"Your Highness." Soo Jin heard her father's voice.
"Father!!" Soo Jin turned around and saw her father walking towards to her. Anyone who was near could hear the elation in her voice. She wanted to run, skip and hop into his arms but she had to hold herself back as her status is no longer the same.
When her father was by her side, she walked into his arms and hugged him tight. She took a deep breath, inhaling her father's fragrance. It was her favourite scent in the world.
Hearing her father speak reminded her that they were at her wedding. She heard her father congratulate the crown prince.
"Thank you, father." The crown prince replied. Hearing the crown prince's response to her father took her by surprise. She let go of her father and slowly turned around to look at her so called 'husband'. He was staring at her, however, there was no facial expressions, so it was hard to read him.
Her surprised reaction lasted less than 10 seconds as she saw the rest of her family, now she could not control her excitement and ran into their arms. They all congratulated her and the crown prince, she saw the crown prince was communicating normally with her brothers. She found that weird, he treated her like she did not exist but treated her family with respect. Why was that?
She was puzzled; however, she did not want to dwell on this. Plastering a smile on her face, she turned to entertain her family.
After some time, a palace maid serving under the king came and told them that they need to return to the crown princess quarters. The celebration continued on without them
**************
Inside the Soo Jin's quarters, the crown prince and Soo Jin were seated with a table filled with fine food and wine. Soo Jin looked at the food in front of her and realised she hasn't eaten all day, she was famished.
The palace maid present was ready to serve when she heard the crown prince dismiss her, he asked her to relay to everyone outside that they should all stand at end of the of long corridor.
"Yes, your highness." answered the palace maid before leaving.
After the room was empty and he knew that no-one could hear them, he finally spoke.
"Listen to me carefully, I never wanted to get married and I am sure you didn't either. I ask you to stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours. You are my wife in name ONLY, I want no part in this arrangement.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Soo Jin understood what he meant.
"Yes. We- this is a marriage of convenience. Out of the many fair maidens out there I was chosen for the golden seat, for whatever reason I do not know," beating him to it, she replied with a cold voice.
She slowly lifted her eyes and met his eyes. With a glare she continued "I accepted this marriage because rejecting the marriage proposal is an instant death sentence for me and my family. As you have mentioned before we are married in name ONLY. This means that we will not have any sorts of intimacy." She ended quickly, wishing this discussion was not taking place.
"I see." Yong-Sun watched her speculatively. The thought of having any sort of an intimate relationship with her did not cross his mind. However, now that she is giving him orders of how this 'marriage' should be has him feeling a type of way.
"You can sleep out here. I will sleep in my room." Soo Jin said as she stood bowed. She was about to walk away when she realised she left her table of food behind. She turned back around picked up her table and walked to the back behind the drapes.
Soo Jin sat down and happily ate her food. While eating she thought to herself that this crown prince was a strange guy. She would show him that she was not a pushover and someone that was easy to intimidate.
Once she had finished eating, she got back up and took the table to the day room. Soo Jin saw that he was reading one for the books she had placed on the side table. She originally wanted to read that book, but he seemed to into the book, so she went over to the library and picked up another and walked back to her room.
Yong-Sun slowly looked up as he saw her walking back to her room and quietly said to himself.
"Never ever challenge me. I will always come out the winner, you will sooner or later get used to the idea that 'YOU'RE MINE'."
Half an hour of reading, he placed the book to the side and changed out of his robe. He turned to the side and blew out the candle, however, he noticed that her candle was still on. He wondered to himself if she still had that veil on.
Turning to his side, he muttered "Why do I even care". He closed his eyes and hoped for sleep to overtake him. Surely sleep did arrive and, but it was not a dreamless one, his dreams were engulfed by Soo Jin.