Noble Heart

6

During their so-called vacation, they were mostly busy doing charity work. Cameras were almost everywhere. Lucky for Danbi, they weren't allowed to take pictures or videos of her as her relationship with Youngjo was not yet public. Whenever she saw a camera, the female backed off and gave the Prince his time to shine.

However, he didn't care about the audience. He would just continue as before, not minding whether he was being watched or not. He wasn't trying to pose for the big picture. Seeing how the children of the orphanage all welcomed him, hugged him, played with him and competed for the male's attention made Danbi smile from afar. She was convinced that she had found the right person in him. The female couldn't help it, she was deeply in love.

Suddenly, a little girl pulled Danbi's sleeve. Looking at her green doe eyes, Danbi recognised it to be Nari, a girl who was rather shy compared to the other children.

"Hey, you," the woman started "why aren't you with the others?"

The little girl just shrugged. Holding up her arms, she signalled Danbi to carry her. Without a second thought, the woman did. She mumbled,

"It's okay to not want to be in the middle of this chaos. I understand you."

Then, Hongjoong hurried inside the playroom.

"Prince Youngjo, your Highness." His manager made his way around the children that were assembled around the Prince.

"Yes, Hongjoong."

"Your father has invited a guest, may I introduce you to her?"

"Of course." Youngjo got up and the children started to play with each other again.

To her? Danbi joined them holding Nari in her arms as another woman walked into the room. If Danbi didn't know better, a "wow" sound would have escaped her lips. The stranger's wavy blonde hair fell just below her chest. Her body was accented by a baby blue dress, which looked fairly expensive and with that of high quality. The woman smiled, a smile, that lit up the whole room at once.

"This is Princess Minnie. You have surely encountered her before, I believe, but now for the first time officially." Youngjo's manager stated as the Princess curtsied.

Princess Minnie. She sure looked like one. Danbi stood behind the three people, not wanting to get attention. This situation made her feel uneasy.

"Princess Minnie, a pleasure to meet you again after all those years." He took a minimalistic bow.

"The pleasure is all mine, your majesty."

"I'll let you alone now. You will be called for dinner later that afternoon." The manager said and left with a bow.

Moments later, Youngjo started talking to break the silence, "Ah, this here," he looked behind and signalled Danbi to come closer "this here is Kang Danbi. She's the daughter of my father's former advisor, so we became close when we were little."

Only the daughter of the former advisor? That was it? However, at that moment, Youngjo grabbed her free hand to give the Princess more signals. Danbi believed that everyone in this room except for the confident Princess was truly uncomfortable at that moment. She had to quickly remind herself to drop curtsy as she was standing in front of a Princess.

"Nice to meet you, Danbi."

"Pleasure to meet you too..."

"What brings you here, Princess?" Youngjo demanded to know. With that, the two royals seemed to forget about Danbi again.

"My parents have sent me to participate in this program. Your father has proposed to do so."

"Of course he did."

Nari was getting bored and with that awkward. Danbi let go of her boyfriend's hand and went to play with the children while the two Royals talked about their whereabouts. Youngjo glanced over to the other female several times, yet she was mostly playing with the children, in thought. He was aware that Danbi was uncomfortable but couldn't seem to change anything.

Then, the two Royals were filmed and photographed as they played with the children. Danbi was somewhere in the background staring at them as she played with other children in the meantime.

Later on, the Princess tried to get familiar with Danbi. Danbi felt like it would be unfair to the innocent woman if she acted coldly towards her. She hadn't done anything wrong, why had Danbi already those feelings about her? Despite trying to convince herself to see bad things in her, the female even thought that Minnie was genuinely kind and warm-hearted.

At dinner, Danbi was sitting next to her boyfriend while the Princess sat across from him. At this point, Danbi couldn't differ whether the woman was truly as kind as she tried to seem or if she was just an amazing actress. Yes, Danbi was jealous. She was scared, to be true. She was scared that Youngjo would choose Minnie over her. Nevertheless, he didn't even give her a reason to have that fear.

That was until the three had finished dinner and the two Royals had decided to go for a walk to talk. Just the two of them. Youngjo had been the one to request it. Danbi had been left behind. She had no choice than going back to the room she was sharing with Youngjo. Where was Minnie staying? What if they went to her place? They were in her homelands after all. The female felt helpless. Staring at the ceiling, she couldn't even fall asleep.