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Please read chapter 4 first if you haven't read it. I uploaded two chapters last week^^ 

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The sky was slowly being painted with an orange hue. In an hour the ceremony would start but her oldest brother was still fussing over his royal hanbok.

“Are you stupid?! I told you to smoothen the edge but what did you do? You wrinkled and ruined this hundred-year-olds hanbok with your filthy hands!” her brother raises his hand to slap one of the maids.

“Hyung-nim stop” Hoon stepped in, catching his wrist to prevent him from hitting the maid again. This is why Seungmin hates him, he is always meddling in his business and presenting himself as a good guy in front of the royal servers.

“Don't tell me what to do!” Min threateningly says, towering over his brother “Why are you here, Hoon? I don’t want you attending my ceremony!”

Seungwan sighed as she walked to the poor maid who was whimpering in fear while holding her stinging cheek. All the royal servers were afraid of Min, not only was he the crown prince but he was also known as the most impatient and easy-to-anger out of the three siblings.

The young maid flinched a little when Seungwan held her chin to check if there was any bruise on her cheek, then she was told not to come near the ceremony or Seungmin would lose it again.

“I don’t want to be here either, but Jeonha wants me to attend your ceremony!”

“Bull, you want my crown, right? That’s why you keep getting into my business, I swear I’ll kill you with my own hands if you keep meddling in” Min grasp Hoon by the lapel of his purple royal handbook.

“Min orabeoni stop it, look, I have smoothened the edge for you,” Seungwan says while presenting the white royal hanbok to her oldest brother.

Seungmin takes the hanbok away from her “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re hiding behind those fake obedient acts seungwan, you are just the same as your useless mother!”

Seungwan is often insulted by her stepbrother but she is getting better at controlling her anger nowadays, “I told you I have nothing against you, didn’t I?”

“And do you think I believe that?” Seungmin wears his hanbok begrudgingly with the help of another maid “After I get crowned, I’ll get rid of the both of you” he says with his voice laced with venom.

Seungwan was so used to his threats that she did not even mind it anymore, because if all goes well for her she would be the one who will be getting rid of him but her Hoon brother clearly doesn’t think the same as her.

“Do not involve Seungwan in our dispute! She has nothing to do with this!”

“Don’t you know she is third in line now? Father had approved the new act, six months ago! She will stealthily steal my crown and I won’t let her” Seungmin glares at his sister who keeps her poise.

“I never asked Jeonha to approve the act,” she says innocently.

Well, she didn’t convince The King directly by herself but she used people around him to influence his decision, not that she was interested in taking the crown but it certainly gave her more power in the palace as the third in line.

“I’ll keep my eyes on you, Seungwan. I won’t be giving it a second thought in getting rid of you first if you make one silly mistake.”

Hoon was about to retort but one of the guards suddenly announced that their father, the King, was coming in.

They all quickly kneeled to show respect.

“Seungmin, I can hear your voice from the hallway,” the king says as he looks at his children “What is the problem now?”

“Just stupid maid mishandling my hanbok,” Min says like a spoiled kid, he has been crowned as the crown prince since he was young making him think that he is above the others.

“Keep your temper at bay, we have guests feasting outside.”

“But Jeonha…”

The king raised his hand, commanding him to stop whining then he turned his attention to Seunghoon’s crumpled handbook.

“What happened to your hanbok, Hoon?”

“He meddled in when I’m about to give that maid a lesson,” Min says again, he just can’t keep his mouth shut.

“You do know that we should punish those people who made mistakes, Hoon,” the king says, unimpressed at his second oldest.

“I agree, Jeonha, but not by hurting them physically,” Hoon says without lifting his head.

“This is why you are not fit to be a King, you’re too weak,” Min smirks beside him.

“Learn from your brother, Hoon, you may not be the first in line but you’re still a royal member,” The King scolds him “People won’t respect you if you’re looking so weak.”

“...and you Seungwan, I heard you brought a woman again to Taejeong hall last night,” her father says amusedly “I know you’re young but you need to control your hormone or just settle down and choose your concubines later like Min, so much better than bringing random women into the palace.”

“I apologize, Jeonha. It won’t happen again” Seungwan bows, perfectly toning her voice with deep regret.

Min and Hoon are already married, leaving Seungwan as the only free single out of the three siblings at the moment.

Her father nodded before talking briefly to the man behind him, the mastermind, Prime Minister Kwon. He was the man behind The King’s every decision, he controlled their father and now established an alliance with Min, the next King. He disliked Seunghoon because he was too righteous, he kept pointing out any loopholes in the royal constitution’s system. That’s why he was sent frequently on business visits to another country. They wanted him out of the royal constitution’s business as often as possible.

