two

My family rose to prominence overnight.

Much to the King’s disapproval, both tigers were not kept alive but it was overshadowed by the fact that his son’s life had been saved.

And by none other than the youngest of the Kim’s, me.

I’ve tried to share some of the credit to my brother, but I suppose a tiny girl was more impressive than a pair of siblings taking down a tiger. The actions of that day were greatly exaggerated even by His Majesty himself, The King. I was nobody to correct him but the story grew to take on a life of it's own and before I knew it I had a name for centuries to rely on: The Tigress.

Because of that name, we were showered in gifts and in titles. We had been honored with parties and a social status. The trajectory of our lives was nothing that I could ever imagined. Father went on to lead his own specialized infantry as a General. Jongdae, although a skilled archer, was persuaded by my mother to become a scholar.

“Even the being worst scholar is better than the work of a solider,” My mother chided when Jongdae was having a fit from studying under the same teachings of the two eldest princes.  

As for me, the King honored me with the lessons as well. I was placed in lessons where they taught me languages and reading and scripts. I was also taught manners and how politeness and wit came naturally to me as I studied alongside the Third Prince. I also spent the majority of my childhood running away from baths and refusing to sit next to Baekhyun who had a habit of staring and poking me.

Much to the amusement of the royal court, I was also chased around by the Third Prince Baekhyun. I was not amused by his insistent attention but, luckily for me, I found refuge in his his older brother, the Crowned Prince Junmyeon.

He was an excellent reader and would often show me books he was gifted from the west. He mentioned he’d travel all through England and Spain and Italy and all these other wonderful distant places, where I wished I could go.

Even Jongdae joined Prince Junmyeon once for his travels and I was left alone for an entire summer with Prince Baekhyun.

It was bad enough to be stuck with him during our lessons but the thought of no one to spend time with other than Prince Baekhyun was insufferable. At first, it was miserable to have The Third Prince dragging me around to all the places he wanted to see. But worst of all, it was hard to concentrate on my calligraphy and never mind trying to learn a new language when he was constantly correcting me.

Still, even if I pointlessly pined after his brother for years, Prince Baekhyun and I grew close that summer. I can't exactly pinpoint when it happened, when I softened for him. But I did and suddenly, his presence wasn't so unwelcomed anymore.

I remember the last time I saw of Prince Baekhyun, it was around his planned feast in honor of his birth.

I was unable to attend as I held no official title unless my father or brother was there to me. Despite having a high ranking in the eyes of the unwelcoming society, my mother and I had a bit of trouble without the presence of a man that was able to be forward with his rank.

Still I didn’t mind not being invited. I knew there was a way to sneak into the kitchens later on with Prince Baekhyun and steal some rice cakes to share. After spending so much time at the palace for the past five years, it felt almost like a second home. The difference was jarring and overwhelming when I was younger, but my parents insisted this was good for us.

Good fortune, like ours, was something to always be grateful for.

I had been sitting on the balcony of our school room with Prince Junmyeon’s book propped on my lap. It had been my favorite place in the whole palace. There was a great view of the rolling mountains cradling the vastness of the builings of the Royal Palace. The tops poking out from the thick of the trees that concealed it. When it was the perfect time, the sun would sink right at the middle of those mountains, making the entire place glow in the sun's dying fire. It was the best place and time to relax on a late summer evening, reading my favorite book.

I couldn’t understand the written text of English but Prince Junmyeon had read this story to me so many times, I had nearly memorized it by the way his lips moved.

My heart fluttered, studying the pictures of funny looking dragons and brave knights. The next page showed the Prince and a Princess close together. The princess was bent over backwards in the embrace of the prince, eyes closed and leaning in.

I never got Prince Junmyeon to tell me what they were doing. He simply brushed me off and finished the story quickly but it seemed too important to the story to skip out on it.

Maybe he smelled bad and the princess was repulsed.

“Why are you reading that again?” Prince Baekhyun huffed as he sat next to me on the balcony, “You should be making me something special. For my twelveth honoring.”

I scooted away to give room to the yards of fabric of his garments. Bakehyun took off his silly hat and fixed his front hair. I replied, giving Prince Baekhyun a side glance, “I wasn’t invited, Baekhyun.”

