Author's Note:
This story is loosely inspired by the love story of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip of Greece who fell in love when she was 13 and he was 18. They wrote letters to each other for years before finally getting married.
In this story, we start with Yeonhwa when she was 15 and Yusuke was 21.
***
Once their engagement was officially announced, Yusuke got Yeonhwa's detailed profile, sent to him by Seong Rihan's secretary. After he did all his college assignments and read all the royal reports addressed to him, he opened that file.
For someone so young, her curriculum vitae was really long.
Her charity projects list was long.
Her schedule was frightfully packed.
And her achievements were pages and pages.
What does this mean? Did she live fifteen years three times?
He was confused.
Then he began reading.
She loved pink and white.
Her hobbies were so many, and clashed with each other.
She played harp and had robotics lessons. She loved drawing and seemed to join all the science competitions Goryeo ever held. She's a student council president and volunteered at several animal shelters regularly.
Ever since Yeon Hwa was in the first grade until then in grade nine, she joined so many competitions. Chess, biology journal writing competition, mathematics team race, robotics competition, coding, app making, digital and traditional drawing.
And she won nearly everything she joined.
She had annual harp recitals, ten hours of official royal duties per week, delivered speeches in young UN meetings, and led a campaign to donate for children under poverty line.
He returned to the first page, a page where there was her picture, smiling calmly to the camera in her school uniform, holding the gold medal of Goryeo's Junior High Science Olympics 2024.
"Does your day consist of 24 hours like mine, or do you have a time-turner, making you able to do 100 things in a day?"
He then went back to the amazingly long list of her achievements.
After being quiet for a few minutes, he got a paper, a pen, and began writing his third letter.
***
Yusuke didn't dare to ask to text Yeon Hwa yet. He didn't want to scare her, truly.
But after reading her CV, he had questions, and he really wished to know the answers.
So Jiro, his trusted guard, flew again to Goryeo to carry his letter.
When she got home from school the next day, she found the letter.
To HRH Princess Lee Yeon Hwa of Goryeo,
I just read your CV and was horrified.
Your achievements are so.....intimidating. I humbly think you have achieved more than me.
Your range is so wide. From chess to mathematics counting race, writing biology journals to volunteering at animal shelters. Harp recitals and science olympics. A student council president who delivers speeches at Youth UN Meetings.
I sincerely hope you are eating, breathing and sleeping properly, Your Highness.
You seem to have achieved more than a human your age could achieve in three lifetimes.
You make me feel I have been lazy in life.
When you have time, kindly tell me which one of your activities you like the most. I need to know you a little, even as your penpal from across the ocean.
Stay healthy, Hime-sama,
Tsukihara Yusuke.
***
Author's Note: Hime means "princess" in Japanese.
***
The more Yeonhwa read the letter, the more she frowned.
Then she reread. Was he telling she's too ambitious? Or was it a sincere praise?
She left the letter open on her desk. She showered, had dinner, then reread the letter critically, trying to find a negative hidden meaning behind his words.
She did her homework with the letter open beside her.
Finally, after analyzing it in ten different ways, she decided that the Crown Prince of Amateru was praising her for being a.....highly achieved young girl.
***
Yusuke had written thrice, but got no reply except silence.
He tried to remember whether there was anything offensive in his letters, and there was none.
He got her number.
He could text her.
But he wouldn't.
He's a stranger suddenly tied to her.
He could email her. But no, he wouldn't.
He would....wait.
***
Yeonhwa finally read Yusuke's detailed profile.
Amateru was a kingdom famous for its advanced technology.
But Prince Yusuke loved literature.
He was expected to study Computer Program and led the National Digital Advancement Center.
But he chose to study politics.
He already published two poetry books, when he was seventeen and nineteen. He also had a photography exhibition the previous year.
He also had 20 hours of mandatory royal duties per week while being a student at Amateru Royal University.
His charity service was mostly related to disaster victims, because Amateru had earthquakes quite often. He also campaigned on asking the younger generation to "go back to books," stating that focus, creativity, creative thinking skills and empathy could be built by reading a physical book.
Yeonhwa thought.....the prince was unusual.
***
She bought his poetry books and read them.
They were.....beautiful.
One of the example was the following:
The glass palace glinted bright from the outside
A glow even diamonds couldn't outdone
Yet inside
It's freezing and empty
Yeon Hwa read those four lines over and over again.
She had a feeling the prince was writing about his life as a royal.
If her guess was correct, he might be feeling the same as her sometimes.
This life, many people envied it. But it could feel so difficult and empty on some days.
Her eyes were filled with tears as she reread the poem one more time before going to bed.
***
After waiting for three days, Yusuke finally wrote again,
To HRH Princess Lee Yeonhwa of Goryeo,
Please reply to my last letter.
I truly wish to know your answers.
Even brief answers are alright.
Sincerely,
Tsukihara Yusuke.
***
Princess Lee Yeonhwa of Goryeo joined between 5 to 10 competitions per year, and won first place for most of them.
But she was racking her brain just to write a letter to a prince across the ocean.
Finally, she took a deep breath, and wrote her first note to him,
To HRH Crown Prince Yusuke of Amateru,
You wrote two poetry books.
I'm not a good writer.
