When the Crown Princess opened her eyes, foggy memories from last night started to flood into her mind.

Memories of her crying and whining made her squeeze her eyes in cringe. She brought her hands to her face trying to remember if she did anything else that embarrasses herself further. But she realized that she out after crying and forgot what happened afterwards.

She kicked the blanket away from her and sat up from the bed.

Did the Crown Prince put her to bed after that? Or did his Royal Highness just left her there and let her drunkenly crawl to the bed herself?

She glanced around the empty room, wondering where the Crown Prince went when the Sun was barely up.

“Is anyone out there?” she cleared and asked.

“Yes, Your Royal Highness?” She heard Court Lady Jo replying to her from outside the room. Court Lady Jo definitely did not waste any time to change her title from “Agassi” to “Your Royal Highness” after she had wed the Crown Prince. “Your Royal Highness, can we come in?” asked Court Lady Jo. Taeyeon sighed before granting them her permission to come in.

The Palace maids started to usher in, working as a team to help the Crown Princess get ready. From washing her face to helping her wear her hanbok to getting her makeup done, they were all done within half an hour. It would take some time for Taeyeon to get used to this many people serving her like Royalty, because she has officially became Royalty after yesterday.

“Hui, where is his Royal Highness?” She asked Hui as she walked out of the room, with her servants walking closely behind her.

“Your Royal Highness, sorry we don’t know. His Royal Highness left without telling anyone, no one saw him left.” Hui replied.

“Oh, well perhaps it is better this way,” she mumbled to herself, thinking back to last night, when she remembered confessing to him that her heart fluttered for him.

“I am sorry your Royal Highness, I couldn’t hear you,” said Hui.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry, I was just talking to myself.”

Court Lady Jo suddenly cleared and bowed before saying, “Your Royal Highness, my apologies for interrupting. His Majesty and the Queen are expecting you to pay them a visit now.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.”

Taeyeon puffed her cheeks and pursed her lips nervously as her servants escorted her out to meet the King and Queen of Joseon. Last time her meeting with the King was pleasant, but she could feel that the Queen will be a lot harder to please than everyone in the palace.

Being nervous about meeting your in-laws is one thing, but meeting the King and Queen of Joseon as their daughter-in-law? That’s something Taeyeon would never dare to dream about ever in her life.

***

“How was your first night?”

Taeyeon almost spat out her tea when the Queen asked her that. She stared at the Queen, fumbling for an appropriate response, when the Queen let out a small laugh.

“Did you sleep well?”

The Crown Princess let out a sigh of relief and nodded before saying, “Yes, I slept well, Your Majesty.”

“Good, I hope that you find the palace at home. Your only task now is to conceive a Royal baby with the Crown Prince. If there is any help you need to conceive, feel free to request from the palace.”

This time, Taeyeon really choked on her tea. Court Lady Jo quickly passed her a napkin to wipe . Taeyeone was throwing every palace courtesy Court Lady Jo taught her the other night away and her servants couldn't help but grimace at the young Crown Princess’ reaction. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will take care of it, thank you for your concern.”

“As it is your royal duty to conceive, I hope that you won’t find it too meddling,” said the Queen, flashing a forced smile at her. “I hope the future grandchild won’t grow up to become a wild child. I heard that you apparently ran away from home to escape a betrothal.”

Taeyeon could sense that the Queen is intentionally testing her by mentioning that in front of the King. Even the King seems surprised at that fact.

“Those are just rumors, Your Majesty. I was sent to learn medicine with my uncle,” Taeyeon explained, though that wasn’t entirely the truth, but medicine was the main reason she left home.

“You studied medicine?” the King asked.

“Yes, I was studying to become a licensed herbalist, Your Majesty. My uncle was Royal Physician Kim Jang Geum.”

“Royal Physician Kim is your uncle? He’s exceptionally good in medicine, you have a good teacher,” said the King. “Our daughter in law has both beauty and brains, our grandchild will turn out great with both of their genes, don’t you agree, my Queen?”

“Yes,” the Queen replied curtly.

After the morning meeting with the King and Queen, Taeyeon was escorted back to her room. She already found palace life boring and she wished she could explore other places now that she has the freedom to at least roam around the palace. However, her status as the Crown Princess, also earned her a lot of staring which made her extremely uncomfortable.

“Hui.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness?” Hui replied.

“Switch clothes with me,” Taeyeon whispered, now that they are alone in her room.

“What?” Hui gasped, putting her hand to to stop herself from shouting out loud. 

“I want you to switch places with me, just for the afternoon.”

“It is a grave crime to pose as the Crown Princess, Your Royal Highness. They will have my head if anyone finds out about this.”

“Don’t worry, you never need to leave the room. I will make up an excuse that I am feeling tired from all the duties, so I wish that no one will bother me while I rest. You just need to stay in this room until I come back.”

“But -”

“I know! How about we both go together? You just need to lend me an extra outfit. We can be two palace maids walking around together!”

“I don’t know, Your Royal Highness. This is a bad idea…”

“Do you trust me, Hui?” Taeyeon asked, holding both of her hands and looking into her eyes.

