Chapter 8 (1/2)

Taking his frank description of her as ‘cute’ lightly, she smiled at him. Her detached smile made him to blush.

“When I hear about your happy days in the Hwa Kingdom, it looks like you like to go play outside.”

Recalling her memories, she was always absent-minded about playing with her brothers every day. She talked more about the backyard, fields and even the happenings outside the place in the Hwa Kingdom than she did about the library or the royal women’s quarters.

“To be honest with you, I was always scatterbrained and reckless back then.”

She stuck out the tip of her tongue. She opened her eyes wide and lowered her voice.

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“Ooops! Do you think what I just said undermines my dignity as the Crown Princess?”

“Well, I think that doesn’t fit the dignity of the Crown Princess…” Lowering his upper body slightly like her, he lowered his voice. “You are safe as long as nobody knows it. Let me keep it to myself. ”

“Please promise me. His Majesty, Crown Prince, has sternly warned me that I should never stand in his way.”

She whispered seriously. She even put her small and thin fingers before her lips. When she talked, it looked like she was scared of her father’s scolding rather than her husband’s warning.

“Is that why you have come to this library when you don’t like books?”

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“Yes, sort of. I mentioned a library to him because I want to curry favor with him. I also wanted to come here because I was reminded of my brother Prince Mingung when I smelled the musty odor of old books.”

She just mentioned Prince Mingung to Ruhae as an excuse, but Ruhae felt her act was cute. He wanted to make her laugh more. He thought for a moment how he could please her and hit on a good idea in no time. Though he met her only briefly, he could easily size her and her interests up.

” I sometimes take a walk around the back garden of the outer palace,” said Ruhae.

“Back garden of the outer palace?”

“Yes, that back garden where I escorted you to calm down your troubled mind on the day I first met you.”

“I see. I was really troubled on that day.”

She was very embarrassed when she recalled that she cried a lot and had a cramp in her legs because she was too tense when Ruhae came out to greet her.

When he saw her shy face, Ruhae smiled a gentle smile.

“If you are bored when you have free time, why don’t you visit the back garden of the outer palace?”

“I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before.”

As he predicted, she was so happy, clapping her hands, when she heard about the back garden of the outer palace.

Thanks to her encounter with a good friend, Kyosul could go to sleep in a good mood for the first time since she came to the Mok Kingdom.

“Back garden of the outer palace…”

On the day she arrived in the Mok Kingdom, she recalled the back garden where she took a short stroll. Seeing her seized with a cramp in her legs because of her nervousness, Ruhae made a big fuss, thinking she was injured. She clearly remembered the moment she left the back garden wrapped in his arms.

“I wonder how I’ve forgotten all about it up to now.”

She mumbled in a mischievous voice.

“Tomorrow I’m going to go to the back garden of the outer palace.”

If I go there, can I meet my friend again?

She wondered if she could continue her strange association with him tomorrow. When she thought about the back garden of the outer palace, her heart trembled gently.

“Daddy! Mommy!”

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Looking up at the ceiling, she conjured up the faces of her parents who were far away in the Hwa Kingdom.

“Brother Mungung! Brother Yojin! Brother Yulso! Brother Chom! Brother Hasok! Brother Chang! Brother Pyong! Brother Yemyong!”

She called the names of those she missed so much back in her motherland.

“How are you? I’m doing well too. I think I can get adjusted to my life here well.”

It was the same bed, but she felt pretty comfortable about the bed today.