Chapter 7
Contemplating Prince JiangSu’s expectations of her on their first night together; Eun Jung began to nervously wring the bottom fringes of her wonsam before proceeding to glance over towards their bed. Upon observing Eun Jung’s nervous disposition, as she eyed their bridal bed, Prince JiangSu successfully stifled a laugh but was incapable of suppressing a grin from appearing on his face. Unable to resist taking the opportunity to increase her level of anxiety, Prince JiangSu cleared his throat and asked, “Are you looking over there to suggest that I should take you to bed?” Turning a thousand shades of red, Eun Jung vehemently shook her head and rushed back to her seat at the banquet table.
When she had reached her intended destination, Eun Jung picked up her unfinished bowl of rice and began to quickly shovel food into her mouth. As she slowly chewed her rice, Eun Jung attempted to discreetly tilt her head to the side in an effort to steal a glimpse of the windows. Fully aware of what she was contemplating, Prince JiangSu said, “You can forget about trying to escape through the windows. There are a bunch of people sitting just outside the walls of this room.” Realizing that all routes of escape were blocked off, Eun Jung returned her attention to the banquet table and wondered how long she would be able to keep eating.
Taking note of the fatigued expression on Eun Jung’s face as she continued to force herself to eat, Prince JiangSu stood up and grabbed her by the arm to drag her off to bed. Holding onto the banquet table with her free hand, Eun Jung proclaimed, “But, I’m not done eating yet!” Turning around to pry her hand from the table, Prince JiangSu replied, “You’ve eaten almost everything; so unless you think you can eat the bowls and plates, I suggest that you stop it now!” Feeling herself losing her grip on the table, Eun Jung was finally resigned to her fate and exclaimed, “Don’t drag me; I’m perfectly capable of going to bed by myself.” Upon hearing her declaration, Prince JiangSu let go of her arm, moved aside and asked, “Then what are you waiting for?”
Straightening out her wonsam, Eun Jung took a deep breath and made her way over to their bed. Standing in front of their bridal bed, Eun Jung furrowed her brows before turning to Prince JiangSu to ask, “Before we go to sleep, should I help you wash your face first?” Annoyed that she was still trying to stall, Prince JiangSu pointed at the bed and ordered, “Get in bed now!” With an audible sigh, Eun Jung replied, “Okay, you don’t have to yell. I just thought you valued cleanliness.” Finding that Eun Jung was wearing thin on his patience, Prince JiangSu glared at her before asking, “Are you going to get into bed by yourself or do you want me to help you do so?”
Without another word, Eun Jung removed her shoes and crawled into bed. Seeing Prince JiangSu join her on the bed, Eun Jung backed up against the wall, lowered her head, grasped the blanket with both hands and closed her eyes tightly. Ignoring Eun Jung’s defensive posture, Prince JiangSu turned to untie the ropes holding back the bed curtains. Realizing that silence had overtaken the Shinbang; the maids and attendants on the outside of the room, acted on the orders of the King and Queen, by poking small holes into the rice paper covering the windows to observe what was going on inside.
Seeing that the royal couple had drawn the bed curtains, one of the attendants asked, “How can we report back to the King and Queen if we’re unable to see what’s going on?” Before anyone could answer the attendant’s question, Eun Jung screamed, “You’re hurting me! You’re using too much force, try to be gentler!” Staring wide-eyed at one another the attendants and maids continued to listen as Prince JiangSu screamed back, “Stop struggling and it won’t hurt as much!” Moving away from the windows, the maids and attendants all agreed that they would be able to adequately report back to the King and Queen.
Back within the confines of the bridal bed, Eun Jung grimaced as Prince JiangSu continued to pull on her Gache. Whirling around to face him, Eun Jung pushed Prince JiangSu aside and said, “Stop it. I’ll just sleep with it on.” Turning her back around to face the wall, Prince JiangSu replied, “You can’t sleep with that thing on your head. Just bear with the pain a little longer.” Clasping her hands together, Eun Jung nodded her head and gritted her teeth in anticipation of the forthcoming pain. With one final forceful tug; Prince JiangSu was relieved, that he had been able to remove the Gache from Eun Jung’s head.
Feeling the intense pain seep across her scalp, Eun Jung collapsed onto the bed and exclaimed loudly, “I told you to be gentler! Now it hurts everywhere!” Seeing her writhe in pain, Prince JiangSu became worried and asked, “Where does it hurt the most, let me see.” As he helped her up, Eun Jung shoved him away and countered, “Why do you want to see, so you can do some more damage?” Grabbing a hold of her shoulders to steady her, Prince JiangSu replied, “I want to see if I’ve accidentally ripped out a clump of your hair.” Recognizing a tenor of concern in the Prince’s voice, Eun Jung lowered her head and pointed to the area where she felt the most pain.
Since Eun Jung’s hair was still tightly pinned up in a bun; Prince JiangSu was unable to decipher the exact location of her pain and quickly ordered, “Let down your hair so I can take a look at your scalp.” Doing as he had instructed, Eun Jung felt around the bun, located the pin and pulled it out to release her tightly coiled hair. Sitting dumbfounded upon catching sight of Eun Jung’s silky black hair cascade down her shoulders, to frame her delicate face, Prince JiangSu momentarily forgot what he had initially intended to do. Thinking that he had forgotten the area where she had last pointed, Eun Jung lowered her head, pointed and asked, “Is there a clump of hair missing?”
Regaining his senses, Prince JiangSu carefully looked around the scalp area where she was pointing and replied, “It’s just a little red, I didn’t pull out too much of your hair.” Raising her head to look at him, Eun Jung asked, “Are you sure?” With a confused expression on his face, Prince JiangSu replied, “Yes, I’m sure that your scalp is fine.” Shaking her head, Eun Jung explained, “No, I meant are you sure that it’s okay if we don’t really become man and wife tonight.” Nodding his head, Prince JiangSu replied, “Yes, I meant that too. I know that you have someone else' image in your heart, so I will absolutely not take you as my wife until that image disappears.”
Eun Jung was relieved that the Prince was allowing her time to prepare for their eventual physical relationship and breathed a sigh of relief before saying, “Thank you for not forcing me to do something that would make me uncomfortable.” Waving her off, Prince JiangSu replied, “Save your breath and just take off your bridal attire to go to sleep.” Staring at him with trepidation, Eun Jung asked, “You want me to take off my bridal clothes?” To which, Prince JiangSu replied, “Yes, even if we’re not going to be man and wife tonight. I refuse to sleep next to you in that getup.” Realizing that he had already made a huge concession on her behalf, Eun Jung slowly took off her bridal attire leaving only her inner layer of clothing exposed.
Taking the bridal attire from her, Prince JiangSu tossed the clothes off the bed before proceeding to take off his own outer layer of clothes. Turning to face Eun Jung in the bed, Prince JiangSu became a bit flustered at their close proximity but still calmly reassured her by saying, “A Prince’s word is as good as gold; so you don’t have to worry about me trying to do anything to you tonight. Plus, from what I’ve seen of you in these past two days; there is nothing that could even tempt me to touch you with a ten foot pole.” Slightly offended by his comment, Eun Jung replied, “To be honest, I’m quite tempted to touch you right now.” Seeing him stare at her in disbelief, Eun Jung clarified, “I’d love to touch you with a ten foot pole after it has been lit on fire first.” Before Prince JiangSu could respond Eun Jung turned away to face the wall, leaving him with no other option but to glare at the back of her head.
....oh God...I'm so perv... running away before you scolding me hehehhehe 
