Seething, Hwan made his way to the Dowager's chambers.

The night was late, and it was highly improper for a Royal head of the Palace to hasten punishments in this fashion without following proper protocols. The Dowager's oppressive measures to control the Queen's quarters were getting out of hand. Had he misjudged her political ambitions?

"Your Majesty, the Dowager had the poor girl dragged to her chambers. We learned that she is angry with Bin-ssi's judgement." Court Lady Nam had been distraught.

The Dowager's minions were standing outside. "Your Majesty, Bin-ssi is inside with the Dowager -"

Ignoring their shocked murmurs, Hwan almost ran up the steps, turning into the hall where the servants of the dowager quarters stood in subservience. His impressive entourage of thirty odd eunuchs and court ladies followed his long, purposeful strides, led by the stoic but kindly Eunuch So.

As the Dowager's Eunuch announced his presence, he could imagine the disquiet emanating from beyond the double-leaved green latticed door.

A flurry of colours greeted him as he entered. Encased in purple and gold, the great aunt Dowager peered at him from her seat, the downward curve of her mouth clearly displaying her displeasure at his unannounced presence, her shrivelled body straight as an arrow as she stood to say her greetings.

He almost missed Jay Yi, who stood at the side of the room, blending into the wall in deep pink and blue, a far cry from the woman who had melted in his arms in the eunuch tunic and then walked out in fury. Court lady Kim stood behind her, as still as the wooden beams supporting the roof.

As everyone bent down in deep curtsies, Jay Yi lifted her head early, and his eyes met her for one long moment. He expected to see anger lingering in those evocative eyes. Instead - did he see relief? Comforted somewhat, Hwan strode to his seat behind a mesh curtain Eunuch So pulled down, separating him from everyone else in the room.

"What brings you here, Your Majesty?" His great aunt Dowager croaked.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Jay Yi gracefully fold herself into a seating position, her long jeogori hiding her hands, her posture a regal model of subordination.

A small bundle clad in the pink and blue of a junior court lady's attire shivered in a corner, bent over pitifully on her knees, her head buried between her flattened hands on the ground.

Hwan knew Seon Bin's well-being had become essential to Jay Yi. If the Dowager hurt Jay Yi in any way, he would personally remove her from the Palace, one bony limb at a time.

"My court lady Nam informed me there has been a dispute in judgement regarding a young court lady. From what I understand, there was haste in sentencing. What is it about?"

"You are right about the haste in judgment, Your Majesty, but you must not trouble yourself on such insignificant matters. It is an internal matter of the women's royal court," the older woman was disgruntled.

"With all due respect, it is not for you to decide where I intervene, Great Aunt Dowager. In the absence of a Queen, all my subjects are my matter, especially if it involves an alleged criminal act," Hwan said curtly.

"I assure you, it has been resolved already, Your Majesty!" The Dowager was getting shrill.

"I hear Lady Min was the one who adjudicated the case. I would like to know more," Hwan was nothing if not persistent.

"Oh, she is but a child, a novice! You must forgive her impudence. She made a hasty judgement, not a sign of intelligence expected of a future Queen, but she now clearly sees the error of her ways. Humility is a good virtue to have." The perpetually pinched face of the Dowager curved into a noxious half smile of satisfaction.

Hwan wondered if there ever would be a time when he would not feel like wringing the leathery neck, even though it went against every Confucian principle he had been drilled with for his elders.

The Gamchal sanggung, the Court Lady officer overseeing the case, was standing by the shivering little girl.

"Sanggung, please enlighten me exactly what happened," Hwan ordered.

The officer, Senior Court Lady Chai, complied.

"I would like to know what was in Lady Min's judgement you found so offensive," Hwan asked the Dowager coldly.

Two barely visible brows rose to the Dowager's hairline, telling off Hwan more than her words would. Ostensibly, his words were more offensive than whatever Jay Yi had done.

"Your Majesty, are you questioning my wisdom over a woman who is not even a part of the royal household yet?" The Dowager asked acerbically. "You forget, I am a Princess, of most royal bloodline from both sides!" The Dowager took a nasty dig at Hwan, a shadowy reference to his grandmother who was a Palace watermaid.

