Early the following morning, Seorin was brushing her hair when her chamber door opened.
Immediately a strong sweet perfume filled her chamber. She didn't need to turn around to know it was her little sister Park Sang-Hee.
Sang-Hee was eighteen years old, two years younger than her. Seorin always thought her little sister was a rare beauty.
Sang-Hee's skin was white and delicately fragile, tiny waist, long slender legs, and looked beautiful wearing any dress. Also, Sang-Hee was someone who knew how to wear makeup which enhanced Sang-Hee's naturally beautiful face.
The first time Seorin met Sang-Hee, she thought Park Sang-Hee was the epitome of beauty in the kingdom and she had predicted Sang-Hee's fate correctly.
Seorin predicted Sang-Hee's beauty couldn't be appreciated intimately by the emperor who was at an advanced age but Sang-Hee's beauty was mainly reserved for the crown prince.
The crown prince marrying the prime minister's golden daughter secured the crown prince's future and their marriage benefited both their families. The only obstacle in their marriage was the golden daughter's older sister, herself. She smiled grudgingly while the golden daughter walked toward her.
"Unnie, can you dress quicker?" Sang-Hee asked impatiently. "I waited for unnie for half a day!"
Seorin turned her head around and saw Sang-Hee frowning, chin raised, and wearing an expensive and elegant hanbok.
"Sang Hee~ah, it's been hard on you," Seorin said.
Sang-Hee pouted and looked condescending at Seorin. God knows how much she wished her unnie didn't exist to delay her becoming the crown prince's consort.
Sang-Hee wore bright red silk hanbok. She didn't hesitate to pick up the hideous and cheap blue cotton hanbok.
"Unnie, are you wearing this ugly to death hanbok?" Sang-Hee asked. "Aren't you scared you'll be embarrassed?" She grabbed the hanbok her maid held and passed it to Seorin. "Unnie, wear this, it's new. I haven't worn it before."
Seorin accepted the dress and forced a smile. "Thank you, Sang Hee~ah."
Sang-Hee sneered and left Seorin's chamber. If Park Sang Hee didn't want at least one man to be attracted to her at the banquet then Sang-Hee would never give such an expensive and beautiful hanbok to her.
Seorin attended many banquets in the palace, the banquets were always the same. The elders would congregate in the palace banquet hall and the younger generation would use it as an opportunity to be entertained by musicians and dancers while exchanging secret loving glances with the person of their heart or even trying to propose their love to them.
After the banquet ended the elders disappeared and the younger generation entertained themselves in the palace gardens. The younger generation would meet up and indulge in gossip wholeheartedly, it was a common pastime.
Seorin was sheltered by the roof of the pavilion from the glaring sunlight. She sat quietly and smiled slyly. Her favorite time during palace visits was when the 'gentle' young men and ladies amused her with their secret loving glances exchanged. She loves to trace what is untraceable...
"Unnie, don't think to sit here in that state!" Sang-Hee scolded scornfully. "If you see a man that you're attracted to then quickly go to him. I hate Unnie's feigned innocence the most!"
Seorin's head suddenly ached and she sighed, her haughty little sister always love to scold others.
Sang-Hee was about to lecture Seorin more when she saw someone familiar walking past them.
"Unnie, don't forget the purpose of you being here today," Sang-Hee warned and hurriedly followed the familiar person.
Seorin smiled slyly, another young pair was starting their way to become a lovely couple in near future. She had a feeling that maybe that familiar person wants to propose to her sister today.
Seorin wasn't foolish enough to believe that her feeling of love that had been dead for eighteen years would suddenly bloom. All she needed to do was see is the way the young couples in the palace gardens were shyly disclosing their affection and love without words.
Everyone who attended the banquet at the palace knew of her situation, which was why they didn't waste their time with her.
To maintain her elegant and docile image she wouldn't approach a man first.
After her little sister left the pavilion, she pulled out a wine gourd and slowly drank comfortably and happily. Suddenly she saw a familiar man who intently stare at her within a close distance and her happy smile disappeared.
"Hey!!" she said softly. "You! Why are you watching me like that!!"
Something suddenly clicked in her mind, she hurriedly stood and escaped the pavilion. The further she was away from that boy the better otherwise her elegant and docile image would be burned within a few hours.
"But that prankish boy was supposed to be in Southern Busan, why did he suddenly return to Hanyang (modern-day Seoul) ?" she mumbled softly.
Kim Taehyung saw a familiar figure flee and hesitated for a bit before following suit.
Seorin strode past the path of peach blossom trees while looking out in all directions for signs of anyone. Even in her paranoid state, she couldn't neglect her gentle and docile image.
She stopped in front of a fake rock mountain and realized she didn't know how long she walked for. She thought no one could see her in such a secluded area and sat down to think about why the prankish boy returned to the imperial city.
She remembered the encounter with that boy and took a deep breath. She understood if she have to maintain her image she must have to behave very gently.
She hurriedly left that place, cause she suddenly realized that the place is too quiet and secluded that can give people the wrong idea at any time if they accidentally notice her there. Her eyes were looking at the clear sky, and now she really want to avoid the boy in every way possible.
"It would be a shame to accidentally ruin such a beautiful life of mine by spreading rumors unintentionally, and I must have to maintain my outer image" she mumbled softly.
She didn't look where she was walking and bumped into someone. She raised her head and saw a familiar face smiling smugly. She had wanted to open her mouth, but Kim Taehyung quickly covered her mouth and dragged her to another part of the palace gardens.
"Orabeoni, let go of me!" Seorin said.
Kim Taehyung looked at Seorin's angry face and smiled. "In the past, I said the young mistress of the Park household couldn't possibly be a gentle and docile young lady. In my memories, she is a little tigress with sharp teeth and claws. Wait, she isn't a little tigress anymore, she's an old tigress now."
Seorin looked at Kim Taehyung's mocking face and suppressed her desire to attack him.
"But I didn't expect you to secretly wait here for someone special," Kim Taehyung teased and laughed showing his boxy smile like summer's breeze.
The faraway look in Seorin's eyes remembered that year Kim Taehyung used her as his amusement. She suppressed her anger after hearing this disgusting guess and feigned a smile. "Fifth Prince is completely wrong."
Kim Taehyung was the emperor's fifth son. He was twenty-four years old and was well known for his gentleness and kindness, which was why people called him the fifth gentle prince.
But Seorin knew clearly 'gentleness and kindness' didn't have any relation with this prankish boy. They were only used as his mask. Underneath the mask, he was a scoundrel and undisputedly the best actor in the kingdom.
"Then you must want to follow your sister, am I right?!" Kim Taehyung said with his existing smug smile.
In Garden, the crown prince who wants to propose his love to Sang-Hee saw one of his brothers and a young lady nearby and his heart panicked.
"My hyung, why are you here?" Kim Taehyung asked.
Seorin saw how quickly Kim Taehyung wipe the smug smile from his face and wore his mask and she internally cursed the expert actor.
The crown prince whose face completely shows his intention thought his older brother and the young lady weren't able to guess his intention and sighed softly. "Uh, I came here from the Palace Garden. But Tae, why are you here with a young lady?"
"I want to go to the Palace Garden, hyung~nim" Kim Taehyung lied and glanced at Seorin. "Coincidently I bumped into Lady Park who also wants to go to Palace Garden. We've been talking on our way to Palace Garden. Lady Park is indeed beautiful and witty."
Seorin felt like her intestines were pulled out of her body but she smiled. "Fifth prince is the one who is handsome and wittier than an ordinary person."
Inwardly she cursed Kim Taehyung, " Oh my God!! will he die without his deceitful and manipulative mask?"