.twenty seven.

Minji walked the path from the general's home to the palace where the princes lived. She had woken up in an exceptionally good mood, looking forward to the tenth prince's announcement. After their little bet the previous day, he had to keep his end of the bargain and announce in front of his brothers--and maybe even the king if he was having breakfast with them that morning--that he was in fact a shrimp, as Minji had coined him the nickname from the moment they met. As they spent more time together, it had become more of a fond nickname for him, and not the insulting term she had initially wanted it to be. Minji was starting to think the tenth prince wasn't half bad whenever he wanted to act properly. She found herself actually having a good time when she was around him.

When she arrived at the palace, some of the guards greeted her, while one of them offered to escort her to where the princes were having breakfast. It was more out of security reasons for the royal family. They couldn't just let anyone past the front gates, even if they were close friends of the princes. 

Minji walked up with the guard and she saw the group of boys sitting together. At one end of the table were Mu, So, Baek-ah, Han, and Eun. At the other end of the table were Yo, Won, Wook, and Jung. Minji felt her face light up when her eyes met with Jung's and his did the same. He jumped out of his seat at the table to go greet her. On the other hand, Eun was all but pleased to see her. His eyes widened in horror as she shot him a teasing grin. He knew exactly why she was there and he knew she wouldn't be letting them off the hook.

Jung pulled her in for a hug after greeting her happily. "What brings you here so early, Hak Soon?"

"I'm here to see Eun actually." She informed him before she could even realize that she hadn't worded it quite how she wanted to say it. Jung's smile was wiped clean off his face and his brothers behind him watched with interest. Baek-ah coughed awkwardly and looked away in an attempt to give them some privacy, but it was difficult because they were all there and they had all witnessed it. Quickly trying to salvage the situation, she added, "I didn't mean it like that. Its just that we made a bet yesterday and he lost, so I'm here to see him keep his end of the deal." She knew there was nothing wrong with Eun and her being friends.

But she didn't want Jung to get the wrong idea, especially considering that Jung had been jealous of the two spending more and more time together lately. He felt like he was being pushed aside by Minji to make more space for his brother. Minji and Eun didn't get along, and as far as Jung was concerned, he liked it that way. He didn't want his older brother to suddenly realize that maybe he didn't hate Minji like he thought he did. Ji Mong did always say that a boy who was mean to a girl was that way because he liked her. But that applied to children and they were all teenagers already.

Eun coughed in order to clear his throat. "I have no idea what she's talking about." He denied what Minji was saying.

The fifteen year old felt her jaw dropped in shock that he would now pretend it didn't happen. The anger bubbled within her in mere instants. Her index finger pointed at her accusingly. "Don't play dumb, shrimpy. Last night when I saw you, you agreed. You can't just go back on your word like that." She was absolutely outraged, and also surprised that the dumb little tenth prince would have the forethought to deny it all.

"Yah, you crazy wench." Eun said, nose in the air as he reverted back to his arrogant self. "I made no such deals with you. You must be mistaking me with someone else."

Minji scoffed at that. "Yeah, like there are millions of other tenth princes in Goryeo."

The other brothers looked to Wang Han, who wasn't an exact lookalike, but did resemble his older brother significantly. He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Don't look at me. I didn't talk to her yesterday."

"Come over here and say that to my face." Minji challenged Eun.

But the tenth prince waved her off dismissively. "Jung-ah, please control your little girlfriend. I think she bumped her head again and is confusing her dreams with reality."

That was as far as Minji could stand. Rolling the long sleeves of her expensive dress up past her elbows, she stomped over to him and grabbed him by the arm. "That's unfair, we shook on it."

Before she could do anything more, since Jung knew she had it in her to take a swing at him, he rushed to the rescue and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her at least five feet away from his older brother. Minji struggled in frustration and annoyance. "Let me go, oppa. Just because he's a prince he thinks he can ignore a deal? If anything, he should be more honest because of his title."

The tenth prince watched her in amusement and stuck his tongue out at her.

"We should no longer consider you a man, then, since you can't keep your word." She spat, her words finally managing to trigger the tenth prince. Her father always told her that a man who couldn't keep his word should not be considered a man at all. Even in Goryeo, she was finding, calling him out on not being man enough was also enough to hurt a man's honor.

Eun didn't get to reply because Minji managed to wrench herself out of Jung's hold. But instead of charging at Eun and taking a swing at him like she wanted to, she ran right past him and left the princes angrily. Jung called after her, but she wasn't sure if he followed. After a few minutes when she didn't hear anyone's voice calling, she stopped. She paused next to a lake in the palace that was significant;y drying up. In the muck by the shore was a row boat turned upside down. Whoever it belonged to could not use it because it hadn't rained in a while and the lake didn't have enough water anymore.

