.twenty nine.

Minji stood in between the two young princes as Jung glared at his younger brother. She stood in front of Jung to prevent him from taking any action against his brother out of jealousy. Turning towards Eun, she thanked him with a bow of her head. "Thank you for stepping in." Her hand reached up to touch the sore spot on her arm where Yo's fingers dug into. "I didn't know what to do."

Eun became flustered again and repeated the same reasoning he had given Yo. "I would have done it for any woman. My grandfather says its proper for a man to step in when a woman is in danger." He cleared his throat awkwardly. 

"I'll take it from here, hyung." Jung said, urging him to go away. "Thank you."

The seventeen year old prince nodded and walked off.

The moment he was gone, Minji turned towards her boyfriend and issued him a glare of her own. Jung's expression had already softened significantly, knowing it was just him and Minji there. But it was far from over and Minji was far from pleased to see his behavior towards his brother. It was like he wanted to see the two of them at each other's throats when they were just starting to get along. "Why are you acting like that?" She asked him.

"Acting like what?" He wondered.

"You were being rude to your brother." She pointed out.

He heaved a sigh and his shoulders dropped before explaining to her. With her he didn't need to be the tough guy. He could talk to her about his worries because he knew she would comfort him. It was the only time Wang Jung could ever let his guard down. "I've already explained it to you. It just...makes me jealous that you two are spending so much time together lately. We're going to get married, and yet he gets to see you more often than I do."

Minji's expression softened at his words. He really had mentioned it to her before, but she didn't realize how serious it was. And to her, it was like he was worrying over nothing. Cupping his face in her hands, she had to get on her tiptoes, to do this. She gathered her courage, closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, taking him by surprise. Jung's eyes widened in shock at first, but then he relaxed in her hold, his hands settling on her waist. It was her first kiss in Goryeo, as Park Hak Soon, and she couldn't imagine kissing anyone.  When they pulled away breathless, she looked up at him shyly. Her words were ones of reassurance for him. "There's really no reason for you to be jealous of him. You're the one I want to marry. I've just been trying to make ammends with Eun for your sake, because he's your brother and I want to get along."

"I'm just scared that you'll leave me for him." He said, for once looking like an insecure little child. 

Minji bit down on her lip, thinking about the way Wang Eun had stepped in to save her from Yo. Or the time that he walked her home in the middle of the night. Or the time that he had given her a ride to the eighth prince's home on his horse. Those things seemed like nothing to her, but they were making Jung have his doubts.

She got on her tiptoes again and with more bravery and gave him another peck on the lips. "Stop worrying, okay. No one or nothing in this life will separate us."

-

The search for a wife for Wang Eun continued as the days before his birthday came to a close. The king was in talks with his trusted astronomer Ji Mong, who had no possible candidates for the tenth prince. Although, through looking at the stars, he was able to read that though the prince would not be marrying too close to his birthday, he would be definitely finding a wife before the end of that year. The news pleased the king, who continued his search without his son knowing about it. Eun wasn't thrilled about the thought of marrying so young.

A week before the seventeen year old prince would finally come of age, Mu recruited the help of court lady Hae Soo to organize a birthday party for his little brother. Hajin, who was now on good terms with the tenth prince and even considered him a friend, was eager to help. She in turn asked Minji for help.

By now, Minji was grateful to him. He had stepped in when Yo tried to hassle her after all. It probably didn't mean a lot to him, but to her it could have gone horribly wrong had he not helped her. She decided to help her friend organize what they would do for the party.

Mu wanted something small. The family would have lunch with him, and then Mu would announce that there was a surprise for him out in the yard. They would all gather outside where Hajin and Minji would have a cake and decorations for him. Then the two girls would sing the birthday song to him. It was a very simple reunion they had planned, since the princes mostly just had each other their whole lives. Mu had already talked with Court Lady Oh and she had already granted her permission to let Hajin set everything up.

The night before the celebration, Minji was in her bedroom, thinking of a gift idea for him. If she lived in the present, she could easily buy him something. But in the past, it was more convenient for her to make him a present. She had gone out around her house and looked for strong twigs. After a long search, she found rubber bands around her house, which she would use. Her idea was to make him another sling shot, since Jung had mentioned to him that it was his favorite toy. Now he would have two of them to play with, although he probably wouldn't be able to do much of that if his father could force him to get married. 

Minji was walking out of her bedroom to test her toy creation when her sister walked in with blood splattered all over her metal armor.

"What happened to you?" Minji eyed her with worry.

Her sister was the complete opposite. She was full of excitement as she explained, "I killed a bear and--"

"You what?" Minji's eyes widened in shock.

