Once In A Lifetime || Hwang Minhyun

Chapter 6

Date: April 1st 1887

"Are you ready to leave?" I whispered. She nodded. I walked towards the front gates to make sure no one was there and then gestured to her to walk forward.

She hurried and we both ran far away from the castle. When I was sure that there was no way that anyone was following us I stopped running and so did Princess Edlyn. We were in the middle of the forest.

"Are you sure that the queen didn't see you?" I asked her just making sure. "Yes. Father told me to leave around midnight she won't notice." She said as she was still breathing heavily.

"Did you tell Aron that we're coming tonight?" She asked me. "You two always meet at the first day of every new month. I'm sure that he won't forget." I said smiling.

After a few moments I heard ruckus so my head snapped towards that direction and it was dark I couldn't see who it was. I pulled my sword out and stood in front of the princess.

"Minhyun it's me." The voice said and I immediately knew who it was. I put my sword back and saw Aron coming out of the dark. His features were seen because of the bright moonlight.

I bowed my head down slightly showing respect. Princess Edlyn immediately ran towards him and hugged him which he hugged back immediately.

"How have you been?" He asked her smiling after they both pulled out of the hug. "I'm great and you?" I could tell that she was so happy to see her brother.

"I heard that the ball is in two months. Are you ready for it?" He asked. I took of my jacket and placed it on the ground in front of the tree trunk.

"Princess please sit down." I told her which she did and Aron sat down next to her. "Yes. I have a beautiful gown and prepared for everything but I don't feel like going. It's stressful and boring." She said sadly because she was forced to attend. Her parents prepared the ball specifically for her.

"It's just a day. Bare with it, it'll be over before you know it." He said as he patted the top of her head. "I hope you can come." She told him sadly. She knew he couldn't come but maybe deep down inside she wished that he could.

"You know I can't. I wish that I could see you all dressed up seeing my little sister all grown up but I can't. No one knows who I really am." He said as he kept stroking her head.

"You can come because no one will recognize you. They'll think that you're a guest! No one will know that you're really my brother." She said trying to find any kind of way to make it work. "The queen knows exactly who I am and she despises me deeply." He just chuckled knowing how childish she still was trying to come up with any kind of idea even though it wouldn't work. She just stayed quiet.

"I'll see you again before the ball. I have to get going now." He stood up and so did the princess. They bid their farewells and he left.

She looked sad because Aron had to go. Aron was her half brother. The king was in love with a lowly woman from the village but because he was the crown prince at that time so he was destined to be the king one day, he couldn't be with her.

His father was against the relationship that they had and killed Aron's mother and the king was forced to get married to a woman who was from a prestigious family and that was the queen who he eventually fell for. The queen hated Aron with all her guts so she tried to keep the princess far away from him.When they were kids they used to always see each other and she knew about it then thought that Aron was jealous of his sister's title so she was scared that he'd hurt her.

Little did she know that they couldn't stay apart from each other and kept meeting up once a month with the king's permission.

The first time I met Aron was when I was fifteen and he was seventeen. Around the same time I met the princess for the first time. When I first saw the princess in the gardens she talked about her big brother a lot. After a few weeks I saw him in my father's fabric store. My father told me about him but warned me several of times not to reveal his true identity.

It turns out that the king truly trusted my family and asked my father if he could find a job for his son but not any kind of job. A job that people won't even suspect him and my father immediately agreed to help.

Aron and I became very close friends. I saw him more than the princess saw her own brother. I was allowed to leave the castle after I was done with my work or if the princess is sleeping but she wasn't allowed to leave anytime she wanted to leave even though I would always be with her every time she left the castle. Maybe because the queen was so scared that she'd get hurt.

"Princess I think we should get going." I told her softly. She sighed deeply then nodded. I grabbed my jacket off of the ground and patted the dirt off.

She started walking and I walked by her side. "I'll meet up with Aron in a week or two and I'll tell him to meet up with you." I said without thinking of the consequences. Her face lit up and she couldn't maintain her excitement. "You're going to help me sneak out in a week or two?" She asked happily. I nodded my head. She looked so happy on our way back to the castle. I couldn't just watch her look sad even though it was almost impossible to let them meet up in the middle of a month.