"What are you guys doing?"

A stern female voice made all the princes freeze. They looked over to the entrance and saw the stern and fierce, no nonsense court lady Jung head attendant frowning at them.

They all felt the shiver as Jung Head Attendant's eyes trailed over the place, the mess of the plates, the satin and silk decorations that had fallen down messily and were taken down by the princes to do silly dances, and the stench of food in the supposed clean environment.

"I repeat, your highnesses, what are you guys doing?" Jung Head Attendant spoke again, her voice crisp and obviously annoyed.

Kai pushed Baekhyun out to the front and Baekhyun shot a look back at the second youngest prince. That betrayer.

Kai shrugged. "You're the Crown Prince." he mouthed.

Baekhyun gulped as Jung Head Attendant glowered at him. "Yes, Jeonha? Can you explain how you princes turned the wonderful Hwangweonjeong Pavilion into...into..." she struggled for words. "Into a pig sty?"

All gulped.

"Uhm... we.. we.. we were thanking Han Eunbyul for saving Sehun-gun's life yesterday." Baekhyun explained, choking. "Sehun-gun was stuck in a tree while we went hunting, because there was a tiger that threatened to eat him. Han Eunbyul had risked her own safety to get closer to the tiger, and finally shot it down. She saved Sehun's life and we're just expressing our thanks."

Jung Head Attendant nodded. She heard of the tale.

She looked over at Byul and found that the young bodyguard didn't flinch under her gaze. She looked right back at Jung Head Attendant bravely, and the funny thing was that her eyes showed no sign of rebellion or disrespect. She looked curious, wondering, and worried as she glanced at Baekhyun and back at Jung Head Attendant.

*Hmmm..* Jung Head Attendant thought. *Interesting.*

"Is that a reason why your animalistic behaviors should be pardoned, Jeonha?" Jung Head Attendant taunted, raising her brows. That simple action that involved two regions of hairs made all six men cower in fear. They all tasted a bit of Jung head attendant's wrath since she had overlooked them as they grew. And it was sure frightening.

Baekhyun swallowed. "Of course!" he blabbered. "Han Eunbyul's bravery deserves to be applauded for, don't you think? And Sehun-gun wasn't even in her care, she didn't need to do that for him. But she did so anyway and saved his life. That's awfully nice and kind of her and we all thought we should show our appreciation, especially since Sehun kept whining about how he wanted to thank his pretty noona, and-"

"Enough." Jung Head attendant stopped him. She looked back and forth between Baekhyun and Byul and nodded. "I will let you princes off today for one simple reason."

She stared at Baekhyun for an unnecessary long time and only spoke when he shivered. "It's because this is the first time I've heard Jeonha praise any girl besides Dahae gongju. I'll keep that in mind."

Baekhyun blinked in surprise. He replayed the conversation in his mind and scratched his head. *I did?*

Jung Head Attendant moved to go out of the pavillion. "Clean up the mess, and I'll see that no one else would know of your behaviors today, your highnesses." she nodded.

Kai grinned. "Wow. Baekhyun hyung you just need to praise a girl next time and we can do whatever we like without punishments!" he whispered.

Jung Head Attendant looked back. "And just in case some of you might be thinking of using this to your advantage, it won't work again." the sides of her lips twitched up. "At least, not unless the girl in question is the one here."

She left the princes feeling puzzled as hell, and went off.

Sehun heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought we were really going to be sent to prison for this!" he shivered. He looked over Byul and beamed. "See noona? You're even a life savior now!"

BURRRP.

"Wow. I'm full." Baekhyun laid on his couch, sighing contently. The princes had a great time partying and for the second time, Baekhyun didn't even mind that Dahae wasn't there. He seemed contented with the company, and seeing Byul's funny reactions.

They made him sing and both D.O. and him sang a traditional korean song together, since they were the best singers amongst the princes. Kai and Sehun offered a little snippet of their talent in dancing, a few strange moves that Byul had never seen before. They said they invented those.

All in all, it was a wonderful event, the beginnings of the first sign of the parties we know of today. Baekhyun didn't mind it happening any time soon, although he might be able to enjoy it better without the food sculpture of Byul that burnt a hole in his coin bag, despite him being royalty and all.

"Of course you're full." Byul responded, making Baekhyun return his attention to the present. Byul shot him a look. "You ate most of the food!" she accused.

Baekhyun raised his hands up, shaking his head. "It wasn't only me!" he protested. "It was that pig Suho hyung and Kai-gun. Did you even see how much Kai ate? He cleaned that entire plate of fried spring rolls off by himself!"

Byul rolled her eyes. "You kept track of how much Kai-gun ate?"

"Of course I did!" Baekhyun retorted. "Book keeping skills. You've got to learn them." he grinned teasingly.

