Twisted Games(Ryeji ver)

YEJI[CHAPTER 1]

PART 1

"Spank me! Master, spank me!"
I stifled a laugh at my bodyguard Sunghoon's face as Leather
the parrot squawked in his cage. The parrot's name said all
you needed to know about its previous owner's sex life, and
while some found him amusing, Sunghoon did not. He hated
birds. He said they reminded him of giant flying rats.

"One day, he and Leather are going to get into it." Yena, the director of Wags & Whiskers, clucked her tongue. "Poor Sunghoon."

I held back another laugh even as I felt a small pang in my
heart. "Probably not. Sunghoon's leaving soon." I tried not to think about it. Sunghoon had been with me for four years, but he was leaving for paternity leave next week and staying in Eldorra after to be closer to his wife and
newborn. I was happy for him, but I would miss him. He was
not only my bodyguard but a friend, and I could only hope
his replacement and I had the same rapport.

"Ah, yes, I forgot." Yena's face softened. She was in her
early sixties, with short, gray-streaked hair and warm brown eyes. "Lots of changes for you in a short time, my dear."
She knew how much I hated goodbyes. I'd been volunteering at Wags & Whiskers, a local pet
rescue shelter, since my sophomore year of college, and
Yena had become a close friend and mentor. Unfortunately,
she, too, was leaving. She'd still be in Hazelburg, but she was
retiring as the shelter director, which meant I would no
longer see her every week.

"One of them doesn't have to happen," I said, only half- joking. "You could stay." She shook her head.

"I've run the shelter for almost a decade, and it's time for new blood. Someone who can clean the cages without her back and hips acting up."

"That's what volunteers are for." I gestured toward myself. I was belaboring the point, but I couldn't help it. Between Yena, Sunghoon, and my impending graduation from Thayer University, where I was majoring in international
relations-as expected of a princess-I had enough goodbyes to last me for the next five years.

"You are a sweetheart. Don't tell the others, but..." She
lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You're my
favorite volunteer. It's rare to find someone of your stature
who does charity because she wants to, not because she's
putting on a show for the cameras." My cheeks tinted pink at the compliment.

"It's my pleasure. I adore animals." I took after my mother in that regard. It was one of the few pieces of her I had left.
In another life, I would've been a veterinarian, but in this
life? My path had been laid out for me since before I was
born.

"You would make a great queen." Yena stepped aside to
allow a staff member with a wriggling puppy in his arms to
pass. "Truly." I laughed at the thought.

"Thank you, but I have no interest in being queen. Even if I did, the chances of me wearing the crown are slim."
As the princess of Eldorra, a small European kingdom, I
came closer to ruling than most people. My parents died
when I was a kid-my mother at childbirth, my father in a
car accident a few years later-so I was second in line to the
throne. My sister Sakura, who was four years my senior,
had been training to take over for our grandfather King
Sunoo since he was old enough to walk. Once Sakura had
children, I would be bumped further down the line of
succession, something I had zero complaints about. I wanted
to be queen as much as I wanted to bathe in a vat of acid.

Yena frowned in disappointment. "Ah, well, the
sentiment is the same."

"Yena!" one of the other staff members called out.
"We've got a situation with the cats." She sighed.

"It's always the cats," she muttered. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you about my retirement before you heard it from anyone else. I'll still be here until the end of next week, so I'll see you on Tuesday."