.thirty four. 

As the decision was made and finalized, both General Park and Minji were left speechless. She didn't want to get into a forced marriage like that, and her father was not ready to let his fifteen year old daughter go when she was so young. He had planned to marry Soon Deok off to a good husband first and then worry about Hak Soon later. He had three years to plan and ready himself for having to let his youngest daughter go. But he knew that he could not go against the king. For one, he was the ruler of their country. And also, he was one of his good friends. A comforting thought that visited his mind was that at least his beloved daughter would not be moving somewhere far away, which was one of his key fears when he thought about marrying off his daughters. 

The king explained to them that he had been planning for the wedding in the weeks before Eun's birthday. Preparations had been halted only because of the drought. There were only a few final details to be arranged and that included the fitting of the bride in her dress. 

Since he was in a rush to marry his son off as soon as possible, as people were beginning to talk about his refusal to marry, he informed to the dismay of everyone that they were to be married a week from then. And just like that, he called in a group of court ladies to take Minji off to some part of the palace to have her dress sized and fitted to her frame. Minji felt tears pool up in her eyes as one court lady pried Jung's hand away from hers. Jung pulled back, but tried not to make a scene in front of his brothers and father.

Jung and general Park watched as she was taken away somewhere with tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. Eun looked to his younger brother now, the same apologetic look, to which Jung responded with a glare full of resentment. The general left the palace with news for his other daughter, while the King dismissed himself as he had other issues to tend to.

But his youngest son wasn't going to let the subject drop so easily. He followed him into the main room where the King sat at his chair at the top of an altar. The doors were closed behind them and as soon as they were, Jung truly let out what he had been wanting to say but couldn't in front of his brothers.

"You can't let them get married." He protested, the same anger and resentment pointed towards the King. He couldn't believe that this was happening--the girl he loved being taken from him and forced to marry his brother. Still, he tried to keep his words as calm as he could because he knew he still owed his father some respect, as king of their country and as his father as well. But Jung just wanted to lash out in that moment and demand for the King to change his mind. "You have already promised her to me. She doesn't want to marry him. She won't be happy with him."

The king felt for him, he really did, but as he had mentioned already, he was more focused on one son at a time. Currently, it was Eun who had turned eighteen and he would get to pick first who he wanted to marry over his younger brothers. As long as he could get Eun to marry, something he had been refusing to do for about a year, he would please any request he might have.

He sighed, attempting to explain, "Jung-ah, you have to understand..."

Jung cut him off, something he would have never dared to do on any other occasion. But in that moment he was so upset that the last thing on his mind was a fear of being punished for disrespecting the King. "I have to understand that you're taking the woman that I love from me and giving her to my brother?"

"He would have had a hard time finding a wife." The King tried to reason with him. "That's why I wanted to please him. You can easily find someone else."

"But I don't want anyone else." Jung said, his voice now reaching a whiny complaint kind of tone. "Hyung should find someone else instead of taking Hak Soon from me. I have loved her since we were children. He's never liked her. never so much as glanced at her until she and I made our marriage official. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Jung--"

"I won't understand and I won't accept it." He announced firmly, his bravery and determination heightened in the heat of the moment.

His words had managed to finally make the king loose his patience with him. He had wanted so badly for Eun to choose Soon Deok exactly to prevent this problem from unraveling. But now that it had, he had hoped he would be able to talk some sense into his youngest son. Seeing as that wasn't going to work, he would try the authoritarian approach. If he could not appeal to him as a father, he would force him to conform to his decision as the king. 

He was now menacing as he gave his warning. "If you dare to interfere in your brother's wedding, I will forget you are my son and will have you punished. You will have your time, but its Eun's time now."

-

Minji had been standing in that room for hours while women fussed over her, pinching and picking at parts of the dress to get her fitted in it. They had instructions to finish it that night, so that there would be no more worrying about the dress. Minji's face in the mirror was one of pure sadness and dismay at the sight of herself--forced into a marriage to the tenth prince. It wasn't as though it was all bad. She wasn't in love with him, but she no longer hated him. They actually got along sometimes and she thought it was better than marrying someone she didn't know. Someone she would have to move away for. With the tenth prince, the court ladies told her that Eun's grandfather had a lot of money and a big plot of land, where word around the village was that he had started construction on a house for his grandson as a wedding present.

