Drawing a small stool to sit by Hwan's side, Jay Yi watched him draw his quill across the parchment, his letters artistic but bold. The poet and the warrior. Jay Yi sighed with contentment. A slight smile played on her lips as her thoughts wandered over the last five days.

Hwan and Jay Yi had settled into a certain routine in the evenings the past week. While Hwan had gone out of his way to keep their physical contact at a minimum, the time they spent together in their secret lair was so delightful that she often lost track of time. After her long, punishing days that comprised training routines, ceremonies, and keeping up a demeanour of a composed, poised, put-together woman who could only be seen floating slowly around the Palace, if at all, these short escapes to Hwan's side had come as a succour to her starving spirit.

More so because Hwan understood her in ways she deliberately chose not to acknowledge to herself. Hwan had given her a shoulder rub! She had squealed all through that night, smiling like a fool. The entirety of the following day, she had felt lighter, happier. Jay Yi had almost hopped, skipped and jumped to the library on the third evening, her heart thudding in anticipation, her feeling of weariness a thing of the past.

"Can we practice some archery today?"

Three-quarters of an hour later, she regretted suggesting that. Jay Yi's digits went raw that evening, stringing the bow with arrows. Hwan had been serious about teaching her archery.

Hwan spent the remaining time feeding her delicious tea and snacks.

He was a gentle, patient, but exacting teacher. After spending most of the following evening practicing shooting arrows, she had pirouetted in happiness when an arrow finally pierced the board and stuck to it, but he had not reacted. Sighing, she went back to her practice. And to more tea and more delicious snacks.

After three days in a row of relentless archery practice, Hwan had finally taken pity on her. He handed her a bundle of fabric. Wrapped in folds rectangularly, it came with a small pouch on the side containing four sticks.

"Ga-ram sent it separately with the note to give it to you." It was a game of Yutnori.

Jay Yi clutched it to her chest in happiness as if it were the world's greatest treasure.

"Do you know how to play, Your Majesty?"

Hwan's lips curved humorously. "I am sure you will teach this naive King who does not know much about the world....."

Placing her hands on her hips, she squinted her irritation at him. "The one who loses gets flicked on the forehead."

Fifteen minutes into the game, she was already lagging behind him. Her coin had hardly moved six paces in the twenty-nine constellation stations, while Hwan's sat at fourteen.

All she could muster were pig combinations, advancing her mal just a single pace each time. She barely managed to draw a dog combination once that moved her two paces forward. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Hwan effortlessly pitched all favourable high combinations - a sheep worth three paces, a cow worth four paces, and to her utter disgust, he drew a horse in his last combination, worth the highest, his mal moving five paces forward on the board.

Hwan got distracted momentarily while taking a drink of water, and she sneakily pushed his mal back one slot.

Hwan eyed his mal and launched into a perfect recollection of each of the four stick combinations they had thrown so far, triumphantly moving his coin to its original spot, laughing openly at her. "If you must cheat, don't get caught."

Jay Yi huffed. Playing with someone who had such a perfect memory was aggravating.

The following few sets of turns proved fortunate for her as her coin hopped over his and went two paces ahead. Hwan's competitive streak reared its head.

"You cheated! I saw you flip the stick. You changed my horse to a dog!!" Jay Yi yelled.

"I did no such thing," Hwan lied without blinking.

They went head to head, each missing no opportunity to turn, roll and change combinations of the sticks or move their coin out of turn, but Hwan's cheating skills were way better than hers. He won by crook, beating her by five paces.

"You are not flicking my forehead. You cheated."

"Look who is talking! You dare - " Hwan started, but Jay Yi was having none of it.

"I am leaving!" Jay Yi was a sore loser.

Hwan had grabbed hold of her hand and pushed her down. "Come on! Let's play another round."

So they did, and he won again. Jay Yi could not tell if he had cheated to win this time. She chose to believe he did. Cheated, that is. So, Jay Yi gave him a deep, most respectful bow, flicked him on his forehead, and ran for her life with a very indignant His Majesty hot in pursuit. She almost lost an ankle and elbow trying to hurry up the stairs and was caught by Hwan before she took in an inelegant tumble. He grabbed her from behind by the waist and lifted her cleanly off the floor.

