The Magnolia Beauty

"It"s okay." Areum smiled, rea.s.suring Suyin since she wasn"t angry. "I"m willing to do anything for my young miss." She then added. Suyin grinned bitterly. To find someone who would do anything for you is hard to find. Areum was more than a maid in Suyin"s mind, but she knew that the difference of status during this time was hard than the present day in her time. Suyin finished rubbing the medicine on her back, tightening the lid of her medicine jar.

Areum was grateful that Suyin treated her well now and back in the past. She knew that she could never endure the bitterness out on the streets without Suyin"s existence in the world. When Areum was young, she had no ident.i.ty to start with as a child. She was deserted by her parents at a young age and had to survive by stealing food from others. Areum stole Suyin"s food when she was younger, pushing Suyin down on the ground as she ran off with Suyin"s bag of steamed pork buns. Suyin"s father chased after Areum and was about to report her to the guards until Suyin told her father that she gave the food to Areum.

After that day, Suyin secretly followed Areum to her little home under an abandoned, cold home. Suyin would sneak out of her home at night to give Areum food.

"Did you want some food?" Suyin would question.

"Eum!" Areum immediately replied.

It wasn"t until Suyin was caught from her parents one of the nights that she begged her parents to allow Areum to be her maid. Her parents didn"t like the idea, but because of Suyin"s kind heart, they decided to let Areum stay with Suyin at their home.

Areum knew that she was different from Suyin, and their relationship could not be more than just a mere maid and master rather than having a bonding friendship between the two.

Areum slid the top of her hanfu back up.

"Thank you for the medicine, but you didn"t have to do that" she answered in a modest tone.

Suyin shook her head and handed her the medicine jar.

"It"s fine. It"s not much either since you did get in trouble because of me." Suyin shrugged her shoulders, acting as if it wasn"t a big deal.

"Young miss!" A voice outside of Suyin"s door called out. Suyin glanced at Areum, nodding to let her open the door. A male servant walked in, lowering his head. "Master has suggested you to go visit the Prince and the Princess at the Palace." He spoke.

The Prince and Princess? That"s right. Areum shook her head, puckering her lips. She could see the faces of the Prince and Princess of the Long clan painted in her imagination with their radiant appearance. Although she hasn"t recently seen the Prince lately, she"s been having tea with the Princess because she was feeling of lonely in the palace since her brother was always so busy.

"Alright! I"ll head on over there right now." Suyin rolled her sleeves back with a smirk in her face and stood up to get ready to leave. As soon as she stood up, Areum panicked and jumped up right when she did, stopping Suyin"s footsteps.

"What is it?" Suyin questioned, looking at Areum with a perplexed expression.

"My lady, you can"t just go out like that with your dirty outfit! We need to change first!" Areum demanded, shoving her to get changed.

"Ah... you"re right." Suyin stared down at her clothes. Specks of dirt were on her sleeves and her wrinkled dress didn"t look good in her if you were to consider the idea that Suyin would be at the palace filled with n.o.bility and etiquette.

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"Miss Han has entered the palace!" the servant announced, dropping his head as they opened the door to the Princess" courtyard. Suyin carefully walked in along with Areum by her side. Her sky-blue silk dress, fair pale skin, and dark long hair made her actions graceful. Many of the workers in the palace believed that if Suyin wasn"t the daughter of the n.o.ble Han family, they would have mistaken her as the sister of the Princess in the palace.

"You have arrived, Miss Suyin." Yanyu leisurely paced towards Suyin. She was in no hurry and was composed, opposite of Suyin who hurried over to Yanyu.

"Yanyu!" Areum"s elbow touched Suyin, causing her to fix her throat as she respectfully bowed to Yanyu. "Princess." She shifted her tone, taking a look around the servants as Yanyu ushered them to leave. The servants beside Areum scurried off Yanyu"s beautiful, large courtyard.

A lotus pond could be observed right next to her pavilion and peony flowers were planted throughout the walkway.

"Wow. Were these flowers all planted in here for you?" Suyin leaned down to smell the fragrance of peony flowers that swayed in the wind, blowing her hair in the air.

"Actually, I planted these when I have the time," Yanyu replied, smiling at Suyin"s response to the flowers. "It seems like you haven"t been here for a while. Brother and I were wondering how you were doing back at home the last time you came here."

Suyin directed her head to Yanyu and gave her a big grin, her smile brighter than the sun gleaming between the two.

"Of course home is nothing but dull! I can"t stand the life of staying home all day."

Yanyu"s peaceful expression changed into a surprised one.

"Dull? Why did you say that? Recently, you used to tell me how troublesome it was to be out all the time instead of staying home." Yanyu declared, strolling along aside with Suyin.

"Um. Yeah, I did consider that at one point recently but..." Suyin glimpsed around and leaned on the cement lantern next to the plum blossom tree.

She tip-toed to the nearest branch she could reach and tenderly picked off the plum blossom flower, handing it to Yanyu with a bright expression.

"I think that living a life that is meaningful to you makes more sense when you find something you like doing, you know?" Yanyu hesitated, unsure of what Suyin was expressing and silently accepted the flower that Suyin handed to her, giving her a small smile.

"Suyin." She stared at Yanyu, who gazed at the plum blossom before the two looked at each other. "Hm?"

"Never mind. I forgot what I was going to say." Yanyu shook her head. She stopped walking and watched the active Suyin stroll around the garden.

