Chapter 1

“Should we wake them? They looked so peaceful.” Hwasa whispered carefully to the shorter older woman beside her and received a raised eyebrow in return, yet both are reluctant to wake the Princess who were fast asleep with hanging open and…. Is that a drool on the side of ? 

“Well, they do have to wake up at some point.” the matron of the palace raised her voice loud enough to wake the dead but not enough to even stirred the two rascals, sighing audibly, the matron muttered something about ‘extreme measures’ and walked slowly to the other side of the room, tapping the curtain console and watched it automatically moved, letting sunlight to wash over the room with its blinding lights.

Two collective groans can be heard from the bed, as its occupants were forcefully woken up by the blinding intrusion.

Yongsun squeezed her eyes and groaned louder, cursing whoever it was that invaded her dreams and forced her to face the day, “Go away!” she was about to pull the quilt up to her head, when she heard the husky voice of her Chief of Staff telling her, rather firmly, to wake up.

Resigned to her fate, Yongsun reluctantly cracked her right eye open and screamed when she came face to face with the still sleepy and grumpy looking Byul.

“What the fu……dge!” she censored herself when she heard the disapproving clucking of her once nanny, “This is not what you think,” she quickly said, hands busily pulling up the quilt to cover up her scantily clad body.

Byul snorted, “If I were you, Princess, I would be more concerned of why the first thing that came up to your mind is that particular sentence. Making up a habit of waking up with someone you shouldn’t, Yong?”

“Shut up, you’re making it worse.” Yongsun blushed and punched Byul on her arms before addressing the other two again, “Whatever it is that you think happened between me and Byul, well… nothing happened, we just sort of fell into bed together,” Yong blabbered and shut quickly when the other women looked at her with various stages of amusement, “Oh gosh, it sounded so wrong.”

Byul rolled her eyes and stretched the kink out of her body with a satisfied groan, “Please, we shared bed on and off since we were babies, why would anyone think something will happen now?”

Yongsun tilted her head to the side and eyed the almost woman beside her blithely, “Geez, I don’t know, smartass, maybe because we’re half in a bed together?”

Byul was about to retort back when Hwasa clapped her hands together sharply, twice, “Children, if both of you could just finished bickering.”

Satisfied that she finally had the attention from the properly chastised Princess and the amused General, she continued, “Your Highness, you and the Queen have a meeting with the education board in an hour, the TOR of the meeting has already been sent to your email. I will have the printed version for you as well and then afterwards, the Board of Trustee from United Foundation wants to have an audience with you for a potential charity event depending on the time, we could also turned it into a luncheon….”

Yong went from blinking her eyes rapidly to fight the pull of sleep from taking her away from the world of the living to zoning out because at some point, Hwasa’s soothing voice turned into the most perfect lullaby.  

Moonbyul watched with amused fondness as Yong’s eyelids lost the fight and fluttered close, the dark head of her best friend slowly lowered, slowly but surely succumbing back to sleep.

“This kid…”

Displaying strength that belied her lean stature, Byul carried the half sleeping Princess into the bathroom, sacrificing her eardrum to endure the high pitch screech coming from the Princess as she forced Yong to stood under the shower and poured ice cold water directly into the Princess barely awake body.

Hwasa cringed and covered one of her ear from the blasting dolphin noise before looking over to the matron who are already busy making up the bed, “Remind me again why I took this job?”

“Because you are the best in what you do.”

Hwasa shook her head, “Nope. That’s not why.”

“Because you are my daughter and I told you to.” The matron fluffed the pillow and threw a smile over her shoulder.

“Yep. That’s why.”

“YAH!! MOON BYUL YI!! IMMA KILL YOU! YAAAAA!!!”

Hwasa sighed and quietly rolled her left sleeve, “For the record, I love you but I hate you.” Then continued on to roll her right sleeve, “Wish me luck.”

“Luck!”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Hwasa walked into the bathroom, full with determination to break up whatever it was those two are doing.

