THE MASK

“Welcome, everyone, Royal Families and the press alike, to the signing of the ongoing trade deal between Calbia and Elbonia. This historic change is set to foresee a better economy in both parties of the agreement and we will be able to witness a unification in the Royal Families bloodlines, with the marriage between Crown Princess Kwon Chaewon of Calbia and Second Princess Ahn Minjoo of Elbonia. With this, it is brought to you live from Reporter Im Nayeon of Elbonia National 24/7 News.”

Queen Sakura strode over gracefully to the reporter who was preparing to go off along with the rest of her team.

“Thank you for covering this historic event. You are welcome to help yourself to any refreshments desired. Just call over one of the robots over to serve you.”

“It’s my pleasure, Queen Sakura. I apologise on behalf of my team for we would not be able to stay for long to have any refreshments since we have another event to cover in the Capital. But thank you for the offer indeed.” Nayeon said as she bowed deeply and the Queen ushered them out.

“Well, fellow Royal Kwon, would you care for a cup of tea in my study along with Queen Hyewon? I would very much like to catch up on several things I may have missed.” Queen Sakura said after she told her children to catch up with the Kwon siblings.

“Very much indeed. I’d like to enjoy a cup of your specially brewed chrysanthemum tea. I’m afraid the pantry in the castle has been running low. So perhaps with this agreement, could you slip an extra note of a monthly supply of chrysanthemum tea leaves flown to my country? I'm sure my country would enjoy it too.” Eunbi laughed at her personal joke with Queen Sakura joining in too.

“Well, then surely we should move along with the plans.” Gesturing to leave the meeting room, the three Queens took their leave.

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The moonlight illuminated the velvet walls of the castle as a figure sneaked around the garden maze.

“It’s nearly 10 p.m. Where the hell is she?” The figure muttered to herself as she drew her black leather jacket round herself more tightly, readjusting the straps of the small backpack on her bag which contained a few tidbits and drinks, along with a small toolkit and a dusty medical kit.

Then she saw a small shadow retreating within the shadows and making its way forward, whilst carrying what seemed to be an old, rickety bicycle.

“There you are, Yuri. What took you so long?” The figure muttered as she took the bicycle from Yuri’s hands.

“Sorry. One of the guards was passing by. Had to take another route to get here. And keep it down will you, Eugene. I can’t risk getting another scolding from mom.” Yuri whispered harshly.

“Whatever you say, Yuri. So I just walk to the centre and there’ll be the trapdoor right?” Eugene said as she inspected the chains of the bicycle and pressed on the brakes, ensuring that they were well in form.

“Yes. But remember to make it back before 3 a.m. before the Royal Guards do the nightly sweep of the castle. Don’t lose track of time because your special friend has just sent you a message to meet her. Geez, why can’t both of you send messages. We are living in the 2040s for ’s sake.” Yuri clamped a mouth over a hand suddenly, regretting the fact that she had uttered a foul language out of .

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‘A coarse language only fit for the family that Lee Yujin grew up in.’ Queen Sakura said maliciously.

Eugene gripped onto her knife tighter, illuminating the bluish veins on her hand that appeared under the glow from the chandelier.

She knew very well that the small remarks that the Queen Sakura would throw regarding her family, was made to insult her identity as Lee Yujin and to beat away remaining traces of what the Lees had left in her.

It was a month after she had been in this horrible place, which in Yujin’s opinion was not fit to be run by Queen Sakura.

Yujin very much preferred Queen Hyewon to run the place but even better was for her to go back to her family.

The image of a loving and curious Queen Sakura had been shattered by the numerous insults coming out of directed specifically for the Lees.

Even, her new mother had supposedly said that she was merely lent to the Lees who had brought her nicely and that she was to remain living her life as Ahn Eugene, Crown Princess of Elbonia.

Yujin turned desperately to Queen Hyewon to put the usual end to Sakura’s jabs on her past family, but she completely ignored her, choosing to savour her treacle tart.

Till Yujin could no longer bear it, she finally had it at the last strand of what is expected to be of a calm, composed Ahn Eugene, when Queen Sakura sneered.

‘It’s a wonder your mother didn’t choose to collect any money for raising you, dear. She could fill a swimming pool with the amount of money she might get from a case filed against the both of us. But she wouldn’t dare, I suppose. Just as she is known to be a ‘feather’, she surely wouldn’t even be strong enough to fly against this system.’

This has clearly pushed past the limit and Yujin stood up abruptly from her spot on the dining table, her silver chair scraping heavily against her velvet carpet.

Her siblings had just merely stared, horrified at what was unfolding before them. But Queen Hyewon paid no attention, just focusing on her treacle tart instead.

And marched over to the entrance of the dining hall, fuming at the fact that Sakura had insulted her family and most importantly her mother.

‘Even if Lee Chaeyeon had supposedly kidnapped me, I’d rather have her taking care of me instead of you, a piece of . And she isn’t a ing feather that would be blown around easily by the wind, alright! She is able to stand on her ground and her morals alone.’ Yujin shouted at Queen Sakura and was about to take a step over the line separating the dining room from the hallway.

