Chapter 103

Though he was her half brother, they were closer than any other royal members in the Hwa Kingdom. If Mingung couldn’t come, one of them would come surely. Though she would be happy to see them, the fact that she might not be able to see Mingung again saddened her heart.

She tried to hold back tears, but the more she tried, the more tears she shed.

He got close to her and hugged her tightly. She was small enough to be wrapped in his arms.

‘How can I leave her alone here?’ Mingung thought to himself, but he couldn’t break the promise he made to King Chong. The top officials took the fastest route between the Mok and Hwa kingdoms and calculated Mingung’s business trip as one day. So, even if Mingung quickened his pace after staying a little longer in the Mok Kingdom, he might not be able to arrive back at the Hwa Kingdom on time. They didn’t like Mingung’s journey to the Mok Kingdom, and even King Jong was not happy about it, given his position as the next king.

While Kyosul was weeping, the nanny announced suddenly.

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“Your Highness, the prince has arrived!”

“Prince?”

Did he hear wrong? Mingung opened his eyes wide with surprise.

“Oh, I would like to introduce him to you, brother. Please let him in, nanny.”

Smiling again brightly, she wiped her tears with her sleeves, but she couldn’t do anything about the red marks around her eyes. He turned his eyes toward the door.

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In no time, Ruhae came into her room. Ruhae already saw his shoes on the stepping stones and heard from the nanny who he was. Ruhae first offered greetings to Kyosul, “Long live the Crown Princess! I’m honored to see you.”

Whenever he greeted her, he bent his waist down to the floor and went down on one knee, with his head lowered.

As one of the princes, Ruhae could simply bow to her, but he always showed his manners by doing so. His greetings implied two things to her, namely his love and loyalty.

And Mingung was aware of that. At that moment, Mingung’s face hardened.

“And I would like to offer my greetings to Prince Mingung of the Hwa Kingdom. How do you do? My name is Prince Ruhae,” he bowed to him slightly.

Mingung also responded by bowing to him, “I’m Prince Mingung.”

His tone was rather heavy, which Ruhae instantly noticed.

When Ruhae sensed that Mingung didn’t feel good about him, his heart sank. He heard Mingung doted on Kyosul as her dearest sister. Did Mingung discover his love of her?

Suddenly, Ruhae noticed her eyes were bloodshot, so he approached her.

“Your Highness, did you cry?”

When he tried to hold out his hand toward her eyes, he was stopped by Mingung.

“Prince, how could you dare touch the Crown Princess?”

Mingung’s stiff voice clearly signalled some sort of warning. Embarrassed, Ruhae tried to pull his hand away when she put down Mingung’s hand and looked at him.

“It’s alright, brother. He and I are on intimate terms. We’re very comfortable toward each other.”

“Woorum!”

When Mingung called in a stern voice, she took her hand away from Ruhae’s arm and lowered her head. She couldn’t do anything about this kind of stern voice.

“As you are too much accustomed to our customs of the Hwa Kingdom, you are not familiar with the imperial customs here, so you seem to be on good terms with him, but Woorum! This is very different from our kingdom. In particular, when it comes to the rank of the successor of the throne; it’s very dangerous here.”

Mingung intentionally emphasized the word ‘the successor of the throne’ as if he wanted to bring it to Ruhae’s attention. And his simple mention of that word dampened the atmosphere of the room.

Turning his head toward Ruhae, he showed his manners by lowering his head.

“As Woorum is young, she seems to deal with you comfortably. As you know, please don’t fall for it when she plays the baby.”

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Ruhae had no choice but to nod at his wary reminder, but said, “Sure, I’ll keep it in mind, but…”

When his voice drifted, Mingung narrowed his eyes. Still wrapped in Mingung’s arms, she looked at him and Mingung alternately. It was the first time that she saw her brother stiffened.

“Can you promise me clearly?” Mingung said.

“As you insist, let me be clear,” he replied.

After all, he stood face to face with Mingung, as if he made up his mind. Though he flinched when Ruhae looked straight at him, Mingung also stared at him with glaring eyes.

“She needs a friend she can share her feelings with comfortably in this palace. This place is so different from the Hwa Kingdom. I’m going to make sure she doesn’t feel lonely by keeping a good relationship with her.”

“Well, that’s what the Crown Prince, not you, has to take care of,” Mingung said bluntly, who initially seemed overwhelmed by Ruhae’s confident reassurances. And Ruhae couldn’t respond to that easily. Could he tell her brother how badly Bipaan treated her? He couldn’t do so.

When Ruhae lowered his head bitterly, Kyosul pulled her hands from Mingung’s arms and stood up abruptly.

“Brother, leave!”

Not only Mingung but also Ruhae was surprised by her abrupt remarks.

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Ruhae heard lots of things about the Hwa Kingdom from her, so he knew how precious Mingung was to her.

Then, how could she tell her brother to leave?

“Woorum…?”

“If you want to meddle in my private affairs like this, please leave. You said you would have to go back today. Then, go back!”

She pouted. She was obviously upset when she saw her brother talking to Ruhae recklessly.

As she was well aware of what she said to her brother, she was choked with tears.

“Ruhae is the one who has treated me with the most kindness in this palace. No matter what you say, I’m going to keep a good relationship with him.”

“Did you mention ‘most kindness’?”

“Yes.”

“Even more kindly than the Crown Prince?”

She hesitated for a moment, but she said, clenching her fists and closing her eyes, “Yes.”

There was a brief silence.

And he caressed her hair, who was still closing her eyes, with his big hands and said, “Got it. I think I know you are living happily here. Though I’m a bit worried, let me go back as I have confirmed you’re keeping well.”

When she opened her eyes, she saw him smiling at her, but it was the kind of smile that she never noticed on his face before, which seemed a bit sad. When he went near the door, she hugged him from behind.

“See you again.”

“Sure. Let me try to come back again.”

He tapped her hands and went to the door, passing by Ruhae. He whispered something into Ruhae’s ears. Though she couldn’t overhear what Mingung said, Ruhae seemed surprised and turned back to watch him go.

Without looking back, though, Mingung slipped out of the long hallway.

Standing blankly, she broke into tears.

Her brother went away, after all.

When she cried as her brother left, Ruhae smiled awkwardly and came to her. She hugged him and cried freely.

“Why did you tell him to go when you are so sad like this?”

“Boohoo…because he was so mean to you, Ruhae,” she answered, crying.

He tightened his grip on her with a happy look and hugged her tightly.

“You’re alright. Your brother knows how you feel. You can see him later.”

Comforting her warmly, he recalled what Mingung just told him while leaving.

‘I won’t sit idle if you make my sister sad. Please make her happy.’

Mingung clearly knew that he loved her, and she loved him.

Ruhae heard Mingung’s request clearly. At first he was scared when Mingung discovered he loved his sister. Although he thought he was quite good at hiding it, Mingung detected it.

He thought he was caught loving her because Mingung was her brother, so it was okay.

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Thanks to his request, Ruhae came to ponder over it a little more.

Namely, how to make her happy was Ruhae’s top priority now, but there was nothing Ruhae could do in the current situation.

There were more things he couldn’t do for her than things he could.

Above all, he couldn’t promise her anything in the future, but he was confident that he could make her happier than any other woman now.

He would not have plucked up the courage to approach her without that confidence.

‘Let me bring her the greatest happiness now at this moment. I’ll do my best right now.’

He made a firm resolve. He didn’t think about it so deeply. The more he thought that his relationship with her was difficult, the harder he found it to approach her.

So, he decided to enjoy his present relationship with her to the best he could.

“Why don’t we go and see the festival?”