Chapter 135

"Why don't you try searching for them on Mt. Mokak?"

Dukwol made the unexpected suggestion.

"I heard that the Crown Princess was a notorious tomboy in the Hwa Kingdom, so I wondered if she accidentally found a side door and went out of it with a spirit of adventure and got lost. It just occurred to me suddenly."

Unlike his explanation that it came to his mind suddenly, his description was was quite specific. Bipaan made eye contact with him. Bipaan's intense and frosty gaze met his round half-moon shaped eyes

Bipaan quickly realized the whole disturbance was the result of Dukwol's shallow tricks.

He couldn't understand how Ruhae and Kyosul got caught up in the tricks of the West Palace.

Aside from Kyosul, who was easily deceived, he really had no idea how Ruhae fell for their trickery. He assumed that Ruhae loved her so much that his judgement was clouded.

Ironically, Bipaan found himself in a difficult position to save them, but he pitied himself and went along with Dukwol's suggestion, pretending not to know.

Dukwol escorted Bipaan through the inner wall beyond the outer palace then went to the outer wall, which was the boundary between the Imperial Palace and the outside. While searching for a side door in the outer wall, they found the door where the ivy covering it had been removed. They went out of it and headed for Mt. Mokak.

"I've found a trace of someone's having trodden on this road," said one of the imperial soldiers on the search mission. After they found the road, it was easy to chase Ruhae and Kyosul.

Soon they found a shack on the edge of collapse.

Bipaan raised his fist above his head. The imperial soldiers stopped searching immediately.

Silence fell again on the mountain full of the noise of the searching soldiers' footsteps.

Bipaan looked at the shack for a moment.

The hinges of the door were broken apart, but refitted tightly against the entrance. There was no light and no sign of anybody's presence inside.

"Look at that… "

When Dukwol was about to open his mouth, Bipaan reached out to stop him.

Bipaan found his heart pounding hard.

'Are they inside?'

Out of concern for them, he wished they were inside, but at the same time he didn't want to find them there. Kyosul was always difficult for him to deal with.

Hesitating for a moment, he had no other choice but to go in and check it out with his own eyes.

He approached the shack, muffling his footsteps. He gently pushed the closed door with his fingertips, but the door was so tightly hinged that it wouldn't move.

While checking the door knob, he suddenly kicked it hard.

Thump!

The door fell in with a loud noise. A dusky light came into the dark shack. As expected, he found Kyosul and Ruhae sitting side by side.

Bipaan's heart sank when he saw them. He felt his heart was constricted as if it were covered with a thorn bush.

He examined them with a chilly gaze. She was wearing Ruhae's coat. Ruhae wrapped his hands around her shoulders. She got so close to him that she almost touched his chest. Not even thinking about being apart, they looked up at him in astonishment.

"Crown Princess!" Bipaan called Kyosul.

Only then did Ruhae come to his senses. He pulled away his hands on her shoulders and sprang to his feet.

"Long live the Crown Prince! I'm honored to see you."

Ruhae naturally offered greetings.

"How come you are here, brother Ruhae?"

Approaching them in no time, Dukwol shouting in astonishment.

Although he seemed stunned, Dukwol obviously shouted with derision. As his voice rang through the shack, the chilly atmosphere was more palpable.

"Oh my god! We searched every nook and corner of the palace and even visited Mt. Mokak to search for the Crown Princess. How come brother Ruhae is with her? We thought the Crown Princess got lost, but we were wrong. Does it mean that you didn't get lost but came out with him for the hiking?" Dukwol shouted at them as if he were stunned, but there was a faint smile on his lips while he was shouting.

Bipaan calmly and simply put an end to all that confusion with just one word.

"Awesome! You found the Crown Princess first!"

Ruhae went down on one knee and bowed. Although he didn't talk with Bipaan in advance or didn't give him the eye in advance, there was only one reply in this situation.

And he replied, "… Yes, Crown Prince! "

"Good job! I will give you a great award for this," Bipaan said.

"I'm humbled and honored if you do so," Ruhae responded.

Bipaan praised him, while Ruhae replied on impulse.

"Did you find her in the mountain?"

"… Yes, I did."

"She must have sprained her ankle."

Ruhae was smart and quick-witted. When Bipaan made a few hints, Ruhae immediately noticed his intention and saw eye to eye with him, .

Their play-acting paid off nicely.

"Okay. Let me take care of the Crown Princess from now on."

Although Bipaan initiated the play-acting, he could not forget the image of their hugging tenderly when he found them, which offended his feelings.

Suddenly, he approached Kyosul and picked her up. He had been hoping for this moment for a long time, so he felt heartbroken when he did.

Wrapped in his arms, she was young and small. Probably she would not know for all her life how he felt her when he picked her up.

With her in his arms, Bipaan headed for the East Palace. Strange enough, he felt excited and sweet while he was walking to his residence, holding her in his arms.

He felt like he could walk to the end of the world like this.

***

Bipaan sat straight in front of the desk. Although he tried to focus on his work, he found all of his attention on Kyosul's actions in the rear room of his residence.

After he found her stranded on Mt. Mokak, he took her to the East Palace and didn't allow her to go out. He also did not leave the place on the pretext of caring for the sick princess.

A blind was installed between Bipaan's office and her room after placing a bed on her side of the blind.

When he heard her walking around in her room, he often had a mysterious smile. When he heard the sound of her touching the blind next to his feet, his hand holding the brush stopped.

She was now standing before him as if she had something to say.

"Do you have anything to say?" He asked bluntly first.

He again spat out hard words. As expected, she stepped back like a surprised rabbit and said, "Why did you take me here? Why are you not allowing me to go outside? And I see you staying only inside your office rather than going to the central palace…"

"I told others that I would be staying here to care for you. Anyway, they think you sprained your ankle while you were hiking."

"Ah…"

As he brought up the topic of her hiking with Ruhae, she was speechless. Although he didn't mean to rebuke her, she seemed to be dejected and downcast.

In fact, he wanted to have a friendly conversation with her, but whenever he opened his mouth, he made her feel timid. He felt so frustrated.

"Did you say you would care for me?"

"Exactly."

"Why?"

He could not answer right away. His heart trembled. He was afraid she might notice it.

'How should I reply? If I reply honestly, will she listen?'

At that moment, however, the images of Ruhae and Kyosul hugging tenderly in the shack came to his mind. Shaking his head in his heart, he approached her. As if she was tense, she grasped the hem of her skirt. He noticed it and felt his feelings were offended.

He lowered his head to make eye contact with her. When he looked at her eyes up close, he felt nauseated. He tilted his head a little more. She breathed deeply and pushed her neck back.

As she seemed to run away, he unknowingly reached out.

'Don't go. Don't be scared!'

He kept repeating the words in his heart he couldn't spit out.

He supported the back of her neck with his hand. Her young fine hair touched his fingertips.

He felt like saying something.

'What if I pull my hand…' He couldn't think straight at the moment.

He opened his mouth, gently tightening his grip on her neck but taking care not to pull her to his chest.

"You're being punished at the moment."

"…Pardon?"

She opened her eyes wide in surprise, looking straight at him.

'Oops! It's dangerous.'

He hurriedly avoided her eyes and turned his head. He also pulled away his hand supporting her neck. His hand was trembling and his face was burning with embarrassment.

The moment he saw her he lips, he imagined kissing her. The fact that he imagined it embarrassed him. It was the first time he imagined it.

"It's your punishment because you dared to put me in a difficult situation."

He then returned to his desk after speaking more harshly to hide his nervousness.

He was no longer confident enough to see her face to face.