Soon after Eunbi returned to the Capital City, the King made his Periodical Policy Address before his winter break. The news of Princess Eunbi's wedding to be scheduled for next April was announced. It has taken many Tokkizans by surprise, leaving piles of broken hearts around the kingdom. Same as the last two years, the King also announced the Princess's temporary regency when he was away. Eunbi has taken up this duty since she was crowned in 15.

Eunbi knows, however, this time the regency is "for real". In the past, as an "acting ruler", her job was indeed easy. The King would finish all works before he left so that Eunbi doesn't need to make any major decision. If there were any urgent issues, the major ministers would travel all the way to the South to discuss with the King and ask for a decision (luckily that didn't happen). Eunbi would only need to hear the discussions and progress on festivals and culture and education programs and make minor decisions occasionally.

But not anymore. The King has several private meetings with Eunbi right after she was back to discuss the matters she needed to handle during the King's absence, including the investiture ceremony in March after he's back. She also reported the issues of the Trivisa Berrie's Plantation as well as the (potential) Heavenly Horses scandal and expressed her initial point of view.

"Good job, Eunbi. These are important issues regarding our kingdom's security. The Cistumons never honored their promise and Tokkizans are too utilitarian. I will make sure you can order the military for any necessary actions – I will be in the South and that is a reason to push for an investigation. Dongwook will be to your side and give you all the advice and aid you need."

The King is pleased that Eunbi speaks and acts much more maturely after she came back from this year's training. On the other hand, Eunbi also feels that the King has become happier – he was given an exquisitely designed new wheelchair made from the wood of a rare type of tree that has magical power so he can control it with his mind without moving a finger. Now even with his body getting weaker, he at least regains the freedom and dignity of moving around by himself.

"The wheelchair was a gift from a man who calls himself Master of the Miscellaneous, he said it was invented by one of his pupils. He brought the young woman with him and they came with a proposal. I told them that you will handle it, and I think they at least deserve a medal."

"That's impressive," Eunbi says, making a mental note, but in her mind, this Heaven knows what proposal should be at the bottom of her priority list during her regency afterall.

***

After bidding farewell to the King and the Queen, the atmosphere of the Palace, unlike the past years, doesn't become relaxed. Although this is not Eunbi's first time serving as regent, rumor/news that the regency will be de facto spread quickly, all the Palace staff started to act differently to the young Princess.

Eunbi is not particularly happy about her new status, but she knows clearly that it is her duty. First things first, she schedules meetings with Dongwook and the ministers, and it takes her quite some effort to persuade the Minister of Defense that some Tokkizans have bred military horses for the Cistumon, and the Trivisa Berries' Plantation may involve the production of illegal drugs and the possibility of Cistumons' infiltration, and further effort to push the minister for an investigation plan. The presence of Lee Dongwook proves to be an essential help as he is very knowledgeable about the Cistumon Empire and the power dynamics among nations in the Fourth Realm Continent. More importantly, he is the most trusted person of the King. The minister is not prepared to lose his job yet.

These meetings usually last until mid-afternoon. After a tea break, Eunbi will continue her private audience with Dongwook to have private tutorials or discuss with Chaewon on "home affairs", including the Spring investiture and her own wedding. But meanwhile, she is having a formal private audience with Kwangbae in the presence of Nako and Jaeyeon (the two usually have to excuse themselves to give privacy to the Regent), as well as Chaewon. This composition resembles what was during the expedition, but the setting now is much more formal, and rigid.

"Welcome back, Kwangbae-ssi," Eunbi is happy to see Kwangbae again since the expedition. "So did you find Yena?"

"I'm afraid not, Your Highness," Kwangbae lowers his head a bit, "but Lord Jaeyeon has given me some important information, and I think I have some clue of who she is now."

"Can you tell me what you have found in a comprehensive way?" Eunbi asks with a smile.

"Yes, madam." Kwangbae eyes Jaeyeon and Jaeyeon responds with a nod. And Kwangbae begins.