The two fell in to companionable silence as they rubbed their bellies in unison, feeling too full to move. "It's kind of a surprise that Jung Head Attendant didn't punish us this time." Baekhyun muttered. "She always made our lives horrible even though we're royalty. And Abeoji loved the way she treated us because he said we couldn't act too cocky despite being princes."

Byul laughed. "I bet you've been punished by her a lot when you were young!"

"No I hadn't!" Baekhyun pouted. He thought for a bit. "Well maybe...But that's because most of the times I owned up for Yeol's wrongdoings as well as my own. I got double for that." he tapped his chin.

Byul took in a deep breath and sighed softly. "For some reason, Jung Head Attendant reminds me of my umma." she murmured.

Baekhyun sat up, shocked. "What? Your mother's as much of a tyrant as her?"

Byul rolled her eyes. "No." she wrinkled her nose. "I'm talking about how independent and strong both women are. Both of them give a feeling that makes you know they're not to be trifled with. Jung Head Attendant is plain fierce, but I think my umma gives off a feeling that no matter how many times you push her down, she's going to stand up." she smiled softly.

Baekhyun rolled to his side to look at Byul from the couch. "Tell me about your family, Han Eunbyul." he probed. "How did you know my mother? How come she's so familiar with you? What's your life like outside the Palace walls?" he asked curiously.

Byul leaned against the wall and hugged a pillow.

"Maybe I have to start from the top then." she murmured. "In the beginning, my family was rather wealthy. Heard of Han Dongju?" she looked over at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun frowned for a bit, running the name along his memory. His eyes widened. "Oh. He's the one of the magistrates that got sent to be beheaded for corruption, right?"

Byul nodded. She stared at the ground and continued with her story. "Yeah. Appa was beheaded for corruption, except he never did do anything that deserved the punishment." she murmured. "He was framed."

Baekhyun thought for a bit. "Yeah I remember Omonim telling me that when I was young." he muttered. "When I was ten? Or nine. She said she reopened a case because she thought there were some things irrelevant and suspicious."

"Yeah." Byul nodded. "The Queen reopened the case even though Appa had already been beheaded. Our family was leaving in shame and poverty and the entire town hated us because of what they thought appa did. Then the Queen found out that the money they found in Appa's office wasn't appa's doing. It was Appa's good friend Lord Kwon who had tried to hide the money in Appa's office out of urgency."

Byul sighed softly. "I was eight when it all happened. Appa was dead, and our family was struggling to make ends meet, and worse, Umma was pregnant with Jaeho." she murmured. "Even though the case was solved and the towns people didn't hate us anymore, we had a hard time because we lost all our property. The Queen was the one who helped us financially through that period of time, and she even visited us once in a while."

*So that's where Omonim went.* Baekhyun remembered crying for his mother, only to find that she had left the Palace for visiting.

"But didn't you go to school again? Or learnt to read and write?" Baekhyun inquired.

Byul shook her head. "It didn't seem important knowing how to read when your family's struggling to find food to eat and places to stay." she shrugged. "I did learn a little Hangul but I forgot it all. I picked up martial arts to defend Umma and my younger brother Jaeho. Then I found that I was good at it and entered the military academy." she smiled at him. "The rest you should know."

Baekhyun nodded. He never expected Byul to lead such a hard life out there.

"Don't you miss them?" Baekhyun asked quietly, reading Byul's expression. Byul's eyes dimmed and she let out a breath slowly. "I do. But for their well-being, I've got to keep the taels coming." she shrugged. "Umma told me she managed to hire a Seongsaengnim for Jaeho. I'm hoping that my brother would learn how to read and write, even though it's a little late to start."

"The thing is, I don't aspire returning to that lavish way of living anymore." Byul smiled softly. "As long as the three of us are happy and safe, I'm satisfied." she grinned. "I guess being your bodyguard and saving your is one way of repaying the Queen for her help."

Byul looked off into the distance and Baekhyun knew the conversation was over. He sighed to himself and thought of what Byul had said.

*Omonim.* He thought of his mother. *I never knew what a marvelous woman you were in the past. But you did the right thing, thanks for saving Han Eunbyul in the past. She's one part of my life I'd definitely miss.*

------

Hello!

Remember the poll I posted last chapter? Well L's winning (: But only by 1% of the votes.

I'm a little surprised at how unpopular Jonghyun was (I still love you dino) but I think it's only fair that I post another poll for L against Daehyun. They're only differing in 10+ votes so I hope you guys can vote again?

I don't think it's really fair since the winning margin is so slim. I'll just take the one with higher votes this time hahaha. So here:

http://www.asianfanfics.com/poll/aff_view/31702

Please no cheating and thanks for your cooperation!