"I only did it because you cheated -" Jay Yi tried to wriggle out of his hold.

"You don't get away after flicking me wrongfully, you little minx," Hwan said in mock anger. He laughed as she increased her struggle. "You owe me two flicks."

Jay Yi shook her head, trying to hold on to his hands at her waist, her legs hanging in the air as he twirled her around. "That will give me a bump on the forehead and a million questions from Court lady Kim."

"It was your idea."

"I thought you didn't like playing flicks."

"That was before I knew how much fun they are!"

"Let me down! You are making me dizzy!"

"Not until you apologise and promise to get those two flicks in repentance."

"No."

"Four flicks."

"You serve lousy justice, Your Majesty."

"You have seen nothing of my justice yet, Min Jay Yi!"

Still laughing, he loosened his grip. Jay Yi slid down the length of his body, her stockinged feet touching the wood of the floor beneath them. Her ears became warm as she realised he was way more affected than he let on. His hands stayed around her waist.

He then turned her around in the circle of his arms. Jay Yi wondered if he could hear her heart beating in her throat.

His eyes crinkled with laughter. "Are you afraid?"

"I am not!" She said, a shade too quickly.

Bringing his middle finger and thumb together, he positioned it over the centre of her forehead.

Jay Yi clenched her eyes shut, trying not to flinch, expecting the sting anytime now.

It never came. His breath fanned her before he dropped a kiss on her forehead.

She opened her eyes to look at him. His mahogany eyes locked with her, warm, laughing, indulgent.

Impulsively, Jay Yi raised herself on her tiptoe and placed her mouth over his, her hands encircling his neck. He went still as she moved her lips over his, her movements shy but certain. He didn't respond, but his fingers dug deeper into her waist. Emboldened, she traced his lips with a hot, exploring tongue.

With a groan, his palms grabbed the sides of her face as he let her in, letting her go on a discovery that singed her senses, meeting her more than halfway.

There were no flicks, only a vague sense of passing time as passion overtook them.

Hwan had kissed her deeply, but then, using the iron-clad control that he seldom let slip, he had gently thrust her away, albeit reluctantly, holding her by her shoulders, trying to shut out the silent questioning of her passion-filled eyes while visibly struggling to put a lid on the all-consuming clamour of his body. "Go!" He had ordered her roughly as the bell rang.

This evening, however, Hwan had met her with a preoccupied expression that she had not seen on him for a long time.

"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"

"It is all right, nothing that I cannot attend to later tonight," Hwan had assured her.

A quick look at the table at the foot of the bed, groaning under a mountain of scrolls, told her the story.

"Your Majesty, please attend to those first; do not worry about me."

"I am not worrying about you, you idiot. I want to spend time with you. Let's read today. The hour goes by too quickly anyway. I don't want to waste a minute of it," He said huskily.

Jay Yi stepped closer, reaching to caress his jaw.

"I am here to stay longer today, Your Majesty."

"What do you mean? You don't need to leave in an hour?"

Jay Yi shook her head, much to his delight and surprise.

"Today, I had a ceremony in the afternoon and decided to take the rest of the evening off. I told them I would be in the library longer and they should not wait for me outside."

"And that maid of yours agreed?"

Jay Yi gave a mysterious smile. "She is not that bad, you know, Your Majesty."

A derisive snort disagreed with her, but Hwan did not say anything. He was too happy to have her for a bit longer to care about anything else. It had been a long day. He wanted to read with her but had been slacking on his work lately and needed to catch up urgently.

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As he settled back to resume his work, he gave her an apologetic look, which had turned into a look akin to pride as she narrated her success with the young, imprisoned Yang Seo Bin.

"The dowager told you herself she will administer thirty lashes to the child?"

"Among other things. I am not sure if Her Highness the Dowager is just foolish or simply does not care for someone's life. Who punishes a child with thirty lashes for stealing some milk?"

"I am not surprised. The dowager had ordered something similar for another court lady a few months ago for overstaying her allotted time out of the Palace."

"Did you intervene?"

"Her Highness is cunning that way. She keeps it low enough not to reach an appeal stage."

"But thirty lashes cannot be under the threshold for a child!"

