Part 2- The Encounter

While others were too preoccupied to notice; Hye-ri's curiosity got the best of her and so, she sneaked out of her aunt's quarter to go out and explore the huge Imperial Palace.

Having already been to the Imperial Palace quite a few times when she was paying Queen Jisoo a visit with her mother; the young girl was confident that she won't get lost there.

What she didn't know was that she had only visited her aunt's part of the palace till now. Hye-ri didn't factor in that the Imperial Palace was huge and that it was impossible for a seven-year old to not get lost there.

She somehow ended up in a big green garden with beautiful bushes filled with colorful flowers.

Unbeknownst to her, she had landed up in the young princes' palace.

There was a big tree in the garden, near the palace walls and when Hye-ri stepped closer to get a better look; she saw that a young boy, curled up in a ball; was sitting there under the tree with his head downcast.

As she got closer to the tree, she could hear low sniffles. He slightly lifted his head suddenly and wiped his running nose by his sleeves. He was wearing mourning robes like Hye-ri. Everyone was wearing them that day; the eldest prince of the kingdom had died after all.

He hadn't noticed Hye-ri's presence till she spoke up,

"Gross! That's bad manners, wiping your nose with your sleeve. Eww!" she shuddered with disgust and scrunched her nose at the young boy.

"Huh?" the boy now completely lifted his head up, startled. His red puffy eyes were wide with surprise when he saw a girl his age standing before him.

"W-who a-are y-you?" he demanded in a croaky voice, hoarse from crying. He stood up from his sitting position slowly. He was an inch or two shorter than Hye-ri.

Hye-ri stared at the boy for a few seconds, then she did something which was totally out of character for her as she never liked to share her stuff with anyone, not even her beloved brothers or her friends,

"Here. Young-ja always tells me to carry one with me at all times." She simply handed him her embroidered silk handkerchief.

Even though she didn't like to share her stuff, she was happy to get rid of her handkerchief-it meant that there would be more room in her pockets now and that she could stuff a lot more pebbles which she collected from everywhere she went; much to her mother's chagrin and constant vexation.

The boy eyed it suspiciously for long time, debating where to take it or not. Hye-ri sighed at him loudly,

"Your nose is still running." She pointed at it.

"Oh no!" he snatched the handkerchief from her hastily and wiped his nose. Then he looked up at her and mumbled an almost inaudible "Thank you.", his pride too hurt to say it loudly.

"What did you say?" she asked, her brows knitting together in confusion.

"By the way," he demanded defensively and eyed her with distrust, "who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that! This is my aunt's residence you know." Hye-ri bragged, expecting the boy to be shocked and start apologizing to her for his rude tone but instead he narrowed his eyes and said,

"No way! This is my residence, I live here!"

"Liar." Hye-ri jeered at him, not believing his claim.

"How dare you call me a liar? Do you even know what will happen to you if-" he glared at her who interrupted him midsentence,

"Fibber! My aunt lives here."

"I've never seen this 'aunt' of yours." He crossed his arms across his chest and scowled at her who glowered at him in return and with a haughty toss of her head exclaimed,

"You wouldn't have; she's a very ... very ..." Hye-ri racked her brain to remember the word she wanted to say but couldn't remember it. She regretted not paying enough attention to her lessons.

At that moment, both children heard the sound of footsteps heading their way and turned their heads to see the figure of an older boy heading their way. He looked around ten or eleven years old but something in his expression made him look more mature than his age.

The incoming boy was accompanied by a few palace servants and an eunuch but they all stood a respectable distance away from him.

"Where have you been? Everyone in the palace was looking for you." was the first thing the older boy uttered when he stopped in front of the duo, with an annoyed look on his face.

One could already make out that both the boys would look very handsome in a few years and have a lot of admirers vying for their attention.

When the older boy noticed that the other boy wasn't alone, he furrowed his brows at the girl who he had never seen before standing in front of him.

