Taeyeon stood at the front as she watched other noble ladies gathered together. 

All of them looked excited to be in the palace. Noble ladies herded together in groups, talking about how nice it would be to live in the palace. Taeyeon stood there alone, glancing at the others as she patiently waited for the selection process to start.

Last night, she cried herself to sleep again, knowing that she couldn’t escape the palace no matter how hard she tried. Her brother had sent his guards to watch her every second, maids would just leave food at the door when it’s time to eat. She was completely isolated in her room, waiting for the day of the Crown Princess selection process to start.

Even now, the guards sent by her brother were watching her from afar.

“Okay ladies, I will start calling out your names. When your name is called, please come out and stand in this line,” an older lady announced as she stood at the very front, facing all of them. She started to call out the names and one by one, everyone went forward.

Taeyeon anxiously waited for her name to be called out and when she heard her name, she went forward.

It felt weird to be stared at by the other candidates. Taking her place beside the others who were called forward earlier, she felt that she shouldn’t be there when they were all giving her judgemental looks.

“Isn’t that the daughter of former Finance Minister Kim Jang-Pil?”

“Oh yeah, I heard she ran away. What is she doing here?”

“Who wouldn’t come back when they could potentially marry the Crown Prince? She must have heard that the Crown Prince is looking for a Crown Princess and came back.”

She must have made a reputation for herself when she ran away, not exactly what she wanted to be known for, but at least it is better than them focusing on her family background.

Ever since she was a young girl, whenever she attended events with her father, she would receive praises for her exceptional beauty from other noble families. And while Taeyeon felt comfortable for a while thinking that people approached her because she was likeable, she soon found out that they only befriended her because of her family background. She found it even harder to make friends when she found out the few friends she made actually criticized her and judged her behind her back.

Making friends became a lot easier for her once she ran away and befriended her neighbour, Doo Na. No one knew where she really came from and just accepted her because they saw her as equal, and commoners stick together.

“Okay, let me introduce myself. I am Court Lady Jo and you may address me as that,” the older lady started to introduce herself. Taeyeon frowned when she felt someone staring at her. She looked to her right and spotted a eunuch standing behind a huge pillar outside the field, staring at her.

Taeyeon raised a brow in confusion when the eunuch quickly looked away and ran towards the opposite direction. Whoever that was, must have been sent by someone to spy on her. It couldn’t be her brother because he already had a number of guards keeping an eye on her.

It must be sent by the Crown Prince.

She started to recall back to the time when her brother almost strangled her to death. Her brother had told her that the Crown Prince knew her name and specifically chose her to join the selection process. But she thought nothing of it because she assumed it must be a sibling rivalry between the Crown Prince and Prince Jung.

“Hello, are you Kim Taeyeon-ssi?”

Taeyeon glanced to her right to see a girl smiling at her kindly. She quickly returned the gesture and nodded.

“My name is Tae Ah Ra, let’s be friends!”

Taeyeon forced a smile on her face and shook her hand. She wasn’t intending on making any friends here, but it would be nice to have an ally. “Sure!”

Tae Ah Ra looks really pretty, and she’s the first one that made her feel welcomed here. She could see her becoming one of the finalists already.

“I heard the tests are going to be tough. We have to go through three strict steps to be chosen as the final Crown Princess,” Tae Ah Ra whispered.

“What are the three steps?” asked Taeyeon, beginning to feel butterflies in her stomach when she thought about the test.

“They are going to test us on our speech and other womanly tasks such as embroidery and weaving skills. And as long as you showed that you are capable of handling domestic tasks, you will be able to pass the second stage.”

Taeyeon’s brows drew together in curiosity. “What’s the first stage? The one we are about to do now?”

“They are going to assess our appearance. To see if we have the face of a future Queen.”

“And how are they doing to assess that? There are so many beautiful women here.”

Tae Ah Ra suddenly shut when she noticed someone walking up to the front.

“Everyone, please show your respect to her majesty, the Queen Consort,” Court Lady Jo said.

The girls around them also stopped talking and quickly bowed down to her majesty. Then amidst the most intense silence, the Queen glanced over the candidates and her eyes stopped on Taeyeon.

Taeyeon quickly averted her eyes to the ground to avoid eye contact.

The story of how her majesty became the Queen was pretty popular among the people. Before her, late Queen Hwang Eun-Song was the Queen. She was loved by all of her people because of her contributions to the nation.

