Yeona's Days in Palace

The next morning Yeona woke up to a loud banging on her door. 

At first, she did not even realize how loud it was until she almost fell from her bed because of the sound that hollered through her room. She cracked her eyes open and looked towards the door, wondering if what she heard was actually happening. She let out a sigh and rolled over to huddle inside the blanket, in hopes that if she did not respond, the sound might go away.

But to her utter dismay, the loud banging continued and did not stop until she finally gathered up enough energy to get out of her bed and open the door. She could barely keep her eyes open as she saw how shocked the Prince looked. She would have been worried if it were any other time of the day, but since she just woke up, she could hardly keep up with the reality.

She stepped back and let the Prince inside her room. She heard the Prince say something but Yeona felt so exhausted from last day's activities, that her mind was just unable to process her surroundings. Just as she was dozing off to her dreamland again, a jarring deep voice cut through her stance and she immediately jolted up and looked at the horrified expression of Prince Dojin.

"Wake up!" Prince Dojin said sternly, his handsome face morphed into a frown. "How can you sleep while standing up?"

"What are you? A horse?" The Prince questioned looking extremely annoyed.

Yeona lowered her head in embarrassment. Out of all the days, today had to be the one where she showcased her weird antics. But she did not have any other choice. The last day was exhausting for her, both mentally and physically. It was not her fault that she needed extra rest to cope with it.

The Prince let out a sigh when he noticed that Yeona was still standing there. "Please just don't there. At least go freshen up or something." He commanded with annoyance.

As Yeona trudged her way towards the washroom, Dojin decided to look around her room. He knew that they were preparing her room, but Dojin was not too bothered about it. But now that he finally can check it out, he must say he is quite impressed with the décor. The stylist for this room should definitely get a raise.

He let out another sigh and decided to seat on the loveseat overlooking the garden. This girl was sure taking her time. He had just asked her to wash her face because seeing the drool of another person first thing in the morning was not a pleasing view. Also, let's not forget how messy her hair looked. If she had walked out with a hair like that, Dojin was sure that a crow could make a nest out of it. 

If he were being honest, he could not understand why his mother wanted him to do this kind of menial tasks. There were plenty of maids available to wake up Yeona, but his mother was dead against it and had ordered him to wake her up personally. From next time, he should pass this job to Areum since his sister seemed quite fond of Yeona. Maybe, she would enjoy this job more than him.

He could not help but snicker as images flashed in his head of that time when their grandma had given Areum the job to wake her up. He could still hear her screams even it has been a long time. She would definitely enjoy this task. He should really consider letting her know about it.

By the time he got back from his memory lane, he realized that it had been more than twenty minutes since Yeona decided to freshen herself up. He let out another sigh in frustration and decided to knock on her door in case that girl has fallen asleep inside the toilet.

He got up from his seat and strode straight towards the washroom. He was about to knock on the door when all of a sudden, the door barged open and Yeona rushed out. The movement happened so quickly that before either of them could realize what was happening, they collided against each other. The impact was quite powerful on Dojin's part because he could not keep his balance and fell on the ground, face first.

Dojin shrieked in pain as he hit his nose on the hard ground. The scream of his agony was so loud that it woke Yeona up from her trance and she stared, horrified, at the scene in front of her. "I am so sorry!" she repeated profusely as she bent down to help the Prince stand on his feet. 

The Prince stood up and immediately yanked his hands away from her. He glared at her as he cupped his nose and tried to relax. The glare was so deadly that Yeona felt her insides shrivel up. She really messed up this time. She gulped hard and looked at the Prince who tried his best to soothe the pain. 

Seeing the Prince suffering like this because of her did not sit well with Yeona. She stepped closer towards the Prince despite the glare coming from him and grabbed his arm gently as she made him sit on her bed. She then proceeded to look inside her drawers and grabbed the first aid kit that she always carried around.

She looked at the Prince and saw that he was mumbling something. She tried to listen to what he was saying but could not decipher anything. Hence, Yeona let out a soft sigh and asked, "A-are you saying something?"

