Chapter 29
Prince JiangSu watched as Eun Jung turned her back to him, and promptly enveloped her in his arms to draw her towards him. Before she had a chance to protest, Prince JiangSu pressed his lips against Eun Jung’s cheek, which immediately caused an involuntary smile to appear on her face. Upon seeing that he had elicited the desired response from her, Prince JiangSu pulled away and declared, “If I can’t have dessert, then I should at least get a pre-dinner mint.” As a wider smile became affixed on her face, Eun Jung glanced at Prince JiangSu and observed playfully, “You’re so corny.” With a slight arch of his eyebrow, Prince JiangSu placed his hands on Eun Jung’s shoulders and replied, “I’ll show you just how corny I can be.” Eun Jung knew exactly what Prince JiangSu had in mind, and quickly put a stop to his plans by clasping both of her hands over her mouth.
Being careful to keep her lips concealed; Eun Jung muttered almost incoherently, “Quit it, everyone’s out there waiting for us.” Prince JiangSu nodded his head to acknowledge the validity of Eun Jung’s statement, and sighed before replying, “Okay, let’s go and get this over with.” Thinking that Prince JiangSu was still intent on kissing her, Eun Jung continued to shield her lips from him, and replied, “You go out first; I’ll be right behind you.” With an obvious look of annoyance on his face, Prince JiangSu exclaimed, “Take your hands off of your mouth. It’ll look weird if you walk out there like that. I promise I won’t try anything funny.” Since Eun Jung was not entirely sure if she could trust Prince JiangSu’s promise, she stood still in her place and eyed him suspiciously.
Upon realizing that he had failed to convince her, Prince JiangSu asked dryly, “Don’t you remember that a Prince’s word is as good as gold?” Eun Jung recalled that Prince JiangSu had spoken the same exact phrase to her on their wedding night, and nodded her head to indicate that she did remember. After she decided to give Prince JiangSu the benefit of the doubt, Eun Jung slowly removed her hands from her mouth and asked, “Happy?” Without bothering to respond to Eun Jung’s inquiry, Prince JiangSu leaned forward and planted a soft lingering kiss onto her lips. Although, he half-expected Eun Jung to push him away, Prince JiangSu was pleasantly surprised to find that she had begun to return his kiss. Eun Jung was utterly amazed by both Prince JiangSu’s blatant lie and her own reaction to his sudden advances.
Since she felt slightly self-conscious, Eun Jung gently pushed Prince JiangSu away and asked, “Didn’t you say a Prince’s word is as good as gold?” As an impish grin materialized onto his face, Prince JiangSu replied, “I did say that, but I don’t recall mentioning anything about the value of your husband’s words.” Eun Jung was completely dumbfounded by Prince JiangSu’s reply, and could barely believe that he was the same cold, distant person, who she had met a few weeks ago. Struck with the realization that she had somehow become the center of his world, Eun Jung began to wonder how she could leave without devastating him. Blissfully unaware of the distressing thoughts, which were running through Eun Jung’s mind, Prince JiangSu interrupted her deep contemplation by saying, “We better go out there before Kwang Sun comes in here looking for us.”
Eun Jung put forth her best efforts to conceal the increasing discomfort, which she feeling, and forced a smile before nodding her head to acknowledge Prince JiangSu’s suggestion. Without any further delay, Prince JiangSu and Eun Jung made their way to the Jaseondang’s formal banquet hall. When they arrived at their intended destination, Prince JiangSu and Eun Jung discovered that General Seok, Kwang Sun, Prince Hyo and Prince Dae Hyun were already seated at the dining table. Before their guests could formally greet the royal couple, Prince JiangSu said, “This is an informal dinner, so let’s just bypass all of the tedious formal greetings.” In observance of Prince JiangSu’s wishes, everyone in the room remained seated and waiting for Prince JiangSu and Eun Jung to join them.