I am afraid I will humiliate my kingdom by saying the wrong things.
I thank your generous understanding in advance.
Sincerely,
Princess Lee Yeonhwa of Goryeo
***
The next day, after Yusuke finished his royal visit at the National Digital Advancement Center, his most trusted guard appeared.
"Here," Jiro handed Yusuke the letter triumphantly. "Your Goryeo princess finally writes back."
Yusuke stared at the letter.
"I'll go to a Lady Amaterasu temple and offer her something. She hasn't abandoned you, apparently."
Yusuke left Jiro without a word and entered his bedroom.
His heart was beating so fast.
He then read the short note.
She knew he wrote poetry books?
She read his CV too, then?
He couldn't speak Goryeoan.
She couldn't speak Amaterian.
They wrote in English.
He moved to his desk and wrote a reply.
To HRH Princess Lee Yeonhwa of Goryeo,
Thank you for your kindness. Your reply felt like a blessing.
I hope you can extend it. Don't stop writing. Please.
I know you are very busy. I know our engagement is a shock for you.
Therefore, please share your mind. I will listen to anything you are willing to share, Hime-sama.
I don't need poetry. A few lines will do. Please tell me about your main interest. I would genuinely like to know.
Sincerely,
Tsukihara Yusuke.
***
Yeon Hwa had a hundred things to do.
She read his latest letter—that sounded as if the moon had replied to him, and continued her evening as usual. Studying, doing her homework, preparing for the next robotic competition, and preparing for the next day of school.
After everything was done, she returned to his letter.
He had begged so many times that she believed he genuinely wanted to read her answers.
So she took a blank sheet of paper, then began writing.
To HRH Crown Prince Tsukihara Yusuke of Amateru.
I thank you for your questions.
You asked about my main interest.
The truth is, I myself am not sure of what I love the most.
If I could, I'd have 72 hours per day to do all my hobbies.
But if I have to answer, perhaps it's the one I haven't conquered. Robotics. I have joined five competitions to make my own robots, and I still haven't got the first winner. I reached second place, and that's not satisfying. I will try harder to win first place in a competition next month.
Between writing poems and photography, which one do you like better?
And do you enjoy studying Politics in college, Your Highness?
I hope this reply is adequate.
May you have a good day,
Princess Lee Yeon Hwa of Goryeo.
***
Yusuke was doubting his own sanity.
He couldn't be falling for someone he didn't know just from the way she wrote, right?
Was it even possible in this day and age?
He even researched about people falling in love online and it's increasing.
Well, if people could fall in love because of DM-ing each other in Instagram, why couldn't that happen to him too, but the platform was through letters, to someone engaged to him?
All day, he was pocketing her letter as if it was a sacred talisman.
At night, he replied, after thinking of her words all day.
To HRH Princess Lee Yeon Hwa of Goryeo,
How ambitious, Your Highness. The need to always be the number one, it was fed to you since you were a child, right? We need to be the first. Second best was not an option. Less than the first was unworthy to be mentioned.
If your answer was "yes," then we are the same. I was taught the same.
May you be the first winner of your next robotics competition next month. What robot are you making? And when is the competition?
I do enjoy studying Political Strategy. It helps in my work.
It wasn't something I was expected to study, though.
Between writing poems and photography.....I like writing poems more. I have books of poems. I fill notebooks with them.
I like your letters. Please write more, Your Highness. Nothing will be too redundant.
From across the ocean,
Yusuke
***
Yeon Hwa had a long list of things she needed to do for the student council that night, but she sat still after she read his letters.
Stunned.
Yes, she was fed the idea that she must always be number one.
Yes, second best or lower than that was not even worthy to be mentioned.
And when she saw her eyes were teary from the mirror on her right side, she decided she needed a walk.
***
Baek Hyorin, Yeon Hwa's Head of Guards, was confused about the princess's reason for the walk that night. She usually does that when she's anxious before a huge royal event or a competition. But there was no event the next day and the only thing that happened was a letter arriving from the crown prince of Amateru.
Still, Yeon Hwa walked around her palace that night. When she returned to her room, she wrote another letter,
To HRH Crown Prince Tsukihara Yusuke of Amateru,
Yes.
I'm making a robot that could check our body temperature, blood pressure and saturation.
I want to be a pediatrician in the future. It's not something my family expected of me as well.
Yusuke Seja Jeoha, there is one poem from your book that I really like.
It's this one:
The glass palace glinted bright from the outside
A glow even diamonds couldn't outdone
Yet inside
It's freezing and empty
May you have a great day,
Lee Yeon Hwa
***
Tadayama Yejoon, the crown prince of Miranai Kingdom, laughed cynically as his informant left.
He just discovered that Crown Prince Yusuke of Amateru and Princess Yeonhwa of Goryeo write to each other regularly, with the oldest method possible, letters. Ink on paper. Their guards fly to each other's country, personally carrying the letter and delivering it to the palace.
"How ridiculous," he commented dryly.
"Continue tracking the progress. They are planning more than writing love letters, I bet."
"Shall I kidnap the guard and take one letter for you to analyze, Your Highness?"
"No need. Let them play with each other a little longer."
His guard bowed, then left the room.
On Yejoon's laptop screen were tabs of Yusuke and Yeonhwa's separate pictures.
***