“Alright, Your Royal Highness. I trust you,” Hui said, shying away from eye contact.

 They quickly put their act into action, and soon, they are both walking side by side outside of her chambers. Taeyeon could proudly walk around and no one would bat her an eye, she was just another servant girl.

“Hui, have you ever left the palace?” she asked.

“Yes, there is an exit for us servants to leave and come into the palace. You just need to go-”, Hui paused as she looked at Her Royal Highness. “You aren’t planning to escape, are you?”

“No, of course not. I am just curious,” Taeyeon chuckled. “So you guys can come in and leave any time?”

“No, when we have errands to run, then we will leave. But you always need to come back, because there is a curfew and they keep a record of everyone that leaves and comes back.”

“I see,” Taeyeon pursed her lips in a smile and stopped walking abruptly when she saw Prince Jung walking towards their direction. That was the Prince she almost married.

Knowing about his reputation in the palace, she was glad that she dodged an arrow.

Taeyeon felt her heart beat increase when Hui and her stopped to bow down to the Prince. She carefully glanced to her side as he walked past them, and noticed his hands accidentally brushing against Hui’s back when he swung his hands lightly as he walked past. She raised an eyebrow at that, wondering if that was an accident.

They blended in with the servants just well, and Taeyeon soon found herself pretending to be busy in the kitchen as the palace maids were rushing to prepare lunch for the Royals. Everyone was too busy to notice Taeyeon and Hui at the corner, not really doing anything to help at all.

However, although everyone was busy, they still had the time to gossip as they prepared the meals.

“Have you seen the Crown Princess? I saw her Royal Highness this morning when she was on the way to meet His Majesty. She is beautiful,” said one of the palace maids as she was preparing the seasoning.

Taeyeon smiled at that and glanced at Hui, raising a knowing eyebrow at her.

“It is a pity that she will die lonely though.”

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at that.

“Yes, what a pity. The Crown Prince won’t be showing any affection because of how cold and unhinged his Royal Highness is.”

“Have you heard? His Royal Highness recently tortured his guards for no reason at all. He hunts and kills for fun,” said one of the maids in hushed whispers. “And rumor has it, the Crown Prince was behind the murder of the late Crown Prince, so that he could become Crown Prince.”

As Taeyeon and Hui finally left the kitchen, Taeyeon thought to herself, what exactly happened to the late Crown Prince.

Everyone said that the late Crown Prince died from an unknown illness. But people in the palace said that he was murdered.

Is the Crown Prince really capable of murdering his own blood just to rise to power?

Taeyeon thought back to what Court Lady Jo told her before her wedding about the Crown Prince. She had told her that the Crown Prince was once bright and cheerful until witnessing the late Queen’s assassination changed him forever. Maybe it changed him more than that.

Taeyeon only knows that the nation loved the late Crown Prince, and after Crown Prince Hyun became the Crown Prince, people hated him because of his reputation and felt that he isn’t fit to rule Joseon in the future.

Now that she thought about her husband, she wondered where he had been all day because she hadn't seen him at all while roaming around the palace. Just when she was wondering about him, she stopped in her steps when she saw a familiar silhouette walking into the Royal library.

She smiled, excited that she finally found the Royal library. Maybe she can borrow some books from the library to keep her company in this boring place. She was about to follow her husband when Hui pulled her back.

“Your Highness, this is the Crown Prince’s private library, no one is allowed to go in, not even the guards.”

“Oh, then is there another library where everyone can go?” Taeyeon asked.

“Not really, the other Royals don’t really go to the library, they already have them in their own chambers. This library was the late Crown Prince’s.”

“I see,” Taeyeon mumbled, deciding that it is best that she doesn’t go there, not when she’s dress like this.

***

“She stayed in her room the whole day? Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked after Eunuch Nam reported Taeyeon’s whereabouts to his Royal Highness.

“Yes, after meeting the King and Queen, her Royal Highness went back to her chambers and never left,” replied Eunuch Nam.

“I thought she would be exploring and roaming the place all day,” said Baekhyun to himself, with a light chuckle, grabbing one book from the top of the shelf and flipping through the pages before stopping at one page. “What exactly is she plotting?”

“Pardon? Your Royal Highness?” asked Eunuch Nam.

“Nothing,” mumbled Baekhyun, as he thought back to what Soo told him early morning about the latest information he found while investigating outside the palace.

“Tax Minister Kim was seen meeting with Prince Jung at the guest house in Hahoe the same night he met with the man with the scar on his face,” reported Soo immediately after coming back to the palace.

“What?”

Baekhyun started to piece the puzzles together in his head. A few months ago, they noticed that the records for taxes don't match up, and Baekhyun wondered where the money was going if it wasn’t going where it should be going. And mysteriously and coincidentally, Prince Jung suddenly got rich and was able to hire specially trained guards around him.

Tax Minister Kim is the man that has been supporting Prince Jung financially.

And he is also the older brother of the Crown Princess.

Tax Minister Kim must have planted a spy that can get close to him, and that spy could be the Crown Princess.

“Eunuch Nam.”

“Yes? Your Royal Highness?”

“Summon the Crown Princess to my chambers tonight.”