“Ilsoon! The living room windows are dirty, go wash them.”

 

A loud voice shouted through the house, which was more like a mansion, directed at a young girl. As you may have guessed, her name was Ilsoon. Jung Ilsoon. A young girl that had lost her mother at an even younger age and eventually her father passed away several years later as well, at her aunt’s funeral. While biding his sister goodbye, her father fell in the hole and hit his head against the coffin. But not before remarrying and hence giving Ilsoon two sisters: one a year younger, one a year older than herself. Their names were Sungsook and Penelope, and unlike than their crazy mother, both were actually nice girls.

 

Right now, Ilsoon was lying on her bed, reading the village’s gossip revue, which was written (and this was supposed to be a secret) by the local pastor, Kyuhyun, who of course knew more about the village habitants than anyone else.

This time the main story was about the village beauty queen, Seoyeon, who cheated on her young knight boyfriend with a farmer. Ilsoon was in the middle of the story when her stepmother stormed into the room.

 

“Ilsoon! Did you not hear me correctly? I ordered you to go clean the windows. And you know how much I hate to repeat myself.”

 

Ilsoon just flicked her tongue, not paying a dot of attention to her angry stepmother.

 

“Ilsoon! I-“

 

“Mother, it’s okay, I’ll do it. Let unnie rest a bit.”

 

The middle-aged woman was interrupted by her youngest daughter, Sungsook, who showed up in the doorway, her long black hair tied to one side. Ilsoon finally looked up from her gossip revue and glanced at her stepsister.

 

“Rest a bit? For the last five years she’s been doing nothing but rest!”

 

“Then what about the work you make her do at night, when you think Penelope and I are sleeping? Do you think so low of your daughters that you take them for ignorant?”

 

With these words, Sungsook stormed out of the room and in the direction of the living room. Her horrified mother followed shortly after, shooting Ilsoon a final glare, and tried to convince her daughter not to do the work.

 

Ilsoon blinked down a few times before looking down at the paper in front of her again.

 

“Oh, Seoyeonnie, you’re such a .”

 

~

 

Meanwhile, a few kilometres from there, in the castle, the prince was beginning to worry. He too, had become an orphan, and in his father’s testament, it was stated that he would only become King if he was married by the time he was twenty-one. If not, he would forever loose his royal title and his uncle, a crazy freak who was obsessed with the breeding of spiders, would decide who would become the next King. And how things were right now, it was most likely to be the Tarantula Wolf spider his uncle was so fond of.

 

Being the indecisive person he was, prince Hyunsik had invited his two best friends, the royal knights Minhyuk and Eunkwang, and was currently sitting in his room with them and his butler, Changseob.

 

“So, what should I do? I’m turning twenty-one next month and still…nothing.”

 

“Nothing? You probably had more dates this month than I had my entire life.”

 

Eunkwang complained while chewing on a raisin-bread.

 

“But none of these girls really love me. All they want is my royal title.”

 

“So? That’s the case with almost every woman who became a queen through marriage.”

 

Minhyuk was fixing his hair in the mirror while speaking and smiled contently when he was done.

 

“Damn. I look fine today. Well, as always.”

 

Ignoring his friend’s narcissistic remark, he rather questioned his former statement.

 

“Are you sure about that? That’s not always the case, you know.” And almost as a whisper, he added “I think.”

 

“Really? Then kindly remind you of what happened with your mother? Didn’t you father caught her cheating on him?”

 

“Ugh, never remind me of this traumatizing event ever again.”

 

“Come on, there’s worse things.”

 

“She cheated on Father with the kid who used to tutor me in sword fighting. He was my age.”

 

“Well…”

 

“And that was already six years ago. I don’t want to find my wife with a guy that is our kid’s age when I’m the king.”

 

“That’s perfectly understandable, sir.”

 

For the first time that evening, Changseob spoke up.

 

“I already told you to call me by my name when we’re not in uncle’s presence.”

 

“Yes sir- Hyunsik. Yes, Hyunsik.”

 

Eunkwang choose this touching moment to raise his voice again.

 

“Then how about you organize some sort of party in the castle and invite all young ladies in the kingdom to it? This way you can at least pick one that pleases you.”

 

The prince let out a deep sigh and looked at his friend.

 

“Did you just listen to what I said? I’m not interested in a woman that is only interested in my title.”

 

“Just let me finish. You’re only going to use your name to invite everyone, and then you disguise yourself as someone else for the party, so you can talk to girls without them faking interest because you’re the prince.”

 

A long silence followed. Everyone in the room had difficulty processing the fact that Eunkwang had actually said something intelligent.

 

“Eunkwang, you’re a genius.” Hyunsik exclaimed happily, beaming brightly at his friends.

 

~

 

A few days later, in a not so modest house in the village, an evil stepmother waltzed in the living room happily, clutching a telegram in her right hand.