Biting a retort, Hwan took a deep breath. The old woman was goading him. He paused for a good long moment as if weighing his words. He still needed to carefully tread. Just by the virtue of being the head of the royal women's quarters, the Dowager would be entirely in her right to reject Jay Yi as a Queen candidate or make her life more difficult.

Jay Yi interrupted, the calmness in her voice betraying none of the apprehension she must feel. "Your Majesty, may I be allowed to express my thoughts with your permission?"

Hwan nodded in acquiescence.

"Her Highness' sense of justice is remarkable. I have changed my opinion. The young court lady will receive the thirty lashes as rightfully decided by Her Highness."

What?

Hwan almost choked on his tongue as he tried to swallow his gobsmacked cry. What was she playing at now?

The little girl at the corner whimpered in fear.

"What made you change your mind?" He asked her, curious to know the secrets of that brilliant little mind of hers.

"I was wrong to pass hasty judgement. I should have indeed asked for her advice first. And -" she paused.

Even though he was itching to counter her, knowing Jay Yi, she had to have something up her sleeve.

"Go on," was all he said.

The Dowager spoke before Jay Yi could finish her thought, "You see, Your Majesty? Your future Queen has a long way to go. It was most inappropriate for her to go against my wishes. You still have a few weeks to learn, Lady Min."

Her self-aggrandising smugness grated on Hwan. He had no regrets about bringing her down from her perch. "You speak out of turn, Great Aunt Dowager. I wished to hear from my future Queen."

"I apologise, Your Majesty," the Dowager muttered, not sounding sorry at all.

"I thank you for your infinite grace, Your Majesty." Turning to the Dowager, Jay Yi continued, "Yes, Your Highness, I truly apologise. I acted in haste, troubled by the rumours that I sought to put to rest. It will not happen again."

The Dowager sat up. "Rumours?"

A ghost of a smile flitted across Hwan's lips as he watched Jay Yi's face dip at a particular angle, her upper lip slightly compressed, her eyes blinking rapidly a few times. She had that typical look when dissembling something in her mind that had nothing to do with what she truthfully thought. He could almost see the tiny clogs of her brain running full speed. He was still determining what she was up to, but it suddenly became much more engrossing.

"Yes, Your Highness, a few of the most aggravating rumours I am sure are not true, but I still aimed to put them to rest. I hoped they would see you in the same exalted light that I see you, Your Highness." Jay Yi was almost vacuous in her fawning, her doe-shaped eyes open in admiration, her slim neck craned forward.

The Dowager was fanning herself vigorously. No one spoke.

Jay Yi was letting the woman stew.

Curiosity got the better of the old woman. "What rumours, Lady Min?"

"Ah! There is this terrible rumour that - " she paused, " you do not care about the lives of the court ladies. I know it is not true. You are not cruel, as they want everyone to believe. I think they just resent you -"

"Cruel! How dare they! Sangguin, is that true?"

The Court Lady officer visibly paled, caught in a crossfire between the powers at play.

"I assure you it is true, Your Highness," Jay Yi said. "I wanted to show how benevolent you are to forgive such a terrible crime! Saving an animal with the food that is meant for our King? How impertinent! But I knew once you knew the crime, you would be forgiving. So I felt it was important I dispel the rumours." Throwing a dramatic look at Hwan as if uncertain she should speak before bowing even more dramatically into the ground, "As you know, Your Highness, how I get distressed with rumours as we were discussing just this morning -"

Hwan watched in astonishment as the Dowager wilted. Her shoulders slouched as alarm filled her eyes. Restless, she snapped the fan shut. She threw an uneasy sideways glance at Hwan, and her court lady behind her fidgeted.

Reading Jay Yi's game, Hwan asked the Dowager innocently, "What rumours?"

"Nothing that might require the concerns of your gracious time, Your Majesty. The women's quarters are always abuzz with them," Jay Yi answered in her most reassuring tone.

"You speak out of turn, Lady Min. Let me be the judge whether they are baseless."

