When Shin Eunae — a maid for the noble house of Goguryeo — finds out that her drunken one-night stand with King Yoonsuk himself has led to her pregnancy, she finds that she is left with only two choices: to let their unborn child die with her or to carry that secret with her until she dies. Her blind love and loyalty for the king prompted her to choose the latter.

Nine months later, Shin Ryujin is born, and Eunae cherished her as a reminder of what she once had with the man she loved. The king, on the other hand, refused to acknowledge the child as his own. While the house knew about the birth of Eunae's first daughter, none of them knew the father's true identity — not even Lady Hyeon.

Ryujin grew up in the fort with the other staff members of the house as her mother could not afford a place for them with her maid salary. While many of the royal children were around her age, the king has made it clear in his agreement with her mother that Ryujin would not be allowed to interact with his other children. Hence she grew up with her mother's coworkers as her friends and picked up their tendency to swear on top of many other 'bad habits'. It was hard to believe that she had royal blood in her.

She would also spend time with the knights and dames when her mother is busy attending to the royals' needs, and soon took an interest in fencing after watching their sparring sessions. At the age of 16, she became an accomplished fencer, capable of holding off against even the strongest warriors of Goguryeo. At one point, she considered attending military school to train as a dame, but her mother disagreed.

"A princess like you should have never touched a weapon in the first place," her mother had said, voice hushed as if she was about to divulge a secret. Ryujin hadn't thought much of it back then and enrolled to a local college under a full scholarship to study history, a side interest she picked up after years of sneaking into the library when the royals were asleep. Life wasn't perfect, but it wasn't exactly cruel to Ryujin either.

 

The night of her entrance ceremony, in the midst of celebrating with her newfound university friends, Ryujin received a call from one of the maids, saying that her mother has been rushed to the hospital after what appeared to be a sudden cardiac arrest. Minutes after Ryujin's arrival, Shin Eunae was pronounced dead. The funeral they held for her was a small — one could count the number of attendees with their fingers, because Shin Eunae was an orphan with only her coworkers to rely on, and the death of a servant was one that the house of Goguryeo simply had no time to mourn.

While cleaning out her late mother's belongings, Ryujin stumbled upon a sealed envelope in her drawer. The barely legible scribble that fills in the back side is unmistakably her mother's handwriting. The writing itself, however, was one that she had not expected.

 

Something tells her that the letter is for her and her eyes only, so she made sure that no one was around before opening it. Little did she know that the content of the letter would change her life forever.

For the next couple of years, Ryujin would try to respect her late mother's wishes by staying off the royal family's radar. She replaced her mother as the new maid of Goguryeo while attending college at the same time, thus enabling her to finally see her real family up close for the first time. She found herself gradually craving acknowledgement and validation from them on top of the luxury they bask themselves with. At the same time, however, her hatred for the king grew, as he did not seem to have recognized her as his daughter. She also resented him for not being there for her mother even at her funeral, treating her as just another servant who couldn't work for the family anymore.

One day, Ryujin decided that enough was enough.

 

King Yoonsuk passed away the same way Shin Eunae had died two years ago, and Ryujin thought he deserved it.

She spent many sleepless nights apologizing to her mother for what she was about to do, and more of them formulating her plan. She was tired of being treated like a ghost when she shares the same blood running through the royals' veins. It was time to reclaim her title as the hidden princess of Goguryeo, even if it meant shedding the remaining traces she has of her mother.

Her plan was simple despite the amount of thinking dedicated to it: upload her DNA test results onto social media and let it blow up. She knew that Goguryeo would not be able to deny such strong evidence, thus pinning them into a corner and forcing them to admit that Ryujin is indeed, a part of the family.

Shin Ryujin is now Princess Ryujin of Goguryeo, and she will make sure that no one can strip the title away from her anymore.

black coffee — chamomile tea — clean spaces — fashion — makeup — red wine — champagne — rock music — polaroid cameras — vintage items — retro video games — candles — sports (especially skateboarding and fencing) — abstract art — piercings — poetry — dogs.

dirty spaces — the late king — arranged marriages — being controlled — bribery — people who can't recognize their privilege — two-faced people.

cooking — skating — reading (auto)biographies — watching documentaries — fencing.

to be acknowledged by the royal family — to assist goguryeo in the battle for the throne.

being abandoned and/or forgotten — death.

refer to jihoon's profile for ooc notes!