 

“Gi~irls, guess what mother has here.” She waved the piece of paper in the air.

 

“A letter signalling you have to exile to another kingdom all by yourself?” Ilsoon asked without looking up from the plate of food in front of her.

 

“No.” her stepmother answered sharply. “It’s an invitation to a party in the castle the prince is holding next Saturday night. The other women are already saying he is holding this event simply so he can choose his future wife. “

 

“And we are invited?” Penelope asked incredulously from her spot at the dining table.”

 

“Yes! Isn’t this wonderful? We have to get you some splendid dresses. One of you must be chosen by the prince.”

 

Sungsook beamed happily at her stepsister.

 

“Unnie, you are going to look so pretty in a party dress!”

 

“Oh, but Ilsoon is not going to go. Only pretty girls should be allowed to this party.”

 

“But mother” Penelope interjected, “She should definitely go. She is much prettier than me.”

 

“Nonsense. Penelope, just because this girl has a bigger rack than you does not mean she is prettier.”

 

 “Well, I sure as hell wouldn’t have a rack at all if you were my mother.” Ilsoon said while looking critically at her stepmother’s rather flat chest area.

 

“You little-“

 

“Mother! If Ilsoon isn’t going, then neither am I!” Sungsook exclaimed.

 

“Oh dear.”

 

“Me neither!” Penelope added, unconsciously nearing her sisters on the couch.

 

“You can’t do this to me! This is my – I mean, our – only chance at a better lifestyle. Do you not want to live a luxurious life?” seeing her daughters still glaring at her, she sighed resigning yet again.

 

“Fine. She can go. But you will take care of everything by yourself. Good luck paying a dress that is just pretty enough to let her be accepted at the castle.”

 

After their mother had left, Sungsook and Penelope happily hugged their stepsister, who had been silent all this time.

 

“You know…” she started “Thanks for standing up for me, but I really don’t want to go.”

 

“What? But you have to go!” Sungsook let go of the shorter girl.

 

“Yeah. If you don’t, it won’t be fun at all.” Penelope agreed, now sulking.

 

“But you heard the witch. She’s right, we’ll never find a dress for me.”

 

“Don’t worry about this unnie, Penelope and I will figure something out. Right?’ she added, looking at the oldest of the sisters who nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Forget it.”

 

Ilsoon just waved her hand and walked in direction of the storage room, which she had to clean.

 

Her sisters looked after her, not saying anything, but both determined to make her change her mind.

 

~

 

“All invitations were sent out, the ballroom in decorated, the orchestra repeating one last time and all of your uncle’s spiders have been locked up safely.” Changseob reported to the prince, who was lazily lying on his bed.

 

“I see. That’s great. You did a good job, Changseobie. You can rest now.”

 

Changseob bowed and was readying himself to leave when a voice held him back.

 

“Don’t you want to join me?” Hyunsik patted the bed besides him.

 

“Pardon?”

 

“When we were kids, we often laid down on the bed for hours and talked about everything and anything, remember?”

 

“Yeah…” Changseob muttered, carefully sitting down on the soft bed. Hyunsik always made sure that Changseob, although a mere servant, lacked nothing. He received almost the same treatment as a high ranked knight, thanks to his long friendship with the prince. So, of course, contrary to the other servants, he had a comfortable bed with nice and warm sheets. But this being the prince’s bed, it was obviously even more comfortable and Changseob couldn’t resist the urge to lay down on it.

 

Once he was looking at the ceiling, he heard his friend talk, worry now obvious in his voice.

 

“About tomorrow…I’m scared. What if I don’t find a girl that suits me? What if I don’t get married before my birthday and our kingdom ends up being reigned by a spider?”

 

“I promise you, my prince, as true as my name is Lee Changseob, I will not let that happen.”

 

~

 

The dreaded evening arrived and despite all their efforts, Sungsook and Penelope had failed to convince their sister to change her mind. They were making themselves ready to leave,

 

“Are you really sure you don’t want to go? I’ll give you my dress and stay without hesitation. I don’t even want to marry that prince.”

 

“Sungsook.” Their Stepmother interjected sharply. “What are you talking about? Of course you want to marry the prince, so there’s no way you’re staying home. Now hurry, the carriage is here.”

 

She then pushed both her daughters to the doors, not letting them much of a choice. Before closing the door, she turned around a last time and shouted not to forget to clean the kitchen.

 

Once the door was completely closed on what was now Ilsoon’s family, she turned around as well and made her way to the kitchen where she kneeled down with a wet rag and begun scrubbing the floor. Even though she didn’t say a word about it to her sisters, she really wanted to go to the ball. Just thinking about all the nice food she’d miss made her eyes a little teary.

