Chapter 77

Yomin headed for the East Palace, convinced that Kyosul was to blame for everything.

At least before Kyosul appeared before Ruhae, he always stayed with Yomin, even though he did so superficially.

But Ruhae didn’t come to Yomin anymore. She felt she couldn’t spend the days ahead alone like this. She wouldn’t have cared if she had been left alone from the beginning, but as she was left alone because of this little woman from the Hwa Kingdom, she couldn’t stand it anymore.

‘No, you shouldn’t do this to me!’

She quickened her pace. Accompanied by Bojin, she headed for the Dongbi Palace where Kyosul was residing.

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Arriving at the East Palace, Yomin was about to cross the front gate to head to Kyosul’s residence, when someone called her behind.

“I wondered if it was you going inside. Gosh, you’re Prince Yomin!”

Yomin turned her head at the woman who called her. That woman was approaching her, not accompanied by a court lady. She was the Emperor’s concubine Sassi.

“I’m glad to see you here, Sassi. I’m surprised to see you here at the East Palace.”

She greeted Sassi, trying to control her trembling voice.

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Approaching her, Sassi grabbed and pulled her arm to the side.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time. Why don’t you chat with me for a bit?”

Yomin could feel from her superficial smiles that she was not asking, but demanding. She felt Sassi tighten her grip on her arm. Come to think of it, Yomin once heard that Sassi and Kyosul were on close terms.

If that’s true, Sassi would know a lot about Kyosul’s relationship with Ruhae.

Yomin suddenly got the goosebumps.

She felt the imperial palace was contaminated with dirty stuff, thinking how Sassi could defend and even protect Kyosul when she clearly knew their relationship was immoral.

Yomin felt disgusted at Sassi’s kind face and frowned at her before she knew. Looking at her frowning, Sassi kept up a kind smile.

Sassi escorted her to the back garden of the East Palace not far from the Dongbi Palace where Kyosul was residing. They sat side by side in the pavilion there.

Though Sassi took her there, she didn’t open her mouth for a while. Yomin didn’t, either. In fact, Yomin was struggling hard to calm down and control the anger surging from deep inside.

Sassi spoke all of a sudden, “I know why you came to this place.”

What she guessed was right. Losing patience, after all, she got enraged and protested in a high pitch, “How can you just sit idle when the stern law of the imperial palace is being blatantly broken?”

Sassi flinched and looked at her. She didn’t expect Yomin would challenge her directly like this.

Given her bloodthirsty eyes, it was obvious that either Yomin or Kyosul would be fatally hurt if the former picked a bone with the latter.

As the mother of two smart daughters, Sassi regarded Kyosul as an adopted daughter. Though Kyosul didn’t have any blood relationship with her, Sassi thought the world of Kyosul. Sassi didn’t want to see her precious “daughter” hurt, and she could not sit idle when Yomin was fully prepared to fight with her.

Of course, Sassi knew that Kyosul was now walking on a tightrope. Though Kyosul never mentioned her relationship with Ruhae, Sassi already sensed it as she had decades of palace life experience.

Whenever she saw Kyosul’s happy face after she met Ruhae, Sassi couldn’t bring herself to tell Kyosul to stop meeting him anymore. She was well aware that without Ruhae Kyosul might have been stuck in the palace just like a bird in a cage. She didn’t want to see Kyousl hurt.

“How can we humans know the intentions of Providence?”

“This is not the intention of Providence. This is a strange thing that betrays human morality.”

“We humans are supposed to follow the intention of Providence.”

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“Obviously it was the Emperor’s order. He ordered me to serve Prince Ruhae, and he ordered Prince Ruhae to accept me as his official wife.”

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“But the Emperor didn’t order him to give his heart to you.”

Their icy conversation now yielded to their sharp glance at each other.

“I just don’t understand it. If this is revealed to the world, I guess you won’t be safe, either, Sassi.”

“As you are still young, you don’t know what’s going on inside the imperial family, which I think is regrettable.”

“Do you mean that there are lots of things happening now in the palace, which go against the imperial law and customs?”

Compared with Yomin’s hardened face, Sassi was now smiling again at her.

She said in a low voice with a smile, “Do you think you love Prince Ruhae just halfway as much as Crown Princess Kyosul?”

There was a brief silence after Sassi asked. Then Yomin sprang to her feet, blushing her face, as if her words were insulting. With a heated face she was looking down at Sassi and talked back sharply.

“As you know, I’ve been his official wife for several years now. If there is anyone in this world that he can hug or he is allowed to hug, she is me Yomin, alone.”

“That’s only for the purpose of cause.”

Sassi held her wrist and said, “I don’t know how much you love Prince Ruhae, but I can dare to tell you that you won’t be able to love him as much as the Crown Princess. She is happy everyday even though she could be punished heavily. I don’t think it’s proper that you are taking issue with the cause when you have failed to keep him. Don’t you think so?”

Yomin’s face turned red at her rebuke, mixed with anger and shame.

“It’s not because I failed to keep him. The Crown Princess took him away from me!”

There was seen a red small vein on the white of her eyes. Taking a deep breath, Yomin sat down. Sassi was still holding her wrist.

“You and Prince Ruhae were forcibly married at the Emperor’s order. And you’re only talking about the laws and customs of the imperial family now. I don’t feel anything like a deep love of Prince Ruhae in your remarks. I know well you did your best to serve him. Don’t you feel heartbroken when you see Ruhae and Kyosul?”

“I just can’t understand what the heck you are talking about now.”

“How many couples do you think there are in this palace who love each? Not many. Prince Ruhae was one of them until recently. Superficial love only makes the couple feel more lonely. In this imperial palace, Ruhae and Kyosul have found a real sweetheart in each other. They can really make each other feel warm and loved. Can you dare to end their relationship on the mere excuses of the imperial law and the Emperor’s order?”

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In a country like the Mok Kingdom where the king exercised an absolute dictatorship, it was pretty dangerous for Sassi to use the expression “mere” for the Emperor’s order. As such, Yomin looked at her with astonishment. No longer smiling, Sassi gazed at Yomin with a serious look and said, “If you genuinely care for Prince Ruhae, I guess you should go and see the prince first instead of coming here. You should have begged him earnestly. I can say this confidently because you have come here instead of heading for the South Palace where Prince Ruhae is located.”

“Well, in my case….” Yomin couldn’t finish her words as she suddenly stood up to leave. Walking down from the pavilion, Sassi lowered her head to Yomin and left the place after saying sternly, “Please think deeply whether you really love the prince or not. If you think you really love him, I won’t care about whatever you do.”

She already found out how Yomin felt toward Prince Ruhae. Looking at Sassi disappearing silently, Yomin sat on the spot blankly.

Now she looked at the roof tiles of the Dongbi Palace where Kyosul was residing. If she stood up right now, she could go and see Kyosul face to face, but she couldn’t for some reason.

From the first moment she saw Ruhae, she decided to make him her husband.

“Yes, my husband. I’m going to make him my husband, not my lover.”

Yomin was surprised at her own words that she uttered unconsciously, so she hastily shut her mouth. In fact, she came to the palace on that day, knowing that the Emperor would choose her as Ruhae’s official wife. As she saw him at that place, it was only natural for her to call him her husband. She had never refused any order given to her. Even though she got married to Ruhae at the Emperors’ order, she didn’t object to it.

But she couldn’t think straight and at the same time she felt sore on her chest.

At that moment, she heard a man’s voice.

“Princess Yomin!”