.seventy five.

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"I made the tenth prince think we slept together and if he thinks I will bear him a child, he will surely marry me. Then I will be able to provide you with money and gifts for the rest of your life. You won't ever have to work again."

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Jangmi searched all through the village for the most attractive man she could find. She was a princess after all, and if she wanted to trick the tenth prince into thinking he had slept with her, she would need to get herself pregnant. People in the high society in those days were most interested with good looks, and she was one of them as well. If she was going to get herself pregnant, it wasn't going to be with just anyone. She was on a mission to find the most handsome man in the village, and she found him in the form of a young man who appeared to be sitting at a balcony, observing the villagers and sketching moments of their every day lives. 

He was tall, fair skinned, and very handsome, someone who matched her beauty. Little was she aware that he was in reality the thirteenth prince of Goryeo. Even now, Baek-ah still went out into the village dressed as a commoner to escape the every day tasks of the village. He and Jung were the only two single princes left and his younger brother was off on the battle fields. Now he had no one to spend time with. Sometimes he visited his older brothers Han and Eun, but they had families now and it just wasn't the same. He had also always been much closer with Jung than with them anyway.

The princess walked up to the balcony and greeted the young man with a bright smile. "Hello there." She said, taking a seat across the small table from him.

He was immediately pulled out of his thoughts and the slightest hint of annoyance crossed his handsome features. But he was quick to recover and he instantly noticed that she had been the girl Jung had saved in the village almost two years back. The girl who claimed she was a princess of a fallen kingdom, just like he was. He remembered how he felt bad for her, since she was being treated badly, yet he was still regarded as a prince because his father was the king of Goryeo. He remembered how Jung mentioned to him that he had helped her because he would have wanted someone to help him, had he been in a situation like that. 

"Hi..." Baek-ah replied reluctantly after a moment.

The smile on her face remained as she craned her neck to have a look at what he was drawing. It was an image of children playing a game with little crystal marbles down in the mud below. Their smiling faces reflecting their innocence and their unknowingness of the outside world. These children were happy. Unlike the children of her nation who knew death, sadness, and famine.

"What's your name?" She asked him bluntly. She was going to have to get straight to the point and not waste any time because if he didn't want to help her, she could just as easily turn to the next guy.

He was quickly made aware that she didn't remember him from before, nor did she even realize that he was a prince. Baek-ah then thought he would offer her a fake name to keep his identity concealed. He thought for a moment, trying not to take too long to respond. When he did, he blurted out the first name that came to mind. "Uh...my name is Wonho." Looking to her, he asked the same question back. "What's your name?"

"Jangmi." She responded, and then added full of pride as she told him what her royal title was. "I am a princess of the fallen Baekje nation, and I come to you with a proposal."

He cocked an eyebrow at her in question. He was intrigued to know what it was, but he was also curious to know why she had chosen him to make the proposal to. He was supposed to be just a regular peasant person. "What kind of proposal?" Knowing he was not going to continue his sketch any time soon, he set the peace of parchment paper and his drawing instrument on the table in front of him.

She was beautiful, but her clothes were worn and tattered from very likely not having a place to live in. Her face and body were well kept and clean, but she had darkened bags under her eyes like she hadn't been sleeping in days. Even in the state she was in, she appeared royal. There was just something royal about her in her appearance. And she had the ability to sweet talk anyone. Baek-ah didn't even know what her proposal was about, yet there he was attentively listening and waiting for her to speak.

"I need you to get me pregnant." She said to him directly, and her words made his eyes widen in surprise. Still, she continued, "I made the tenth prince think we slept together and if he thinks I will bear him a child, he will surely marry me. Then I will be able to provide you with money and gifts for the rest of your life. You won't ever have to work again."

It all sunk in for Baek-ah. When he saw her in the village two years prior, she had mentioned how she was going to marry his older brother Eun. He had also heard from the family that their father wanted a princess to be Eun's second wife. She had been unable to marry him, mostly because Eun refused, and the plans were foiled when King Taejo passed away. It seemed that now the princess was taking matters into her own hands and was planning to trick Eun into marrying her by making him believe that he had somehow gotten her pregnant. Then she would pin another man's child on him to achieve her goal.

The thirteenth prince immediately refused with a shake of his head. "I don't want to participate in something like this. You have asked the wrong person." He told her, outraged that she would think him capable of something like that, and quickly started gathering his belongings. Still, he refused to reveal to her who he really was--Prince Eun's younger brother. 

"Think about it." She called as he left the balcony.

