She told Haein about the kiss that night. It had made her feel so happy, that she couldn’t just keep it to herself. She had to tell someone about it, and it just happened that Haein seemed like the perfect person to tell.

“You sound like you’re in love,” Haein replied after Yewon recounted the kiss to her. “Are you finally falling for your husband?” the maid asked with a content smile.

“I don’t know,” was Yewon’s answer.

“From the way your eyes are twinkling, I would say so, your highness…”

-

The kiss stayed on her mind and carried into her dreams. Actually, she dreamt of many versions of that kiss, one from which she woke up breathless and with a warm and electric feeling engulfing her body. When she realized that it was a dream, her eyes widened and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. Did she really have such a dream?

It was a vivid and physical dream, one in which their kiss was followed by more kissing, a hungrier kind of kissing, which escalated into a desire for even more and more contact. The end result was an image that was now branded in her head, one that she was determined to keep in her head until death because it was so dirty.

That one kiss had set off her imagination into such sinful territory. It had so much of an impact on her, and she didn’t know why. Why did she only feel like this now? How many times had they kissed before, and how many times had they even slept together. Why did a simple kiss make her feel more stimulated than any other interaction she ever had with him?

Maybe Haein was right, she thought. Maybe she was actually falling for her husband.

-

The next time she saw him that morning, Yewon couldn’t even look at him, because every time she looked at him, she remembered her dream with all the graphic and embarrassing details. Her eyes were on the floor and her cheeks were flushed with warmth. If he could read her thoughts right now, how horrified would he be?

“Good morning,” he called out to her.

She gave him a quick and awkward smile, trying but failing to mask her unease.

“So… what did you dream about last night?” he suddenly asked, making her eyes widen and gape with pure horror. Why was he asking about her dream?

Did he know what she dreamt about? Did he perhaps hear her make embarrassing sounds last night? Did she talk in her sleep? What humiliating things had he heard her say?

“Y…you know about it??” she asked sheepishly, avoiding his gaze as much as she could.

“Yes, I do,” he answered dubiously.

Yewon felt absolutely mortified, and she didn’t mask it anymore. She just covered her face and moped. “How did you find out?” she mumbled through her hands.

“You told me,” he answered. “Yesterday, you said that the dead would tell you how to make me laugh in your dream.”

Oh.

Yewon had completely forgotten about that. She had completely forgotten that she had spoken to Solbin yesterday, and that she had asked her how to make Seungcheol laugh. And she had completely forgotten that Seungcheol was expecting to see her act on that dream. That’s why he asked about the dream…

But was Solbin really was responsible for that dream? Yewon asked herself. What was the girl trying to tell her?

“What did you dream about?” Seungcheol asked with narrowed eyes, obviously realizing that it was a special kind of dream.

“Nothing,” Yewon answered quickly.

“I know you’re lying,” Seungcheol said.

“I am,” she admitted. “I just don’t want to tell you.”

“Why not? Are you afraid you’ll be proven wrong, and it won’t make me laugh?” he asked.

“On the contrary, I’m afraid that it will make you laugh. At me,” she answered.

“Well, now you’ve piqued my curiosity.”

“Too bad,” Yewon said stubbornly. “I’m not telling.”

“Did you by any chance have an… dream?” Seungcheol asked her before she could scuttle out of earshot.

Yewon froze. That gave Seungcheol his answer, and he smiled (or smirked, Yewon was blushing too madly to tell).

“Were you with someone?” Seungcheol asked her. “Was it that childhood love of yours, Jisoo? Or maybe it was Wonwoo?”

Yewon frowned at him, pressed that he was making these assumptions. “It was you, you fool,” she blurted just to shut him down.

Just when she was beginning to regret so readily admitting to having an dream with him in it, he laughed. He actually laughed. It was a soft and embarrassed laugh, and a sound she had never heard before.

She pointed and an accusing finger at him. “You’re laughing.”

His laugh died into an awkward smile, “you’re right.”

“See, I told you the dead talk to you! Solbin heard me. Solbin actually made me make you laugh!” Yewon beamed happily, suddenly forgetting that she was supposed to feel embarrassed.

