The following day, Yewon decided to make a final visit to Soonyoung before he heads off into exile the following morning. She couldn’t tell Seungcheol this, because she knew he would forbid it if she did. No matter how much her blood ran cold at the thought of the pictures he had drawn of her, he had been a friend and a very important part of her experience in Solen. She would miss him, and so she wanted to bid him the final farewell and to thank him for what he did for her.

The court had ruled, internally, that Princess Jieqiong was an unfit bride for Seungcheol now that Soonyoung had “desecrated” her. There was no way that Seungcheol could marry a princess that his brother had publicly kissed, and so Soonyoung’s actions had prevented what would have been such a difficult heartbreak for Yewon. She knew full well that he did it for her sake, and she was so thankful for that.

He was packing his belongings when she came to him. He looked a little troubled, and Yewon knew that he was terrified of what was to come on his journey.

“You’ll be okay,” was the first thing she said to him. He gave her a doubtful look.

“I think I’m going to die,” he shrugged.

“Don’t say that,” she drawled, feeling her spine run cold at the mere thought. “You’ll be back here soon.”

Soonyoung’s gaze then caught something on her neck, and he let out an amused grunt as he pointed a finger towards it. “Tell Seungcheol I got the message.”

Embarrassed, Yewon covered the red markings with a scarf. The previous night had been a wild one, and it left some markings on her body that she couldn’t hide very well, despite Haein’s attempts at doing so with clothes and various ointments.

“Were you the one who told him, by the way?” Soonyoung asked her, and Yewon immediately knew that he was referring to their affair.

“No,” she answered. “It was Wonwoo.”

“Of course it was,” Soonyoung said with indignation. He didn’t seem surprised at all, and didn’t even ask how Wonwoo came to know about it.

“It was an accident,” she defended him.

“It was not an accident. It was revenge for sleeping with Jinye,” Soonyoung mumbled.

“I don’t think...”

“Oh please. Think about it, Yewon– Wonwoo exposed me when Seungcheol was already angry with me for what I did to Jieqiong. That bastard could have revealed it any other day, but no, he just ‘happened’ to reveal it on the very night that Seungcheol already had enough of me. Plus he…” he trailed off, biting his lip and shaking his head. He seemed so irritated.

Maybe it was true, Yewon considered. Maybe Wonwoo did actually tell Seungcheol out of spite for Soonyoung. It was not like he hadn’t revealed things to Seungcheol out of malice before; Yewon remembered, way back before the battle, Wonwoo revealed that he had kissed Yewon just to spite him.

Soonyoung sighed. He looked stressed and very upset. “You know, it’s very sad that almost every single member of my family hates me because of the women I associated with: Wonwoo hates me because of Jinye; my parents hate me because of Jieqiong; Seungcheol hates me because of you. And now I’m being pushed out by their collective will. It’s just really damn hurtful, you know.”

He did indeed look hurt and betrayed and frustrated. “I’m sorry,” Yewon apologized. Somehow she felt partly responsible. If it weren’t for her, Soonyoung would not be in this mess.

He shook his head. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “You and Yulhee might actually be the only family members I have that don’t seem to hate me.”

“I could never hate you,” Yewon said.

He scoffed with amusement. “Don’t be too sure about that, princess.”

“How can I hate you after what you did at the banquet?”

Soonyoung grinned. “It’s a shame I can’t seduce any more potential brides from marrying Seungcheol,” Soonyoung joked.

“Well, it’s inevitable that he’ll marry another. But I’m glad it’s not with her. She’s too perfect; I could never compete.”

“No one’s perfect,” Soonyoung replied. “And she’s not either. Trust me; I would know!”

Yewon nodded, and was suddenly overcome with sadness because she wasn’t going to have him around anymore. Despite all of his flaws, he really was a good friend.

“You would be such a good queen, Yewon,” Soonyoung continued. “Jieqiong couldn’t compete. That’s why you have to fight for your place as Seungcheol’s wife, no matter what it takes. I’ll always support you.”