The Prince looked up and Yeona could clearly see the annoyance oozing off from his gaze. The Prince sighed and rasped, "Why the hell are you so strong?" but as soon as he said that he groaned aloud in pain. 

It seemed like he had really injured his nose.

Yeona stepped closer and decided to look at it. From the outside, it looked like he had simply bruised it. Therefore, she took out the instant ice pack and followed the instructions given before wrapping it up in a soft face towel. She then placed the ice pack gently on his nose and waited for his contorted face to relax.

Yeona was so immersed in taking care of him that she did not even realize the position she was standing in. She was standing right in between the Prince's legs and their faces were not too far apart. From where she was standing, she could clearly count the lashes on his eyes. She could also see the barest hints of freckles adorning his cheeks. She was so mesmerized by his beauty that she did not even realize that she was blatantly staring at him.

Her trance was broken when the Prince cleared his throat. 

She quickly realized her mistake and moved away in an instance. The sudden movement caused the ice pack to fall on the ground which made the Prince wince in pain again. Before Yeona could pick it up, the Prince picked it up and placed it on his nose as he got up from the bed.

Without spearing another moment, he walked towards the door. Just as he was about to leave, he turned around and looked at Yeona before saying, "Please come to the common hall. Mother is looking for you."

∞

By the time Yeona reached the common hall, her Highness had been already waiting long enough. Yeona could understand that because there was a slight frown on her face that she masked as soon as Yeona stepped inside.

"I am extremely sorry, Your Majesty," Yeona bowed deeply as she apologized profusely. "I was unable to wake up early."

Although technically she woke up right on time, she thought that it might be a good idea to not let Her Highness know about the nose incident. She was already late and saying that he injured her eldest son and Yeona's to be husband, did not seem like a good thing at the moment.

The Queen smiled softly at her and motioned her to sit down. "I understand. It must be hard on you. Did you get enough sleep?" She asked, her voice gentle and soothing.

Yeona felt the nervousness seep away from her. She relaxed and smiled at her Highness and nodded lightly. "Yes, Your Majesty. I slept extremely well."

"Good." She said with a subtle smile and proceeded to ring a bell. "I assume you know why I called you here this morning?"

Yeona remained quiet. She wanted to answer but her lack of knowledge made her stay mum on the spot. She quickly lowered her head and nodded her head in a no.

"Well," The Queen straightened up in her chair and looked towards the door as few women, dressed elegantly in Royal garments, entered the room. She then motioned them to stand in a straight line in front of Yeona as she got up from her seat.

Yeona instantly followed her and got up from her seat as well.

"Yeona," the Queen started softly yet in a commanding tone. "You know that being a Queen is not easy right?"

Yeona nodded her head as she listened aptly.

"You'll have to learn a lot if you want to prove that you are worthy of it." She expressed with pride. "And these three ladies, they will help you on the path to becoming the perfect Queen you are supposed to be."

"Ms. Kim Mina," her highness pointed towards a petite lady in her thirties whose sharp features resembled a Persian cat, "She will be teaching you everything about etiquette."

"Ms. Wu Taehee," Her Highness then pointed towards the second lady who was tallest in the room. Her facial features were extremely defined and Yeona was sure that if she did not work for the Royal family, she could easily pass away as a model or even an idol. "She will be helping you with studying our history and all the current affairs."

And lastly, "Mrs. Ji Seonhee," Her highness pointed towards the third lady, whose distinguishing feature was her enormous dark circles surrounding her eyes. It looked like she has not had enough rest in the past few years. "She is one of our oldest employees and she will help you remember all the important guests and clients that will be attending the Wedding."

When her Majesty was done with the introductions, she turned towards Yeona and gave her gentle, motherly smile. "I know it is tough for you, but I trust that you will be able to follow through the process."

"Remember," The Queen stated in a commanding tone, "Giving up is not an option. Because you are the future Queen of South Korea."