Meanwhile, the boy next to Hye-ri spoke up,

"I'm so sorry for worrying everyone hyeong." The boy bowed his head at his older brother in apology.

"Who are you?" the elder boy repeated his younger brother's words from earlier but in a more gentlemanly tone.

"Hyeong, she insists that this is her aunt's residence. Can you believe it?! She is surely mad!" the younger boy complained to his brother.

"Mad?! You are the mad one! Ill-mannered too- you cry and wipe your nose with your robes!" Hye-ri exclaimed arrogantly.

"How dare you! Hyeong!" the young boy whined and turned towards his older brother. Hye-ri rolled her eyes at the former which caused him to glower at her and say,

"I shall ask my father to have you beheaded, you silly girl!"

Hye-ri scoffed at his proclamation and said,

"As if! My uncle is the most powerful person in Goryeo. He's-" but before she could finish, the older boy interceded,

"Hush both of you!" he said that in such in firm manner that even Hye-ri fell silent and stopped mid sentence.

She felt a bit intimidated by the older boy- he was taller than her and even looked taller than her older brother who was twelve and he had a very stony and serious face. Not to mention that he had an unapproachable and intimidating aura.

Then in a softer and gentler tone than his previous brusque and imperative one he asked Hye-ri,

"May I know your name little girl?"

"Don't call me a 'little girl'! I'm Kim Hye-ri, who are you?" she narrowed her eyes at him, irked with the fact that he had called her a little girl.

"How dare you talk to us in that tone?! Hyeong, you heard her rude tone too, didn't you?! We should order the palace guards to throw her in a cell in the dungeons." The boy next to Hye-ri flushed red with anger.

"You should go now; the funeral rites are to begin very soon." The older brother commanded, ignoring his brother's whining.

"But -"

"You should get going. Now." his authoritative words dismissed the latter's protests.

The younger boy had no choice but to listen to his brother. With a sulky pout directed at his elder brother and one last glare at Hye-ri, he stomped away and some of the palace servants present nearby scurried after him hurriedly.

Hye-ri rolled her eyes at the retreating figure and muttered under her breath,

"How impedent!"

"It's 'impudent' not 'impedent'." she looked up when the older boy corrected her.

It seemed as if he was having a hard time controlling the corners of his mouth which were twitching. He was amused at her expense.

An embarrassed look crossed Hye-ri's face.

"Young miss! My lady, your mother, is looking everywhere for you, young miss."

It was one of her mother's maids to the garden; she had finally found her 'young miss'. She was breathless from running around, searching for Hye-ri.

Hye-ri knew that there was no doubt that she would be punished, not to mention lectured for hours by her mother and even Young-ja if she was unlucky enough, for wandering off in the palace alone.

"Please don't tell my mother that I was wandering around. Tell her that I was with my brother." She pleaded with the maid who smiled at the child's request and nodded.

"Of course, miss. But you must come with me at once."

'I'm so lucky that one of the good maids found me. I'd surely be dead by now if Young-ja had found me.' The girl thought and sighed in relief.

Someone chuckled a bit at their exchange but it was too low for the two to make out. By the time the maid noticed the boy standing there, he had already rearranged his expression.

She recognized him - she had been to the Imperial Palace before, running an errand for Hye-ri's mother by delivering a letter addressed to Queen Jisoo; and thus, she had seen the prince before.

So, she bowed in front of him at once,

"Your Highness! Please pardon my young miss for intruding, I deeply apologize for her grave mistake."

The prince nodded at the maid and politely said,

"It's okay, no harm done."

Hye-ri had already started walking away, scared of the reprimands that she was bound to receive from her mother shortly; and the maid rushed after her to lead the way back.

Meanwhile the ten-year-old prince watched them leave, his mind filled with question about the girl he had just encountered.

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A few months that bled into an year slowly passed after the death of the Crown Prince. Queen Jisoo rarely left her part of the palace following his death. Hye-ri's mother paid her frequent visits to try and ease the sorrow of her queen and sister-in-law, who was also her childhood friend.

