The Burden of the Crown and the Echo of Silence
Years drifted by, and their paths diverged as if Fate intended for each to build a private world, far removed from the shared clamor of childhood.
In the heart of the capital, De Lan matured into the expected sovereign, a man of commanding presence. His life became a rigorous slate of political lessons, martial arts, and equestrian training. He was not merely a Prince he was the "Darling of the Palace". Everyone surrounded him with encouragement, and his parents saw in him the future pride of the realm. Even the Queen Mother now looked upon no one but him. De Lan grew up besieged by love and responsibility, walking the palace corridors that were now his domain. Yet, amidst the roaring cheers of admiration, he occasionally found himself missing the one voice that had once dared to defy him.
Rebellious
On the other side of the kingdom, another soul breathed the air of freedom.
For Jo Ri, her departure from the palace had felt less like an exile and more like an "emancipation" from a gilded prison. In her new city, where the walls were low and hearts were simple, Jo Ri soared like a bird that had finally found its forest. She would wander through the vibrant, colorful markets and visit the House of Knowledge not to study, but to pass through her favorite garden where a swing always awaited her.
It was there that Han Ji entered her life, the friend who watched her joy from afar and stood behind her, pushing her swing toward the heavens. Jo Ri cared little for history books or the rigid etiquette of courts instead, she poured her soul into vibrant paintings that pulsed with life, mastering the brush until art became her private language.
Together with Han Ji, she would escape the tedious lectures, the two of them racing through open fields and laughing at the ancient constraints of tradition. Jo Ri made a solemn vow to herself:
I shall never learn anything that would make me a princess I will never return to that prison again.
The Departure of Safety
The days of absolute freedom did not endure for long. Death revisited their home when Jo Ri was but nine years old. Her father, Master Sul Ma, passed away the tender-hearted man whose heart never knew how to say "no" to her. With his passing, the light that illuminated her small world was extinguished.
Driven by a haunting nostalgia, Jo Ri began to slip into his abandoned study. She would open his books, not out of a love for learning, but to inhale the scent of him still clinging to the pages, and to reclaim the memories of his voice reading to her when she was a small child. Thus, in a way she had never planned, knowledge began to seep into her mind. She learned, despite herself, everything she had once rejected at the House of Knowledge.
Winds that Break and Forge
But the winds of Fate were fierce illness burdened her mother's frail frame, and soon Jo Ri found herself facing a bitter reality. Her brush ceased its dancing across the canvases, replaced instead by the "needle and thread". She began to spend her nights sewing and embroidering to provide for her mother, and her days cooking and attending to the house. The rebellious child had become a patient "matriarch", carrying mountains of responsibility upon her young shoulders.
The "swing" remained her only lingering thread to the world of freedom. She would visit it whenever the world felt too small, swinging high to fly away from her worries, if only for a few moments. Yet, even this small sanctuary grew desolate her friend Han Ji had vanished after his parents sent him to study in the capital.
Jo Ri found herself utterly alone, drowning in endless duties, until the day came when she could no longer find even a moment to glance toward her swing. The palace had forgotten Jo Ri, and it seemed that Jo Ri, too, had forgotten herself.
Lured into the Lion's Den
Years swept by, and De Lan and Jo Ri remained like parallel lines that never cross he was drowning in the prestige of governance and responsibility, while she was submerged in the struggle of life and domestic duties. However, when Prince De Lan reached the spring of his seventeenth year, Queen Lee Yan decided the time had come to full fill the ancient covenant made beneath the moonlight.
The Palace issued a royal decree summoning the daughters of noble families to compete for the title of "Crown Princess". Naturally, the name "Jo Ri" topped the Queen's private list.
Jo Ri knew nothing of the scheme. Because she had sworn never to return to that gilded prison, a "ruse" was necessary to draw her back. Utilizing her cunning, the Queen sent word to her sister's home claiming she was gravely ill and in desperate need of her niece's company. Under the weight of her mother's fears and pleas, Jo Ri found herself yielding to the command.
It will be a fleeting visit
Jo Ri told herself as she packed her meager belongings.
I will check on my aunt and return to my freedom at once.
She did not know that this journey was a one-way ticket. She did not know that behind the towering palace walls, a young "lion" lay in wait, and that her aunt's only "illness" was a burning desire to see the covenant fulfilled.