***

Hwasa waited patiently as the Princess greeted everyone who stopped and bowed in reverence to her title, a warm smile readily displayed on her beautiful face. Pride swelled in her bosom as she watched her Princess laughed and joked with everyone regardless of station, it was a well-known fact that she was beloved among the people, because unlike her brothers, Yongsun never used and abused her title.

Looking effortlessly elegant in a pair of loose fitting sky blue linen pants and sleeveless blue silk shirt, Yongsun walked along the corridor of the newly established market place that she just officiated, graciously accepting foods handfed to her by various food vendors, her guards discreetly blending with the crowds that gathered to see their Princess.

Although the people knew to keep a safe distance from the Princess, Hwasa still felt uneasiness tugged at her gut.

There has been unrest lately, small demonstrations in small cities, far away from the capital city, stirred by people who viewed monarchy as a backward way of life and who longed to be a democratic country. Small, but if left untended might create a bigger problem in the future.

It cannot be helped that the Crown Prince was…. Hwasa cringed inwardly and curbed her thinking, yes, it would be easier to preserve the monarchy if only they have a Crown Princess instead, but alas….

Hwasa smiled when a hand sneaked itself to curl on her arm and pulled her closer, “Please tell me that I don’t have anything else for the rest of the day.”

“You don’t have anything else for the rest of the day.”

Yongsun let out a relieved laugh and handed over a plastic bag to the bewildered younger woman, “Your favorite, Gopchang.” She grinned.

They made their ways out of the market into the square piazza at the entrance of the market place, where a fountain was built at the center. It was her idea to build a fountain at the square leading up to the market and to build a park nearby, seeing the water jets under the sun was something that she hoped the people could enjoy together and also to attract younger people to gather.  

Yongsun eyes wandered over street cart vendors that offered foods, hand crafted jewelry and flowers and.... Yongsun nearly tripped on her feet when her eyes caught the familiar silhouette, even after all of these years, she still looked the same…. Still the most beautiful woman that Yongsun ever laid her eyes on…  

The first time Yongsun saw her, she was 12, just a child on the cups of puberty forced to accompany her grandfather – the King of Silla – to a boring state dinner, honoring the rich and wealthy.

No one knew who she was, this elegant lady, everyone just assumed that she was their peer simply by the way she carries herself and thus, no one question her standing to be there. 

Yongsun was not sure what captivated her, yet the butterfly in her stomach was fluttering a mile a minute when the lady went over to greet her grandfather and her heart almost put a hole in her chest with how hard it beats against her ribs when she smiled at her. At that time, Yongsun cannot remember ever seeing a more radiantly beautiful woman.

“You’re quiet tonight.” Apparently she had been rendered speechless as well, “and look quite flush, my dear, are you alright?” Her grandfather looked at her with concern in his eyes, warm hand covered her forehead and her heated cheeks, “Do you want to retire for the night?”

“No!” An answer that was a tad too fast, if the startled look on her grandfather’s face was any indication, “I’m okay.”

So she stayed beside her grandfather all night, eyes wandering, searching for the lady’s silhouette and by the time her grandfather tucked her into bed, he gave her a peck on her cheek and a mysterious smile, “You are growing up, my darling.”

Which left Yongsun awake all night wandering what it meant and thinking about the smile that seems to brand itself into her memory.

***

The second time Yongsun saw her, it was yet another state dinner.

Yongsun was 15 and the woman was as beautiful and enchanting as she remembered and the butterfly, who never appear in those 3 years, came back with a vengeance.

Yongsun remembered braving herself to come up to her, just to say hello, maybe start a conversation or if her nerve get to her, then maybe she would just walk past her, just to be near the enchantress, but to her delight, instead of brushing an awkward teen off, the lady gracefully accompanied her in a conversation that blew Yongsun’s mind.

War.

They spent the night talking about the art of war and Yongsun was smitten.

