**

Double update to celebrate Wannie's birthday! 🤗

**

Somewhere in Seoul.

An unidentified warehouse.

A man slumped in a wooden chair, hands tied on the back, head bowing down as blood dripped from the cut on his temple.

Seulgi pulled the man by his chin to make him look at her cold eyes before slamming a few hard slaps on his swollen cheek.

“Who ordered you to deliver the money?!”

But the man kept his mouth sealed tight.

Seulgi felt so irritated, she raised her right leg and kicked the man on his stomach making his chair fall backward along with him, whimpering in pain on the floor.

The royal guard was about to torture him more but a stern voice stopped her.

“That’s enough, Bear,” Wendy says from behind her, “Pull his chair back.”

Seulgi wordlessly pulled the chair and made the man sit facing Wendy who was dragging another chair to sit close in front of him. Her face was covered with a black mask, just like her guard.

The man looked up at her with his hazy eyes before following her hand that disappeared behind her back, pulling out a revolver.

He gulped down as Wendy silently loaded in two out of five chambers before closing the cylinder with a loud click.

“Don’t dirty your hands,” says a shadow in the dark. “Let my people do the job.”

“I have two bullets in it,” Wendy says calmly, ignoring the warning, “Where do you want to take it?”

She points the tip of the revolver on the man’s temple, “Your head?” then down to his chest, “Your heart?”

The man snaps at her, “Both!”

“Tsk,” Wendy hovers her thumb, pulling the trigger back to the gun, “Why waste them all on you?”

The royal signals her guard to bring out something, a dress.

A familiar yellow sundress made the man’s eyes widen in horror.

“I have your wife locked somewhere inside this building.”

“YOU’RE LYING!”

Seulgi took out her phone, she played a video of a woman sitting confusedly in a room.

“She was home alone, unprotected, not knowing her husband was assigned to do some sort of dangerous mission.”

The man looks at her in horror, “Don’t harm her.”

Wendy sighs while pointing her gun once again at him, tapping it lightly against his chest, “Choose wisely now, her head or heart?”

The man felt a cold sweat rolling from his neck.

“I’ll give you 5 seconds to think before I kill you,” She whispers coldly.

“One..”

“Two”

Seulgi presses her phone to record a video, “Think of it as a goodbye message to your wife.”

“Three”

“K… Kwon!” The man shouts out loud, “Prime minister Kwon ordered me to bring the money to him.”

“Who gave the money?”

“North…North Korean, I don’t know who exactly.”

“Four”

“He never told me but it wasn’t the first time I did the job for him, he’s been smuggling a lot of money to his account since last year.”

Wendy tilts her head “Can you confirm it, unnie?” She wants to know if the man is telling the truth or not.

Taeyeon emerges from the dark “Yes.”

“My agents found that he gave up some lands in Ulleungdo and Cheongsando to North Korea under an unlimited contract.”

“Does The King know?”

“He does.”

Wendy clicks her teeth, controlling her anger.

“The money has been going to the royal institution since 2020 up till now.”

The young royal pulls back her revolver and looks at the man, “He is slowly selling our nation. Why are you working for him?”

“This nation doesn’t care about me and my family, not when the government is corrupt. I’m just a peasant looking to make money from them.”

“I can give you money.”

The man looks at her suspiciously, “What do you want from me as an exchange?”

“Be my people. You will go back and give him his money, then send me information about his next moves.”

“I can snitch on you.”

“You won’t, I have your wife.”

“You’re taking my wife as your hostage?!”

“She won’t know about your dirty job, I’ll keep her safe.”

“How can I trust you?!”

“Do you know what this is?” She shows her mugunghwa bracelet.

“Who are you?”

“I’ll bring her to the palace, she’ll work for me, she’ll be safe.”

The man frowned, this job was dangerous, he knew that very well but the woman in front of him could guarantee his wife’s safety, away from PM Kwon if he ever found out about his disloyalty. So even if he dies on his job, at least his wife would have a good life in the palace.

“Can I meet her for one last time?”

Wendy studies him closely “No” she takes out a bird origami from her jacket “Call the number inside when your wounds are healed completely, my people will bring you to meet her, so until then don’t die on your mission.”

Seulgi cuts the rope that binds his hands.

“Just so you know I have my insider so don’t try snitching on me because I hate it when someone stabs me from behind. I can do so much worse than what PM Kwon can do, do you understand?”

“Yes,” he won’t do something stupid now that his wife is in her hands, “Until when do you need me for this work?”

“Eight months”

The man quickly nodded.

“You do your job well, I’ll give your wife a good life.”

**

3:00 PM

Seungwan was walking down from Gyeojong hall with Seulgi when she spotted her father, PM Kwon, her oldest brother, and her sister-in-law walking together. They probably just came back from their golf practice, considering their outfit.

“Seungwan,” Sohee greets her cheerfully.

“Good afternoon, Jeonha” Seungwan bows respectfully to her father first before doing the same for the rest of the family and PM Kwon who looks disinterestedly at her.

“It’s rare to see you here at this time,” her father says.