The Queen stopped attending the Royal Inner Court gatherings or any other social ones and rarely uttered a word for weeks. She didn't eat much, and the dark circles under her eyes was proof of the fact that sleep evaded her too.

Due to her negligence towards her duties as the Primary Queen of Goryeo; soon the king's second wife and Prince Wang Won's mother took over the Royal Inner Court.

Concubine Ok; the mother of Prince Wang Tae also gained considerable influence than her already growing one due to the fact that the king favored her; and the tussle for power between the two women escalated more than ever as the years went by.

Anyone could make out that Queen Jisoo wasn't the same as before. She had succumbed to her immense grief and what was left was only a shell of her old self.

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The Kim estate spanned many acres of land and had beautiful gardens and a huge courtyard in which Hye-ri loved to play and run around all day long with her friends and sometimes her elder brothers.

One fine morning, she was playing tag with the children of the household servants as usual, when she saw her second brother, Ji-hyuk; walking towards her, accompanied two other boys.

As they drew nearer, one of the newcomers seemed to recognize her. He gasped in surprise when she stopped chasing others who were playing with her and ran up to greet her brother,

"Orabeoni!" Hye-ri stopped in front of the trio and it was then that she got a good look at her brother's companions and recognized them as well.

"You!" both she and the young boy or rather, the prince pointed a finger at each other accusingly, their eyes widening.

"Do you know Prince Wang Won and Prince Wang Tae, Hye-ri?" her brother raised his eyebrows at them.

"We saw her in the palace once." The taller prince spoke up. He looked ever-so stoic as always, just like the day Hye-ri had met him.

"Prince? Him?" Hye-ri's chocolate brown orbs were as wide as saucers now.

"Yah, Kim Hye-ri! Don't be rude, they are our guests, not to mention the royal princes. Apologize to Prince Won." Ji-hyuk admonished his favorite sibling.

"Oraboeni-" she objected petulantly but shut up at once when she saw her brother's stern look.

"My apologizes, your highness." she stressed on the last two words purposefully and bowed reluctantly.

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Hye-ri's eldest brother, Kim Baek-ah had joined the trio and they were playing a football match while Hye-ri was watching the boys play with other servants' children.

She was sitting under the shade of a huge tree in the garden where they all were currently playing, cheering her brothers on. She didn't forget to give Wang Won a glare from time to time though.

"He thinks he's 'oh-so-great'. Hmph!" huffed Hye-ri, who being the pampered sole girl , not to mention the youngest too; of her family wan't used to anyone telling her to do or not to do something.

And when that stupid prince had rudely exclaimed that she should "go and do whatever girls do, so that they could play peacefully"; she hadn't been exactly thrilled with his words to say the least. But she couldn't just insult her brother's guest so she kept her mouth shut.

She sat there and watched the game curiously, the dolls which her maids had brought for her to play with, lying in her lap, forgotten completely.

Hye-ri felt immense satisfaction and pride when her brothers won the game against the royal princes and rushed towards them to congratulate them and rub salt on the prince's wounds.

Prince Won caught her smug smile and glared at her while the elder prince politely congratulated the Kim brothers with good sportsmanship.

'He's obviously a sore loser.' Hye-ri thought and stuck out her tongue at him provokingly.

If her mother had seen her do so, Hye-ri would've surely gotten an earful from her and then some for her "unladylike behavior."

"You!" the young prince called out crossly, his whole face red with anger.

"Why, you're slower than a girl! Maybe that's why you lost the match dear prince!" she spurred him on and continued mocking ad teasing him.

"Wait, you just wait. Come here!" the Wang Won chased the quick girl all around the garden while she continued taunting him and the other three boys watched them bicker with amusement painted on their faces.

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A/N

Royal Inner Court is for the royal women in the palace-mainly the king's wives i.e. his Royal Noble Consorts or Queens and also the Imperial Concubines.