**

Life in The Palace was different from life outside, as expected.

There were things that changed, for example, Joohyun’s weekly schedule. Her days used to be filled with work, home, parties, and repeat but since she got married to a royal, her days now consist of weekly dinner with the royal family and attending to her princess duties, which is a lot and currently giving her so much stress.

This week, her schedule is packed. She has to attend a fundraising lunch with Seungwan today, a gallery launching in two days, and also an interview with Vogue on the weekend. Yes, Vogue, and yes on the weekend! What the hell??

Now, how is she gonna maintain her job at Classic Cleaners?

She felt really guilty towards Joy. The young woman had to take over her job as operations manager. But Joy was literally a joy, she happily took over her job and even encouraged Joohyun to take a whole month's leave, reasoning that she was a newlywed and had been working so hard for the past years so she deserved to have a nice honeymoon.

Honeymoon my …

Not that Joohyun wanted to have one but there was no holiday or honeymoon for her. As soon as she stepped into The Palace, she was bombarded with all the traditions, rules, and duties. It stressed her out and to think it was only her three days, three days after marrying the crown princess!

Joohyun was still sulking on her bed when Seungwan strutted into their bedroom, looking regal even though she was only wearing casual clothes.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” her wife greeted her with a blooming smile.

Joohyun looked at her sharply, nose flaring.

“You! You didn’t tell me about all these princess duties that I have to do!”

“Oh? I must’ve forgotten about it,” the young royal chuckles before winking, “Sorry.”

Slamming her weekly schedule on the nightstand for additional effect, she says, “No, you’re not sorry!”

“Right, I’m not, so why are you still on your bed, Honey? It’s time to attend to your duty.”

Joohyun disregarded all her buttery terms of endearment, she was used to her sweet talk by now.

“I was so shocked when your secretary sent this to me! I slept so late last night, memorizing all The Palace’s rules. I thought that finally today, I can get a rest after three days of those torturous lessons with your Queen mother!”

“Hey, it's just a simple lunch.”

“A fundraising lunch! They’ll expect me to show some grand moves or something. I don’t know, argh!” It’s funny that even when she’s stressed out, she still looks pretty.

“Hey, hey calm down,” Seungwan patted her shoulder, “Making grand moves is my job, you just have to wave and smile, maybe talk with some important people but I’ll be there to assist you so don’t worry.”

“Who are those important people?” Joohyun’s breath hitched when she heard those words.

“Samsung chairman and… “

“Samsung chairman?!”

“Yeah and our Vice President,”

Joohyun suddenly felt sick in her stomach.

She is a confident woman but she had no idea what to talk about with such important figures. Their interests are clearly different! The young Bae never had any interest in political worlds and she was sure that those people wouldn’t have the greatest interest to find the best fabric softener in the world, right?

“You should have briefed me before,” Joohyun whines, whenever she felt insecure, her childish attitude would come up. It was rare to witness but it was definitely there, crashing her mature woman persona every now and then.

“Ducky,” Seungwan keeps doing this every time the older girl jutting her lips, out of habit.

Joohyun swatted her fingers irritatedly.

“There would be no difference if I briefed you or not. The best way to learn is to go through the ropes right away, Joohyun-ah.”

“You can say that because you’re born and prepared for this your whole life! But look at me! I have no idea what to talk about with them.”

Seungwan rubbed her chin.

“Well, you can talk about anything, maybe your laundry business or your experience studying abroad. Mr. Vice President’s only daughter is going to graduate from high school this year and I heard that he is considering sending his daughter abroad so you can give him some advice.”

“Really?” a bulb appeared in Joohyun’s mind, appeasing her worries a little.

“Yes really, that kind of information is usually only known around his circle but people who are looking to impress him, obviously digging the information from his inner circle.”

“You mean, people like you?” Joohyun side-eyed her wife.

Seungwan laughs broadly, “Yes, people like me. Now get up, we have someone to impress and I know that we will ace it.”

Joohyun sighed for the nth time before moving her blanket and getting ready for her bath.

