Jinwoon looked at the three people around him. All he could do was shake his head. 'They are crazy!' The others stared back at him as if there was nothing wrong with what they had just suggested.
"Am I the only one who thinks it's absurd? I don't know you! You don't even know me! How can we… You know..." Jinwoon turned red in the face. "You don't have to do it now. You can fake it." Jinwoon wanted to throw his spoon at Ki Ha. The weird boy kept on talking.
"I've never been pregnant! How can I fake it?" Ki Ha scratched his head. "I remember my mother throwing up or gagging." Young shook his head. "That is when they are a few months further. You can pass out. Those are some of the symptoms of a pregnancy."
Jinwoon closed his eyes in frustration. "I really think this is a bad idea. What if they want us to prove it?! What are we going to do then?" Ki Ha and Young looked away, while Sung Hoon shrugged. "We can always make an excuse."
Jinwoon shook his head. "I'm not going to do it." The idea was too much. Even if Jinwoon could have a baby. He was sure that, just like back on Earth, it would take 9 months before the baby was born.
There had to be another way. "When is the princess selection?" "Next month." Ki Ha answered. "Then let's think about it. And IF, big IF, we don't come up with a solution. Then I might think about it but now I don't want to do it."
Sung Hoon looked glum. "Are you…" Jinwoon stopped him with his hand. "No! I already said it. Don't even think about it." Sung Hoon ears turned red. "I'm not thinking about anything like that!" Jinwoon glared at him. "Then what?"
Sung Hoon shook his head. "Nothing, never mind." Jinwoon didn't stop glaring at him. Young tried to clear the air. "Like Ki Ha said, we still have a month to come up with something. Let's search in the archives if we can find a similar situation." Jinwoon calmed down a bit.
Young got ready to leave. "Rest up and tomorrow I'll bring the books over. Also I'll bring over some people to help you turn into a princess. We do need a family register." Jinwoon turned pale. "I can't go back to my hometown. I..."
Jinwoon told them also about Lee Jinwoon's life story. While talking, Young sat down again. Ki Ha and Sung Hoon looked shocked. "Damn! Your life is..." Sung Hoon and Young gave Ki Ha a scowl. "Don't worry. I'll get your family register." Young didn't look worried.
"Doesn't it say that I'm the son?" The others shook their heads. "We don't add that because there are a lot of inter people. There are no labels. We don't need to worry about that. We do need to worry about your stepfather. When you become the mate of the king, you're family is expected to come."
Jinwoon got worried. "My stepfather will out me straight away and I'm sure he'll demand the money that my mother gave me." Young scratched his beard. "I'm sure you're right." "What if we give him that money?" Ki Ha looked at Sung Hoon and Young but they both shook their heads.
Sung Hoon wrinkled his nose. "It's more than money. He wouldn't want Jinwoon dead if it was just about money. Are you sure that your father's inheritance is gone?" Jinwoon nodded. "That's what my mother told me."
"But what if... Your father took some and told your mother that. Is your step-father the one that handles the money?" Jinwoon looked into Lee Jinwoon's memories but he couldn't find an answer. "I don't know."
Sung Hoon turned to Ki Ha. "Can you find out?" Ki Ha nodded. "Easy. Give me a week. " He stood up and left. "I'll see you two tomorrow." Young also stood up and left. With just the two of them the atmosphere became awkward again.
After 5 minutes of silence Sung Hoon stood up. "I'll be in the library if you need anything. If you get hungry, the kitchen is over there. You can ask the servant to make you something." He pointed to the kitchen door. "Have a good night."
He hesitated at the door but Jinwoon didn't call him back. He walked away and upstairs. Jinwoon watched him leave. He leaned back with a heavy sigh. 'What have I gotten myself into!' When he was thinking of plan Z, he had never expected things to turn out like this."
'They always say be careful with what you wish for. Wait... Did I really wish for this? I was told to do this. Young talked about an outer world enemy. Was that the reason why Tae Jinwoon sent me here? Do I need this place?' Jinwoon had too many questions.
The next day Young came around lunch time. After lunch the three of them went to the sitting room. Young started to take out scrolls and books out of his robe. "Elder Young. Is your robe magical?" Young looked up and burst out laughing.
"No. But this is." He pulled out a small bag. "This bag was created by another Elder many years ago. Anything except living organisms can be put in this bag." Jinwoon had only read about these things in books. "Can anybody use it?"
Young nodded. "But there are not many left. The method of using them was lost. The few that are available are used in secret. They are too valuable." Jinwoon found it a pity. He would love to have one.
"Alright! Let's start looking. These books and scrolls describe the princess selection and how they proceeded. I discovered that my comment yesterday about lack of male mates was incorrect." Young picked up 3 scrolls. "These tell about a prince's selection." He picked two books. "These are of when we had Queens. I scanned them only. We still need to read them to see what happened."
He gave them each a scroll. "If you find anything, then read it out loud." Sung Hoon, Jinwoon and Young started to read. Each started with the year, the name of the soon-to-be king or queen and the names of the candidates.
An hour later and they still hadn't found anything useful. Most scrolls and books describe a peaceful selection. There was one that seemed promising. It was about the soon-to-be Queen, about 250 years ago. She didn't deem any of the candidates suited for her.
To get out of the selection, she gave the candidates a mission. The one who would accomplish the mission would be her mate. She wanted the moon presented to her. Of course many candidates failed, except one smart woman. She brought the princess to a pond during the full moon and told her to look in the pond.
The princess was so impressed with her that she decided to make the woman her mate. "Young, aren't there any older ones? I don't think we'll find something in the new one." Young took out the bag and took out more scrolls. These had turned brown from age.
While reading the scrolls Jinwoon learned that the planet and the royal family were eons old. What shocked him was that he thought that people of this planet had a life span just like Earth but that wasn't the case. Some kings and queens died at the age of 100, one was 150!
He knew that the body he was in was 21, did this mean that he'll be also that old? "Elder Young. I don't want to be rude but how old are you?" Young looked up with a smile. "That's not rude. I'm still the young age of 120." Jinwoon's mouth fell open.
"I look young for my age, right." Young looked proud. "That's an understatement." Jinwoon mumbled. "Thanks to science it has become easier for people to become older." Jinwoon frowned. "Sorry to ask but how old was the king when he died?"
"60." Sung Hoon didn't even blink. "But... How? Was he...?" Jinwoon didn't want to say it out loud. "No, he wasn't murder or anything. The king indeed died young. It was the same illness that killed my father."
Jinwoon felt bad for asking but he was too curious. "What is the name of this illness?" Sung Hoon shrugged. "They never told me the name." "And you didn't ask?" Sung Hoon shook his head. "When my father died, I didn't have time to ask questions. And to be honest I didn't care much about the king." Jinwoon was shocked by Sung Hoon's words. "The king and I had a difficult relationship."
Jinwoon thought back at his relationship with his adopted parents. "I understand. Young, do you know what it was." He quickly turned the attention away from Sung Hoon. "We call it Dry Pox. It's a disease without a cure. The illness has no specific symptoms and is not contagious. That's also the reason for no cure."
"We only know that the person has the illness when they start to experience weakness, tiredness or sleepiness. They slowly become weaker and weaker. After a year, some last longer but they all die in their sleep." Young let out a sad sigh.