Seorin couldn't see the intruder clearly in the dark chamber.
She panicked. A thief?! A bandit?! Too many scary thoughts appeared in her head. She quickly grabbed the extinguished candle stand from beside her bed and threw it at the intruder.
The candle stand hit the intruder's head, followed by a thud. The intruder fell to the ground.
When Seorin arrived at the Park Manor, she knew she couldn't live harmoniously with Princess Ji Hoon and Sang-Hee. She purposely chose the chamber furthest from the mother and daughter pair. But the chamber was upstairs. She rushed to the window to see if the intruder died.
Outside the chamber that was visible because of moonlight, the intruder stood below but didn't leave. The intruder whispered something incoherent.
"Miss, are you alright?" a maid asked from outside the chamber door.
Seorin finally heard what the intruder whispered, "little tigress, it's me."
Seorin didn't know what to do. Oh God! this prankish boy indeed couldn't let her live peacefully with his pranks.
Her first thought was to scream 'thief.' Afterward the guards in the Park Manor would capture the prankish boy and see his true mask. What gentleness?! What kindness?! this mischievous boy was actually a bandit that climbed through a maiden's window in the middle of the night.
"I'm alright," Seorin said reluctantly to the maid. "I was getting a cup of water, you can go back to sleep."
Her second thought was that it would be pointless for the mischievous boy to be caught. He would explain the situation to appear like the perfect gentleman, "tomorrow is my wedding day, my heart was restless and I wanted to see my betrothed. I know sneaking into her chamber is wrong, but I couldn't control how much I missed her. Prime Minister Park, please forgive me this one time.'
If her prediction became true then this boy's mask wouldn't be taken off, but help in enhancing his reputation and make him appear like a man deeply in love with his betrothed. The more she thought about his cunningness the more she wanted to attack him.
She peered outside the window and saw Taehyung begin to climb the wall into her chamber again. His movements were too swift like he often climbed into a maiden's chamber.
Half of Taehyung's body entered through the window. She quickly closed half the window to stop him from entering the chamber.
"Orabeoni, you're here?" Seorin asked softly with a mischievous smile.
Taehyung used one hand to keep the window open and his other hand passed Seorin the candle stand.
"Tomorrow is our wedding day," Taehyung said in a tone too sweet. "My heart missed you. I rolled on my bed many times and couldn't sleep. I wanted to see you."
Seorin glared at him.
"But you shouldn't reward me with a candle stand," Taehyung protested. "Look at my forehead, it's swollen. What am I going to do tomorrow?"
"What swollen ?!! whatever, you deserve it," Seorin said. "Orabeoni, you should be happy it's just a small candle stand. If it's a Jade flower vase or an incense burner then you wouldn't have a small lump on your forehead."
Taehyung frowned, Seorin continued to hold the window to stop him from entering the chamber.
"If you don't let me in I'll fall again," Taehyung said. "Then half of my body will be crippled and tomorrow's event will be canceled and then everybody will gonna blame you."
"Go ahead and fall," Seorin said and she wanted to close the other half of the window.
Taehyung's grip on the window was slipping. He quickly used both hands to hold onto the window and purposely glanced at Seorin's eye.
"You're not wearing your garments properly?" Taehyung suddenly teased.
Seorin looked down at her garments and realized she just wore her inner robe. It was the humidity's fault that she wasn't wearing any other garments besides her inner robe.
She quickly pulled her inner robe together with both hands to straighten.
Taehyung took advantage of her flustered state to enter the chamber and lay on the bed.
"Orabeoni, get off the bed!" Seorin said.
She stepped to the bed and wanted to pull him off the bed. But he laughed and rolled away from her reach on the bed.
"Miss, are you alright?" the same maid asked again from outside the chamber.
Seorin closed her mouth but Taehyung sat on the bed and pulled her onto the bed.
He hugged her and he smiled cutely.
"I dare you to scream," Taehyung whispered and blew on her left ear with his oceanic deep voice.
Seorin's face turned bright red. Luckily it was a dark night. He would mock her to death if he could see her blushing.
Unexpectedly Taehyung's beautiful hands stroked her cheek, which literally shocked her.
"Your cheek is hot," Taehyung whispered. "Are you embarrassed?"
Seorin gripped his arm and bit his hand.
"Ah!" he cried out.
The maid didn't hear her miss' response other than some strange noises and feared something bad had happened to her miss. The maid quickly pushed the chamber door open.
Taehyung reacted faster, which shocked Seorin and pulled the beaded curtains down.
The maid entered the dark chamber and she couldn't see clearly behind the beaded curtains.
"Miss are you alright?" the maid asked. "Why were there strange noises coming from your chamber?"
Seorin recovered from her shock and she glanced at Taehyung hidden on the bed next to her.
"It's nothing," Seorin said. "I was hitting a mosquito."
Seorin hit Taehyung's arm to demonstrate hitting a mosquito.
The maid was relieved her miss was alright, left the chamber, and closed the door.
"That was close," Taehyung said. "She almost going to discover me."
Seorin laughed, "Orabeoni, do you know how to be scared?'
"Of course, I'm scared," Taehyung teased. "If she discovered me on your bed then tomorrow she would spread a rumor that each time the older Lady Park felt lonely, Lady would sneak a man into her chamber in the middle of the night."
