Every inch of Princess Chaewon's little five foot tall frame was full of anger. 

As per usual. This anger was all she had ever known; being the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Eden, she was kept inside the castle walls for her safety. Chaewon had never known anything else, any other way to feel. But as the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Eden, she had learned to press these emotions down where nobody could see and school her face into neutrality fit for royalty. 

Chaewon silently contemplated this anger as she was escorted by her faithful maidservent, Vivi, up to her mother's quarters. Her anger was a touch harder to hide now, harsh exhales leaving her lips at every step up the stone staircase to the queen's bedroom. 

"Don't look so gloomy," Vivi spoke in her soft voice, Chaewon immediately soothed. "It's your mother after all." 

Chaewon sighed, more softly this time. Vivi, a beautiful woman no older than her mother, had been her and her sister's maidservant as long as she had been alive and she saw the woman more than her own parents. 

"That's exactly why I am gloomy." 

Vivi rubbed Chaewon's back gently as they reached queen Haseul's room, knocking on the door. 

"Is it Vivi and Chaewon?" 

"Yes," Vivi answered simply. Vivi was close enough to the royal family that she had stopped addressing the queen and princesses as 'your highness'. 

"Come in then," she called, and Vivi and Chaewon stepped inside. 

Chaewon looked around; this massive room unchanged from the time she could remember. The setting sun cast a glint on the gold lining of the glass windows, shadows dancing along the tousled emerald sheets. Chaewon always thought her mother looked so small in the royal suite, after all it was a room meant for two. But Chaewon's father had died long ago, around when her sister was born; and all memories of him in Chaewon's mind had been lost to time. He was the kind of monarch nobody in the kingdom missed, the royal family included. And Queen Haseul had managed to make the oversized suite her own. 

"Hello Vivi," her mother spoke sweetly, a smile on her lips that wasn't there normally. 

"Haseul," Vivi gently answered before both women turned to the princess. 

"Hello, darling, how was your day?" 

"Good, mother," Chaewon answered, peeking out the window. She knew once the sky became darkened she would have to go back to her room and prepare for bed. 

"Did you have a moment to entertain any of the suitors I sent?" 

Chaewon sighed gravely. "No," she lied, she'd had time to entertain them but she simply didn't want to. So she didn't.

Haseul sighed back, disappointment etched into her expression. "Chaewon..." 

The princess looked away sharply, blonde waves falling over her face. 

"You must. You simply must. There is...there is no way to avoid marriage." 

"Why not?" Chaewon sharply spoke. 

"It is the law," Haseul answered, strain in her voice. 

"You are the queen! Can't you change the law?" 

"I would, I truly would. But only a unanimous vote by the council of lords has the power to change a law as ancient as that. I asked, believe me my darling daughter I begged! But...but many have sons or grandsons of age, who they are just desperate to marry off to you." 

This, this stupid law was the reason for all of the anger that filled Chaewon's heart. It wrote that the if all of the heirs to the throne were female, the eldest must marry a man to be able to ascend to the throne, as soon as she was of age. 

Chaewon spent her entire childhood preparing to be the next queen, pouring over books, being tutored, having hour after hour of lessons instead of playing amongst the gardens like the other little boys and girls her age. The queen had put this in place for her own sake; Queen Haseul had not expected her husband to die and was not prepared to take over the throne after his passing. She did not want the same fate to befall her daughter, but Chaewon did not mind. She had never minded. 

What she did mind was this stupid law of marriage, one she had never had to think about until recently. She was seventeen, almost of age, and desperately did not want to marry, more than almost anything. She couldn't abdicate either, so Chaewon knew soon she would have to just accept her fate as a married woman. But Chaewon would fight back for as long as she could.

Chaewon could hear the hurt in her mother's voice but Chaewon's heart did not move. Her mother clearly did not care. Her mother could never understand. 

"Chaewon, I-" 

The princess ignored her and looked out the window, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the sun finally slip beneath the horizon. She would be sent to her room soon enough. 

"Chaewon," Haseul breathed out. 

"Yes mother," the princess answered, her hands behind her back. 

She sighed deeply. "You may return to your room." 

Chaewon kept her face as calm as ever and turned around sharply, Vivi following behind. 

"Chaewon!" Her mother called loudly. 

The princess turned back, her mother sitting desperately on the edge of her bed. 

"Please, heed my words. Meet your suitors tomorrow. The council of lords will pick for you if you don't choose yourself, and I am powerless to stop them." 

"Mother, how can a queen be powerless?" Chaewon simply asked, her voice heavily controlled. 

Haseul sighed. "Chaewon-" 

"I know you want me to suffer the same fate you did. I understand. Just don't pretend like you want something different for me." 

"Chaewon!" Haseul cried but Chaewon had already pushed open the door and began to trot down the spiral stone staircase to the safety of her own room. 

Her and Vivi were silent as they stepped inside, the tones of soft pink and eden green like a blanket of safety around Chaewon's shoulders. She flopped on the bed, blonde hair decorating the bed cover, as Vivi prepared her nightstand. 

