One Year

Engagement Party

"Princess! That was not what I meant---" Nancy began to panic as she quickly apologized.

Siri laughed loudly at Nurse Nancy cutting Nancy off of her apology. "I'm just joking with you!"

"Princess! How could you! This servant is too old to be teased!" Nancy said to her. "Besides, Prince Ryu is outside waiting for you. You don't want him to wait too long."

Siri's smile dropped and a mask came over her face as if she was going to war.

"Lets go." She said.

Her maids and nurses were going to accompany her to the royal palace to serve her. As she walked to the carriage, Ryu watched her with a surprise on his face. His wife who he thought was pretty, really looked like a beautiful Queen. Her posture, her aura, and her presence was commanding and alluring. She attracted attention to her without even trying.

Siri got into the carriage and as they moved, silence descending upon them. No one spoke until ten minutes later when Siri lost their silence battle.

"Why does King Cai want to invite us to the royal palace for?" She asked as she stared outside the window of the palace.

"Crown Prince Morgan's marriage date has been set two months from today. We are invited to celebrate the auspicious day." He told her as he watched her carefully for any reaction of the news. He knew she had been engaged to the Crown Prince since she was born and that she had been raise to be a Queen since the moment she took her first breath. She had expectations of what her life was going to be so when the announcement of the breaking of the engagement was announced, she was so heartbroken that she kneeled in front of the palace for two days. It was his carriage that passed by her when she knelt in the rain and since the moment he saw her, the image of her kneeling had engrained itself into his mind.

"Oh." Siri said. "You should have told me earlier. I would have prepared a gift."

Siri's mask stayed on as she kept looking through the window. She studied the other courtyards and the people who were freely able to move about without confinement.

"I already did." He told her.

"Em." She said. Siri turned to look at her husband and saw that he had been staring at her the whole time since she got into the carriage. She tilted her head to the right and slightly smiled. "Are you admiring your wife? Are you surprise how beautiful your wife is? Do you regret that you married such a beautiful wife?"

Ryu quickly looked away as Siri laughed. Him being shy around her was a first. "You dare tease this Prince?"

"Em." She agreed. "This wife dares! Besides this wife has beauty and also has brains!"

Ryu laughed once at her in a mocking way before they fell into a silence again. Remembering about the help he asked of her she cleared her throat and updated him on the status of his treatment.

" I have all the ingredients to make the cure, the only thing I need is the petal."

He looked at her in surprise. She was able to work so fast that he had expected himself to wait at least two years and not two weeks.

"Do you need the flower or the petal or the powder?"

"The petal is fine. I can dry and ground up the petal into powder. I just need one petal."

"I'll send my men out to find it." He told her. "I'll find it no matter what."

"Has anyone tried to serve you anything since you change to only have one servant cook and serve you?" She asked.

"Yes, but they were all in social situations. Even though I accepted the tea, I didn't drink any." He told her. "I also received several packages of my favorite sweets from the King."

"Do you think..." She started to say but didn't finish it. She was smart enough to not state the obvious that the king would poison his own brother. He has the means and the motive to do so.

"Maybe." Ryu confessed. "How should we get through this situation?"

"We'll figure it out when we get there. Just don't eat or drink anything." She told him.

-------------

When they arrived to the palace, there was already a large group within the garden party. When their arrival was announced, everyone stopped what they were doing to bow to them.

"You may sit." Ryu said once he and Siri reached their table. He was pushed from behind his wheelchair by one of his guards, Liam. Siri walked next to his wheelchair as they sat down in the place provided for them. On their right, was a table provided for the King and Queen, while on their left was a table that was reserved for the Crown Prince and the Princess Consort.

As everyone sat down, their whispers gotten louder as they stared at the newlywed couple. Many rumors have popped up since their marriage. Rumors about how Prince Ryu did not favor Princess Siri, placing her in the furthest and smallest courtyard. How it was still dusty and dirty on the day of her wedding. And how two weeks ago, there was an attempted assassin attack on Prince Ryu and Princess Siri's life.

But in front of them was a different story. What ever food that was in front of them, Ryu had placed a piece of it in Siri's plate. Siri tasted every food item, only eating half of it while Ryu ate the other half. Their unusual display of affection caused a confusion within the nobility. To be so intimate with each other, in front of everyone, caused every woman to be jealous and every man to be the brunt of their wife's envy. To their conclusion, Princess Siri had won Prince Ryu's favor since the wedding day.

From across the pavilion, the King's concubines all sat according to their stations. There were four first ranked concubine, three second rank concubines and two third rank concubines in attendance. Their rank was in accordance to how favored they are by the King. Four first rank concubines sat in the front row, while the second rank concubines sat on the second row, while the third rank concubine sat behind them.

Beside them were the Generals and their families, while on Siri's side of the pavilion were the royal family then the Prime Minister, then lower ranking ministers.

Everyone stood up and bowed as the announcement for King Cai, Queen Yuna, Crown Prince Morgan and Princess Consort Yolena was announced. Everyone sat down when King Cai made it to his table sat down. When he sat down, he then announced for everyone to sit down.

"This King would like to thank everyone who came today to help this King celebrate Crown Prince Morgan and Princess Yolena's engagement. Their wedding date has been chosen on a auspicious day, two months from today." King Cai said as he raised his cup for a toast. "Please help this King celebrate this wondrous occasion!"

King Cai drank the cup of wine as everyone drank the cup of wine that they held in their hand. Siri quickly sipped her up of wine before passing it on to Ryu, while taking his wine then drinking the wine completely as well. Her unusual action caught the attention of the King.

"Princess Siri." King Cai said. "Was there something wrong with your wine that you gave it Prince Ryu?"

Siri tilted her head down and answered as politely and as softly as she could. Pretending to be embarrassed for being caught at the affections that Ryu and Siri had been displaying.

"No, Your Highness. There was nothing wrong with this Princess's wine." Siri said. "Since this Princess's wedding day, this Princess's Prince Husband has decided to share our lives together. What is half of this Princess's is now half of Prince Husband. What is half of Prince Husband's now is half of this Princess. We share our lives together and have decided to share everything else. Prince Husband Ryu is this Princess's other half that makes this Princess whole."