The Crown Prince stopped in his tracks when he reached the forest.

He was surprised that those men were patient enough to follow him that far into the forest without trying to attack him from behind. They probably wanted to try dueling him head on, to see if the Crown Prince is really as skillful as the rumours said about him.

Baekhyun drew out his sword and spun around to face them.

All three of them didn’t waste any time to come on him all at once.

Baekhyun had to maintain his stance in the middle to simultaneously fight off all three of them. He might be well-versed in the art of sword fighting, but dueling three trained assassins at once will be difficult.

Knowing the limits his injured body can carry him, he chose to save his energy by restricting his movements and only swung his sword at them to defend himself and attack them when there’s a chance.

He managed to duck all of their attacks despite his restricted movements. One of the men lost his focus and got slashed across the throat, falling onto the ground. The other two backed away from Baekhyun, glancing at their coworker who was struggling to breathe before slowly succumbing to his death.

Baekhyun smirked, challenging them with his eyes to try him again. 

The guys gave each other a look.

The Crown Prince moves unpredictably, when you think he’s going to strike from the bottom, he would surprise you by striking from the top. He has good control over his sword and knows which side to strike first, making each of his attacks calculated enough to cause enough damage to his enemy.

The assassins decided to switch their strategy.

One of them ran to the back while the other remained at the front, so that they could attack him from both sides. But Baekhyun was quick, he swiftly jabbed his sword to the back and stabbed the guy behind him in the stomach before quickly drawing out his sword again to slash the guy in front of him across his thighs.

When he heard a thud behind him, he slashed the guy in front of him across the chest and kicked him hard in the stomach to throw him off his balance.

The Crown Prince slowly walked towards the remaining survivor as he caught his breath.

Bending down, he pulled the guy up by his collar with his dominant hand.

“Who sent you?” he asked with a baleful look at him.

The man refused to answer, so Baekhyun kneed him in the groin. The man grunted as he rolled on the ground. As Baekhyun tried to grab him by the collar again, the man quickly shoved something into his mouth which he took out from his pocket and swallowed it.

And within seconds, excessive white foams formed out of the man’s mouth. And the man choked for a few seconds before he stopped breathing.

Baekhyun grunted in frustration and let go of the man. He glanced at the other two, there were no survivors left to tell him who sent them. Even if they survived, they must have the same suicide pill in their pockets, prepared to kill themselves with it when they fail the mission.

He started to rummage through their clothes to check if there is anything that could tell him who their employer is, but these guys were clean as a slate, there was nothing that would give their employer’s identity away.

Baekhyun then found the pill in each of their pockets, examining it between his fingers, it looked similar to the one the traitor swallowed in the interrogation room that day. Which means, the person who sent them today was probably behind the late Crown Prince’s death as well.

Baekhyun threw his sword onto the ground out of frustration. He miscalculated that the remaining survivor had a back up plan. Someone must desperately want him dead. There are a lot of people who probably want him dead in the palace, but the one with the biggest motive would be Prince Jung who is next in line to the Crown Prince’s position if he dies.

His senses heightened up when he heard accelerated footsteps coming up behind him and quickly bent down to grab his sword to prepare himself for another attack.

“Your highness!”

Baekhyun lowered his sword, surprised to see his friend here. “Soo?”

“Your highness, are you alright?”

“Yes. I am glad you came. Help me to hide these bodies.”

Exhausted, Baekhyun sat down on the ground and let Soo do all the work. “But why do we need to hide the bodies?” asked Soo as he started to drag the bodies behind the bushes.

Baekhyun heaved a sigh, gazing towards the stream not far away from where they were at. “Just in case some village girl decided to come here and kindly try to save these men.”

Soo was confused, but he didn’t ask any more questions as he finally dragged all three bodies behind the bushes. He then glanced at the bloody sword in his highness’ hand and quickly passed him a clean white cloth for him to wipe down his sword.

“Your highness, where have you been? I have been looking all over for you,” he finally asked.

Baekhyun simply shrugged, too tired to explain as he lifted up his robe slightly to check if his wound had opened up. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the bandage around his waist is still clean from blood.

“Your highness, did you visit a physician?”

“Not exactly, someone found me and saved my life.”

***

Taeyeon kept her head low as she moved up the line, sneaking a quick glance to the people queuing up in front of her, she realized that it was almost her turn. As usual, guards guarded the main entrance of the village. They often carry out inspections on everyone who enters and leaves the village, and she never understood why because the village is relatively small compared to the neighboring villages.