Afterward, for weeks, she practically talked her grandfather’s ears off about her, gushing on repeat about how she never met a more enchantingly intelligent woman until in one of those night, her grandfather gave her a hairpin made of Jade, much to her confusion.

“I was not entirely sure why my gut told me to purchase this when they were up in auction. This is what the Emperor of Qing Dinasty gave to his beloved Empress, a token of his love.” Her grandfather gave her another one of those mysterious smile and kissed her cheek again, “Now I know why.”

***

The third time that Yongsun saw her again, she was 17.

Once again, Yongsun had to accompany her grandfather in his state duty, this time to Hong Kong. She was on her way to escape the boredom of political meeting that includes brandy, cigars and more booze, so she took her leave and wandered around the hotel when she saw her, dining alone in the hotel’s restaurant.

She did the only sane thing.

She approached.

She ditched her bodyguards and let the older woman showed her this foreign city in all of its glory. They watched a Chinese opera together that night and even though Yongsun did not understand even a single word of it, she was content to just sit beside her, to watch the wondrous world of make believe reflected through her smile. 

The next day, when she and her grandfather attended an auction and a jade bracelet from Ming Dinasty was on the list, she asked him to get it for her and when he asked her why, she just stammered and looked on the floor mumbling incoherently “I just…. think it’s pretty… ”

Her grandfather only smiled and nodded.

***

Their next meeting was in another 2 years.

It was the funeral of one of the most important person in Yongsun’s life. The King passed away, old age finally got to him.

Yongsun was surprised when she saw her attending the wake but she had people to tend to, officials to meet and the looming ceremony of her father taking over her grandfather’s title in the wait. When all of the proceedings ended, she was nowhere to be seen. 

Unlike her teenage-self, Yongsun finally able to use everything on her arsenal to track her down, the lady owned a townhouse in Seoul.

She didn’t know exactly why, but Yongsun found herself standing in front of the house barely 30 minutes after she found the address and the first thing that Yongsun did when the lady opened the door, was cry.

She was grieving yet had no time to grief, but as the lady grabbed her hand and engulfed her in a tight embraced, Yongsun let the scent of peony and freesia soothed her weary soul and for the first time since her pillar of strength were taken from her, she felt like she could continue on, she finally able to grief.

They spent a quiet day just walking in the park and not talking and the lady force fed her the home cooked meal that she made herself, a chicken soup for her tired everything and when it was time to end the day and Yongsun leaned in for a kiss, she whispered against Yongsun’s lips, a sentence that broke Yongsun’s heart for the first time, “I’m married.”

***

They saw each other for time to time, never really conversing, just a glance in some state dinner or parties or auctions or exhibits, an exchange of one or two smiles, and Yongsun still yearn, yearn for something that she couldn’t put her finger on.

Yongsun was 23 when she heard that the jeweler found the purest, most brilliant violet diamond that the world has ever known, and without even thinking about why, she bought the raw diamond and commission the jeweler to made her a set.

“I want a ring made as well.”

The jeweler didn’t ask, it was not their place to question the royalty, and as they walked out from Yongsun’s office, she pulled up an old picture, the only picture that they took together on that faithful day, taken with Yongsun’s phone and she wondered whether she was insane, but nevertheless, she knew that she would always just a little bit in love with the woman that she could never call hers.

“Highness?.... Yong?”

Yongsun blinked back toward reality and saw the concern etched on Hwasa’s face and smiled, “Ah sorry, I was just lost in thought, tired and all. Shall we go?”

She chanced another look at the woman who were smiling over her chosen hydrangea flowers, laughing with the vendors and as always wished that it was her at the receiving end of that dimpled smile. She cleared the tightness that suddenly appeared in with a cough before focusing her attention back to her still worried Chief of Staff, “Will Byul be joining us for dinner?” she asked, trying to change the subject.  

“I’m not sure, I’ll text her and ask.” Hwasa looked over toward the spot where Yong seemed to look before, but found nothing unusual when she felt the tug on her arms.

“What are you looking for?”

