[Completed] A Tale About A: Forgotten Princess (Part 1)

Chapter 8: A royal gift

Yong Jun waited outside the room while King Tae Jo does his treatment.

King Tae Jo held his breath as Soo Yeon removed the bandages from his back. She carefully dabbed his wound with a wet cooling cloth. 

"Since when did you start learning medicine?" King Tae Jo asked casually as he felt that Soo Yeon had quite a skill there.

"Well...since 6 years old. Since my father is a physician, I guess I didn't have the right to choose but follow his steps." Soo Yeon replied nonchalantly while she remembered the past. 

At her response, King Tae Jo felt a strange yet comforting feeling as he was not expecting her to be similar to him. He did not choose to be King as well, but had as there was no other choice.

"Me too." He smiled as he returned the answer. 

"I have always wanted to be a tea master. Wouldn't it be great to have a tea house of your own, and have customers come from all over the world just to have your tea and relax?" Soo Yeon decided to share her ambitions to Jo. 

King Tae Jo simply laughed as he thought of how carefree her dreams were even when it might be hard to achieve. "You have to please the King to his tastes though, else how would he allow you to open up a tea house here?" He said recklessly, surprising himself to how easily he mentioned the word 'King' to Soo Yeon.

"Well...is that true?" Soo Yeon questioned as she applied fresh new herbs on the wounds. 

King Tae Jo was enjoying the pleasant conversation as he finds Soo Yeon's answers amusing. He turned to face Soo Yeon, stopping her from applying the herbs as he leaned in to whisper, "Maybe you could let me have a taste of your tea? I could recommend you to the King if it's good enough."

Soo Yeon stared back with wide eyes as she pondered over what Jo said. "Eh...Don't joke around! How would you know who the King is? He isn't someone you could meet easily." She shook her head outrageously as she thought of what a fool she might have sounded like.

However, King Tae Jo roared in to laughter at her reaction to the point his injury hurts and he yelped. 

"Ya! Be careful, you could reopen the wounds again!" Soo Yeon scolded as she panicked. 

Just then, the door to the room opened forcefully and Yong Jun questioned eagerly to the King's safety. "What happened?"

"Nothing serious Jun ah..." King Tae Jo glared at Yong Jun and waved him off before Yong Jun got the chance to reprimand Soo Yeon for being disrespectful as she scolded the King. 

"Please take care of my friend carefully. If anything happened to him, you shall not be forgiven." Jun stared at Soo Yeon and warned with a dangerous tone, making her shiver as she wondered if she had gone too far. 

After Soo Yeon had wrapped new bandages around the wound, Jo dug his hand in to his pocket and took out a golden ring. He reached out his hand and revealed the gold ring to Soo Yeon.

"This is all I have. Hopefully it can account for the treatment fees." He said as he passes the ring to Soo Yeon.

"Omo! I cannot accept this gold ring! It's too much for such simple treatment!" Soo Yeon gasped as she rejected it.

"Please accept it. I insist." He said in a stern tone which doesn't allow Soo Yeon to defy him again. 

"W-well..." Soo Yeon reluctantly take the gold ring from Jo. "I will take care of it for you. Please come back from it when you earned enough money to pay back for the treatment." She said uncomfortably.

"HAHAHA!" King Tae Jo laughed again as no one has ever said such a thing to him before. "You sure are an interesting girl. Fine, I shall come back to retrieve the ring when I have earned enough." 

//

The next morning, King Tae Jo and Yong Jun has returned just as promised. King Tae Jo was scheduled to have an afternoon tea in the gardens with Lady Soon Sung. He kept his gaze at Lady Soon Sung who was sitting beside him; making her blush as she dared not to look up at the King.

"H-how have you been, Cheon na..." Lady Soon Sung spoke softly as she greeted the King.

King Tae Jo reaches to touch Lady Soon Sung's hair, surprising her as her entire body stiffens. The other servants looked away as it was a form of disrespect towards the King to be staring. The King simply chuckled as he got mesmerised by her beauty.

"Beautiful..." He complimented and that made Lady Soon Sung smiled. "So you wish to be my Queen?" 

His question startled Lady Soon Sung and she looked up to find their distance very close to one another, the tip of their noses nearly touching one another. She quickly looked down again due to embarrassment and the blush on her cheeks turned rosier. 

"C-Cheon na..." She said as she grinned.

"I shall make you my Queen then." The King proposes and Lady Soon Sung couldn't be any happier. 

All the servants bowed down and send their blessings to the King and the new Queen of Goryeo. "Congratulations my King and Lady Soon Sung." 

And that was how the wedding of King Tae Jo and Lady Soon Sung was arranged in a week's time. Lady Soon Sung was moved in to the palace to live with the King as well the day after. News spread like wildfire to the capital and the countryside, and the citizen of Goryeo was excited to welcome their new Queen as well. The servants in the palace was very busy preparing the grand wedding, while the citizens prepares to gift their King the best gift that they could offer. 

In the ministry office, Minister Yoo couldn't be any happier as he kept grinning throughout the day. The blessings just wouldn't stop and he felt proud of his daughter as well. 

"Congratulations Minister Yoo! You're going to be the father-in-law of King Tae Jo! How I wish I had a daughter too." Minister Oh congratulated with envy. 

"Thank you, my friend." Minister Yoo's smile couldn't be any wider as it has already reached up to his ears. 

//

"What? You lost the golden ring? Cheon na, please don't scare me like this!" Eunuch Lee cried in shock when he heard from King Tae Jo that the family ring was lost. It was a precious gift that was passed down from the late King.

"Why are you stressing so much? I didn't give the ring to both of my wife either. Lady Soon Sung would be no difference." The King shrugged it off casually as if it was not an important issue.

"B-but at least they wore it during the wedding ceremony! How are we going to find another ring for Lady Soon Sung? Cheon na, please try to remember where did you misplace it?" The poor eunuch whined pitifully.

"I will think of something else for the ring ceremony. Don't worry." King Tae Jo set his final decision and left his room to check on the betrothal gifts.