With You Again (-너와 다시-)

How To Become A Crown Princess ❀

"Good morning, Crown Princess," Senior Court Lady Eun-Ju greeted her once she came into Mae-In's room.

It was early morning and Mae-In had red and puffy eyes as she got to sleep hardly for two hours. Even though she grew familiar with her room, she couldn't sleep at all last night. She was anxious about her classes. Now, she was sitting and dozing off.

"Good Morning Senior Court Lady Eun-Ju..." Mae-In nodded awkwardly before covering her mouth to prevent her from yawning.

"Listen, today is your first class. I will be taking your classes to teach you how to be the Crown Princess of Joseon, the most important woman after the Queen Dowager and the Queen. But today, we have to end early. I hope you know that the Grand Queen Dowager is receiving visitors from today and the Royal family will be her first visitors," Senior Court Lady Eun-Ju said firmly.

Mae-In's jaw dropped. She stood up in disbelief. "What?! The Grand Queen Dowager will be expecting me today?!" she cried out.

"Uh! A Crown Princess does not react like this!" Senior Court Lady Eun-Ju's eyes widened and her jaw tightened. She directed a finger downwards and Mae-In sat down again.

"So, when am I going to visit Her Royal Highness today?" Mae-In asked quietly.

"In about an hour. Her Royal Highness will disperse you early since she has proposed to plan the arrangements for the Young Prince's and the Crown Prince's birthday," Lady Eun-Ju informed her.

"The Princes' birthdays? When?" Mae-In smiled.

"In about three to four weeks, respectively," Senior Court Lady Eun-Ju said.

"Wow! That's nice!" Mae-In's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Put that aside for now, Your Highness! We'll start. Before visiting the Grand Queen Dowager, you must at least learn the basics," the lady sat down in front of Mae-In.

The tender sunlight fell on the floor of the room making it golden.

There was a light breeze in the air indicating the arrival of spring. There was a soft sound of water flowing and wind chimes dancing with the light breeze.

It all felt very nice to Mae-In. Everything except the fact that she had to balance three books on her head to walk and sit properly.

"The books are going to fall!" Court Lady Eun-Ju snapped at her.

Mae-In had three books on top of her head and if she made a wrong move, all of them would fall and she would dissatisfy her teacher. She was made to do this to maintain her posture while sitting and walking.
It reminded her of those horrible classes she took when she was still in her house.

She had her mother snap at her whenever she made a wrong move or scowled at her laughing sisters. Her teacher would observe her motions and would direct her to maintain elegance. She used to collapse dramatically and whine for food. She also remembered when she used to skip classes by running and sneaking out of home and because of that, her brother gave her a mocking name. She also remembered her father who used to bring her gifts and save her from her angry mother. All of these memories made her realise how much she missed her home... It has been three weeks already since she left home. And now, it felt like years to her.

"Crown Princess!" Court Lady Eun-Ju's voice startled Mae-In. Her head felt light as she realised the books had fallen from the top of her head.

"Lady Eun-Ju... I am sorry!" she apologised.

"You get a punishment for that. You'll have to do this unless you perfect this skill," Court Lady Eun-Ju said.

Mae-In had no choice but to follow her teacher's orders. So for the following hour, she continued with her lesson on "walking with perfect posture" and finally mastered the skill.