"His Highness, the crown prince is arriving!" an eunuch announced with reverence
The big door barring the imperial hall for minister's meeting opened revealing a stoic looking young man with grace and elegance exuding from his body.
He walked towards the throne platform dressed in his ceremonial robe and bowed before his parents to show his respect and filial piety. The emperor smiled and beckoned on his eunuch to bring forward the seal of crown prince and bestow it on him.
Now, he is officially and unchangeably the rightful crown prince of their nation and apparent heir.
The ministers all bowed down hailing his name and wishing him thousand years of longevity and blessings.
Today marked the end of his lessons as the crown prince and official entry into the world of politics. He is obliged to participate in every meeting held in that hall henceforth and make whatever contribution he deems fit.
He has the right to rule by proxy by the law of the emperor and can make any decision in the absence and on behalf of the emperor.
The seal was handed over to him by the emperor himself. He received it with both hands and bowed again .
The empress that witnessed the whole thing on her throne beside the emperor's throne dabbed at the corner of her eyes to hide the tears of joy falling down.
Looking at her son now ,she can't help but be happy for him. For the past few months after the incident that happened, he turned a changed man. Becoming more serious than ever. Attacking every book related to his education with vigor and rendering his tutors speechless with the puzzles he set up before them to solve.
Remembering all this things, she smiled but became a little sad when she recalls his cold attitude towards her. The crown prince was not especially warm towards her but recently it seems like his whole being is covered in frost that never melts but piles up with lots of snow. But at least, he completed his education with distinction and lots of praise from his teachers.
Finally she can breath a sigh of relief and lay down her major worries. Now the last thing on her list is finding a bride for her son . Not just anyone, but the most compatible one that can march the status and power of her son hence she's thinking of starting the selection... the crown princess selection.
The crown prince looked at his mother briefly and could guess what was going on in that mind of hers. When she met her eyes with her son's own she stiffened. The crown prince gave her a challenging look laden with devious smile as if warning her to back off.
She closed her eyes and opened it to look at her son again but she saw him smiling genuinely at her making her earlier suspicion wanting. She smiled back nervously wondering if she just had an illusion.
"What was that?" she queried herself.
Once he straightened himself up, he turned around to look at the prime minister's face. The older man saw him smile at him and shivered. Not because of the smile, but because of the warning behind the smile. The crown prince is giving him a warning of beware, I'm coming for you.
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At the coast, the eyes of the young man that fainted earlier slightly opened ,before he dimmed it to get accustomed to the rays of light flooding his room.
He observed the strange surrounding not knowing where he was and why he was there.
Supporting himself up with the aid of his arms , he tried to get off the bed but felt a sharp pain at the lower part of his limb. Looking down, he found it bandaged with stick. Shaking off the mist gathering in his head he propped up to take a look outside.
Then , he heard the angelic voice that has always brought longing to his being. As the voice drew closer , the events that happened earlier flooded to his mind and he remembered that little stars was circling around his head before he lost his footing and well...the rest is history.
How embarrassing! How can he just faint in the presence of the beauty he has been searching for the moment he finally found her?
The voice drew closer and stopped at his door.He gasped and rushed back to bed pretending to be asleep or something.
"Do you think it's necessary to tepid sponge him again? he might already be awake since his fever is already down"
"Sorry miss, but whatever it is you did to him brought his fever down and also relief to him" one of the guards urged the young lady to take a look at their young master and the other one agreed.
"Yes please do something, the last time you touched him it seemed like a knot was untied from his face, his furrowing brows relaxed and his condition stabilized"
Inside the room, the topic of discussion was going mad with excitement, what? She touched him? Considering the tone of his guards voice laced with respect, the girl must have been the one taking care of him all this time." Oh my goodness, she touched me!"
The door finally opened and the group went in. The young girl taking care of him went down besides him and set down her basin to begin work.
She touched his forehead with the back of her palm and nodded with satisfaction. Taking his hands gently, she read his pulse and used the other hand to check his heartbeat.
His heart was beating like crazy due to excitement. If not that he was pretending to be asleep, he would smiled.
The alarmed girl checking his pulse and heartbeat cried out.
"Miss, you should come and check his heartbeat, it's beating like crazy... is he about to have a heart attack?" the young girl shivered while pleading with her young miss to come take a look.
Wait, what? why is his goddess calling another person to come take a look at him and ... holy cow!!! why is the voice different from the voice of his goddess?
In his state of confusion,he opened his eyes and met eye to eye with a young girl who was looking at him like some kind of specimen. He looked past her and saw his goddess standing not too far away from his bed. She probably stopped coming when she saw him wake up.
Please someone should tell him it was his goddess that took care of his royal body not this country-styled looking girl or he will faint again.
"Who are you?" he almost screamed at her but she smiled and stood up ignoring his question and went to stand before his goddess. Finally the goddess spoke to him.
"I take it that you are awake , young master?"
"No ,yes , No!!! I'm not awake... in fact I'm fainting right now!" he fell back to the bed pretending to be unconscious.
The young lady smirked and ordered the assumed nurse to go tell the doctor his patient has fainted again so that acupuncture needles will be used to wake him up.
At the mention of acupuncture needle, he rose up raising his hand in defeat "OK... I'm awake now " (So heartless... but I still love her"
His guards were about to bow when he shouted that it hurts. "Buddies, this friend of yours is still hurting...ouch!!!"
Friends? is his highness now mentally deranged? Getting a wink from him, they understood that he was acting therefore they decided to play along.
The young lady nodded curtly and made to leave the room but the young man shouted .
"Godde...erm miss , can you please tell me your name?"
She turned back and looked at him assessing him from head to toe, finally she said the first name that came to her mind .
"Seohwa"
Seohwa widened her eyes and made to question her when she received a signal to keep quiet.
The lovestruck fool looked dazed repeating the name over and over again .At last, he finally found out the name of the lady that gave him sleepless nights.
His guards were a little bit confused.They are pretty sure the one whose name is Seohwa is the other girl that took care of their master not the aloof looking one that their master is fawning over. Are there two Seohwas?
Only when they left the room did prince Song, yes our prince Song come out of his reverie but then his goddess has gone away.
He made to follow her but his guards told him to rest as he would still see her since they are in her father's house. Only then did he calm down but that didn't deter him from his daydream.
In one of the rooms, a young girl was confronting her mistress but the mistress smiled.
"Are you asking me why I gave him your name instead of mine?" Seohwa nodded.
"It's quite simple, you will be the one being pestered not me . When he asks for Seohwa,he will be directed to you"
"Missss!! you are wicked "
Am I? she asked herself. Well it seems like they will have fun for a while. She can't wait to find out his reaction when he finally finds out Seohwa and her are two different persons.
At the thought of the numerous fun they will have,she smiled and patted the back of her Seohwa.