"Did you know how different you are now from the last time I met you?"

Suyin and Yanyu continued wandering for a bit until Yanyu got bored, so the two sat down in the pavilion, sipping green herb tea as Suyin listened to Yanyu"s life in the palace and how lonely she"s been feeling because her brother has been occupied.

"Maybe you should go out and find something that you enjoy doing," Suyin suggested, sipping her tea. Yanyu could only bitterly smile at Suyin"s words.

"As a Princess in the palace, we cannot do anything that will ruin our reputation and name." She sighed in disappointment, staring down on the ground. Suyin bit her lips, understanding how females in the past were always grounded down wherever they were. They were supposed to stay in one place and follow their partner"s footsteps rather than their own.

Suyin lightly slammed her teacup on her lap, causing Yanyu to jump in surprise.

"Ruining one"s reputation and living as your own self is two different things." Suyin looked straight into Yanyu"s eyes. She placed the teacup on the table and held Yanyu"s hands. "You need to have freedom in your life and take control. You are the person who will be walking the path in life, not the others who may control you for that."

Yanyu glanced up at Suyin, then gazed back down on the floor with a hopeless expression. Suyin frowned, raising Yanyu"s chin up.

"You must look ahead with determination and bravery. If you don"t, you"ll always live your life seeing the ground instead of soaring through the sky with no limit." [Idiom: You will always stay in one place being afraid if you don"t find what makes you happy and free.]

Yanyu pondered for a minute or two, absorbing what Suyin was trying to say. She understood that Suyin is trying to say things for the best, but she felt that as a Princess, it was unnecessary for her to go through all the trouble to fight for what Suyin call, "freedom." Suyin was for sure strange in Yanyu"s point of view because she never noticed how pa.s.sionate and outspoken Suyin was towards the Princess. The Suyin before would always watch what she would say and would be a bit more...relaxed.

"Miss Suyin. It seems like you seem a bit unusual the last time I saw you."

A male voice declared, causing Suyin and Yanyu to turn to the owner of the voice.

"Brother!" Yanyu glared at his comment as Suyin began to reflect on the Prince"s words, slowly agreeing to what he was saying.

Prince Long Jianyu was a tall and well-built man who had just finished his cla.s.s with Suyin"s father. One of the servants told Jianyu that Suyin was in the Princess"s courtyard and hurried off to see her after he finished listening to her father"s lectures.

Jianyu was the crown prince, the older brother of Yanyu who was a couple of years apart from the two girls. Suyin wasn"t too intimate to Jianyu compared to Yanyu because of Jianyu"s bursting reputation with the girls. The man was about 177 cm in height, half of Suyin and Yanyu"s height which made them look shorter than they would be.

Jianyu clothes were silk black and gold which carried the atmosphere of n.o.bility and power in his hands. His eyes were soft, always holding a concerned or compa.s.sionate expression on his face with little or no intimidation. He was highly favored by the emperor and the empress because of his obedience and kind-hearted soul which won the hearts of many girls in town.

It had been a while since Jianyu had seen his little sister and Suyin because his father instructed Jianyu to take care of the townspeople in a small neutral mountain village. It was a project that was crowded with homeless and sickly people, and the emperor wanted Jianyu to solve the problem so that the people would support him as the future emperor. Jianyu failed to do so and came back home with no solution and no favor to the civilians.

Suyin could care less that Jianyu was one of the "most handsome man ever lived" quoted by many girls since she felt like Jianyu was someone who was like a brother to her. Suyin could remember the memories with Jianyu in the past such as fishing with him, encouraging him to understand her father"s lectures, and writing poetry in the pavilion. She still pondered about the statement that Jianyu mentioned to Suyin though.

"Hm. Am I that strange? How different am I?" Suyin challenged the question, as Jianyu chuckled. He sat right next to Yanyu who continuously frowned at Jianyu for being so direct to Suyin. Unlike Jianyu, Yanyu would keep her thoughts to herself rather than being so honest like her older brother. She believed that it wasn"t right of him to say something like that to her since maybe Suyin had a life experience change or something similar to that happened to her.

"The Suyin I know would be more reserved and ladylike." Jianyu grinned, leaning on the table as he poured himself a gla.s.s of tea. "Suyin seems to be so honest and brave now." Jianyu took a sip of tea with a grin that was never washed off of his face.

"I understand." Suyin pointed with her index as she looked up the ceiling to think for a while. In Suyin"s memories of this body and person, it seems like the Suyin before had the n.o.ble aura around her. She was poised, humble, and always listened to others before speaking. It was a shame that she couldn"t be like that, but that type of character wasn"t like her. Suyin was a person who stood on her ground and would fight for her rights and freedom.

Suyin held her index up in the air, then pointed at Jianyu, who coughed on his tea as he glimpsed at her. "It doesn"t matter if I am different. I am still Suyin."

Someone pointed at Jianyu, the crown prince. Pointing in front of someone was a gesture that was known to be rude, but the way how Suyin casually pointed at him caused Yanyu and Jianyu to freak out. If Areum was here, she would have already lectured Suyin for doing something like that, but she had to leave to pick up some ink and paper at a shop in town.

"Suyin." Yanyu"s voice lowered with a concerned look in her face. Suyin turned her thought to Yanyu. "You do know that pointing at others is an offense. Especially towards royalty, it can be a big punishment." The guards nearby surrounded her and pointed their swords towards Suyin.