**

Irene closed her eyes in an attempt to soothe her raging heart. In a few minutes, they would arrive at the palace. It was different from her last visit, this time she would sit among the royals, and with her grandma calling her a few hours before, making sure she’s fully reminded how not to screw things up, heavily ingraining in her head that this is their family’s golden ticket in securing a good connection with the royal did nothing but to make her nerves more heightened.

The pressure was creeping into her ever since last night, leaving her restless, questioning why on earth did she decide to work with Wendy. She was so busy with her self-talk that she didn’t notice Wendy looking at her for some time now.

The young royal chuckled to herself, clearly enjoying a stressful Irene beside her. She should’ve calmed her down by now but well she wanted to bask in her view for a little more because the young Bae looked absolutely beautiful in her floral dress.

If the situation was different, maybe she would try her luck to woo her. Yes, try, because the young Bae was quite hard to please. Based on the time they have spent together, not once did she look impressed by the young royal. Other women would jump right away the moment Wendy noticed them.

“We’ve arrived,” Seulgi announces their arrival at the grand entrance of the Palace.

Irene opened her eyes, much more determined this time like somebody had switched her soul because she had a fire in it. The nervous young woman from before was gone and it further amused Wendy.

“You ready?” the young royal asked her

“Yes.”

**

Seungwan introduced Joohyun to her main family, her brothers and their wives, and also The King and Queen. The young royal was so impressed by the way Joohyun carried herself, for someone who was never raised in the nobility system, she played her role very well. Looks like their crash course really helped her a lot, she could even answer questions about archery without stuttering, compared to how whiny she was during their practice.

“Joohyun-agassi. I’m curious, what made you like my sister?” Hoon asks her with a smile. Hoon and Sunhwa are very friendly compared to the rest of the family, Joohyun likes them a lot more than Min and Soohee who occasionally throw a glare in her way.

The young Bae didn’t know what irks them or what she did wrong, they already looked so unwelcome the moment she stepped into the dining hall.

“Our first meeting was at Seonghwan gallery. I attended King Sejong’s 572nd anniversary with someone, my marriage prospect, but it didn’t end well. If it weren’t because of Taenyeo's kindness, I would’ve ended up with a scar on my cheek.”

“Oh my, they wanted to hit you?” Sunhwa gasps

“Yes, Sunhwa-wangnyeo.”

“You must’ve done something that made them angry at you,” Sohee says nonchalantly.

“Yang-nangjae didn’t take rejection very well,” Seungwan doesn’t beat around the bush and just drops the name casually, “I had to interfere or else he would hurt her.”

“I raised you well, Seungwan-ah,” Hoon says proudly before turning his attention to the King, “Jeonha, don’t you think they look good together?”

“Yes indeed,” The King smiles widely, “I’ve never thought Seungwan would bring someone to meet me and I’m glad she introduced a great young lady from an established noble family. My Queen, what do you think?” He addressed The Queen, his first wife.

The Queen nods in agreement, “Of course, I’ll support my daughter’s choice. You two will make a great couple.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Joohyun says bashfully “You are too kind.”

“So what do you think of marriage?” The King suddenly asks, making everyone look at him in surprise, “The fifth full moon is just around the corner, it’ll be a good day to hold a wedding.”

Seungmin and Sohee choked on their drink for very different reasons.

“It’s too early, Jeonha,” Min immediately voices out his disagreement

“Yes, Jeonha. They just started seeing each other,” and his wife fully supported him. The moment she saw Joohyun walking beside her favorite royal, her alarm was ringing so bad. She felt territorial and jealous at the same time.

“It’s not,” Hoon says “Sunhwa and I got married after just a month of dating.”

Of course, his statement earned glares from his brother and sister-in-law.

“Sunhwa is from my family's side, The Han’s have a long generation of royal brides so I knew that she is perfect for you, Hoon.” Sohee adds, “Meanwhile, Bonsang Bae was never selected as a marriage partner for royals before. Don’t you think we should be cautious of who we gonna approve for Seungwan?”

