Chapter 125

The South Palace, Ruhae's place, was half empty as he left. And his official wife Yomin was busy preparing for her own departure. She didn't hesitate to clean it up. She calmly emptied her stuff.

"Boohoo..."

Bojin kept crying as she helped Yomin pack. At first Yomin didn't pay much attention to her whimpering and tried to comfort her.

"Why are you crying?"

"I am just upset and bitter. How come you are so calm, Your Highness?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Answering indifferently, Yomin emptied one wardrobe. She was going to send all the clothes in it to the laundry center. While crying, Bojin threw herself flat on the basket. Some of the baskets on the floor were full of her personal items such as ornaments and clothes. Bojin collected her clothes in the baskets.

"Just take everything when you leave, including jewelry and silk. Why are you throwing them away? "

"I came here empty-handed. So, wouldn't it be right to go out empty-handed?"

"No, no. You should be rewarded for the precious time you wasted in the Imperial Palace. "

"Reward?"

While cleaning up her stuff, she stopped for a moment. There was a faint smile on her mouth, which instantly disappeared.

"No, it's a punishment for the position that I coveted, which was not mine."

"You're Prince Ruhae's official wife, aren't you? The person who coveted the position was not you, but the Crown Princess!"

"Hey, Bojin."

She called Bojin sternly. At that moment Bojin, who blamed the Crown Princess before her, flinched a bit but did not stop speaking her mind.

"Oh my god...How can you give in without any resistance? How come you can take it so easily? You let your husband leave and even lost your position as the princess…"

"… It doesn't matter to me. "

She comforted Bojin with a spiritless voice. When she didn't get angry with her rude criticism of Kyosul, Bojin felt more bitter. Bojin crawled toward her and grabbed her skirt.

"How come it doesn't matter to you? You lost everything and now you're leaving alone..."

"Well, you are going to stay with Yomin, oh no, with me, aren't you?"

Yomin gave up her title as a princess as well as her official title Yomin.

She called herself 'I,' not Yomin.

She touched Bojin's hair with her thin hands. Bojin looked up at her with wet eyes.

"In this lonely palace, where there was nothing belonging to me, I could breathe as you stayed with me."

"… Your Highness..."

"If you don't mind, won't you leave the palace with me?"

Leaving the South Palace and the Imperial Palace, she expressed her wishes for the first and last time. Bojin rubbed her wet red eyes. Smiling brightly, Bojin grabbed her hands with both hands.

After she was done preparing to leave the palace, Yomin visited the East Palace for the last time. She headed for the Dongin Palace, where Kyoyoung resided.

She didn't have to worry about visiting Kyoyoung late at night or calling the chief court lady. Feeling someone's presence in the backyard, Yomin rushed there.

"I thought you couldn't go to sleep easily."

When somebody talked to her suddenly in the darkness, Kyoyoung looked back in astonishment. Kyoyoung with a gaunt face was wandering in the backyard.

"… How come you have come to this place?"

Snap!

Even before she asked a silly question, Yomin slapped her in the face quickly.

Yomin was still calm. Nobody would have figured out what had happened without her flushed face as well as her turned head. There was no change in Yomin's facial expression.

"You should have kept the secret of the East Palace to yourself. Why did you leak it to the West Palace so foolishly?"

"… How did you...? "

"I won't ask you. So, don't ask me, either."

Yomin cut off her words resolutely. She was calm all along even when she knew Ruhae had an affair with Kyosul, but the only person of whom she could not control her anger was Kyoyoung. Looking at her reaction at the recent royal family meeting, Yomin could confirm that she was the whistle-blower.

She felt bitter. She endured all the stress by herself without letting anyone know about Ruhae and Kyosul's affair. As if to make fun of her patience and pain, however, Kyoyoung made her endurance come to nothing by leaking it to Oran.

"I am leaving, so stay at the palace to the end. As you wished so much, stay beside the Crown Prince by all means."

"… I can't…"

"You have to."

