Suddenly, everyone in the palace treated Taeyeon differently.

And Taeyeon still couldn’t get used to that treatment. People used to just stare at her judgmentally and talk behind her back, even when she could hear them loud and clear. People just didn’t care about disrespecting her although she was the daughter of the former finance minister. They thought it was okay to say nasty things about her because unlike other noble ladies, Taeyeon never does anything about it.

Now, wherever she went, all of the guards and palace servants would bow down to her. Even the servants who didn’t bother to acknowledge her when she first came to the palace, started to bow and greet her whenever she walked past them.

“Your destined highness, your breakfast is ready. Would you like us to bring it in?” asked Court Lady Jo from outside the room.

After Taeyeon was selected as the Crown Princess, she was ordered to live in a separate residence. She got to occupy a bigger room and have a new group of servants to attend to her. Court Lady Jo became her Court Lady, and it’s her duty to give Taeyeon lessons on the royal customs and manners before she officially marries the Crown Prince.

One good thing that came out of this though, is that she was no longer confined in a small room, guarded by her brother’s guards day and night. Her brother’s guards weren’t allowed to stand outside her room, they were only permitted to guard the main entrance of her residence and that made a world of difference.

“Yes, send it in please. I am starving,” she replied.

Taeyeon couldn’t even eat her meal in peace, Court Lady Jo stopped her everytime she tried to eat something. She nitpicked on the way she held her chopsticks and the way she should have her back straight all the time when she’s eating.

“Your destined highness, please place your chopsticks more gently,” said Court Lady Jo. Taeyeon heaved a sigh and picked up her chopsticks again before gently placing it on the table. She then grabbed the bowl to drink the soup, but Court Lady Jo stopped her again and told her to use the spoon.

“Does the Princess or the Queen eat like that as well?” she asked, her brows knitting together in annoyance. “How can someone eat like this everyday for the rest of their life?”

“All of the royal family members have to follow this. These are basic table manners.”

“All of them?”

Court Lady Jo nodded and demonstrated to her once again on how to sit and bring the food to . It reminded her of the way Baekhyun ate in front of her when they were eating at the noodle shack a week ago. She found it weird when she first saw him eating like that, gathering the noodles into his spoon before bringing it to his mouth instead of leaning his head to the bowl like her.

It was just a week ago, but it still felt like months ago because of how dreadfully slow the days went by for her in the palace.

It feels like forever since she last saw him.

Oh great, why do I keep thinking about him? I am getting married!

“Your destined highness?”

“Yes?” she blinked at her.

“Your back.”

Taeyeon quickly straightened her back and forced a smile at her. “Erm, I still can’t get used to being addressed as the destined highness.”

“My apologies, agassi,” Court Lady Jo said.

“By the way, how long have you been a court lady in the palace?”

“Twenty years, agassi.”

“Wow, that’s a long time. Don’t you feel bored working in the same place for so many years?” she asked.

“Being a court lady is the only thing I know. If I leave the palace, I have nowhere else to go.”

“Oh. Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” she apologized.

“Agassi, you don’t have to apologize. I am just a lowly servant.”

“No, I should apologize when I say or do something wrong. You taught me table manners, that should come with basic etiquette too, doesn’t it?” she said and chuckled lightly. “And I didn’t realize that not everyone is as privileged as me, I got to chase after my dreams because I was born a noble. And you probably didn’t have a choice when you started working in the palace.”

Court Lady Jo’s face broke into a smile, surprised by Taeyeon’s humble personality. It reminded her a lot of late Queen Hwang Eun-Song. And she has a feeling that the Crown Prince is going to feel the same way about Taeyeon too.

“Too bad for me though, I got caught before I could become a certified herbalist,” she sighed, gently putting down her spoon at the side of her bowl. “I may be a noble and I have the privilege of getting the education I need to do something I like, but at the end of the day, I guess I am no different from you.”

“Agassi, I have one advice for you,” said Court Lady Jo.

“What is it?”

“Try to look at this betrothal as a blessing, instead of a misfortune,” she said, causing Taeyeon to furrow her brows in confusion. “It has been decided from the first place that you will marry Prince Jung. But because of the Crown Prince’s request, you ended up marrying the Crown Prince instead.”

“What do you mean? Do you mean I am better off marrying the Crown Prince?” she asked. She could tell from Court Lady Jo’s face that she was relieved that she is going to be marrying the Crown Prince instead of the Prince.

Court Lady Jo nodded and lowered her voice before saying, “Becoming the Crown Princess might come with a lot of responsibilities, but if you became Prince Jung’s wife, your life will be full of suffering.”

