Chapter 3
Frustrated by the quandary, which she had created for herself, Eun Jung buried her face into her hands, sighed and quietly asked, “Yoo Eun Jung, out of all of the rooms at this inn; why did you have to sneak into this one?” Unable to hear what the Princess was saying, one of the maids asked, “Princess Soo Jin, do you have an edict for us?” Lifting her face from her hands, Eun Jung looked vacantly at the maids and inquired, “What’s an edict?” Not sure what to make of the question, one of maids smiled nervously and hesitated before asking, “Are you inquiring about the definition of the word?” Nodding her head, Eun Jung replied, “Yes, I’m asking you what that word means.” Sensing that the Princess was becoming annoyed, the maid quickly explained, “An edict is like an order or a proclamation.”
Upon hearing the definition, Eun Jung let out a long sigh before asking, “Then why didn’t you just use one of those words instead?” Ignoring the perplexed expressions on the faces of the maids, Eun Jung proceeded to think about what she could ask them to do. When she set her sights on the box containing the jewelry, Eun Jung jumped out of her seat, took hold of it and said, “I do have an edict for you.” Waving for one of the maids to come over, Eun Jung handed her the box and ordered, “Have someone take that box to the Precious Life Orphanage and make sure you tell them to give it to the Orphan Keeper.” The maid looked down at the box in her hands and asked, “Princess Soo Jin, why would you want to give away the dowry, which Prince JiangSu had especially prepared for you?
Recognizing the absurdity of her own edict, Eun Jung scrambled to come up with a plausible reason for wanting to give away the dowry and finally answered, “I wish to do a good deed before I enter the Palace. I believe that doing this will bring good fortune to my future husband and his family.” Staring at the Princess with a new found sense of admiration, the maid joyfully exclaimed, “Princess Soo Jin; that is so thoughtful of you.” Coming upon the realization that she could pass along her tidings to the people at the orphanage; Eun Jung asked, “Should I include a short letter to provide a bit of encouragement to those poor little orphans?” Both of the maids agreed that it was a good idea to include a letter and set out to prepare the proper writing tools for the Princess’s endeavors.
After she examined the elaborate writing station, which the maids had set up, Eun Jung asked, “Where’s the charcoal stick?” Seeing their confused expressions, Eun Jung falsely explained to the maids that, “In my kingdom, we don’t use brushes and ink to write letters. We use charcoal sticks instead.” Upon hearing the Princess’s preferred writing tool, the maids left the room to ask the inn keeper where they would be able to obtain a charcoal stick. When they returned, one of the maids handed Eun Jung a whittled charcoal stick and asked, “Will this do?” With a contented smile, Eun Jung nodded her head and replied, “That’s just perfect.”
As she sat thinking about what she should write, Eun Jung noticed that the maids were peering over her shoulders. Recognizing that the letter could be read by someone other than the person for whom it was intended; Eun Jung decided that she would need to make the letter as cryptic as possible. After figuring out what she wanted to convey to everyone at the orphanage, Eun Jung proceeded to write the following passage:
“Hello everyone,
I wanted to pass along my best wishes for your health and well-being. Although, I’m not with you physically; you will always be on my mind and in my heart. Please wish me luck as I embark on this path that fate has seemingly carved out for me. Trust that I will always endure and will one day achieve my goals!
Yours always,”
Faced with the problem of not being able to sign the letter using her real name, Eun Jung tried to figure out what method she could use to indicate that she had written it. Recalling that the Orphan Keeper had always been aware of her inordinate fondness for fireflies, Eun Jung proceeded to draw a picture of a twinkling firefly at the end of her letter. Observing the unique way the Princess had ended her letter, one of the maids asked, “Princess Soo Jin, may I ask why you drew a firefly at the end of your letter?” With an endearing smiled on her face, Eun Jung replied, “Because fireflies share their gift of light with the rest of the world without wanting a single thing in return.”