The current Queen is the biological mother of Prince Jung, who was promoted from a Royal Concubine to Queen Consort after the passing of the late Queen Hwang Eun-Song. Till this day, her majesty is still being mocked for where she came from by the people, and Taeyeon wouldn’t be surprised if Prince Jung received the same treatment from the people as well.

And judging from the way her majesty looked at her earlier, Taeyeon had a feeling that she is already on her bad side because of the broken engagement with Prince Jung.

Everyone stood in a horizontal line to be assessed by the Queen. Although Taeyeon didn’t care about the test and her brother had told her to fail it, she still felt anxious to stand in front of the Queen. She kept her chin high and looked forward, anxiously waiting for the Queen to reach her. 

When the Queen reached Tae Ah Ra who was standing beside her, she bowed and greeted the Queen, even asking her majesty how her day is today. Taeyeon glanced at her new friend and was surprised to see her acting calm and poised, unlike a few other candidates before her.

“Your majesty,” Taeyeon greeted and bowed, slowly looking up to meet the Queen’s eyes. “My name is Kim Taeyeon, daughter of Kim Jang-Pil. It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”

“Oh, I know who you are,” the Queen replied, smiling down at her. Taeyeon forced a smile in return when she noticed the other candidates staring at her from the corner of her eyes. “I wish to see you pass the test with flying colours.”

“Thank you for the support, your majesty,” Taeyeon bowed again.

The candidates were tested on their balance as well. Each candidate had to balance a few bowls on each side of their arms and walk in a straight line. Taeyeon passed the test easily because of her experience balancing all the fragile pots on her hands when she was working at the infirmary with her uncle.

After the first stage of the assessment was over, the ones who passed the test were led to a room to enjoy their lunch. Taeyeon was grateful to see a warm meal in front of her after such an exhausting morning. She folded her hands in her lap, patiently waiting for Court Lady Jo to allow them to start digging into their meal.

When Court Lady Jo gave a wave of her hand, Taeyeon quickly grabbed her spoon to try the soup. It tasted delicious, but it still lacked the feeling commoner food gives off. She pouted and glanced at the others to see how they are enjoying their meal.

Tae Ah Ra who was sitting beside her, was busy conversing with the others sitting near her, talking about how scared she was earlier when they met the Queen. Taeyeon raised a brow, surprised to hear her say that because she acted really confident earlier.

“Ah Ra-ssi, you did great! I think you did the best among all of us,” one of the girls said, comforting her.

“Yeah, you were so calm. Unlike me, I almost tripped in front of her majesty.”

“Really? I really didn’t think I did good enough though,” said Ah Ra, rubbing her hands nervously. She then looked at Taeyeon and said, “But I think Kim Taeyeon-ssi earned the favour of the Queen, her majesty said that she knows her.”

An awkward silence ensued, and Taeyeon sensed that everyone was waiting for her to explain herself. She smiled and waved her hands in front of her before saying, “Ah, she probably meant my father. I have never met her majesty before.”

The others nodded and changed the topic shortly afterwards. Taeyeon felt embarrassed to explain that.  People wouldn’t have questioned her if Tae Ah Ra hadn’t asked her that question in front of everyone. But she knew that Tae Ah Ra didn’t do it on purpose, she was probably just excited for her.

“Ah Ra-ssi, did you come here willingly?” she decided to ask since she was done with her meal.

“Yes, of course! My dream is to marry into the palace!” Ah Ra replied. “Is that not your dream?”

Taeyeon forced a smile and said, “Well, I have my own dream outside the palace. But it’s great that you are on the way to your dream.”

“So you are fine with not passing the test?”

“Yeah, I don’t really care if I fail the next stage.”

“But the Queen seemed fond of you.”

“Not really,” Taeyeon chuckled awkwardly.

“Anyways, I have been practicing my weaving skills with my mother and I can’t wait to show my skills later. Have you been practicing anything else?”

“Hmm, no. It’s been a while since I got in touch with my mother,” Taeyeon said. Back at home, her lessons always centred around domestic and womanly works like cooking, weaving and embroidery work. And her mother would always make sure that her daughter had good posture and made her balance bowls on her arms as she walked until both of her arms ached. Her mother had high expectations for her to become the perfect wife until she ran away from home. “But I think I am ready to take on whatever tests they are going to put me through.”

