“Princess, it is nice to see you visiting and chatting with Consort Seo earlier,” Miyeon said as an owl hooted in the dark nearby. “I can see that she was happy that you accompanied her for her afternoon tea. The last time you spoke to her was more than a year ago. She looked so surprised when she saw you.”

You were making your way to Prince Jiyong’s residence after dinner. Following his request and instructions, you managed to find Consort Seo in the rock garden with her servants later that afternoon and started talking to her. Consort Seo then invited you to have tea back at her residence which you agreed. After a few hours of idle chit chat, you headed back to your residence, puzzled as to why the third prince had given you such an odd task.

“Miyeon, why haven’t I talked to Consort Seo for more than a year?” You asked as you walked carefully on the slippery bridge.

Miyeon held on to you tightly as she replied, “You rarely talk to any of the ladies in the palace. You used to say that there was no purpose at all. You usually hung around with the princes.”

You nodded slowly and when you reach the residence of the third prince, you instructed Miyeon to wait for you in the garden and pushed open the door and headed inside.

The hall was empty and you wondered if Prince Jiyong was in his study. You walked through the hallway and found him seated in his study, alone.

He looked up just as you entered and he said, “Go on, tell me about the conversation.”

You took a seat across him and replied in a bored tone, “Consort Seo asked about my accident and if I was feeling better. She was curious as to why I would be attacked. I really couldn’t answer as I don’t know myself so after that, we just talked about father’s health recently and then she told me that some royalties from China are coming to visit father in a month or two. Why are there people from China coming?”

Prince Jiyong ignored your question and replied, “What else did the both of you talk about?”

“Nothing much. We mostly talked about the Chinese who are coming. Even Consort Seo doesn’t know why or who exactly are coming. But she said that father seemed to be in a good mood when he received news of this. Consort Seo then told me that usually when there are people of importance here to visit, there will always be a ceremony and performance to entertain the guests. There will even be a fireworks display!” You said excitedly.

Prince Jiyong narrowed his eyes, “It’s just fireworks. Why are you so excited? You never seem to care about them before.”

You clamped your mouth shut immediately as you realised that you have blabbered on too much in front of him.

“I’ve lost my memories, remember?” You reminded him. “I don’t even remember father or any of you. How would I remember if I enjoyed fireworks in the past? Besides, even if I don’t care for them in the past, is it a crime for me to enjoy them now?”

Prince Jiyong said nothing after your little speech as though he really couldn’t be bothered and you huffed in silence. He really was a rude jerk. Couldn’t he at least nod or something?

“Tomorrow, I need you to talk to Consort Hae. Her residence is about twenty minutes west of Consort Seo’s residence. She rarely leaves her residence so you should be able to find her there.” Prince Jiyong continued. “Just like today, chat with her and come back at night and report back to me.”

You let out a deep sigh and got up from your seat, “Fine… If that is all, I’m going to take my leave.”

You were about to reach the door when a knock came from the other side.

“Prince Jiyong, your dinner is here.” Someone announced from the other end.

“Enter.” Prince Jiyong replied.

You stepped aside to allow a male servant in and the servant upon noticing you, gave a bow and said, “Princess, my apologies, I did not know you were here. If so, I would have prepared some food for you as well.”

“It’s alright,” You replied, glancing at the tray of food he was holding. “I’ve eaten before coming.”

The servant then placed the tray in front of Prince Jiyong and retreated from the room.

You realised that Prince Jiyong’s dinner was different from yours. His tray also had chicken, duck, fish, pork, vegetables and soup but they were all prepared differently from yours. Your chicken was steamed while his looks grilled. Every other item was different. Even the soup was different.

You then spotted his dessert and widened your eyes. He wasn’t served red bean cake. His cake was white and looked entirely different from yours.

“Why are all your dishes prepared differently compared to mine?” You asked, taking a few steps towards his tray.

Prince Jiyong raised an eyebrow as he picked up his chopsticks, “Of course it would be different. For every meal, the kitchen prepares based on our preferred taste.”

You stared at the tray of food silently as he started eating.

“What is this?” You asked, taking a seat back on the chair as you pointed to the white cake.

“I thought you were leaving.” Prince Jiyong replied.

“Not yet.” You replied dismissively. “So, what is this?”

After swallowing his food, Prince Jiyong replied, “Yam cake.”