“It’s Prince Baekhyun,” He pouted, hoping that his title was impressive enough to sway my mind. He took the moment to scoot closer to regain the space he had lost.

“It’s for the Royals,” I clarified, “Surely I wouldn’t think so highly to find myself amongst your own, Your Highness.”

I stuck out my tongue mocking him and he in his annoyance through his teeth. We paused for a moment, holding in obvious smiles. 

“Well,” He cleared his throat, “I will propose an ordinance.”

I let out a dry laugh, “And what would that be?”

“Kaira must always be in attendance of Prince Baekhyun’s Honoring.” He smiled. Usually, I would scowl at him or push him away like many years before but I ended up giggling along with him.

“The Prince and the Tigress? She’s only a lowly girl.” I gasped, “The scandal that will ensue...”

“Only?” He grinned, “She’s the one who stood in the face of a snarling beast and slashed it’s throat to protect the most precious crown of this kingdom.”

“Most precious?” Smiling, I rolled my eyes.

Prince Baekhyun scooted closer until our sides were pressed together and leaned close to emphasize his wild story telling. “You should see him now, he’s a full inch taller than her, handsome, and can fight... three tigers at the same time!”

“And the girl?” I questioned, looking haughty and uninterested in what he had to say. I would say my eyes gave it away as he cocked his head to catch my line of vision.

“Barbaric! But wildly beautiful,” He excitedly said, “She could almost pass as a lady if it wasn’t for her dirty shoes.”

I nudged him away lightly, tucking my shoes under me away from his sight. He wasn’t wrong, we spent a lot of time running around the grounds that even my mother gave up on buying me new pair of clean shoes.

Baekhyun, peering at my book, nudged back, “You always look at this page.”

I nodded, cocking my head, “Yes, Junmyeon never told me what this was.”

I pointed at the picture of the pair. Prince Baekhyun gave me a look and sputtered out his disbelief, “What?”

“I know,” I nodded, “Your brother is so nice, I never understood why he skipped over this part so fast.”

Prince Baekhyun shook his head, “Not that. You mean you don’t know what this is?”

He pointed at the two characters in their embrace. I snuck my nose up in the air, “Of course I do. The book says here that it’s a… T-R-U-E. True?”

Baekhyun smirked, “A true? That makes no sense!”

I slammed the book, hoping to get ahead of the Prince’s teasing. He always seemed to get under my skin and I understood later on why my brother hated to study with the Princes. Their knowledge of the written foreign scripts was so vast and incomprehensible. It was nearly impossible to understand them sometimes.

I stood up and walked back to the dim classroom to place my book under my desk when Prince Baekhyun gently grabbed ahold of my wrist.

“Would you like to know what it is?” He asked, searching my face to gauge how angry I was. Recently, I couldn’t reach the same anger as I had in the past with Baekhyun. Even when he was the most annoying, I had softened for him.

“What do you mean?” I scowled.

“Would you like to know what a… true is?” He asked carefully. I nodded expecting him to explain to me in words.

“Then promise to come tomorrow.” He bartered, “Promise you’ll come to my Honoring.”

I nodded, once more, knowing it was an empty promise. I stood there but all he did was close his eyes and took a step closer to me. I blinked, thoroughly confused. It looked like what Mother and Father usually did and it dawned on me, when he was mere inches away from my face, that he was going to touch his lips with mine.

“Prince Baekhyun!”

Both of use wheeled around to find our teacher at the doors of our school room.

“You are needed, the servants are waiting at the baths for your presence!” He snapped. Prince Baekhyun readjusted the same funny looking hat and scurried away, looking over his shoulder at me before he disappeared.

I had to stand here for a moment, wondering why my face felt so hot. It couldn’t have been a fever…

The day after, I was sent away to finishing school. My mother was told that there I would be able to learn skills suitable for a lady of high society and the fine art of alluring a fine partner to assure a secure place in society. There, they would smooth out all my rambunctious ambitions and tame my quick tongue.

I hadn’t been able to say goodbye to my father who had been away on an assignment and brother who had been traveling. Even Prince Baekhyun never got my farewell.

It would be over ten years before I returned, and I was able to see my family again in our new family home on the most coveted street in the capital city of Hanseong: Saeryo Row.

Another quick update. Thank you for viewing and upvoting. I really appreciate it. Comments are also very MUCH appreciated! <3