A/N: Font in bold italics is flashbacks..

THOUGHTS ARE IN ITALICS

Author POV

Reya ripped her arm off of the military officer, glaring at him.

“Touch me once again, and you will regret it”

But the man on the other side didn’t bother. He grabbed her arm and pulled her with him, forcing the officer, who had been pushed away, to hold onto her again.

“Why on earth are you-”

“The Queen wants to meet you”

“So you take me like this?!”

Silence was the response as Reya was carried into a palanquin and taken away. She tried to jump off but the officers wouldn’t let her. Begrudgingly, she sat, glaring at nothing specific.

She was taken into a house, clearly owned by someone from the higher class and into a room, where the Queen herself was sipping a cup of tea.

Not a second was wasted as Reya was forced to give the lady a deep bow. Well, they tried, but she wouldn’t look down a second. Pure range was evident in the Queen’s eyes,

Just for a second

Only a second..

“Princess?!” The shock was evident in her voice, “Is that you?!”

“Excellent hospitality, your majesty. Not that the man who gave birth to me would care of it anyways”

Reya sat up straight smirking at the lady, much to the shock of the lady beside the Queen and the officers.

“You are my son’s?” The elder couldn’t finish her sentence. She had ordered her officers to bring in Jaejoong’s supposed attraction to warn her and exile her, but the girl in front of her wasn’t just any runaway, money-hungry, low-caste girl.

“Which son are you referring to, my lady?” Reya asked, “The son, whose feelings I rejected, or the son, whose feelings I accepted?”

The Queen’s face turned solemn. “So you know who Jaejoong is and yet you-”

“I tried my best to keep away from both of your sons, but your youngest just did not know when to give up”

“You know I can’t accept-” Her words were cut off when the doors to the room burst open.

“Eomma-maama!”

In came Jaejoong, panicked, worried and red, followed by Changmin and Yunho.

“What are you doing here, my prince?!”

“Eomma-maama, didn’t I tell you I will bring her to the palace by myself?!”

His words made Reya raise her brows at Jaejoong. Changmin’s gentle hold over her shoulder made her look at her friend instead.

The Queen witnessed her son’s two friends kneel on either side of the girl, heads held low. Her cheek rose to an almost smirk watching both boys force Reya to not look ahead and immediately retreat their hand back to position.

“Eomma-maama, I know she is not-”

“I cannot accept her. Especially when it will hurt the crown prince”

“The crown prince?” Jaejoong looked at his mother bewildered, “Maama, I can wait until his heart heals. We can wait”

“Until his heart heals? Son, how can that happen when the reason for his heartbreak is the one you wish to marry?!”

Changmin and Yunho swallowed their spit. Things might have just gotten out of hand at that moment.

Impatiently, Changmin waited for the plane to reach