Rawon sat in the training room, wearing a hanbok, listening to the tsunami of instructions being thrown her way. She sighed every now and then, hoping for the court ladies to stop tormenting her, but to no avail. The court lady of the Queen herself was overseeing the training, making it more difficult for Rawon to find a way out. The lady was peculiar- short and slim like a stick, with fox eyes, a tightly ties bun, pulling her forehead back even further. She bore a stern and conniving expression, which Rawon understood immediately- she disapproved of her. Only if everyone else did the same, she wouldn't be sitting here. Rawon slouched a bit, eliciting a throat sound from the court lady, which made her sit erect again. It was hurting her back now.

Rawon kept looking at the clock, but the hands of the clock seem to be frozen. The instructions were falling on deaf ears for sure, since Rawon couldn't register a single word. Her stomach was growling. She had enough. She stood up abruptly and looked at everyone in the eyes. With a determined tone, she smirked and said, "I am hungry. I need a break."

Without waiting for anyone's response, since permission she needed one, she walked out of the room, without caring about the fact that her walk was too casual for a hanbok. She opened the door and found Jin standing right outside, not dressed in a jeans and full-sleeved t-shirt. "Omen." she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Jin exclaimed. He hoped she had not said what he had actually heard. Omen? He was a good one for sure, unless Rawon thought differently.

"Move aside. I am hungry." Rawon said, shoving him aside and making her way out.

"Did you really...?" Jin said, rubbing his shoulder. Rawon's hands were something else. As he saw her walk away, he sighed in indignation. She was miles away from becoming a Crown Princess. At this rate, she would end up spending a year in training. No marriage meant no divorce. Their path was clear. He rushed behind her and caught.

"You seem to be faring pathetically." Jin said.

"I seem to be a bad student for etiquette." Rawon rolled her eyes.

"You seem to be a bad student for a lot many things. You need to learn how to speak respectfully."

Rawon stopped and turned to face Jin. "I was a good student of martial arts. I am still an excellent practitioner. If you want to see some of my moves, I'll be happy to show them. What do you say?"

Jin's jaw hardened. "Rawon, hear me well. I have not given you the permission to disrespect me or take me lightly. I don't need to know your opinions on me, but you will respect me from this point on."

"What if I refuse?" Rawon asked, her expression as hard as stone.

"Baek Yulhee would suffer more." Jin smirked.

Rawon balled her fist. "I won't let you touch her. Or anyone else from my team."

Jin leaned towards her. "All of it depends on how you treat me." He straightened up and smiled. He began walking away.

"Lee Jin." Rawon yelled. She stormed in his direction. "From the way things are going, I see only one of us surviving this marriage. With your survival skills, you'll die for sure."

Jin grabbed her wrist. "One order from me and you'll be dead."

"And do you think you will be spared?"

"You..." Jin gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on Rawon's wrist. Rawon winced in pain. "Mind your tongue."

Rawon freed her hand. "And so should you." She stormed off in the direction of her room.

***

Jin entered Joon's room and slammed the door shut behind him. 

Joon, sitting on his ottoman and reading a book, looked up. He kept his book aside and straightened up. "What's the matter?"

"That Ju Rawon is a headache. I can't stand her." Jin said, pacing around agitatedly.

"You have said that over a thousand times now." Joon yawned.

"She keeps insulting me as if I am some criminal. A nobody at worse."

"Go on."

"You aren't listening to me."

"I have spent my entire life listening to people. This is no different."

Jin stopped and looked at Joon. "What were you doing with her back then?"

"Just talking."

"You are my brother. You cannot be on her side. Remember that."

"Jin," Joon stood up. "How many times were you on my side that I have to be on yours?"

"Joon." Jin said, his eyes widening. He held Joon's shoulders. "We are on the same team. We need to show Rawon her place. She isn't above us."

"This is your problem, Jin. You always consider everyone below you. No wonder she dislikes you."

Jin gulped as he scanned Jin's face. "Do you like her?"

"For the first time in life, I wish I was the Crown Prince." Joon shoved Jin aside and walked out of the room.

Jin sank into the ottoman.  He balled his fist.