“Unnie, you are worrying too much,” Sunhwa tells her cousin, “Bonsang Bae is a great noble family too.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Sunhwa,” Sohee continues, “I apologize if I sound too harsh but I think marriage is too soon for them, Jeonha. Please reconsider.”

“I agree with my wife,” Min says beside her, “Please consider again.”

The King rubs his chin, not really bothered by their pleas, “What do you think Seungwan, is it too soon for you?”

“I brought Joohyun here with the intention to marry her one-day” Seungwan says in a very earnest tone, “But we haven’t talked further about it, Jeonha”

“You two should start thinking about it,” The King tells her “With all the news about how you're gonna be the first royal to embrace mugunghwa act 73, it is highly anticipated that you two will marry each other. Think about the positive attention that you’ll bring, Seungwan. Think about our family.”

“Yes, Jeonha.”

‘Is nobody gonna ask about my opinion?’ Irene irritatedly fuming inside, ‘Am I a statue here?’

“We should ask Joohyun’s opinion too,” Sunhwa says on behalf of her, after all marrying a royal is a big responsibility.

“Oh yes, what do you think, Joohyun?”

Finally!

“I apologize, Jeonha. I feel that I’m still unfit to be Seungwan-taenyeo’s bride. There’s still a lot of things that I need to learn to be a perfect bride for her.”

The King is a little bit disappointed and it shows by the way his lips lose their smile, “You can learn everything after marriage.”

“I…”

“You are already perfect for me, Joohyun-ah,” Seungwan quickly says because if she lets Joohyun speak, she’ll speak out her mind and it’ll potentially bring their plan downhill. Her father disliked being opposed.

Joohyun looks at seungwan, speechless.

Just what the heck is she saying? Does she want us to get married too?

“See, you don’t have to worry much,” The King gains his smile back, “I believe your grandma is thinking the same. Marrying Seungwan will bring great honor to your family.”

The young royal grips Joohyun’s hand under the table, silently asking her to follow along and let her handle the situation.

Joohyun exhales softly to calm herself. She really wants to say more but she knows that whatever comes out of now will only upset The King so she has no other choice but to trust Seungwan this time.

“Yes, Jeonha,” She forces a smile before looking down at her plate.

I don’t want to get married… not now, not ever.

**

Palace’s east garden.

“I always knew that Seungwan is a gentlewoman, she is famous for being one,” Sunhwa says before sipping her tea. “But I never thought that this time would come, considering she’s too focused on her work.”

The two princesses and Joohyun are sitting together in the garden while their spouses are having conversations with the King, including Seungwan.

“You know nothing about Seungwan,” Sohee says irritatedly to her cousin before looking back at Joohyun, “Just because she brings you here doesn’t mean she’ll marry you, she just wants to please Jeonha.”

Joohyun really wants to roll her eyes but she reprimands herself, she doesn’t want to cause a blood bath here but this b*tch sounds like a jealous girlfriend to her.

“Why are you so against this, unnie?”

“Me against it?” Sohee is denying her cousin’s allegation, “I just want Seungwan to meet a perfect woman as her future bride.”

“Joohyun is perfect,” Sunhwa says, defending her once again, Joohyun is thankful for it, “You just haven’t gotten to know her better.”

“And why are you pushing Seungwan to get married so soon? You are not her mother.”

“I’m not pushing her. I just think that it’s time for her to settle down. Can’t you see how sometimes she looks so lonely? She masks it all well but I can see it in her eyes.”

“Nonsense,” Sohee clicks her teeth, “She looks perfectly fine to me.”

“Joohyun, you should join our flower arrangement meet up sometime,” Sunhwa ignores her older cousin.

“I…” Joohyun is about to reject Sunhwa’s invitation because, for the love of Goddess, she doesn’t know how to arrange flowers, never learned in all her life but Sohee’s next words ticked her wrongly.