“Oh, I did hear about the reputation he has in the palace,” said Taeyeon. “Earlier I heard the servants gossiping about how lucky I was to get out of the marriage with Prince Jung.”

“I am sorry that you heard that, Agassi. I will make sure to severely punish them later.”

“No, it’s fine. I am sure they didn’t mean to let me hear it,” chuckled Taeyeon. “So, what is the Crown Prince like then? I don’t know a thing about him.”

“Not even what he looks like?”

“No, I have never met him,” said Taeyeon.

Court Lady Jo clicked her tongue as she looked down at her hands, wondering how to describe the Crown Prince to Taeyeon.

“You must have watched his Royal Highness grow up before your eyes since you have been working in the palace for twenty years, right?” asked Taeyeon.

“Yes, I have,” Court Lady Jo replied with a smile. If Taeyeon wasn’t mistaken, she could even see a hint of pride in Court Lady Jo’s smile when she thought of the Crown Prince. “The Crown Prince was the light of the palace.”

“He is?” Taeyeon asked, finding that a bit hard to believe. She had heard rumours about the Crown Prince when she was in the village, not so nice things were said about how he was the odd one out among the three princes because he’s the least social and never involved in any social activities, unlike his other two brothers.

“He was,” Court Lady Jo said with a solemn look on her face. “His Royal Highness was a very friendly and cheerful young prince from a young age, he would run around the palace grounds greeting everyone no matter their status. Unlike other noble borns, he never discriminates.”

“That doesn’t sound like the same person according to the rumours,” said Taeyeon.

“The Crown Prince changed after the late Queen Hwang Eun-Seong passed away,” Court Lady Jo said with a heavy sigh. “The news devastated everyone in the palace, everyone loved the late Queen.”

“So the late Queen’s passing made the Crown Prince change?”

“His Royal Highness was permanently traumatised by that incident. After all, his Royal Highness witnessed his mother’s assassination right in front of him.”

Taeyeon gasped, feeling bad for the Crown Prince. She can’t imagine seeing her loved ones die right in front of her, and for the Crown Prince to experience that at such a young age, he must be traumatised.

“To lose your mother at such a delicate age, it changed the Crown Prince forever. We all saw how the light disappeared from his eyes after the funeral, and his Royal Highness was never the same again.”

Taeyeon was speechless to hear such a depressing backstory about the Crown Prince. After learning about the Crown Prince’s backstory, she isn’t looking forward to meeting him in person, let alone marry him and live with him forever in the palace. She can’t spend the rest of her life living with someone like that.

“I am sure that you will make a wonderful wife to the Crown Prince.”

Taeyeon furrowed her brows, surprised to hear that coming from Court Lady Jo. “I thought you said that I don’t make a good Crown Princess earlier, because of the criteria set by the Queen.”

“Well, probably not a good Crown Princess, but a great wife to the Crown Prince.”

Taeyeon blushed at the mention of the word “wife”. 

“I still can’t believe I am actually getting married,” she said out loud in disbelief. “After all the effort I put in trying to escape this place,” she thought to herself.

“Getting married at this age is a blessing, Agassi,” said Court Lady Jo, chuckling softly to herself. Taeyeon was about to disagree when someone from outside the room asked to come in.

“Yes, you may come in,” said Court Lady Jo. Taeyeon raised a brow when she saw a young servant walk into the room. “This is Hui, she will be your palace attendant from now on.”

“Your destined Highness,” the girl who just entered the room quickly bowed down to greet Taeyeon.

“Her highness would like to be addressed as agassi for now,” said Court Lady Jo.

“My apologies, agassi,” Hui quickly bowed down again.

“Nice to meet you,” Taeyeon replied, nodding her head towards Hui. The girl looks like she is almost the same age as her and Taeyeon has a feeling that they will get along well during her stay in the palace.

“You can ask Hui to do anything for you, when I am not around, she will be the one to attend to you,” explained Court Lady Jo. “She will be the one following you around the palace, even to your trips outside the palace.”

“Wait,” Taeyeon’s ears perked up when she heard the last few words in her sentence. “I get to leave the palace?”

Court Lady Jo nodded and said, “Yes, agassi. But you have to get the Crown Prince’s approval to leave.”

Taeyeon smiled, happy to hear that she could still leave the palace after becoming the Crown Princess. There will be plenty of chances for her to plan her escape once she leaves the palace.
“If I want to visit my family, do I still need the Crown Prince’s approval?”

“Yes, agassi,” replied Court Lady Jo.