"Technically, Yang Seo Bin is over twelve, so not considered a child."

Jay Yi's hand flew to her mouth. "The child could have died!"

"The court ladies fear her. Those who flatter her and become her eyes and ears, she rewards them generously. She tried to break some of my court ladies until she realised I would not allow her to touch them. She tried to sneak some of her own into my retinue to keep a tab on me, but I guess she forgot loyalty is still a thing." Hwan's mouth curved in a humourless smile. He looked at her.

"You have no idea how much I have needed you here by my side, Jay Yi," his eyes were soft.

Jay Yi realised he had been telling her the truth when he told her he needed her as his Queen. He had enough on his plate with running the country to waste his time worrying about the internal squabbles of his Palace.

"So why did Seo Bin need to steal?" Hwan asked as he dipped his quill into some fresh ink.

"She was saving the family of a cat injured by some guards. The cat has three surviving kittens. Two had already died of starvation when Yang Seo Bin found them. She was scared we would order to kill the animal and its kittens if she disclosed their existence."

It had taken Jay Yi a lot of patience, reassurances and promises to coax Lim Ha Bi to admit the reason behind Yang Seo Bin's crime.

The appreciative gleam in Hwan's eyes was Jay Yi's reward.

"Was the Dowager agreeable to your investigation? Especially now that you have changed her decision of lashing her?"

"She gave me permission to oversee as well as decide the punishment. She might not be happy, but I do not think she will interfere." At least, Jay Yi hoped so. "That child is precious, just the kind of people we need around us. Brave, loyal and ethical, not afraid to do the right thing. I plan to take her under my wings."

Hwan looked at her thoughtfully. He had not seen this young child, but he suspected Yang Seo Bin reminded Jay Yi of Ga-ram.

"What punishment did you decide?"

"She pays back for all the goods she stole, and I docked her pay for three months," Jay Yi replied, drawing the stool to sit across Hwan at the table.

Hwan nodded approvingly, his hand paused on the paper he was writing on.

"I also directed the kitchen to give her the extra milk and fish until we relocate the animal. I know of an old man who rescues strays outside of Hanyang. Master Mun can help with it."

"I will send Kanga tomorrow."

Jay Yi sighed, leaning back.

"Your Majesty, you must stop meeting me on my walks. Court Lady Kim tried to find out if someone passed on the schedule information to you," Jay Yi informed him, a trace of laughter in her voice. "I did tell you she will take it personally. I am trying hard to conform to the rules, and you are not helping!" She pouted.

Hwan's hands stilled at her playful complaint. Hwan saw little humour in it. The old, rule-breaking Jay Yi would have loved the charade. Carefully removing the weights that held the parchment down on the ends, Hwan rolled it and placed it on top of the pile to the right of the table.

"Follow me, I have something for you." Hwan stood up, pushing the chair back gently.

Piqued, Jay Yi followed him. He hunted a small cabinet beside where the bows and arrows were stored, producing a white ceramic pot and two cups.

"You stored wine in here, Your Majesty?"

Hwan inclined his head, the corner of his mouth slanting up in a slight, heart-stopping half smile.

"I gathered we could have an occasion soon when you might have just enough time to have a cup without the danger of being sniffed out by the canine-nosed court lady Kim."

Jay giggled, her eyes lighting up, the songbird trill of her voice warming the cudgels of Hwan's heart.

Smoothing her skirt, Jay Yi lowered herself across from Hwan.

The kitchen had been busy. The dishes that Hwan had ordered were a savoury feast. But his mind was not on the food, his thoughts straying to the woman before him. He took in Jay Yi's petite form, dressed in cream and peach that made her resemble a delicious confection from the royal kitchen. Food was not what he wanted to have with her. He dropped his eyes to close his thoughts out.

"You feed me so much that I keep skipping dinner, and court lady Kim has this peculiar look on her face that is supposed to be blank, but I swear her displeasure shines like a lighthouse on a foggy night!" Jay Yi let out a disgruntled laugh.

"Her expressions - rather the lack of them - can be quite terrifying," Hwan agreed.

Jay Yi picked up the wine pot and poured a cup for each of them, her movements measured and elegant. She extended her cup for a toast, and Hwan clinked it with a smile.

