Chapter 58

Out of impatience, she pleaded with him again, “Your Majesty, he is your brother. You have watched him longer than me, your official wife, and know his character better than others. How can you be so mean to him?”

Bipaan looked at her again. Though his eyes were always empty, they looked all the more so now.

“Don’t worry about him too much. As your husband, I will deal with the matter in a fair and just manner.

It was already very dark when Kyosul left the East Palace. She was staggering in the darkness, with the nanny behind her holding a lamp.

“What should I do?”

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“Your Highness!”

The nanny following her with a troubled look caught up with her and asked piteously, “Why are you so absent-minded today of all days? Why can’t you pull yourself together?”

“No, no, no…” While murmuring to herself absent-mindedly, she suddenly stopped walking. “I did not lose him. Only now have I taken hold of him firmly.”

Yes, she realized it now clearly.

Her trembling eyes turned into crystal clear again.

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“I think I’ve been wandering in a wrong place all day long.”

She began to walk vigorously. As if she went back to her past as the tomboy princess of her motherland Hwa Kingdom, she began to run with her skirt fluttering.

The nanny tried to chase her but failed. Kyosul disappeared into the darkness and headed for a destination she realized clearly.

“Your Highness! Where are you going now?”

Only the nanny’s shouting echoed through the dark East Palace.

Kyosul was running in the darkness. She knew where she was running. It was the first time she moved with the utmost conviction since she came to the Mok Kingdom and became a member of its royal family.

There were lamps lighting the way to the imperial palace. She was heading for the Central Palace under the lights of the dotted lamps on the roads.

She ran for a long time. She felt short of breath and her heart was pounding hard. Her skirt wrapped around her trembling legs. Nothing could stop her at the moment.

She was happy.

She was thrilled with joy.

She couldn’t be more satisfied at the fact that she could breathe out so happily. She felt as if she rediscovered the reason why she was still alive.

“Why?” She asked quickly while breathing roughly. “Why didn’t I do this in advance?”

Was it because she was scared?

“Why now?”

Only when she experienced fear could she forget about it.

There was nothing solved yet, but she did all she could to save Ruhae.

She went everywhere ranging from the Pukbi Palace where Princess Heyjin was located to the East Palace. She argued with Bipaan and even lied on behalf of Ruhae. She also pleaded with Bipaan to free him, even though she knew her appeal would fall on deaf ears, but all her desperate efforts went nowhere until now. The situation didn’t change.

Despite that, she was most thrilled and excited today.

She was heading for that place to meet Ruhae.

When she entered the Central Place, she slowed down her running pace. Though she was aware of the road to the Central Palace, she didn’t know her way around the palace. She confirmed with her nanny that the interrogation took place at the Headquarters of the Imperial Army.

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“If that’s true, he must be in the prison in the Imperial Army HQ.”

She couldn’t ask anybody there. She couldn’t let anybody in the imperial palace know that the Crown Princess was visiting the jailed prince in the evening, but she wasn’t worried now.

“Even though the palace is vast, I’ve got enough time.”

She had at least five hours to spend before the day broke. She decided to make rounds to the places with lamps first. Back in the Hwa Kingdom, she wandered around the kingdom like a wild rat so many days. She recalled her days in her motherland for a long time. At that time, she was not a virtuous princess. There never stopped the constant calling of the court ladies who went around to search for her in the palace.

As such, it was a piece of cake that Kyosul searched here and there inside the imperial palace of the Mok Kingdom, unnoticed by the court ladies at all.

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She first walked around the outer castle of the palace to go to the Imperial Army HQ. Straining her hearing, she listened for the soldiers’ footsteps in the corner of the castle or over the wall. And she kept going through several gates of the castle without meeting a single court lady and soon noticed a sign ‘Headquarters of the Imperial Army.’

“Right here, he….”

Kyosul’s heart began to beat again.

She saw several soldiers were on sentry duty because of the ongoing interrogation. Instead of hurrying up, she watched them quietly, waiting for the right time. If she made a hasty attempt to climb over the wall, she would be caught by them who were far more sensitive to any unusual noise. She knew it because as a tomboy princess she had already experienced it.

Fortunately, in less than an hour after she got there, they left the place for a shift change. She seized the chance and quickly went into the headquarters secretly. It was easier for her to find the prison than intruding into the palace secretly.

As the prison was located inside the Central Palace, the charges of those jailed there were related to the royal family, so the atmosphere there was very grave and awe-inspiring. She had to go underground. She slowly went down, wary of the security guards’ watchful eye. Fortunately, there were no soldiers inside the prison.

She was not sure if they didn’t dispatch the guards in consideration of Prince Ruhae or if that was the expression of their confidence in prison security.

Ruhae was jailed in the deepest cell of the prison. Dressed in white clothes and his long hair shaken out loose without the topknot, he looked like a typical criminal.

“How come you are….”

She helplessly shed tears in front of the thick wooden bar of the prison.

When he heard a woman’s low voice, Ruhae suddenly trembled and slowly turned his head. Though he let his long hair down, he couldn’t hide his handsome face. His light brown eyes opened wide with surprise when he noticed Kyosul.

“Crown Princess!”

As if he couldn’t believe his ears, he called her in a stunned voice.

The moment she confirmed Ruhae’s face, tears ran down her face suddenly. She shut her mouth and got close to the wooden bars. He also came close to her and held the bars.

“How come you came down as far as here?” Though his eyes sparkled briefly with joy, he said with a heavy heart, “This is not a place for Your Highness to visit.”

“This is not a place for you to stay, Prince Ruhae.”

Shaking her head, she repeated after him. And even before he said further, she expressed her pent-up feelings toward him finally.

“I love you.”

Kyosul’s crisp voice turned mellow at that moment. She uttered those sweet words in such a voice. Ruhae just looked at her blankly as if he couldn’t believe his ears.

She put up with it too long.

She beat around the bush too long.

It took too long for her to express her genuine feelings toward him.

As it took so long for Kyosul to convey her genuine feelings, she couldn’t stand it anymore and broke into tears as soon as she saw his face.

She extended her hand through the bars, and he held it with his trembling hand. Both of them sat as close to each other as possible with the thick wooden bars between them.

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“What did you say to me a moment ago?”

“I love you.” Her tears soon soaked not only her colorful silk dress but also his white clothes. “I am sorry. I was so foolish. I was so foolish and immature to avoid you all the time. When I thought that I could lose you, I just couldn’t concentrate on anything and come to my senses. I just kept thinking about how much pain you were in now. I am so heartbroken because of you.”

She then grabbed and tore at her chest and said, “My heart tells me not to ignore you anymore. If I ignore you any further, I’m afraid I am going to be too heartbroken to stand it. I just can’t sit idle when you’re imprisoned like this.”

With tears running down her cheeks, she looked at him.

His hardened face turned soft before he knew, with a bright smile on his face.

It was not a dream.

Her soft hands and hot tears all belonged to her.

Only now did he realize that she came into his heart.

He put his hand on her cheeks and wiped off her tears with his thumbs.

No matter how far he extended his hand, all he could do was stroke her back as the wooden bars separated them.