Yomin didn't allow her to make any excuse.

She continued with a heavy heart, "Protect the son just like you stand by the Crown Prince. As you were responsible for expelling his mother from the palace, you have to fill the vacuum left by her."

Kyoyoung lowered her head. Yomin's critical glance tormented her. She looked at Kyoyoung for a while, but Kyoyoung couldn't leave the place first.

"How foolish I am to the end!"

Yomin sneered at herself. After she abandon her position as a princess, what she did for the last time was her bitter criticism of Kyoyoung.

She had been totally ignored by Ruhae. Given her position right now, it was absurd for her to express her concern about Ruhae's son to Kyoyoung.

Going back to the South Palace, Yomin was staggering dangerously.

"This is going to be my last visit to the palace."

That was true. She was stepping back to the South Palace for the last time.

She didn't want anything from Ruhae. She just wanted to watch him, but now she couldn't do anything.

All she could do was wish him well.

***

Darkness, which seemed to cover the Imperial Palace, was forced to retreat when the sun rose. No matter what happened last night, the sun was to rise again.

The day broke when they would observe Dohwan Taehwanggun's birthday and crowning at the same time.

"Where is my mom? Mom?"

Rubbing his eyes, young Dohwan looked for his mother, but nobody brought his mother to him. Everyone looked embarrassed and turned away from his eyes.

He didn't like birthday gifts piled mountain high, nor delicious meals. He just missed his mom. "Where is my mom? Why isn't she coming?"

Dohwan became more and more impatient. His patience didn't last long. Although there was a splendid banquet taking place, he didn't pay any attention to dancer's dance or musicians' songs. At last, his face turned red and tears began to be welled up in his eyes.

"Damkang!"

Someone called with a heavy voice. He put his heavy hand on Dohwan's head.

With his eyes still welled with tears, Dohwan looked up at him.

Bipaan was also looking at him. He rarely called his childhood name Dohwan, which his mother Kyosul used to call kindly. Bipaan just called him Damkang.

"Dad," Dohwan hung his head while whining. It was only Dohwan who could conduct himself without reserve before Bipaan, who was feared by all people in the Imperial Palace and notorious for its cold-heartedness.

As he was busy taking care of state affairs, he couldn't spent much time with Dohwan, but he was always kind to Dohwan.

"Your mother is sick in bed with illness of the mind, Damkang. So, let's go and see her when she gets better."

Unlike his scary look, Bipaan always grabbed his small hands kindly.

As if he felt relieved by Bipaan's comfort, he rubbed his eyes with the sleeves.

Dohwan opened his eyes wide and asked, "Is mom very sick?"

When Dohwan looked up at him, Bipaan knew he took after Kyosul so much.

He silently stroked Dohwan's head. Looking at him, Bipaan seemed sad. Dohwan found it hard to understand his father's facial expression, but he was about to cry, thinking his mother was very sick.

At the end of the banquet, Dohwan was brought to Ohyuje. In no time, the Hwangtaeson's crowning ceremony was held. Young Dohwan did not understand the meaning and weight of what had happened. He just recognized that his official title was changed from Taehwanggun to Hwangtaeson.

Before the child understood the weight of the crown on his head, the emperor first supported him as the heir to the next emperor.

Crowning the Hwangtaeson was was a great national event. Not only the Imperial Palace but also all the castles were boisterous about celebrating Dohwan's crowning ceremony. When the ceremony was done at the central palace, a large sedan chair decorated with golden ornaments and red cloth was prepared.

"Wow!"

Extremely excited to see the big sedan chair for the first time, he forgot the sadness of not seeing his mother all day. As he was still young, he got in the sedan chair with his father.

"Are you sharing this with me, dad? How far are we going? Are we going to see mom?"

As he was thrilled, Dohwan talked a lot. He grabbed his father's fingers with his small hands and looked around with a bright smile.

The huge golden sedan chair carrying Dohwan and Bipaan left the palace and turned around the capital city.