“Oh, mine’s red bean.” You said. “I’ve never tasted yam cake before.”

“You didn’t like them,” Prince Jiyong said. “Why don’t you take your leave so I can-

“Can I try the yam cake?” You asked, your gaze still on the white dessert.

Prince Jiyong’s eyes widened a little at your request as he stared back at you in silence.

“Can I try one?” You asked again. “I’m sure you can’t finish everything anyway.”

You looked up at him and watched him slowly push the plate of yam cakes towards you without saying a word.

Beaming at him, you reached for one of the white dessert and brought it to your mouth. Your eyes widened in delight at the taste and realised that it was warm.

“It’s warm!” You exclaimed excitedly. “Are these cakes supposed to be warm? How fascinating! The red bean cakes I have are always at room temperature. Oh, these are absolutely delicious!”

After swallowing the little piece of yam cake, your gaze darted back to the remaining four pieces on the plate.

“What?” Prince Jiyong stared at you and asked.

“Nothing.” You replied and he went back to his meal.

You watched him eat in silence for a moment until you said, “W-Well, it’s just that the yam cake was really good so I was wondering…”

He looked up at you and you continued, “I was wondering maybe if…”

With a little sigh, he said, “Will you get out if I give you the entire plate?”

Your eyes shone happily as you replied, “Really? I can have the whole plate? O-Of course! I’ll get out of your sight this instant!”

He gave a nod and you took the plate and beamed at him, “Alright, I’m taking my leave now. See you tomorrow, Prince Jiyong!”

Holding on to the plate of yam cakes, you left his study and made your way out of his residence.

“Princess, what are you holding?” Miyeon asked, as soon as you stepped into the garden.

“Yam cakes.” You smiled. “You should try one, Miyoen. They’re so delicious! Do you know that they’re warm?”

“Where did you get them from, princess?” Miyeon asked, puzzled, as she glanced back at Prince Jiyong’s residence.

“Prince Jiyong gave them to me.” You replied as the both of you crossed the slippery bridge again.

Miyeon’s eyes widened in surprise, “Prince Jiyong really gave them to you? But why?”

“It was actually his but I tried one and really liked it. I asked if I could have more and that’s how I got this.” You explained.

“P-Princess, you actually took from his plate?” Miyeon asked in shock.

You nodded, “I asked for his permission first, obviously.”

“B-But…” Miyeon stammered.

“But what?” You asked, staring at the confused servant before you.

“It is quite inappropriate to take anything from a prince or princess’ tray of food,” Miyeon said slowly. “Usually a servant will be ordered to bring another serving as taking from the royalties’ personal tray is definitely inappropriate.”

“What? But this is ridiculous!” You exclaimed as you walked through a garden. “He won’t be able to finish everything, anyway! Besides, what’s wrong with sharing?”

“Princess, it doesn’t matter if any of you is unable to finish the food. It just isn’t right to take any food from the princes’ tray. It would be inappropriate for them to take food from your tray as well. The only time where sharing is allowed is when the food was specially prepared for sharing beforehand. For example, you told me that when you visited the empress the other day, the princes and empress were sharing some fruits. That is allowed as it was notified by the kitchen and prepared specifically for the purpose of sharing.”

“That’s ridiculous and stupid!” You replied out loud.

“Shush, princess.” Miyeon said as you reached the front of your residence. “There are rules we have to follow in the palace and this is one of them. Taking food from another’s personal tray is inappropriate and the only times where it is a little more acceptable is only if the two parties are together.”

“Together?” You questioned. “What do you mean by together?”

Miyeon smiled, “Together as in like, married.”

“What?!” You shrieked as Miyeon quickly tried to calm you down again.

Once you entered the front doors of your residence, you muttered feverishly, “Oh no… No wonder he was looking at me so strangely when I asked if I could take one.”

You put the plate of yam cakes on the table in the hall and cursed yourself for behaving so recklessly. How would you know that such a normal thing among the commoners was actually not allowed in the palace? You, Yuri and Siwon shared food all the time. Of course, there wasn’t much to go around with in the first place and there was no such thing as a personal tray but food was just laid on the table and everyone just ate and shared from there.

You stared at the yam cakes in front of you and popped one into your mouth. It had gone cold from the chilly walk back but nevertheless, it was still delicious.

“Here, Miyeon, try one.” You said and handed the servant a piece.