And then stared disconcertedly as Jay Yi took one dainty sip, returning the cup to the table. His eyes followed her hand as she took another delicate sip in between tasting the juicy-looking beef tartare.

Where did his alcohol-guzzling girl who threw drinks down her throat go?

Hwan looked into his cup, taking a pause. She was trying to be everything that would fit the mould of the traditional ideals of womanhood that everyone expected of her. Worse, she was trying to let go of what he had always found enchanting - her unconventional attitude towards life. She was still noisy and chatty with him, but he could progressively see her clamping down as days passed.

Hwan swallowed a worried lump.

"Jay-Yiya, don't try so hard."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Surprised eyes looked at him.

"Since when did you start drinking like that?"

"Like wh -" Comprehension lit the beautiful eyes. She placed the cup back on the table and gave a small smile, then brushed a lint off her skirt. "Your Majesty, that is how it is supposed to be done. There is an etiquette-"

"It's supposed to be poured in a cup and gulped in a go." Hwan looked at her with unblinking eyes.

"I am not sure I understand what you mean."

"The training is supposed to help you find your way around the Palace. There will be certain times when you will need to follow protocols. Moreover, there is nothing that you have not learned growing up, and I know that! So why are you trying to change who you are?"

Her face fell. "I am not changing. I am trying to be what you entrusted me with, Your Majesty. Did you forget you offered me employment?" Jay Yi shot him an irate look.

Hwan blinked. "What does it have to do with forcing yourself to be someone you are not?"

"I'm no different than before. You never knew me as the woman I was. I have always tried my best to follow norms and never actively fought against societal expectations just for the sake of it. You forget I had agreed to marry Sargent Sung On."

"That is because you felt you had no choice then," Hwan corrected her.

"Living by myself did not give me a lot of choices either, Your Majesty. It is hard either way. Rather than fighting it, it makes more sense to embrace it."

"You don't need to sacrifice your true self to attain something you can achieve simply by being who you are," Hwan was not backing down.

"It is easier said than done. And, is change not inevitable, Your Majesty?"

"I would rather you evolved into it than force yourself to change overnight!" Hwan would prefer to be six feet under than let her become imprisoned by the shackles he knew would douse the flame within her.

"Your Majesty, please do not be angry."

Exasperated, Hwan shook his head. "I am not angry!" Hwan extended his hand. "Come here," his voice was soft, inviting.

Jay Yi rose and slowly circled the table, and went to him, placing her hand in his. Hwan pulled her down by his side. Leaning forward, he refilled her cup and handed it to her.

Holding the cup in her hands, she looked at his askance. He gave a nod, asking her to drink it.

Smiling, she turned her head aside and gulped at the tiny cup in one go, her glee evident as she shook the empty inverted cup a few times on her head and then dissolved into giggles.

"I never knew you liked me drinking like a slob!" Then, with a pensive expression that created small furrows in her otherwise flawless face, she asked, "Are you - will you like me less if I change?"

"Don't be an idiot," Hwan chided. "I just do not want you to be unhappy." He paused, looking at her with that deep intensity she always found mesmerising, "If there is a lesson to be learned from our tribulations from the Byakcheon fiasco, it is that some rules are meant to be broken. Min Jay Yi, I want you to be yourself, and I want you to include me in your life. Don't change who you are."

"How can I promise something like that? However, I can be myself here, in this little room with you by my side, just as Min Jay Yi, can I not?"

Hwan smiled, his face lightening up, his eyes dark, pouring into her. "I would not have it otherwise."

Jay Yi's heart did that somersault that always made her feel her rib cage was not big enough to hold it.

He drew her closer as he sipped his drink. "I love you, Jay Yi," he whispered.

She looked up at him, an anticipation building in the pit of her stomach. Hwan looked back at her, drawn to her like a magnet, but then he pulled her head to his chest. They sat there for a few precious moments. Her ears picked up the increase in his pulse.

Tipping her head up, she traced his lips with a lazy finger. His eyes widened at her bold move. Laughing, he caught her wrist. "I know what you are thinking!"

"And what would that be?" She feigned innocence.

"Jay Yi, I am not a monk."

"I would not be here if you were," she said, the words falling from her mouth were velvety soft to his ears. The fire she was stoking would devour them both. He had to distract himself and her.

