village girl on 91K reads already im– jdkdjd speechless

y'all i love you and thank u so much 🥺aAaadhejehdje

honestly i didnt even know why i wrote this book– i mean nct and royalty sounded good together so :0 here we are

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        3RD PERSONS VIEW。

baking was something jaeyoung learned from a young age. she'd always watch behind mrs kang as she prepped her famous pastries that received a lot of love from the townspeople.

jaeyoung let out a sigh of relief as she walked into the kitchen. "how are you feeling today?" hyori questioned. jaeyoung hummed in response, "i'm alright."

the girl grabbed the ingredients and utensils she needed to bake some delightful brownies, the new recipe she had been practicing.

hyori perplexed, staring at the ingredients jaeyoung prepared, "wait, why are you baking brownies?"

"this is just to fill up the front desk."

hyori nodded, "ahh, right, okay."

"the princes are here now, we'll serve them the taste testers we've just prepared." one of the workers said out loud for the people in the kitchen to hear.

jaeyoung ignored the worker and continued on with cracking the eggs into the mixing bowl. she reached to grab the one-half cup softened butter, slowly adding it in the mixture.

grabbing the whisk, she mushed the butter with the eggs until she had decided to pour in the dry ingredients.

she hummed a familiar lullaby to her as she did her work.

after adding all the ingredients into the mixture, she started to mix them all together until it had reached the perfect consistency. she poured the batter into the pan and sprinkled chocolate chips on them before pushing them in the oven.

she stopped humming, a soft smile appears her lips, seeing as all she needed to do was to wait for the brownies to finish baking.

"has anyone told you that you look good while cooking?" a voice said behind her, causing the girl to flinch and turn around.

her cheeks dusted pink as she averted her gaze, "donghyuck? what are you doing here?" she then crossed her arms, "like, here in the kitchen. you're supposed to be out there."

donghyuck shrugged, "can't i be here?"

"oh my, those smell delicious!" donghyuck exclaimed, pointing towards the oven.

"you've already know what those taste like. they are included in the basket we always give out."

donghyuck furrowed his brows, "no, those aren't the same brownies. is it a new recipe?"

jaeyoung's eyes widened, he noticed?

a chuckled left the boy's mouth, "of course i'd notice. they aren't my favorite for nothing."

"yah, donghyuck, we told you not to wander off." renjun grunted and now stood beside the prince.

renjun's eyes trailed onto the baker and he immediately sighed, "you again?"

"again? sounds rude, renjun." donghyuck nudged renjun's side.

renjun scrunched his nose, hissing at donghyuck, "like i care."

donghyuck gave him a cheeky grin, "you do though."

scoffing lightly, renjun glared at his brother, "let's just go before they look for us."

before they left the kitchen, renjun came to a stop, glancing over his shoulder, eyes pierced onto the girl's, "it's nice to see you again." he murmured before pushing donghyuck roughly out.

jaeyoung pressed her lips into a thin line, suppressing the smile her mouth wanted to do. the girl continued humming the lullaby until she got called out.

"jaeyoung, they request for you." one of the workers informed her and she nodded.

"can you watch over for me?" jaeyoung uttered, gesturing towards the oven and the worker nodded.

jaeyoung smiled and took off her apron before leaving the kitchen. the princes were settled somewhere in the middle of the bakery as they patiently waited.

"is there anything you need?" jaeyoung asked as soon as she was in front of them.

"don't feel flattered, donghyuck wanted you to be present during the taste testing." kun suddenly said making her raise a brow.

"i-is that so?"

"take a seat." sicheng mumbled, gesturing over to the seat.

she nods and took a seat, this time without anyone guiding her.

they mostly talked about the cater and how they were going to prepare for it. jaeyoung mostly listened and didn't talk at all, she didn't have anything to say anyways.

an hour passed by quick and the princes all approved of the second taste testing. they all stood up as the princes talked to mrs kang, thanking her for the second testing.

jaeyoung started to arrange and clean up the plates as soon as the princes were getting ready to take their leave. the girl began humming to the same lullaby and that caught jaehyun, taeil, and kun's attention.

jaehyun tilts his head, familiarizing himself with the tune. "i've definitely heard that somewhere."

sicheng, who was beside him, asked, "what do you mean?"

jaehyun glanced at the girl who was cleaning up, "her humming."

sicheng's eyes also landed on her for a quick second, before looking back at jaehyun, "maybe it's just a famous song."

taeil was listening to his brothers conversation and began to think about the song she was humming. "that's not just some famous song..." taeil frowned, "it's a sacred lullaby..."

kun cranes his head towards the older, "did you say something?" he questions, despite hearing what taeil said perfectly.