Court Lady Jo then went to the front and all of the girls put down their spoon to listen to her next announcement. “I hope all of you enjoyed the meal. We will carry on the next stage of assessment soon. So I hope everyone is ready.”

***

“Your highness, the Crown Princess selection process is currently on-going,” Eunuch Nam said. “They are all enjoying their lunch right now.”

Baekhyun nodded as he closed his book. Looking up at Eunuch Nam, he asked, “How about the girl?”

“She passed the first stage, your highness.”

“Good,” he rubbed his hands together and stopped when he noticed Eunuch Nam grinning down at him. Eunuch Nam’s lopsided-grin confused him, which led his highness to ask, “Is there anything else you want to say?”

“No, your highness.”

The Crown Prince heaved a sigh, turning his attention to Soo who has been sitting in the corner. “Soo, why is Eunuch Nam smiling like that?”

“I don’t have an answer for that, your highness,” Soo replied.

“Eunuch Nam?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“You are creeping me out. Wipe that stupid grin off your face,” the Crown Prince ordered.

“Your highness, I can’t help but smile because this is my first time seeing your highness showing interest in a lady,” said Eunuch Nam, his grin growing wider. “Soo told me that your highness might have met her when you were outside the palace.”

Soo immediately looked away when the Crown Prince turned to look at him.

“I see you two have been having a lot of time on your hands to gossip about me,” he said as he tapped his fingers on the table. “Let’s pay a visit to the financial department, shall we? I need to check on something.”

“Yes, your highness,” said Eunuch Nam as he quickly ran to the door.

***

As all of the candidates gathered back on the field again, Taeyeon started to feel anxious again. She had been contemplating on whether she should try to fail or try her best to pass the test when she was in the lunch room earlier.

Either way, it’s a dead end for her unless the guards nearby stopped paying attention to her and let her escape. But of course, that would never happen after what she pulled last time.

“Congratulations girls, for moving on to the next stage,” said Court Lady Jo. “Earlier, we assessed your appearance and your poise. While it’s nice to have a beautiful face, what’s important that can help you pass the test is to show how capable you are of handling domestic tasks.”

“See, it must be embroidery,” Ah Ra whispered as she leaned closer to Taeyeon.

“To be the wife of the Crown Prince, you are only required to become someone who is quiet, restrained, proper and capable of handling domestic tasks,” Court Lady Jo read loudly from the handbook in her hands. “The role of a woman is defined as a supporter for her in-laws, husband, and sons. Do keep in mind that we are going to assess you based on these criterias.”

They were all then given embroidery kits and asked to embroider a beautiful flower for the Crown Prince. Taeyeon was never skilled in embroidery, she had hoped that they would test her on her stitching skills instead. She was always skilled in stitching for helping the kids in the village to stitch their clothes whenever their parents were busy.

She knew she was going to fail the test when she submitted her work. She glanced over at Ah Ra’s work and was amazed at how beautiful it was.

“Yours looked impressive,” she mouthed at Ah Ra.

“Thank you, yours too!” Ah Ra mouthed back. Taeyeon forced a smile on her face, knowing that Ah Ra was just being kind about it.

“I will submit this to the Crown Prince later and we will know the results tomorrow. Okay, the next step of the test is tea-making. A woman must know how to make tea for her husband.”

After saying that, Court Lady Jo nodded towards two palace women, signalling them to bring forward the trays of ingredients. “There is a well at the side for you to get your water,” Court Lady Jo gestured towards her right. “You are required to complete the whole process by yourself. From boiling the water to mixing the appropriate amount of tea leaves into your tea pot.”

Taeyeon’s face lit up when she saw all of the ingredients lined up perfectly on the table. Making herbal tea is one of her many specialties. One of the reasons why she wanted to become a herbalist was because she likes the scent of herbal medicine and tea leaves as well.

She got to work as soon as Court Lady Jo gave them the permission to start.

“Wow, you seem very excited to do this,” Ah Ra commented as she watched Taeyeon grinding the leaves in the bowl as she waited for her water to boil. “I thought you weren’t interested in passing the test.”

“Well, I enjoy making tea,” Taeyeon replied. “Test or not, I have missed doing this a lot.”