To her disappointment, Hwan extracted himself and placed a light peck on her forehead.

"Would you mind if I quickly finished some of those documents?"

Jay Yi expelled a loud, pouty, noisy sigh, then spoiled the effect by shaking her head and smiling. Jay Yi knew his mind was preoccupied with them tonight.

"I will try to be quick. There are a few urgent ones I must work on quickly." Hwan returned to the scrolls as Jay Yi helped herself to a couple more cups of wine before returning to him at the table.

He leaned forward, taking a rolled parchment from the unread pile on the left, a tad higher than the one on the right.

"Are these Appeals, your Majesty?"

With a slight flick of his eye and a gentle nod, Hwan answered in affirmative. A frown creased his stately forehead, a sure sign he was thinking of something urgently.

"You look worried."

"There has been a report of a rebellion by the northeast border. There is a powerful Jurchen clan, and if they manage to take advantage of this, it could cause some trouble."

No wonder Hwan looked worried. This was more serious than Jay Yi had expected.

"Are you thinking of recalling Governor Han Sung On?" Jay Yi knew how much he relied on his old friend.

Hwan shook his head. "I have a few people in mind who would be a good fit to send to the borders. The Japanese envoy is due next month. It's just that - I do not have a good feeling about this situation."

Byakcheon was fresh in their minds.

"You suspect the Japanese of helping the tribes?"

"The Japanese have been looking outwards for a while," Hwan said thoughtfully.

"From what I learned from Master Mun, they hold us in high regard."

"They do not trust either the Ming or the Mongols; by extension, they might look at us differently than they let on. They could be harbouring thoughts of increasing their influence outside their island."

Jay Yi nodded in understanding.

It felt so good to have her by his side.

Soon, they fell back on their old habits. Jay Yi started unrolling the scrolls, sifting through them quickly and laying them in order of significance. Sending her a grateful look, Hwan resumed his work, going through them faster.

Jay Yi quietly removed some of the scrolls from the table he had already attended to, carrying them to neatly stack them on a table to her left by the wall.

"Why do you not read something while I finish a few more of these? It will not take long," Hwan asked her with a smile.

Jay Yi wanted to smooth the furrows that etched Hwan's smooth, large forehead. Instead, she fetched a copy of Sangdae pyŏlgok by Kwŏn Kŭn, flopped down on the warm, wooded floor by the bed and started flipping the pages. Jay Yi had always been fascinated by the graceful flow of words in Sangdae pyŏlgok. Kwŏn Kŭn's lyrical use of rich imagery sparked her imagination. Today, however, her mind drifted. Her gaze wandered to the man submerged in work. Being a King was hard. Her heart filled with pride at his proud profile. His rare beauty was only superseded by his rare brilliance, but nothing compared to the sweat and blood he poured in to take care of his people. Ruminating over the people in his Court, Jay Yi wondered who his allies were and who had ill intent, biding their time for an opportunity to take him down.

Perhaps, once he finished the work, she could give him a shoulder rub, much like the one he had given her on the evening a few days ago.

His ink slab must be low on ink, Jay Yi thought to herself. She rose and went to the table, quietly picking up the ink stick to grind it.

Without lifting his head, Hwan said, "Leave it be. It will be hard to explain if you get ink on your dress."

Jay Yi bit her lip. She looked over her cream and peach dress and realised Hwan was right. Even a fine, negligible spray would appear large on the pristine silk.

Restless, she returned to her spot, trying to enjoy the beautiful words in the book. Her eyes travelled to the table with the boxes at the far end of the room.

She spent the next few minutes arranging and rearranging the items on a tray. She alphabetised the books on the shelves. On her way back to her spot, she noticed a few cobwebs. The place needs some cleaning, Jay Yi thought distractedly.

Back to the book, her eyes wandered again.

Her eyes fell on a shelf to her right, still holding items from her previous life.

An idea struck her. She looked back at Hwan's back thoughtfully, a smile playing on her lips. He did not want her to change - perhaps she could assure him she was not changing. For that, another kind of change might do the trick. A quirky gleam lit her eyes - maybe she could mess with him a bit, just a tiny-tiny bit?