A month later

“And inform me please on the final table arrangements.”

“Will do, Your Majesty. Oh, and Mr. Youngho had requested to be seated along with Miss Chaeyoung, Your Majesty.”

Ahri couldn’t help but raise her brows in amusement, “Is that so?”

Doyoung merely cleared his throat and shifted in his place.

“Very well,” Ahri grinned mischievously. “But make sure it’s at the same table as me and Jaehyun.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Excuse me, Your Majesty, but Duchess Seah is here in the palace,” one of her aides informed after a knock on the door.

Instantly, Ahri’s face lit up at the news. She got up from the sofa and marched towards the common area of the palace.

Ahri spotted her cousin-in-law sitting on the sofa with Jaesi in her lap, this time the toddler was busy with a soft toy she was holding in her hand. The young Queen couldn’t help the squeal that escaped her upon seeing the mother and daughter. It had been such a long time since she last saw the two.

She had only met Jaehyun’s cousin a couple of times before the wedding and one more time after. But even so, she had grown very fond of the woman. Not only that, she was always pleased to see Jaesi as well, as if the little one gave her her very own dose of happiness.

“Your Majesty!” Seah stood from where she was sitting and did a little bow with Jaesi in her arms.

“Oh, no, no, you don’t need to do that!” Ahri flustered, waving her off. “How are you, it’s been almost a month!” she then greeted the toddler who was now struggling to get down.

Jaesi was hopping up and down while grinning up at her with the widest smile. “Auntie Ahri…!” she raised her arms up in order to be picked up.

The first time Ahri met Jaesi, the toddler was barely uttering a word towards her because of how shy she was. But now, she was as friendly as she could be—probably even friendlier than she was towards her favorite Uncle Jaehyun.

“Hey, baby girl!” Ahri cooed and bent down to pick her up. “What have you got there?”

“This is Princess Maya!” Jaesi shoved her soft toy towards Ahri’s face, and the latter couldn’t help but flinch back with a laugh.

“Oh my god, Jaesi, stop shoving things to people’s face, honey,” the mother softly admonished. But Jaesi didn’t seem to listen, instead, she began to put her attention towards the doll, mumbling something with tiny voices. “I swear he’s becoming more like Jaehyun day by day. She just doesn’t seem to know the power her hands are giving when handling things.”

Ahri couldn’t help but chuckle at that. She knew quite well how rough Jaehyun could be. Spilling drinks on the table were no longer a foreign trait of the King, and he even broke one of his older wristwatches because of how he accidentally slammed it on the wooden dresser upon taking it off.

“Speaking of which, I think Jaehyun is still out,” Ahri informed, putting Jaesi down when she started kicking her legs. And once she was on the ground, she immediately ran away with her doll—followed by Seah’s maiden who was present this time.

The Duchess waved her hand dismissively, “Oh, I’m not here for him,” she then stepped forward and linked her arm with the Queen. “I’m here for you,” she smiled.

And that was when Ahri realized why Seah brought her maiden this time.

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Seah said, as they started strolling towards the back of the palace. “I get that it can be lonely living here sometimes, especially when the King might be busy most of the times.”

“It can be lonely at certain times,” Ahri glanced at the Duchess, “I really appreciate you coming here, Seah. I could really use some female companion here.”

Seah nodded, “Of course, you can always call me anytime. Don’t ever hesitate, alright?” she patted Ahri’s arm gently.

The two ladies were strolling out in the garden as they watched Jaesi play with dirt with the maid. Ahri was a bit appalled when she saw the toddler picking up grasses with her bare hands and originally thought that Seah would yell at her daughter. But she did none of that. Seah mere chuckled and commented that a little bit of dirt was actually good for the immune system. She figured that Seah was the type of parent who was not so strict on their children.

“Although, my husband would flip out if he saw this,” she gestured to her daughter, whose hands were now being wiped by the maid. “She’s daddy’s little girl,” Seah rolled her eyes.

Ahri laughed at that. She couldn’t imagine what kind of father Jaehyun would be, but she was more than willing to find out.

She then heard Seah clearing as she moved on to another subject. “So, I heard that you’re busy with the upcoming gala dinner?”

“Yes, it’s two weeks from now, and I’m actually nervous about it…”

“Oh, you do? How so?”

“It’s just that… when I first arranged this, I didn’t think I was going to be hosting it as the Queen, you know? And now, some… things needed to be adjusted…”

“Namely the security, the guest lists…” Seah trailed.

