By sunrise, the palace had already transformed.
Not joyfully.
Efficiently.
Like a machine finally reaching the part it had been built for.
Servants flooded the inner courtyards carrying folded bolts of crimson silk and ceremonial scrolls stamped with the royal seal. Court ladies moved quickly between residence halls whispering over wedding preparations while musicians rehearsed solemn ceremonial melodies somewhere beyond the eastern pavilion.
Even the air smelled different.
Incense.
Fresh ink.
Burned pine.
Preparation.
From the outer kitchens came the sounds of royal banquet planning.
From the artisan halls came jewelers summoned before dawn to prepare phoenix hairpins and jade ornaments worthy of the future Crown Princess of Joseon.
And above all of it, the palace drums continued beating slowly across Hanseong.
Steady.
Ancient.
Inevitable.
The selection had ended.
Lady Min Seo-hyun had been chosen.
Now the palace moved as though the future had already settled into place.
Only Ji-ho remained unable to breathe inside it.
"The Queen Dowager has ordered additional fittings for the ceremonial robes."
Poong-yeon spoke quietly while fastening the dark outer layer of Ji-ho's royal attire.
"The Royal Astrologers are also selecting auspicious dates for the wedding rites."
Ji-ho said nothing.
His reflection stared back at him from the polished bronze mirror before the dressing table.
Perfectly composed.
Perfectly princely.
Perfectly trapped.
Outside the chamber doors, attendants hurried past carrying embroidered fabrics marked with golden phoenix patterns.
Wedding colors.
Royal symbols.
Wedding preparations.
Everything moved too quickly.
To quickly enough to suffocate.
As though the palace feared hesitation.
Poong-yeon noticed Ji-ho's gaze drifting toward the corridor outside.
Toward the southern wing again.
Toward somewhere he could no longer openly go.
"You did not sleep."
Not a question.
Ji-ho's jaw tightened faintly.
For a long moment, he remained silent.
Then finally—
"Every corridor suddenly feels bigger."
Poong-yeon's hands paused briefly against the robe ties.
Because that was not something a Crown Prince should say aloud.
Ji-ho exhaled quietly.
"They speak of this marriage as though it has already happened."
"It has," Poong-yeon answered carefully.
"Politically."
The words settled heavily between them.
Ji-ho looked away.
Something sad lingered behind his eyes, fighting not to come out.
Beyond the open lattice windows, servants crossed the courtyard carrying ceremonial lacquer boxes wrapped in red silk.
Somewhere in the distance, court ladies laughed softly while discussing preparations for the future Crown Princess's instruction ceremonies.
Instruction ceremonies.
The thought alone exhausted him.
By now Seo-hyun would already be surrounded by senior court matrons teaching her:
how to address the royal ancestors,
how to conduct palace rites,
how to manage the Inner Court,
how to become the perfect royal wife.
The palace was already preparing another person to stand beside him.
As though Bella had never existed at all.
Ji-ho stood abruptly.
Poong-yeon blinked once.
"Your Highness?"
Ji-ho reached for the dark overcoat resting nearby.
"I need air."
"Gyotae Hall is expecting you within the hour."
"I know."
But he made no move toward the ceremonial halls.
Instead, he walked past him.
Fast enough to end the conversation.
Poong-yeon sighed quietly beneath his breath as he followed behind Ji-ho.
Of course.
Bella had stopped recognising the palace by morning.
Every corridor now carried traces of the coming royal wedding.
Court ladies whispered excitedly behind embroidered sleeves.
Servants bowed lower whenever discussions turned toward Lady Seo-hyun.
Even the younger maids seemed unable to hide their curiosity.
"They say her ceremonial robe will be embroidered with silver cranes."
"I heard the Queen Dowager herself approved the phoenix crown design."
"The Crown Prince and future Crown Princess will perform ancestral rites before the wedding procession."
Bella kept walking.
Expression controlled.
Steps steady.
But every word lodged somewhere beneath her ribs anyway.
Not as thoughts.
As pressure.
As something she could not swallow down properly no matter how many times she told herself not to listen.