Soon Deok repeated what she said in a very nonchalant manner. "I killed a bear today since I knew Eun's birthday is coming up and I wanted to give him a nice present." 

"You're going to give him a real dead bear?" Minji eyed her with disgust that she could not mask on her face. In the present time, people gave their loved ones stuffed animals. But seemingly in the past, people gave their loved ones a real dead bear. Minji guessed she would probably clean it and make it into a blanket or rug, but it was disturbing to her nonetheless. She wasn't sure if Eun would like the present, unless he could use it to play in some way. 

"Can you give it to him at his birthday party?" Soon Deok wondered shyly.

Of the late, she didn't spend a lot of time with her sister. That was because she spent a lot of time at the palace with the princes. She was very close with them and Soon Deok just wasn't.

Minji's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why don't you give it to him yourself?"

Soon Deok's expression dropped into a look of sadness. "I wasn't invited to his party."

"Well I'm inviting you now." Minji assured her. "Get your present ready and surprise him with it at the party."

Her older sister was now beaming with excitement. "Really? Thank you, dongsaeng!"

She was about to jump forward to hug her sister, but Minji rose her hands up in self defense. It wasn't that she didn't want to hug her sister. She just didn't want to be stained in animal blood.

Soon Deok, now more motivated and excited, since she was invited to the tenth prince's birthday party, rushed off to her room to find some tools. Just as Minji thought, she was going to clean the animal out and make a blanket out of it. 

-

On the day of the party, Minji woke up bright and early, heading to the palace with her present in a little box she had gotten in the village with Jung. His younger brother had gotten him a bunch of toys at the market that Eun didn't have yet. 

From the moment the general's daughter arrived, she and Hajin got to work.

Eun would be having breakfast with his mother and grandfather first, at their house which was a few minutes from the palace. That gave his brothers the time to set up to have lunch with him later that day. They would set up a table of gifts for him, and his brothers also had other things planned. Minji would help Hajin and then head inside to share a meal with the birthday boy and his brothers.

The two girls set up everything outside, where they normally had breakfast together. There were paper lanterns, decorations, and a cake in the middle that Hajin made with Eun. Minji had been surprised that her friend was able to work so well with their lack of technology, so much that she had been perfectly capable of baking him a cake.

By the time they were done setting up, it was almost lunch time and Hajin hurried back to her tasks until they could surprise him later. Minji headed inside the palace where Eun and his siblings had already arrived for lunch.

Minji bowed a greeting as she entered the room, going to the table in the back to leave his present before taking her seat in between Jung and Yeon Hwa. 

Soon the court ladies entered the room and started serving lunch.

Eun was at the head of the table and his older brothers Yo and Won immediately started serving him alcohol. "You're old enough to drink now, Eun-ah!" Won laughed as he poured him a drink.

Everyone ate together and shared a light conversation, until Eun was already over the top drunk. His older brothers found him to be very entertaining, and they tried to give him more, but Minji interfered. "I think he's had enough." She told the older boys with her eyebrows furrowed, full of bravery, even though they were older than her. 

Yo only shot her a glare but said nothing. 

Eun was the one who spoke up, slurring drunkenly. "I'm fine." Pushing his chair back, he got back on his feet with some effort. "I'll be right back. I'm going to find the chamber pot room."

"Hurry back, Eun-ah." Mu said to him calmly, but with some concern for the state his brother was in. "We're going to start opening your presents soon and I want to go first."

The tenth prince nodded and stumbled off, out of the room.

Conversation between the others continued as though without a problem, but Minji started to worry when several minutes passed and he didn't come back. She cleared her throat and pushed her chair back, excusing herself. "I'll be right back. I have to check some details for Eun's present that Hajin, Mu, and I were working on."

She walked out of the room and saw the tenth prince sat on the ground not far from the room. He was leaning up against the wall and his eyes were drooped shut into a comfortable sleep. Minji hurried towards him and knelt by his side. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she tried to shake him awake. "Shrimp prince..." She called softly. 

He stirred gently and his eyes fluttered open. 

"Hm..." He whined, blinking back.

"Get up." She said to him. Her hand now gripped his arm as she tried to pull him back up to standing. "We're going to go open your presents soon."

Instead of her being able to pull him up, he was the one who pulled her down until she was sat by his side. He had taken her completely off guard with the next words that left his mouth. "If his majesty forces me to get married...will you marry me?"

-

i have a lot of things to do today, but i'm going to try to get it done quickly so i can work on my stories. i feel like my social life has really blossomed. 

all my friends want to go out with me.

so i don't have time to be here as much. that's why i feel like i have to make the most out of my free time when no one texts me or wants to go out. i want to update so many of my fics, but i just don't have the time anymore.

but im really trying. so bear with me. have a wonderful day everyone!

-clary