.nineteen.
Minji had been unable to convince the tenth prince to get his horse, to make the trip to her house a shorter one. Even though she offered to accompany him to the stalls, he swore he would go nowhere near them after the ghost stories Ji Mong had told him and his brothers had scared him way too much. He was more afraid of the supernatural to the point where he preferred walking her home despite the risk of being attacked by bandits or animals that were lurking in the nearby forest.
It was about fifteen minutes later when he and the general's daughter made their way out of the house. The two teenagers had to climb the stone walls of Songak in order to get out. No one was allowed to enter or leave the palace after hours and all the doors were closed, with guards posted to keep anyone from going in or out. It had been a two person effort. In her six layer dress, the tenth prince lifted her up with difficulty and helped her climb over. Once she was sitting atop the stone wall, she reached for his hands and helped him climb up, struggling, but trying to stifle her laughter at how amusing he looked while struggling to climb.
She had been surprised that they weren't caught climbing over the wall near the garden of the palace, given that it had taken them quite a while to climb.
"Jung would have gotten us out of the palace in three seconds." Minji said in a teasing voice, but there was an undertone of truth to her words. After spending so much time with him, she truly admired him and she really liked him. She thought he was brave, handsome, and strong. All qualities that she saw were perfect for a future husband.
The tenth prince gasped, faking offense to her words. "How dare you say that? You should be thankful that I even offered to help you."
"As your future sister-in-law I would think you had to help me." She pointed out, the playful tone remaining in her voice. By now, most of the royals in the palace and at General Park's home knew about it. The wedding between Prince Wang Jung and Park Hak Soon. She thought that Jung's siblings would have known the news by now, but especially Eun and Baek-ah, since he was closest to them.
"You're gonna marry Jung-ah?" He asked her in disbelief, though at the same time he wasn't entirely surprised either.
He remembered his youngest brother and the general's daughter being close as children. He used to spend time with them as well, though not as much. He had gotten closer with Baek-ah and Jung when Han and Minji had left town. Before that, it had been Jung, Baek-ah, Han, Hak Soon, Soon Deok, and Yeon Hwa who were closest to each other. They were all very close in age and had grown up together. When Hak Soon and Han left for two years, the rest of them seemed to grow apart.
With their return, they were bringing everyone back together, as opposed to Wang So. Eun's older brother Yo was always complaining about how So was ruining everything by coming back and refusing to leave. Eun was starting to believe it as well, and he found his older brother to be completely terrifying.
He had also noticed how since her return, Hak Soon and Jung seemed to have grown closer, but in a different way. They didn't just look like friends anymore. Eun didn't know much about love, nor was he interested in getting married at his young age of seventeen. But he thought that Jung and Minji looked like they were in love. Answering his question, Minji gave a nod of her head, a smile breaking onto her face. It was something she couldn't contain. Though she was only fourteen in that life, she couldn't help but like Jung. And the idea of marrying him was not one she shied away from. "My father already talked to yours about promising my hand in marriage to your brother."
"That's good to hear." He smiled at her, adding with a sigh as his smile dropped at another thought that came to mind. "He'll probably already be looking for some woman for me to marry. I know--" He perked up yet again--like an excited little pup. "Would you talk to your friend? I don't want to get married yet. But I wouldn't mind marrying Soo-yah. I really just want to hold her hand."