“She doesn’t look like someone who enjoys flower arrangement to me. Can’t you see how awkward her posture is? Someone can be born as noble but that doesn’t mean they can carry their legacy,” Sohee says carelessly, intending to hurt Joohyun’s feelings, “I don’t know what Seungwan sees in you but don’t think highly of yourself, she may get bored soon.”

“Unnie!”

“Sohee-wangnyeo,” Joohyun address her with her sweetest fake smile, “Thank you for your concern, but it wasn’t me who approach taenyeo first, it wasn’t me who express interest first and it wasn’t me who asked to be brought here. I rejected her at first because I wasn’t looking for someone to date but she was so insistent that I had to give her a chance,” she plays with the rim of her cup, “I thought I was just a challenge for her but then she opened herself more. She told me about her work and her dream, she even told me about her childhood adventure and how she got the wound on her knee. Taenyeo has always been very honest with me so how could I question her feelings?”

“She told you about that?” Sunhwa is surprised because she asked about it but Seungwan only told her that it was a secret.

Joohyun nods, “I know I’m still lacking but Taenyeo puts her trust in me so doubting her intention with me is the least of my concern right now because I know her feelings for me are true.”

Sohee's blood boils, she almost shouts out that Seungwan only used the young woman to please the King, that the young royal never think to marry anyone because Seungwan’s heart only belongs to her, no one else!

“I’ve warned you but if you are still so adamant with your belief, then go ahead,” Sohee puts her cup down, “I’m tired, I’m going first.”

Once the crown princess is out of their sight, Sunhwa puts her hand on top of joohyun.

“I apologize for her behavior, it must’ve shocked you.”

“It’s fine, wangnyeo. I understand her concern.”

“But still, I think she was too harsh. I’m glad you handled it well,” Sunhwa says with a smile “...and you can call me unnie, no need to be formal since we’re about to be a family in the future.”

Well, Joohyun doesn’t like the idea of being in-laws with them but nevertheless, she smiles back genuinely to the kind young princess, “Yes, unnie.”

**

In another room.

The King and his three children.

“Seungmin, I told you to be careful. The public is starting to question where do you get that money to buy two Lamborghinis.”

“The news will pass, Jeonha. PM Kwon will take care of it. There is nothing he can’t do.”

“There is another news circulating outside and it quite making a fuss around,” Hoon says, he dislikes Seungmin’s tendency to underestimate every problem, “Some people reported to the official that they saw North Korean around the two lands a few weeks ago, did you allow them to step on the land, hyungnim?”

“Of course not!” Seungmin denies vehemently, “I will not allow any of those people to step into our lands.”

Seungwan wanted to snort, her insider confirmed that PM Kwon and her brother were the main actors behind such illegal acts. The King was involved too but she still didn’t know how far his involvement was. Besides, PM Kwon was so powerful in the cabinet that the officials probably didn’t dare to further investigate any suspicious transaction under the table.

“That’s just baseless rumors,” Seungmin adds before sipping his tea.

“We need to assess every rumor,” The King presses his oldest child, worry is shown in his face, “Call PM Kwon and arrange a meeting tomorrow with me.”

“Yes, Jeonha.”

“Seungwan,” His Majesty turns his attention to his youngest child, “The reason why you’re joining this conversation is that I want you to get married on the fifth full moon this year.”

He closed every room of argument by the way he chose his words. It was no longer up for discussion. Seungwan knew that very well.

“Fifth full moon is in less than two months, Jeonha. Why does she have to get married that soon?” Min voices out his disagreement once again, “They just met each other.”

“I have to agree with Min orabeonim, what is the reason Jeonha?” Seungwan asks curiously, marriage is not on her plan, marriage is not mentioned in her agreement with Joohyun. The older woman will surely oppose the idea.

“I did tell you to talk it out with her before but with all the rumors attacking our family, I want to put it out with your marriage news,” The King says, “You're the public's darling right now, they