Wheein wandered towards the family room as slowly as she could, taking extra time to observe the paintings on the walls that she'd seen thousands of times before.

She imagined she was an art critic as she stopped to check out the portrait of her great grandfather which was hanging up in the hall. "The brush are charming," she whispered, "what a fantastic portrait."

She moved a few steps closer towards the family room door and stopped at the next painting. "Texturally, it moves me," she said thoughtfully, really getting into her pretend role.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps.

"Oh, my lady," a voice called.

Wheein turned around to see who it was.

"Your parents want to see you!"

It was one of the castle butlers.

Wheein nodded, "I know, thank you."

The butler smiled and bowed before continuing walking.

The Princess groaned and walked towards the door, lazily leaning her body on it to push it open.

"Sweetheart!" the Queen exclaimed as she stood up.

"Hello darling," the King smiled, but he remained seated.

"Hey," Wheein said blankly.

"How are you? We haven't seen you all day," her mother said sweetly.

"I'm fine, mum. Just been out in the gardens, as usual."

"Took you a long while to get here. Was that silly Hyejin dilly-dallying again?" the King asked with a little aggression in his voice.

"No, dad. I was the one dilly-dallying. Stop blaming Hyejin all the time!" Wheein raised her voice a little; she hated it when her father criticised her best friend. "I know what this is about and I really don't want to hear it."

Wheein folded her arms and stood with a firm posture. She was not afraid of either of her parents, nor was she about to let them force her into doing something she didn't want to do.

"Darling," the King's tone had changed now, "just hear us out."

Wheein raised one eyebrow.

"I've organised for a few hundred Princes to come along to a party."

The auburn girl rolled her eyes at her father, "and?"

"I just want you to mingle, even if its with only a few of them. You can have the final decisions on which Princes are potential marriage candidates," he smiled firmly, "but if you don't make any decisions, I'll be forced to make them myself and invite the best 10 back for some one-on-one time with you."

"That sounds disgusting," she grimaced, pretending to throw up.

Her father ignored her remark and carried on.

"If you won't co-operate, that is how it will have to be. The Jung family tradition will not be broken by some silly girl who has her own ideas about love. Do you know nothing about what it means to be a Jung?"

The King held his wife close as he finished his sentence.

Wheein was stunned at her father's words and tears threatened to spill from her beautiful brown eyes.

"How can you even say that?" she whispered as swallowed the heavy burden of her fathers words and spoke again. "To be a Jung is to be kind-hearted, strong-willed and loving," she paused and looked into her fathers eyes, "qualities you have mostly lacked."

Her mother gasped, "don't be rude to your father, Wheein!"

"I'm not being rude, I'm being honest."

There was a tense pause.

"The party is going ahead, and you will be going. Mark my words," the King breathed deeply. "It is your obligation to attend family events such as this one, to ignore it would be a breach of your promise as a member of this Kingdom's royal family."

The reality hit Wheein; her father was correct. She sighed and let her walls collapse; there was no more energy left in her to fight.

"Whatever."

She left the room quickly and quietly, determined to make it back to her quarters before she began to cry.