"Greetings to your royal highness." Lady Clora said in an impossibly sweet voice as she dropped to a curtsy, an unfazed smile playing on her lip.

It was obvious that she was at a status high enough to not be completely petrified of Jungwon.

"I only wanted to introduce myself to your mistress," Clora said as she straightened herself back up. "and she asked me of my origins first, so isn't it only fair that I return the action?"

Jungwon returned her taunt with an unfazed smile of his own. "My dearest Yumin did not have the privilege of being raised in such a dignified setting, so it is a given that she would naturally be curious of such things. But you, Lady Clora? I would've expected you to be more aware of proper manners, my lady."

Clora kept the smile on her lips, but it didn't reach her eyes. I watched as she stood in a dignified stance with perfect posture. Any onlooker would think that she was still unfazed by Jungwon's jabs, but I could make out the anger burning in her eyes from where I was standing.

"If you'll excuse us," Jungwon said, making a show of glancing at the nobles taking their seats at the tables and raising his arm out for me to take. "we'll take our respective seats now. Please enjoy the banquet, Lady Clora."

And without sparing her another ounce of his attention for her reaction, Jungwon led us to the far end of the long table, seating us on the right of the chairs at the end. "Don't mind her." Jungwon whispered as we sat down in our seats.

Trumpets sounded in the air. "His majesty, the King has arrived with her majesty the Queen."

Everyone inclined their heads slightly forward towards the table. "Greetings to the King and Queen of Yang Kingdom." voices rumbled.

My nerves grew as the two pairs of confident footsteps that could only belong to the King and Queen neared us. Not long after, the seats were pulled out and they sat down on the chairs at the end next to Jungwon, facing everyone seated at the table.

"My subjects, I am beyond grateful to greet you here at this banquet." The King's booming voice thundered out. I gulped, not daring to raise my eyes. "Please, enjoy your meal."

He didn't even mention or thank Jungwon for organizing this entire event.

Once the chattering continued and the noise of silverware could be heard, I raised my head and glanced at the royals.

I had never personally met Jungwon's father before, not even prior to losing my memories, so I wasn't sure of what to expect. I was met with what appeared to be an older version of Jungwon. However, there were small differences that made them noticeably different. Although they had the same eyes, the King's eyes were shockingly cold compared to Jungwon's kind eyes. Furthermore, the King's face was more sunken in. To put it simply, he appeared greatly aged compared to Jungwon even if he was only in his 50s. his mouth was set into a firm, grim line.

The Queen threw me off even more. She was just so young. There was no possible way that she could be over ten years older than Jungwon and I. In fact, she might even be able to pass as the same age as us. The most shocking part, though, was how kind she looked.

She had dark, ruby hair. It was smooth and gleaming underneath the light. Her eyes were big and kind, mouth set into a small, sweet smile as she glanced around the table.

Refusing to stare, I turned my gaze to the prince sitting next to me. Jungwon was politely chewing his food, looking and fitting his role as the prince. His posture was straight, but he was quiet as he observed the nobles sitting around us. Noticing my gaze, he turned his head to me, an eyebrow quirking up in a silent question. I laughed, finding his expression funny and shaking my head to tell him that it was nothing.

"Mistress Yumin." A sharp, masculine voice said, cutting us out of our silent conversation. My eyes searched for the owner of the voice, settling on him when he had been identified. He was sitting directly across from me. I remembered him as Count Moon from when I studied the different Yang Kingdom nobles with Jungwon. Count Moon looked just as cunning in person as he had in the scribes. I quickly noticed that quite a few people sitting around us had ceased their conversation and started listening to ours.

"Yes, Count?" I asked, tilting my head at him.

He snickered, noting that I recognized who he was. "There's been a couple rumors going around that-"

"Oh my." Jungwon cut him off delightfully, setting his silverware down. Count Moon stared back at him, speechless as Jungwon continued. "It feels like I haven't seen you in ages, Count Moon."

All eyes turned back to the Count to take in his reaction. Count Moon awkwardly laughed, throwing a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes at the prince. "Ah, yes. Likewise, your highness."

Jungwon beamed at him, picking his fork back up and stabbing it into a piece of lettuce, calmly placing it into his mouth. I awkwardly turned back to my own silverware, planning on taking a bite of my food too.

However, once I, too, had gotten some food on my fork, Count Moon spoke up once again. "As I was saying, Mistress Yumin, there has been a rumor going around that was rather interesting-"

"Yumin." Jungwon chirped, tapping my shoulder. He held up his fork with a cherry tomato impaled on it with a smile. "Say ah."

Again, Count Moon was speechless. I hesitated, finding the situation to be rather awkward even though I knew Jungwon was just trying to create a distraction as he had promised earlier. I opened my mouth, the young prince humming as he placed the cherry in my mouth and returned back to his food.

I slowly chewed the tomato, savoring the slightly sour taste of it. Count Moon cleared his throat, attempting to speak again.

Does this man ever take a hint?

"If I may, I was wondering if you could explain the rumor that-"

Jungwon dramatically gasped, and I turned to see him studying the Count with peering eyes. Count Moon noticed his gaze, quickly glancing down at himself to try and see whatever it was the prince had taken notice of. "Yes... your highness?"

A shit eating grin crept onto Jungwon's face as he lifted a finger and pointed it at the Count. "Did you get a haircut?" He cheerfully asked.

Around us, I heard a few quite snickers.

Count Moon finally lost his patience, setting down his silverware. "Your highness, I can't help but think you're purposely intending on cutting me off."

Jungwon innocently blinked back at him. "What do you mean?"

I stifled a laugh.

The Count took a deep breathe. "You know exactly what I mean." He said, before giving up on our conversation and sparking one with the noble lady sitting next to him, throwing a glare our way.

Jungwon discreetly turned to me and winked, causing me to giggle.