"Why won't the other guards join?" Eric whined, moving his player five spaces on the Monopoly board. 

"Because they're all kind of scared of you," Chanmi said, collecting rent from him. He sighed, handing over the cash. "They don't spend as much time with you as I do, so they don't know that you're not scary and you're actually, like this..." she said, trailing off as he laid on the ground, glaring at her Monopoly figure as she moved it on the board. "Why are you looking at Snow White like that?" 

"Because she keeps passing Dumbo," he sighed, moving his piece. It still ended up behind Chanmi's, and he ended up having to pay rent. Again. "How are you so good at this game?" 

She shrugged, reaching out her hand to take the money. "Talent, I guess. Talent that you don't have," she teased. 

"Wow," he said, drawing out the word. "I'm hurt. I can't believe you just said that to your future king," he teased, making her laugh. 

"Can't we end this now?" he complained, moving his player again, but this time thankfully landing on one of his properties. "You already won. You beat me so badly." 

She laughed again and looked at her watch. He grabbed her blazer from the arm of the sofa and placed it over her shoulders. 

"Thanks. It's good that we're finishing now. You have another meeting with Sangyeon." 

"Not another one," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He's nice and all, but I can't stand these interview prep sessions." 

He'd been going to them for over a week now, and had increased his meetings to twice a day after his first interview had been a disaster. He'd been a nervous mess, and even Chanmi's encouragement hadn't helped him that day. He hadn't really answered most of the questions and had been shy and awkward, which was not the image people wanted to see in their future king. 

But the truth was, he was still grappling with his new identity. He wasn't ready to be a King. He could barely take care of himself, much less a whole country. 

At least Chanmi had finally caved and stopped rejecting him. They were friends now. She hung out in his room most of the time and they played various games, which usually ended up in her winning. She showed him around the Palace since he kept getting lost. She watched him as he learned horseback riding and archery since she wasn't allowed to do those things with him. That annoyed him. He wanted to do those things together, but they weren't allowed. 

Still, he knew better than to argue. Those were the rules, and at much as he hated to admit it, it was best that they followed them. He didn't want to cause any trouble for her. Not now, not ever. 

"What are you thinking about?" she asked teasingly, keeping her voice almost inaudible as they entered the hallways. She walked a pace behind him, and he hated that too. He wanted to walk side by side. He wanted to do things that normal friends would. But they couldn't. They'd never be able to. 

"About how you always beat me at every game we play," he said, sighing dramatically but also keeping his voice down so they wouldn't get caught. "Honestly, how are you so good at everything we do? I should just sit back and let you rule the Kingdom." 

"Honestly, the way your lessons are going, I think that might be best," she joked. 

"We don't talk about my history lessons," he groaned, turning around to glare at her. She almost bumped into him, he stopped so quickly, and he reached out and grabbed her arms to stop her from falling, though it didn't seem like she was going to fall in the first place. So that just ended up making things awkward, and they stood there for a second just looking at each other. 

Chanmi was the first one to move, taking a step back and looking at the floor. "Sorry," she mumbled. 

"Why are you sorry? I was the one who stopped," he said, continuing to walk and desperately hoping that he wasn't blushing. "Anyway," he said quickly, hoping that they could easily move past the awkward moment. "Like I said, we don't mention those." 

"Why not?" she asked playfully, her voice sounding like she was about to laugh. He wished he could turn around to see her face again. The face that she had when she was about to laugh... the way her eyes sparkled with amusement... it was beautiful. 

She was beautiful. 

That thought scared him.

Because they weren't even supposed to be friends. Even friends was too much. 

He had to keep his feelings in check. 

He couldn't start finding her pretty. He couldn't become captivated by his smile, or else he'd be doomed. 

They both would be. 

***

A/N 

It's not Friday yet but... oh well. I wanted to post an extra chapter, so here it is🥰

I might start updating wayyyy more often than twice a week. You see, I finished writing this book and it's over 50k words (I think it's a bit over 52k) which means that it's eligible for me to enter it in the Wattys? I think I'm going to try entering, just for fun☺️ 

But there's also a sequel for this book (this book will have 67 chapters and end on kind of a cliffhanger soooo) and I want to make sure I finish writing the sequel before I end up going crazy with these updates😂