Court Lady Jo smiled proudly as she watched the young ladies making their own tea. She then glanced over at Tae Ah Ra and Kim Taeyeon. So far, Tae Ah Ra is the best candidate in terms of her skills and her interactions with the other candidates. As for Kim Taeyeon, while her beauty fits the criteria, she noticed that her embroidery skills needed more work.

She has been paying attention to Kim Taeyeon ever since she received orders from the King to add her name to the list. It also surprised her when she heard that the Crown Prince himself requested that. So, she decided to pay special attention to Taeyeon and see how it goes.

Her smile faded when she saw the Crown Prince and two of his attendants walking across the bridge behind the testing field.

She bowed down when the Crown Prince stopped walking and looked over the field. The candidates didn’t notice him because they were all busy completing the task on time. She watched as the Crown Prince pressed his finger on his own lips to signal Court Lady Jo to stay quiet, which she nodded in return.

The Crown Prince then slowly glanced over the candidates. All of the candidates were dressed in the same bright yellow and pink robes, but he recognized Taeyeon from the back because she was slightly smaller than others.

He sighed, wondering if Taeyeon had thought of a plan to escape. He already bought her more time to plan her escape, so he hoped that she already has a plan to do so. This is the least he could do to repay her after saving his life outside the palace.

Eunuch Nam followed the Crown Prince’s line of sight and grinned when he realized that his highness was staring at a certain noble lady.

Baekhyun slowly walked to his left to get a better look at what Taeyeon was doing when he noticed the candidate beside her complimenting her skills. He raised a brow, realizing that she was simply grinding the tea leaves.

He watched as she brought the bowl to her nose and smelled the freshly-grinded tea leaves. The corner of his mouth lifted when he saw a satisfied smile plastered across her face.

She must miss her life outside the palace, working in the infirmary and going up and down the mountain to collect herbs. He sighed, wishing he could help her.

Finally tearing his eyes away from her, he noticed Eunuch Nam grinning up at him from the corner of his eye.

“It’s not like that,” he muttered, giving his eunuch a warning look before clasping his hands behind him and resumed walking. Eunuch Nam didn’t stop grinning and glanced over at Soo who was trying to suppress a smile, they both shared a knowing look and continued walking behind the Crown Prince.

***

The Crown Prince was exhausted from his late night training. After taking a nice warm bath, he returned to his room to see a box placed on his table. “What’s this?” he asked Eunuch Nam as he walked towards his table.

“It’s from Court Lady Jo, your highness, ” replied Eunuch Nam, slowly walking up to his highness. “She said that the Crown Prince has to pick one from the pile, it’s from the Crown Princess candidates.”

“Why do I have to pick one?” Baekhyun asked, opening the box and briefly flipping through the small pieces of clothes. “I already told her that I don’t want to intervene in the selection process.”

“Court Lady Jo said that it would be fair for your highness to pick it as she needs to choose three candidates to move on to the final stage.”

Baekhyun’s brows knitted together as he grabbed the whole pile and spread them across his table. “Soo, Eunuch Nam, come and help me to pick one.”

Soo went forward as ordered and stood in front of the Crown Prince’s table, glancing over the clothes. Eunuch Nam squatted down in front of the table to get a better look of the embroidery and gasped when he saw one.

“This one looks very pretty,” he reached over to grab one in pink and yellow, with a few hints of green for the leaves.

“Yes, I agree,” Soo said. “The others look similar because they all followed the same flower pattern.”

The Crown Prince nodded, grabbing the cloth from Eunuch Nam’s hands. “I will pick this one then.”

Eunuch Nam grinned and said, “It’s probably embroidered by candidate Kim Taeyeon-ssi.”

The Crown Prince heaved a sigh and started to gather all of them to place them back into the box when something caught his eye. It caught his attention not because of its exceptional embroidery skills, but for its uniqueness.

Gently holding it in his hands, he analyzed the stitches. The candidate who did this was clearly inexperienced, there was even a dot of dried blood on the edges. From the back, the knots were a mess.

But seeing it from the front, he liked the design because not only is there a different flower in the middle, it also had a small butterfly resting on the petal of the flower. It’s a detail that showed him more about the candidate and what she was thinking when she embroidered it.

“I will pick this one,” he said, handling it to Eunuch Nam.

“This one?” Eunuch Nam grimaced as he looked down at it. When he saw the Crown Prince looking at him blankly, he grinned and nodded. “Alright, I will pass this on to Court Lady Jo, your highness.”