Her head snapping up, Jay Yi met his eyes briefly before looking down quickly. He gave a slight, imperceptive nod so she could see it through the mesh. Hwan was not playing her game her way, but he hoped she could read his moves.

The room had gone deathly quiet save the wheezing sounds of alarmed breathing from the Dowager.

"Your Majesty, the rumours are distressing," Jay Yi's voice picked up a delicate, shrill tone of faux anxiety. "On the one hand, I have heard baseless whispers bemoaning the Dowagers' cruel treatment of the servants," Jay Yi paused, her voice dropping in its tenor, her expressions contorting into one that of fear, "on the other, there are also rumours - forgive me for uttering the unspeakable and please punish me for giving them ears - Your Majesty, of your foul temperament," she finished in a pitiable voice of the fearful, bowing some more.

"That is preposterous! Please do not distress yourself, Lady Min. I treat my people with utmost kindness, do I not, Eunuch So?" Hwan retorted in mock offence.

Poor Eunuch So had little clue of what was going on, except that he could read something unreadable passing between his Master and the incredible young woman who had broken all conventions when she had hidden with them under disguise and was right now clearly trying to save the life of the young girl before them, that his mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water before he said in a resounding voice of a head eunuch, "Yes, Your Majesty, it is indeed preposterous. You are the kindest."

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I sinned. I will give my utmost best not to lay ears to worthless gossip," Jay Yi continued pitifully, sounding strangely deficient in grey cells despite having a surplus enough to distribute some to each person in the room and still be left with more than all combined.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Hwan pursed his lips to prevent himself from breaking into an ill-timed bout of hilarity.

Taking a long, deliberate pause, Hwan said, "Great Aunt Dowager, I am aware the Palace can birth many rumours. However, please ensure rumours that are not fit for a young woman's ears do not make their way to them, else I shall personally hold you responsible," Hwan knew he was at his intimidating best, and no one dared challenge him when he had that tone.

The Dowager, her face utterly bereft of already scarce colour, finally found her lost tongue. Snapping open her fan, she looked around the room and announced, "Yes, yes! The baseless rumours! Of course, you did well, My Lady. Now that I think of it, you made the right decision."

Turning to her court lady, the Dowager ordered, "Remove the girl and see that the punishment that Lady Min gave her is followed closely."

"You remain the most gracious, Your Highness," Jay Yi intoned piously.

The Dowager could be many things, but she was no fool and knew when she had been had.

Her eyes beaded into slits as she looked at Jay Yi, ice floating in the words falling from her dried lips. "Ah! She is quite clever, do you not think so, Your Majesty?"

Hwan's eyes met with Jay Yi through the mesh curtain as she sent him a quick look, a silent message passing between them that acknowledged an unpleasant truth - Jay Yi might have just made an enemy.

The Dowager's next action confirmed his fears.

"Court lady Kim, did you not have something to confess?"

A very slight, almost indiscernible tremor visibly went through the impassive court lady Kim.

"Your Highness, if I could be allowed to speak about it in private -"

"No need. It is a good thing Your Majesty is here, too. Anything regarding his future Queen, he should be privy to it."

Jay Yi's posture changed, alarm written in bold letters in the stiffening of her shoulders.

Hwan's blood ran cold, though he knew better than to say anything.

The Dowager looked like someone who had just polished off a bowl of royal dessert. She leaned back a little, fanning herself, her posture vaguely menacing.

Court Lady Kim bowed.

"We missed Bin-ssi care today. She got stuck in the rain outside, unchaperoned, and as a result, took a small nap -"

"What? A Queen candidate sleeping outside her chambers unchaperoned?" The Dowager made it sound dirty. "That is unacceptable!" The Dowager turned to Jay Yi, a malicious look in her eyes, "Bring the court ladies! They must be punished. They will be punished with five lashes each, and court lady Kim will get ten as it is her responsibility-'

"No!" Jay Yi blurted in horror. "Your Highness, please have mercy on them. It's my fault, it's no fault of theirs, I will take their punishment -"

"How dare you break protocol in such a shameless fashion, Lady Min Jay Yi? You shall be punished too!-"

Hwan interrupted her tirade. "What do you mean slept outside?"

