Chapter 68

Their moist and clear eyes were close. Rain flowed down Ruhae’s hair fell on her cheeks.

“Ah….”

She exclaimed before she knew. She opened her lips, not knowing when to close them.

He gazed at her lips quietly. Her lips opened just like a flower bud and were slightly wet. Her shiny lips were adorable.

Momentarily, he felt lustful. He wanted to have her all. He couldn’t convey his feelings with just words. Her glaring eyes, her touch and the atmosphere heightened the feeling.

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The sound of rain gradually faded. The clearer her feelings toward him, the more all her other feelings disappeared. He felt the same way.

His warmth at her fingertips, the scent of her in his nose: there was no distinction between them.

Everything that separated them before was gone. The bondage holding them back disappeared. Only the two of them existed in the scope of their perception. Just like they put their shoulders side by side, they touched their lips together. Just like they interlocked their fingers, the distance between them disappeared, and their upper and lower lips touched.

He cautiously approached her, and she didn’t avoid him. She leaned on his shoulders and turned her chin upward as if she was looking for his sweet touch.

Hard to get. Again and again.

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Their lips with the different warmth of their own touched. They kissed cautiously as if they were asking for permission to touch closer and deeper. And she accepted his kiss meekly. Rather she raised her head as if to ask for more.

He got a little more emboldened. Her lips opened again. He kissed her lips a little more deeply this time. She got agitated and surprised a bit but accepted his kiss in no time.

They kissed shyly the first time.

And they got closer and familiar pretty quickly as if they tried to forget about all the difficulties surrounding them.

***

After she came back from her outing on that rainy day, the day when the rainy season started, she caught a cold. When she was sick again, all the court ladies were on alert mode and made a big fuss about it. They quibbled that she got sick three times in less than six months. It seemed that Kyosul would be remembered as a sick and weak-hearted crown princess.

Even though it was midsummer, her mattress was covered with soft cotton blankets. The window was open so that fresh air could come in and layers of silk curtain were let down to block the wind. Sitting on the mattress, she listened to the rain.

“Ahchooo! Hech!”

Though it was raining hard, she kept coughing and felt like throwing up as she had fever.

Her cheeks, which blushed because she was in love with Ruhae, were redder now.

“Are you going to invite the haetae (ziezhi)? I love it very much. Haetae is a righteous animal that tells right from wrong,” he said.

He tried to play fun with words by alluding to the sound of her coughing using the legendary animal. She looked at him. He offered a tray with a bowl of porridge and a spoon to her, saying, “You should recover quickly in order to be a champion of justice. You should eat well to get over your cold, so you can be up and running.”

As always, he spoke wittily.

With a sullen face, however, Kyosul turned her head. Right next to her was sitting Ruhae holding the bowl of porridge.

“This is unfair.” Swallowing the spoonful of porridge he put into her mouth, she pouted. “Both of us were soaked in the rain. But why do you look good, and why am I sick like this?”

And then she put her hand on her forehead. It was hot with a fever.

With a pleasant laugh, he blew on the hot porridge to cool it down, so she could eat easily.

And then he put it into her mouth and said, “Well, it’s because we can’t see each other if we are sick at the same time. Don’t you think I can come here and see you because I’m okay like this?”

Everything he said was as sweet as ever. He never uttered any words that rubbed her the wrong way.

Though she initially got upset because she alone was sick after getting rained on, her expression softened. She couldn’t look him in the eye and swallowed the porridge he put into her mouth, but she didn’t stop grumbling all along.

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“I’m afraid they might get the impression that I’m a complete weakling when I am sick in bed like this.”

As if to chime in, he seconded the thought. Of course, he did it playfully to please her.

“Weak is thy name, Your Highness!”

“Oh, no! You might not know how reckless I was as a tomboy in my motherland. I’ve never been sick like this when I was in the Hwa Kingdom,” she responded confidently.

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He grinned at that again. As her reaction was so spontaneous, he enjoyed making fun of her. With a gentle smile, he nodded and said, “Got it.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I do. Just eat this porridge. Your temperature might go up again.”

Narrowing her brows, she stared at him with glittering eyes. No matter how sternly she stared at him, he took her expression as cute, which made him smile.

Comforting her warmly, he kept putting the porridge into her mouth, which she took with a disgruntled expression.

‘I’m just happy with him beside me like this.’

Though she lay sick in bed, she felt so happy with him beside her.

They were having a good time together, with her eating the porridge he blew on and cooled. The moment she was biting a spoonful of porridge, someone suddenly opened the door and came into the room.

Clang!

The porridge bowl that he was holding fell on the floor and tumbled all about. Half the porridge in the bowl was spilled on the floor and made it messy. When Ruhae stood up from the stool abruptly, it spun on and fell down.

There was a heavy silence after the sharp and thick sound rang through the room.

All this happened in a flash.

The smile on Ruhae’s face disappeared, and his expression hardened suddenly.

He said reluctantly in a stiff voice, “Long Live the Crown Prince! I’m honored to see you.”

It was none other than Bipaan who came into the room.

Bipaan cast a cold glance at Ruhae first, then the porridge bowl on the floor and Kyosul with the spoon in her mouth. Her face turned white, she kept her mouth shut, and her eyes widened with surprise.

The handle of the spoon hung in the air and her hands were beneath the thick blanket. It was obvious who held the spoon a moment ago. After closing and opening his eyes slowly, Bipaan said in a low voice, “I thought I was in the East Palace, but it looks like I’m in the South Palace.Let me leave now. I wish you peace.”

To get out of the embarrassing situation as soon as possible, he offered goodbye greetings quickly. And he signalled to her with his eyes, which were plainly noticed by Bipaan.

When Ruhae passed by him, Bipaan suddenly grabbed his arm roughly. Ruhae turned to look at him. His glare met Bipaan’s cold gaze.

Ruhae opened his mouth first, “Your Majesty!”

But before Ruhae went further, he cut off his words and said, “If I catch you doing this again, I won’t sit idle. Keep that in mind!”

His voice was calm, not slow or fast but very resolute.

He stared into Ruhae’s face coldly, but Ruhae turned his face and caught his eye. He was determined that he wouldn’t avoid Bipaan anymore. That’s what he decided firmly long ago.

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“Sorry to meet you like this. I don’t know what you’re thinking about my presence here, but I just came here to inquire after Her Highness as I heard she was sick. That’s all.”

“Visiting my sick wife? Is my wife on intimate terms with you?”

My wife.

Ruhae was convinced that Bipaan intentionally used that provocative expression to challenge him. He clenched his fists firmly.

Staring at him, Ruhae violently shook off his arm he was holding. After taking a deep breath, he picked up the bowl from the floor as if he shook off his arm to do so.

The nanny quickly approached and took away the leftovers and the bowl. During that short moment, Ruhae sorted out his thinking.

He said confidently, “As you know, I’m the teacher of Princess Heyjin’s prenatal education. As the Crown Princess has frequently visited her in the North Palace for a chat, I’ve come to become intimate with the Crown Princess naturally.”

“I think your point makes sense. Even when you were in a difficult situation because of the treason conspiracy, my wife earnestly appealed to me to free you.”

Ruhae flinched. He didn’t expect Bipaan to mention it.

There was a strange incident at the North Palace recently, and Ruhae was initially charged as the main culprit.