Ever since the live interview, people of Lucretia was even more attentive towards the royal engagement. Ahri and Jaehyun were the face of everything, and they were everywhere. They were the most talked topic of the country, especially because of the way the prince was behaving towards the lady.

There were a lot of good words on how the prince treated the lady, how such a gentleman he was being. There was a picture of Prince Jaehyun holding Lady Ahri’s hand as she got down from a podium. It was a simple gesture, but it captured a lot of hearts of the people.

After a while, they decided that it was better for Ahri to have her own room for her to rest. Ahri was currently sitting in her bedroom at the palace that afternoon, still clad in the morning’s suit. She didn’t bother to change, because she still had a guest coming after her long, tiring day.

She scrutinized her phone, scrolling down to pictures of her with Jaehyun.

She was holding hands with him during their visit to the orphanage by the suburban, and the next thing she knew, they were all over the internet. But she knew tomorrow’s nine o’clock news would be worse. It was just that her and Jaehyun were all over the TV and internet.

There was only one thing on her mind. Taeyong.

How would he feel about these articles? How would he react? Would he detest her? How was he doing? Did he watch the news? Did he watch her and Jaehyun?

Ahri closed her eyes at the thought. She felt like a ton of burden was hanging on her shoulder. She realized she shouldn’t be thinking of Taeyong when she was about to marry another man. It was not fair for both Taeyong and Jaehyun. She had thought that she wouldn’t really like Jaehyun’s personality, but the past few weeks she’d realized that Jaehyun was actually a decent man. And she wouldn’t intend to offend him by bringing her Taeyong issue.

♦♦♦

The Royal Engagement Party was probably the second most anticipated thing after the wedding itself. The invitation list was not as long as the wedding’s invitation list—only a few certain royalties and diplomatic guests attended the party. It was held at the main ballroom of the royal palace.

Ahri was nervous, because tonight, she would be meeting a lot of the guests that she needed to memorize, because they were the important people. Jaehyun kept calming her down by being himself, occasionally taking her attention off with fun conversations and jokes. She liked that about the Prince—he seemed like he knew how to bring her tension down.

It was twenty minutes after the dinner. Her parents were still here, entertaining some ambassadors from other countries. The King was adamant to be present despite his weakening state. He was currently seated at the far side of the ballroom where he could see everybody, with the Queen next to him. He didn’t make his usual round of greetings, so the guests took turns to come to the table and greet him.

Ahri was by Jaehyun’s side, talking to the Prime Minister. The Prince had introduced her, and she found that Prime Minister Seo Injong was actually a kind and charming man, despite his charisma and rough exterior. She also found out that the Prime Minister’s son, Seo Youngho, was close friends with the Prince ever since they were young.

“Jaehyun used to sleep over at my house when we were little, and he would wet my bed,” Youngho said with a mischievous smile on his face.

Ahri raised her brows, clearly amused at the small yet cute revelation. And the fact that Jaehyun was so embarrassed made her couldn’t contain her laugh.

“Jaehyun, your ears are so red!” Ahri gasped while laughing, rubbing his shoulder in effort to give him calm him down.

“Yeah, Jaehyun can’t really hide his feelings well, his ears would sell him out,” Youngho adds.

Jaehyun was looking down, a wide embarrassed smile on his face, showing off his dimples. By now, the redness had crawled down to his neck. Suddenly, he looked up and started to aim towards Youngho, “Yah, that’s not what you’re supposed to say when you meet your best friend’s future wife the first time!” he mocked a punch at Youngho’s arm.

Youngho broke into a fit of laughter, enjoying his friend’s moment of embarrassment while avoiding the punches.

“I have tons of ammunition with me, Seo Youngho, you just wait until you’re engaged,” Jaehyun points at him, his face still adorning a wide grin.

“How old were you?” Ahri couldn’t help but feel curious.

“I... ah... I don’t know… I can’t remember,” Jaehyun shook his head, but looking at Youngho in case he remembered.

“I think you were six? Or seven?” Youngho said.

Jaehyun looked at Ahri with gauging eyes, searching for her reaction at the knowledge of this dirty little secret.