“It’s better to spend time outside than here inside The palace, trust me, you’ll know what I mean soon,” Seungwan muttered lowly while fixing her hair.

“Is that why you always come back so late?” Joohyun asked while trying to pull her morning cream from the drawer.

“Well, yes and no.”

“Yes and no?”

“No, because I have something to do outside and yes, I can’t stand to see some pretentious people here, especially my father.”

Joohyun stopped moving. She thought the young royal was so fond of his highness because she looked so eager to impress him whenever she could. Turned out that Joohyun was wrong.

She saw Seungwan’s jaw hardened through the reflection in the mirror until the latter caught her stare and quickly gave her a playful wink. Like her words before didn’t hold any meaning but Joohyun knew, the young royal meant those words.

**

They arrived at the venue by 11 AM. It was a public event near the Samsung headquarters.

As soon as they stepped out of their car, they saw a bunch of people lining up outside the venue, cheering their names like no tomorrow.

Joohyun was confused and a little bit afraid of their unexpected greetings so she unconsciously clutched Seungwan’s arm.

“Look, they even have a hand banner with our name, cute.” Seungwan clearly enjoyed the attention as she kept waving to the crowd, making them squeal in delight.

“Can we go inside quickly?” the young Bae hissed lowly. Clearly uncomfortable by all the attention.

“That would be rude. They’ve been waiting for us. It seems that the public is loving us more and more…” Seungwan finally noticed that Joohyun kept avoiding everyone's stares, “Hey, are you afraid?”

“I’m still not used to it. They look like they're going to jump on us at any moment.” Joohyun knew that her voice was a bit shaky, and so were her legs.

Seungwan patted her wife’s hands, “Don’t worry, we have enough guards around us. Look at Seulgi, she can single-handedly throw anyone who dares to touch a single of your hair.”

Joohyun wandered her eyes around and found Seulgi standing in front of them, judging by her stance, she was ready to strangle anyone who dared to come closer. Jaemin and Taeil were also standing not so far behind them, giving the most silent deadly stare.

“Yeah… “

Joohyun finally eased her clutch on Seungwan’s arm but not a second later, Seungwan quickly took her hand back and clasped their hands together.

“Smile, the press is here.”

Oh, right.

**

Inside the venue.

“Ah the newlywed royal,” An old man warmly welcomed them to the venue. Joohyun blinked her eyes in surprise when the man bowed to them respectfully.

“Mr. Han,” Seungwan greeted him back, “Jagi, I believe you already know, Mr. Han, our Vice President.”

Who wouldn’t know him?

Joohyun gulped nervously before forcing a small smile. Hope it looks natural enough…

“I didn’t expect you two would be on duty right away. What happened with the honeymoon phase? Do youngsters nowadays skip it?”

The young royal chuckles, “Every day is a honeymoon for us, Mr. Han.”

“I see.” The old man laughs, “Your highness, I heard that you’ll be joining the finance department? Am I right?”

“Yes, I’ll start working next week.”

“Congratulations,” the man says, impressed, “Not everyone can join that department, only those who are close with PM Kwon.”

“I’m blessed with Jeonha’s kindness.”

“I’m glad he finally acknowledged your ability. Though I want you to be careful.”

Joohyun was confused, be careful?

“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Han. I’ll make sure to abide by the rules.”

The man nodded before turning his attention to Joohyun.

“Ah, Princess Joohyun. We didn’t really talk on your wedding day but once again, congratulations for successfully snatching our Taenyeo. She always rejected the idea of getting married. Never in my wildest dream did I think I’ll see her holding a woman so confidently in public like this.”

Are they close? Joohyun wondered.

“Thank you, Mr. Han. Really I did nothing,” she answered shyly.

“You must have impressed her in some way.”

“She did,” Seungwan says proudly, “I’m blown away with her intelligence, maybe because she studied abroad so her way of thinking is different.”

“You did?” Mr. Han is surprised by the revelation, “I’m thinking of sending my only daughter abroad, maybe we can talk some more.”

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