Since Prince JiangSu was the head of the household and the Crowned Prince, he took his rightful seat at the head of the table. Once Prince JiangSu was seated, Eun Jung sat down in the seat directly to his right, which placed her next to General Seok and across from Prince Hyo. As was to be expected, Kwang Sun sat beside his father while Prince Dae Hyun sat in the seat next to Prince Hyo. With a slightly ceremonious bow, Prince Dae Hyun apologized to Prince JiangSu and Eun Jung by saying, “I’m sorry for coming to dinner uninvited.” To which, Prince JiangSu replied, “There’s no need to apologize. If you were in the garden with us earlier today, we would have invited you to dinner as well.” Eun Jung smiled politely at Prince Dae Hyun and seconded Prince JiangSu’s sentiments by saying, “The more the merry.” Before their conversation could continue, the maids arrived with the food and proceeded to place various dishes in front of everyone seated at the table.
After all of the dishes had been served, Prince JiangSu invited everyone to partake of the evening meal. While the dinner guests picked up their chopsticks to begin eating their food, Prince JiangSu glanced over at one of the dishes to his right, and turned to Eun Jung to say, “Don’t eat that. I think it has some crab in it.” As he moved the dish away from Eun Jung, Prince JiangSu motioned for the maid who had served her meal, and ordered gruffly, “Take that away. You should know that the Grand Princess Consort is allergic to shellfish.” When she saw the frightened expression on the maid’s face, Eun Jung placed her hand on Prince JiangSu’s arm and said, “I think that she’s relatively new here. She just needs a little bit more time to get acquainted with the type of food that I’m allergic to.”
With a reassuring smile, Eun Jung addressed the maid by saying, “Don’t worry, everything’s okay. Just bring the food back to the kitchen.” The maid was relieved to find that she would not be punished for the grave mistake, and repeatedly bowed before leaving the banquet hall to dispose of the food. When Eun Jung saw that everyone had stopped eating, with the exception of Kwang Sun, she apologized for the commotion by saying, “I’m sorry about that. Please continue to eat your meals.” As Prince Hyo resumed eating, he observed casually, “Grand Princess Consort, it’s a shame that you’re allergic to shellfish. I’ve been told that your royal family’s kingdom is renowned for exporting extremely high quality seafood.” With a nervous smile, Eun Jung replied, “Yes, it is quite a shame.”
Desperate to move away from the current topic, Eun Jung picked up her spoon and changed the subject by saying, “This stew looks really good.” Since Kwang Sun had already eaten all of his stew, he informed Eun Jung happily, “Princess Soo Jin, it’s really good!” Eun Jung was amused by Kwang Sun’s exuberance and wondered how much he had already eaten. As she glanced over towards Kwang Sun to look at his dinner, Eun Jung noticed that General Seok was staring intently at her. Before she could avert her eyes from his face, General Seok said, “Grand Princess Consort, I nearly forgot to tell you that I have a message from your family that is rather important.” Eun Jung scrambled to figure out what she should say, and finally replied fretfully, “Is that so?” With a slight nod of his head, General Seok continued to say, “Yes, since it’s very important could we go to another room to discuss it?”
Prince JiangSu was concerned by the serious tone of General Seok’s voice, and asked, “Can you discuss it here? I’d like to know what’s going on, so that I can help if needed.” Refocusing his attention onto Prince JiangSu, General Seok replied, “For now, I think that it would be best if I discussed this matter with the Grand Princess Consort alone.” Recognizing that there was no way out of the private meeting, Eun Jung reluctantly said, “We can go to Prince JiangSu’s library to discuss the matter.” Standing up from his seat, General Seok replied, “After you Grand Princess Consort Soo Jin.” Taking a deep breath, Eun Jung glanced at Prince JiangSu before standing up from her seat to lead General Seok to Prince JiangSu's library. As he watched Eun Jung and General Seok leave the banquet hall, Prince JiangSu thought to himself, "I hope it's nothing serious."
Thank you! 
to these lines 
