"looking at a beautiful lady" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"There once was a Princess.
Who roamed the palace gardens every morning. She was a beauty.
Everyone in the kingdom loved her, for she was stunning and so kind. She wanted nothing but a man who would treat her right and not use her for the riches and royalty.
One day, as she was having her morning walk, surrounded by wonderful flowers - but none as lovely as her - she saw a man running out of the other side of the palace interior. He was not a guard, neither did she recognise him from anywhere, so she walked up to him.
As she got closer, she saw the rags covering him and the seemingly heavy sack he was carrying. He frantically thrusted an object into there as she approached him, gulping as he looked at her.
She asked about what he was doing here. He answered with "looking at a beautiful lady" to which the Princess felt flattered at.
As she was about to ask again, to gain a proper answer, the guards appeared. The man fled, climbing over the garden walls and out of the guards' sights.
He was a thief.
The next night, there was commotion throughout the palace. The maids and servants gossiped, the guards seemed sterner than ever.
Someone had been caught trespassing and the King was nowhere near the kind and gentle father the Princess knew. He had ordered the trespasser to be taken away to prison, for his life to be discussed the next day.
The Princess rushed to the scene, finding that the trespasser was indeed the man from the other day. His hair looking soft but ruffled and eyes still glistening but from fear rather than joy.
"Father, you can't lock him away, he's a good man!" She turned his way and spoke. "You steal for others, not just for yourself, correct?"
He nodded shamefully, admitting his weakness. "I need to provide for my parents somehow..."
The guards hissed but became quiet as stone as soon as the Princess gave them her firmest look. She turned to her father and pleaded, "Please, let him go."
His eyes filled with fury made for a battlefield. "You've going against me!?"
He shouted, alarming everyone in the room. The Princess began to explain herself but- "And you!" He referred to the thief.
"You tried to woo my daughter over!? How shameful! Lock him away! We will decide his dark fate!"
He was not lying however. He thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on.
As the thief was dragged away, he stole glimpses of the Princess' miserable state. He knew it would never sound right.
A thief and a Princess? He'd be judged forever, for manipulatively 'wooing' the young and beautiful lady.
He thought spending time in the prison cells would be horrendous. Left alone to reflect on his wrongdoings and his future.
His inevitable punishment.
However, when the sun rose and the candles were blown out from the breeze, he was met with the Princess. She visited him with food from the royal cook, providing a reassuring smile.
She asked his name, and he replied with a soft, delicate tone. "Hoseok."
He felt happy in those small moments.
Afternoon fell and it was time to see what the King and royal officials had in store for him. His entire life spent in prison was the most likely agreement.
When he entered a grand room, shackles dragging across the floor, the Princess was there again. She was trying to reason with her father.
She asked him whether he knew why the thief really did this. Everyone thought it was obvious, that he just wanted to become rich with selling palace goods.
Wrong. Hoseok was stealing food and unimportant antiques.
His parents were denied work wherever they went, a result of the overpopulation. This meant that the thief had to resort to other methods.
The Princess begged everyone to reconsider, to give him a chance. Her determination and reasoning won them all over, albeit wariness in place.
She offered him a job at the palace, to care for his and his parents' needs. He accepted and was forever indebted.
And so dear, the two were able to spend time together and the thief wasn't in trouble anymore. Not every story needs to be romantic. The End."
The mother rushed to stopped talking, eyes wide open when she realised her daughter was fast asleep. "...was she asleep the whole time?"
She sighed and tucked her in properly, giving her a kiss on her forehead before retreating to her own bedroom. She was too young to know most of the vocabulary anyways, she may have gone to school out of boredom to be honest.
The mother pondered about the story once again. She didn't want her daughter thinking that every love story had a happy ending.
Some had bittersweet ones, some just took time. She may have changed a few things of the original story but she loved it nonetheless.
The End ♥️
4K reads what 😭😭😭 thank you 💞
This was a story told to me by my aunt and I remember it ever since. It was the first one for me where the Princess didn't fall in love with a Prince. Instead she met a man who had a low status and started liking him instead. I'm not implying that I don't like typical Prince X Princess stories, I just thought it was cool to hear something like this. It's stayed in my memory ever since hehe.
Of course, this has been changed to be shorter and less fast-paced. The original version is quite different~
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