‘Then why didn’t you speak when you had the chance, dear. If you’re so brave about returning back to your family, the Lees, go on. I dare you. But before you could even meet them, they would all be looking down from above you or below you, depending on what they were like. Go on. Do it. It’ll be a wonderful thing to add a new collection of bodies under my belt.’ Yujin furrowed her eyebrows at the last sentence but was too warped with the idea of the Lees dying just because she chose to return to them.

Yujin’s right foot hung in the air for a still moment, before it settled itself back onto the velvet carpet and retraced its steps.

With that simple action, but heavy one, Queen Sakura smiled on the outside but her heart felt a ‘pang of pain’, internally, over the hurt she had caused for Ahn Eugene. She knew very well that she put a toe out of line by insulting Yujin’s mother, but what was she to do for numerous eyes were watching her every move and she just wanted to put an end to this suffocating madness.

Meanwhile, the Crown Princess had admitted defeat that she was no longer Lee Yujin as was just Ahn Eugene. Any trace of Lee Yujin was to be eradicated from her own self, Eugene said dejectedly to herself.

But even with the defeat, there were still plenty more matches in her life at the Palace Elysian to which some she could certainly win if she knew how to play by the rules.

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“You know it’s just the two of us. There’s no Sakura or Hyewon to scold you, it’s alright.” Eugene tried to push the memory of Queen Sakura insulting her old family when she had accidentally swore in the dining room. It was of no use having to look back on the past for she could only forward to the present and the future repeating itself all over again with only one common thing on her mind. 

Just like how the Royal Ahns all did, they just merely saw her as Ahn Eugene, and it was to remain as that, never changing. 

Besides, she was never Lee Yujin to begin with.

‘It’s all the past. Queen Sakura had mellowed down and even gave you a bit of freedom’ Yujin chanted to herself.

“Hey, Eugene you might want to head out soon. I feel like someone is searching round these grounds. And call me on the smartphone if you experience any difficulty along the way”  And with that, Eugene gave a quick farewell wave to Yuri who had scampered off already.

Eugene had left her hologram watch back in the castle so that they wouldn’t be able to trace her location easily and had borrowed a smartphone off Yuri that she mysteriously had. But Eugene was never the type to ask questions so she just kept it that, besides Yuri had another smartphone so Eugene could contact Yuri easily.

The Crown Princess pushed the old bicycle which moved silently along the cobblestone path of the garden maze.

Eugene had just finally heaved open the heavy trapdoor which revealed a hidden tunnel which sloped downwards, when she heard a gruff voice say from one of the hedges, “We might have to tighten up security, Lee. Extra guests here today. Can’t risk losing another princess like last time.”

‘Lee? Is it my sister, Lee Yena?’ Was the first thought that came to her mind when reality struck her, “There're many other people out there with the surname ‘Lee’.”

She realised she had to rush off to meet the Blue Moon Friend for she had no time to waste and she wouldn’t want to risk getting caught again.

And with that, Eugene shoved her bicycle into the tunnel beneath the trapdoor and settled her feet on the cold lumpy ground.

Eugene had managed to heave the trap door down on the hole, just as a beam of light from the torch perched on the rifle of Lee Yena came shining down the section of the garden maze.

“I could have sworn I heard something earlier” Yena muttered to herself as she shone the beam of light right where Eugene was standing earlier, before she had disappeared down the tunnel.

‘Maybe it was just the exhaustion taking over me from having to report back urgently to the base camp of RG MTG after they granted my request for a leave back home.’ Yena thought silently to herself.

Yena cautiously moved forward, swinging the beam of light around the hedges surrounding her, till she came to a complete stop at the trapdoor.

She was about to reach and open it when Sergeant Kim bellowed, “Corporal Lee, get back here, we can’t afford to waste time searching this garden maze. Besides even if an outsider got lost here, they wouldn’t be able to find their way out of here.”

“Just heard something, Sergeant Kim. Just needed to check.”

“It must have been one of the rabbits roaming round the area. I heard from the Royal Gardeners they accidentally set a cage of rabbits free, earlier this afternoon. But never mind that, just do a quick sweep of the area and report back to me.”

“Yes, Sergeant Kim!” Yena shouted in response past the hedge.

She gave a last quick sweep of her surroundings and even tried peering through the thick hedges, till she gave up and marched back to Sergeant Kim with her eyes giving an icy, firm stare on the trap door as she left the garden maze.

Meanwhile, during the span of time in which Corporal Lee Yena had roamed the area in which Ahn Eugene had been pacing along, Eugene had cycled nearly a quarter of the length of the tunnel.

She had fortunately brought along an extra pair of torch lights for the torch light that Yuri had passed her went out flat on her during her trip in the tunnel.

Remembering that Yuri had said that this was the only shortcut that would lead her to one of the roads along the heart of the Capital City of Elbonia, Brass Road, in no less than an hour.

She did the calculation in her head as she cycled along the dingy tunnel for how long she was to meet her friend for.

Eugene expected her own self to return by 2.30a.m. in the least so that means she only had about three brief hours, which was hardly enough time to catch up on the three years that they had not met.

Then it struck her, why would Yuri know all about this