when day breaks on a crisp autumn morning, house baekje welcomes their first daughter into the world.  she's named saerom and and she appears as lovely as the flowers that the citizens bestow her with.  she's loved by all, how could she not be?  she is the first princess after all. the people are curious what a princess of baekje entails...and what her future holds.  while curiosity looms, the infant princess' fate is already decided.  and that is why on her first birthday she's presented an heirloom, a diadem of blue topaz and sapphire told to represent the serenity, wisdom, and virtue of the ideal baekje woman.  but when the one year old princess shoves the heirloon into , the people behind the walls of the palace soon realize that princess saerom is the antithesis of all which they aspired her to be.  

was hyperactive the best word to describe her?  perhaps not, saerom wasn't a ball of energy all the time.  she simply could not stay in one place for too long.  she was always swift in escaping the tight clutches of her mother's hand and making a run for the courtyard, where she would put the butlers and maids in distress by climbing the trees.  or when the nanny tucks her into bed, she would wait a moment before they left so she could explore the far and closed off reaches of the baekje palace.  

the palace walls were not enough to satisfy the wanderlust that befell upon the princess, she yearned to explore the far reaches of a world beyond the palace, baekje, and aerok.  sadly- lady jieun- and by extension baekje had a different plan.  

on her 8th birthday, saerom's birthday present was a governess:  an old countess with too much time on her hands would undertake the process of shaping young saerom into the virtuous woman her mother wanted her to be.  the governess quit a year later, as her aging body could not handle having to chase after the princess.  

that is when lady jieun decided to take things into her own hands and mold her into the woman she wanted her to become.  

jieun coaxes her, she reminds saerom that 'mother knows best'.  jieun feeds her the false promise that when she's older, the world will become hers.  all saerom has to do is listen to her.  and so, saerom does.  

for one year...and then she realizes her 'dear' mother can not give her the world.  she can only take it from her.

but saerom also knows that if she acts up now, everything she has cherished up until that point will be gone from her hold.  so the princess learns to compromise better than anyone else.  she presents herself as a demure woman of virtue to the public, a princess that could capture the hearts of the people with her wisdom and loveliness. 

when she sees the smile on her mother's face however, she's disgusted. 

she's disgusted at how easily a royal can toss aside or embrace their children, how the only thing that seems to matter is the fact that she has the blood of nobility flowing through her veins.  she's disgusted at the woman she's become as a result, a mere pawn who's only purpose seems to become a thread towards yet another alliance.  thus, saerom swears that once she reaches adulthood she will only live for herself and the people she loves.  she realizes...that even if her mother bore her into this world, she does not love her.  and so saerom has no love to return to her.  

saerom finally finds a taste of freedom when she goes to notecnirp in yesrej wen for university.  she experiences all her firsts away from the prying eyes and ears of baekje, and it breaks her down and builds her up again.  she realizes how fleeting this freedom is during her first summer break back in aerok when she's subjected to the demands of the house yet again.  when she first hears preparations for an engagement in passing.  she's lucky that the plans seem to dissolve but it dawns on her that freedom for a princess was like a flash of lightning.  

she had to find a way to savor it somehow; so in true baekje fashion, when saerom sees the opportunity to do fieldwork with an archaeology professor, she takes it.  

that's how she ends up uncovering underground cities and byproducts of old civilizations for two years in emor, eceerg, and yekrut.  it's everything she could dream of.

yet fate brings her back to aerok. how could it not? after she hears the tragedy that befell upon her childhood home, the torture and pain that her older brother suffered in the hands of cruel people, saerom's heart stings with pain. she realizes a part of her had been running away and in doing so, she neglected the people she truly loves. so saerom returns to aerok, a more assured woman than when she had once left it.