Her fingers curled once inside her sleeves.
Then relaxed.
Carefully.
Like her body was still obeying her…even when the rest of her was beginning to fracture quietly.
By the time she reached the eastern training grounds, her chest already felt exhausted.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Like she had been holding her breath since she woke up and forgotten how to release it properly.
The guards training nearby immediately bowed as she approached.
"Guard Ha-neul."
Bella acknowledged them quietly before reaching for a practice sword.
The familiar weight settled into her palm naturally.
Safe.
Predictable.
Unlike everything else.
"Again."
The young guard opposite her immediately attacked.
Bella blocked hard enough to force him backward instantly.
Too hard.
But she didn't notice.
Not really.
Because even as her body moved, her mind stayed somewhere else entirely.
Somewhere she kept trying not to go.
Ji-ho standing alone in the pavilion.
Watching her every move.
Ji-ho looking at her like losing her physically hurt.
That last thought landed differently today.
He had looked at her like something inside him had shifted when she stepped away.
Like distance was not just space between them…but damage.
Her grip tightened violently.
Not anger.
Containment.
The next strike landed hard enough to knock the younger guard completely off balance.
"Guard Ha-neul-"
Too late.
The guard stumbled backward into the dirt.
Silence spread briefly across the courtyard.
Bella froze immediately.
Breathing hard.
The sound of her own breath felt too loud suddenly.
Too revealing.
The young guard looked more startled than injured.
"I apologize," Bella said quickly, lowering the sword at once.
The guard shook his head immediately.
"This one is unharmed."
But the others were staring now.
Not suspiciously.
Carefully.
As though they had begun noticing something unsettled beneath her calm exterior.
Like something in her was slipping.
Bella lowered her gaze slightly.
Annoyed with herself.
No.
Uneasy with herself.
Because lately every emotion inside her felt dangerously close to the surface.
Too close.
Like if she breathed wrong, it would spill out.
"Your form is becoming reckless."
The voice came quietly from behind her.
Bella turned instantly.
And her entire chest tightened.
Ji-ho stood near the edge of the training grounds dressed not in royal court robes this time, but dark training garments.
Simpler.
Less royal.
Which somehow made him feel even closer.
Even more real.
Even more dangerous.
The nearby guards immediately lowered themselves deeply.
"Your Highness."
Ji-ho barely acknowledged them.
His gaze remained fixed entirely on Bella.
Too direct.
Too personal.
Too familiar.
Bella avoided his gaze.
"Your Highness should not be here."
Bella lowered her gaze first.
Polite.
Controlled.
Careful not to look at him for too long.
Ji-ho hated it instantly.
Hated the way she spoke to him now like he was truly becoming untouchable.
The faint tightening of his jaw revealed it immediately.
"Leave us."
One of the guards nearby hesitated before slowly stepping back, followed by the others until the space around them widened subtly.
The training grounds fell quiet again except for the sharp clash of wooden swords somewhere behind them.
Wind moving through hanging banners.
Breathing.
Too much breathing.
Bella kept her gaze lowered.
Because if she looked at him too long…something in her would give.
Her posture was too relaxed.
Too calm.
Ji-ho stared at her.
"That announcement meant nothing to you?"
Bella's fingers tightened slightly.
The words landed like a blade.
Sharp.
Formal.
Distant.
Ji-ho let out a quiet breath through his nose, disbelief mixing with frustration.
"Bella." He exclaimed.
"It is not my place to have thoughts about royal matters." She replied.
"The palace has been speaking of nothing except the wedding since dawn," he said quietly.
Bella forced calm into her expression.
"As expected, Your Royal Highness."
Her voice sounded correct.
Not honest.
Ji-ho's eyes searched her face.
"And that truly does not bother you?"
That question again.
Too direct.
Too human.
Bella looked away first.
"The future Crown Princess was chosen by a royal decree."
Not him.
Not choice.
Not feeling.
Just decree.
Ji-ho noticed the distinction immediately.
His voice lowered further.
"They are already preparing her for me."
Bella's throat tightened unexpectedly.
Because hearing him say it like that made it sound like she had already been removed from that sentence entirely.
