“What kind of nonsense is this?”

The Queen of Newnion Kingdom, Queen Honey ignores the question that her daughter throws at her.

“Mom! Are you listening?” Princess Jihye asked her mother again but the queen just close her eyes and sip on her tea. Jihye sighs in frustration and turns to her other mother “Mama…Help me to talk to mom please…” she begs.

The queen consort, Duchess Rihey can’t never say no to her daughter so she turns to the Queen. She gently put her hand on the queen’s lap to make the queen turn to her.

“Honey-ah…”

“Nope…”

“But I…”

“Still a nope from me.” Said the queen.

“Can you just…”

“Rihey-ah, you pampered Noze so much and look at what happened now.”

“Mom~~”

The queen turns to her daughter and glare at her “Noze ah.” She calls the princess by her nickname “I’ve given you 5 years. 5 years ago, you told me, you did not want to get married yet because you wanted to learned how to run a kingdom and I let you. You’re turning 25 this year and unmarried! I married your mama when I was 21! You rejected all of the suitor that I chose for you for no reason. You’re not getting younger and I want to retire early so I can go have a deserve holiday with your mama. For your birthday this upcoming weekend, I am going to suit you up with some princess form the neighboring country. Like it or not, you don’t have a choice!”

“What if I decided to run away then?” the princess retorts.

The queen slams her teacup on the table and the cup smashed injuring the queen’s hand. Rihey quickly grabs the nearby napkin and hold on to the queen’s bleeding hand.

“Noze…” Rihey gently asks the princess to stops whatever she is trying to do. “We will talk about this later, okay?” Rihey tries to coax her daughter from retorting back.

The princess sighs and she excuse herself. Once the princess is out of sight the queen winces in pain and she pouts toward her wife. Rihey did not know if she wants to laugh at her wife or sympathize with her. Rihey pulls Honey into her embrace and comfort her.

“It amazes me how much alike you and Noze are.”

“She’s our daughter of course we are alike.” She pouts as she tries to withstand the pain in her hand.

“Let’s get you bandage up.”

***

Princess Noze Chamber

Noze throws herself to her king size bed and screams into her pillows. She then turns to her side and stares out of her window. She was mesmerized by the stars glistering in the night sky. She knows she promised her mother that she will find a suitor before the age of 25, but unbeknown to her, she does not feel attracted to any gender at all. Even she herself question if this is normal or not.

The scene of her mother bleeding hand, made Noze feel guilty though she knows she was not a fault because the queen can be a little impulsive sometimes. Noze lays flat on her bed and shifted her view from the beautiful night sky to the white ceiling of her chamber. She holds out her hand and a certain person appears in her thought.

Flashack

The princess was on a disguise to attend the local festival of the Newnion Kingdom. She tries to blend into the crowds when she sees that the crowds are gathering around watching a group of people performing on the street. There are a bunch of weird looking foreign performing on the street and they seem to be begging for money as well. She tries to get closer so she can get a better look and she got trapped in the crowds. She tries to wriggle her way out when she feels uncomfortable but the crowds keep pushing her forward. She stumbles on her feet and falling forward. She was ready to feel the cold hard ground on her face but then she feels something wrap around her waist and pulling her up.

“Hey, be careful there, are you okay?” a voice with a strong foreign accent asked her.

The princess panicked so she pushed the stranger away. She heard a gentle thud when the stranger who just save her landed on her bum onto the hard cold ground.

“Ouch, is that a way to thank someone who just save you from planting your face on the ground?”

Noze straightened herself and she make sure that her shawl covers her face properly. Noze bows and apologize to her savior “I’m sorry, I panicked and pushed you away. Thank you for saving me.”

“Lee…Jungie!” a red haired androgenous looking person came running toward Noze and her savior.

“You okay?” the red hair asked Noze’s savior.

“Yeah~ I’m okay.”

Noze realized that her savior was with the performers, she flustered and again bows to apologize for interrupting their performance. Her savior smiles at her and then she signaled to her friends to stop the performance. The music stops and the group thanked the crowds for their attention. The crowds booed them for ending the performance midway.

“We are sorry folks~ but we need to keep the situation under control.” An orange haired girl tries to calm the situation down.

Noze felt guilty for causing a scene, she bows again to apologize.

“You don’t have to apologize. It was not your fault. It’s getting a little crowded by the way and getting late too. I’m Jung by the way.”

“I’m No…Noze.” Noze hesitate for a while to introduce herself but since only her family call her by her nickname Noze, she decided to use Noze to introduce herself to the stranger.