"Orabeoni, why aren't you leaving?' Seorin asked resentfully.
"Leave?" Taehyung asked. "Of course, I need to leave." He left the bed to take off his shoes and lay back on the bed. "I'll be leaving in the morning."
Seorin sat abruptly on the bed. She saw his eyes were closed and he was sleeping comfortably.
She knew it was pointless to kick him out of the chamber and she was forced to oblige to let him sleep. She laid back on the bed as far away from him as possible.
After a while, Taehyung opened his mouth. "Why didn't you run away? I came here this late to see if you had run away."
Seorin looked at him suspiciously. She didn't know if he was being honest. For every ten sentences he spoke, nine of them were lies.
"Thank you fifth prince for reminding me," Seorin said.
"It appears I can't leave anymore," Taehyung said and took off his outer robe. "Besides, starting from tomorrow night we'll be sleeping together. Tonight is a good experience for us to get used to sleeping together."
Seorin felt choked with suspicions. She pulled the blanket over her body out of fear his arms and legs would wander.
Taehyung saw her uneasiness. He smiled, the little tigress was nervous. It was amusing to tease the little tigress.
"My Tigress, are you willingly marrying me?" Taehyung asked.
Seorin opened her eyes. Although his tone sounded like he was jesting, his eyes looked serious and it was hard for her to see through him.
"How can I refuse you?" Seorin asked. She didn't want to fight with him for his amusement. Instead, she smiled and spoke in the gentlest tone. "Marrying the fifth prince is a blessing that will last for lifetimes."
Taehyung frowned. "Is that how you feel?"
"Of course," Seorin said. "Fifth prince is an intelligent and handsome man. There are too many young ladies who wish to marry you. I'm petty and I have no talents. Of course, I'm grateful, it's a miracle that I'm marrying you."
Seorin spoke smoothly enough for her words to sound convincing to other people, but he knew she was mocking him.
Taehyung laughed. "You're an expert liar."
"It's because you taught me well," Seorin said and laughed.
"You actually don't want to marry me," Taehyung said. "But, it's a pity that I was forced to marry you."
"What do you mean?" Seorin asked.
Seorin didn't expect him to be forced to marry her.
Taehyung stared at Seorin and he stopped himself from smiling. He sighed and spoke in a pitiful tone. "My hyung, the crown prince wants to marry your little sister and you're their obstacle. I was forced to be the sacrifice. I thought you marrying someone had no relation to me. But I returned to the imperial city from Southern Busan at the wrong time. In the palace, I looked in all four directions and feared that I would be the sacrifice. Indeed my fear was real and I became the sacrifice."
Taehyung looked seriously at Seorin for a while. "Think about it. You're the prime minister's daughter and in the future, your little sister will be married to the crown prince. You need to be married to someone of high social status. Before I returned to the imperial city, there wasn't anyone suitable for you and you could only choose from someone below you. But I'm back in the imperial city and it's not the same as before. Didn't you see everyone's eyes looking at me? I'm a prince with a weak status in the imperial court and you're the prime minister's daughter with a weak status in the Park household. We're a fated pair-matched by the God.'
Taehyung paused and sighed. "I was forced to marry you."
Seorin looked carefully at Taehyung. Each of his words clearly entered her ears but when it entered her heart, it made her heartache. She didn't care who she would marry and thought perhaps her marriage candidate wouldn't willingly marry her. But she didn't expect her thoughts would be voiced by the trouble maker in front of her.
"Then it must be hard for the fifth prince," Seorin said.
Seorin rolled over and her back faced Taehyung. She closed her eyes and ignored him.
Taehyung felt frustrated. He expected the little tigress would only be angry like earlier and hit him. He thought of those reasonable words to tease her. God knew that seeing her act docile made his heartache. He didn't expect she would be angry to that extent. He knew he had to quickly console her and hoped she would be easily consoled like in the past.
"I was teasing you," Taehyung confessed. "Don't think it's the truth. The moment I heard about the crown prince and your little sister's situation, I knew you would need to be married soon and I rushed from Southern Busan to return to the imperial city. You don't know how hard it was for me to leave Southern Busan, the citizens there rather die than let me go. I had to climb the wall in the middle of the night. I resorted to whipping a horse and rode all the way here. How can my little tigress marry another man? God knows how many years I waited for you to become an adult."
Seorin turned her head around and spoke through gritted teeth. "Orabeoni, will you die if you don't lie?"
Seorin heard those familiar lies too many times. In the past each time they met, he would say those sweet words to tease her. If he thought she would easily believe him like the first time he told those familiar lies to her then he was a foolish alien prince.
Taehyung rubbed his chin. "It appears I've spoken these words before. Next time I need to think of something new to say to you."
"Go into your grave!" Seorin said.
Seorin couldn't suppress her anger anymore and kicked in the direction of Taehyung's leg.
Taehyung avoided her kick and pulled her into his chest. "This is more like the real you. Will you believe me if I say I'll be honest with you in the future?"
Seorin looked at Taehyung suspiciously.
Taehyung's eyes swept over her fragile body. "Look... how I cuddle with you now. It feels like you are a little girl, who hasn't grown that much."
Seorin mentally cursed at him after hearing his cutesy words. She regretted no one came to kill him.