She inhaled and exhaled, trying to compose herself as she felt her heart race knowing that it was almost her turn. She already came up with an explanation in her head, so she kept on repeating her lines again and again in her head as she anxiously waited for her turn.

“What’s your purpose for leaving?” the guard before her asked.

She pulled a sad face and sighed before saying, “I have to visit my father. I heard from my sister that he… he doesn’t have many days left.”

Rubbing her eyes over and over again, she forced tears into her eyes. “I brought medicine for him. It might not help much, but I hope he will know how much I care about him.”

The guard nodded, glancing quickly into her bag before letting her pass. Taeyeon kept up the act until she was safely out the door.

She smiled, glancing back to the door. She’s actually leaving the village! Oh wow, she could be a performer with how well she pulled off the act. Wiping the fake tears away from her eyes with her sleeve, she continued walking until she was no longer near the village.

Taeyeon yelped when two long swords suddenly came down in front of her. She held in her breath, not having the nerve to move an inch.

“Agassi, please go back with us,” one of the men drew back his sword and bowed down towards her. “Your uncle, he is waiting for you.”

“My uncle?” she asked. It’s been days since she heard from him and she was starting to worry about him, fearing that he got into an accident. “Where is he?”

“The Kim residence. He is waiting for you,” he replied, gesturing towards the litter parked beside them. “We are here to you back home.”

“ me? You guys were trying to kidnap me just yesterday,” she said, bringing her wrists to them to show them the faded marks caused by the rope. “See, it left a mark.”

“We are terribly sorry, but we had no choice. We received strict orders to bring you back.”

Taeyeon glared at him and glanced over the others waiting around the litter. There were a total of four men, but only two of them had their swords with them. She needs to find a way to escape before it’s too late.

My uncle wouldn’t be there, he knows how much I wanted to practice medicine. I know he wouldn’t give my location away. They must be lying.

She got onto the litter and it started to move as soon as she was settled in.

“Ooo treats!”

Whoever prepared the litter was kind enough to leave a basket of treats for her to binge on during the journey back home. She happily munched on them as she started to plan her escape.

After a while, she peeked out from behind the curtains, wondering where they are now. She knows that she will have a lot of time to plan her escape since her home is quite far away from the village. But when she looked out, the path was starting to look unfamiliar.

Are they taking a shortcut?

She reached her arm through the front window and tapped on one of the men’s shoulders. “We are going to the Kim residence, right?”

The man simply nodded and told her to relax as they escorted her back home. She faked a smile at him before closing the curtains shut. She was starting to feel suspicious of where they are heading and decided that the time to escape is now or never.

“Oh no. I think I ate too much!” she said, making sure that her voice is loud enough for them to hear her. “Can we stop now? I really need to go and relieve myself!”

But they ignored her, the litter didn’t stop at all.

“Hello? Can’t you guys hear me?” she raised her voice higher, pulling away the curtains. “I will tell my father about this if you guys don’t stop now.”

She hates to use that “card”, knowing that she just sounds spoiled, but using that “card” is her best move to help her make her escape.

“Agassi, we are almost there. Please sit back,” one of the men finally replied.

“What do you mean we are almost there? We are so far away!”

They didn’t respond and gradually quickened their pace towards their destination. Taeyeon began to feel nauseous from all the wobbling. She stretched out her arms and held onto both sides to stable herself.

At this point, the men just don’t care if she feels comfortable in the litter anymore, they just want to quickly reach their destination.

And she is beginning to panic, knowing that they aren’t bringing her to the Kim residence.

***

The Crown Prince went straight to the King’s chambers the moment he reached the palace. The King didn’t look pleased although his son had returned, and waited for his son to explain to him why he left the palace alone at dawn.

“Your majesty, I was following up on a lead, regarding the late Crown Prince’s death,” said Baekhyun.

“I have already ordered you to stop investigating your brother’s death! Why can’t you just focus on your duties?” the King shouted, furious with his son. “Move on.”

Baekhyun’s jaw clenched as he glared up at the King. He was ticked off by how simply his father dismissed the late Crown Prince’s death, as if his death was nothing.

“How dare you glare at the King of Joseon like that!” the King slammed his table and stood up, pointing angrily outside. “Get out. Get out of my chambers! I don’t want to see you.”
Baekhyun didn’t waste any time to leave, he didn’t want to waste his breath trying to tell his father why he is doing this. He and his father never had a tight bond when he was growing up, he was a lot closer to his mother while his father was always strict with him and all they can talk about between them are their royal duties and nothing more.

