.seventy five.
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"I made the tenth prince think we slept together and if he thinks I will bear him a child, he will surely marry me. Then I will be able to provide you with money and gifts for the rest of your life. You won't ever have to work again."
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Jangmi searched all through the village for the most attractive man she could find. She was a princess after all, and if she wanted to trick the tenth prince into thinking he had slept with her, she would need to get herself pregnant. People in the high society in those days were most interested with good looks, and she was one of them as well. If she was going to get herself pregnant, it wasn't going to be with just anyone. She was on a mission to find the most handsome man in the village, and she found him in the form of a young man who appeared to be sitting at a balcony, observing the villagers and sketching moments of their every day lives.
He was tall, fair skinned, and very handsome, someone who matched her beauty. Little was she aware that he was in reality the thirteenth prince of Goryeo. Even now, Baek-ah still went out into the village dressed as a commoner to escape the every day tasks of the village. He and Jung were the only two single princes left and his younger brother was off on the battle fields. Now he had no one to spend time with. Sometimes he visited his older brothers Han and Eun, but they had families now and it just wasn't the same. He had also always been much closer with Jung than with them anyway.
The princess walked up to the balcony and greeted the young man with a bright smile. "Hello there." She said, taking a seat across the small table from him.
He was immediately pulled out of his thoughts and the slightest hint of annoyance crossed his handsome features. But he was quick to recover and he instantly noticed that she had been the girl Jung had saved in the village almost two years back. The girl who claimed she was a princess of a fallen kingdom, just like he was. He remembered how he felt bad for her, since she was being treated badly, yet he was still regarded as a prince because his father was the king of Goryeo. He remembered how Jung mentioned to him that he had helped her because he would have wanted someone to help him, had he been in a situation like that.
"Hi..." Baek-ah replied reluctantly after a moment.
The smile on her face remained as she craned her neck to have a look at what he was drawing. It was an image of children playing a game with little crystal marbles down in the mud below. Their smiling faces reflecting their innocence and their unknowingness of the outside world. These children were happy. Unlike the children of her nation who knew death, sadness, and famine.
"What's your name?" She asked him bluntly. She was going to have to get straight to the point and not waste any time because if he didn't want to help her, she could just as easily turn to the next guy.
He was quickly made aware that she didn't remember him from before, nor did she even realize that he was a prince. Baek-ah then thought he would offer her a fake name to keep his identity concealed. He thought for a moment, trying not to take too long to respond. When he did, he blurted out the first name that came to mind. "Uh...my name is Wonho." Looking to her, he asked the same question back. "What's your name?"
"Jangmi." She responded, and then added full of pride as she told him what her royal title was. "I am a princess of the fallen Baekje nation, and I come to you with a proposal."
He cocked an eyebrow at her in question. He was intrigued to know what it was, but he was also curious to know why she had chosen him to make the proposal to. He was supposed to be just a regular peasant person. "What kind of proposal?" Knowing he was not going to continue his sketch any time soon, he set the peace of parchment paper and his drawing instrument on the table in front of him.