The Final Farewell and the Fierce Competition
Before her carriage crossed the city limits, Jo Ri asked the driver to stop for a moment. She gazed through the window toward her distant "swing," which appeared lonely and pale under the daylight. She bid it a silent farewell, a lump forming in her throat deep within her soul, she felt that her feet would never touch that ground again as if this swing were the last thread binding her to her days of untamed childhood. She quickly brushed the thought aside despite the weight pressing on her heart and signaled the driver to press on toward an unknown destiny.
When the carriage finally pulled up before the massive palace gates, a cold shiver ran through Jo Ri's body. She looked up at the towering walls she had long detested and realized, too late, that she had not come to visit the sick. Instead, she had been carefully lured into the "Lion's Den," where trials awaited her trials, she would not be able to flee this time.
A Meeting Under the Shadows of Seduction
However, someone had reached the palace before Jo Ri the stunning Mi Fa. The moment she stepped out of her carriage, her feet clad in shoes adorned with the finest embroidery, it was as if Fate intended for her to arrive early and seize the first moment. As she disembarked in her full elegance, Crown Prince De Lan was returning from a hunting trip, standing tall upon his horse, preceded by his aura of majesty and covered in the dust of the wild.
Breaths caught as their eyes met. De Lan was struck by her breathtaking beauty and her features, which seemed as though they were carved from marble. Mi Fa bowed her head with a practiced modesty that only heightened her allure. De Lan dismounted and approached her with a prince's curiosity, asking in a resonant voice:
Are you here for the competition to choose the Prince's bride?
She nodded in affirmation, lowering her gaze. De Lan smiled and said:
Come, I shall lead you myself to the testing hall where the competition begins.
The False Hesitation
Mi Fa took a step back, feigning fear and hesitation, and asked him in a soft, melodic voice that caressed the ears:
.. does the law allow me to follow you?
He replied with pride and a touch of vanity:
Of course. Follow me.
De Lan led her through the opulent corridors of the palace. Upon reaching the entrance of the Royal Garden, he stopped abruptly as if a cherished memory had suddenly struck him. He turned to her and said:
Before we head to the hall, I shall show you a secret hide away place you can make your private sanctuary if you ever feel troubled here.
Mi Fa hesitated for a moment, but she caught sight of an army of servants following him from a distance, and she realized then that this young man was no mere passerby, but a figure of overwhelming influence. They entered the garden, which was redolent with the scent of rare blooms. De Lan stood amidst the beauty and asked boastfully:
What do you think of this place?
De Lan was trying to dazzle her, never realizing that this very spot held the fingerprints of another girl, A girl he once carried on his back while she sang to him through a pitch-black night.
Heartbeats Behind the Bridge
The garden was like a forgotten paradise flowers were strewn in every corner like a vibrant painting, and a wide waterway flowed serenely, reflecting the azure sky, while dense trees embraced the sanctuary with their lush shadows. But the true beauty lay there... in that wooden bridge leading to a small island at the center of the lake, where a giant tree stood, its roots striking deep into the earth, sheltering with its majestic presence all who sought refuge beneath it.
Mi Fa was dazzled by this magic, and for the first time, a delicate and genuine smile crept onto her lips. With that smile, Crown Prince De Lan felt something strange happening in his chest his heart quickened, as if the beauty of the place had doubled simply by being reflected in her eyes.
Suddenly, the silence was pierced by the voice of a herald from afar:
Your Royal Highness, the Queen requests your presence in her palace immediately!
Mi Fa's smile vanished, replaced by sudden shock her features dimmed, and she bowed her head in shame and confusion as she realized the identity of the young man standing before her. De Lan smiled calmly, as if the title only added to his confidence, and said in a low voice:
Do not worry, I shall see you soon...?
He paused, waiting for her answer.
She replied with words as soft as falling dew:
My name is Mi Fa, daughter of the Minister of Military Affairs.
De Lan repeated it after her, as if carving the name into his memory:
Mi Fa, I shall remember you well, Mi Fa.
She bid him farewell with a radiant smile that took his breath away. De Lan left the place feeling his pulse racing, realizing at that moment that the arrow had struck his heart, and that he had fallen into the snares of admiration for this girl he met at the threshold of destiny.