“Ah, no, it’s alright, princess.” Miyeon rejected with a bow.

“It’s alright, it’s not from my personal tray.” You said, shoving the piece into her hand. “It’s really nice. Try it.”

Staring at the yam cake in her hand, Miyeon gave a smile and nodded, “Thank you for your kindness, princess.”

You watched her eat the yam cake and Miyeon said, “It truly is delicious, princess.”

You returned her a smile as you finished up the rest of the cakes.

After all was gone, you turned to Miyeon and said, “Would it be possible to have yam cakes for my dessert starting from tomorrow?”

Miyeon bowed, “Of course, princess! I will inform the kitchen at once tomorrow morning.”

Satisfied with the yam cakes, you headed to bed as you looked forward to more the next morning.

==========================

Unfortunately, when Miyeon laid down your breakfast in front of you the next morning, she informed you regretfully that the imperial kitchen was out of yam cakes for you. The ones in stock were all reserved for Prince Jiyong and as it was currently winter, there will not be any new batches of yam coming in.

For someone who had to starve for days in occasion, of course this wasn’t a huge deal for you but it still did dampen your mood a little for the day. That afternoon after paying a visit to Consort Hae as instructed by Prince Jiyong, you left her residence with Miyeon and made your way back to your residence.

“Would you like to try some other desserts, princess?” Miyeon asked. “They told me that there are extra rice cake and tea cookies that are Prince Seunghyun and Seungri’s favourites if you would like to try. Unfortunately, there were not enough yams this winter and everyone’s really afraid of Prince Jiyong so it is hard for them to take any from Prince Jiyong’s stash.”

“Don’t worry,” You said quickly. “There’s no need to touch any from his stash. I don’t want to make things difficult for them too. After all, it’s just yams. It’s nothing important.”

As the both of you walked through the cobblestone path that leads to the Tranquillity garden, you saw someone standing by the Tranquillity Lake. As you neared him, you realised that it was Seunghyun.

“Seunghyun!” You called out with a bright smile and headed towards him.

Seunghyun turned and widened his eyes in surprise. He shot you a warm smile as Miyeon bowed and greeted him.

“What are you doing here?” You asked with a shiver as a cold winter wind swept past the lake suddenly.

Noticing that you were starting to shiver, Seunghyun removed his cloak and draped it around you.

“O-Oh, I’m fine, there’s no need. You’d be cold.” You protested.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, you haven’t fully recovered from the accident.” Seunghyun replied.

“So, what are you doing here all by yourself?” You asked as the both of you walked along the serene lake.

Seunghyun smiled, “Not much. I was just taking a walk. I headed to your residence but was informed that you were out. I was making my way back to my residence, actually.”

“Oh, sorry. I was out taking a walk as well. After all, the physician said that the fresh air would be good for me.” You replied.

Seunghyun nodded. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes. The medicine is working really well.” You replied. “Have you had dinner, Seunghyun? If not, do you want to come over and eat with me?”

Surprised but pleased at your invitation, Seunghyun replied, “Sure, it had been a few days since I last saw you. I was really busy and the few times I managed to come by, you were asleep.”

When you and Seunghyun stepped into your residence, Miyeon had ordered Suyeon to inform the imperial kitchen that Seunghyun would be having his dinner here.

“So what have you been busy with?” You asked curiously. “What do the princes usually do?”

“Most of the time, Youngbae, Jiyong and I will either be practicing our swordsmanship or discussing battle strategies or political issues. Daesung and Seungri join us sometimes as well but they are both a bit less interested in stuff like these so they will only join if they are forced to.” Seunghyun laughed.

“So… do you guys go out of the palace often?” You asked.

“It depends on how busy we are but we do try to head out every once in a while as it is good for us to see if the people are living well and if there are any problems.” Seunghyun replied. “There are so many corrupt officials out there right now so it is best if we do our checks regularly.”

“Corrupt officials?” You echoed.

Seunghyun nodded, “They are the reason why we have been so busy lately. Youngbae, Jiyong and I have been tracking and gathering evidence of their corruption.”

You nodded slowly as Suyeon brought dinner to the dining area. Both you and Seunghyun headed over and continued chatting while eating.

“So, you really don’t remember a thing about being attacked?” Seunghyun asked.

