Chapter 19

When Kyosul said that, Yomin lowered her head after realizing that she had been staring at Kyosul without saying anything.

“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I’ve committed a gaffe.”

Finally, Kyosul began to recover her complacency as usual, as if she felt more relaxed now while talking and spending some time with Yomin.

“I think I know why you have come to see me today.”

“Pardon?”

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When Kyosul spoke in a bright voice, Yomin raised her head and looked at her.

“I guess you have come here as you’re curious about how a woman from another country looks. As you’re staring at me like that, I think I can guess why, though I’m slow-witted,” Kyosul said.

Forgetting the uncomfortable truth that Yomin was Ruhae’s wife, she spoke with a smile just like she did before Ruhae. Yomin burst into laughter at her innocence. Yomin got even ashamed of herself when she thought she to be wary of this little woman.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I think my foolish act has made you uncomfortable.”

“No, not at all. In fact, I was lonely and bored here in the palace. I just want to thank you for coming to see me.”

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Looking at Kyosul’s innocent, child-like smile, Yomin was curious why Kyosul called her the ‘wife’ of Prince Ruhae without any hesitation. Recalling, however, that she came from the Hwa Kingdom, Yomin felt that’s the way they called royal women in her motherland. After hesitating a bit, Yomin opened her mouth. As she knew Kyosul felt much more relaxed now, Yomin could bring up the question she wanted to ask.

“Your Highness, Crown Princess, how come you can call me the prince’s wife so easily?”

“Pardon? You are the wife of Prince Ruhae, right? That’s why I call you his wife.”

Nodding her head, Yomin continued, “Your Highness, you know that the laws and customs of the Mok Kingdom are much more complicated than that of the Hwa Kingdom, your motherland, right?”

Yomin explained to her with extreme caution so as not to commit any disloyalty, but Kyosul nodded easily without caring about it.

“That’s why you have to be careful about how to call the royal family members here. There are many royal wives here. So, if you call someone just ‘a prince’s wife,’ we never know which prince’s wife you’re referring to. That wife could be me or the Emperor’s wife, or the Crown Prince’s wife. So, you have to add the correct title when you call them.”

“Oh, I see. I didn’t think as far as that,” Kyosul answered, embarrassed.

“And …”

Yomin tried to continue, but she was disturbed as she had to tell Kyosul what she felt bothered her most these days, but she could tell about the purpose of her visit as she naturally mentioned the matter of the title of royal wives in the Mok Kingdom.

“When they want to show friendliness or closeness, they can call a princess just a prince’s wife.”

“If that’s true, you can address the Crown Princess as the Crown Prince’s wife, right?”

“Yes, you’re right.”

Just like a student predicted the answer to a teacher’s question, Kyosul answered. Yomin replied to her question with a gentle smile.

“And the prince also calls the princess just his wife to show affinity and friendliness. By the way, I guess the Crown Prince addresses that woman as a ‘concubine’ as you’re his official wife.”

Kyosul nodded again. Come to think of it, Bipaan addressed her as the Crown Prince’s wife. She didn’t think much about it because that’s what they did in her motherland. Only after Yomin explained it did Kyosul understand the real implication of his calling.

Is it true that the Crown Prince felt a little closer to me?

Suddenly, Kyosul felt embarrassed at the thought that she was too scared of Bipaan. She even thought that he might have done his best to treat her with respect and consideration.

“Is there anything else that I have to use caution when it comes to calling titles?”

“Well, I’m not sure if you know this. You call the Crown Prince and the Prince just prince, right? But you shouldn’t call them like that.”

“In the Hwa Kingdom, they are called like that. I’ve been addressing them simply as princes. I think they might have scolded me for my clumsy manners.”

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As if she thought it fortunate that she wasn’t scolded yet, Kyosul put her hands on her heart and let out a deep sigh. Fortunately, she hadn’t met other princes or princesses yet. She realized anew that she was now living in the Mok Kingdom where she had to be careful all the time.

