Chapter 127 (1/2)

The little girl, who appeared to be a court lady in his eyes, knew every nook and corner of the palace as if she lived there for a long time. Following her, he went to secret places where he couldn't dare to go alone and saw beautiful scenery that he could not imagine. When they parted, the girl had tears in her eyes and wouldn't let go of the hem of his robe. But when they met the next day, she wrapped her arms around him with a smile on her face.

”I'll see you again tomorrow!”

The girl promised to meet him without listening to him. Although he could easily break the promise she made on her own, he went to see her without fail. As a result, he stayed much longer than he planned to originally, and it was already at the end of spring before he knew.

After he met her in the back garden, he wasn't interested in what went on at the cabinet meetings in Daejon in the Hwa Kingdom. He found himself spending days thinking about the girl and recalling her face unconsciously.

”Isn't it time to say it now?”

One day when he was watching her babbling pleasantly after picking up a bunch of thin silk from somewhere, he asked her.

Running around as if she was about to dance with the silk wrapped around her, she trotted toward him. The girl grinned at him after she gently sat in front of him as he squatted on the field.

”What do you want to know about me?”

”Your name. I think we can introduce to each other, as we have been playing together a lot.”

Pouting her lips, she said, ”Well, if you know my name, you will run away. I hate it. I won't tell you because you will leave me, because you won't play with me…”

She suddenly looked aghast while grumbling then began to cry. Although he was hardly ever moved by into revealing his true feelings, he was really at a loss about what to do this time. Tears dropped on the silk wrapped around her body, showing no sign of stopping. Although she was wiping her tears quickly, it was useless as she shed more tears than she wiped. With the girl crying before his eyes, he agonized, not knowing what to do.

He was not sure whether he should stroke her head or pet her on the shoulder to dissuade her from crying, or hug and comfort her. He never thought he wanted to stop someone's crying. So he didn't know what to do.

”I won't run away. I will not leave.”

In the end, that's all he could say to her. Although he wanted to hug that little girl crying, he couldn't, and shouldn't because she was a court lady of the Hwa Kingdom.

That was too bad.

A court lady was the king's woman. No matter how young she was, she was the king's woman, so he couldn't hold her in his arms.

For the first time since he was born, he felt a sense of despair that he couldn't have his way, and a bitter sense of defeat.

'How come this girl is a court lady here?'

”As I want to be closer to you, I want to know your name. I can't call you just 'you' forever.”

With his hand pausing in the air momentarily, he barely touched her head. Her hair was soft. When he stroked her thin hair, she held his hands as she cried.

”I'm simple-minded, so let me trust you.”

She nodded and then said just one word after hesitating a bit.

”Chanbi.”

”What did you say?”

”Chanbi. My name is Chanbi.”

She saw the girl's closed lips trembling.

”Hummm…..Chanbi. So, you are called Chanbi or cold rain, because 'chan' refers to cold, while 'bi' refers to rain?”

The girl shook her head at his interpretation.

”Then, just Chanbi? Is Chanbi your name? ”

The girl shook her head at that, too. After sighing, she barely opened her mouth when somebody interrupted.

”What are you doing here?”

He heard a man's voice, but he didn't care about it and still looked at the girl, but the girl was surprised and backed away from Bipaan. At a loss about what to do, she buried her face in the hem of her silk skirt.

Bipaan was slightly irritated by the voice that interrupted it because he felt he could find out her name. Looking at the place where the voice was heard with a stern look, he found a boy dressed in silk clothes, looking too young for an a.d.u.l.t.

Was he about the same age, 15 or 16?