Crowned Prince | hendery

8: No Words

There have been no words spoken to her about his plans since his declarations the first night. They were already two weeks into their engagement, yet nothing has changed with his daily life either. They would rarely even cross paths with one another even if they stood so close. As if he was purposefully avoiding her.

"Now," her teacher, one that has taught the royal children for years, was making her sit through the lesson of the history of Hwei until she memorized it down to her bone, "who was the tenth king?"

"Huang..." She looked up at her, not entirely sure if the king that long ago shared the same surname as the current royal family.

"I would like you to look at your notes once again." The long stick that she was holding made her ten times more intimidating. Just as it was when it hit the desk of her office, though she did hit it at quite a distance.

This is what she's been doing for the two weeks that she's lived in Hwei,. In the mornings she would enjoy a simple walk in their courtyard, then she would have tea and some biscuits in the greenhouse, where Emily would often entertain her with stories of her youth in the castle. This is where she found out that Emily was similar to Julian, the crowned prince's right hand man, where her mother was a commoner, but her father was the former crowned prince. After her chit-chat with Emily she would already be too full to bother with lunch, so simply makes a change in outfit and writes letters to people who have sent them to the crowned prince. After she replies to the letters, she would then do her classes, which she dreaded the most.

"That would be all for the day," even her teacher was getting exhausted teaching such an extensive history.

"Thank you for today as well," the princess thanks her teacher.

It would be by this time of the day where she would often look out of her office window and notice that the sun has already set for the day, yet she would probably never take a glimpse of the crowned prince. The office and tea area that has been assigned to her, was rather spacious, one that was similar to the office which her mother has. It is no exaggeration to say that this space was created for a queen, or one that would be a queen.

A gentle knock interrupts her thoughts as she walks around the room grazing her hands over the furniture that she could touch. "Taeha?" The door swings open for her to see a face that she has not caught sight of since that night.

"Your highness." She stopped right in her tracks and simply stared at the ghost that was appearing in front of her.

Hendery enters the room and closes the door behind him once again. "My father, the king," as if she already didn't know who her father was, "instructed me to visit one of the counties up north, if you would like you may accompany me."

"Me?" The princess points to herself. Then in an instant she feels the bitterness grow in her. "After not seeing my face for two weeks," she turned to look at his expression and the sudden stiffening of his body was a great indication, "you walk into my office to ask me on a trip?"

"It is not that," he tries to reason out, but leaving her hanging for two weeks, how would one make enough reason to justify that, "I work a daily schedule, I have yet to create windows to allow visits to you."

"Yet here you are." Taeha sighs before walking behind her desk and sitting back on her chair. "I thought that you had a plan."

"Is this about that?"

"Of course it is!" Taeha, if she could, would've run a hand through her hair, but it was neatly prepared by Emily this afternoon. "Numerous promising words made me think that there was an ounce of possibility that I may get out of this mess."