"The Queen Dowager has assigned senior court ladies to oversee her instruction ceremonies."
Ji-ho almost laughed quietly.
Bitter.
Empty.
"They discuss my marriage schedule in front of me as though I am already absent from it."
For one dangerous moment, Bella nearly looked at him with sympathy instead of restraint.
She caught herself barely in time.
"You should return to the ceremonial halls, Your Highness."
There.
Distance.
Control.
Ji-ho exhaled slowly.
"There it is again."
Bella stilled slightly.
"Distance. Formalities."
His gaze did not leave her.
"You speak to me like someone preparing for farewell."
Because she was.
Even if she didn't want to admit it.
Even if saying it out loud would make it real.
The wind moved softly through the courtyard banners.
Ji-ho looked exhausted again.
Not from politics.
Not from duties.
From something quieter.
Lonelier.
Then quietly—
"I looked for you this morning."
Bella's composure cracked for the briefest second.
Just enough for him to notice.
Just enough to hurt.
Ji-ho stepped closer.
And Bella felt it immediately, her body reacting before her mind could stop it.
"When this began, I thought I could control it."
His voice remained low.
Careful.
"I thought if I endured long enough, I could protect both the throne and-"
He stopped himself.
But the silence finished it anyway.
Bella felt it like a hand closing around her chest.
Ji-ho's eyes darkened slightly.
"But now the palace moves faster every day."
And that was true.
Everything was accelerating.
Not just events.
Time itself felt wrong.
Too fast.
Too inevitable.
Bella swallowed once.
"If the palace notices too much, it would…"
Ji-ho gave a humorless smile.
"It already has."
That answer should have made things clearer.
Footsteps suddenly echoed across the courtyard.
Fast.
Uneven.
"Your Highness!"
Poong-yeon practically stumbled into the training grounds, breathing hard with one hand against his chest.
Ji-ho frowned immediately.
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened," Poong-Yeon said quickly between breaths. "You simply walk too fast."
Bella blinked once.
Ji-ho stared at him flatly.
Poong-Yeon straightened awkwardly, trying to recover what remained of his dignity before lowering his voice.
"And… while searching for you, I encountered one of the royal attendants."
Ji-ho's expression darkened instantly.
Poong-Yeon glanced briefly toward Bella before speaking carefully.
"His Majesty ordered them to take your royal measurements for the wedding robes."
Silence.
Cold and immediate.
Ji-ho's jaw tightened.
"And if the King discovers you are not in your chambers…"
Poong-Yeon did not finish the sentence.
He merely gestured subtly toward Bella.
We need to return.
The meaning was clear enough.
The warmth Ji-ho had managed to find in this place vanished almost instantly.
The palace was calling him back again.
Back to duty.
Back to suffocation.
Ji-ho looked at Bella quietly.
For a moment, it seemed like he wanted to say something else.
Something not meant for the palace.
Not meant for titles.
"I should return," he said finally.
His voice sounded distant even to himself.
Bella's grip tightened slightly around the wooden sword.
But she did not answer immediately.
Did not look at him.
Instead, she lowered her head politely.
"If Your Highness will excuse me."
Formal.
Careful.
Like the conversation between them had never been personal to begin with.
Then she turned away before he could respond.
"Positions," Bella called firmly.
The guards hesitated.
Awkward silence briefly settled across the training grounds before they slowly returned to formation.
No one spoke.
No one dared to.
Bella stepped back into place without looking at Ji-ho again.
"Again," she ordered.
The sharp clash of wooden swords filled the courtyard once more.
But Ji-ho remained standing there for a second too long.
Watching her.
Realizing the one place he had run to for air no longer felt open to him either.
——
Bella's chambers were a mess.
One of her outer robes had fallen near the doorway.
Another hung halfway off a chair where she had thrown it earlier.
Hairpins, ribbons, pieces of armor, scattered carelessly across the room like she no longer had the energy to care where anything landed.
The palace suddenly felt too small.
Too loud.
Too suffocating.
Bella yanked the ties from her training sleeves with more force than necessary before tossing them aside.