"It does not matter how it happened; this is strictly the matter of women's quarters, and you cannot intervene, Your Majesty! This can be enough to disqualify Lady Min as a Queen candidate!"

A crescent shape half-moon almost drew blood with the pressure with which Hwan dug his nails into the flesh of his palm. He did not claw his way to get Jay Yi into the Palace to see her humiliated in this fashion.

"You are running ahead of yourself, Great Aunt Dowager. These are not your concubines, and you are not a Queen Dowager," Hwan was ruthless.

The Dowager went grey.

"So tell me, what happened, Lady Min?"

Jay Yi did not lift her head. "I-I was at the library, Your Majesty, and as it was going to rain, I sent the three court ladies back as I planned to spend a little more time. But while reading, I fell asleep -"

"You fell asleep in the library? Do you do that often?" Hwan deadpanned.

Jay Yi simply nodded, too worked up to verbalise.

"It must be very uncomfortable in there! Eunuch So, can you please ensure the setee had enough cushions so if My Lady wants to rest, she is comfortable?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Eunuch So replied in earnest.

"Your Majesty, please do not trouble yourself. What happened in the library today will never happen again," Jay Yi's posture was the epitome of grace, but Hwan had no trouble picking up the tone of belligerence in her voice. They both knew what she was speaking about. Hwan sighed. This girl!

"I insist, Lady Min. Also, Court Lady Kim, the library is the safest place in the Palace. Unless I give explicit permission, no one can enter it. So, no harm done. It is unreasonable to subject our entourage to inclement weather while waiting outside. I do not permit it either. It’s my personal library and I give full permission to Lady Kim to spend as much time there as she likes, and she does not need her maids to wait outside. They can always come back to fetch her at a pre-determined time. I grant her the full freedom to be there by herself."

"I do not want to trouble anyone, Your Majesty, so I have decided not to-,"

"Lady Min, that will be all," Hwan cut Jay Yi off. Effectively dismissing the meeting, he stood up. "Great Aunt Dowager, I do not want any further conversation of punishment on this ridiculous pretext."

He marched to the door, stopped, and turned. Everyone was still bowing in deference. Hwan felt short on patience and suddenly found himself not caring much for the hackneyed sense of propriety that was threatening to tear Jay Yi apart.

"Lady Min, I will walk you to your Palace," Hwan said to a shocked gasp of breath around the room at the unconventional demand.

A flush stained Jay Yi's neck. The Dowager's mouth thinned.

But no one dared to say a word.

Knowing better than to argue, Jay Yi bowed to a very displeased Dowager and made her way after Hwan.

And walked straight into Eunuch Kim and Cha, their faces reddened and frozen in a strange expression of respect and acute discomfort. They deeply bowed to her, turned and promptly walked into each other, colliding. Embarrassed, they then turned and walked away from each other while Jay Yi tried hard to stop an exasperated sigh. Observing the eunuchs play out their usual antics, Hwan said mildly, "If you both manage to locate your proper positions in the line, perhaps we can proceed?"

Flabbergasted, the eunuchs fell into their positions and parted, allowing Jay Yi to join Hwan, who had appeared at the Dowager’s chambers in his full red regalia, the purveyor of all he surveyed. She had been so relieved to see him that, try as she might, she could not fully recall the punch in the gut anger she had felt only a couple of hours ago as she fell by his side.

"Are you all right?" Hwan had moved farther from their retinue, so their voices would carry to only a select few at the front of their entourage.

"Khamzahamnida, Your Majesty. You do not know how relieved I was to see you here."

A small bubble of pleasure made its way through his blood, a faint smile curving his face.

They made their way quietly through the damp pathways, the young leaves of the trees around them still shedding drops of rainwater every now and then.

"Are you still angry?"

The sudden spring rain had left behind the lingering fragrance of moist earth wafting from the ground beneath their gently synched strides, his subconscious mind picking up the fragrant surroundings negligently, his mind wholly absorbed with wondering what was happening inside the head of the woman beside him. He did not have to wait for long.

