"You know, standing next to you, I suddenly feel underdressed?" Eric said, throwing a hand around Dayeong's shoulders as they posed for pictures.  

"Can you put your hand on her waist instead?" the photographer asked, and Eric sighed, doing as told. Chanhee was the photographer's name. Eric decided to commit that to memory and imagined pushing him into the pool or something as he asked if Eric could kiss her cheek for a picture. He was very close to losing his patience. 

Dayeong looked up and laughed, seeing his annoyed face. "Hurry up so we can get this over with," she teased, touching her cheek, her eyes shining with amusement as he complied. And she was right, a few minutes later they were done. 

He held out his arm to her and she took it, and they started walking the gardens together. "You shouldn't feel underdressed," she told him after a moment. "You look very Princely." 

"Why thank you," he said playfully. He did feel a little underdressed though. She looked very pretty, in a white summer dress and brown sandals, accented with a gold bracelet. Her eyeshadow was sparkly too, barely noticeable until they got to the sunlight. 

"Have you come up with plans?" she asked, stopping to smell one of the flowers. 

"I thought you were the plan-maker," he joked, and she turned around, raising her eyebrows at him. 

"You're the one who's in love," she teased. "You should be more desperate, and thus you should be the plan maker." 

"You also have someone you like," he complained. 

"Maybe," she admitted. "I don't know. I have to get to know him better." 

"If you tell me who it is, maybe I can help," he suggested jokingly. 

Dayeong laughed, looking up at him in amusement. "Thanks, but no thanks," she said, rolling her eyes at him playfully. "I don't need help." 

"Wow, we're being cocky now, aren't we?" 

"It's not being cocky, it's called being confident," she said, pretending to glare at him. He couldn't help laughing but immediately felt guilty afterward. 

Chanmi and Juyeon were walking behind them. Not close enough to hear their conversation, but they had to shadow them, for safety reasons he supposed. Either way, it was really awkward. 

"I wish we didn't have to have guards following us," she sighed, voicing his thoughts. 

"Wow, are you a mind reader or something? I was just thinking that!" 

Dayeong looked at him sympathetically. "It's really awkward," she said, chewing on her bottom lip. "Can we sit for a bit?" she asked, pointing to a bench hidden beneath a willow tree. 

"Sure," he said, and she ran over without waiting for him. 

"Your parents haven't said anything about a wedding date yet, have they?" she asked as soon as he sat down. 

"Thankfully, no," he said. "But we also hardly talk, so there's that." 

She was silent for a moment. "Same here," she finally whispered, a sad smile on her lips. "We're just tools for them, aren't we? It's so frustrating," she sighed, leaning back on the bench. 

"It is," he agreed. 

"Can I ask you something?" she asked. 

"You just did," Eric pointed out. "But sure." 

"All of your records are either from when you were a few months old or from a few months ago. Where were you all this time?" 

"Juyeon and his family raised me," he said softly. "I found out I was a Prince a few months ago... and now here I am." 

"Wow," she whispered. "That's really awful. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, laughing. "You haven't done anything." 

"But that must be really hard," Dayeong said, her eyes sympathetic. She placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Are you alright? If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here," she offered, giving him a small smile. "I understand what it's like to be royalty, to feel powerless, to hate your position," she said softly, nodding to herself. "I understand all of that. We can be friends if you'd like." 

"I'd like that a lot," Eric admitted, smiling back at her. "And thank you. Can I... can I also ask you some questions?" 

"Go ahead," she said, folding her hands in her lap. 

"Why are there hardly any records on you? I can find a lot about your brother, but there's hardly anything on you." 

Dayeong smiled, her eyes far away. She looked sad at the mention of her brother, and he suddenly realized that she might be homesick. 

He'd been so caught up in how he was feeling, he hadn't even stopped to consider her feelings. She came to a new Kingdom for the first time, with no one, to marry a guy she'd never met. And yet she came with a smile. She wasn't angry or mean, but helpful and gracious. 

He admired that, her quiet strength. Eric suspected that many people would assume she was weak at first glance, but he suddenly realized how strong she must be. 

"Hyunjin was forced into the publicity from a very young age," she finally said. "Because he needed to be. He's our future King. When I came along, a year after him, they decided to keep me sheltered. They feared that I may mess up and do something wrong, even as a kid. And there was simply no benefit to me being in the public eye. It's not like I'd have a position in their Kingdom, it was always my destiny to be married off," she explained, her voice sounding detached from any emotion, but her eyes sad. "As I got older, and saw how hard it was for Hyunjin to deal with the stress of publicity... I became grateful for their sheltering me." 

"It would have been nice if Hyunjin could visit," Eric commented after a moment. "It would be cool if we could all become friends." 

Dayeong smiled, her eyes on the ground. "He would have liked you, I'm sure," she said softly. "I'm sure he'd come, if he could. But he's going through wedding preparations of his own," she explained, looking up and meeting Eric's eyes. "He's also having an arranged marriage, but he ended up falling in love. Isn't that cute?" she said, her eyes happier now. 

"That's amazing," Eric agreed. "Um... do you want to keep walking? There's a cool pond with fish if we keep going." 

"That sounds lovely," she said, standing up. "Let's try to think of plans while we walk," she said, a frown coming to her face. "I'm lost for ideas." 

"Me too," he said, anxiety building up inside of him. 

They'd be able to come up with a good plan, right?