*Kim Yoojung as young Sooyoung/Joy.

Prologue

Year 1401. Joseon Dynasty.

Winter came early that year when snow was spewed out of the mouth of the wind, coating the city of Hanyang in a thick white blanket. It was thanks to the cold that as a carriage struggled to a stop at a gate into the Gyeongbokgung Palace, the citizens hurried about their ways and paid no special attention to the refined woman stepping out of it. Her hanbok was a sheer baby purple with ribbon-like goreum the color of amethyst hanging across the skirt, fluttering as she was helped across the snow into the palace. Just by her side, her thirteen-years-old daughter took similar graceful steps into the royal ground. They both made little noises as one eunuch and three maids moved them secretly into the King's Quarters.

They waited.

The head eunuch disappeared into the exquisite chamber, and the maids helped them out of their winter cape adorned with fur collars, again making noise as little as a ticking of the second. When the eunuch came out again, he nodded towards the maids and two other eunuchs. They scurried away.

"You may go in now."

The guards slid the door open, and that was a sign for Park Sukwon and the young girl to cross the threshold. At the third step, the door glided shut, and they lowered to their knees and heads. 

"The lowly servants greet His Majesty."

Years later when Sooyoung looked back at this encounter, she would come to realize that it would be the first and only time she was to meet her father in flesh and blood, and yet she remembered little of his face. His speech, manner, and presence, however, were difficult to forget.

She and her mother remainded in kowtow, but the King made no acknowledgements of their greetings. It was a long time until it passed, she remembered faintly, before Taejong waved his hand, flipped some official documents, and grunted. "Park Sukwon. And the las is...?"

Her mother answered for her, "Sooyoung, Your Majesty. Park Sooyoung."

"I can see you clearly in her face. She's quite a beauty, isn't she?" The King chuckled with no mirth, "has it ever been a problem for you, little girl?"

Sooyoung kept her head close to the floor, "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?"

"I meant your beauty. You see, a long time ago, Sukwon's beauty caused quite a stir. It was a problem, even my heart had been troubled. Rise, the both of you, and let me see your faces more properly, won't you?"

She hesitated but ever so slowly, she lifted herself off the ground. Her mother did the same. 

"Ah! I must say, in a few years, you will surpass your own mother! Such a beauty, a great beauty!" 

"Your servant is humbled," Sooyoung murmured, years of etiquette coursing smoothly through her every veins.

"Do you want to enter the palace one day, Sooyoung-ah?"

The atmosphere turned chilled, and yet Sooyoung continued without lagging. "There is no person of Joseon who have not dreamed for such paradise, that one day they shall walk on the same ground as the Son of Heaven, and may perhaps be blessed, even if only permitted a grain, of Your virtue. Honor. Strength. But that is not to say that the onlookers do not think the same. There are the rest of us, whose dreams do not escape the night. Desire we do not dare. Ambitious we dare not be. But with a praying heart, we stand and wish Your Majesty of all the greatest fortune to come, all the same."

The King stared at the young girl before letting out a bellow of laughter. His amused eyes shone through the steely glare that pierced easily through her mother. But not her.

"That might've been the most wonderful method of rejecting to my face," Taejong poured himself a cup of tea but did not drink it immediately. "I would not have minded a straightforward No from an uneducated folk, and yet—" he glanced at Park Sukwon, then back to Sooyoung, "I see that you're much more well-versed for politics that I have imagined. You have your mother's look, but I'm quite delighted to see that my blood also flows in your nature, daughter." 

Sooyoung smiled half-heartedly. 

"Are you sure that you aren't interested? You could be a princess, for all you know. The silk, the jade, the glamour. You could marry a general and help him become great. You could be recorded in History: King Taejong's first-born and oldest princess. Of all this, do you still say that you hold no desire?"

Her heart beat, but it was not moved, "Maybe it is easier to say that I can not afford for any, than to say that I want none. It is only natural for I, who have grown up with a mother so selfless, to be selfish for her. But what is the use to fight for her the thing that she does not want? Yes, it would only pain me if instead of giving her strength, I become her greatest weakness. If the one you want to save stands at the end of your sword, is it not logical to lower it?"

