.sixty eight.

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"Watch how you speak to the princes of Goryeo, lest you want to lose your ability to speak."  

-

Minji returned to her house to find everyone in a frenzy searching for her, and she realized she had probably been gone far longer than she intended to. 

There were guards at the front of the property as was the usual, but she could hear footsteps of others as they searched the entire property from top to bottom. The guards at the front saw her and one walked up to her with relief flooding his words. "Lady Hak Soon, your husband and family have been looking all over the estate for you. Please come with me and I will take you to them." He said to her with a voice full of respect, taking her arm gently to lead her in the direction of her house. Minji still found it strange that grown men, capable of bending anyone with the blade of their sword, could give her any respect. But she was the wife of a prince now and they had to be obedient.

She merely nodded her head and let him lead her further into the estate. 

As they approached the house where she lived with her children and Eun, she heard her husband's voice calling out to her. "Hak Soon-ah." His voice was so full of worry, and yet there was relief that they had found her. He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. "Please don't scare me like that again. I thought something terrible happened. I couldn't possibly continue living without you." His words had a way of unsettling her because he hadn't said this to her just once, but several times already. That he could not, or would not, want to live without her. It was like in her dream, which she hadn't had for a while now, where she had been killed and he asked his brother to end his life shortly after.

Minji forced a small smile onto her face, still upset by what she heard earlier. She didn't want to ask, but she thought that by now her husband was probably engaged to that other woman. "I'm fine, love. Don't worry about me."

Her sister embraced her as well, telling her how worried they were when they couldn't find her. Then they all went in the house to share some lunch together. Minji sat at the table just waiting for her husband to give the announcement--that he was replacing her with someone better. The king was probably overjoyed at this, since he didn't seem to like Minji anymore. 

Though it wasn't Minji who asked Eun about the woman who had been visiting the house on several occasions, but rather his younger brother Han. "Hyung, who was that girl that came by earlier to talk to you? You even made us leave you two alone." As the words left his mouth, his brother shot him death glares because he didn't want Minji to know about it. Minji had already been telling him that she would be fine with him getting a second wife, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings by having her know that a woman was coming by to make such proposals to him.

Minji now listened attentively for his response. Eun heaved a heavy sigh as he finally had to clear everything. He didn't want Minji to find out about it, but now here was his younger brother opening his mouth when he wasn't supposed to. He would have to have a talk with him about it later. "She's some woman his majesty sent for me. But I've dismissed her several times because I'm not interested. I told her if she really wanted to marry a prince of Goryeo, there's always Jung-ah. He's still single." He continued eating his food happily as though he didn't have a care in the world about his youngest brother. Minji couldn't bear to hear how the two talked about each other, like they were sworn enemies rather than brothers.

Minji tensed at the mention of her former lover, the man she was going to marry. She had just seen him that day, and though he hadn't caused any emotions to stir within her, she didn't want him married off to someone he didn't love. Still, she said nothing about it, and neither did the others. There was nothing more to talk about. Eun wasn't interested in her, and had turned her down twice already.

-

Jangmi couldn't help but think about what the tenth prince told her when she visited him. He didn't want her because he was happily married, but his youngest brother the fourteenth prince was available. The fallen princess thought about her options. She would still try with Eun, since marrying him was part of the deal she made with the king. But she could also try her hand at seducing the youngest prince of Goryeo. He was only one year younger than her, and was set to marry soon. If he could fall in love with her, she could have him as a back up option in case the tenth prince were to continue rejecting her. 

She immediately set out with her plan and went to search for the fourteenth prince in the village, where she heard he spent a lot of his time. She was dressed in her new clothes which the king had given her and she no longer looked like what she was--the princess of a fallen kingdom. Someone without a rank, or someone who was even less than a regular citizen of Goryeo.

The princess found him near the outskirts of the village, surrounded by people and involved in a fight. He was fighting another person and seemed to be winning when Jangmi tried to tiptoe over the other onlookers to get a better look. He had the other man on the ground, with a bloodied face and mangled body. The fourteenth prince stood over him, a foot on his opponent's chest as he looked down on him with a smirk. "Do you surrender?" He asked, and the person below him struggled to get out of his hold.

But he was too tired to fight. 

He said nothing and only looked up with hatred at the handsome prince standing above him. Jung gave him a taunting look before pushing past the crowd of people standing in his way and disappearing back into the village. Friends of Jung's opponent helped him back on his feet and dragged him away while Jangmi now turned and followed a few steps behind the fourteenth prince. 

It didn't take very long before the prince turned in her direction, making her eyes widen and making her stop in her tracks behind him. "I know when I'm being followed. You're not very good at it." He said, eyeing her up and down wondering why she was following him of all people. Perhaps, he thought, she knew that he was a prince. Jangmi felt her face burn with a light tint of red, but she remained silent. Jung continued with some questions. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"

But Jangmi had grown afraid and turned on her heel, scurrying off into a crowd of people as the fourteenth prince called after her. He didn't try to follow because he didn't want to make a scene and have people recognize him. But he was curious about the girl and why she was following him. As Jangmi went around the corner of a small building that was an apothecary, she brought her hands to her chest. She had been so confident and sultry when she tried to seduce prince Eun, but it was different with prince Jung. The fourteenth prince was taller than his older brother and more intimidating. From what Jangmi knew, he was a military man and could probably kill her with one blink if he so wished. She knew she had to tread lightly around him. 