She blushed, very heartened by Soonyoung’s words of encouragement, encouragement that she had really needed at this time. Even Seungcheol hadn’t expressed such support for her position as his wife, and he was the one who supposedly loved her. “Thank you,” she told him. “Really Soonyoung, thank you.”

Soonyoung leered at her with a soft smile on his face: “You know… I really thought you hated me too. I’ve done so many things that should make you hate me, but you don’t.”

“Like what?”

“Want a list? Sleeping with a male murderer. Forgetting to tell you that you were sterile. Drawing you . Impregnating your maid,” he listed matter-of-factly.

“Why would I hate you for impregnating Haein?”

“She’s going to lose her job when the bump becomes more obvious,” Soonyoung imparted. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah, but she…” Yewon trailed off. She didn’t know if it was wise to tell him that Haein was planning to abort the fetus, because it seemed like Soonyoung was not aware of that intention at all.

“But she what?” Soonyoung asked with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing,” Yewon replied quickly.

“Wait, she’s not planning to deliberately kill it, is she?” Soonyoung said with wide eyes, looking absolutely horrified at the prospect.

“No, no,” Yewon lied, realizing that indeed, Haein and Soonyoung did not have this conversation, and that she didn’t want to get involved in this. “She just told me you would claim the baby and support it,” Yewon quickly masked the lie, not wanting to put Haein in a difficult position.

Soonyoung seemed relieved to hear that, and nodded. “Yes, I would. I already gave her a letter from me to give to Her Majesty, so that the child can be recognized as an illegitimate royal child. I’m just afraid she’s planning not to have the baby at all…” he trailed off.

Suddenly, Yulhee’s loud, high-pitched voice was heard outside of Soonyoung’s door: “Oppa!” she cried. “Let me in!”

He allowed her inside, and Yulhee began to cry and scold Soonyoung for being stupid and stealing Princess Jieqiong from Seungcheol, and then raved on about how much she would miss him. Through this emotional outburst, Soonyoung tried to comfort her, but she continued crying and saying she didn’t want him to leave.

Yewon excused herself in the middle of his, afraid that Seungcheol would overhear Yulhee’s cries, and come to find her there with Soonyoung. She figured he wouldn’t take that too well.

-

When Haein was dressing Yewon for dinner later that day, Yewon confronted her about the fetus.

“Are you still planning to abort it?” she asked.

“Yes, your highness.”

“Did Soonyoung agree?”

Haein’s eyes widened a little as she peered at Yewon nervously. “Why, did you tell him?”

“No, I didn’t. But you should tell him”

“I can’t do that,” Haein cut her off quickly. “I really can’t, your highness. He would never listen to me, and he’ll think of me as some crazy baby killer.”

“But he’s the father...”

“But he’s not the one carrying it in his womb, and not the one who will give birth to it. He’s not the one who will lose his job and sustenance if he has it. He’s not the whose life would be ruined because of it. I don’t think he has the right to force me to keep it,” Haein sputtered quickly. “I’d rather not talk to him about it.”

Yewon then remembered something that Soonyoung had told her when she discovered the first half of Seokmin’s page, and he was trying to convince her that he was not a killer: I could never end a life, even if ending a life would be the right thing to do. Soonyoung seemed to value life over anything else, which explained the horrified expression on his face when he thought Haein would abort the fetus, which explained why Haein did not want to tell him.

“What if he comes back?” Yewon asked her. “What are you going to say?”

“I’ll lie and say it happened naturally.”

“Okay,” Yewon accepted. “I trust your judgement.”

Haein smiled. “And your trust means the world to me, princess. Truly.”

At this point, Yewon was dressed and ready for the dinner. Haein smoothed out the final creases, and then pointed with her eyes at the red marks on her neck.

“So… how am I going to cover those?” Haein asked with somewhat of a grin on her face. Yewon blushed, covering them with her hands. Those stupid markings had posed such a hassle for her that day, having to wear scarves and modest dresses to hide them. The attempts to cover them were futile though, and Yewon was sure that everyone who encountered her that day had seen them, but respectfully chose not to comment (except Soonyoung, of course). Now, however, as they would be in the presence of the Chinese delegation, Yewon had to be extra careful about letting them show.

