Forever It's You (It's You Series #2)

24 ✽ Inspection

Overnight, the infamous Crown Princess went from a hardworking to a lazy princess.

The King had told her to act like an ignorant princess, but did he forget who she was? How difficult was it for her to revert to her old ways? All she simply needed to do was to stow away her writing materials and turn back into her extremely cheeky self. The last step was to announce herself ceasing all her lessons from today onwards.

Any persuasion or negotiation would no longer work on her.

Through the ajar window, the sun rose above the horizon, spilling warm light through the small gap and into her room. As the morning drum resounded through the palace, a sleepy Eun-bi shot up in her bed, blinking her bleary eyes.

She groaned when she realised she could have slept more. Despite how tired she was, weeks of her training as a princess had her body grown used to waking up early.

When remembering her supposedly renewed goal of living a carefree life in the palace, she flopped back onto her bed and pulled her covers over her head. Hardly a minute later, she began snoring away like a bird whistler, oblivious to what was happening in the world.

But not her court ladies, their anxieties peaking.

They tried to call her awake, shake her, but it didn't work. They enticed her with treats and begged her to leave her bed.

However, Eun-bi snored and remained unmovable as a rock. Even when Court Lady Kim hollered in her ears that the Queen Dowager was visiting her bedchamber—which turned out to be a fat lie—Eun-bi barely bulged.

This left them with their last resort; they put her in proper clothes, placed her on a sedan chair and successfully carried her off to her class. Her head lolled to the back as she dozed away, but the heaving rocking bumped her head against the sides of the sedan, jolting her wide awake.

During class, they forced her to recite lines, but she deliberately forgot everything that they had taught her. It was much more enjoyable to draw circles and animal characters on her paper, or even better, seeing the court ladies' exasperated faces.

"This is atrocious, Your Highness!" The booming voice belonged to none other than Senior Court Lady Yi. "Your behaviour is getting unacceptable!"

Drawing herself closer like death reaper himself, her piercing gaze levelled on Eun-bi.

Her voice, however, came out softer than she expected. "What happened to you? Is something troubling you lately?"

Eun-bi shrugged and pulled out a fried pancake from her little pouch, munching happily despite the rising tension in the room. "I guess I've come to terms that I'm not good at studies and never will be. So why should I study harder? Everyone in the palace knows that I'm a good-for-nothing."

Senior Court Lady Yi fumed and placed her hands on her hips. "Why would you think that way? Which fools have been criticising you behind your back?"

"Well... Some people?"

Senior Court Lady Yi frowned deeply. "Haven't you been working hard lately? Why are you stopping now just because of a few peasants running their mouths off about you?" she sighed, and her eyes narrowed into her hands. "And... Stop eating like a three-year-old child! You're dirtying your hands."

Her sudden kindness surprised Eun-bi. Was she having a dream? Had she imagined everything? Considering how cold-hearted Senior Court Lady Yi often was, this must have been a slip of the tongue.

"It's delicious." Eun-bi grinned and offered her food pouch. "Would you like to try some, too?"

Lips pursed, Senior Court Lady Yi shook her head wordlessly, turned on her heels and left. It left a strange awkwardness in the air as she didn't unleash her usual biting remarks.