“It’s even rarer to see her working at the royal constitution,” Seungmin answered for her with a snarky tone, “Never see her at her office.”

“Is the job as head of internal administration boring you, Seungwan?”

The young royal shakes her head, “Of course not, Jeonha. I just work fast” Seungwan says with a smile, “I’m here because I left my wallet but my job for the day is done.”

“Is that so? Maybe you should start helping your Min brother with international trade.”

“I’m perfectly capable of handling it on my own, Jeonha.”

“Yes, Jeonha. Taeja is maintaining the job very well,” PM Kwon helps his favorite royal “If I may add, better give Taenyeo more time to enjoy her life before it’s time for her to settle down.”

Seungwan laughed internally knowing these two men were panicking. The international trade department is where a lot of money comes in.

They didn’t want someone who wasn’t from their circle taking part in it, and they wanted Seungwan to be away as much as possible from the royal constitution’s business.

“Now that you mentioned it, PM Kwon,” The king returns his attention to Seungwan. “I heard that you met a lady at the Pond a few nights ago. Who is she?”

“Yes, I did. She is from Bonsang Bae, we danced at the ceremony and had a pleasant conversation after.”

The King nodded, “A lady from Bonsang Bae is a good choice, they ranked second below the Han’s, I’m glad you’re thinking about your future seriously now.”

“She was probably just playing around, Jeonha,” her brother says again, always jealous when their father shows affection to his other sibling.

“Maybe I did, but if Jeonha thinks she is good enough to prosper our family then who am I to refuse.”

The king laughs, pleased with what she said, “I’m happy that you’re thinking about our family first before your own needs. Bring her to me sometimes.”

“Yes, Jeonha.”

Seungmin glared at her but she just ignored him.

“Sohee unnie, you must be a pro golfer now,” Seungwan regards her sister in law who was all quiet before.

“Oh no, I’m not” Sohee sighs “Seungmin Taeja is too busy to help me out but I understand that his work must come first.”

“Are we boring you, Sohee?” The King regards the future queen “We’re sorry that we keep talking about work and ignore you there.”

“No, it’s okay, I just feel lonely sometimes, Jeonha.”

“If only Seunghoon isn’t often assigned abroad then Sunhwa would be able to accompany you,” The king regretfully says.

“How about Seungwan, Jeonha?”

Seungwan and Sohee actually talked about it last night, Seungwan mentioned that she wanted to be near the older girl as much as possible and offered herself to teach her golfing.

The King never included her before because PM Kwon said that it was unnecessary for Seungwan to join their weekly practice as the young royal already knew how to play golf properly on her own. The real reason was that PM Kwon didn’t want her to get into the King’s good side.

“Seungwan?”

“Yes, I want to be better at golf, Jeonha,” Sohee says in her smooth pleading voice “I heard Seungwan is really good at it.”

“We can just hire a teacher to teach you, Your Highness,” PM Kwon suggests to her.

“Why waste our money on that? Besides, I want to have a comfortable conversation with someone I know so I won’t be bored.”

“If you want to have a comfortable conversation then stay at home,” Seungmin says to his wife “Talk to her at home.”

“Seungmin, you know that it’s better to have Sohee at least good at golfing,” The King says to him “Once you’re crowned, you two will meet a lot of important people, she needs to learn how to keep the wives of those important people entertained.”

Seungmin bows her head, not able to counter back “Yes, Jeonha.”

“I still think that hiring a teacher will be more practical,” PM Kwon says “That way it won’t hinder Taenyeo’s work since she is assigned to take care of Seonghwan gallery as well now,” he says bitterly, Seonghwan gallery was under his care before but the King made a last-minute decision last year and appointed Seungwan instead for a reason that no one knows.

“What if we ask Seungwan first? I hope she can teach me but if she can’t then we can hire a teacher,” Sohee says, fully knowing that PM Kwon and her husband are against the idea of having Seungwan joining them, she doesn’t know why but that doesn’t matter because all she wants is to be near the young royal as much as possible.

“If that’s what you want,” The King says with a smile before looking at his youngest child, “Can you join us Seungwan? Will it get in the way of your work?”

“No Jeonha, it won’t. I’ll teach Sohee unnie as she wishes,” Seungwan says while hiding her smile. Her plan to be on the king’s side works well with Sohee’s support behind her, being included in the golf practice means she can keep her eyes on her enemies. Spying their every move closely.

“Very well,” The King pats her back proudly before looking at the rest of his family, “Queen Song already prepared a nice drink for us, let’s go now.”

“Yes, Jeonha.”

Seungwan bowed down to her retreating family and when she lifted her head, she caught Sohee looking back at her so she winked playfully at the older woman making her smile shyly.

Getting close with Sohee was a good decision after all.

**

“Did the woman enter the palace safely, Seul?”

“Yes taenyeo, she entered as your Hoon brother’s maid, she’ll be safe working there. PM Kwon never visits the west palace.”

Wendy sighs “Good to hear. Just remember if the man calls you, bring them to my villa in Gangwondo.”

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