Chapter 3
When Eunjeong looked at her in confusion, Lady Min nodded impatiently, urging her to hurry.
Without understanding what was going on, Eunjeong headed to the separate quarters to change her clothes.
“Why would Her Highness the Princess suddenly summon you in such a hurry?”
As Eunjeong changed, Myeonghui helped her dress and muttered in a puzzled voice.
“I wonder. Judging by Mother’s expression, something seems to have happened…”
“Could it have something to do with Lord Inyang going to the palace?”
Eunjeong paused to think as she put on her dangui, a traditional formal jacket worn by women.
Myeonghui’s suggestion made sense.
Her father had been going to the palace repeatedly over the past few days. Then the delegation from the Northern Empire had arrived, and now the princess had even sent a senior court lady to summon her.
Eunjeong was overcome by a strange sense of unease.
“Let’s hurry for now.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
After getting dressed, Eunjeong boarded the palanquin prepared by the senior court lady and headed to the royal palace.
A short while later, she arrived at the princess’s quarters.
“Your Highness, the daughter of Prince Inyang has arrived.”
“All right.”
After the princess answered, the door opened, and Eunjeong entered with a smile.
Princess Uiseon, who had married and left the palace two years earlier, was also there.
Eunjeong first bowed respectfully to Princess Uiseon.
“It has been a long time, Your Highness.”
“Indeed. It has been a long time.”
Princess Uiseon replied quietly, but her voice sounded gloomy.
Princess Uihwa was two years younger than Princess Uiseon, the king’s eldest daughter. She was the same age as Eunjeong, and since they were cousins, the two had been close since childhood.
“Just sit down.”
Princess Uihwa stopped Eunjeong from performing a formal bow. She hurriedly approached and gestured for Eunjeong to sit in front of her.
“Your Highness, why did you summon me so urgently?”
As soon as Eunjeong sat down, Princess Uihwa pushed aside the small desk between them and suddenly grabbed her hand.
“I was feeling so overwhelmed that I called you here to pour out my troubles.”
Princess Uihwa looked at Eunjeong as though her entire world had collapsed.
Eunjeong glanced worriedly between the two princesses.
“Has something happened?”
“Honestly, my heart is pounding so hard that I cannot sit still.”
Princess Uihwa’s eyes filled with tears, and her voice trembled violently. Even the hand she held against her chest shook like that of someone terrified.
Eunjeong held her hand tightly.
“What happened, Your Highness?”
“I… I…”
Princess Uihwa was so choked with emotion that she could not finish her sentence.
Eunjeong looked at her sympathetically.
Princess Uiseon, who had been watching her younger sister with concern, spoke on her behalf.
“Uihwa has to marry the emperor of the Northern Empire.”
“What?”
Eunjeong’s eyes widened in shock at the unexpected news.
Princess Uihwa finally let the tears she had been holding back fall.
Only after Princess Uihwa, exhausted from crying out of fear and sorrow, had lain down to rest was Eunjeong able to leave the princess’s quarters.
Princess Uiseon said she would stay in the palace that day to comfort her distressed younger sister.
Eunjeong glanced back at the princess’s residence, which seemed unusually lonely, then walked away with a troubled expression.
As she headed toward the gate where her palanquin was waiting, Eunjeong gently caught the arm of the palace maid carrying a lantern.
“That will be enough. You may go now.”
“Then please travel safely.”
“Thank you.”
Eunjeong sent the maid away and hurried forward.
The person who had just passed through the gate was undoubtedly her father.
“Father!”
Prince Inyang had just finished meeting the king. With a heavy heart, he was walking toward the palace gate when he heard someone call him.
He turned toward the voice.
After confirming that it was indeed her father, Eunjeong approached him with a faint smile.
“Are you leaving now?”
“What brings you to the palace?”
Prince Inyang asked in a low voice after recognizing his daughter.
“Princess Uihwa summoned me, so I came to see her. I was on my way home.”
Prince Inyang glanced toward the area where the princess’s quarters were located before asking,
“How is Her Highness?”
“Could it be…?”
Realizing what he meant, Eunjeong hesitated and quickly looked around.
After confirming that only the torches illuminating the path were nearby, she continued in a quiet voice.
“Is it true that the Northern Empire has proposed a marriage alliance?”
“Hmm…”
Prince Inyang clasped his hands behind his back and studied his daughter for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
Then he answered.
“Yes. It is true.”
Eunjeong covered her open mouth with her hand and looked up at her father in disbelief.
Now that she had heard the confirmation directly from him, the shock finally began to sink in.
“Then… does that mean Princess Uihwa really has to go to the Northern Empire?”
“The Northern Empire says that, in exchange for allowing the Crown Prince to return home, it wants to restore relations between our two countries through a marriage alliance. What would you do if you were in my position?”