As he marched down the narrow hallway, all of the servants kept their heads low, afraid to meet the eyes of the furious Crown Prince. He left the western palace to see Eunuch Nam and Soo waiting for him by the stairs.

“Your highness!” Eunuch Nam quickly ran to him. “I heard you were injured, are you alright?”

The Crown Prince gave him a curt nod and glanced at Soo before he continued walking down the path back to the eastern palace. He wished the King had asked about his condition, whether his wound is all healed up now that he is back. 

But the only people who cared about him are Eunuch Nam and Soo. These two people cared about him more than his biological father.

He stopped when he saw Court Lady Jo approaching him. Court Lady Jo is the person in charge of managing the selection process of the Crown Princess, and ever since she received the orders from the King a few months ago, she had been trying to talk to the Crown Prince but he was always away or busy.

“Your Royal Highness,” Court Lady Jo bowed when she reached the Crown Prince. “I am here to inform you that the selection process of the Crown Princess would be starting in a few days. Are you willing to design your own assessment test or do you have any criterias prepared so that we can know your highness’ preference?”

Baekhyun could see Eunuch Nam smiling giddily from the corner of his eye. Eunuch Nam is probably the only person that is excited for this arrangement to happen. After all, he watched the Crown Prince grow up and he couldn’t be any more prouder to see his highness finally marry someone.

“As long as the candidate passed the test given by the King, I am satisfied with whoever ends up as the Crown Princess.”

“I understand. I will proceed with the arrangements then, your Royal Highness,” replied Court Lady Jo. The Crown Prince nodded and continued walking forward as Court Lady Jo bowed down at him.

“Your highness, are you sure you aren’t going to personally look at the candidates?” asked Eunuch Nam. “There might be a special young lady among them who may catch your attention.”

The Crown Prince simply shook his head and said, “I don’t care. I trust Court Lady Jo that she will pick the most suitable candidate for the position.”

“But, your highness. The Crown Princess will be the girl that you will be spending the rest of your life with, even after you ascend the throne,” said Eunuch Nam. “Does the qualities of the future Crown Princess not concern you? What if you dislike her appearance or her personality?”

The Crown Prince stopped in his tracks and turned to Eunuch Nam. “I am simply carrying out my responsibilities as the Crown Prince. I don’t have to consider useless things like that. As long as it helps me ascend the throne, I don’t care.”

Eunuch Nam grimaced. He’s used to seeing the Crown Prince’s lack of interest in women. Unlike his brother, Prince Jung, the Crown Prince was only close to one woman in his life and that was the late Queen Hwang Eun Song. There were a lot of rumours that the Crown Prince likes men, because he is only seen with Soo around the palace. So the King decided to push forward the Crown Prince’s marriage to shut down those rumours.

***

The moment the litter passed through the heavily guarded doors, Taeyeon knew that her life was doomed. Entering the palace has never crossed her mind. Why did they bring her here? What can she even do here?

The litter came to a stop and someone from the outside opened the door. Taeyeon was met with a fierce-looking older woman who was waiting for her to get down.

“What am I doing here?” Taeyeon asked, inching closer into the litter.

The woman didn’t reply as she forcefully grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the litter along with the help of the other two palace maids.

“Tell me why I am here. I am not going anywhere with you until you tell me!”

She demanded for an answer, but none of them responded as they started to pull her away from the litter. Taeyeon was scared for her life when she was brought into a room. She glanced helplessly at the other maids around her, but all of them simply stared at her.

“I demand you to tell me why I am here. You can’t treat me like this,” she told the older woman who she assumed is the person in charge of this. “Do you know who I am?” she raised her voice.

A hand suddenly came down and slapped her across the face to shut her up. Taeyeon was stunned as she brought her hand to her cheek. Never in her life had she met someone who is brave enough to hit her like that, she was raised in a noble family and she was used to being treated as one.

“Strip her and bathe her. Make sure every inch of her body is clean,” the older woman said before leaving her alone with the two other maids.

Taeyeon widened her eyes when the maids started to pull on her collar. She held onto her clothes tightly, unwilling to comply with them. After a few minutes of useless struggling, she was forced to sit in a huge bathtub as the maids scrubbed both of her arms from each side.

Realization dawned on her when they started to check her body for any scars.

Who are they marrying me off to?