Funnily enough, it was Seungcheol who looked embarrassed now. He was biting his lip and lowering his head, looking a little flustered. Yewon didn’t quite understand why he was acting like that.

“What?” she asked him. “Say something.”

“I… I don’t know what to say, your highness,” Seungcheol replied.

Just as Yewon was about to reply, she caught sight of Jinye rushing through the halls with tears in her eyes. As much as she wanted to continue having this conversation with Seungcheol, she felt obliged to go and see what was wrong. Yewon excused herself and went after her.

When Yewon called out to her, Jinye stopped walking, and turned to bow, her eyes still b with tears.

“Lady Jinye, why are you crying?” Yewon asked her.

“It’s all her fault,” Jinye mumbled.

“Her fault?”

“Your maid’s fault. I know she’s the one he fell for,” Jinye cried. “I know she’s the reason he broke off our engagement, and she’s the reason he doesn’t even want to speak to me again…”

“What?” Yewon asked.

“He told me that he couldn’t forget her and that he doesn’t want me to be in the way anymore,” Jinye said. “And I know that it’s Haein. I just know it.”

Yewon felt an uncomfortable knot in her stomach as she heard this. She thought Wonwoo was over. She thought she had settled things with him once and for all, but now Wonwoo was breaking it off with the girl he was supposed to move on with?

She excused herself again and rushed to find Wonwoo.

He was exactly where she first looked: the library. He was looking through maps and taking notes, probably planning some military tactic for the future.

When she entered and he lifted his head and saw her, he smiled. “Yewon, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Why did you break it off with Jinye?” Yewon asked him directly.

“You know why,” Wonwoo answered. “I haven’t given up on you, Yewon.”

“We’ve been over this,” Yewon replied, feeling anger welling up inside her. “Stop this nonsense, please.”

“Is it really nonsense though?” Wonwoo replied, eying her intently. “I don’t think it is. I know my love for you isn’t completely unrequited…”

“But it is…”

“Don’t lie!” he cut her off irritably. The way he snapped surprised her; Wonwoo was usually calm and collected, but right now, he seemed like he was desperate and distressed, like he was angry hearing those words from her.

“Calm down,” she managed, gulping in her surprise.

“I’m sorry,” he quickly receded and spoke more softly. “But Yewon, you have to understand… I love you, okay. I still love you. And I thought my love was unrequited, and so I intended to try and move on, but then you told me that you were jealous of her…” he trailed off for a moment before continuing: “if you’re jealous, that means that there’s something in your heart, and that gives me enough hope...”

“Wonwoo, please…” she nearly begged. She couldn’t bear the thought of him holding himself back for her sake. She realized that she had made a mistake when she told him she was jealous, and she had made a mistake when she had led him on. She should have ended things when they first began... “There is no hope,” she told him.

“You say that now,” Wonwoo replied, “but who knows what the future will bring. I, for one, will risk everything for the possibility of being with you one day…”

Yewon felt like nothing she could say would sway him. But in one final, desperate attempt to knock some sense into him, she said: “How can there be a possibility? I’m married.”

“Marriages can end,” Wonwoo stated matter-of-factly. The ease with which he said it gave her shivers. How could he allude to the end of her marriage like that so easily? As if it were something to look forward to, and not to fear?

She knew she couldn’t reason with him anymore, and she didn’t want to. She just shook her head at him in disapproving shock and stormed away.

In novels, she had always found it romantic when a man would risk it all for love, but Yewon soon began to realize that in real life, such an act is hardly romantic or flattering at all. On the contrary, it was infuriating.

-

At dinner that night, Yewon was in a sour mood from her exchange with Wonwoo. She even forgot that she had an unresolved conversation with Seungcheol, and so was too preoccupied to notice that he was actually hoping she would bring it up again.

Nothing could distract her from her thoughts until a messenger entered the dining hall to relay a message to the king.

“Your majesty,” said the messenger. “Prince Soonyoung has returned.”

A/N: so I’m back home now; I’ll try to update soon for you guys~