Chapter XXIV
1507 Words
스물 네 번째 왕관(24)
“We had a deal, Your Highness!” Jae Kyung exclaimed as soon as she faces the Crown Prince. “You know what, the contract stated that I’ll work for you as your personal assistant and I will not go beyond that. Obviously, this is some kind of violation of the contract policy. But since this is really urgent, I accepted the deal and I made sure that you’d agree that I’ll just do the pretending fiancée thing once. ONLY ONCE! Why is it that my name’s with you all over the news outlet and even said that I’m going to marry you?!”
“Jae Kyung, calm down,” Prince Yi Eul said. “I am even surprised that the article came out! I made sure that the visit will be discreet but the paparazzi followed us!”
“Can you take all of that down, right?” Jae Kyung asked, she’s even looked more and more agitated.
“About that…”
“Jeonha, daebi-mamakkeso bwero watsseumnida.” (*Your Highness, Her Majesty is here to see you.)
Jae Kyung and Prince Yi Eul’s eyes widen as they looked at each other. “What the actual…”
“What shall we do now?!” Jae Kyung asked, panicking.
The Crown Prince squeezed his eyes tight and responded. “We’ll talk about this problem later. For now, we have to deal with Queen Jang Eun right now.”
“Nae bojalgodomneun gose osin goseul hwanyonghamnida, Daebi-mama,” Prince Yi Eul greeted his queen grandmother. “*Halma-mama, myonhwe ondago haessoya haessoyo. I should’ve prepared something for you.” (*Your Majesty, welcome to my humble place. *Your Majesty (Queen grandmother), you should’ve told me you’re going to visit.)
Jae Kyung, on the other hand, was nervously fidgeting on Prince Yi Eul’s side. She’s wearing Capricieux’s Velvet Ribbon Dress and she felt stuffy on what she’s wearing because she’s having a cold sweat because of nervousness.
Queen Jang Eun responded to him with a huge smile on her face. “Aigoo, i aiyo je gokjjongeun anhasyodo dwemnida, jeonha. You should get used to me visiting you here in your humble place.” (*My, my, this kid. You don’t have to worry about me, Your Highness.)
Prince Yi Eul offered the seat in front of him to Queen Jang Eun which the latter gladly accepted. Prince Yi Eul took a sit for himself as well. He noticed that Jae Kyung is still standing so he secretly tugged Jae Kyung hand to sit as the latter was still dazed.
“I saw the news articles this morning,” Queen Jang Eun said after she took a sip of her favorite tea which was specially made for her. “I couldn’t believe that the press took the info real quick but I guess the whole nation should know that my sole Crown Prince is getting married to such a lovely woman.”
Jae Kyung awkwardly laughed. I bet the Crown Prince is already puking on his mind right now and I really want to punch him right now. Like, seriously.
“So, is it really true that you’re the one who confirmed our relationship in the article, halma-mama?” Prince Yi Eul asked, frowning.
“I let my secretary confirm it. You know that I don’t like facing the media, right?” Queen Jang Eun responded. “And besides, your relationship shouldn’t be hidden since you’ll get married next week.”
“What—?!” Prince Yi Eul squeezed Jae Kyung’s hand to prevent her from shouting. He side-eyed her.
If you’ll react like that, she’ll notice that we’re just pretending.
“About that, halma-mama…” he trailed off. “Isn’t it a bit too early for us to get married?”
Queen Jang Eun frowned. “Why do you say so? You’re already adults, on your legal ages. In fact, why prolong? You’re already engaged to each other so I think there’s no reason for you not to get married next week.”
“I understand your eagerness for the both of us, halma-mama but… it’s a bit too early for us. We have to prepare ourselves and of course,” Prince Yi Eul held Jae Kyung’s right shoulder and pulled her towards him. “My fiancée is not yet used to our lifestyle. I’m also eager to marry her, you see, but she’s still having a hard time adjusting since our relationship started months ago so I hope, you’ll give us some time, halma-mama.”
Jae Kyung couldn’t help but bit her lower lip and slightly lower her head since she got real nervous as soon as Queen Jang Eun’s eyes settled on her.
“I really hope you understand us, halma-mama.”
It took seconds for Queen Jang Eun to respond. “I see. We can’t force you, right? I’m sorry for pressuring you, Jae Kyung-ssi.”
Jae Kyung raised her head to the queen, quite surprised that the queen is apologizing to her—to her, a commoner and Prince Yi Eul’s fake fiancée. “I-It’s okay, daebi-mama. I should be the one to ask for an apology.”
“I’ll give you time, the two of you,” Queen Jang Eun said. “I’ll give you a month to prepare. I’ll send several royal officials working under our family to help Jae Kyung in adjusting to the House of Yi. And of course, you have to help your future wife, my grandson.”
Jae Kyung and Prince Yi Eul looked at each other, agitated.
“I can’t wait for your wedding!” Queen Jang Eun is grinning at them like a child.
Prince Yi Eul and Jae Kyung grinned as well, teeth-gritting.
We’re doomed. We’re totally doomed.
A pregnant silence invaded the Crown Prince’s study room. Both Jae Kyung and the Crown Prince didn’t dare to break the silence. Prince Yi Eul just faced the glass wall while Jae Kyung sat on his couch weakly.
“I told you, I’ll just do this once. For the sake of the salary and my book debut that will come true as what you’ve promised when you hired me as your personal assistant. I told you that this is just a one-time-only. You really need to hire someone to be your fake fiancée, Your Highness and I’m serious about it.”
“It’s not my fault!” Prince Yi Eul fired back. “How am I supposed to know that the paparazzi followed us, made an article about us, and it was confirmed by the queen herself? I am in dilemma right now, you see?”
Jae Kyung looked at him. “What if we’ll just tell her the truth? What if we’ll go tell her that we’re just faking it because you don’t want to marry that Gong Cho Rong girl?”
“You’re talking about the queen, Kim Jae Kyung,” Prince Yi Eul responded. “She’s not just some random Madame you’ve seen on dramas. She’s the last Queen of the Joseon Dynasty and you know that her words are absolute. We’ll be in huge trouble if you’ll tell her the truth about us getting married.”
“Damn,” Jae Kyung groaned in frustration as she leaned on the couch. This is your entire fault, you phony prince!
“She gave us one month to make you adjust to the House of Yi before marrying me. Damn, I never thought she’ll be this eager to send me off to marriage,” he said begrudgingly.
“Obviously because she wants your lineage kept going and she wants to see your ‘successor’,” Jae Kyung sighed. “But, Your Highness, you know I never wanna marry you.”
“Neither I am. You’re not even my type. You’re not that pretty to be my Royal Princess Consort,” Prince Yi Eul scoffed a sarcastic smile which made her jaw dropped and almost said ‘excuse me?’ on his face. “But as you can see, we have no escape now. The whole of South Korea already knew about us being engaged and the queen gave us one month to prepare for our wedding. If we defy her, we’ll face major consequences which include you not having your dream book debut.”
Jae Kyung stared at him, dumbfounded. “Maldo andwae. No way! You can do something, right?! You’re the Crown Prince! You’re even respected by the queen! You can do something!”
“If I could then, why not? But we’re talking about the queen. That will happen once we’ll gonna mess everything up,” Prince Yi Eul faced her. “There is one way for us to break free from this mess and be free.”
Jae Kyung frowned at him. “What is it?”
Prince Yi Eul stared at her for a while before giving her a response.
“Few months after the wedding, we’ll go get a divorce.”
- Writer
