Chapter 78 (1/2)

She didn’t know how long she was sitting at the pavilion, but the sun was already setting. Against the background of the setting sun Ruhae walked up to her.

Her heart began to beat fast suddenly.

“I’ve just heard from Concubine Sassi that you are here.”

“Please don’t come near me,” she murmured to herself.

“What business brought you to the East Palace? I wonder if you…”

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“Don’t approach me!” she again murmured to herself.

“Did you come here to see the Crown Princess?”

Ruhae stood before Yomin as she smiled a sad smile.

It was the first time Kyomin had seen him in a while, and Ruhae cried.

“Why are you crying?”

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“Because I am afraid she might be hurt.”

Yomin felt as if he put a dagger in her heart because she instantly knew who he meant by ‘she.’

Yomin didn’t want to see his face at the moment. The thinking that she was not in genuine love with him made her shiver. Her heart pounded. And she also shed tears.

When she cried, Ruhae was embarrassed and stepped back. Coming down from the pavilion, she walked up to him. She extended her hand and wiped the tears running down his cheeks. He was embarrassed by her act like this. While wiping his tears, she didn’t care at all. And then she moved back, saying, “How are you, Prince Ruhae? The other day at the conference hall of the Central Palace you were absent from the banquet to celebrate Concubine Su’s birthday. Are you okay?”

“Princess Yomin…”

“Don’t beat around the bush, please. Just look at me when you’re alone with me like this.”

She turned her head. Her shoulders were shivering with fear. But he couldn’t comfort her by hugging her. In fact, he was firmly determined that he should not be kind to her. Though he felt sorry for her, he couldn’t treat her the same way as he used to.

And he couldn’t sit idle when his lover would be hurt. As he changed his mind, he couldn’t embrace Yomin who he thought was on good terms with him up to now. So far he tended to avoid her because he was at a loss how to end his relationship with her, but he couldn’t delay it any longer.

He took pains to ignore her trembling shoulders and opened his mouth.

“Just leave her alone. Instead, please blame and swear at me. I can’t continue–”

“You’re my husband, Prince Ruhae.”

She turned around with a confused look. Breaking a brief silence, he cautiously approached her and held her shoulders. Looking her in the face with his clear eyes, he tightened his grip. She avoided his eyes.

“Look at me!”

She didn’t.

“Prince Yomin, look at me!”

“Please stop it. Don’t call me the princess anymore. Why are you calling me like that as if I’m a strange woman?”

“Isn’t that true?”

She hardened her expression. She felt as if his voice, which seemed soft all the time, turned into a dagger and hacked up her heart.

‘What a cruel man!’

She kept crying, and looked him in the eye. Eyes never told lies.

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Eyes always told the truth, but Ruhae’s eyes never showed anything like affection for her. Though he smiled at her kindly, he had never expressed any words like ‘affection’ or ‘love’ to her. That was a really sad fact to her.

It was torture for her to stand before someone like Ruhae who had truthful eyes.

“I heard it from Concubine Sassi. So, did you give up on me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Just go back today. Let me escort you back to the South Palace.”

“Why are there so many people blocking me from going to see the Crown Princess? Why are the palace people on her side? I really can’t understand that. Don’t you know that? She created immorality in the palace that goes against human morality and challenged the moral laws of the family relationship. She is such a wicked little woman from a foreign country who disturbes the imperial palace of the Mok Kingdom!”