"huh? oh, um, no. just nonsense." taeil fakes a smile, waving it off.

"well, if you say so." kun shrugs and walks over to jaeyoung. he taps her shoulder, "thank you for the meal, your recipes are amazing. we would definitely love to have them again at the ball."

jaeyoung spuns around to face the prince with a smile, "thank you, i appreciate that. we would do our best."

sicheng watched the two converse, murmuring under his breath, "says the person who called her ugly."

jaehyun chuckled after hearing sicheng's a bit inaudible statement. sicheng snapped his eyes towards jaehyun in shock, "y-you heard that?"

jaehyun smirked, "i won't tell."

sicheng's face flushed red, an uncomfortable feeling in him rising, "please don't. he'd kill me."

"who?" renjun jeered.

"no one."

renjun had a sly smirk on his face, "really, hyung?"

"bet it's kun-hyung."

sicheng's eyes widened, "please, don't."

renjun chortled, "okay~" cheekiness evident in his tone.

sicheng sneered, "i swear huang renjun i'll—"

taeil cleared his throat, menacingly eyeing them. sicheng pouted in defeat, "why am i getting picked on today?"

donghyuck patted his brother's shoulder, "don't worry, i'll bother renjun for you."

renjun scoffed, "i'd kill you in your sleep."

donghyuck stuck out his tongue, "i'd kill you right now."

"how about no killing?" taeil deadpans.

"i can heard my brothers bickering about nonsense." kun muttered making the girl chuckle a bit.

"have a safe trip on your way home."

kun nods curtly, "we will."

"but before we go, i have a question."

jaeyoung hums, waiting for him to state the question.

"how'd you know about the sacred lullaby?"

jaeyoung's face perplexed, "sacred lullaby?" she definitely didn't know what that was. the lullaby she hummed was completely unknown to her, even though she'd hum the tune often. all she believes was that it could be some lullaby she used to hear when she was little.

kun squints his eyes a bit, "yeah... the lullaby you were humming awhile ago."

"oh that? i don't really know much about it."

kun's face dropped in disappointment, "ah, is that so?" he sighed to which jaeyoung nodded at.

"well, we'll take our leave now." he said as they bowed to each other.

"we'll be expecting you at the ball, lady jaeyoung." jaehyun told her before walking out the bakery, following taeil and kun. the prince was then followed by younger ones. renjun just stared at her, still a bit annoyed, huffing as he walked away.

donghyuck walked up to her, "i hope i'll see you at the art exhibit tomorrow."

jaeyoung flinched, "y-you're going?"

the prince grinned, "yup! my twin brother and some of my brothers are going, too!"

"i'll see you there then." jaeyoung smiled.

donghyuck hummed, patting her head, "of course."

"let's go, hyuck." sicheng called for him by the doorway.

donghyuck nodded and pinched her left cheek before running out the door. jaeyoung was left baffled, touching the cheek he had just pinched lightly.

sicheng scrunches his nose, "he didn't pinch you too hard, right?" he says, voice laced with a tinge of worry.

jaeyoung stifles a laugh, shaking her head, "no."

the prince let out a relieved sigh, "thank goodness. we'll be off now, bye lucas' milady." he giggled and walked out the door.

the girl stood there dumbfounded, lucas' milady? well, she did remember him calling her that because he said he was bad at remembering names.

the girl chuckled to herself and proceeded to clean up, not noticing the fact that hyori's eyes were on her and a huge smirk laid upon her face.

"and what was that?" jaeyoung heard hyori's teasing voice.

jaeyoung pursed her lips, "nothing?"

hyori shakes her head, "come on! you have to tell me what was going on!"

"they are my friends, that's all." jaeyoung shrugged and hyori's eye twitched, "friends?"

"jaeyoung! you can't be just friends with a prince! with a freaking prince! a prince, jaeyoung! a freaking prince!"

jaeyoung covers her ears at hyori's loud voice, "i met some of them before, they lied to be about not being princes actually."

"so like, they disguised themselves as regular people?"

jaeyoung nodded slowly, "you can say that."

"but how!? what the hell? i'm seriously freaking in the inside right now."

"i can't see them as a prince, that's all."

"why not?"

"i don't like royalty."

hyori scoffed, "don't give me those words."

jaeyoung frowned, "why not?"

"i bet most of them are scared upon meeting you, as how you are meeting them."

"i'm not scared."

"yes you are."

jaeyoung bit the insides of her cheeks, the nerve washing over her, "how can you say so?"

"because of what happened to seulhyo at the palace."

"and because of what happened to uncle years ago."

jaeyoung nearly dropped the glass she was holding, "i need to go."

—

uncle is mrs. kang's husband btw