"I started the search from Saku's mother. As Lord Jaeyeon should have reported to you, I've found that Jung Yeri was originated from a wealthy family in the south. Her parents have passed away, but I managed to talk to her siblings. They told me Yeri was the youngest sister of the family. Their parents were a respectable intellect couple, and Yeri was a mage by birth. She demonstrated great creativity since she was a child, so her parents sent her to study under a famous polymath who lived in Jigumina, a small city in the southern province. There, she met Choi Jihoon, whose unofficially known as Sa Jihoon and his half-sister Choi Yena. The three grew up together and Yeri fell in love with Jihoon. However, both Yeri's family and the master strongly objected when Yeri decided to marry Jihoon, so they ran away. I asked Yeri's family if they remember Jihoon's sister, but they seemed to have no memory of her. I went to Jigumina and found the polymath's studio which is now run by his most senior disciple. The original studio was destroyed in a fire a few months after Yeri and Jihoon left. The master was so devastated that he decided to leave Jigumina. He only brought a few favourite pupils with him, while the others decided to stay and rebuild everything. I asked them about Choi Yena. They said she was an extremely talented pupil, but they never see her again after she left with the master."

"Did the senior disciple tell you where the polymath has left for?" Something suddenly pops up in Eunbi's mind so she asks, "is there any slim chance that he is living in the Capital City?"

"Your Highness you must have a crystal ball!" Kwangbae looks surprised. "The man told me the polymath has earned his reputation of the Master of the Miscellaneous after he settled down in the Capital City..."

Eunbi inhales deeply with wide eyes, and she turns to Chaewon.

"That means we've found her!" Chaewon smiles calmly.

Kwangbae turns his face to Jaeyeon, only to find that Jaeyeon is equally confused.

So Eunbi told them about the story of the King's wheelchair.

"They actually came to the Palace!" Kwangbae literally can't believe what he has heard.

"Well, we are not sure if the inventor is Choi Yena, but at least we can now locate the polymath," says Eunbi.

Chaewon nods. "If they came with a proposal, then there must be an address."

Eunbi nods. "We will put them on the investiture list and I will read their proposal tonight."

"Yes, Your Highness." Chaewon raises her chin.

Kwangbae's expression suddenly turns complicated, "Your Highness..."

"Yes, please speak." Eunbi puts her attention back to Kwangbae.

"Your Highness, may I be straightforward about one observation?"

Eunbi nods.

"I actually did some searches again in the General Registry after I am back, but Yena's registered address is still in Jigumina – our kingdom really needs a better census system."

Everybody in the room freezes.

Kwangbae continues innocently before Jaeyeon can stop him, "many crimes of our Kingdom can be solved easily if we can have a better portfolio of each subject."

"Kang Kwangbae-ssi..." Chaewon eyes Kwangbae sharply. Nako quickly waves to Kwangbae and signals him to shut up.

"Kwangbae is right." After a while, Eunbi nods and breaks the silence. She then turns to Kwangbae, "this is a very important observation. I will raise the issue to Viscount Dongwook as soon as possible."

Everybody leads out a sigh of relief, but Eunbi sighs with a frown, "we are lucky this time, but Choi Yena's case has reflected many problems of our system. Anyway, I will send someone to pay a visit to the polymath and ask him about Choi Yena."

Kwangbae immediately shows disappointment, "Your Highness...I..."

"You will be granted six weeks of full-paid leave for your wedding starting from tomorrow," Eunbi smiles and turns to Nako, "Nako too, and come back as the Princess's Lady in Waiting."

"Oh, thank you, Your Highness!" Both Kwangbae and Nako exclaim and bow deeply to the Princess.

"But who is going to substitute me to take care of Your Highness?" Nako suddenly stops smiling and asks.

Eunbi turns to Chaewon.

Chaewon sighs inwardly. It is not very pleasant to have to clear up the mess of an occasionally impulsive boss – but Kim Chaewon being Kim Chaewon, she has already prepared for this.

"The niece of the Principal Chef has just turned 15 in this summer. Her parents have wanted her to be a royal servant, so I have been training her for a while. The girl is smart and sweet. Her name is Murashige Anna."

A big grin instantly blossoms on Nako's face and she bows to Chaewon, "thank you, my Lady. I know Anna, I trust she will get the job done well. With your permission, I can now go and give her a short handover."

"Good," Eunbi nods and dismisses the love birds.

Eunbi asks Chaewon and Jaeyeon to stay after Nako and Kwangbae left, "we still need to discuss the arrangement of Saku's schedule – please take a seat."

