Author's POV:

Life at the palace was quite strange. At times, you felt as if a truck would hit you at any moment if you weren't cautious. And another moment, it felt calm. But this calmness was like the silence before a severe storm. In conclusion, life at the palace wasn't favourable. 

You missed home. But you went on horse riding with Taehyung once and did archery with him. He also let you play the piano by yourself for hours without being interrupted by anyone.
Every day, guests would come to the palace. None of them genuinely liked each other, you could sense. All this happening here were gestures of flattery. Wasn't it like this? People kept their self-respect and prestige away to flatter the powerful. Greed was scary.

The palace was exactly how you'd imagined the phrase 'behind closed doors'. In the outside world, the palace looked like a huge mansion where the richest royals lived. In reality, it was just people with their troubles. But here, there was no real love. 
Unless you counted Jungkook, Taehyung and the Queen. The only 3 people who didn't look fake. The King was just judgemental and never showed up. He was always in his room and you wondered why.

Your parents were invited to the Palace for a few days before the marriage. Since the venue of the marriage was the Palace itself. There were 2 venues in the palace so why rent something outside? It was a tradition to marry off a prince in the Palace. 

One week away was your marriage. You stuffed the delicious cake and thought about how to cope with life in the Palace. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the best. You got good food, the most expensive bathroom in the country probably and anything you wanted anytime. 

But there was this very wrong thing. You had your periods. 

And your wedding was in a week. 

Which meant, the periods would last until your wedding. And you wanted anything but that to happen. 

The maids had taken care of all necessities needed. But what about your cramps? Could painkillers simply help all that?

You saw Taehyung walk past the room through the window and sigh. You were in the room beside the backyard, watching the garden and stuffing cake. BTS songs in the background played. 

You thought Taehyung passed by but a frown appeared on your face when you saw him enter the room, staring straight at you. 
"Hey." You continued chewing your cake as he stood in front of you. He looked around, noticing everything and guessed the current atmosphere. 
"Cakes aren't a healthy lunch."
"I had lunch. This is dessert."
"Without informing me?" He asked. You raised your brows, "You were busy somewhere. The maids told me you were in your working room and not to disturb you or you'd make a fuss so I just ate by myself." 

He looked at the food and then at you, "Oh. Yeah..." 
"What is in your workroom though?" You asked.
"The maids didn't tell you that?"
"They said they don't know either. You keep it locked forcefully. Prickly though." You whispered the last words as he raised a brow, "Oh?" 
You shrugged as he sighed, "It's just... art pieces. I like art."
"You do art?!" You gasped as he hummed, "Sometimes."
"Woah, can I see?"

Not seeing him reply for over a minute didn't have to explain to you that it meant a 'no'. You nodded, "Okay, I don't need to see it. Just a wish I guess. Nevermind." 
He didn't reply, clearing his throat.
"Let's go... you still haven't seen a room of the palace."
"What room?"
"There is one." You frowned as he walked out, waiting for you to follow him. You got up, following him, the bitter feeling of being said 'no' in the most silent way ever existent in you.

You both walked the hallways as you asked, "Where's the other room?" 
"Near." 
You frowned but once you realized you both were walking in the same place, again and again, you stopped.

"Are you pranking me?" 
"No."
"Then why aren't we in any room?"
"Come." He said, walking towards the stairs. You followed him, "Why are we just taking the stairs?!"
"cause I just remembered the way."

"Liar." You whispered, frowning. You both reached a door as he spoke, "You didn't see the terrace yet."
"We're allowed there?"
"Of course." 

He walked inside as you followed him. It was huge. There was a pool nearby and so much more. You followed him around, wondering why he didn't stop at the sofas kept there but walked towards the empty corner. 
He walked behind a wall as you followed him there. Another small room. 
"This is my room... no one's allowed here." 
"So am I just going to stare at this wall?" You asked. He looked at you, sighed and opened the door of the room, getting inside. You followed him inside and gasped.

A beautifully decorated bedroom with sage green and traditional furniture.



"Is this... your bedroom?" You asked, quite perplexed.
"My secret room... where I take rest sometimes." 
"This is beautiful." You smiled, poking the mattress making him smile a little. He sat on the couch, gesturing for you to sit. You looked around as he continued, "Don't tell anyone about this. Only I have the key though." 
"So this is a secret from the King himself?"
"He doesn't bother to know so whatever." He said, looking away. You looked down, wondering why his words sounded so sad. 

"Hey... our marriage is in a week, right? Should we skip it and hide here?" You asked, a mischievous grin taking over your face. He stared at you for a moment before looking away, huffing out some air. He almost laughed. Just there... but he fixed his face soon enough. And you felt a little sad. You wanted to see him smile. 
He saw your face and awkwardly coughed, looking away.
"Great idea to get us killed though." 

