Chapter XXVI
1528 Words
스물 여섯 번째 왕관 (26)
“Aaaah!!!”
Three of the servants, two of the bodyguards, the secretary, and the prime minister flinched when Princess Chae Rin slammed the tablet she’s holding to the ground after she read the article about the Crown Prince’s wedding. She gritted her teeth and glared at the broken tablet. She, then, averted her gaze to her servants and her bodyguards. “Get out of here! Out!”
“Ye, mama,” the servants and the bodyguards hurriedly went out of the Princess’ study room, leaving the prime minister and the princess behind.
“Mama, calm down. You can’t think straight if you’ll not be going to calm down,” the Prime Minister said.
“There’s no way that kid will marry someone to ensure the throne and have a successor! I will not gonna let that happen!” Princess Chae Rin said, raising her voice up. “My Yi Ryeo deserves that spot, not some half-blooded royal prince! You know that right?!
“I’ll work harder in dispatching the Crown Prince,” the Prime Minister assured her. “I’ll make sure my men will have the job done as soon as possible.”
Princess Chae Rin glared at him. “I don’t want your words of assurance, Prime Minister Song. I want legitimate results! You have to do it as soon as possible!”
Prime Minister Song held Princess Chae Rin’s hand and kiss her jade ring and smirked at her. “Of course, I will.”
“And I’ll make sure that Prince Yi Eul will never see the sunlight before the day of his wedding.”
“Somebody, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!”
Romina didn’t know what happened next… but all she felt was that someone held her securely and she felt like she was floating. She couldn’t even open her eyes to see what happened but all she could felt is from floating, her feet suddenly felt the ground as she felt something’s clinking.
Romina slowly opened her eyes and saw her stalker on the ground lying with his eyes open wide, terror, trauma or terrified—she can’t describe how much this guy looked so terrified on his pale face and she also saw the knife her stalker was holding earlier is now meters away from him. She, then, saw huge black feathers around her.
Black feathers… again?
“You’re safe now.”
Romina’s gaze settled on the man who’s holding her right now. Her eyes settled from his thin, pinkish lips to his angel-like, gorgeous face to his hair as dark as ebony that has horns on it then to his red eyes—
Wait, what? Horns and red eyes?
She gasped when she saw huge, black wings flapping from his back.
“W-Who… who are you?”
The guy smirked at her that she felt major goosebumps. “Me? I’m your guardian… from the underworld.”
Her eyes widen.
“My guardian from what?!” (a/n: this is an excerpt from my Dreame story “Guardian Evil”. I hope you’ll also give that novel a try to read.)
Jae Kyung stared at the traditional notebook she’s writing using the ballpen she brought. She’s having a hard time using the traditional brush that was used in ancient times as a pen so she used her pen instead. She raised her arms up to stretch since she’s really uncomfortable with the beige with a mixture of red jeogori that paired her red chima. She put her elbow on her table, put her chin over her palm, and sighed. “I’m so tired. I want to go home.”
“You haven’t even reached half of your training to be my royal princess consort and you’ll show such tardiness? Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Jae Kyung turned her head to Prince Yi Eul who’s now shaking his head at her. He’s wearing a very expensive suit which, obviously, came from Dior. This guy never wears clothes that don’t come from luxurious brands—one of the things that Jae Kyung learned from him. “You only have three weeks before the wedding, Kim Jae Kyung.”
“Yo-You! What are you doing here?” she pointed her finger unto him as if she’s accusing him of something.
“Uh, this is one of the House of Yi? Which, technically, I owned so you don’t have to ask me such ridiculous question, you i***t,” Prince Yi Eul rolled his eyes at her.
She hastily put her finger down. “I-I meant, are your appointments done already?”
“I only have one appointment this evening,” Prince Yi Eul said. He, then, entered the pavilion after taking his shoes off and sat in front of Jae Kyung. “And of course, I have to check out my future wife before going to my appointment.”
Future wife. It sounds great… if it’s not fake.
As soon as he settled himself, Jae Kyung abruptly closed her notebook. “And I’m quite worried about the bowls you broke up because of the training.”
Jae Kyung frowned. “What? Did I hear that right? You’re worried about the bowls and not to me?”
Prince Yi Eul nodded in a neutral face. “Yeah. Those bowls were authentic and expensive, you know?”
“Wow. You and your nasty attitude. Hmph.”
Prince Yi Eul looked at the notebook she’s been writing a while ago and before she could keep it, he already grabbed it from her. “What are you writing?”
“Hey! Hey, give it back!”
“Why? I just want to check if you really learned something from the royal teacher daebi-mama assigned to teach you,” Prince Yi Eul nudged Jae Kyung's desperate hands as he opened the notebook. He, then, burst into laughter when he read halfway of what Jae Kyung wrote. “Well, I don’t think this guy with horns and black wings is actually included in your lesson.”
Before Prince Yi Eul could read further, Jae Kyung already grabbed the notebook and hugged it. She, then, glared at him.
“Woah, calm down, kitty,” Prince Yi Eul raised his hand up, teasing her. “This is the first time I read one of the excerpts of your novel and I never thought you’re writing such a romantic story. LOL.”
LOL, your ass! “Knock it off, will ya?” Jae Kyung fired back.
“I’ve been encountering so many stories like that. It’s kind of cliché. Love is already cliché so I wonder why you guys love to write such things and readers, on the other hand, like to read such things. You’re actually deceiving people, you know? There’s no such thing as love like that,” Prince Yi Eul shook his head as he read some of the books that he saw on Jae Kyung’s table.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Prince Yi Eul looked at Jae Kyung once again and to his surprise, Jae Kyung looked so sad.
She looked so sad even if she’s smiling.
“Geurae, maja. Silsaenghwareso sarangeun geurochi ahnda. Love is not like that in real life, I know. Love in books is just an illusion. It may seem cliché but at least, love is good in fiction because you’ll never, ever get hurt knowing that in the very end, it’ll be a good ending,” Jae Kyung smiled weakly at him. “Love in fiction may be a lie but at least, it makes a sad soul happy.”
Before Prince Yi Eul could utter a word, Jae Kyung already stood up and held her hanbok’s chima. “I’m going to the bathroom. Please excuse me.”
“Hey, wait. Uh, Jae Kyung,” Prince Yi Eul kept on calling her but his words fell into deaf ears.
“What’s wrong with her?” he sighed. “I was just telling the truth. I’m a straightforward guy, she knows that.”
He, then, fell silent.
“No, you shouldn’t feel guilty, Prince Yi Eul. You’re just telling her the truth,” he tried convincing himself. “It’s not like you offended her or what.”
He fell silent once again.
But why I felt so guilty about it?
“Where did that girl go? The bathroom is not seven mountains far. What took her so long to come back?” Prince Yi Eul murmured as he left the pavilion to look for her. Jae Kyung actually took thirty minutes but she didn’t come back to the pavilion so he’s looking for her. “Honestly, this is the very first time a Crown Prince is looking for his assistant like this. It’ll be worth recorded in history books. Where the heck is that girl—”
He suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw Jae Kyung talking to his cousin Prince Yi Ryeo and she’s actually all smiles and looked so happy talking to him.
For unknown reasons, Prince Yi Eul felt something that he should never feel to his fake fiancée.
- Writer
