My Ultimate Ambition

The emperor escorted his wife into the inner chambers and sat her down. He pushed open his drawer and brought out a scroll and a quill feather.

"Here, write everything you want to do except the final selection and I will stamp my royal seal".

Living with his empress for close to 19 years, the emperor knows exactly how to deal with her. In order to get anything she wants, she will do anything.

The empress looked at him with such proud, bright eyes. She seemed to be considering him, and he was not comfortable under such inspection.

There was a certain lofty imperiousness about her that made the emperor feel ill at ease in her presence. He had a vague idea that there was a depth of satire and scorn in her eyes with which he could not cope with.

"Your Majesty" she said, "Then ,I shall send out the invitations myself, all the girls that receive the invitation are the only eligible ones".

The emperor nodded. "Anything you need, Hwanghu... anything at all".

Abruptly, she stood up and curtsied before leaving the palace. No matter what the outcome will be, she will still get what she wants at last .

____________________

Red floral arrangements graced the whole palace. Colourful paper lanterns were used to decorate the entrance of palace making it look placid and beautiful. The palace wore a face of festivity.

The crown prince worked on his assignments disregarding his eunuch' plea to dress in his ceremonial robe.

"What's the need? It's not really my birthday celebration but a ground for royal mother's schemes.". He grudgingly replied, at the same time working on his doc.u.ments.

Every high-ranking official's daughters were invited specifically. The young ladies with invitation letters were elated to participate in the celebration.

After all, even if you don't make it to the selection , you will still feast your eyes on him. A well-known demigod.

Eun-hye who was also invited reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged by Seo-yun. For her, she's not interested in going to any party as she already has an engagement that day.

Sitting together with Seo-yun and all other noble ladies, she felt she won't even be missed and hatched a plan in her mind.

A plan to escape.

Amusingly, she watched all the pretentious actions of all of them and felt disappointed. They were all acting gentle and kind but they are not!

One of them was smiling inside her handkerchief making herself look well-mannered. The other was nibbling on a snacks while her eyes looked like a hungry voracious beast.

All this pretense is for what and for whom?

She whispered into Seo-yun's ears and left hurriedly.

At the gate, she was disallowed to leave. They apologetically stated that unless the celebration is over, nobody leaves the palace. Empress's orders.

Meekly, she left the place to find another way out. In her haste, she missed her step on the stair while climbing down and fell forward.

Panicking and unable to break the fall, she closed her eyes in expectancy of a huge impact. None came. Instead, she fell into an arm.

"Are you OK, Miss?"

A tender voice spoke to her , making her open her eyes to see a young man worriedly staring at her. His dressing looked casual and unbefitting of a palace life.

"Always watch where you are going".

An icy voice sliced the air. Disappointedly, she wanted to caution the person when her eyes fell on him. A very handsome man.

Immediately, she removed herself from the man that saved her from the fall before straightening her robe.

"Thank you" she said before turning to the cold looking young man.

"And who might you be to talk to me that way"

"Me?... I am the grand general guarding the palace".

She scoffed but decided to use them.

"Since you are the grand general, can you grant me passage?... I need to go home right now"

The grand general looked at her with a surprised expression. Why does she want to go home before the party is even started?

"Aren't you interested in seeing the crown prince? I'm sure I heard majority of the ladies whispering excitedly on seeing him".

Humph!

Is he excited to see me? Why should I be excited to see him?

"I'm not other ladies". She weakly replied, her eyes never leaving the young man before her.

She's very different. He thought.

"Can you help me then?" She broke his line of thoughts and brought him to attention.

"We are also escaping, so using the front gate is not an option". The icy fellow replied.

Eun-hye looked at them with suspicion. Why would he escape from the palace on such a big day? Well, she doesn't care as long as she leaves safely.

"What's the plan then?" .She asked.

He pointed at the stacks of already rotting veggies and waste placed in carts.

"We leave through that". He pointed.

"You got to be kidding, right?" She scrunched her nose at the sight of it , don't even talk about the smell.

"If you have any other option, suggest... but for now, we are leaving with the rotten veggies and dirt". The grand general supplied.

___________________

At the riverside, Eun-hye can't help but scrub off all the stench and dirt from her body. Watching the men who are calmly and slowly washing themselves too, she cursed.

Why are they still here? She needs a thorough bath but she can't remove her garments in their presence. What to do?

The grand general mockingly told her to be fast as they want to interrogate her. Seeing the unabashed look on his face, she blushed.

The grand general saw her red face and walked towards her to ascertain if she was unwell. Each step brought her heart to a crazy throb . What is wrong with her?

"Hey, are you OK?"

She nodded but embarrassingly wanted to hide her face. Her heart is jumping in her c.h.e.s.t noisingly. She prayed that he doesn't hear the sound.

"If you say so" he said. "What is your name?"

"It's Jang Eun-hye" . She righteously told him.

"OK, Eun-hye? Be good"

With the speed of a cheetah, he left with his friend. Leaving her all alone in the river.

____________

A courtmaid that was sent to inform the crown prince about the empress arrival returned to relay a sad news. His Highness is missing.

"That foolish boy" . She muttered.

"Have all the ladies return to come back tomorrow... the crown princess selection starts tomorrow". A big smirk appears on her face making her look evil.

"Lady Yoo, inform his Majesty that the selection starts tomorrow".

She sipped her tea and smiled. Her son is starting to irritate her.

The whole department responsible for the duty started preparing.

The emperor received the information with mixed feelings but didn't complain. Rather, he gave his approval.

As for the birthday boy, he is quite oblivious to the happenings at the palace. The spies he sent out to gather information about Yoona's whereabouts are back with a bad news.

A family disappeared at night and someone died. Description? A young girl, nothing else.

"Choi sang-min! If you have touched my girl , I will castrate you!"