Phases of the moon

Part 2

Yongsun sighs as she finally fends off her guards after taking some shortcuts and routes that she has discovered as she wanders around with her disguise every time she goes out of the palace. She could draw a map of the city which has been etched on her mind with years of sneaking out at her hand.

Not a second later, she feels the guilt creeping inside her for causing trouble to her guards. She knows that they'll get an earful from their superior for losing her once again. But then again, this would not happen if they were very good at doing their job. How could the Royal Guards with years of immense training and experience lose sight of a mere princess? Not that Yongsun is bragging about her skills at sneaking out but she thinks that she has a point in there.

She tries to bury the guilt away and consoles herself that she needed this momentary freedom. She needs to get away from the palace. Even for just a short while.

She needs to breathe.

And the only place where she can be free is outside the palace walls. The world beyond her prison.

Because when she steps outside, she is not Kim Yongsun, the princess of Cheon-il, and the only daughter of King Haejin. When she is outside, she is just Yongsun– a citizen of Iljo, the capital city of Cheon-il. She is just one of the many children of the Sun.

She wears a dull hanbok that she took from Wheein, her handmaiden. She also didn't forget to take some silver in case she finds something she wants to buy. Forgetting these two basic things would be a rookie mistake– one that she has committed when she first set foot outside the walls after her guards lost sight of her when she hid away from them and crawled towards the small hole on the wall that she had discovered with Wheein.

How would a young child such as her know that only the noblemen and women were allowed to wear silken and colorful clothing? She also didn't know that she has to give something in return to the merchants when she asked for an apple from them. None of her teachers taught her anything like that. Right at that moment, she knew that she still has a lot to learn— things that are beyond and more than what her mentors could teach her inside the palace, however, before she could even do that, her first adventure outside the palace was immediately cut-short as the Royal Guards found her which by the way was an easy task for the princess stood out among the crowd like a sore thumb.

She was heavily scolded, one that she has already expected even before she stepped outside the palace. You should not go outside the palace without your guards, princess! her former handmaiden chided, her wrinkles prominent because of her age. Then, is it alright to go out as long as they are with me?, she asked her handmaiden who she also sees as her mother-figure, only to say No at her.

She doesn't understand why they were so persistent in keeping her inside the walls.

"It's dangerous," Wheein once said to her when she asked her, "It's because you are important to Cheon-il. You are the princess and the King couldn't afford to lose his only daughter,"

She asked her father countless times and her father would reply a firm no to all of her requests.

There is nothing to see outside, child. Tell me what you want and I'll give it to you instead, her father replied but all Yongsun could think of is that the only thing that she wants is to go outside and mingle with the common folk.

"I'll become the strongest soldier in Cheon-il so that I'll be able to protect you," a young Joon promised her so that he could accompany her outside once he has proven to be reliable and capable to protect the princess.

"Promise?" upon hearing his words, Yongsun perks up after crying, tears long forgotten with his promise.

"Promise," he smiles as he pats his adorable childhood friend.