As they fitted her for her dress, some of the older court ladies had animated conversations with each other, one particular conversation tried to involve Minji. They talked about an old legend which caught Minji's attention. 

They talked about how it was a well known legend in Goryeo. That it was bad luck for a man to see his bride to be in her dress before the wedding. They then started to tell stories about people they knew who ended up not getting married or something very unfortunate happened when a bride was seen in her wedding dress.

As they made their final arrangements on the dress before wrapping up for the night, the other court ladies started putting things away. Minji excused herself for a moment, to look for a toilet, which in those days were chamber pots. But her intentions were others. She wanted to find the tenth prince, and though it was just a myth the court ladies were telling, she thought that if she could get him to see her in her dress, she could somehow avoid having to marry him. 

She walked the halls of the palace with one specific person in mind, and she finally found him, to her luck, after about ten minutes. He was with Hajin, sitting at a table, with his fingers bandaged up. The two had been talking just as Minji walked up. The two tore their eyes away from each other to look at the girl who was wearing a red and blue wedding dress.

Hajin was taken by surprise, as she hadn't yet heard the news of Eun and Minji's wedding.

"What are you guys up to?" Minji wondered, trying to sound casual. She had walked up behind Hajin and dropped a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes connected with Eun's as she had watched him talk, too invested in conversation, with her. She had also made sure to stand where he could see her fully, without having to crane his neck.

Just as Hajin  was about to speak, one of the court ladies saw Minji with them and rushed into the room, ushering her away, back to the room where she had been with the other court ladies. They helped her out of the dress and scolded her as the other court lady explained where she had found her. They warned her that she would have bad luck if she wasn't careful--only because her husband to be had seen her in her wedding dress. 

Minji was escorted home by palace guards and when she opened the door to her house, there was a solemn aura lurking all over. Everything looked darker than it normally did and she could hear the faint cries of her sister in her bedroom.

Minji followed the sound and knocked on her door, calling out to her softly. "Unnie..."

She knew it was obvious that her father had already given her the news and she was all but pleased. Her younger sister was marrying the boy she loved. It was one of the worst scenarios possible.

Her sister's cries ceased and she heard shuffling from the other side of the door. Then she heard footsteps coming towards the door and it was opened slowly. The moment Soon Deok saw her sister, her eyes were red and puffy, but she forced a smile onto her face. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she started, "Appa told me the news about how the tenth prince chose you as his bride." Just letting the words out made it obvious that she was worn up inside. Her eyes brimmed with tears once again.

"Unnie..." Minji placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'm really sorry. You know I wanted to help you with him, and I wanted to marry Jung. But he chose me and his majesty decided to please him--"

Soon Deok gave a shake of her head. "Don't apologize. I know it wasn't your fault."

"I know how much you wanted to marry him." Minji said.

Her sister smiled a tiny smile, yet this one was a genuine one compared to the one she had offered when she opened the door. "But he never wanted to marry me, and that's okay. Honestly, I'd rather see him happy with someone else than miserable with me, even if he is marrying my sister." A sigh escaped her lips as she offered another bit of information, something Minji had heard that day as well, when Eun announced that he wanted to marry her. "Han and Baek-ah are the next in line to get married. And apparently, Han talked to appa today. He offered to marry me, and assured he was ready, even though he'll be turning eighteen in one more year."

"Are you going to marry him?" The fifteen year old wondered. As much as she liked the fact that Han had made an offer for her hand in marriage, she also knew that Soon Deok didn't see him that way. She would not be happy married to him, just like Minji didn't expect to be totally happy while married to Eun.

"I think its my only option." Soon Deok said, sounding like she had given up. She would be turning eighteen in two more months, and if she didn't marry soon, it would be difficult for her to find a husband later on.

Also, at this point she didn't care who she married anymore. If she could not have Eun, it didn't matter to her who she would marry. 

-

a little update for today, and i will write a really short author's note because i have to get going. i know this chapter involves a lot. so now we have minji willingly putting back luck onto her upcoming marriage with the tenth prince. keep that in mind, as it will come in handy later on.

also, soon deok might actually decide to be marrying han. which will be intersting.

thank you all so much for reading. and thank you for your comments. i read all of them and they mean a lot to me.

-clary