“Well, I think it’s cute…” she said with a smile, turning to Jaehyun, putting a hand on his back, scooting closer to his warmth. “What happened? Did you have a nightmare or something?”

“I think I drank too much of that watermelon punch your mother used to make us,” Jaehyun nodded at Youngho.

“Oh, yeah… that was your favourite, my mother knew you loved it so much, so she used to make a whole big bowl of it and Jaehyun would finish it by himself,” Youngho chuckled.

Ahri couldn’t help but laugh at that. She couldn’t imagine young Jaehyun indulging himself on his sweet teeth—or sweet throat. “It’s definitely cute,” she smiled.

For the next five minutes, the Prime Minister took over the conversation by asking more formal questions towards Ahri. He asked how she was doing with all the lessons and briefings she was doing. He even insisted that if she ever needed any help in learning one or two things, she needed to just ask for him. Ahri felt humbled but thankful of the man’s kind offer.

“Thank you so much, Prime Minister,” Ahri bowed.

“It’s my pleasure, milady,” the Prime Minister slightly bowed back. And then he turned to Youngho, “Son, I need to see the King and talk a little about things. Don’t wait up for me, okay?” he patted Youngho’s shoulder.

“Alright.”

"Excuse me, Your Highness. Milady..." he smiled charmingly towards Ahri as he bowed.

Ahri watched as the Prime Minister made his way towards the King’s table. When she glanced back at the Prince, she realized that Jaehyun's gaze was far away, locked onto something—or someone. He looked a bit entranced, but she couldn’t read his face. Ahri followed his gaze and found that Jaehyun was looking at a woman who was standing at the side of the ballroom. She realized this because she too was staring at him.

“Jae,” Youngho called.

It seemed like Youngho noticed that person too.

Jaehyun turned to the two, “I will be right back,” he said, dismissing Youngho's calling, before sauntering away.

Ahri watched him walk amongst the crowd towards her. It looked like the woman was not an ordinary person and she seemed to know the Prince on a personal level because she didn’t bow to him. And then, Jaehyun guided her with a hand on her back and walked towards the balcony door and headed out.

“Who’s that?” Ahri turned to Youngho, who was watching the interaction too.

“That’s…” Young trailed, seemingly uncertain, “That’s Lady Kim Yerim of Mallow.”

Mallow was a district in Synsithia. The name was familiar to Ahri, but she couldn’t remember if she had ever seen the face somewhere. “Is she a friend of Jaehyun’s? They seem well acquainted.”

Youngho glanced at Ahri, his face still uncertain. “She’s… she’s actually Jaehyun’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh,” Ahri didn’t know why, but there was this weird sensation inside her stomach upon hearing Youngho’s revelation.

So, Jaehyun had invited his ex-girlfriend to their engagement party. Well, he was allowed to invite whoever he wanted, but perhaps, a little information beforehand would be much appreciated. Now that she was about to marry the Prince, she wasn’t sure what to expect if she ever encountered one of his exes—it never even crossed her mind. It was bound to happen ultimately, but she was just not sure what to feel.

“Are they… on good terms?” Ahri asked again.

Youngho paused for a moment. There was something about the situation that didn’t sit well, with they way Youngho was acting, and the way Jaehyun seemed to be distracted upon seeing Lady Kim Yerim. After a moment, Youngho began to speak, “I think, Jaehyun needs to explain to you himself…”

Ahri was confused. What was going on that Youngho couldn’t tell her? She was pretty sure the guy must have known the answer to her question. There were only to answers, yes or no. And what Youngho had insinuated sounded more complicated than those two answers.

“I think I’ll go check on him…”

Before Youngho could say anything, Ahri turned around and head towards the balcony where Jaehyun had previously gone.

Ahri honestly didn’t know what to expect, she just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. It only made sense for her to know one of Jaehyun’s exes, since she was going to be his wife soon.

She slowly walked past the opened door that led to the large balcony. The balcony itself was where the royal family usually had breakfast when they wanted to be outdoor. But tonight, the chairs and the round tables were all removed, revealing an even larger looking balcony.

She easily spotted the Prince at the far side of the balcony,