The announcement kept replaying in her head.
The Crown Prince.
The royal wedding.
Lady Yura.
Every corridor she walked through today had carried whispers.
Every servant.
Every noble.
Every guard.
Congratulations to the Crown Prince.
As if nobody noticed he looked like he could barely breathe.
Bella shut her eyes tightly for a moment.
Her chest hurt.
Not sharply.
Slowly.
Like something sinking deeper every hour.
A knock sounded at the door.
Bella ignored it.
Another knock followed.
Then the door slowly slid open anyway.
Hye-jin stepped inside carefully before stopping at the sight of the room.
Her eyes moved from the scattered clothes…
to Bella…
to the practice sword abandoned against the wall.
Understanding crossed her face almost instantly.
Neither of them spoke at first.
Hye-jin quietly shut the door behind her.
Then, softly:
"The Crown Prince is going to marry her."
Bella stared ahead in heartbreak.
"Yes."
The word came out flat.
Exhausted.
As though she had repeated it too many times in her own head already.
Hye-jin exhaled slowly.
"I heard the palace hasn't stopped talking about it since dawn."
A humorless laugh escaped Bella quietly.
"Of course they haven't."
The bitterness surprised even her.
She turned away quickly, rubbing a hand over her face.
"I trained until my hands went numb today and somehow people still found time to talk about wedding robes."
Hye-jin's expression softened slightly.
"And you've been here alone ever since."
Bella crossed her arms tightly.
"I have responsibilities."
"You're hiding."
Bella frowned faintly.
"I'm not hiding."
Hye-jin gave her a look.
One that said neither of them believed that.
Silence settled again.
Heavy.
Bella moved toward the table before stopping halfway like she had forgotten what she intended to do.
Her thoughts felt tangled.
Restless.
She was tired of overthinking.
Tired of feeling.
Tired of pretending the announcement had not shattered something inside her.
Hye-jin watched her quietly.
Then gentler:
"Don't do that."
Bella looked at her.
"Do what?"
"Act like this doesn't hurt you."
That landed too deep.
Bella's expression tightened faintly before she looked away again.
Because it did hurt.
More than she wanted to admit.
More than she knew what to do with.
Hye-jin stepped closer slowly.
"You like him."
Not a question.
Not teasing.
Just plain truth.
Bella swallowed hard.
For a moment, she tried to speak.
Tried to deny it.
Tried to reach for the same composure she had been forcing onto herself the entire day.
But nothing came out.
And somehow, that silence confessed more than words could.
Hye-jin's expression softened almost painfully at that.
Like seeing Bella hurt confirmed something she had already feared.
Slowly, she lowered herself onto the floor beside the low table, leaning back against it with a tired exhale.
"The timing is cruel," she murmured.
Bella stared quietly at the candlelight flickering against the walls.
Anywhere except at her.
Because looking at Hye-jin right now felt too much like being seen.
The room fell quiet again.
But it was no longer the comfortable kind.
It felt fragile.
Like both of them were sitting inside something breaking.
Hye-jin tilted her head back slightly, eyes tracing the ceiling beams above them.
"You know what's sad?" she asked softly.
Bella didn't answer.
Hye-jin continued anyway.
"People always think love survives if it's strong enough."
A faint smile crossed her face.
Small.
Tired.
"But sometimes…"
Her voice lowered.
"…people just meet each other at the wrong moment in life."
That landed somewhere deep inside Bella's chest.
Because that was exactly what this was.
Not lack of love.
Not betrayal.
Not misunderstanding.
Just cruel timing.
Cruel positions.
Cruel lives.
Hye-jin glanced toward her quietly.
"If he had been born ordinary…"
A pause.
"And if you had been allowed to live like everyone else…"
She swallowed faintly.
"…I think you would've made each other very happy."
Bella closed her eyes briefly.
That hurt more than hearing about the wedding itself.
Because some part of her believed it completely.
And that was the cruelest thing of all.
Bella looked at her quietly for a long moment.
The candlelight flickered softly between them.
Then, almost cautiously:
"How do you know all these things?"
Hye-jin blinked once.
