Chapter 85

Ruhae was with Kyosul when Bipaan found her after an intensive search for her on Mt. Mokak.

“What the heck is this?” asked Dukwol, making a big fuss about Ruhae’s presence there.

Though Bipaan was quiet, Dukwol blamed Ruhae furiously.

He asked Kyosul this time, “We searched for the Crown Princess far and wide in the palace and even on Mt. Mokak. Why are you here with Ruhae, my brother? I can’t believe you’ve been with Ruhae until now. If you didn’t get lost, did you come here with him?”

Dukwol was overly talkative. They discovered that she was with Ruhae, but Dukwol took pains to emphasize it as if he wanted to draw Bipaan’s attention. Though he sounded in astonished, his smile was cold. Everybody knew that he enjoyed watching the awkward situation at the moment.

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The moment she caught Bipaan’s eyes, Kyosul freaked out. She couldn’t think of how she could explain or how to behave in this situation. Squatting in one corner of the shack, she placed her fists on her knees and looked at Bipaan with a blank expression.

Though she was thrilled to be with Ruhae until a moment ago, she was so tense and nervous now. The atmosphere in the room was cold as if she had been thrown in a basket of ice water. She forgot about everything around her in the real world when she was with Ruhae, but the tense atmosphere surrounding them woke her to the stern reality facing her.

She couldn’t take her eyes off Bipaanall. His dark blue eyes terrorized her, but she couldn’t avoid his sharp gaze.

‘Don’t stand in my way. Do whatever you want to do, but don’t block my efforts to succeed the throne.’

Bipaan had repeatedly warned her. It was embedded in her heart like a spell, echoing in her mind.

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Was this situation serious enough to block Bipaan’s succession to the throne?

She felt it was foolish to ask that question because the answer was obvious.

The Crown Princess disappeared from the palace and was found hiding with Prince Ruhae!

Her throat constricted painfully and her empty stomach hurt.

She wanted to go back to the palace safely after the outing, but that wasn’t what was happening. She felt she would rather have frozen to death in the mountain in a situation like this.

It was a very brief moment.

She caught the eyes of Bipaan and Dukwol briefly. During that brief moment, however, lots of complicated thoughts came to her mind. The moment she was tormented by such thoughts, she heard Bipaan’s clear and sharp voice.

“How wonderful! You found her first.”

Everybody was stunned to hear Bipaan’s words. With his mouth open, Dukwol looked at Bipaan. It was the first time that Dukwol wasn’t smiling.

Just as stunned, Ruhae looked at Bipaan with a curious look. He was confused as if he had his head struck by somebody, but he knelt down and said, with his head lowered, “Yes, Your Majesty!” Though he didn’t communicate with Bipaan in advance or make any eye contact with him on this, he had to play along.

“Great job! Let me give you a big award for your actions today.”

When Bipaan praised him, Ruhae was embarrassed, “I’m so honored!”

“Did you find her on the mountain?” Bipaan asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“It looks like she sprained her ankle.”

Ruhae understood Bipaan’s intention quickly. In other words, he could immediately find out what Bipaan was trying to hear from him.

“As the Crown Princess found it hard to walk because of her sprained ankle, she couldn’t go back down the mountain quickly. As I couldn’t touch her, I took her to this nearby shack.”

“Good job.”

Nodding while Ruhae was talking, Bipaan listened quietly.

Licking his dry lips with his mouth, Ruhae concluded, “I wanted to go down and tell you about her situation here, but it was already dark, and the Crown Princess said she felt so cold. So, I stayed with her for a while. She couldn’t go back down quickly.”

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Ruhae’s lie was convincing and appropriate.

“Alright. Let me take care of the Crown Princess from now on,” Bipaan said.

The moment Bipaan stepped forward, Dukwol quickly snatched his hand and said, “What the heck are you talking about? This isn’t the situation you imagined at all, is it? Brother Ruhae was caught with her!”

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“I sent him out to search for her,” Bipaan said.

“What?”

Dukwol’s eyes widened in surprise rather than returnign to his usual half-lidded smile. As if he turned his mouth up, he wiggled his face.

Not caring at all, though, Bipaan said, “I ordered the Imperial Army soldiers to search everywhere in the palace and, at the same time, dispatched a messenger to Ruhae in the South Palace, so he could help them with the search.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Dukwol responded.

“As Prince Ruhae is smart, I thought he would quickly find out Crown Princess Kyosul’s whereabouts, and my prediction proved right.”

Embarrassed, Dukwol couldn’t come up with any proper response to contradict his unexpected remarks. Though he and Oran had orchestrated the whole incident, it wasn’t turning out the way they’d planned.

Dukwol had ordered his spy to keep an eye on the strange relationship of Ruhae and Kyosul. After hearing from his spy that Ruhae and Kyosul left the palace through the side door, he had the spy shut the door temporarily, so Ruhae and Kyosul would be isolated in the Mokak mountains. After that, he leaked their secret outing to Bipaan, so the three of them could face each other. Dukwol was so excited to learn that even before he leaked it to Bipaan, the latter began to search for her, but the entire plot was in vain.

‘Damn it! I really wished Bipaan puckered his face into a frown.’

He was so disappointed and shocked at Bipaan’s totally unexpected response. Rather Bipaan went out of his way to put them in the clear naturally.

‘Did he get wind of my intention?’

He suddenly got nervous. Given Bipaan’s lie about sending Ruhae to join in the search efforts, it was obvious that Bipaan must have smelled a rat.

‘Was Bipaan already aware of my plan?’

Dukwol stared at Bipaan and Kyosul alternatively with his black eyes.

Crossing the shack, Bipaan approached Kyosul. She had to act as if her feet were sprained, but she didn’t have to because she got stiff the moment she met him face to face.

“I guess you can’t walk. That’s why you came to this place with Ruhae as you couldn’t walk down.”

“Yes, you’re right,” she said, lowering her head. Though she played along, she blushed because she was lying.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Bipaan said, lifted her into his arms. She always had to look up at him when they met, but they were so close with her in his arms. She was staring into his dark blue eyes, she couldn’t find any clue to his emotions or thinking.

“Let’s go back to the palace,” Bipaan said.

Carrying her in his arms, Bipaan left the shack quickly. She instinctively wrapped his neck when he began to walk.

Bipaan’s shoulders were broad. In his arms, she felt warm enough to forget about the cold night air. She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

When Bipaan passed by Ruhae, the latter let out a low sigh and stood up. He watched Bipaan’s back as he left the shack.

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Behind him, Dukwol watched at the three of them with a confused look.

***

The South Place, where Prince Ruhae was live , was dominated by a cold rather than a quiet atmosphere. It looked as if winter was already around the corner there because of the cold air above the palace.

Yomin, Prince Ruhae’s wife, had vowed that she would never come to the palace, but she was sitting in Ruhae’s room now. She wiped Ruhae’s body with a wet towel.

Lying on the bed, he was looking up at the ceiling blankly. Though she stayed in the room for a while, they didn’t talk at all.

He was sick in bed with fever after when he exposed himself to the cold wind after he gave his coat to Kyosul during their outing to Mt. Mokak. He didn’t know how she discovered he was sick, but she came with a bowl of porridge during lunch time and cared for him without any complaint.

She wiped his body with a wet towel to reduce his fever and stood beside him even when she had no particular thing to do. When the herbal decoction and porridge were served, she spoon fed him. She served him all day long, and suddenly opened her mouth when it got dark.

“I thought that you left the palace with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some court ladies came to my residence. They said they thought you and the Crown Princess went out for an outing with rice balls and snacks.”