Eunbi looks a bit tired, so she decided to drop some formalities – to her, the hardest part to be the Regent is to observe the palace protocol straightly with the person who has been her guardian since she was a baby (means she cannot act cute anymore) – by the same token, however, she dares not to act casual in front of the straightest guardian she has ever known.

"So unnie...Chaewon ssi, please report how Saku is doing with his studies?"

Chaewon nods with satisfaction, "according to Saku's teachers, he can read and write basic Tokkizan now. Apparently, he has an extraordinary memory, he can point out any inconsistent or contradicting details of different lectures that are taught in the previous weeks, and he asked a lot of questions."

"Excellent! It's barely a month since we are back," Eunbi looks impressed. "Has the lessons with Yuri seonsaengnim commenced?"

"Yes, it commenced last week. I have sent a junior knight to bring him to Yuri's home every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon."

"Yes, we must keep him in sight."

"Since he is still learning Tokkizan, Yuri won't want to confuse him with the Arukasian language, so he is now taking art and music lessons. But..."

"But?"

"Even he can handle it, I think the lessons are a bit too overwhelming for him. He is still a child, he needs to play and should not sit in the classroom for the whole day – I think he needs to have some physical education."

Eunbi doesn't look convinced (she hates physical education when she was young). "I believe he is still taking care of First Snow and Yena every morning. Riding the two fastest horses before his lessons is good exercise."

"Your Highness," Jaeyeon seizes the opportunity and raises a point he has been trying to discuss with Eunbi for a long time, "may I speak my mind?"

"Sure, Jaeyeon."

"I can see you want to give Saku a good education as you received, but good always means balance. I understand Saku is full of potential, but as I have told you, he is also a martial arts prodigy. It is proven by Han Daejung, one of the greatest masters in Tokkiz when we visit the Marine Academy. For this reason, I believe that Saku should continue his martial arts education on a regular basis so that his gift would not be wasted, and that is also a good way to prepare him for his military training in the future."

Eunbi raises her brows. "No – you mean you will send him to the military school later? No, I won't allow that. He will be bullied or even killed by those bastards."

"That's not what I mean," Jaeyeon tries to explain, "meanwhile I can be his trainer. I have done that before and I am confident that I can train him for the basics – he needs to grow up as a man one day and gains respect from the Warrior Class."

"But he is a mage!" Eunbi exclaims. "I am 100% sure he is going to grow up as a well-respected mage."

"But I am convinced that he will become one of the greatest warriors of time!" Jaeyeon argues.

"Great Yoonjung now wants him to replace me to go to the South for the yearly training, that means he has the potential to be a great mage!" Unconsciously, Eunbi's voice escalates.

Jaeyeon doesn't give up, "Great Yoonjung's arrangement is perfect. He will learn magic from Great Yoonjung and then martial arts from Daejung seonsaengnim when he travels to the South! My concern is he still has excellent flexibility, but it will be lost gradually after he reaches puberty, so he must restart his training as soon as possible!" Jaeyeon is raising his voice unconsciously too.

"Then what do you want? I think his intellectual training is more important than physical training."

"I am only asking for three hours per day."

"No! I can only let you have him on the weekends. He needs full concentration for one thing at a time."

"But that won't work!"

Chaewon is alarmed – are they starting a fight? She cannot believe that the future Queen and her Prince Consort will fight against each other on the bring-up of Saku as if he is their child.

"Wait! What are the two of you arguing about?" Chaewon decides to intervene quickly before the argument runs out of hand. "Great Yoonjung has already hinted that Saku has the potential to be a double merit class! These people are rare but it doesn't mean they don't exist."

"I don't doubt it and I am not saying Saku cannot receive martial arts training, just I don't want to further burden him with more lessons," Eunbi argues.

"I am the one who does all the arrangements. I can arrange it in a way that won't tire him out, is that alright?" Chaewon says calmly.

Eunbi speaks no more and pouts at Jaeyeon.

Seeing Eunbi pouts, Jaeyeon suddenly feels his heart melts in seconds and his anger instantly evaporates. He bows lightly to Eunbi and says, "I apologize, Your Highness."

Eunbi breathes in and out a few times and finally resumes her composure.

"Jaeyeon, can you promise me one thing?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"He can have military training, but DON'T EVER sends him to the military academy," Eunbi says quietly, "don't think that I never heard about what happened to you there."

Jaeyeon gulps and falls silent.

***

It's already 10 o'clock in the evening, Sakura is still doing her history homework on the other side of Eunbi's large desk.