“Oh I almost forgot,” gasped Hui, causing Court Lady Jo to cast her a disapproving look. “Agassi…” Hui added quietly at the end as she smiled sheepishly at Court Lady Jo.

“Yes, Hui?”

“Agassi, your family is waiting outside for you. They are here to visit you,” said Hui. Taeyeon stood up immediately, almost knocking the table in front of her over.

“My parents? My brother? Everyone?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes agassi, they are waiting for you outside,” replied Hui, her smile growing wider when she saw how excited the young future Crown Princess was. “Should I let them in, agassi?”

“Yes, yes let them in!”

Taeyeon was excited to see her family, it’s been a year since she last saw her parents and her younger brother. She impatiently drummed her fingers on the table, waiting for Hui to lead them in. The door opened and her smile slowly faded when she saw her older brother standing at the door.

“Orabeoni?” she frowned, her brother just glared down at her as he walked further into the room. Her face lit up when she saw her mother and younger brother appear from behind Kim Minjun.

“Noona!” Taeyeon’s younger brother, Kim Minwoo called out to his sister as he ran forward to envelope her into a hug. Taeyeon smiled and held her brother close, peering over his shoulder to see her mother standing there, looking nervous more than excited to be there.

“Eomeo-nim,” she greeted her mother when Minwoo finally let her go. Her mother smiled at her and gently reached out for her hands. Holding her mother’s hands in hers, tears started to well up in her eyes. She realized how much she had missed her mother. Taeyeon felt guilty seeing her mother’s frail hands and wondered if her mother hasn’t been eating well ever since she left home.

After a tearful reunion, they all sat around on the floor, Court Lady Jo and Hui had left the room to give the family some privacy. This is when Kim Minjun finally dropped the façade.

“So you went behind my back after all. Didn’t know that you were that greedy to become the Crown Princess,” he spat bitterly. “Or did you do that out of spite?”

Taeyeon clenched her jaw as the tension rose in the room, she could see her younger brother and mother looking confused from the corner of her eye. “What can I say? I learned from the best.”

She replied nonchalantly, trying to provoke her brother.

“Minjun-a, what are you talking about?” asked their mother.

“Eomeo-nim, I was the one who arranged this marriage, I used my connections to the Prince to get Taeyeon married. But she blew it,” said Kim Minjun.

“Didn’t orabeoni want me to marry a Prince? The Crown Prince is also a Prince, isn’t his highness?” Taeyeon said, smirking when she saw the look on her brother’s face. “Eomeo-nim, where is abeoji? Why didn’t he come with you guys?”

“Father is talking with the other ministers, catching up. How did you end up here though? How did hyung find you?” asked Kim Minwoo.

Taeyeon glanced at her older brother who was staring at her, his eyes warning her to be careful with what she says. “Oh, orabeoni sent some people to look for me and they found me.”

“And you came here to marry the Crown Prince?” asked her younger brother.

“Yeah, it somehow ended that way…” Taeyeon trailed off, glancing at her mother who looked concerned.

She understood why her mother was worried.

She is going to become the Crown Princess, the woman by the future King’s side. And although she will have a comfortable life in the palace, her life will become in danger because she is the Crown Princess. She could die suddenly one day and her murder would go unsolved.

“Eomeo-nim,” she slowly reached out to grab her mother’s hands. “I will be okay. I can protect myself.”

“But I know you, you want freedom. Living in the palace for the rest of your life isn’t right for you,” her mother said.

Hearing her mother say that, she felt a lump forming in . Growing up, her mother had always been very strict with her, she wanted her daughter to marry into a nice and noble family so that her daughter would live a comfortable life for the rest of her life. Taeyeon had always thought that her mother never understood why she ran away from home and why she wanted to become a herbalist.

But now, her mother finally understands her.

“It’s okay, mother. Living in the palace isn’t so bad, you know I can adapt to new environments really quickly,” she told her mother. “Unlike Minwoo who puked on the first day of living in the school dormitories.”

Her mother laughed while her younger brother playfully swatted his sister in the forearm. Taeyeon was glad that the mood has gotten brighter, she didn’t feel comfortable making her mother worried about her.

As Minwoo started to bring up about the embarrassing things Taeyeon did when she was younger, the whole conversation shifted into them bickering back and forth with each other, with their mother laughing at the side.

Taeyeon and Kim Minjun's eyes met for a brief second and Taeyeon knew that the moment her mother and younger brother leaves after their visit, her brother is going to have a nice talk with her about her marriage to the Crown Prince.

