On the last day of the hunting trip, the Emperor had called upon a grand feast. It reminded Seungwan briefly of her twelfth birthday feast back in her homeland, except this time round the performances put up were in Han Chinese style. Most surprising of all was Princess Joohyun’s zither performance. It was a piece that the courtly princess had practised the day before, before Seungwan had fallen asleep. The performance by the young princess was met with equal amounts of awe and jealousy from the other princesses.

After the performance, the Emperor had fulfilled his promise of rewarding the best hunting trio with a night luminescent pearl each. Seungwan knew that the pearl was invaluable but was unimpressed with great treasures. She thought a new sword or bow for her might have been a more suitable gift. Regardless, she had thanked the Emperor profusely for his generosity.

As the two princesses spent their last night in the tent, Seungwan had caught Princess Joohyun staring fondly at the pearl and smirked. They laid in bed that night, with Seungwan holding the pearl in her hands and beckoning for Princess Joohyun to hold them as well.

“Well… you know if you really like the pearl, you can have it. I have no use for it anyway.”

Princess Joohyun’s mouth had fallen open slightly. “How could you say that. No one is ever allowed to give the Emperor’s gifts away. You will get into trouble!”

Seungwan’s smirk grew more pronounced at the courtly princess’s concern for her. “Well… of course… the pearl can still be mine in name… but you can keep it and stare at it for as long as you like.”

Princess Joohyun looked conflicted as she stared harder at the pearl then gave a small nod.

“Thank you,” Princess Joohyun said gratefully in a small voice that made Seungwan’s heart swell.

“You’re welcome,” Seungwan said then added another phrase as an afterthought, “the pearl should go along with a courtly princess as beautiful as it is.

Princess Joohyun squirmed a little at Seungwan’s saying. “Where did you learn that from?”

“From your books, remember? I would read one or two while you were playing the zither. My Han Chinese has improved drastically because of all the readings.”

“Of all the things you could have learnt, you picked up such… frivolous phrases,” Princess Joohyun said.

Seungwan shrugged. “The phrase seemed fitting to be used on you. It is not frivolous at all, you are beautiful, Princess Joohyun, especially with that healthy shade on your face. I am surprised, you did not catch a cold from getting soaked the day before.”

Princess Joohyun nodded proudly. “I am surprised that I feel fine too.”

Then, as if just recalling the events that had happened a day ago, Princess Joohyun sprang the question. “Princess Seungwan… how terrible did you feel yesterday? When you… accidentally shot the mother leopard and…”

Seungwan realised that the courtly princess could not bring herself to continue and she spared her the trouble of doing so. “Very terrible. I felt as though I had lost all my morals like the very hobby of hunting had been wrong all these times. What did you think about me then, Princess Joohyun? I am only twelve but I have killed a lot of animals and seek pleasure in them, do you find me cruel?”

There was the sound of a sharp intake of breath from Princess Joohyun and Seungwan could not help but smile bitterly at her reaction. Perhaps she should spare the courtly princess the difficulty of answering such a question then.  

“Forget that I have asked, I am going out for a night stroll. Fret not, I will do so within the premises of the camp and not get into trouble. Have a good rest, Princess Joohyun.”

Just as Seungwan was about to get down from her bed, she felt Princess Joohyun’s hand hold her wrist.

“Don’t go, stay and chat with me. Or I can walk with you,” Princess Joohyun said.

Seungwan threw a backward glance over her shoulder and sighed. “Fine, I will stay and we shall chat.”

Princess Joohyun gave another thankful smile and replied, “Princess Seungwan, I don’t think you are cruel. Every living being has its life story, whether or not you have witnessed it with your own eyes. Having witnessed something should not make you feel more or less empathy as long as we learn to keep that in our minds. You may have killed a condor who is the spouse of another or a leopard who is a mother to its cub. There are a thousand and one things we do not see but we should know and expect it. Princess Seungwan, I hope you are not too affected by that single incident and think of yourself as a bad person.”

Seungwan blinked at Princess Joohyun’s long speech and when the meaning behind her words had sunk in, Seungwan smiled.

“So confident that I am not a cruel child?”

Princess Joohyun nodded definitively. “Pretty confident. You did not leave me to die and came back to look for me after all.”

Seungwan laughed. “But that is because…” Seungwan was suddenly at a loss for words.

“Because?” Princess Joohyun prompted.

“Well… because I am your companion and I don’t want our countries to go to war.”

It was Princess Joohyun’s turn to laugh this time round. “Really… Princess Seungwan. Thank you then, for not causing war between our countries.”

“You’re welcome, Princess Joohyun,” Seungwan said naughtily.

Seungwan did not know when or how it happened but that night, the two princesses slept soundly, with their hands in each other’s.

**

Two years passed by in a blink of an eye. Seungwan is fourteen and Joohyun is already sixteen. Many things had happened during that period of time, including increasing civilian dissatisfaction amongst the Han civilians at the widespread poverty in provinces and the widening of social status between the rich and the poor. The situation was barely contained and several rebel groups were established. The members of the royal family had been met with assassination attempts on them and even Princess Taeyeon was not spared either.

In the dead of the night, Seungwan had sprinted to her sister’s quarters the moment she received news that Princess Taeyeon was met with misfortune.    

Seungwan had been waiting nervously at the courtyard as she willed her tears to not fall. During that time, she was engulfed in a warm embrace from none other than Princess Joohyun.

“Princess Taeyeon will be fine, Seungwan.”

“They hurt my sister, I will kill them!” Seungwan said through her gritted teeth as tears fell.

Joohyun had caressed Seungwan’s back, soothing her. “Yes, you will but for now you must remain alert and rational enough. Princess Taeyeon requires that of you, do you understand me, Seungwan?”

Choking on her sob, Seungwan nodded firmly, as she fastened her arms around Joohyun. “Yes, Joohyun.”

After a long three hours of medical examination, the imperial physician finally told them that Princess Taeyeon’s life was no longer in any danger. The princess had suffered a vicious stab to her abdomen while she was convening with Prince Baekhyun at his quarters when the premises was infiltrated by more than three dozen assassins.

Prince Baekhyun himself had suffered several injuries to his forearm while fending off the intruders whilst numerous royal guards had lost their lives. Investigations on how these assassins even got into the palace was underway and the Emperor vowed to mete out the harshest punishment on those who were responsible.

The Empress and Prince Baekhyun were i