If there was one thing that Yewon had learned from her experience of being married to Seungcheol, it was that the romance in her novels was not true-to-life. Nothing was ever as glamorous or as wonderful as novels made them out to be. Men are not heroic or loyal like they are in the novels. White horses are very rare. Kissing wasn’t all that exhilarating, and was definitely over-glorified.

But there was just one thing that novels did get right. Actually, they didn’t get it right, because it was so much better than what novels told her: when the person you love tells you that he loves you back– that moment really was as magical as novels say it was.

When Yewon heard those words, her heart filled with a naïve kind of bliss that led her bitter realism to kick in immediately. It was too good to be true, she thought.

She asked him if he was sure about what he was saying. If he was seeing her as Jeonghan. If he was joking or just saying it to shut her up, but he just shook his head and affirmed that it was nothing like that.

She has a lot of questions for him that night, but he left very little chance for her to ask him. Whenever she opened to ask, he would kiss her, and she could not find it in herself to stop him.

-

Seungcheol was a very shy man, and Yewon only really caught on to that after he admitted that he loved her. Ever since that night, he was unable to even catch her eye for more than a second, and whenever she tried to talk about feelings with him, he always tried to change the subject.

In the end, it didn’t really bother Yewon so much, because although he rarely talked about it, she still felt his affection for her in the way he treated her. She noticed the way that his face would brighten whenever he saw her. She felt the care with which he treated her, and the tenderness in the way he touched her.

Yewon decided not to go to the hospital anymore, for his sake. When she told him that she decided not to go, she could almost physically see a burden fall of his back. He looked so relieved to hear it, and so thankful to her for deciding to not to go.

He was afraid she would die, and that fear became more and more obvious to her as time went by. It wasn’t just the illness at the hospital that he was afraid of. He also asked for two more guards outside of her room. When she tripped and fell on the stairs once, he ordered to for carpets to be placed on the stairs in case it happened again. Once she caught a small fever, and he appointed three different physicians, one priest, and even an alchemist to heal her.

It’s strange how the value of her life suddenly transformed completely after Seungcheol’s confession. After feeling so inadequate for so long, she suddenly wanted to stay alive for as long as possible. She suddenly was content with her life after all the suffering she had undergone. Suddenly, her life was precious, and not only to herself, but to him as well.

She imagined how it would feel to lose him, but it was unbearable to even just imagine it. To think that Seungcheol had experienced this pain twice. She was determined to not be the third. She was determined to be the one that remained with him forever, until they were old and wrinkly. Maybe they would be lucky and die at the exact same time, so neither would ever have to bear losing the other.

She told him these thoughts, and it made him smile.

He smiled a lot more often now, to the point she had lost count of the amount of time she had seen him smile. She was now keeping count of the times she heard him laugh.

And so, for the many months that followed, the two of them embraced their relationship. They grew closer and more comfortable with one another physically. Although Seungcheol never stopped being shy about his feelings for her, he did open up to her about other things, like his fear that maybe he really was sterile.

He visited her bed every night that he could, but despite their many efforts, it would never work out.

Every month, she would see her first blood indicating that was still childless. And every single time that this happened, she would cry and lock herself in a room, telling the guards to not let even Haein in. Only Seungcheol could force himself inside, and he would immediately know why she was crying and try to comfort her, but it often just made her sadder, because she knew that he was even more upset than she was.

To make things worse, in the time that Yewon and Seungcheol were still trying for a first child, the King had fathered three bastards with the women in his harem. It made Seungcheol so self-conscious of himself for being unable to impregnate Yewon, and angry at his father for still fathering bastards.

“Why can’t he just have a legitimate child for once?” Seungcheol complained during the birth of the third bastard child. “Why is he doing this to Her Majesty?”

Seungcheol was obviously against the very principle of his father having mistresses and sleeping with women besides his wife, and that made Yewon happy, because she was confident that he would never go the harem himself and indulge in all the beautiful women there.

She did, however, know that the royals were pressuring him to choose a mistress and father a bastard, because an illegitimate child is still better than no child. An illegitimate child could still be the heir if she is unable to bear one. But Yewon knew that Seungcheol never even considered it, and not simply out of loyalty to her. He would never consider it, because he would have to let a mistress know about his ual impotence, and he was too ashamed of that to let anyone else but her know. He was also very convinced that the he was the reason she wasn’t getting pregnant, and so a mistress wouldn’t solve anything.

But the King’s mistresses were not the only ones who became pregnant while she remained fruitless. One day, as Haein was hanging dresses, Yewon noticed a small bump in her maid’s belly.

“You’re pregnant,” Yewon stated, staring at Haein’s abdomen with surprise.

Haein hesitated to answer that, but she eventually nodded and admitted it, looking down to the floor in shame.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Yewon asked. She felt like this was something she should have heard from Haein.

“Because I’m ashamed, your highness,” Haein answered, head still lowered.

