How to Deal with the Crown Prince (English)

Chapter XXXIII

 서른 세 번째 왕관 (33)

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Pyo. I am Crown Prince Yi Eul, your daughter, Kim Jae Kyung’s fiancée,” Prince Yi Eul introduced himself with a smile. His bodyguards, then, went to them with luxurious gifts in their hands. “And I came here to personally and officially ask your daughter’s hand for marriage.”

Mr. and Mrs. Pyo and Hyung Won looked at Prince Yi Eul then at Jae Kyung in such shocked eyes. “G-Gi?”

I don’t want to lie to the people who adopted me and love me with all their hearts but… Jae Kyung awkwardly smiled at them. “Gi.”

“Ehhh???”

Hyung Won couldn’t help but gasp. “M-My sister… my sister is going to be a princess?!”

Jae Kyung and Prince Yi Eul stared at each other, totally forgetting about the little commotion in front of them.

Six months… just six months… and this will be over and our lives will be back to normal.

“Daebi-mama, Chae Rin-gongjumamaga chajawatsseumnida.”

Queen Jang Eun’s eyes settled on her study room’s door and put down the book she’s reading. “Let her in.”

As soon as the royal servant opened the double doors, Princess Chae Rin went inside with confusion written on her face. Albeit she badly wanted to ask the queen right away, she still needs to be respectful so she bowed her head as low as possible as a greeting. “Good evening, daebi-mama. I’m sorry for visiting you so suddenly."

Queen Jang Eun smiled at her. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it. You may raise your head now.”

When Princess Chae Rin finally raised her head, she spoke. “Your Majesty, about His Royal Highness, is it really true?”

Queen Jang Eun just looked at her in silence.

“I don’t actually believe in what the media says but when they say you confirmed it, I went straight here from Vietnam to confirm it. Is it really true, Your Majesty? Is it true that the Crown Prince is getting married?” Princess Chae Rin asked.

“Yes,” simple as that, Queen Jang Eun responded.

“I heard that she’s a former Journalist who was actually working under His Royal Highness,” she said again.

“Yes.”

“Are you saying that His Royal Highness is going to marry a commoner? Is that really possible? But in order for us to maintain our royal lineage, we must get married to someone from the yangban. But why is he marrying a commoner? I heard about the royal state minister’s daughter from the House of Gong, right? Gong Cho Rong? What about her?” Princess Chae Rin couldn’t help but chuckle in confusion. “It’s a bit odd for His Royal Highness to marry a commoner. What will people think about it? Doesn’t it bother you or him?”

“His Royal Highness already decided about the marriage,” Queen Jang Eun said, firmly. “And the woman is not just a commoner. She’s the one who saved the Crown Prince from the attempt assassination twice already. She may be a commoner but she’s a strong and intelligent woman that fits to be the Crown Prince’s wife and bear a child for him.”

“Daebi-mama, you still didn’t know that woman fully. What if behind the personality she’s showing to the Crown Prince, to you and to us, she has motives or intentions? We should be careful, right?” the princess asked, starting to actually get hysterical sooner or later.

Queen Jang Eun just gave her a firm stare. “Before me or anyone else, His Royal Highness already evaluated the woman. She may or may not be a commoner but she already did a huge contribution to the Crown Prince’s life with regards to his personal or security matters so I don’t think it’s good for you to question His Royal Highness or Her Majesty’s decision.”

Princess Chae Rin’s mouth agape after what she heard from the queen. She wanted to say something but ended up remained silent.

“I know you’re concern and His Royal Highness will really appreciate it. But, you don’t have to worry, gongju-mama,” Queen Jang Eun smiled at her.

“That old hag! *Michin nyeon,” Princess Chae Rin said as she angrily slammed her purse onto her room’s couch. “Of all people, she’ll let her stupid grandson marry a commoner! That’s already a disgrace! First, he let her son marry a maiden that came from a family of lower yangban, and now she’ll let her grandson, that stupid of a Crown Prince marry a commoner just because that commoner saved her stupid of a grandson’s life?! That’s a total embarrassment in the family! A huge disgrace! That’s totally absurd!” (*means Crazy b***h)

“Is that…” the Prime Minister uttered. “That woman… is she the one who saved the Crown Prince from the attempt assassination when he first came here in Korea?”

Princess Chae Rin gave him a look.

“I’m right then,” the Prime Minister picked the old newspaper where Prince Yi Eul and Jae Kyung are there, that was the time when Jae Kyung saved the Crown Prince from the attempt assassination. “It seems like this girl is a lot of work. She could actually hinder our plans.”

"Jeo goa wangjaga pyongmindeureul wihae wangwireul nangbihandamyon wangjwareul badeul jagyogi eobseoyo jinjak arasseoya haenneundeyo!"