When she managed to gather her bearings, she peeked out from around the building to find the fourteenth prince talking nearby with his older brother Prince Baek-ah. Jangmi knew that Baek-ah was similar to her. He was a prince of the fallen Silla kingdom, and was only a prince of Goryeo because his father was King Taejo. The people of Goryeo and even some of his brothers, regarded him as inferior because of his mother's lineage. 

It was said all over Goryeo that he was the most handsome of the princes, but that no one would ever respect him because he was the child of a worthless mother. 

Jangmi knew how that must feel. She was a princess in Baekje, but in Goryeo she was even less than a slave. 

-

She followed the fourteenth prince around for a while longer, until she didn't see where she was going and bumped into someone, making them drop a basket of bread that they held in their arms. The bread rolls went tumbling onto the muddy ground and Jangmi gasped, knowing that she would be in trouble for what she had done. The person was a man who was tending to a bread sale tent nearby. 

He turned, eyebrows furrowed in anger, and began to scold her. "You need to watch where you're going."

Afraid, Jangmi nodded her head quickly and bowed. "I am very sorry."

The man instantly caught the different dialect in her voice and knew that she wasn't a citizen of Goryeo, but rather a prisoner taken from the fallen Baekje kingdom. And since she was dressed in expensive clothing, he figured that she was more than likely a princess. But he didn't have to respect her. They weren't in her country anymore. 

"You Baekje people have been causing trouble ever since you arrived here." He bellowed loudly for everyone to hear. Very soon, people started to gather all around them. And yet, he hadn't been able to catch the attention of the two princes who were talking in amusement nearby. The man didn't give her a chance to respond before he grabbed her by the wrist and pushed her down onto her knees in the mud. "You made me waste a day's worth of bread that I could have made a profit on. As punishment, you will pick them up one by one with your mouth, like the animal that you are."

Jangmi felt her eyes pool up with tears that stung at her eyes. She was on her hands and knees in the mud, powerless and surrounded by a bunch of people who didn't like her. These weren't her subjects. No one stepped forward to help her, or even say anything about what was going on.

Even in the mud, she shook her head. She sat back on her legs and tried to clean the mud off her hands. As pridefully as she possibly could, and nose in the air, she replied, "I will not. Though my kingdom has fallen, I'm still a princess, and I will not lower myself in such a way."

The villager did not like her answer in the least and bent close to her, grabbing a fist full of her hair which had been pulled up into an intricate up do that morning. Now it was coming loose with his merciless tugging. "You may have been a princess once. But that title means nothing here. If I so wished to take you as my personal slave, I could do it." He pushed her down into the mud once more and ordered, "Now pick up the bread you just wasted before I beat that independent streak out of you."

"You will regret what you are doing." Jangmi warned through gritted teeth, tears were already falling from her eyes. "I will be his majesty the tenth prince's second wife. When I marry him, I will make sure you do not live to see another morning."

From nearby the two princes stopped in their conversation when they heard a commotion. Both turned to see several people gathered around and Jung jumped forward, hoping it would be another fight. He grabbed his brother's arm and dragged him forward to get a closer look. But upon getting closer, he saw not two people fighting, but a girl being pushed into the mud while the other villagers cheered and laughed at her. Her face was being pushed into the muddy ground by a man who was running the bread stand. Jung quickly noticed it had been the same girl who had been following him earlier.

Before he could even think things through, he was already pushing past everyone to get to her. "What's going on here?" The young prince demanded. 

All laughter and conversation ceased, and the man looked up to see Jung standing over them. "Get out of here, kid." He tried to dismiss the fourteenth prince, not able to recognize him as a prince of Goryeo. Whenever Jung and Baek-ah went out, they dressed as commoners. Most villagers hadn't seen them in person before and were unable to recognize them. 

Baek-ah also stepped forward to help. 

"Unhand that girl." The thirteenth prince demanded. 

"Why should I?" The man challenged.

A palace guard who stood a few feet off, guarding the princes on their official outings, finally stepped in. Drawing out his sword and using it to threaten the man, he warned. "Watch how you speak to the princes of Goryeo, lest you want to lose your ability to speak."

People all around them gasped. Seeing the princes was a rarity. But seeing the princes stepping in while a non-citizen of Goryeo was being reprimanded was even more rare. 

The man quickly stepped back and apologized with a bow of his head. Jung knelt by Jangmi's side and helped her back on her feet. Never had she felt more humiliated in her life, especially when she saw the pity in his eyes. She pushed his hands away, which were helping her stand, and she took of running with her face in her hands. She then swore to herself that she would never let anyone humiliate her in that way again.

-

a pretty long chapter because i had the day off today and i have the day off tomorrow. thank you all loads for reading and supporthing this story. it means the entire world to me. 

as you all can see, i kind of started to make jungmi happen. 

but honestly, i'm not all that convinced because i had a story planned for jung in this universe. but i takes place several years from this moment. and if i make jungmi happen, then i can't really write the other idea. 

qotd: did you all feel a bit bad for jangmi? i mean, yeah she's trying to come in between eun and minji. but lets cut her some slack. she's only doing it because she wants to save her family and her people.

let me know what you think.

-clary