"Come here," Vivi said gently, Chaewon shifting from her bed to standing. Vivi helped her undress from her study clothes and into the soft, loose dress of sleep, before leading her to the vanity. Here, Chaewon looked in the mirror at her expressionless face while Vivi began to comb her locks. 

"Haseul does not want you to suffer," Vivi spoke. Chaewon rolled her eyes; the one flaw of her darling maidservant was that she always sided with her mother. 

"How would you know?" Chaewon asked. 

"I know her better than you think. I promise she's done everything in her power. Don't...don't be so hard on her. She is doing her best." 

"I just can't understand how the queen could have such little power. Why did I spend my whole childhood studying if I could never do anything with what I learned? Will I be just a pawn for my future husband and the council of lords? She must have some sort of say..."

Vivi sighed deeply. "Soon you will learn the real way of the world, that women must fight and trick and claw their way to what little power they can obtain." 

Chaewon sighed back. "But couldn't she try? Couldn't my mother try?" 

"She has, Chaewon. She has." 

Vivi began to braid Chaewon's hair down the middle of her back, tying the end off with an eden green ribbon. 

"There you go," Vivi spoke, rubbing her shoulders. 

"Thank you." 

Vivi and Chaewon looked at each other in the mirror for a moment. "No matter what happens, Chaewon, I know you'll do great things." Chaewon smiled at her maidservant and stood up to give her a tight hug. "Now, let me get ready for bed." 

Chaewon slipped under the covers as Vivi stoked the fire, grabbing a little for her candle. "Good night, Vivi." 

"Good night, pretty princess." 

Chaewon watched Vivi gently shut the door behind her but she remained awake, knowing she would have to be in a few minutes. 

Three knocks in quick succession, a pause, and then two more. 

Chaewon smiled. "Come in," she whispered, listening to her younger sister tiptoe through the room and into her bed. 

"Hi Yeojin," Chaewon spoke. "Were you scared getting here? I know the servants turn out the candles after dark." 

"No way," Yeojin answered with a scoff. "I'm twelve now! I'm way too old to be scared of the dark." 

Chaewon held her sister's arm and felt her still trembling like a leaf in the wind, but she didn't say anything. 

In bed with her was the reason Chaewon could not abdicate. As a woman and the younger sibling, Princess Yeojin was never educated to rule a country. She was taught how to act in polite society, be sociable and make people feel comfortable and laugh without being obnoxious, how to speak French and play the piano and look elegant wherever she went. But she was not educated in the Kingdom of Eden's laws, in its economy, in the different regions and their particular cultures and rules. That was Chaewon's life, Chaewon's job. And although it made her less popular among the people, Chaewon knew they needed her as much as they needed the light and life of Princess Yeojin. 

Her darling sister, who still slept in her sister's bed every night, who did not deserve any of the pressures that could come with ruling a country. Young Princess Yeojin, who deserved to spend the rest of her life entertaining guests and being the belle of every ball. And Chaewon would give her that, even if it meant sacrificing her own freedom. 

"How was your day?" Chaewon quietly asked, not wanting to awaken any of the servants. 

"Good! I met Lady Jihyo today. We went to the chapel together and goodness her voice was beautiful when she sang the hymns! I heard she is to be married to Lord Daniel, what a lucky man. I heard he's a kind gentleman too though so I am happy for their union. Perhaps I could convince her to hold the wedding in the castle so we could attend? Wouldn't that be lovely? I love weddings! Oh, but poor Lady Momo, her father has given her to Lord Heechul. She's put on a very good face but I heard she is very disappointed in the match. I heard her father is hurrying the wedding along so she will have less time to protest and find her escape. I wonder if we'll be able to spot them at the next banquet? Ugh, Chaewon, I'm so curious! And have you heard about..."

And so Yeojin carried on like this, sharing the gossip of the nobility that Chaewon had not much interest in, but Chaewon listened dutifully. Whatever Yeojin cared about, Chaewon cared about. And anyways, this chatter always soothed Yeojin's night terrors and helped her fall asleep.

"Tell me a story," Yeojin mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut before bursting back open, out of Yeojin's sheer force of will. 

Chaewon giggled. "About what?" 

"About...about the outside." 

"Outside of the castle?" Yeojin pouted and nodded, and Chaewon shook her head sadly. "You know as well as I do about what's out there. We're both not allowed to leave, remember?" 

Yeojin sighed. "Fine. But I wanna know." 

"Me too, Yeojin. Me too." Chaewon wondered too often about the outside. The people, the smell, the lands she had never traversed but was one day supposed to rule over. Books of stories and surveys of her lands gave her a clue but Chaewon was so desperate for the real thing. Maybe out there she could find a solution to her problem, to what Vivi had said. Maybe out there was a suitor not nearly as dismal and dumb as the ones Chaewon had been introduced to at banquets before. Maybe out there was a suitor she wouldn't actually mind.

Chaewon looked next to her and saw her sister had finally fallen asleep. Now, it was time for her to as well.