Sitting in the throne room, a beautifully wrought golden tiara adorning her head, and a gown of emerald green draping her delicate frame, Joohyun stared at the line of suitors with a bored look on her face. She’d been here hundreds of times before, watching thousands of men and women be presented to her, giving her flowery compliments and lavish gifts, cracking lame jokes, and perhaps a few funny ones. They tried so hard to make them laugh - every single one of them - and Joohyun just sat on her small throne beside her mother, a morose look on her face, ignoring everyone as the lump came forward to present their case to the princess.

There were short suitors, and tall ones, pale and dark, rotund ones and some that were so slender that she thought they would blow over if a stiff breeze struck them. Some were strikingly beautiful, and others less so, but more importantly, none of them made her laugh. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t have liked to laugh at some of the jokes and the antics, and the god awful compliments, but it was the fact that she couldn’t. Since the day she’d turned eighteen, she’d been pressured by her mother to find a good match, to the point where they’d argued for days, filling the palace with their angry shouts as Joohyun refused to get married, and Yoojin insisted that she had to. Eventually, they’d reached a compromise, one that Joohyun was determined to win, and she’d become stony faced and serious since that day.

Yet every week, her mother forced her to sit in the throne room, perching on the red velvet cushion on the golden gilt throne, while her mother watched her closely, waiting for the sound of her laughter to ring out. As the next man came forward, a dark haired man with beautiful brown eyes and a charming smile, Joohyun could barely register anything beside his handsomeness as her mother’s words echoed in her mind. Whoever makes you laugh may have your hand in marriage.

It had been seven years since Joohyun had last laughed at anything, and with each passing year, she forgot what it was like to be happy, too afraid of belonging to someone else to even consider cracking a smile at anything. Word had spread throughout the kingdom, of course, and beautiful princesses from exotic lands, young knights in polished armour, or dashing princes and bards with voices sweeter than the strawberry tarts Joohyun ate with her tea all came to seek her hand in marriage. There were songs spoken about the silent princess, and spiteful tales told by those who had failed, and everyone with a pride to or an ego to bolster came to try and make her laugh. And each and every one of them failed, no matter how far they’d come from.

Shifting slightly in her seat as she politely turned her attention back to the handsome man, Joohyun watched as he gave her a grim smile and a courteous bow, before he took his leave, a slightly defeated set to her shoulders. Joohyun almost wanted to call out and tell him not to take it personally - she’d never so much as smiled for anyone trying to coax one from her - but she just watched his orange cloak swish around his legs as he walked back down the length of the marble hall. He was the last of the day, and as Yoojin rose to her feet, Joohyun climbed to hers, rolling her eyes at the quick wink her brother through her way, before they both fell into step behind their mother. Joohyun glided down the hall like she was floating, the skirts of her dress rippling with the small dainty steps, as her silk slippers sank into the cushioned red carpet rolled down the middle of the hall. She gave small nods to the few familiar faces she saw amongst the rich colours and finery of the assembled nobility, all of them bowing or curtsying as the royal family passed by.

Her mother was swept off to handle some business with a foreign diplomat, and her brother went to show off his skills with his sword for all of the ladies at court, as well as his fellow knights, which gave Joohyun the opportunity to slip away to her favourite parlour on the ground floor of the palace. It was a warm day for early spring, and she was sitting on the low white stone bench, overlooking the gardens spread out before her, absentmindedly the petals of a rose as she closed her eyes to the weak sunlight shining down on her.

A loud laugh made her eyes fly open, shocking her by the light hearted joy of the sound, and Joohyun blinked a few times, looked around for the culprit. The gardens were empty, except for a young woman dressed in the livery of the palace kitchen staff, picking herself up off the neatly cut grass, rubbing her elbow as she stared up at a low hanging apple that had appeared early. Joohyun leant forward slightly, resting her elbows on the stone carved railing, her eyes trained on the girl as she watched her jump up and let out a triumphant shout, landing with the red fruit tightly clutched in her hand. It was the same servant that Joohyun had seen dozens of times before, always slipping through the gardens instead of working, stealing freshly bloomed flowers or plucking ripe blackberries from the row of hedges circling the large fountain in the middle. It wasn’t exactly a private garden, as per se, but no one except the royal family were permitted to cut flowers, and Joohyun found it oddly brave of the girl to steal bunches of them all the time.