On the other hand, Seungwan projected herself as a clueless royal, never agreeing or disagreeing on something. She tried to downplay herself, to show that she wasn’t much of a threat but PM Kwon knew better. Those who acted disgustingly loyal were usually the ones who would probably stab you from behind. He was one of those people.

**

The king sat on his throne while his children sat on his left, his Queen on his right along with Seunghoon’s mother, his second wife. Seungwan looked behind her to see her younger siblings, the twins, Sooyeon and Soojung. Both of them were deemed as illegitimate children for her father never married their mother because of her commoner status. The king had no choice but to bring them to the palace when the news about his unruly behavior came out in public several years ago. It was huge chaos back then, almost costing him his crown but PM Kwon handled the situation and saved his crown, and once again, The King was indebted to him.

The King never cared about the twins, it was to show the public that he was taking responsibility but honestly he didn’t do much as a father figure. He never acknowledged them, they were his mistakes. But Seungwan was very fond of them, she always wanted younger siblings.

Seungmin’s and Seunghoon’s wives were sitting beside each other, just like their husbands, they too didn’t get along too well even though they came from the same clan, the Han Clan. A few years back, the future queen, Han Sohee, and her cousin, Han Sunhwa were selected as Seungmin’s marriage partner. Sohee ended up marrying Min after beating the other candidates while later, Hoon fell for Sunhwa and asked her to marry him.

Sohee caught her staring. An intense but meaningful stare was thrown back at the young royal who smiled playfully at her sister-in-law. Seungwan was fully knowing what that stare meant but right now she needed to find Bae Joohyun. She can deal with Sohee later.

Where is the young Bae, anyway?

The guests were taking turns to give their respects to the royal family and also presenting their gifts to the crown prince who, by the way, was very pleased by the number of gifts that he received tonight.

Seungwan subtly rolled her eyes, she started to get bored until she saw the Bae family making their way inside. Madam Bae, who looked regal in her lilac hanbok, accompanied by her two grandchildren, Joohyun, and umm… she didn’t remember the other woman’s name. Have they met before? Anyway, her attention was brought back to Joohyun who looked so breathtakingly beautiful in her baby blue hanbok. Seungwan was pleased, blue was her color.

Apparently, it was not only her who was blown away by the young Bae’s beauty but also her two brothers. It brought a disapproving snicker from their wife, especially the future queen since she knew her husband's preference for young beautiful women, he already chose two concubines last year and it seemed like he wanted to add another one. It brought heartache to the future Queen, she wanted his attention on her only but he failed to give her that.

Let’s just say that they have the most unhappy arranged marriage of the year.

“Wow,” Min whistles, raking his eyes all over Joohyun's body. “I’ve never seen her before.”

PM Kwon chuckles behind him “Why? Are you interested, your highness?”

“Who wouldn’t? Look at her and her sibling, Bonsang Bae never disappoints.” Seungwan overheard him say, yeah, well… she agreed. The Baes was one of the few families who’s always listed on the royal list as a marriage prospect for the royal children but it had been decades since their descendants has been chosen.

“You can get any woman you want after you get crowned your highness,” PM Kwon says in a whisper bringing a low chuckle out of her oldest brother.

Meanwhile, Hoon was not interested to join the conversation, he loved his wife too much, even though joohyun’s beauty kind of blew him away but he refused to dwell on it. He put his hand over Sunhwa, his wife, assuring her that his heart was only for her. Out of the three, he was known as the most faithful lover.

“Not when I get her first,” Seungwan comments lightly from the side.

Min scoffs off “You think she wants to get involved with you? You have nothing compared to me, the crown prince”

“I don’t see the need to fight over her, your highness” Sohee says in her calm voice masking her jealousy very well but Seungwan can see through her facade. She is a very jealous woman.

With a smile, the young royal assures her, “You’re still the prettiest of them all, Sohee unnie.”

“I know,” Sohee holds her chin high, seemingly pleased by her compliment. Sunhwa who sits beside her can only roll her eyes.

Seungwan nodded at her sister-in-law before taking a sip of her drink, keeping her stare at joohyun who also stared back at her. She raised her glass subtly, hiding her smile behind it.

She was confident that the other woman would accept her proposal tonight because she could see how she shifted uncomfortably when all those eyes were looking at her, assessing her as their future partner.

No doubt, Joohyun would come to her tonight.

**

The ceremony went without much trouble, which meant boring to th