You smiled and looked down, "How about after the marriage?" 
He hummed, "We'll see about that." 

He walked out of the room, letting you follow him out but he got a call. You stared at him as he said 2 words, "Yes." and "Okay." 
"Who was it?" You asked. He stared at you, "The Queen."

—Time skip

"This dress looks perfect on you!" Mina spoke as you sighed. Wedding gown... exactly. 
Apparently, this was going to be given in 5 days. That's why you all went out shopping a bit late. Mina bought a beautiful purple gown and you were getting a white gown. Now, there were so many things you wondered what to get.
Taehyung was with the guys, his cousins had visited, picking out his suit.

The boutique's clothing could be delivered to the Palace but there was no fun if the elders didn't pick it up in the boutique so this all was... just... fancy in the most normal way ever. 

You had picked out 2 outfits. One for the photo shoot and the other for the actual wedding. 

The number of compliments you got was almost immeasurable. But the only thing you wondered was how Taehyung would react. 

Usually, in dramas, the guys would cry or be mesmerized. You knew he wouldn't be all that. He wasn't in love with you or anything. 

But you still wondered if he'd say you looked pretty. He never complimented you, would he this time? 

It had been 3 and a half months of knowing him yet you felt as if there was so much more of him to open up. As if you hadn't even seen 1% of the real him. 

Shrugging off these thoughts, you tried to focus on the elders and your best friend screaming compliments at you. You smiled at them, looking into the mirror.

You were going to get married.

After buying clothes, everyone was sitting in the boutique because the owner had arranged drinks and snacks. Taehyung sat across from you, staring at you yet again, just like he always did. 
"The dress Y/N picked is so breathtaking. You'll die on spot." The Queen spoke as you smiled shyly. Taehyung looked at you, seeing the blush on your cheeks and felt himself in awe. He really wanted to pinch those cheeks gently, or maybe go closer, kiss you. 

But he cleared his throat, looking away.

Your mother looked at him and then at you. She smiled a little, wondering things to herself. Mina and Jungkook were sitting nearby, both of them talking about random things. You smiled at them and then looked at Taehyung to see him staring at you with something like curiosity.
"What's wrong?" You mouthed as he shook his head, sipping his drink. His one was chocolate and your one was vanilla. He stared at your drink for a moment, "Let's switch." 
"Heh? But I-" 
You were cut off by him switching your drinks. Before you could speak again, he was already drinking yours. You let out a gasp in disbelief. 
"You could've just ordered a vanilla instead of..." You looked at his chocolate flavour and raised a brow. He didn't drink from it at all.

But wait. He just... drank from the straw you used a minute ago. What the hell?! 

You stared at him, completely shocked as he cleared his throat, "This one's worse." 
He kept the drink back, "I'll just get something else. Have the chocolate for me." 

You stared at it for a moment. You wanted chocolate originally but they served you the vanilla in advance so you couldn't say a thing. Taehyung noticed it and put on a show for you to get the chocolate but you had no idea about it. Your mother and the queen looked at each other, then looked at you who was drinking the chocolate one. It did taste better. 
You smiled a little, looking here and there.
"She has no idea, does she?"
"He doesn't either." 

Time passed by as both of the elders smiled at each other and looked at you and Taehyung, talking to each other as you laughed while he stared at you in awe. 

You all bought jewellery, gifts for others and some more things along the way. You saw a beautiful bracelet and bought it. It was men's. So you thought you'd gift it to Taehyung. 

After reaching the palace, you were in your room resting when you got a text from Taehyung. Wow, the first time he texted by himself other than a " . " 

You checked his text and frowned, "Why were you hissing so much today?" 

Right. You did hiss often due to your period cramps but how did he notice that? You wondered how to reply. 
"Stomach cramps?" 

What's the point in sugarcoating it? Though some men didn't normalize it, you wondered if this guy even had any idea about it. Judging from how dumb he looked sometimes, he didn't. 

"Why?" 

You knew it. You sighed at his reply and replied, "So like... you know about women's monthly cycle?" 

Now, this was embarrassing. You didn't have to be so transparent. 
"Yes." 

Wow. A great achievement he had. Surprisingly. 

"So, that cramps. Yeah. Nothing else. Why are you asking?" 

You were left on seen for almost 5 minutes. You wanted to throw him out of the window for a moment but never mind. He was in the room right across yours and you could but you didn't. Let him be... dying alone or whatsoever.

You sighed, massaging some oil on your arms as a nighttime routine but frowned when you heard a knock on your door. You walked towards the door, opened it and were quite confused seeing Taehyung stand there.

"I want to know." He said, making you frown. 
"Know about?" You asked but gasped when he walked inside your room, sitting on the couch. You raised your brows in confusion, approaching him as he spoke, "Monthly cycle. Periods." 

He. Had. To. Be. Kidding.