.thirty seven.

When Minji awoke with a start, she wasn't sure if it was day or night, as she opened her eyes to a world of darkness as her permanent view. 

Her punishment, as the King had mentioned, was to be unable to see her lover ever again. A punishment that had been solely for her to live with. She had learned from Eun on their way to their new home earlier that day that Jung had been locked in a cell and was going to receive a beating as punishment for his actions. When his mother heard about it, she quickly stepped in and he was let go without even so much as a scratch. Yet with Minji the consequences had been harsh from the start when she had no involvement in Jung's plan to run away. Her only sin had been to love the wrong brother, apparently. But she was glad that he was safe, even if she'd never see him again.

She deduced that it was night as she heard crickets chirping outside her window, as well as sounds she felt belonged to the night. The other sounds she heard were in the room and they were the tossing and turning of her husband sleeping uncomfortably on the floor below. 

Her hands felt slowly along the bed until she found the edge of it and she pulled herself towards it. She was still wearing her wedding dress by now, and Eun was still wearing his wedding outfit. His grandfather informed them that he had assigned some servants to them, but they would be starting out the next morning to help them get dressed and change the sheets in the bed. Even his family was expecting something from them that night. Minji was only relieved that Eun was innocent enough not to figure it out on his own. 

Minji didn't know which direction of the room she was facing, but it was the general direction from which the tossing and turning sounded from. Her voice as low, as though hoping not to wake anyone else in the house, as she called his name, "Eun oppa..." She said first. But then as she thought about it, they were married now and she could just drop the honorifics and call him by his real name.

When there was no response, she tried again. 

"Eun..."

She had tried several times, increasing volume a little each time until she finally got a groan as a response. "What do you want?" He asked her, a bit annoyed that she had woken him in the middle of the night. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness in the room and he remembered what had happened to her, his voice dropped the annoyance it held in it. Instead, his voice was gentle as he rephrased his question. "Why are you awake? Do you need something? Is something wrong?"

He sat up on the floor and turned to look at her. Her hair was a mess and her make up was smeared from her crying. Her dress was wrinkled all over and looked like it was starting to come apart from her laying on her side while she slept. Her lips were jutted into a pout from all she had been put through that day. 

"No. I'm fine. Its just that I heard you tossing uncomfortably down there." She said, biting down on her lip nervously. "The bed feels like its big. You'd probably sleep better up here."

They were married now. They would have to get used to sleeping in the same bed eventually. They would also have to get used to doing all the things that married couples did.

He sighed. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

But a part of him really wanted to take her up on the offer. The floor was cold and uncomfortable. The bed was soft and warm. It was an easy choice. But he wanted to give her some space, especially after being forced to marry him and then being forced to live in a world of darkness for the rest of her life. 

"You're going to make things awkward if you don't just come over here." She informed him. But before he could reply to her, she huffed with determination. "Better yet, if you won't come here, we'll both sleep on the floor."

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, but with her new lack of vision, she miscalculated and ended up tumbling out of bed near the boy who was now her husband. Though he tried his best to stifle his laugh, she could hear him finding her predicament to be a bit entertaining. Recovering quickly, he crawled over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" It was something she assumed she would be hearing from him often from now on. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Because he probably felt sorry for her and her condition.

"I'm fine." She reassured him again.

Minji dusted herself off and reached up onto the bed, pulling the covers off and onto herself. Laying down and trying the best she could to arrange the covers over them, she tugged on his arm, as he was still sitting up. 

He sighed, giving in and laid down next to her. At first, it was a very awkward experience as they both left about a foot of space between them. Eun had never slept with someone else in his bed before. Being a prince, he never had to share anything with anyone, not even with his brothers. Minji had shared her bed with her friends in the present time, growing up with Hajin and Gayoung. They always had sleep overs and shared a bed. In Goryeo she had shared her bed with Hajin and Soon Deok on separate occasions. But sharing a bed with her husband was an entirely different experience.

Eun drifted off to sleep first, seemingly comforted by her presence, since he didn't toss and turn anymore after having her by his side. She could hear how his breathing slowed down until she heard light snoring beside her. 