He firmly shook his head. "There's nothing for me to think about."

-

Prince Baek-ah didn't hesitate and went to visit his older brother the very next morning. Minji and Eun had just gotten done with breakfast and were going to go out for their morning walk. Their doctor had informed them that exposing Jinki to the outside for limited amounts of time each day was actually good for his health. But he wasn't allowed to spend more than an hour outside, and for that reason the family always had their daily walk around the property in the mornings. The twins especially loved it, since it was currently fall and they loved jumping into piles of fallen leaves that Eun would arrange for them. It was a game Minji had suggested to them, something that she remembered doing as a child back home.

A smile broke out onto Eun's face when he saw the familiar figure of his younger brother walking up to them in the distance. "Baek-ah!" He shouted happily, a light laugh escaping his lips. 

He had seen his brother few times at palace events. But the last time they had really talked was when he was still living at the palace with the other brothers, back when they all got along. Baek-ah gave the faintest hint of a smile and when he reached their side, Eun pulled him in for a bone crushing hug. Baek-ah could barely beathe, but he could feel the affection radiating off him. Eun had always been arrogant at one point of his life, but he was a person who truly cared about the people he loved, especially the younger brothers. He always truly enjoyed being a hyung, since he was the younger brother of most of the other princes.

"I haven't seen you since we were teenagers." Eun said in exaggeration. 

Baek-ah found himself chuckling at that. "Ah, hyung. Things have been relatively peaceful in the kingdom, which is why I have mostly found myself immersed in my drawings and my music."

Minji smiled at him too, Jinki securely in her arms. His vivid eyes watched curiously at everything around him. He wasn't allowed to go out very often, but when he did, he liked to be able to see everything. It was something his other siblings took for granted, since they were allowed outside whenever they wanted. "You should visit us more often. Yeon Hwa and even So have certainly been doing so, and I just know the children would enjoy spending time with another uncle." She informed him. As the thirteenth prince took a look at the children, he really felt like it had been a while since he'd last seen them.

For one, the twins couldn't even walk or talk yet. Now they appeared to be nearly four years old. Jinki was even bigger, looking around two years old. 

"I will try." He promised them, but then turned serious. "Although...I'm not here today for a social visit." Looking to Eun, he continued, "Brother, I have important news for you. This is something you will certainly want to hear."

The tenth prince nodded. "Okay."

Minji excused herself and expertly went to sit on a bench under a tree nearby. She wanted to give the two brothers the privacy to talk, even though she knew Eun would tell her later and that he didn't mind if she listened to their conversation right then. She had Jinki in her arms while the twins continued playing in their pile of leaves. They threw them up in the air and watched them come back down like rain, making their baby brother Jinki giggle and clap his hands together happily. 

"I met a girl in the village today." The thirteenth prince said.

Eun instantly grinned at his brother knowingly. He then nudged his younger brother playfully. "You've finally found someone to love?"

Baek-ah gave a shake of his head. "That's really not what I'm here to talk about."

Though he thought the princess was definitely beautiful, he felt that if she was trying to trick Eun into marrying her, then she wasn't a very good person to begin with. Especially when he thought about how she had offered him money to get her pregnant. 

When Eun turned serious as well, waiting for him to speak, the thirteenth prince continued. "A girl in the village asked me if I would get her pregnant, just so that she could pin the child on you and force her to marry you." Eun's eyes widened in surprise. Not only because it had turned out that she had essentially forced him into bed with her, but now she was trying to ensure that she was pregnant so that he would think the child was his. "She offered me money because she said you would marry her if you thought she was going to bear you a child. She of course didn't know I was a prince and that we're brothers, but she's absolutely insane. You can't fall into her trap."

The tenth prince then began to comment what had happened the night before. "She got me drunk last night and got me into bed with her. She's determined to force me to get married."

"That's another thing." Baek-ah pointed out. "She admitted to me that you never touched her. She only made you think that you did."

Eun heaved a sigh of relief, and then it was like a spark went off in him and he was overcome with joy. He had talked to Minji about it already, but he was glad it had turned out to be a lie. He jumped into his brother's arms and hugged him tightly once more. "Thank you for telling me this, brother. My wife, my Hak Soon, has to know this. I knew I would never be capable of even looking at another woman. Not when I have her."

Baek-ah nodded. "But just be careful. She won't give up so easily."

Eun assured that he would be more careful, especially around the princess. He then rushed off to tell his wife the good news. 

-

quick update before i go to school, and i hope you all enjoy it.

thank you and have a wonderful day!

-clary