Once she had sealed the letter, Eun Jung handed it to one of the maids, who excused herself to give the items to the guards for delivery. Seeing that it was getting late, the remaining maid suggested, “Princess Soo Jin, you should rest early tonight. The royal matchmaker will be here tomorrow to prepare you for the wedding rituals.” Eun Jung’s face soured upon hearing the mention of her upcoming nuptials and asked, “Since I’m a Princess, I assume that I’m supposed to marry a Prince right?” Smiling at the Princess’s strange question, the maid replied, “Of course. In two days, you will marry the Crowned Prince of Korea.” Curious as to what the Prince as like, Eun Jung asked, “Is the Prince a nice person?” Pausing slightly, the maid replied, “I’m not allowed to critique any member of the royal family.” Upon hearing the maid’s response, Eun Jung thought to herself, “That must mean that he’s not a nice person.”
After the remaining maid took her leave, Eun Jung walked over to the bed, laid down and quickly fell asleep. Early the next morning, Eun Jung was awakened by the shrill sound of the royal matchmaker’s voice. Although, the royal matchmaker had repeatedly stressed that the wedding rituals were important, Eun Jung could not focus her attention on anything that the woman was saying. Enduring what she felt was the longest day of her life, Eun Jung found herself being poked, prodded and pestered by the annoying little woman. Once the royal matchmaker had completed all of the pre-wedding rituals, she took her leave after instructing the maids to prepare the Princess for her final flower bath as a single woman.
Staring at the wooden tub full of water in the middle of the room, Eun Jung asked, “Am I supposed to go in there?” Setting up a screen around the tub, one of the maids replied, “Yes you have to go in there. You won’t have time to bathe tomorrow, so you must do it now.” With an exasperated sigh, Eun Jung disrobed and made her way into the tub. Shortly after she was immersed in the water, Eun Jung thought she heard the door to her room swing open and called out, “Chun Hei is that you?” Much to her dismay, Eun Jung heard Chun Hei ask loudly, “Prince JiangSu what are you doing here?” Looking down at herself, Eun Jung was relieved that she had decided to bathe with her undergarments on but still wondered what the Prince was doing in her room at such a late hour.
Realizing that the Prince was intent on advancing into the room, Chun Hei stepped in front of him and exclaimed frantically, “Prince JiangSu you can’t be here!” Ignoring the maid’s proclamations, Prince JiangSu glared at her and asked coldly, “When was it the place of a maid to tell me where I can and can’t be?” With a deep bow, the frightened maid quickly moved out of the Prince’s way. Observing the screen in the middle of the room, Prince JiangSu asked, “Is she behind there?” Chun Hei nodded her head to indicate to the Prince that the Princess was indeed behind the screen.
Having received the maid’s confirmation, Prince JiangSu made his way over to the screen and pushed it slightly to the side to reveal the wooden bathtub. Much to his surprise, he did not see his future bride and walked closer to examine the tub. Peering into the tub, Prince JiangSu was amused to discover that his Princess had completely immersed herself in the water. Folding his arms, Prince JiangSu said, “Let’s see how long you can stay underwater.” Feeling her chest tighten from the lack of air, Eun Jung finally could not stand it any longer and raised her head from beneath the water.
Observing his future bride gasp for air, Prince JiangSu asked incredulously, “Am I really supposed to believe that you’re the renowned beauty everyone has been telling me about?” Offended by the Prince’s thinly veiled criticism, Eun Jung replied defiantly, “I’m glad that no one told me that you were handsome; or else I think I’d be really disappointed.” Astonished by her insolence, Prince JiangSu asked pointedly, “Do you know who you’re talking to?” Seeing that the Prince was staring intently at her, Eun Jung crossed her arms to cover herself, and replied, “I’m talking to an intruder who barges into the chambers’ of an unwed woman to peep at her as she bathes.”
Eun Jung’s statement alerted the Prince as to the indecency of his actions, which caused him to quickly turn away from her. Angered by her insinuations, Prince JiangSu exclaimed, “Get this straight, I’m not an intruder, I’m your future husband!” Upset that the Prince was still unwilling to admit to his wrongdoings, Eun Jung replied, “You get this straight, as of today you’re still an intruder!” Speechless for the first time in his life, Prince JiangSu wondered where his royal parents had found such a Princess for him to wed.