The girl mystified him. Even his oldest prince could not answer him so smoothly and have each and every words planned like chess moves. Much less look him in the eyes while saying them. Well, there was one other, but the lad was too young to judge appropriately. 

"How old are you?" 

"I am of thirteen years, Your Majesty."

"Ah yes," nodded the King as if he'd remembered something, "your mother was giving birth when we pushed the army into the capital and rebelled. Speaking of which, I am sure my father the former King will be glad to know that his grand-daughter is a thing of beauty and brain."

"Your Majesty will spoil me with such flatteries."

"The question has always been if you let it," Taejong raised a wispy dark brow, finally sipping on the tea that he'd poured moments ago, "and will you?"

Sooyoung lowered her head and shook it, "I will find a chest to keep it, Your Majesty. And when I'm old and weak, no longer deserving of them, I will bring them out and I will be reminded of those beautiful times."

"Oh? But they can't be all beautiful, can they?"

"Of course not, but sometimes, it does not matter. When one's dead, the value of her life can only be judged by how much she's remembered. A man who saves his country will be remembered, and yet the one who opposes him will also be remembered—just as the memories will be ugly to some, but beautiful to me."

Taejong poured another cup for himself.

"Words cut where the sword can't reach, and heal when the sword can't be sheathed," the King glanced at the scrolls of documents scattered across the wooden table. A sad smile flashed across his face, but it was fleeting. "It is both dangerous and exquisite. And you, young lady, are a true poet."

Sooyoung said nothing, but her smile mirrored her father's.

"Ah, I fear this talk is dampening to your mother's mood! Say, Sukwon, do you support your daughter's decision? Of the fact that she's chosen to turn down this proposal in favour of you?" 

It'd been a while for the older woman since she watched her daughter and the King conversed like birds of the same flock. And they were, indeed—same flock, same blood. For the past thirteen years, her daughter was filial, appropriately studious, and yet held-back by her thoughts. She'd never seen Sooyoung so expressive and cunning with her words before, and to an extent, it scared her. 

She did not want for her daughter to enter the palace, become a princess, and involve herself with politics. Women are weak, Sukwon thought, and even though Sooyoung is a little stronger than the rest, how can she stand any chances against those scheming officials? Those jealous consorts? Other princesses? And perhaps even, if I dare be bold, the Empress?

"And again I fear that your mother has not changed a bit," The King chuckled as he easily averted his attention and affection towards his daughter, "her face is a beautiful open book."

"Your Majesty," Park Sukwon croaked in protest.

Taejong laughed, and his voice rang of mirth. It'd been a while since he could laugh so heartedly, his sound not oppressed by the weight of the crown, untainted by sarcasm.

"Seeing that neither of you want anything to do with me, you can hurry off on your way now," he began his farewell with a smile. "The History Records won't remember the both of you, but you can trust that I will." 

Park Sukwon and Park Sooyoung pressed their palms and foreheads against the ground for a final bow. 

"Go!"

It was only when they were gone did the King talk again, "what do you think?" 

A shaman walked out from behind the folding screens.

"There is little to worry, Your Majesty. From their auras, they could pose no dangers to you," the woman paused, "but..."

"But?" 

"Well, if you're interested, Your Majesty, I can say that the young girl will live quite an eventful life." 

"Oh?" Taejong looked up from his task and smiled. "How so?" 

It was not simple to put into words, as the Shaman could not quite understand the images that she's seen either. "She's not much the woman of her time, do you not think so, Your Majesty?" 

The King looked past the Shaman and at the closed door. He remembered his daughter's words, those beautiful, cunning words, and the way her mind would always slip past his fingers. But still he did not say anything. As there are the rest of us, whose dreams do not escape the night. So Taejong did not imagine the girl's fate, and did not stamp his expectations on it. 

They are free now.

And just like that, for the rest of History, these two names, Park Sukwon and Park Sooyoung, would never to be associated with the great King Taejong again.

Fate is shallow, but even then you can not cross it.

innerwriter: A little background story that will play quite an important role in the next chapter! A bit of a spoiler to get the excitement in the air: the timetraveling will definitely happen next chapter, so stay tuned for that!