“…”
Eunjeong had no answer to her father’s question.
She knew very well from her father how hard he had worked to bring the Crown Prince back to their homeland.
It was an extremely difficult situation, with no easy choice. Nevertheless, they would probably have to choose the Crown Prince.
The absence of the heir to the throne posed a serious threat to the royal family’s authority and dignity.
Yet when she thought of the princess being sent alone to a country that was practically their enemy, Eunjeong felt as though her own heart were breaking.
It would undoubtedly be an agonizing ordeal for a princess who had grown up comfortably and sheltered within the palace.
Prince Inyang studied his daughter, who could not answer because she was so troubled, and asked another question.
“If you were in her position, what would you do?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I mean exactly what I said. If you were a princess, what would you do?”
“May I ask why you are asking me this?”
“I am a prince of this kingdom, born of the late king’s blood, and you are my daughter. I am simply curious about what decision you would make.”
“…”
Eunjeong immediately understood what her father was trying to say.
His decision to send a princess for the greater good would not change.
That meant the only thing left was the princess’s own decision.
She even began to wonder whether her father intended to use her to persuade Princess Uihwa to accept the marriage.
Eunjeong gave a sad smile.
“May I think about it before giving you an answer?”
“Then will you think it over and tell me by tomorrow morning?”
His words made it clear that a decision had to be made soon.
“…Yes. I will do that.”
“Let us go now.”
Prince Inyang gave her a faint smile and turned toward the gate.
Eunjeong quietly followed behind her father.
After returning home, Eunjeong refused dinner and fell into deep thought.
She asked herself again and again whether she could accept such a decision without protest if she were the princess.
But she could not find an answer easily.
It might sound wonderful to call her an empress, but in reality, it was almost the same as being held hostage in a country that was practically their enemy.
Unlike the Crown Prince, who could return home once his time as a hostage ended, a woman sent there through marriage would be tied to that country. She would have no choice but to remain there.
Would she even be allowed to see her parents whenever she wanted?
The distance was great, and the Northern Empire could simply forbid such visits.
There was no guarantee that she would be able to live comfortably in a foreign country where everything, from food and clothing to daily life, was different.
“Haah…”
Eunjeong let out a long sigh.
The night had already grown late, but she doubted she would be able to fall asleep anytime soon.
She took out the book about the Northern Empire that she had been reading until the previous night and opened it.
It contained detailed descriptions of life in the Northern Empire. Her father, Prince Inyang, had written it himself.
Suddenly, a question occurred to her.
Could Father have deliberately given me this book?
It almost felt as though he had been preparing her to go there herself.
“If you were in her position, what would you do?”
Only now did she feel she understood the meaning behind her father’s question.
You are the one who will go to the Northern Empire.
Could that have been what her father had really meant?
“No. That can’t be. It can’t be true.”
Eunjeong’s voice lacked any real conviction as she tried to deny the possibility.
Father… why me?
Tears began to fall from Eunjeong’s eyes.
All her agonizing thoughts and questions suddenly seemed pointless.
Her tears poured out uncontrollably. Struggling to hold back her sobs, she bent forward and buried her face against the desk.
Her tears ran down her sleeves and soaked the open book in front of her.
Father, you are being far too cruel to me.
The deep resentment in her heart only made her tears flow more heavily.
Chapter 2: Waking Up in an Unfamiliar Place
“Young Lady.”
At the unfamiliar voice calling her, Nayoung scratched her ear.
A moment later, the voice called out again, sounding increasingly desperate.
“Young Lady, please wake up. His Lordship is waiting for you!”
His Lordship…?
“Ah… What a strange dream.”
Nayoung turned over lazily, as though she could not be bothered.
She must have been so absorbed in reading a web novel that she had even started dreaming about it.
The previous night, she had happened to come across a web novel and started reading it.
Unfortunately, the story had been left unfinished.
The author had simply disappeared without even posting a notice that the series was being discontinued.
And all the author had said was, ‘The ending will be a happy one!’
Nayoung usually enjoyed historical dramas and period novels, so she had naturally become interested in the story.
She had been enjoying it, but the discovery that it was unfinished had completely ruined her mood.
But then…
“Young Lady! You really must get up!”
“Ahhh!”
At the sudden shout, Nayoung let out a short scream and shot upright.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes, which barely wanted to open, and looked toward the source of the voice.
A woman wearing clothes that looked similar to a hanbok was sitting nearby, frowning and breathing angrily.
Nayoung tilted her head in confusion.
“Who are…?”
The woman looked utterly dumbfounded.
Then she abruptly stood up, grabbed Nayoung by the arm, and began pulling her up without giving her a chance to object.