“Wow, cool name. Hey, Yell, how much did we earn?” Jung asked the red hair.

“Let me check with Jihyo.” The red hair answer and run back to their other friends and calculate the tips that they earned.

Jung turns back to Noze and asked if Noze is local and Noze lied that she was from the country side and came to town to enjoy the festival. Noze could not help but to notice how stunning Jung is. The piercing on her plump lips definitely caught Noze’s attention.

Jung noticed that Noze had been staring at her lips and her lips curve into a smirk. “Are you interested in my piercing?” Jung asked.

“Huh?” Noze was caught off guard.

“You’ve been staring at my lips for a while.”

Noze flustered when she realized that she was caught staring at Jung’s lips “I…ugh…”

“Hey Jung!” Yell called for the brunette and Jung excuses herself from Noze for a moment.

“Can you wait here a while. I’m going to check on my team and come back to you.” Said Jung as she walked back to her friends.

Noze stood there feeling awkward. She does not understand why is she still there. She could just walk away but somehow, she decided to stay a little longer to see what the girl’s name Jung is going to do. It is the first time ever that she is felt curious about someone.

Jung’s bold fashion style made Noze curious about her. She sees that Jung had finished talking to her friends and she is hoping back to her.

“Seems like we earned quiet a lot tonight! We are heading to the nearest tavern to have a drink. Do you want to come with us?”

“Ugh…I…” Noze looks around trying to find her assistant but it seems like they really have run off to enjoy the festival.

“Come on~ you said it was your first time at town and it was our first time here too~”

“I…” Noze looks around again and then back to Jung. Jung’s puppy eyes caught her attention and she could not resist that look so she said yes to the invitation.

“Great! Come on let’s go!”

Jung grabs on Noze’s hand and pulls her with her. Noze blushes at the contact. She was never the skinship type of person and as the princess of the kingdom too, no one even dare to touch her. Jung’s warms hand made Noze heart skips a beat. Unconsciously she tightened her grips on Jung’s hand as they walk hand in hand to the nearest tavern.

***

Jung and Noze had to seat on separate table as the tavern were full that day, there were 6 of them and the only available table is for 4-seater and 2-seater table that located on the second-floor balcony. Since Noze was still not comfortable with large crowds, Jung suggests for them to seat on the second floor at the balcony.

Noze was amaze at the view on the second floor. Jung excuses herself as she went down to get some food and drinks for the two of them. Noze nodded and she comfortably seated herself. From the balcony, she can see the whole street. The sound of laughter fills the air and the spirit of the festive really warms up Noze. The smells of food fill the air and she can hear her stomach growls.

“Here are our drinks! I don’t know if you drink alcohol or not so I order a fruit punch, fried chicken wings.”

“Thank you.”

“Enjoy!”

Jung seated herself opposite Noze and she cleans her hand with the warm towel provided by the tavern. Noze stares at Jung for a moment. She contemplates whether or not she should take off her shawl and unveil her face.

“You’re not eating?” Jung asked when she sees that Noze did not touch her food or her drink.

“I was wondering…you said that you are not from around here right…so umm…”

“Yeah, I’m from neighboring Kingdom, just traveling around to make living.” Said Jung.

Noze prays hard that Jung does not recognize her. She slowly pulls down her shawl revealing her face to the stranger that she just knew. Jung was drinking her water when Noze takes off her shawl and she was stunned by Noze’s beauty that the water overflow from . Jung quickly put down her jug and reach for nearby cloth to wipe .

Noze laughs when she saw the scene. She takes her napkin and helps Jung to wipes . Jung tries to grab the napkin from Noze’s hand she accidentally touches Noze’s hand and they both blush. Both can feel the electricity when their hand touched and thanks to Jung’s quick reflex, she able to catch the napkin before it drops on her food.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jung wipes the water off and she can’t keep her eyes off Noze. She watches as Noze gracefully takes the chicken wing and nibble on the meat. Jung can feel her temperature is rising and her heart beating wild.

‘What is this feeling?’ she thoughts to herself.

The two eats in silence and Noze was surprised at how fast Jung can gobble down the chicken wings. She herself ate 8 wings in less than 5 minutes.

“Are you that hungry?” Noze asked.

“Hmm, really hungry, we’ve been starving for 2 days!”

“Two days?”

“Yeah, we’re running out of money. Then I thought we need to make quick money, so I gambled it all…but then lucky thing we came to this town and dear friend of mine suggest that we do some street performance to earn some money~ so here we are.” Jung said as she chews on her chicken wings.