Bella's voice was quieter now.
"About love like this."
For the first time since entering the room, something unreadable crossed Hye-jin's expression.
Not sadness exactly.
Something older.
More familiar.
She looked down at her hands for a moment before letting out a small breath through her nose.
"When I was little," she said softly, "my mother used to tell me stories whenever she couldn't sleep."
Bella stayed silent, listening.
Hye-jin leaned her head lightly against the table behind her.
"There was one she repeated often."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"Though now that I'm older…"
Her eyes lowered slightly.
"…I don't think it was a story at all."
Bella frowned faintly.
Hye-jin continued quietly.
"A nobleman fell in love with a woman from outside the aristocracy."
"The woman had already been widowed once."
"She had a child."
Bella's expression shifted slightly.
Hye-jin's gaze stayed somewhere distant now, like she was seeing the memory unfold in front of her.
"He wanted to marry her anyway."
"Visited constantly."
"Brought medicine when she was ill."
"Made sure they never went hungry."
A small pause.
"My mother used to laugh whenever she talked about him."
Not a happy laugh.
The kind people use when remembering something they were never allowed to keep.
Bella swallowed quietly.
"What happened?"
Hye-jin smiled faintly.
But it carried no real warmth.
"Society happened."
The words landed softly.
And somehow that made them hurt more.
"The people around him began talking."
"A nobleman lowering himself for a widow."
"For a common woman."
"For someone already touched by another life before him."
Hye-jin's fingers tightened slightly around the ribbon in her lap.
"They made her feel like loving him was selfish."
Bella's chest tightened.
"He still wanted her," Hye-jin continued softly.
"I think he truly did."
"But eventually…"
Her voice grew quieter.
"…the world around them became louder than what they felt for each other."
Silence settled heavily between them.
Bella stared at her.
Understanding slowly creeping into her expression.
Hye-jin finally looked at her again.
"That was the first time I understood something."
Bella waited.
Hye-jin smiled sadly.
"People don't always lose love because the feelings disappear."
"Sometimes they lose it because the world refuses to make room for it."
The candlelight trembled faintly against the walls.
And for a moment…
neither of them spoke.
The room fell quiet again.
Outside, distant footsteps echoed faintly through the palace halls.
Somewhere far away, musicians were probably already preparing for ceremonies Bella did not even want to imagine.
Hye-jin glanced toward her again.
"If he was only a man…"
A pause.
"And you were only a girl…"
Her smile faded sadly.
"…I think you would've already happened."
That broke through Bella's composure more than anything else tonight.
Because somewhere deep down…
she knew it too.
If Ji-ho had been ordinary…
If she had been ordinary…
Maybe none of this would've felt impossible.
Bella lowered her eyes quickly.
Hye-jin leaned forward slightly, voice quieter now.
"But he's not just a man."
"And you're not just a girl."
"You're both trapped inside lives that were decided long before either of you had a choice."
Bella's throat tightened painfully.
The silence afterward stretched long enough to ache.
Then Hye-jin suddenly nudged her shoulder lightly.
"But if it helps…"
Bella looked at her tiredly.
"I don't think he's winning either."
Bella let out the faintest breath through her nose.
Almost a laugh.
Almost.
Hye-jin shrugged.
"That man looks miserable every time somebody mentions this wedding."
A small pause.
"Honestly, I've seen prisoners look freer." Bella states with a smile.
Hye-jin smiled softly at the sight of it.
Slowly, Bella reached over and brushed a few loose strands of hair away from Hye-jin's forehead before lightly rubbing the top of her head.
The gesture was gentle.
Almost instinctive.
Hye-jin blinked in surprise.
Bella let out the faintest breath of amusement.
"You're far too wise for someone your age."
Hye-jin wrinkled her nose immediately.
"That is a very polite way of calling me old."
Despite herself, Bella smiled faintly.
Small.
Tired.
But real.
Hye-jin watched it appear like she had been waiting for it all night.
Then softer, teasing this time:
"There. That expression suits you better."
Bella shook her head quietly, though the heaviness in the room no longer felt quite as unbearable as before.