***

“Your highness, tomorrow will be the wedding, perhaps it would be better if your highness can go to sleep early tonight,” advised Eunuch Nam as he followed behind the Crown Prince. “Your highness,” he said again when the Crown Prince ignored him.

Baekhyun finally stopped walking when he reached the bridge, standing over the stream and glancing up at the full round moon in the night sky. He heaved a sigh before saying, “Eunuch Nam.”

“Yes, your highness?”

“Is it right for me to go through with this marriage?”

Eunuch Nam blinked in confusion, surprised that his Royal highness cared about the marriage at all. “Yes, your highness. It is everyone’s wishes to see your Royal highness wed.”

Baekhyun let out another heavy sigh, knowing that when he asked Eunuch Nam that question, he wouldn’t get the answer he was looking for. 

Tonight, he can’t sleep. 

Knowing that Kim Taeyeon is going to be his Crown Princess soon, he was actually surprised with himself for caring about whether she will be happy when she sees that he is the one that she is marrying.

She’s the only person he had really interacted with properly outside of the palace, and in that short time he got to know her, he already knows about her dreams and goals, and he’s going to be the one that ruins all of it.

“Your highness, it is getting late, we should head back,” persuaded Eunuch Nam.

“You go back first, I want to take a walk.”

“Your highness.”

“It’s an order. Go back.”

“Your highness, we received strict orders from his Majesty to follow you everywhere you go.”

“Then, take 15 steps backwards and follow me from a distance.”

Eunuch Nam backed away and signaled all of the attendants to do the same. Baekhyun continued to walk down the bridge as his attendants followed him from a few feet away. He stopped when he saw Taeyeon walking with her Court Lady and her servants out of the palace garden.

She was talking animatedly with Court Lady Jo and her servant as they headed towards the direction of her residence.

She didn’t look nervous or scared that tomorrow is her wedding day.

Baekhyun thought to himself. He glanced at Eunuch Nam and his attendants who are still at the other end of the bridge, waiting for him to take another step forward. He smirked and started to sprint away from the area quickly before they could realize that the Crown Prince was gone.

He ran towards Taeyeon, and without stopping, he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. Taeyeon’s attendants were so shocked that they didn’t take a good look at him when he snatched the future Crown Princess away.

Hearing the panic behind them, Baekhyun dashed through the trees and pulled Taeyeon with him back to the palace garden.

They ran through shrubs and bushes, deep into the huge garden. He heard her protests behind him, but he didn’t stop until he finally brought them to a small hut in the garden.

“What do you think you are doing?” she asked him when he finally let her go. She quickly grabbed a piece of wood from the corner of the room, ready to hit him with it in case he comes any closer. He shut the door and turned around to face her.

She dropped the wood onto the ground when she saw who it was.

“Hyun?”

“I have a question and I need you to answer me,” he said.

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she stared at him. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while and I thought you left.”

“Do you want to marry the Crown Prince? Or do you want to make your escape?”

She blinked at him, he made her even more confused than before. “What?”

“Quick, we don’t have much time before they find us. Tell me if you still want to escape this place.”

“Yes, yes I do,” she replied without any hesitations. “Are you going to help me escape?”

“Yes.”

“How? I have already been selected as the Crown Princess, I can’t just go missing,” she said as she started to pace around the room nervously. “And what will happen to my family? Unless I am dead, there is no reason for me to go missing the day before my wedding.”

Baekhyun stopped to take a step back, realizing that he wasn’t thinking earlier when he grabbed her hand in an attempt to help her escape. He had only been thinking about the obstacle and not its consequences. That isn’t like him at all.

“I am grateful that you came back to help me escape. Really,” she said. “But I have sealed my fate the moment I stepped into the palace. And I have learned to accept it.”

He looked into her eyes and saw the fear in her eyes, her hands were trembling, he could tell that she was afraid. But what she just said made her really brave, and he didn’t understand how a petite girl like her can hold that much courage.

“Are you sure? The moment we leave this room, you will have to go through the wedding tomorrow,” this time he spoke a lot softer than before and Taeyeon felt herself calming down slightly.

“Yes. I just hope his Royal highness will be a nice person at least.”

Shouts from the servants became louder, Court Lady Jo and her attendants had run after them and were now searching for the future Crown Princess in the garden. Baekhyun knew that they won’t have much time left alone, it is now or never.

“Trust me, the Crown Prince doesn’t really care about anything else other than his duties,” he said quickly. “And he can be nice if he wants to.”

Taeyeon’s brows drew together in confusion.

“And how are you so sure that his Royal highness is like that?” she asked.

“Because I am the guy that you are going to be marrying tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am the Crown Prince.”