She soon followed, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.

-

The next morning, the teenagers were woken by a knock on their bedroom door. The servants had keys to the front door of the house, but were instructed to knock whenever entering a bedroom. Both of them knowing already the standard protocol of their mornings, Eun allowed them to enter the room and the servants were surprised by what they saw in the room. It was nothing like they had expected. A young couple on their first night of being married, they expected things to be completely different.

Instead they were met by two fully clothed teenagers, in each other's arms, fast asleep on the floor with the messy sheets around them. The bed was untainted and unslept in. 

The servants helped the two back on their feet wordlessly and were about to lead Minji into another room to help her change into a freshly pressed dress for breakfast with her husband and his family. But Eun stopped them, informing that he would be the one to change in the other room, since he didn't want her overworking herself too much and possibly getting injured.

The process took about thirty minutes with Eun waiting for her in the sitting room area of the house. The servants led her towards him, with the fifteen year old bumping into things every now and again.

Her hands searched the emptiness for him until she found him, her hands colliding with the material of his gown. He assisted her in grabbing into his arm securely and informed her that they would be travelling to the palace by horse. By now, Minji had travelled by horse several times with both Eun and Jung. She trusted him enough not to let her fall.

They arrived at the palace shortly, where the others were already sitting and waiting for them. Even Jung was there, who locked eyes with Minji and smiled at her, but he was found with an indifference, since she couldn't see him. His smile dropped, as he didn't know of her condition and he thought she was mad at him. Perhaps, he thought, she would never forgive him because she had been punished because of him. The one who did glare at him though, was his older brother Eun. He had blamed himself for what happened to her, but he blamed Jung more. Had he not tried to interfere, she would still be able to see.

As they stood before the other princes and the King, Taejo said with disdain, "She is not allowed to eat at our table. If she would like to have breakfast, have her go to the kitchen with the servants."

Minji felt humiliated by his words. She was being treated so horribly for not having done anything wrong. He acted as though she and Jung had actually run away. But they didn't. Minji never planned on that because she wanted to avoid problems like this. Minji swallowed her pride and nodded, her eyes brimming with tears that were starting to sting. 

"But your majesty--" Jung started, but he was interrupted.

As she began to pull away from her husband to find her way to the kitchen however she could, Eun refused to let her go and tightened his hold on her. Filling himself up with courage, the tenth prince said firmly, "She is my wife and she will have breakfast with us. If she can't sit here, then I won't sit here either." 

The King watched his son with widened eyes. How had he changed so much overnight? His playful little eighteen year old son was now defying him to defend a woman who had blatantly betrayed him. He expected him to side with him and make her eat in the kitchen like anything less than what she was, a prince's wife. "Eun-ah," He started. "You're my son and I can't make you have breakfast with the servants. But she's not welcome into our family. I only respected your decision to marry her because if you didn't, the whole country would hear of it and shame us for it."

"Eun, its fine." She leaned in to say into his ear in a whisper. She tried to be strong and sound like it didn't bother her. But she knew that she failed when her voice managed to crack slightly. "I'll just eat in the kitchen."

"No." He said to her under his breath, shaking his head gently. That was the Eun she knew, his voice coming out in a whine and she knew it was all a front to defend her.  

He was still the little prince she knew, except he was learning to stand up for her because he had responsibilities now. He had a wife and whether he liked it or not, he had to be a good husband to her. 

"Your majesty," Eun said, sucking in a nervous breath. "I want her to eat with us. You can't deny me that."

The King heaved a sigh, finally giving in. "For you, Eun. I will allow it."

Eun nodded gratefully and then led Minji to her chair, helping her sit down. As Jung watched them from the other end of the table, seething with jealousy at the sight of them, he noticed something was off. Why was Eun helping her into her chair?

He didn't understand what was happening, but he wanted to find out what was wrong.

-

this author note will be short because i have to get going.

thank you all loads for reading. and also, i hope you start shipping eunji now because this story IS about them. so im sorry for the jungji shippers out there. 

i hope you all have a wonderful night!

-clary