“Yes, and yes. And also, the PR impact on the Royal family. I didn’t think hosting a charity auction gala dinner would give a huge attention towards Jaehyun…”

“It wouldn’t… had you not been married or engaged to the man,” Seah. “Listen, you can do this. I’ve heard about the guests that are coming to the dinner. They are in awe of your organization, and most of them fully support you.”

“Do they really support me because of the organization or because I’m the Queen?” Ahri asked skeptically.

Seah hummed, “Yeah… a little bit of the latter,” the Duchess cringed. “It all comes down to politics. You will be meeting a lot of people who has their own agendas. They’re going to be willing to write cheques for the action, but in turn, you must be willing to hear them, or at least shake their hands.”

Ahri sighed. She knew Seah was right—Chaeyoung had warned her about this. And this was actually inevitable. She was the Queen after all, and everybody must want to be on her good side.

They were still strolling around the park and talking about various things. Ahri truly was grateful for Seah’s present. Nowadays, her best friend was busy because of the upcoming gala dinner, and so Ahri couldn’t ask for Chaeyoung to come to the Palace. And she was grateful that although she didn’t have any female siblings or cousins, Jaehyun at least did.

She could almost understand why Seah felt like a big sister to Jaehyun. She was mature, yes, but more than that, she had this nurturing characteristic that came out naturally. She always seemed to want to put Ahri’s mind at ease, trying to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be fine. And now, she could feel that the big sister trait she reserved for Jaehyun was now rubbing off for her too.

It was a sunny day, but it wasn’t really that hot. In fact, the clouds were mostly masking the sun light. So Ahri couldn’t understand why she was feeling queasy all of a sudden. And the knot in her stomach was starting to make her uneasy.

“Do you want to sit down for a moment?” Seah said when Ahri finally put her hand on .

And so they sat down on the nearby bench. Almost instantly, Ahri felt better. But the nausea was slowly creeping up .

“Are you okay? Should I call for the doctor?”

“It’s alright,” she waved her hand dismissively. “It’s probably just the wine or something. I got carried away with the wine tasting last night…”

“Are you sure?” But Seah didn’t seem convinced.

In all honesty, Ahri didn’t really think it was the wine either. In fact, she didn’t actually drink that much wine last night. Jaehyun did most of the tasting because he was very fond of winery and he knew about good wine and bad wine. Whereas Ahri only knew there were red wine and white wine.

So no, it was definitely not the wine.

“You look a bit pale, Ahri, I think you should go check with the Palace doctor.”

“No, no, I’m fine, Seah. But I do think I need to lay down for a little bit.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m gonna leave you to rest, okay?” the Duchess then turned around to where here daughter was still playing. “Jaesi, honey?! C’mon, it’s time to go!”

The toddler immediately obeyed and ran towards her mother.

“I’ll see you again, okay? Get some rest,” Seah hugged Ahri before finally departing.

**

Ahri ended up taking a long nap for the day. And when she woke, she could hear the shower running from the bathroom. She looked around and saw Jaehyun’s phone on the bedside table, and saw that it was past 7. The curtains in the bedroom was drawn closed—the maids must have tidied up the room while she was asleep.

She didn’t know why she felt so tired today. It was probably the burden of arranging the gala, but Ahri was used to it. And she never got exhausted from that kind of stress. Also, lately she had been losing her appetite. A few nights ago Jaehyun even ordered the Palace chef to cook her favorite dish so that she would eat.

And now, even though she had been napping for 6 hours, she was still sleepy.

She was about to drift back to sleep when she felt a cold arm snaking around her middle. She didn’t even realize that Jaehyun had finished showering. Instantly, she put her hand on top of Jaehyun’s forearm, caressing his skin.

“Hey there, sleepy head,” Jaehyun mumbled, burying his face on her neck.

Ahri hummed in acknowledgment.

Jaehyun then pulled away, making Ahri turned her face towards her husband. “You’ve been sleeping the entire afternoon, are you okay?” Jaehyun voiced out his concern, a frown marring his handsome face.

The Queen nodded, reaching up to caress the King’s slightly damp face. “I’m fine, I’m just tired I guess…”

Jaehyun sighed, “Don’t get too worked up. Doyoung and Sooyoung can take over, you know that.”

Ahri was already shaking her head before Jaehyun could finish, “No, no. I’ve been planning this charity for months now, I want to be the one that arrange everything.”