"Mama?"

“Before we’ll going to do something about the Crown Prince,” Princess Chae Rin gritted her teeth. “We have to get rid of that girl first.”

Jae Kyung felt chills that she couldn’t help but rub her both arms. Prince Yi Eul noticed it so the latter looked at her. “Something wrong?”

They’re currently sitting in the living room while Mr. and Mrs. Pyo were preparing something for them and Hyung Won staring at them—especially on Prince Yi Eul—in astonishment.

Prince Yi Eul actually wanted to help (even though Jae Kyung kept on teasing him that he doesn’t know anything about household chores) but he just felt awkward inside the commoner’s home so he actually wants to do something but Mr. and Mrs. Pyo insisted that they’ll go rest since they had a long trip so they ended up sitting quietly in the living room.

Not until, of course, Jae Kyung broke that silence.

“Nothing. I just felt goosebumps,” Jae Kyung answered. “Like… there’s some ghost behind me.”

Prince Yi Eul flinched on his seat and hastily turned his head behind him. With wide eyes, he asked in a whispered voice. “Are you f*****g serious?!”

“Yeah. There’s a Cheonyeo Gwishin lurking around this place and she’s haunting guys like you!” Jae Kyung widened her eyes, trying to scare the s**t out of Prince Yi Eul. (*Cheonyeo Gwishin means virgin girl ghost. They typically are seen wearing a white hanbok called a sobok, usually worn during death. They are also characterized by their long black hair, due to the fact that tradition stated that single women should always wear their hair up. In Confucian Korean tradition, it was a woman’s role to serve her father, husband, and sons. If she died before being able to fulfill this goal she would be cursed to walk the earth for eternity. Because of this, most cheonyeo gwishin carry with them strong bitterness and anger and often haunt the villages or towns of their former families, hoping to cause hardship for them. Interestingly enough, villages in the past thought to host angry cheonyeo gwishin would create phallic statues to pacify them. Another method to pacifying the rage of a cheonyeo gwishin is introducing it to an eligible ghost bachelor. Chonggak Gwishin is the male equivalent of a cheonyeo gwishin, male ghosts who died before marriage, looking for someone to marry so their soul can be at peace. Ancient shaman rituals would have to try to unite both ghosts, allowing them to become happily married in the afterlife and able to move away from the mortal realm.)

And she was successful in it. Prince Yi Eul believed it as he breathes faster than usual, his face sweating, he looked so pale and his eyes even widen.

“What the—are you scared?” Jae Kyung couldn’t take it anymore. She snorted and laughed. “You should’ve seen your face! It’s so priceless, Your Highness. Your face is so funny! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

Prince Yi Eul had the urge to knock Jae Kyung’s head but because her family is watching him—actually it’s her brother—so he ended up stretching her left cheek with his teeth gritted as he grinned. “Aigoo~ you’re so cute~ stop teasing me~”

“Aw! Aw!” Jae Kyung mumbled and low-key slapping Prince Yi Eul’s hand.

With gritted teeth, Prince Yi Eul spoke. “Gaso usora jom do usora jagi ipkkimi ppajil ttaekkaji usora.” (*Go laugh. Laugh some more. Laugh until you lose your own breath.)

“Aw! Owkeh, owkeh, sowwy~~~” with teary eyes, Jae Kyung said. Prince Yi Eul let go of her cheek which actually got red and Jae Kyung spoke again with a grin. “You should really have seen your face, Your Highness. It’s actually hilarious,” she imitated Prince Yi Eul’s facial expression earlier. “With wide eyes, dumb face and all.”

Prince Yi Eul glared at her and squeezed her both cheeks which made her lips pucker like a fish. “Tease me again or else, I’ll really never let you breathe again.”

“Why are you sho annoyed bow ish? Ish duh firsh time I sho your feysh like dat. Let me cherish ish!” Jae Kyung said as her puckered lips move like she’s a fish.

Instead of getting annoyed, Prince Yi Eul couldn’t help but laugh. “You look so stupid.”

“Stawph laughing let me go!” and instead of getting annoyed, Jae Kyung laughed as well as she stretched Prince Yi Eul’s ears.

“Is it really okay for Jae Kyung to do that to him? Even if he’s her soon-to-be husband, he’s still the Crown Prince!” Mr. Pyo said worriedly as he watched Jae Kyung and Prince Yi Eul almost wrestle like kids while Hyung Won watching them dumbly. “Aigoo, that kid.”

“But isn’t it great, yeobo?” Mrs. Pyo smiled softly at Jae Kyung’s who’s now laughing at Prince Yi Eul who’s actually nursing his abused ears while yelling at her. “She looked so happy… and that’s what matters to us… to me, to you.”