Yewon had always been aware that Haein was far from prude. All the advice that Haein had given Yewon before must have been preceded with a lot of experience with many different men. So although she was surprised that Haein was pregnant, it was not shocking.

However, Yewon’s main reaction to Haein’s pregnancy was not surprise; it was envy.

It felt like everyone around her was pregnant except her.

Yewon put aside her envy and tried to be supportive of her friend, reassuring her that she didn’t judge her or look down on her for it, and that she would never fire her no matter if Haein was pregnant out of wedlock.

Seungcheol, of course, differed on that.

When Yewon told him that Haein was pregnant, Seungcheol immediately began speaking about finding a replacement.

“No!” Yewon asserted. “I don’t want a replacement.”

“Your highness, she’s pregnant and unmarried. Obviously, she can’t keep working here.”

Yewon refused to hear it. She could not imagine anyone but Haein being her maid at this point: Yewon was used to Haein; she trused Haein; and she needed Haein. Seungcheol conceded, but told her that even if he didn’t dismiss Haein, the Queen will once she found out.

“Tell her to marry the father,” Seungcheol told Yewon after he saw how distressed Yewon was at the prospect of losing her. “I don’t want Haein to leave if she’s that’s important to you, so make sure she marries the person who will claim the baby. Otherwise, she won’t be able to say working here for long.”

Yewon relayed that information to Haein.

“Do you know who the father is?” Yewon asked her, hoping dearly to resolve this issue and be assured that Haein will stay.

“I do, your highness,” Haein answered. “He told me that he would take full responsibility for the child, but I don’t want to marry him,” Haein told her.

“Please Haein,” Yewon pled. “If you don’t marry whoever it is, you won’t be able to work here,” Yewon said, feeling anxious at the prospect of losing her.

“I’m going to lose the baby before my pregnancy is too obvious,” Haein told her. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you, okay?” Haein smiled towards her.

Yewon nodded, feeling only slightly reassured.

-

Just a few days after Yewon found out that Haein was pregnant, Yewon released her first blood for that month. This time, the first blood made her unhappier than ever before.

This wasn’t working. They’ve been trying for too long with no results. Something was wrong.

The usual tears fell from her face that night, and she told the guards to not let anyone in, and to relay her apologies for missing dinner. She was much too upset to go to dinner.

Yewon was drowning in her bed covers and wiping her wet eyes with the pillow case when Seungcheol came in. When she heard him, she sat up and told him the bad news immediately.

It didn’t seem to faze him much at all. He climbed into the bed with her and took a seat beside her.

“Aren’t you upset about this?” she asked him with a sniffle.

“Right now, I’m too happy to be upset,” he told her. As she focused on his expression more, she could see that his eyes were smiling even if his lips were not.

She narrowed his eyes. Very rarely did she see Seungcheol exude that kind of cheerfulness, and so this was a pleasant surprise. Seeing that happiness in his eyes pleased her and made her curious. “Spare me some of that happiness please,” she said as she wiped a tear from her still leaking eyes. “Why are you so happy today?”

He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it a few times.

Her face flushed pink as he brought her hand away from his lips. “When I tell you, you’re going to be delighted,” he said, lifting his hand to caress a tear away from her face. “And you’ll stop crying for sure.”

“Are you pregnant?” she joked, making him smile.

“No, it’s even better than that,” he told her.

“Better than us being pregnant?” Yewon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, much better.”

“Just tell me,” she said, getting impatient and curious.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” he teased.

She frowned and pushed him playfully. “Don’t do that to me!” she whined.

Still smiling, he adjusted his position so that he was comfortably facing her. He locked eyes with her and relayed the news: “the war is over.”

“W…what?” she managed, narrowing her eyes.

“We came to a settlement, and both sides surrendered. It’s over,” he told her softly, watching her wide, amazed eyes take in what he was saying.

“Are you serious?” she asked in disbelief.

He nodded briefly. Suddenly the tears she was crying for not being able to conceive turned into to tears of pure joy. She leaned into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

It was over. It was really over? Was this a dream? The thing that had caused so much pain and suffering to her and to her family. The thing that had led to so much death and destruction. The thing that caused the death/disappearance of her childhood love, Jisoo. The thing that forced her to leave her home and migrate to a country where everyone hated her. The thing that had initially turned her husband against her. The thing that had led to Solbin’s death, and then to Jeonghan’s death, and therefore pulled Seungcheol deep down in the abyss of sorrow. The thing that forced Seokmin into a life of espionage, a life that ended tragically for him. The thing that made Dino lose his leg, and Seungyeon lose her father, and Haein lose her brothers. The thing that led to Seungcheol being held hostage and tortured in the hands of her own people. The thing that caused her to abandon her country and stow away in a ship until she almost died. The thing that caused her country to hate her and her father to disown her.

It was the source of almost all her problems, but now it was over. It was finally over.

A/N: so much happiness. Maybe I should just say “the end” right now haha. But no, there’s still more to go!