***

Taemin looked at the clocked which was ticking away in the eerie silence of the room. 5 pm. He looked at Yulhee, Rawon and Hocheol seated across him. Yulhee had been transferred to a no-name department, to a room at the very end of the top floor. It was a makeshift storeroom for old casefiles, and was dusty to say the least.

"All of this is driving me crazy. Why would His Majesty..." Taemin asked.

Yulhee shook her head. "I challenged his authority. I should have seen it coming. I was too complacent to not anticipate this, or something worse."

"It makes no sense for you to be removed from this case." Hocheol argued.

"I don't think they are targeting you." Rawon bore a contemplative expression. "Yulhee eonnie was the beginning. Hocheol, you, and Taemin, could be next. If my team doesn't exist anymore, I would cease to exist as a detective and be this nation's Crown Prince, however long it is for."

There was silence for a while. Taemin shook his head. "Can't you just call off the wedding?"

"Not after she signed a contract marriage this morning." Hocheol said, brushing off the suggestion.

Rawon glared at Hocheol as Taemin and Yulhee looked on in shock and disbelief.

"I thought it just happened in TV shows and comics." Taemin said.

"Your TV shows and comics are my living reality." Rawon said, appearing disturbed herself.

"How long does this go on for?" Yulhee asked.

"A year."

"And after that?"

"We go our separate ways."

"Are you sure? He might try a new trick to hold you back. I cannot bring myself to trust the Crown Prince. He pretends to be someone he is not."

"Don't we all, eonnie?" Rawon asked.

"We do. But he pretends to be nice when in reality he is someone who wouldn't blink twice before getting someone killed."

Rawon shuddered remembering Jin's words. One order from me and you'll be dead. "He might actually kill me." Rawon looked at her team.

"We won't let that happen." Hocheol assured her. "They are playing a bigger game. They assigned this case to our team. Then they forced you to marry him citing your bravery, but they don't want you to work on this case either. Finally, they transferred detective Baek. I cannot figure out what they are trying to do."

"Rawon noona," Taemin began, "Don't you have anyone on your side in the palace?"

Rawon thought for a moment. Joon came to her mind, but she couldn't take a risk. "There might be, but I need to confirm that person's honesty and sincerity first. Blind trust is harmful at the palace." Rawon sighed. "But that Lee Jin is a bastard. I should have just brought the contract down to 6 months."

Yulhee heaved. "Let's get to case at hand. What do we have on the body?"

Taemin nodded. "The identity was confirmed yesterday itself. But it seems like it is not the Anti-Monarchy Group."

"Why?" Hocheol asked.

"It doesn't fall into their pattern. Taking the cases from all those years back as examples, even if a member failed, nobody was found dead. The group is known to protect its members, unlike of course, our royals and nobles who wouldn't miss a chance to throw someone under the bus if it protects them."

"I wish the elite of this nation were like Anti-Monarchy Group." Yulhee said.

"That requires a lot of selflessness." Rawon said. "Only those who don't have much to lose can afford to be selfless. Those who keep their stomachs full by starving others can never bear losses." She turned to Taemin. "Was it a personal animosity then?"

Taemin shrugged. "It could be."

"It means the Anti-Monarchy Group card was a distraction." Hocheol said thoughtfully. "But then it was an original."

"They might have failed to destroy it." Yulhee said. She stood up. "That raises the most important question: Is the Anti-Monarchy Group back in action, or was it an attempt to create panic?"

"If it was a prank, Rawon can escape this contract marriage right away." Hocheol said.

Rawon shook her head. "All of it looked too real to be a prank. For someone to aim that well in a crowd, to calculate the location and distance, to know the target so well- all of it is research only they would do. But the question of this person's death remains." Turning to Taemin, Rawon asked, "When are the autopsy reports coming out."

"In an hour at the most. But..." Taemin let his sentence linger off. As he felt all eyes looking at him, he sighed, "The forensic expert told me that it could be drug overdose. They found some injection marks. Seems like the maggots spared some area which could be seen."

"A drug overdose would change the course of this case." Yulhee remarked.

Hocheol's phone rang. He answered it. As he listened on, his eyes widened. He ended the call and looked at his team. "Grand Prince Lee Joon was attacked. And they found an Anti-Monarchy Group card there."