Eunbi knew she made a mistake when the Princess chose not to show up to breakfast the next day.

This time, she did not even gain an apology or an excuse from Chaeyeon. Nor did she expect one. Still, she had waited the entire morning until it was clear that her wife would not come see her. Her foul mood followed her for the rest of the day.The Queen did not stop working for one second, hurrying to finish her duties so that she could join the Princess for dinner and talk to her, to finally fix this mess that Eunbi dug herself under.

But even as dinner came and went, the Princess did not show up. Many times she thought to ask any attendant, or guards, that were all at her disposal to go fetch the Princess. A summoning from the Queen is not exactly something that can be ignored. But Eunbi knew that if she were to do that, it would only anger the Princess more.

Desperate, Eunbi searched the palace for the Princess herself. She went through corridors and courtyards to look for her wife. She first tried for the Princess’s bedchambers and the sitting room connected to it, but she was not there. Chaeyeon was not  in the library either. It was a longshot to try looking for the princess in the stables this late in the day, but Eunbi took the chance anyway.

She was not there.

The palace attendants were beginning to become confused at seeing the Queen run around the castle, asking for her wife’s whereabouts to everyone that she passed. Even the Queen’s Guards were starting to sweat as they kept up with the Queen in her search for the princess.

Her last and only chance, Eunbi realised, was her sister.

With a second goblet of wine in her hand, she waits for Sakura in her study. Sitting behind her desk, Eunbi could not control the anxiousness that she was feeling, especially since it has been at least half an hour since Eunbi requested her presence.

Finally, the door opens without so much as a knock, and in walks Sakura.

“Where is she?” Eunbi asks, not bothering with pleasantries.

It seemed Sakura didn’t feel the need for it either, as she only glared at the Queen and dodged the question altogether, “You know I’m her lady-in-waiting, not yours.”

Eunbi did not hide her annoyance, scoffing. “I’m still your Queen, Sakura. So help me god, tell me where she is right now.”

“She’s in the maze garden,” Sakura then adds, “but she won’t want to see you. She's very upset with you,” she couldn’t hide her disappointment any longer, crossing her arms scoldingly and openly frowning at Eunbi. “So am I.”

“Was I supposed to know she was going to eavesdrop?”

“You could have met him somewhere else with a locked door!!” Sakura snaps. “You told me you were free for lunch, that you were not seeing him, and I told her as such. Suddenly you changed your mind?”

“Am I not allowed to change my mind?”

“Not like that! You and I both know, you could have prevented her listening in on that conversation. Eunbi, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” Sakura sighs exasperatedly, as if she was frustrated with herself. She likely was. “But because I told you how happy you looked being with her, you deemed it necessary to ruin that for her? for yourself? Why’d you have to go hurt that poor girl? You know she’s half in love with you––”

“––And I was fully in love with her when she betrayed me!” Eunbi bangs the goblet on the table. The wine splashing all over her desk. Thankfully, Eunbi had the foresight to keep impo