Forever It's You (It's You Series #2)

19 ✽ Loneliness

"Suppose a lady purchases a basket of fruits from a stall in the market. One-fifth of them are apples, one-fourth are pears and the remaining are thirty-three tangerines. How many fruits are there in the basket?"

Eun-bi read the question thrice, all emotions dissipating. "This is impossible," she complained while jabbing a finger onto the parchment. "How could you possibly place that many fruits in a basket? Who could eat all thirty-three tangerines and fit them all into a person's stomach? If there's a secret technique for this, please, I would like to learn it as well."

Accountant Cha's mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh. "Focus, Princess. You're deviating from the question."

"I don't know! Forty-five?" She began guessing numbers as if she was at a gambling den. "A hundred and three?"

"No, it's sixty. You weren't listening to me earlier when I taught you, were you?"

Eun-bi gave an innocent look, which made him shake his head. When he taught her the trick to solving the question again, she chewed on the tip of her writing brush, quietly plotting her escape.

It was unfair she was the only one who had to remain in the hall to practise while everyone else had left to have their dinner. She was the Crown Princess but now, he treated her like a terrible student.

He was secretly enjoying embarrassing her, wasn't he?

A wearisome sigh left her lips. She, too, was famished, and that low rumble in her stomach was distracting her from solving the question. Well, it wasn't like she knew how to either.

She massaged her aching cheeks with the pads of her fingers as Accountant Cha continued to watch her. "What's wrong, Your Highness? Do your teeth hurt from all the sweets you ate?"

"No. It's hurting because I had to smile in front of people I don't know that well," she answered truthfully. "Now that you've mentioned it, I haven't had my snacks for today." As soon as she fired off that excuse, she rose to her feet excitedly, attempting to flee. "Maybe I should get Byeol to bring me some–"

"Why are you forcing yourself to smile in front of others when you obviously hate it?"

The solemn tone in his voice reeled her back, and she slowly dropped back into her seat. "I'm doing this not just for my sake. It's for the greater good in the future."

"Your future? Or...theirs?"

The underlying sarcasm in his words didn't go undetected, which sent her immediately glaring at him. "It's for everyone, including the future generations." She crossed her arms and studied his expression, noting the way his demeanour morphed from relaxed to cautious. "And I can say the same about you. Why are you forcing yourself to smile at me and constantly be on my good side?"

He blinked in genuine surprise. "What makes you think that way?"

Eun-bi drew herself to her full height, startling him when she stared deep into his enigmatic eyes. "You smile at me often, but they never reach your eyes. Not even once," she pointed out. "Do you have a grudge against me? Whatever troubles you're thinking of putting me in, please stop. It won't work."

A light smile danced on his lips. Now he appeared even more amused, and yet his eyes remained shadowed. "Enlighten me, Princess. What was I intending to do to you?"

Eun-bi snorted at his pretentious ignorance. "Flirting with a married woman in public is not very chivalrous of you," she chided. "What a terrible preference you have."

That infuriating smile of his widened into the kind that made him look as if he was right and she was wrong for being irrational. "I admire you very much, Your Highness, but you're mistaken. I wasn't trying to charm you, and I didn't mean to cause you unnecessary worry. For that, I apologise."