"You were correct, Your Majesty. I would have been caught," Jay Yi grasped her hands tighter under her jeogori.

Hwan swivelled his head to regard Jay Yi, caught off guard. He knew it cost her to admit that. And that, the conclusion she would reach with it, wasn't what he was looking forward to.

"As you mentioned earlier, I am sure you had already given it a thought," Hwan wanted to spare her the agony.

She shook her head. "My maids almost paid for my folly. I would have never forgiven myself for that. It is even more imperative I stay in my quarters until our marriage. This will resolve all problems."

Except that she would come into this marriage set to change how she viewed the Palace, lived and then wilt.

"Nothing happened, so rest your mind, Min Jay Yi. You do not need to change anything. I would still like to meet you," He paused, his hands clenched behind his back, his gaze earnest on her, "I need you, Jay Yi."

They were at a courtyard, with a small flight of steps down to a lower stone-lined pathway leading away from it. Just beyond the dark foliage, she could spy the outline of her detached Palace.

She stuck her chin out and looked him in the eye.

"In a few weeks, I will be neatly packaged and presented to you, Your Majesty, securely sealed and legally yours, allowing you to do your duty without compromising your principles or endangering my reputation. I will be happy, make you a good wife, and try my best to be the Queen you want me to be." Her voice was raw but resolute.

The bleak look in her eyes pierced him like a dagger, leaving behind the kind of pain that forces one to think not of the object but its effect. His one careless act threatened to change their relationship forever. As Hwan watched her disappear into her chambers, he realised it did not matter what he said or thought, how much he struggled to change her mind, or how many reassurances he gave. It was barely over two weeks, and he was already losing her bit by bit to this Palace, organically, unstoppably, like fresh water disappearing in a drain after a torrential downpour.

As he expected, Jay Yi skipped her walk the next morning, and his wait at their little room seemed longer and lonelier than usual that evening. She stayed away the following day as well.

He missed her laughter, her sparkling eyes, her mood shifts, her devotion to whatever she was doing.

He realised he was quite pathetic when it came to Jay Yi.

Hwan swung his wooden sword more forcefully than intended, breaking his opponent's sword into two. Two more soldiers came charging, and their heaves did not yield much reprieve as Hwan easily out-manoeuvred them.

"As it is, he is convinced I will never learn how to wield a sword. Min Jay Yi defeating ten soldiers is now a tale of lazy soldiers who made up stories to hide their incompetence...."

Hwan laughed to himself as Jay Yi's words floated in his mind.

He skidded to a halt, one wooden sword catching his side flank in a painful blow that he barely registered, his attention fixated on something else entirely.

An idea.

Using none of the nimble footwork she was deft at, Jay Yi clutched the wooden rod that replaced a real sword, sparring one of Master Shin's students, a mere lad barely crossing Jay Yi's head in height. She walked back, wielding the wooden shaft awkwardly, deliberately.

"What is Bin-ssi doing, Your Majesty?" remarked Kim Joo Hun, recently promoted to Royal Guardian, personal guard to Hwan when Tae Kang was not around- the man Jay Yi had wounded months ago - his eyes wide as he watched her laden footed efforts to ward off the blows from the child until a quick downward flick dislodged the stick from her hand.

Hwan narrowed his eyes. Why was she so intent on hiding her true self from everyone? She had never cared about being judged before.

People took notice of him, and a wave of murmurs travelled around the enclosed arena explicitly designated for the women and very young children of the royal court.

The bout stopped, and Eunuch So announced his presence just as Jay Yi whipped her head around and noticed him, her eyes sparkling for a moment before she remembered he was not supposed to be here, and her mouth tightened.

Customary bowings later, Hwan sauntered over to her.

"How is our future queen faring, Master Shin?"

"Bin-ssi is an exceptional student, Your Majesty. She had picked up quite a few moves in a very short period," Master Shin rattled off what he thought Hwan wanted to hear and would be fitting praise for the future Queen.

