Chapter 65

Kyoyoung looked blankly at the direction of the East Palace. Her face turned pale and her eyes looked hollow.

“Why did you apologize to me? Why?” She murmured feebly in embarrassment.

She stood at the intersection for a long time. Court ladies, who were standing in a row behind her, lowered their heads while trying to read her mind.

“Your Highness, the sun is hot.”

“Oh, that’s right. I’m the Crown Prince’s wife.”

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Kyoyoung suddenly came to her senses when one of the court ladies spoke with a worried look.

Shocked by Bipaan’s erratic behavior, she walked to the Dongbi Palace, her original destination.

“Crown Princess Kyosul is not here.”

She was exhausted mentally and physically. It seemed that she was coming to the end of her tether. Compounded by a series of unpleasant happenings, she grew bold.

‘As I’ve come this far, I intend to meet her today.’

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She told the chief court lady outside Kyosul’s room, “Let me wait for her inside then.”

The court lady was embarrassed, “Your Highness, are you sure you’re going to wait for her inside?”

“Yes, I intend to,” she answered shortly. She was escorted into her room in no time.

“Do you want any tea and snacks?”

“No thanks. You can leave now.”

Kyoyoung ordered her to leave the room.

Shocked by Bipaan’s sudden visit and erratic behavior last night, she was too tired to return to her living quarters. To make things worse, she made a fruitless visit to the Dongbi Palace, which made her so exhausted that she couldn’t go back alone.

Kyoyoung, who tried to stay calm before the court ladies, collapsed on the mat placed before Kyosul’s table.

“Why….” She hit the table with her fist with a bang. “I wish he hadn’t said he was sorry to me!”

Without his apology, she would have not felt so miserable. His apology felt as though it undermined her status as his wife.

‘I wish he had rebuked me. I just feel terrible as you said you were sorry to me in your capacity as the Crown Prince!”

She grieved over her tough luck. She thought of her encounter with him today.

Then, she suddenly realized that she saw him walking out of the Dongbi Palace alone. The empty mattress in Kyosul’s room, where she was waiting now, came into her view.

He refused her temptation last night and ignored her with his cold-hearted apologies today.

“How come he visited the empty Dongbi Place alone?”

She felt dejected and miserable

***

Kyoyoung didn’t know how long she waited for Kyosul in her empty room.

Finally, she heard the chief court lady announcing, “Crown Princess Kyosul has arrived!”

Soon the door was opened and Kyosul came in. Having heard that Kyoyoung had been waiting for her, Kyosul greeted her gladly and took a seat on the mat.

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“Sorry. Have I kept you waiting too long?”

As usual, Kyoyoung also welcomed her with a bright smile. Given her cheerful look and bright smile, there was no way of Kyosul knowing what happened to her last night.

“No, not at all. It looks like you have enjoyed a great outing.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes, I can feel it in your twinkling eyes and your reddish cheeks. This is the best I’ve seen you lately.”

Kyosul wrapped her cheeks as if she was shy. Looking at her, Kyoyoung turned her mouth up.

“Do I really look good? I think I look well as I enjoy taking a walk these days as the weather is so good,” she answered shyly. And then she examined her desk here and there.

Looking at her, Kyoyoung grinned, ‘You’re lying to me.’

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It was obvious from the way Kyosul didn’t meet her eyes and beat around the bush. She thought of Bipaan leaving the East Palace alone and Kyosul’s empty room in the Dongbi Palace and got angry.

“By the way, I would like to share good news with you as a friend.”

Friend. That was how Kyosul used to call Kyoyoung. Mentioning that term Kyosul took seriously, she emphasized her friendship with the Crown Princess. As expected, Kyosul leaned forward and showed interest. “What is it?”

Looking at her sparkling eyes, Kyoyoung opened her mouth slowly. She was thrilled when she was about to say, and finally said with dry lips, “The Crown Prince and me slept together!”

“Slept together?”