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Yomin continued, “And there are two royal wives in the East Palace. So, you should call them ‘Ye Princess’ and ‘Su Princess.’ And there are three concubines here. You don’t have to add any title when you call them. You just call them by adding their last names such as Concubine Suh, Concubine Jeyong and Concubine Yu. By the way, didn’t you receive any briefing from the chief court lady?”

Yomin suddenly asked Kyosul after she was done explaining. In fact, when she arrived in the palace, Yomin herself learned about every detail of the palace life from the court lady in charge of teaching royal wives about court manners.

At Yomin’s question Kyosul answered, blushing her face, “Well, I was absent-minded with getting adjusted to the palace life since I got here…”

That was true. At first, they didn’t arrange any special training program for her so she could get adjusted to the palace life easily while checking its atmosphere. When they were about to give her the required training seriously, Kyosul put it off as she went to the back garden of the outer palace to meet Prince Ruhae.

As she was vacant at her residence every day, the court ladies in charge of her training often had to go back, but the reason she was not familiar with the royal family members was partly because of her negligence. In the meantime, the royal doctor recommended that she should take as much rest as possible for psychological stableness, so they didn’t plan any training for her at all.

“Recently I’ve been sick in bed, so I couldn’t receive the training on court manners.”

“Oh my goodness! Do you have any chronic illness?”

“Oh, not really…” Kyosul slurred. And she again felt dumbfounded. How can she reply to the official wife of Prince Ruhae? Could she confess her heart ached because of him? Could she say she was heartbroken because he embraced her warmly when she was trembling in fear of the cold-hearted Crown Prince?

While Kyosul was at a loss for words, Yomin’s face hardened. She recalled her purpose in visiting the East Palace.

“May I ask who made you sick like this?”

Her face was drained of color when she was faced with Yomin’s question. Yomin clearly noticed her face turned white immediately. Now, her smile disappeared, and she looked at her with a sharp look.

“Are you sick because of somebody? Is it a fever? Or I wonder if you have become lovesick.”

“Gee! Crown Princess!” When Kyosul trembled as Yomin pressed on her, her nanny, who was standing nearby, cut in.

“How come you are trying to cut in when you’re only a court lady? Don’t behave rudely while we’re talking now!”

Without even turning her head, Yomin gave the nanny a good scolding. The nanny, who stepped toward Kyosul, lowered her head and moved back reluctantly. With sweet talk, Yomin again tried to cajole her into confessing.

“Please tell me, Your Highness. Why have you been so sick these days?”

Yomin asked in a sweet tone this time. Kyosul’s heart began to pound loudly.

“I just…”

She was about to cry, but Yomin didn’t care and kept bugging her.

“Please tell me comfortably.”

“Well….I just…”

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When she closed her eyes welled up with tears, her tears dropped on her silk dress and soaked it.

“Prince ….”

Kyosul was about to mention the name, after all.

Yes, just say he was Prince Ruhae! Say Prince Ruhae!

Staring at her, Yomin clenched her fists. Yomin once again strongly coaxed her with a sweet voice.

Saying so, Kyosul slurred without any additional words, “The Crown Prince treated me too coldly, so I was just distressed…”

At that moment, Yomin knew that couldn’t force Kyosul to confess any more as she wished. And at the same time, she felt her face flushed because she realized she did something terrible to Kyosul.

Kyosul was sobbing before her eyes, and she scolded her nanny loudly, which was unprecedented.

How could Yomin behave so rudely? How could she, Prince Ruhae’s quiet and faithful wife, act so recklessly before the Crown Princess? Yomin couldn’t figure out how she could show such rude and crazy behavior to Kyosul.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I showed such a discourteous behavior to you…” Startled at her own despicable behavior, the first of its kind in her life, Yomin was so embarrassed and lowered her head. “Please forgive my rude behavior generously.”