Minji plopped herself down on the upturned boat and took in a few deep breaths. She knew she shouldn't let the tenth prince's attitude get to her, but he just found a way to push all her buttons. One moment they were almost friends, and the next she wanted to yank every hair off his head one by one.

She sat there by herself for a good few minutes until she heard a pair of footsteps walking towards her. She instantly assumed it was Jung. "Go away, Jung oppa. I don't want to talk to anyone."

"I'm not Jung." The person said, and Minji looked up in surprise to see Eun standing there.

Her dark eyes narrowed into a glare that if looks could kill...

"Even worse." She said without a single hint of enthusiasm. "Get lost, shrimpy. You didn't keep your word, and I hate people who do that. I would call you a woman, but that would be an insult to women."

Eun simultaneously groaned and rolled his eyes at her. "Don't exaggerate."

"It really wasn't even about that." She admitted, the words rolling off her tongue without measure. It was all the things she didn't want to put into words and had instead been stored in her mind. "Its just that...it was going so well. Like we were actually starting to get along, and then you treated me with arrogance again, like you used to. What changed?" She looked up at him with a genuine curiosity in her words.

The tenth prince appeared quickly burdened by her words. The last thing he wanted in that moment was to have a serious conversation with her when all of his concerns at his age were not falling asleep during official ceremonies, or which new and advanced toys Ji Mong would come up with. It was exactly why he didn't want to concern himself with girls, since he thought it was too much trouble.

With a sigh, he explained to her, "You beat me in a fight. Twice." He pointed out. The first had been the time when he was spying on Chae Ryung. The second had been the play fight in which they bet and Eun lost. "That means you're stronger than me, and I didn't like that. My grandfather always said a boy was supposed to be the stronger one, he had to know how to fight. Otherwise, how would be protect his wife and children from danger?" He seemed clearly annoyed by the thought that she had been able to beat him because it made him feel weak. He liked playing and having fun, but a part of him wanted to be strong too. That also explained why he had been so mean to her after the first fight.

Minji scoffed at how sexist people were in those times, and even in the present she still saw a lot of that as well. But she excused him because he was living a thousand years in the past where that behavior was the norm. 

"Your wife could defend you and your children." She pointed out, matter of factly. She knew well that he didn't know how to fight, and she also knew it wasn't his fault. His family never taught him since he didn't spend a lot of time at the palace as a child. The ones who had been in closest contact with the king growing up were Queen Yoo's children, particularly Yo and Jung. "It doesn't have to be all on you."

"But I'm a prince." He reminded her. "How would that look on me, if I let my wife defend me?"

"You're getting way ahead of yourself." She said. "You're not even married. You don't even have a girlfriend yet."

The tenth prince chuckled at that. "Yeah. I just see you and Jung being so close like that. Like when those assassins broke into the palace and he defended you. I want to be able to do that one day too." Minji could only nod in understanding. Before she could say anything more to him, he added, "I'm sorry for acting like an arrogant little prince."

The apology caught her off guard. But she recovered quickly and scoffed, saying in a teasing tone. "Is that really an apology from the tenth prince I'm hearing?"

A smile broke out onto his face. "But don't expect this kind of good treatment from me all the time." He warned her playfully. "Lately you haven't known what struggling is, since I've been nothing but nice to you."

"Right." Minji said.

Prince Eun offered her his hand and she took it. He pulled her back on her feet and the two walked back to where the other princes were eating. The others were still there, emerged in conversation about how they would need to do the rain ritual if it didn't rain soon. One of the princes would be chosen to lead it, since Mu would be leaving for battle in a few days and the King could not kneel for long periods of time. 

Minji had wanted to sit next to Jung at breakfast, but the fourteenth prince was long gone. Still, Wang Eun finally kept his end of the bargain and announced to his brothers that he was a shrimp, for which they all made fun of it for it. But the seventeen year old prince took it with a laugh.

The thought lingered at the back of his mind though, since his birthday was already approaching, and the king would no doubt be looking into getting him a wife. 

Would he really be able to protect his wife if it were to come down to it?

-

an update for you all, since i know i haven't updated much in the last couple of weeks. the things is that my social life has recently became very eventful. so i actually go out with my friends now, and when i get home, i don't have the time or energy to write anything.

i apologixe for that. and i will try harder to update for you all. thank you all loads for reading. it means a lot to me.

i have tomorrow off so i will try to update other stories before i go out.

-clary