She lifted her eyes and found Jaehyun looking back at her with an amused smile. And then, he shook his head with a chuckle. “You and your ambitions.”

Ahri couldn’t help but laugh, “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I recall someone who is just as ambitious as I am,” she teased, rounding her arms around Jaehyun’s neck and pulling him to her. “Not to mention competitive…”

Jaehyun chuckled at that, “Are you complaining one of my traits now?” he said in a low voice, his lips slowly descending towards hers.

“Oh no, Your Majesty,” Ahri faked a gasp, “It just amuses me how worked up you get over some card game…” she grinned.

Jaehyun pulled back slightly, “Hey, Youngho was cheating, and you know it. He was trying to impress Chaeyoung—”

Ahri giggled and pulled him in for a kiss. That night the four of them had a poker game night, and Jaehyun had to lose from Youngho. She didn’t think the guy cheated, but she acknowledged that Youngho was trying to show off his skills in front of her best friend. And Jaehyun just had to be the victim—the loser of the two.

“Speaking of which,” Ahri pulled back, leisurely carding her fingers through Jaehyun’s hair. “Do you reckon Youngho is interested in Chaeyoung?”

“Darling, I don’t reckon… I know,” he raised his brows. “He told me. But he’s a bit hesitant because she’s your best friend, and he’s afraid if things don’t go well, it will make it awkward for all of us.”

“Hmm,” Ahri sighed. “Chaeyoung can decide for herself. But I do think it will be a shame if we all become awkward if things go south.”

“Well,” Jaehyun said, “We just need to be adults when that happen,” Jaehyun murmured before descending down and giving Ahri a long kiss for the night. After a while, Jaehyun finally pulled away. “I was about to head down to get some dinner. Come with me?”

Dinner didn’t seem appetizing at the moment, but Ahri did feel a tad hungry. So she nodded and got up from the bed before refreshing herself in the bathroom first.

≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦≈≈♦

The next day, Ahri was back to organizing the gala dinner. She was now finalizing the table arrangements and making sure the auction was set. It was already in the middle of the day, but Ahri hadn’t gotten up from her seat.

In all honesty, the dinner wasn’t the only thing that she had to deal with today. There were other things she needed to review, documents to sign, and letters to respond. But adding the dinner to her daily task was quite a stressor for her.

She was sitting in her office with Doyoung and the committee for the gala dinner when the door suddenly opened, and the Chief Assistant marched through it.

The look on Sooyoung’s face told her that something was happening. The woman made her way inside the room and eyed all the other staffs that were holding some papers for the Queen to review on. “Your Majesty,” she called in a calm tone.

One look on her face, and Ahri knew that Sooyoung wanted to speak with her alone. “I’ll review these later. Could you please give me and Sooyoung a moment?” Ahri ordered to the other staffs.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” and one by one slowly the staffs emptied the room, except for Doyoung.

Once the door was closed tight, Sooyoung approached the Queen’s desk with a tablet on her hand. “Your Majesty, this came out a few hours ago, and it’s already all over the news…” she then handed Ahri the gadget.

Ahri was curious as to what made the Palace’s Chief Assistant on edge. She received the tablet and was greeted with a news page. But what made her heart nearly stop was the picture beneath the headline. It was a picture of her and Taeyong back from before he was leaving. A picture of them kissing; him holding her face and her touching his hand like she didn’t want to let go. From the angle, it was apparent that it was taken from across the street where the huge window glass was visible.

The caption read “The Queen’s secret lover”.

She didn’t even want to read what the article was saying—she didn’t care. She only cared about one thing on her mind.

“Has Jaehyun seen this?” She looked up at Sooyoung.

Sooyoung swallowed. “I’m afraid so, Your Majesty. It’s all over the internet. We’re taking measures to take them all down as we speak, but they’re just too many.”

Oh no, Ahri thought. “Where is the King?” she spoke, getting up from the seat too fast that she felt the effect rush through her body, making her feel queasy. She stopped for a moment, earning a worried glance from Sooyoung, to which she brushed off.

“His Majesty is meeting with Mr. Youngho.”

Ahri nodded. And, without another word, she rushed towards where Jaehyun was.

Sooyoung and Doyoung followed her, trying to catch her hasty steps. She couldn’t think now. All Ahri wanted to do was to see him and explain everything to him.

Sooyoung tried to explain the entire situation as they marched. But Ahri only managed to hear the half of it in the midst of her haste.