Haein wrapped a scarf around Yewon’s neck and fixed it with pins as to make sure it doesn’t slip to reveal the obscenities on her skin.

Yewon just groaned.

-

Princess Jieqiong was at the dinner that day. The “indecency” she was accused of for being publicly intimate with Soonyoung the previous night didn’t seem to faze her in the least bit. She still looked confident and calm, elegant and beautiful.

“Where is Prince Soonyoung going?” Princess Jieqiong asked Yewon curiously.

Neither the public nor the Chinese delegation got any details about Soonyoung’s exile, of course, as the scandalous affair was still a closely guarded secret that only the royal family knew. The public was simply told that Prince Soonyoung voluntarily chose to leave in pursuit of a different life.

“I don’t know where he’s going. He wouldn’t say,” Yewon told her. It was true; Soonyoung had decided to cut all contact with the palace in his ‘exile,’ so he wouldn’t tell anyone where he would stay so that no one could write to or find him.

“That’s unfortunate,” Princess Jieqiong mumbled, “I want to see him one more time before he leaves, but unfortunately, I don’t think the elders will let me.” She pouted. “He was so charming.”

Hearing that, Yewon began to feel bad. Jieqiong was so love-struck and dazed by the princeliness of Prince Soonyoung, and meanwhile, Soonyoung had ulterior motives when he approached her. His charm was dishonest and manipulative, and the poor girl was falling for it.

It was then that it struck Yewon just how messed up this entire situation was. She imagined herself in Jieqiong’s shoes, being brought to a foreign place to meet a potential husband with whom she would spend the rest of her life. A handsome young prince comes to her, charms her, fondles her, and kisses her in public, and she falls for him like any girl would with someone as suave as Soonyoung. How would she feel if she found out that the handsome young prince actually had no interest in her at all? How would she feel if she found that the prince charmed her only to degrade her so that she couldn’t marry the actual prince she was planned to marry? How would she feel if she found out that the wife of that prince was happy and thankful about this?

It was easy to overlook how unethical this was when it was Yewon herself who stood to benefit. She was the protagonist of her own story, and Jieqiong was just a minor side character, and it didn’t matter what happened to the minor side characters. But Jieqiong had her own story, and in this story, Yewon was an antagonist.

Yewon was the evil wife who plotted with her brother-in-law against an innocent princess, and what’s worse is that their plan succeeded and they were both happy about it. And to make it all even worse, Jieqiong was absolutely clueless about the arrangement.

She imagined if Jieqiong had indeed married Seungcheol, and Yewon remained as his mistress. Yewon would most certainly be bitter, and there was no way she could befriend her. She would be cold and unsympathetic toward the girl, even though Jieqiong was blameless in this.

And poor Jieqiong would also have to live with a husband who took a mistress, a husband who only wanted her for her womb and her ability to bear children. She would also have to deal with the callous mistress that resented her.

In this version of Jieqiong’s story, Yewon was an antagonist. She was the bad guy, the kind of character that Yewon hated in the novels she read.

But Yewon didn’t want to be an antagonist.

It was then that she came to a decision: she couldn’t agree to be a mistress. She didn’t want to be a reason for another woman’s misery, and she didn’t want to be bitter and cold towards someone who had no say in this at all.

If another girl married Seungcheol, that girl deserved the chance to be happy with him, and if Yewon stayed in the picture, that happiness seemed unlikely.

When Yewon told him her decision that night, he complained.

“If this is about your honor, I will make sure everyone treats you like a queen!” he carped. “And no one will be allowed to call you mistress, and…”

“I don’t care about honor,” she replied.

“Then what’s this about?”

“It’s about the person who will become your wife.”

“Don’t worry about her! I won’t even speak to her if that’s what you want…”

“No. That’s not what I want,” Yewon replied. “I want you the speak to her. I want you to smile at her. I want you to be kind to her. Don’t treat her the way you treated me at first, because I know how it would make her feel, and I don’t wish that upon anyone. And I don’t want to be the Jeonghan of your relationship with her.”

