Chapter 121

In the end, she also confessed to the emperor about her love of Ruhae, something that he could never approve.

She felt she could not hide it anymore, nor did she want to hide it.

She just proudly wanted to shout to everybody that he was her lover.

"Pahahaha!"

Suddenly the emperor laughed a hearty laugh, while all the others in Daejon were very nervous, except for Bipaan.

At that moment, he stepped forward. Kneeling on one knee, he raised the other knee, with a hand on it and opened his mouth, his head slightly down.

"Your Majesty, I would like to make a request to you."

"As you kneel down before me like that, it looks like you want to speak your mind about these wrongheaded lovers, right?"

Ohyuje was not an ordinary emperor. With as much composure as Bipaan's, he was sneering at Ruhae and Kyosul for their unforgivable sin.

"Please expel them the Crown Princess and the prince from the palace!"

Nobody expected that he would make such a request, not even Ruhae and Kyosul.

But the emperor responded with a calm voice.

"Why are you talking about expelling them all of a sudden?"

"As she is bound in fetters and unable to love me with all her heart in this palace, please expel her with Ruhae out of this imperial palace."

He again said that Dohwan was clearly his blood, arguing that nobody would challenge it because he was the child's biological father. And he went on to say that he would let go of Kyosul. He asked the emperor to free her and Ruhae from this palace, which was magnificent and gorgeous but very cold.

When Dukwol, who was lying face down, pulled himself together and tried to open his mouth, he had to roll around the floor again. Bipaan, who was very courteous to the emperor, treated him more roughly than anybody else, but the emperor did not bat an eye.

It was not just Bipaan's violent behavior that shut his mouth. The mysterious energy coming from his body, as it had nothing to hide anymore, made it impossible for him to move.

Overwhelmed by Bipaan's overbearing attitude, Dukwol and Oran lay face down on the floor and clenched their teeth. They couldn't even challenge him.

As there was none who disturbed him, Bipaan made short work of having his say.

When he had his say, Ruhae, who was kneeling down, said, "I have made an unforgivable sin. I know well that I can't stay here anymore. I'm going to leave. Your Majesty, please let me go. Never again will I return to the palace or the Mok Kingdom. "

Ruhae bowed down to the emperor again and again. Next to him, Kyosul couldn't control tears coming down her cheeks.

"Yes, I'm going to leave. I made the unforgivable sin of loving my brother's wife, for which you can impose a capital punishment, but please have mercy on me and allow me to leave the palace," Ruhae said loudly.

It was the first time that the emperor heard Ruhae speaking with such a loud voice.

Ruhae always kept his place quietly but surely. He was the next most smart prince after Bipaan, and more docile than anyone else. But he liked his brother's wife and now declared proudly before him that he would leave the palace.

Dumbfounded by Ruhae's bombshell announcement, the emperor burst into laughter.

What else could he do? He laughed suddenly and uncontrollably.

"Under the imperial law I'm going to have Crown Princess Kyosul and Prince Ruhae beheaded for trampling on our morality and their bodies thrown on the fields to give them a bad name."

The emperor spit out cruel words on their punishment.

Ruhae and Kyosul's faces instantly turned white, but Ruhae did not stop and continued, "From now on, I will give up my royal name. I will give up my last name Danmok. I will live as a low class man who is no more than a subject to the imperial law. Also, I'll give up all the glory and wealth of the royal family. Just allow me to leave. In this imperial palace where everything works in the world of power, I have met my true love with difficulty. I can't break up with her. Even if you can separate us by capital punishment, we will meet and love again after death. But, please let us live a little more happily in this life. Please allow us to leave."

While listening to his pleading, the emperor made a mysterious smile.

He raised his right hand slowly. His old hands floating in the air could shut Ruhae's mouth. At that moment, one among those women who were quietly shocked came forward and said, "Taeryong, your wife and the Queen, dare beg you. Please grant Prince Ruhae's request. "

That was the start.

"Your second wife Ye, I dare beg you. Please grant his request, and let them leave the palace. "

"Your first concubine Sassi, I dare beg you. Please let them leave."

They continued to beg the emperor.

"How long do you think they can sustain themselves in this palace? Please allow them enjoy their happiness after leaving the palace!"

"What is the use of the moral laws of family relationship? As Your Majesty is god, please treat them with generosity and benevolence!"

"What shall be left if you punish them with capital penalty? Please grant his request, Your Majesty. "

The three women who knelt on the floor and bowed to him, competitively pleaded with the emperor for his generosity and forgiveness,

As if he never expected Queen Taeryoung's pleading, the emperor was very embarrassed.

As Ye, his second wife, was Ruhae's mother, the emperor rightly guessed she would take his son's side, but he couldn't easily understand why even Sassi came forward and begged for his forgiveness.

Queen Taeryong was the source of the greatest strength to him, Ye was his favorite woman, and Sassi was the woman who made him feel the most comfortable.

When these three women bowed to him to beg for his forgiveness of Ruhae and Kyosul, the emperor was very upset. At that moment, another woman said in a little voice, "This is Princess Kyoyoung. I dare beg you, Your Majesty. Please grant his request to leave the palace!"

Kyoyoung remained silent up to now. In fact, she had been shedding tears silently from the moment she came to know the reason why the royal family meeting was called in Daejon.

When she watched Kyosul and Ruhae leaving together, when she heard rumors about them but couldn't believe her ears, she just shook her head because they couldn't believe it.

'No way! How can they…'

They should not have had an affair.

However, Kyosul and Ruhae proudly declared they were in love.

The moment she heard their announcement to the royal family, Kyoyoung felt like the sky would fall.

'I can't believe…'

Her trembling eyes turned to Bipaan. As her eyes were already welled with tears, she could not clearly see him, but she could fully discover the fact that all the stories Bipaan spoke with confidence were false.

He tried to bury his head in the sand.

Nobody would believe his claim that he was Dohwan's biological father.

However, everyone in Daejon believed him as they seemed to wish Bipaan was Dohwan's father. She wasn't sure if they believed him against their will. If that's the case, was it only Kyoyoung who knew Bipaan was lying because she knew him well enough to detect it as she had been staying beside him for many years? In fact, it didn't matter to her.

Kyoyoung could understand the situation more clearly because of Bipaan's lie.

'No..how come this could happen?'

She felt choked. Her whole body trembled from head to toe. She felt like her heart was torn apart. She felt like she was suffocated.

What she said and did to Kyosul came to her mind. Reflecting on what she said harshly to Kyosul back then, Kyoyoung reproached herself again and again. She vented her anger on Kyosul when Bipaan didn't appreciate her years of longing for him at his side. Though it was Bipaan who wounded her feelings, Kyoyoung cursed Kyosul without any reason. Perhaps she did that because Kyosul was an easy target.

Nonetheless, Kyoyoung thought it was okay to be mean to Kyosul because she was loved by Bipaan. Come to think of it, though, Kyosul was not loved at all by him. Kyoyoung recalled Kyosul's sad voice, who just kept saying she was sorry instead of protesting. At that moment, Kyoyoung could easily figure out that Kyosul was as much hurt as she. Alas! All that was the things of the past.

Kyoyong wanted Kyosul to forgive her rudeness in the past because she was afraid of her sin more than anything.

Looking back, she hated Kyosul.

Was it because her first impression was funny and pitiful?

Perhaps it was because she had false hope that she could get along with her intimately.

In fact, she kept reminding herself that she could not and should not believe anybody in the palace, but she took Kyosul as an exception.

She took Kyosul's confession that she couldn't love Bipaan at face value.