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Queen of Hearts
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The tinkling sound of wind chimes resounded every few hours with individuals from different background walking in and out of the humble abode. Either eagerness or content displayed on their face. Joohyun is always delighted with some new tasks given to her, and also the pleasing smile plastered on her clients after handing her the pouch of gold made her happier. Her small business in matchmaking was flourishing and doing well despite initial doubt her assistant, Seungwan, held when she first mentioned that she wanted to start this service many, many months ago. Perhaps she has a good eye. Perhaps Joohyun has her ways in convincing and opening the eyes and heart of her clients in accepting the potential suitors that have been presented. Or maybe, those people were just fated to be together and the Gods made Joohyun to be the one who gave her clients the slight push. Nonetheless, not even the gold she received as a payment for helping could match the satisfaction she felt when she saw the oozing love in her clients’ eyes once they were settled and assured that this match – that she had suggested – was the right one for them. Joohyun had always believed that the key to happiness is; to love and be loved. Throughout her life, she had witnessed various types of people in love. One couldn’t sleep a wink because of it, one felt butterflies churning inside their stomachs and one felt great strength and tremendous courage when in love. People in their town called her the ‘Queen of Hearts’ due to her many successes in matchmaking. Despite that she had never once experience the feeling of love. All her life, she had read numerous books and listened to the tales of her friends and clients, describing on how love made them feel. Her heart warms at the thought. She hoped everyone could find the love of their life soon – Joohyun herself without exception. And she believed that time will tell.                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥♥♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   “And that…was our twenty-fourth client.” Seungwan uttered as she wrote the names and the amount of rewards that they received in a binded scroll. “He didn’t pay as much as our client had done before though…” Joohyun went to the front door and swing the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Close’ before she settled herself at her working table, sorting out the gold that they had just received. “The payment doesn’t matter. As long as our clients are satisfied and live happily ever after.” Seungwan scrunched her nose in slight disapproval. Despite their service is doing fairly well, they still have some debts to be settled. Ever since Joohyun’s father had passed away, the fortune he had left for her was enough to last for only several months before things started to go down the spiral. The small portion of land in which Joohyun had lived for more than 20 years was force to be sold off in order to pay for her daily expenses. Lucky she befriended Seungwan, an independent girl from another city who came to their town to explore, the girl had helped her with whatever wealth she has, and the both of them managed to rent a cramped shop-like house – the current one they are living at right now. “Remind me Seungwan, when is the tax collector coming again this month?” Joohyun sorted out the fraction of gold and place it in a small pouch. “Next week I presume,” Seungwan took a good look at her datebook, her arms planted on both sides of her waist, “Do we still need to give out clothes again this time around or – ” “Just the gold would be sufficient this time.” Joohyun sighed. The fine silks that she had owned, some of them were given to the tax collector as an exchange for the insufficient gold she has. But calculating the amount of coins they received this month, it was safe to say one of her finest silk shan’t be traded.                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥♥♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   The town of Adamur when it is on market day is a visual feast. There were the familiar sights of brightly coloured fruits, fresh dates, nuts, colourful woven carpets and rugs, silks, all coming from the Eastern lands and heaps of jewelry with gems and diamonds, fake and original in a mix, soft furs and elaborate wooden carvings. She love spending all day just walking by the stalls, back and forth along the passageway, sinking in all the beauty. Spending her small fortune is a different story but revelling in all the beauty that the stalls were offering is such a fun activity for her. As Seungwan and her were brooding over a large sum of dates at one of the stalls, they heard galloping steps of horses, at first distant but then it became clearer