Chapter 125 (1/2)
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.