Chapter 29 (2/2)

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“Oh my god. I’m beginning to be scared of you. I’m afraid I can’t share tea and cookies with you again,” said Sassi, making a hearty laugh as she couldn’t hold back laughter anymore.

Kyosul befriended Kyoyoung and Sassi by visiting their residences casually. As she made friends with them, she naturally began to regain vigor and liveliness in her daily life. She seemed to forget her painful memories of leaving the Hwa Kingdom.

But she couldn’t help but feel the sharp pain of not feeling loved. Though she could smile thanks to her newly found friendships with Kyoyoung and Sassi, she wanted to be loved, above all.

Was it because she received so much love during her childhood? She could not fill her empty heart with their warmth alone.

***

There was a strange silence in the Sochon Palace located in the west of the imperial palace. The atmosphere there was somewhat heavy and eerie, compared with the quietness of the Dongchon Palace. Court ladies serving the Sochon Palace were not as talkative as those at the Dongchon Palace.

“Your Highness!”

Court ladies’ lilting voice resonated across the Sochon Palace. Flushing, Oran walked across the palace yard with hurried steps. Stopping their work, court ladies lowered their heads when they saw her coming, but she didn’t glance at either of them.

Though she didn’t even look at them, they knew she would immediately give them a good scolding if they didn’t bow to her.

“The Prince’s Wife has arrived!”

The eunuch on standby announced to the people serving at the Sochon Palace. When she skillfully took off her shoes and stepped in, the door leading to the innermost room of Prince Dukwol was opened as the court ladies there were ready to meet her expectations, all the time wary about her words and deeds.

Passing by several doors to reach the prince’s room, she stepped into it and hugged him, acting coquettishly.

“Your Majesty!”

“Oran, my dear wife! It looks like you’re in a very good mood today.”

Noticing her coming in, he put aside the book and brush. As he always smiled, even his eyes were curved, and his pupil was hardly visible, which made it difficult to look into his glittering eyes clearly.

Cunning Prince Dukwol and arrogant Oran were a good match in the palace.

“Do you know who I just met before I came here?”

“Is there another person in this palace who could draw your interest?”

“Yes, I met the very Crown Princess rumored among the palace people.”

“The Crown Princess?”

His playful voice became subdued now. His eyes looked gloomy now, as there was no more smile on his face. But he asked when he saw his wife whose eyes were slanted upward at the moment.

“I don’t think you, as a proud and dignified princess, took the trouble of going to see the Crown Princess.”

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“You know me too well, Your Majesty,” said Oran, bursting into laughter and gently patting him on the chest. With a smile, he took her hand then he put one of her fingers into his mouth and bit it gently.

“I wonder if the Crown Princess came to see you first.”

“No, not at all. I met her in the flower garden. I bumped into her at the flower garden of the Central Palace,” she snorted contemptuously.

“You know she is the so-called Crown Princess of the Mok Kingdom. Nonetheless, she was dressed in shabby clothes like a nameless concubine in the palace,” she added.

In a grumbling voice, she then told him in detail about what happened at the flower garden.

While listening to her complaint with a smile all along, Dukwol patted and stroked her, and sometimes touched his lips to her body.

“She must be a pretty soft-tempered little woman.”

That was his first reaction when Oran told him about Kyosul. Just like the saying, “husband and wife are one flesh,” his despicable comment on Kyosul was the same as Oran’s.

Clapping her hands, Oran snorted, “You bet! She is just a little princess of the Hwa Kingdom, isn’t she?”

“I just can’t understand how this soft-hearted little woman won over Bipaan’s heart,” she continued. Already there was a wild rumor circulating about them in the palace. Even little court girls were aware that Bipaan’s second wife, who got married to him earlier than Kyosul, had been living alone in her residence since the Crown Prince deserted her on the wedding night.