and soon two white stallions, mount by the red and gold cloak of the castle, came sprinting and making their way through the crowd before it exited the marketplace through the stone archway. It wasn’t an unfamiliar sight to see knights or just members of the castle jostling about their route, though it did left Joohyun rather curious at times, just wondering what errands were they dealing with. “They’re heading for the village it seems.” Joohyun spoke, turning back to the mounds of dates and handpicking some. “Nothing new about that,” Seungwan spoke, frowning at the fingers of the scale pointing at, once the seller weighs the pouch of dates they had picked. “You sure you didn’t alter this scaling equipment?” The man raised his hands, denying. “No, not all, my lady. Dis dates are one of the finest dates. Sweeter than sugar itself. You can taste ze heaven on your lips once you take a bite out of it.” “But she was asking about the scaling equipment,” Joohyun pointed out, her eyebrows raised. “I don’t think we’ve handpicked enough for it to be four hundred grams, surely.” “Ah…” The man looked at them warily before taking out another scaling equipment. He placed the pouch and it was still four hundred grams. “The results are the same.” “Hmm….” Joohyun glance at the stall beside them, selling bright, colourful gems. She was about to walk and borrow their scaling equipment before the dates seller surrendered. “Alright! Alright!” The man shook his head, a face of disbelief etched on his face, “You’ve caught me. Let’s settle with two fifty gram.” “Much better.” Seungwan approved. They strolled further and stopped by other few stalls after that. They even met a few of their clients along the way and they converse for a few before Joohyun felt someone tugging the sleeves of her dress and turned downwards to see one of the kids living near her place looking up at her. “Jaemin?” “Someone from the castle wants to see you.” The boy spoke, “They told me to pass the message to you. They’re waiting in front of your house.” Both Seungwan and her exchanged glances before thanking the boy. They immediately stride their way back as fast as their cluttered legs inside their dresses could bring them. Both keen and excited though a bit alarmed on why people from the castle wanted to see them. “Do you think they want our matchmaking service?” “Maybe,” Seungwan spoke, her hands clutching both sides of her dress to make their feet move faster, “Or…maybe they’ve come to arrest us.” “Nonsense.” Joohyun muttered, “Why would they? Besides, our services are well known – and successful! Why would they even want to arrest us? Even the nobles required of our services before. Surely the royals must have heard about it.” “We’ll see.” They reached home to see said white stallions that they had saw earlier now trotting about in front of their house. The rider of the stallions were both wearing red and gold cloaks. One in a half armour, saddled comfortably in his seat, while the other was wearing a gown underneath the red and gold emblem. The man appeared rather aged and wise, while the other was a woman, hauntingly beautiful with lips redder than any cherries she had ever seen. When the two riders saw them, they immediately unmounted the stallion and the man spoke, “Are the two of you perhaps…Bae Joohyun and Son Seungwan?” The both of them nodded at the same time though Joohyun could see that the woman beside the man was eyeing them suspiciously. Joohyun decided to step forward, “I am Joohyun, the matchmaker and she is my assistant, Seungwan. May I know the reason of your arrival at our...er….house?” “House…?” She caught the woman beside the man mumbled under her breath, staring at the shop-house besides them. “Well…we’ve heard of your renowned matchmaking service….” The man started, “Before that, allow me to introduce myself. I am Go Seungho, the royal advisor to the kingdom and – ” “I am Sooyoung, the lady-in-waiting.” Joohyun heard a whimper of surprise coming from Seungwan besides her. She curtsied, “Pleasure to meet the both of you. So does this means you are here to require of our services?” “Exactly…” The royal advisor intertwined his gloved fingers together, “You se
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DASH_5834
#1
Chapter 5: ❤️
Reveluv4vr
#2
Chapter 2: Haha.. funny and cute interactions 😁😁
its_aaarrriii
#3
Chapter 1: woah new story for me to read!
Oct_13_wen_03 35 streak #4
Chapter 5: 🤍🤍🤍
Apcxjsv
#5
Chapter 5: 💗💛
railtracer08
357 streak #6
Chapter 5: Matchmaker Joohyun still has her 100% success rate hehe
Jensoo4everlove #7
Rereadingg
Oct_13_wen_03 35 streak #8
Chapter 1: 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
karen_plvra
#9
Chapter 5: it was so good!!!
democratits
#10
Chapter 5: This is so good for my mental health😭 I love the build up, the conflicting feelings, the side wenjoy!1! Thank you for writing this <3