Still staring at the woman, Joohyun watched as she rubbed the apple on her apron, already holding the cuts of a few peonies, and took a bite out of the fruit. And then she was staring directly at Joohyun, her eyes wide and the colour indistinguishable from across the green. Joohyun saw the apple fall to the ground though, bouncing as it rolled a few paces away and settled down in the grass, quickly followed by the girl, who fell to her knees, her head bowed and shoulders hunched. Watching her with curiosity, Joohyun tilted her head to the side, and arched an eyebrow slightly.

“If I wanted to report you to the castle guard, I would’ve done it a long time ago,” Joohyun called out, her voice softly carrying across the gardens. There was no one else about, so she wasn’t worried about someone catching her talking to the staff.

“Highness,” the woman murmured, her voice full of panic as she kept her head down, “forgive me. I didn’t know-“

“That it was a crime to steal fruit and flowers from the royal gardens?” Joohyun asked, a look of mirth in her green eyes, “or that I was watching?”

The woman looked up, a sheepish look on her face as she shrugged, “that you were watching.”

Joohyun nodded slowly, a thoughtful look on her face as she let her gaze wander, before she focused on the raven haired woman again, and beckoned her closer. Blinking in surprise, the woman climbed to her feet, quickly crossing the distance between them, until she was standing a few metres away, and Joohyun was looking down at her from the balcony, watching the woman nervously wring the plain brown dress and the white apron in her hands.

“And I take it you didn’t know I was watching when you stole some daffodils a week ago, or picked cherries last Monday?” Joohyun asked, watching the raven haired woman blush as she squirmed beneath Joohyun’s intense stare. Her eyes were blue from this distance, Joohyun realised, like the water of the fountain on a clear day, or the colour of the light blue pansies that bloomed in the spring. “Tell me, why do you steal flowers? I mean, I can understand the food at least, but … so many flowers. What possible use could you have for them?”

Clearing as she shuffled from foot to foot, the girl grimaced, “they’re for my parents’ graves, Highness.”

“Oh,” Joohyun murmured, her haughty taunting faltering slightly, “well, I’d be careful that no one else sees you next time, thief.”

“Next time?” the woman asked, her cheeks slightly rosy from the embarrassment of being called a thief by the crown princess, but her eyes sparkling with mischief at Joohyun’s words.

Shrugging, Joohyun turned away and swept back into the parlour, listening as the sound of laughter wafted after her. It was like a breath of summer, breathing life into a world that was still trying to shake off the remnants of winter, and Joohyun faltered slightly, leaving the doors open as she took a seat in a wingback chair and picked up a book.

She was back the next week, seeking solitude after another argument with her mother - this time it was about her mother trying to reason with Joohyun to reconsider the handsome man from the week before - and Joohyun had stormed to her parlour, fighting back tears as she perched on the bench, her cheek resting on her arms folded on the railing, while she clutched an embroidered shawl around her shoulders. Never had she felt so miserable about this whole ordeal, and she knew her mother’s patience wore thinner and thinner with each rejection. The finest and richest people in the kingdom had begged for her hand, and her lips hadn’t so much as curled into the barest hint at a smile for them. Her life was one of solitude and loneliness, too afraid to have friends, lest she laugh around them and find herself in an unwanted predicament. She’d laugh when she found the right person, but until then, she wouldn’t risk it, and so, Joohyun was left to wallow in her misery, shivering on the balcony as she tried not to rub her red eyes.

Watching the wind toss a leaf around, she didn’t see the raven haired woman appear a few metres away, and her head shot up at the sharp whistle that split the silence. Craning her neck over the side of the railing, Joohyun scowled at the servant, knowing that her eyes were bloodshot and a mere servant had been the one to disturb her. “Didn’t I tell you not to be seen again?” Joohyun snapped.

Looking taken aback by Joohyun’s hostility, the woman stumbled back a step, both hands carefully held out before her, closed around something held in her hands. “Forgive me, Lady, but I brought something to show you,” the woman called up, a hesitant smile on her hopeful face.

Freezing slightly, Joohyun gave her hands a wary look, taking in the prison those slender fingers made, and gave the woman a be