"Kkura, are you tired?" Eunbi stands up and walks to Sakura, "do you want to take a rest? How is the martial arts lesson?"

"It is fine, unnie, and I'm not tired." Sakura raises her head with sparkling eyes and points to her homework, "this is so interesting – the Messengers of Heaven modified animals that resemble them and these animals eventually evolved into humans."

"Yes," Eunbi smiles, "that's why Heaven is so strict about humans. We are in a way their creations! But historians and archeologists can never agree on the process of evolution. Still, Tokkizans believed that their ancestors were rabbits, but Arukasians believed they were the descendants of white wolves."

Sakura nods, "the tattoo on the back of my ear."

"Yes, sweetie," Eunbi says and gently rubs the back of Sakura's ear.

Sakura giggles, "that's itchy."

Eunbi smiles and ruffles the girl's hair and goes back to her seat.

This is the best time of a day when Eunbi can finally hide in the lab and put down all of her facades. She changed into her most comfortable clothes and do whatever she likes; reading or experimenting with new potions and remedies, sometimes being alone, sometimes with Sakura sharing her desk doing homework or playing with her self-made toys.

Eunbi feels amazed by Sakura's seemingly unlimited potential. She should never worry that she is pushing the girl too hard in any way.

"Unnie, I have a question," Sakura suddenly asks, "I really like the lessons, but how will they help me as your servant?"

Eunbi is a bit taken aback, "Kkura, you are not a servant anymore. I have talked to the King and he agreed. You will have more important missions to be assigned to you later."

"What missions, unnie?" Sakura looks curious and excited at the same time.

"When the time comes, you will know." Eunbi chuckles and decided to divert the girl's attention. "Kkura, can I ask you a question? If you meet Aunt Yena one day, what will you talk to her?"

Sakura's brows crease.

"Like, is there any question you want to ask her, or anything to tell her?" Eunbi tries to explain further.

Sakura thinks for a while before she speaks. "I will tell her about papa's and mama's death, and ask her why she never replied to mama's letter."

Eunbi nods. She thinks she knows the reason, but she doesn't want to guess.

Sakura then grins innocently and continues, "and I will tell her there is a horse which named after her."

Eunbi nods and pulls out a pile of bound paper from her drawer, "sweetie, come here. Can you read these words?" Eunbi points to the cover when Sakura is hopping to her side.

Sakura points to the words and reads slowly, "Poly...polymath Learning and the A...cademy for In...ven...tion – a propo...sal. By Akimoto Yasushi, Master of the Mis...cell..."

"Miscellaneous," Eunbi pronounces the word slowly.

"Master of the...Mis-cel-lane-ous, in association with Choi Yena, Principal..." Sakura suddenly stops and looks at Eunbi in puzzlement.

Eunbi nods.

"Aunt Yena?"

Eunbi smiles, "yes. We have finally found her – we talked to her master and confirmed it. She is now working in another city, but I have summoned her. Her master will bring her to the Palace once she is back."

Sakura's mouth drops open and her eyes widen in disbelief.

Eunbi continues, "I am sorry I didn't tell you about this earlier that I have sent Kwangbae to search for Aunt Yena. I believe more mysteries about you will be solved if we can talk to her, and you may also want to meet your only aunt – even though you are not blood-related. Since I don't like to make a promise that cannot be fulfilled in case the mission failed, I decided to keep it from you. But thanks Heaven for the serendipity, they actually presented themselves before the King when we were away! They came with a proposal to set up a school, and they put their address on the proposal. So suddenly everything falls into place."

Sakura suddenly gets very emotional. Without warning, her knees give way and she kneels down before Eunbi.

"Thank you, unnie...thank you, Your Highness...you are so kind to have done this to me! I don't know how I am going to repay you in my life."

Eunbi pats Sakura's head and smiles, with a trace of melancholy, "just live well for me, that's all I ask of you."

Author's note:

I apologize for not being able to finish the new update for 2 solid months. I got a new teaching job and needed to do lots of preparations. Now 4 weeks have passed and I finally have some mental capacity to finish the chapter.

This is the beginning of the second half of the story when everybody is going to have a new life. I actually feel very excited about the new development (and frustrated that I have no time to write it out). Please let me know how do you think about this chapter and any ideas or expectations. Hope to talk to you again very soon.