Oh! My Empress

Harold Whittemore had ordered Ivan and Alex to accompany Aaron Chadbourne and Cecilia to entertain Katherine Richmond.

Kim Su Won was left to her own devices, originally. However, Aaron insisted that she be included into the group with him. Everyone was left surprised, including Kim Su Won herself. She was perfectly happy with being alone.

And of course, the other three ladies were not happy with this development. Cecilia, Audrey and Katherine, all of them glared at the little girl who was rolling her eyes at the decision of the crown prince.

This lucky wench, even if she did not want to be in that party, why is everyone falling for her drama? Katherine was feeling an insurmountable jealousy in her heart while Audrey had rage brewing, her chest rising and sinking heavily at each step Emmeline was taking towards Aaron.

Although Aaron Chadbourne was Kim Su Won's favorite character in the novel and her old self, original Emmeline Whittemore was crazy about him, this was not how she had wanted to start a relationship with him.

She was here for four years anyway, it did not make sense for her at her age to take the decision for the future Emmeline Whittemore about her future husband. She was going to live her life quietly, working on things that she had always wanted to do in her own life.

"I heard that you have announced to your family that you are going to compete for the crown princess title," Aaron whispered to Kim Su Won. He had heard that this girl was crazy about him.

He had received number of letters from her, requesting for an audience and whatnot. While he did feel flattered, he had no idea where this interest stemmed for. They were kids, there was no reason for a kid to like a stranger so much.

He was baffled and irritated with the constant bombardment of such letters. He already knew of his duty, towards the country, towards the citizens and towards his parents. He knew from early on that he had to marry someone, not out of love but out of obligation. The girls were already chosen for him and he would only need to point to the one who would be the most beneficial.

And this particular girl whom he had never met before did not seem to have etiquettes of a crown princess candidate. His esteemed mother was as frustrated and angry as him.

But those letters, they stopped about a month ago. He did not pay much attention to it at first. His life was already full of problems, how would he have time to pay mind to such trivial thing? He did not even know the contents of the letters, he always asked his aide to burn them without reading.

But somewhere in the back of his mind, he had started looking forward to them. They were a source of entertainment, an assurance that someone was dedicated to him, at least. And then one day, they just stopped coming in.

He was pretty confused, he had enough power now that he could ask his trusted aides to look into it. He got to know that the girl had gotten into an accident. How he waited each day for the updates about her.

Even if he had not met her before, those letters were enough to make his heart ache for her.

Even today's outing. He would not really get time otherwise to visit the duchy. He just wanted to 'coincidentally' meet her just once. And it did happen, only if, that other girl was not with him today.

And he was so shocked when he realized that the girl who was writing him letters every week did not act all crazy for him.

Kim Su Won looked at the crown prince weirdly as she processed her thoughts and how to answer him. From the memories of the past, she knew how crazy original Emmeline was about this kid. She knew about the letters and how she had not received even a single reply from him.

It should not have really come as a surprise to him that she wanted to compete for the title. She was not sure why he was asking but it made sense to her to be clear in her intentions right since the beginning.

"Well, yes. It seems as if I was not taking my duties seriously before. However, it is just so that I can resume my studies. I have no interest in really becoming the crown princess, your highness. So, you can rest assured. I will not hinder any of your plans and will take care of it on my end," she replied calmly with a reassuring smile.

However, it had a sudden opposite effect on Aaron. He felt hurt inside for some reason. He should have been happy. He had one less headache to deal with, he should have felt relieved. What was this pain he was feeling?

"Oh!" was all he could mutter. He glanced at her but she had retreated to her own world. She was smiling and walking forward, seemingly a little proud even for letting him know his honest feelings.

All that time he was chasing after even a small news about her, all that time felt vain now. What was he even doing? A sadness enveloped his face.

Harold Whittemore was keeping an eye on the esteemed crown prince's mood. He panicked as soon as he saw the sudden change in his expression.

"Your highness, is there any arrangement not to your liking?" Harold immediately asked. They had been sitting in the big sofa room to entertain the guests.

As soon as the word about his highness's arrival had reached his ears, Harold had gotten his servants bring out the especially soft sofas he had stashed away for such royal visit.

Harold could not have any deficiencies, especially since a representative of Richmond duchy was also here. He could not lose out on anything.

But this stupid daughter of his! His highness had especially asked for her, why could she not keep him entertained for a few hours? He was the future king of the kingdom! And he was a child who did not interact with people a lot.

If he was showing interest in this stupid daughter of his, she should have taken advantage of it! But she had to ruin everything for him, didn't she? This idiot girl! He really needed to get better teachers for her.

"No duke, everything is great! So, about the deal you sent to the royal palace…"

The talks finally took a turn towards politics and business where Harold, Isaac, Ivan and Alex all participated enthusiastically with Aaron.

Kim Su Won felt bored listening to the heavy stuff. She could understand a lot of it but there were a lot of terms and places she had no idea about. Thus, she dozed off while sitting, her head waving here and there.

Her body was too small to not feel tired after such excursion and then this chit-chat.. In the end, losing control of herself, she ended up hitting her head on the crown prince's shoulder, absolutely freaking out everyone in the room.