 

At that moment, she suddenly heard a noise. She looked up and saw a little bird that flew in through the open window. As soon as it landed on the floor, it begun glowing in a weird way, it’s shape changing as well and before she knew what was happening, Ilsoon was looking at…well, what exactly she was looking at, she didn’t know. It strangely resembled a human, and could have passed as one if not for the thin, almost transparent wings on its back. Them aside, it looked like a perfectly normal young man.

 

After a moment, Ilsoon decided to talk to whatever was standing in front of her.

 

“Who the hell are you?”

 

“Language, young lady.” The creature nagged.

 

“Who the hell are you, please?”

 

“I’m your good fairy.”

 

Ilsoon scoffed. “Isn’t a good fairy supposed to be a girl though?”

 

“Shut up, you ungrateful brat and listen to what I have to say.”

 

Ilsoon shot the fairy a wary glance while slowly standing up from the floor. She motioned her head as a sign that she was paying attention.

 

The fairy sighed while slouching down on one of the chairs standing around the massive mahogany table. He slightly ruffled through his hair, looking annoyed to be here right now.

 

“You know, I shouldn’t even be here today. As you said, it’s usually the girl’s job but they all had work today except for that Jessica. ‘Oh I’m too good for this, I’m taking a vacation today so you just dress up as a girl or whatever you want and do my job~’ just wait until you come back…” the fairy mimicked and Ilsoon frowned, while sitting down on a chair on the opposite side of the table.

 

“You have some serious issues, don’t you?”

 

“Whatever. Point is: I’m here and I’m here to save your day. Or night. Or the few hours of the night still remaining. So, you want to go to that ball, don’t you?” Ilsoon opened to answer but was cut off. “No that was a rhetorical question. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already know 100% that you want to go.”

 

The young girl nodded and then tilted her head.

 

“By the way, what’s your name? You seem to know pretty much everything about me, so you can tell me at least your name, can’t you?”

 

“Actually no. I can’t. Fairy privacy, sorry. You can, however call me…uh…Key. Because tonight, I’ll be the key to you happiness.”

 

Ilsoon winced a little bit. “Ew, how cheesy.”

 

“Deal with it.”

 

“And how are you going to be the Key to my happiness then?”

 

“Well, I will provide you with the most beautiful dress you could imagine, you will arrive at the castle in a carriage prettier than even the royal’s one and we can even do something to arrange that grumpy face of yours. Wouldn’t want to scare anyone away.”

 

Since all Ilsoon did was glare at her good fairy, the latter decided to ignore it.

 

“Okay, so let’s start off with the dress. What kind of dress do you want? You can choose any colour.”

 

“Then I want a black one”

 

“Except black.”

 

“Uh..then a red one?”

 

“And red.”

 

“How about blue?”

 

“Good choice! Here you go.”

 

“What choice?” Ilsoon muttered under her breath while Key was nervously fumbling through the different layers of fabric of his fairy robe.

 

“.”

 

“What is it?” Ilsoon frowned at the slowly panicking fairy.

 

“I…I can’t find my fairy wand…”

 

“You mean that one sticking out of your right sock?”

 

Key quickly looked down and took his wand, coughing to cover up his embarrassment.

 

“Yes. This one.”

 

~

 

At the palace, everyone – or so they thought – had arrived and was in a party mood. The only thing that angered all of these fine ladies was the absence of the prince. The prince who, dressed up as a royal guard was standing among them and contemplating all of his guests, loyal Changseob by his side.

 

“This is a disaster, Changseob. None of these girls look just nearly like I could spend an evening with them. Let alone a whole life. I’m screwed.”

 

“My prince, don’t say that yet. You haven’t seen everyone yet, have you?”

 

Hyunsik looked out the massive doors of the palace’s entrance hall to see that no one was approaching the castle.

 

“I fear that they’re all here already.” He sighed. This wasn’t the reality he wanted.

 

Just then, they heard the sound of a carriage being pulled by a single white horse. It came to a stop right in front of the enormous stairs and out climbed a beautifully dressed Ilsoon, her short hair framing her delicate face perfectly.

 

“Or not. Changseob, I think she’s the one.” Hyunsik exclaimed after staring at her in awe for a while. She was now climbing the stairs carefully, holding her dress up a bit in order to not step on it.

 

Ilsoon looked up and met eyes with the prince in disguise. She looked down again and Hyunsik took this opportunity to whisper to Changseob.

 

“Oh, she wants me.”

 

The butler couldn’t help but to look weirdly at his friend.

 

Ilsoon had now reached the top of the stairs and begun to walk in their directions. Not even giving them a second glance, she walked straight past them and in the direction of the ballroom.

 

Hyunsik was dumbfounded.

 

“It’s okay my prince, you still have the whole night to woo her.”

 

“Changseob.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You did not just say “woo her”, did you?”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“I apologize, my prince.”