“Yes. Last night the Crown Prince came to see me at my residence. You can ask any of my court ladies there to confirm this.”

She took pains to add a fifth wheel to prove what she just said was not a lie. She then looked at Kyosul’s face with a triumphant smile. Kyosul’s eyes were opened wide with big surprise. She seemed to be at a loss for words, opening and closing her round mouth several times.

For the first time since she met Kyosul, Kyoyoung had a triumphant smile on her lips.

However, she hardened her face before her smile made any impact on Kyosul.

“Congratulations!” Kyosul shouted with joy to her surprise. “Did the Crown Prince know your genuine heart? I know you still miss him, right?”

Then she grabbed Kyoyoung’s hands all of a sudden. She expressed her joy genuinely.

Looking at Kyosul congratulating her, Kyoyoung couldn’t hide her embarrassment.

‘Why?’

Another incomprehensible question came to her mind. Kyosul acted unexpectedly again. Kyoyoung was confused at her lack of jealousy and her joy.

Kyosul was not supposed to offer such innocent congratulations. Rather she was supposed to feel jealous and abandon herself to depression. She was not supposed to smile brightly at her in such a cheerful mood.

Though she was blessed with Kyosul’s genuine congratulations, Kyosul felt all the more miserable about herself. She felt so terrible and devastated. Nothing seemed to take her side.

Looking at her bright eyes, Kyoyoung turned her mouth up and said in a high tone, “Yes, it’s a good thing for me.”

Kyosul’s joy made Kyoyoung feel, for the first time, that something was wrong.

***

It had been a hot and humid summer. Soon, it started to rain hard and was not likely to stop anytime soon.

Nonetheless, Kyosul was haggling with her nanny, insisting that she should go out.

“Your Highness, why would you go out in heavy rain like this?”

“I have promised him I would come. So, don’t worry. I’ll be back quickly.”

“Wasn’t it pouring so heavily outside? It’s not just typical rain, but a torrential rain. Why do you want to go outside in this heavy rain? What if you catch a cold?”

When she put on a raincoat, her nanny stopped her.

But Kyosul cut off her words firmly, “Nanny, I’ve promised him.”

“Let me go out and convey your words to him that you won’t be able to come out because it’s raining so heavily.”

She pouted. Sticking out her face through the opening of the raincoat, she looked at her nanny then turned suddenly.

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“I’m going to go there. I should. I can’t stand staying at home because of the rain when I miss him so much.”

She was blushing when she spoke. Neither of them needed to mention why she blushed or who she was going to meet explicitly. Her nanny let go of her sleeves. With a gentle smile on her lips, she said, “If you insist like this, how can I hold you, Your Highness?”

Smiling at her quickly, Kyosul quickly went out the door. She knew that her nanny was following her, but she didn’t turn back. As her nanny already let her go out, Kyosul knew she could freely go out.

When Kyosul walked out in the heavy rain, the court ladies looked at her nanny with big surprise. Instead of following Kyosul, she stood the wooden porch and watched her running toward the top outer gate, with her raincoat fluttering. They approached her and asked, “Lady Yuon, what happened? How come the Crown Princess went out…”

“Well, when it rains like this, Crown Princess Kyosul is satisfied only when she gets soaked with rain.”

“Aren’t you supposed to follow her?”

At this legitimate question the nanny made an empty expression for a moment and shook her head, saying, “She likes to go out in the rain.”

Kyosul had already disappeared in a downpour. The nanny was relieved that Kyosul was happy, but at the same time, she felt empty.

The whole world was wet. Though she put on a raincoat, Kyosul couldn’t stop the rain from sputtering inside it. As she came running on the road with lots of water pool, her shoes were full of rainwater as well as muddy water, but she didn’t stop running with her heavily wet shoes. When did she run like this last time?

The manners and customs that should be observed at the palace were swept away with the torrential rain. She ran with a flushed face filled with a sense of freedom she hadn’t felt in a long time. Nobody could recognize Kyosul as the Crown Princess.