Noze chuckles when she noticed how messy Jung mouth is. She takes the napkins and reach for Jung’s mouth. Jung flinches when she noticed that Noze is reaching for her face but she relaxed when she feels the gentle tap on .

“You eat like a child.”

“Sorry…”

Noze chuckles again and said that Jung doesn’t have to apologize for something like that and she blushes when she realized that she utters out the word cute.

“So…you think I’m cute huh?” Jung teases Noze.

Noze tries to hides her face with her hands. She peeks between her fingers and nodded to affirm Jung’s question.

Jung laughs and she pulls Noze’s hands away from covering her face. Jung’s gentle gaze made Noze’s heart beat like crazy and this is actually the first time she ever felt like that. She is scare of her feelings but at the same time find it exciting.

Jung let go of Noze’s hand when she realized how close their faces are. Jung clears to enlightened the awkward moment.

“You’re cute too.” Jung compliments Noze.

“Thanks.”

The silence between them is deafening until Jung decided to break the silence again.

“You know this is funny.”

“Hmm?”

“I mean, we just met and it’s like we’re having our first date. Hahahaha.” Jung laughs.

Noze realized the situation that they are in and it does looks like they are having a date together. Two stranger who just met by accident and now here they are, having dinner together. The princess likes being around Jung.

“I don’t mind it. I like being around you.” Said the princess.

“Me too…” Jung replies and they both stares at each other. Slowly, the gaps between them are getting closer, until their faces were inches away. Noze can feel Jung’s hot breath blowing on her face, and her face reddened.

“I know this sound crazy…but…may I kiss you?” Jung asked politely.

Lust has gotten into the princess mind when she gives the stranger the permission to kiss her. She only knows her name and nothing else and yet she allows this stranger to kiss her.

Their faces move closer together, Noze closes her eyes when she feels Jung’s metal piercing touches her lips.

“Jung-ah!” the door to the balcony burst open and there stand Jung’s friend, Yeojin.

Jung and Noze quickly back away from each other and causes Jung to fallen off her chair. Noze gasps and she hurriedly gets up and goes to Jung’s side to help her up.

“Am I interrupting something?” Yeojin asked.

Both of them blushes and shakes their head.

“Oh, good, because seems like Noze’s friends are here for her. They’ve been looking for her around town.” Said Yeojin.

Noze realized how late it is and she excuses herself because she does not want to trouble her maid for sneaking her out from the castle. As she as getting up, Jung grabs on her wrist.

“Can…we…ugh…meet again?” Jung asked.

Noze’s face turns sullen upon hearing the word ‘meet again’. As the princess of the kingdom, her movement are restricted because her mothers always worry about her safety. She doesn’t have much freedom herself, even tonight, she had to sneak out with the help of her maid.

Noze leans down and plants a quick kiss on Jung’s nose and hurriedly leave the place, leaving Jung baffles. Yeojin watches as Noze leave hurriedly and then she turns to Jung. A smirk creeps on Yeojin’s face and she teases Jung.

End of flashback

The encounter with the stranger from the Kingdom of Turns had made the princess of the Newnion kingdom crazy lately. Noze sighs and she turns to her side. The thought of marriage had never encounter in her mind. She does not want to get married to someone whom she did not know. She was going to give up on the thought of rejecting all of the suitor that her mother introduce. That was until she met with Jung. She was pretty sure that she had fallen for the brunette. Her feelings were affirmed when Dolla mentioned that she saw the group of the Turns foreigner went around flirting with the girls in town to earn money and she got jealous.

“I need to find a way to meet her again.” Noze said to herself before she closes her eyes and fallen asleep.

***

The next day

Isak’s stomach growl and she grunts while holding onto her stomach. She looks up to her group leader but the leader pretend that she did not hear the growling sound.

“Jung…we told you to go easy with the money, and now look where we end up. On the street! With no penny left in our pocket at all!!” Yeojin yells at Jung.

“You really should go easy on the money Princess Leejung.” said Jihyo and Jung quickly shushes her.

“Keep it low, people shouldn’t know that I’m a princess!”

“Yeah…a broke one.” Yell added.

“Yah…you guys aren’t even the best too when it comes to preventing me from spending all the money I had. I thought my mothers specifically asked you all to monitor me!” Jung retaliates.

“It’s useless to fight among us now. We need to find money to feed Isak, or else she is going to die of hunger.” Yell tries to reason.

Jung sighs and she nods. She looks at the town notice board and saw that the castle is looking for performance for the princess 25th birthday gala. Jung’s light bulb lightened and she turns to her crew.

“We are going to perform at the castle!”

“Huh?”

To be continue...