. A few servants approached them but he waved them off as Jinhee looked too embarrassed to raise her head to look at anyone else. He brought them to their personal quarters and once they were in private Jinhee broke down crying.

 

"I am so sorry your majesty, I did not mean for this to happen. I did not encourage him in anyway. He is my childhood friend, I don't know why he did this to me. Please don't punish him too hard, he was drunk." Jinhee dropped to her knees and deeply bowed at Jongin's feet which shocked the man.

 

"You know that something like this, both parties usually get punished." Jongin said and Jinhee froze as if it were a threat. He reached down, grabbing her by her shoulders and pulling her to her feet. She was staring at him in the eyes and she saw that he was welling up with tears as well. "Why did you leave the party, do you know how worried I was?" Now it was Jongin's voice that was wavering and Jinhee felt the over powering need to comfort and protect her husband.

 

"I was lonely without you, your majesty. Being surrounded by those people all the time...it made me feel unwanted. I just wanted to see my old life for a brief moment." Jinhee still wasn't sure if she was going to be punished or not but after her explanation she saw the fire within Jongin going down a little. "I would never betray you, your majesty. I care for you...deeply." Jinhee rested her hands against his chest and could feel his heart beating wildly against his chest.

 

"Jongin..." He said, the tears drying on both of their faces. Jinhee looked at him with a confused expression and he cleared his throat. "When it's just the two of us, I want you to call me by my name. Hearing it come out of the mouth of the woman I love makes me the happiest man alive." Hearing Jongin saying he loved her out loud had caught Jinhee off guard and there was silence growing between them. He didn't mean to shock her and he was starting to regret saying anything and was second guessing his sudden desire to spill all of his emotions but he could see that she wasn't upset with the words.

 

"Yes...Jongin." She had only said his name a few times and it was odd for her but she figured that it was something she was going to have to get used to since now they were married. He leaned in to kiss her but Jinhee's eyes grew wide and she leaned away from him, pulling her hands from his chest and bracing herself as if for an attack. "I'm sorry..I just..." She lowered her eyes and Jongin shook his head.

 

"No, it's my mistake." He let go of her and registered that she had wounds. Jongin reached out and lightly brushed his hand on a fairly deep cut on the back of her ear from the bush and the fire was building again. "I'm going to call on your mother to come help dress your injuries, try and get as presentable as possible. Do not mention anything about tonight to her, if the King finds out what happened..." Jongin didn't have to finish the sentence because they both knew only bad things would follow. She agreed and with that Jongin was off to find her mother-in-law. Jinhee was finally alone and she felt the crushing realization wash over her that absolutely nothing about her past life was going to be the same anymore. Her mother was indifferent to her. Her childhood friend was hauled off to jail somewhere and she saw now married to royalty. She would never again by known as the doctors daughter, but now as the prince's wife and from that moment forward she decided to act properly. She wouldn't let any person wake advantage of her ever again.