Hwasa smiled and shook her head, pressing the com on her ear, she murmured, “Yeba is on the move.”

“Yeba? wait, who is yeba? Is that me? I thought my code is Solar? You know, the sun that shines bright on all of you.”

Rolling her eyes and pulling the Princess to walk faster, Hwasa simply answered her with, “Asked Byul.”

“Huh? Why? What does it means? Hwasa-ya, do we have to walk this fast?”  

Opening the limousine door, Hwasa ushered the bewildered Princess inside and quickly closed it.

“You are not coming with me?” asked the Princess as she lowered her window.

“I have to go somewhere first, I’ll see you at dinner.”

“You haven’t told me what Yeba meanssssss…….” Yong’s holler was muted by the wind as the car took her away and Hwasa grinned at her Princess weird antique.

“Yep, definitely a yeba.”

***

Hip hop beat boomed in the air, accompanied by the occasional laughter and groans from the Princess and her General, as both women compete in a game of card.

“Anyone want any dessert?” Hwasa’s voice nearly drowned out by a particular loud whooped of triumph from Yongsun.

“Are you on the menu?” Byul looked up from her rotten cards and waggled her eyebrows, receiving a practiced eye roll in return.

“Just for that, you are not getting your favorite tanghulu….” Hwasa trailed off her sentences when the Queen strode inside her chamber, worry lines marred her usually youthful face as one of her aides quickly the television.

“What….” Questions died on Yongsun’s lips as she stared that the breaking news, trepidation filled her lungs as she unconsciously walked toward her mother and grasped her hand, tightly.

A female reporter stood in front of high rise apartment building, talking earnestly to the camera as chaos erupted behind her, a line of text on the screen above her read, “Breaking News: Crown Prince Arrested!” the picture then panned out and swung to the right, zooming in toward a well groomed pissed off man being escorted out from the building by the police.

The Crown Prince of Silla.

Her Brother.

“What….” Yong looked at Byul, who simply shook her head and grabbed the remote to turn the volume up.

“…..the body who was found within the Crown Prince’s suites has now been confirmed to be that of the Daughter of Prime Minister Lee, and the police are looking into the possibility of murder.”

The picture changed into the publicity stills of Prime Minister Lee and his family, then a few quick snapshots of his daughters and her socialites’ lifestyle in the background as the reporter continued, “Lee Yeon Hee was linked to the Crown Prince on several occasion, flying rumor about potential romantic involvement and the inevitable merging of the two most powerful houses in Silla.”

The news program moved on to show the Crown Prince entering the police vehicle instead of his own car and Yongsun finally had enough. She grabbed the remote and turned the TV off before finally facing her mother, “What happened? Why….” Her question about why the police was involved instead of the Royal Inquisitors left hanging in the air.

“There was a distress call from the Crown Prince penthouse, we heard that a team already dispatched there. How the police were involve….” The aides shook her head, signaling that she too still trying to find answer.

“My son…” Her mother strangled voice jolted Yongsun back to the bleak reality and propelled her forward to gather her suddenly fragile mother into her arms.

Yongsun shared a look with Byul before the slightly younger woman gave her a reassuring smile, “I’m on it.” Byul gave the royals a quick bow before she dashed out from the room.

Tightening her grip on her mother shivering body, Yongsun whispered, “its okay… don’t worry, Byul will handle it.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note: 

Imma start by saying that I dont have any ships in mind for this story. 

I was ambivalent between making Yong or Wheein as the princess, so i went back and forth, back and forth for a while, but at the end of the day I think the character suit Yong more.

As for the lady that is the princess' first love, I also went back and forth between Sung Yu Ri (from Finkl for some of you that might not know her) and BoA, but at the end, I probably gonna stick with BoA XD 

This is supposed to be a political thriller in genre and it will be fun to play up the chemistry between the leads, so..... yeah, I basically wanna say this story has potential if I'm not lazy as . 

toodles peeps, 

Gabe