Hwan gave a sarcastic smile. "I see. How about having a bout with me, Lady Min?"

Master Shin's eyes bulged. Jay Yi stared back at him, annoyance flaring in the honeyed depth. "I can hardly dream of sparring with you, Your Majesty. As you can see, I am only beginning to learn a few moves."

"Your Majesty," interrupted Master Shin's horrified voice, "Bin-ssi cannot yet spar with anyone, especially someone like you. You might want to try her at shooting arrows; she is much better at it."

If he could, he would have guffawed. Instead, Hwan straightened to his full height with his hands behind his back. "Bring us swords, Master Shin."

The man bowed miserably, throwing a worried glance at Jay Yi before complying reluctantly.

Clad in his royal sparring dress, tall and massive, juxtaposed against Jay Yi's petite, flowy and embroidered silk-draped figure, Hwan was aware they looked ridiculous facing each other in the arena, their wooden swords pointed like beacons.

Jay Yi squinted at him, her swan-like neck straight. The pre-dusk glow glinted like a halo around her hair. Her legs were grounded about a foot apart, her body deliberately open for him to hit.

A swift lunge at her sword, and she instinctively parried. Hwan smiled. He lunged again, and she barely moved, bending back under the weight of his wooden pole. He flicked and slashed again while she just blocked. Though she worked hard to lose, Hwan knew her pride would not let him win outright, and he would not let her lose easily. She moved backwards on laden feet but managed to bring her sword up to deflect. He did not take advantage of any of the openings she gave him by her open-body stance. But there was only so long he could stretch the ridiculous charade she had set her mind to lose. Jay Yi moved her sword up, and he clanged it, only for her to move it out of the way, the arc of his sword missing her neck by inches as he pulled back at the last moment.

"Are you crazy? That could have hurt you!" Hwan hissed furiously.

Jay Yi lowered her sword and said loudly for all to hear, "You win, Your Majesty. I thank you for humouring a novice like me."

Master Shin almost ran to them. "You did very well, Bin-ssi!" He beamed with pride like a new father watching his toddler take the first sure-footed toddle across a room.

"Master Shin, please leave us alone for a moment," Hwan ordered without looking at him, his stare intense on Jay Yi's bowed head.

Jay Yi gave him a wary look.

Hwan dropped his voice so only Jay Yi could hear him. "This was only the first of a three-round bout. But I want to change some rules."

Her face arranged in obstinate lines, Jay Yi glared back at him. "I don't want to."

"You don't have a choice; it's an order."

"Please take it back. It does not become you, Your Majesty."

"Jay Yi, why are you so different inside that library and outside here in the Palace? Why does it have to be one or the other?"

"Because I don't know any other way, and I do not want to become your weakness, ever! Why do you not understand that? You forget how closely I have seen everything, and you cannot convince me otherwise."

"And all I ask from you is to trust me."

"I do," She whispered.

"Then play these two bouts with me. If you win, I will leave you alone and agree to all your conditions without another word. But if I win, you will agree to all my conditions without complaints."

"What conditions?"

"Any and all conditions, Jay Yi. But the winner will be the best of three, and you have already lost one."

"That is not fair! You did not keep these conditions earlier!"

"You should not have lost on purpose," he countered, giving her a lazy look.

A mutinous look filled her eyes. "Any condition?"

"Yes. And the rule of the fight is freestyle, with one exception - we cannot use our legs to hit."

Her eyes flared up. He was taking away her ace move. "I do not agree."

Hwan laughed. "Do you want your groom with a broken jaw on your wedding day? I definitely do not want a bride with a cracked rib."

"Do you not think we are too skilled to let that happen?"

"All right, you can use it. I will refrain. I already have an advantage of height and strength over you, plus I am already ahead in the challenge, so it's only fair."

Jay Yi pursed her lips, giving it a thought. "All right, I agree."

Summoning his iron-clad will, Hwan suppressed his smile. Jay Yi had already forgotten her pretence of being a novice.

To lure her into his bait, Hwan had put everything precious to bet on one fact - Jay Yi hated to lose.