You shook your head as the last thing you actually remembered was that you had slipped and rolled down the slippery slopes of the bamboo forest. Everything was a blank after that.

Seunghyun let out a sigh of worry, “I still don’t understand who would actually hurt you and why were you there without any guards or servants. Don’t worry, we are investigating the matter so the truth will come to light very soon.”

Your grip on the chopsticks tightened at his words as your other hand gripped onto the front of your robes tightly.

“Y-You’re investigating about what happened?” You stammered.

Seunghyun nodded, “Yes, attempting to murder or injure a princess is a crime. Of course we have to find out who did it and why.”

You lowered your chopsticks to the table as your mind started to wander. Will they find out that you were an imposter? Where in the world is the real princess?

“I almost forgot,” Seunghyun said suddenly, taking out a jade hairpin from his robes. “I wanted to return this to you. The servants who cleaned you up after the accident handed it to me.”

As Seunghyun placed the expensive jewellery on the table, you stared at it, confused.

“It’s not mine.” You said. “It must be someone else’s.”

Seunghyun raised an eyebrow and replied, “They said that this hairpin was on you and this is the jade hairpin gifted to you from Jiyong, isn’t it?”

Jade hairpin from the third prince? Wait, why does it sound so familiar?

“Is something wrong?” Seunghyun asked, concerned as he noticed the discomfort on your face.

“N-Nothing,” You replied. “I’m fine… You said that this hairpin was a gift from Prince Jiyong?”

Seunghyun nodded, “Yes, it was for your birthday two years ago.”

You stared at the hairpin uncomfortably and wondered why in the world a princess’ hairpin is found on you.

When both the dinner trays were cleared, Seunghyun stood up to leave but when he noticed you putting on your cloak, he asked, “Are you heading out?”

You nodded, “Yes, let’s walk out together.”

“Where are you headed? Isn’t it better for you to rest?” Seunghyun asked curiously as the both of you stepped out of the residence, followed by Miyeon.

“I’m heading over to Prince Jiyong’s place.” You replied.

“Jiyong?” Seunghyun’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why?”

“Um, just for… idle chit chat.” You replied, remembering that Prince Jiyong had said that the real reason behind your meetings have to be kept a secret.

“Is everything alright?” Seunghyun asked, concerned as he stared at you.

“Hmm? Y-Yeah… Why?”

Seunghyun shook his head, “Nothing… Come, I’ll walk you to Jiyong’s residence. I have to get something from him anyway.”

The walk to Prince Jiyong’s residence seemed like a short one as you chatted happily to Seunghyun on the way. Unlike Prince Jiyong, Seunghyun was patient and you really felt comfortable around him. He reminded you of Siwon in so many ways.

When the both of you arrived at Prince Jiyong’s residence, you were surprised to see the third prince in his garden.

“Hyung,” He greeted Seunghyun in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I just came over to collect the corruption report.” Seunghyun replied.

“I thought that I’ve told you that I will send one of my men to deliver it to you,” Prince Jiyong said. “You didn’t have to walk all the way here in the cold.”

Seunghyun smiled, “It’s not much of a walk. I was over at the fifth princess’ place and since she was coming over, I thought that I could accompany her.”

“Oh…” Prince Jiyong said as he gazed back and forth between you and Seunghyun and then continued, “Well, come in then. I’ll hand you the report now.”

Once the three of you entered the warm residence of the prince, you took off your coat and draped it on one of the chairs.

You were about follow Prince Jiyong down the hall, into the study when you heard Seunghyun asked, “Where are you going?”

“To the study.” You replied as Prince Jiyong disappeared into the study. “Why?”

Seunghyun who looked slightly confused, said, “You seem to know this place quite well…”

“Not really. I’ve only been here twice.” You replied.

Seunghyun turned silent as you stared at him curiously and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Seunghyun replied with a forced smile. “Enjoy your talk with Jiyong.”

Prince Jiyong who had emerged back into the living hall, handed a thick stack of papers to Seunghyun.

Darting another quick glance at you and Prince Jiyong, Seunghyun then said, “I’ll take my leave then.”

After Seunghyun’s departure, you and Prince Jiyong headed straight to the study and like the night before, you started telling him about your conversation with Consort Hae.

“She seems to be a quiet person,” You observed. “She asked me a few questions but she doesn’t seem to talk much about herself.”

“Hmm…” Prince Jiyong replied distractedly as his attention