Seungcheol fell silent, his expression blank as he processed what she was saying. Eventually, he lowered his eyes in dejection (or was it shame) and accepted what she said with a nod of his head.

He then reached for her hand and lifted it to his lips and kissed it. Once. Twice. The third time he let the kiss linger, closing his eyes and inhaling the scent of her skin.

When he finally released her hand, he told her: “Your consideration for others would make you the most extraordinary queen, your highness.”

Yewon blushed at the compliment, but retorted with: “Sadly, I’m probably not ever going to be a queen.”

“What kind of a prince would I be if I let Solen miss out on the reign of someone like you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, confused. “What are you saying?”

Seungcheol paused for a moment, seeming lost in thought for many seconds, before saying: “I didn’t want to fight for you, because I didn’t want to make the same mistakes I made in the past– like when I gave Jeonghan a position of power that he did not deserve, or when I denied Wonwoo a position of power that he did deserve. I regret both decisions now, and I’m actively trying to avoid making the same mistakes again. I was afraid that staying married to you would be another one of those political decisions I make because of my passion for you, a decision that would cause more harm than good for my country.”

Yewon began to understand why Seungcheol didn’t fight his father’s decision to divorce her. She began to see that it was a conscious choice that he had made based on his past experiences, a choice he made in spite of his love for her, not because he didn’t actually love her.

“But now,” he continued, “I think that the right political decision is to stay married to you, because our country needs a queen like you. So I will fight for you, Yewon, not for myself, but for Solen. It just so happens that, for once, my passion and my politics align; they both lead to you.”

Yewon felt like she was going to cry. She was flustered and grateful, happy beyond words. With what he just said, he implied so many things: that he thought she would be the best Queen; that he would fight for her; that he wanted to stay married to her; and most importantly, that he loved her.

She repressed the blush from coloring her cheeks and held in all the emotions that were b from how touched and delighted she was by his words. He had just made a political decision, and so it was not proper for her to cry or to hug him or kiss him because of it, no matter how much her body wanted to. She had to maintain that dispassionate poker face of a politician, or she felt he might change his mind.

In all her attempts to suppress her emotions, she bit her lips to stop herself from smiling.

“I love you,” he told her, and for the first time, there was no inhibition on his part when he said it.

At this point, Yewon lost control of her expression and smiled.

-

There was no goodbye banquet or grand send-off for Soonyoung. Only a few people showed up to bid their final farewell at the gate, most of whom were servants. Yewon had expected that Haein would show, but even she was not there either.

As some servants were loading his luggage into the carriage, Soonyoung went around to say goodbye to everyone.

When he came to her, he sighed.

“Goodbye, princess,” he told her. “I hope we meet again soon.”

“We will,” Yewon told him. She was confident of that.

He then suddenly put his arms around her, and she accepted the embrace and hugged him back. She only later realized, when he whispered in her ear, the reason he hugged her. “I just put something in your pocket,” he murmured softly. “Take it out only when you’re alone. And keep it with you. It might come in handy.”

He released her, but before he could step back completely to give back her personal space, he said: “one more thing. I know you have my diary. Read it; there’s a lot of cool tips and positions and things you can learn from it! Especially the parts about Mingyu, those parts are very interesting,” He winked with a sly smile, and then moved on to say goodbye to Yulhee.

When Soonyoung was gone, and Yewon was alone in her room, she reached into her pocket and took out what Soonyoung had slipped in it.

It was the first half of the page from Seokmin’s letter.

Three: I don’t know why you did it, but I know that you were the one who killed Sir Jeonghan. You probably didn’t notice, but there were drops of blood coming from the scene of the murder and it led to your room. I cleaned it up to clear your name; I didn’t want you to be executed.

Yewon hid the page quickly. She couldn’t possibly imagine why she would need this; it was just evidence that led to a false conclusion, and only brought back disturbing images of Soonyoung being intimate with Jeonghan’s killer.

The image was disturbing, and she most definitely did not want to know more than the bare minimum that it happened. Soonyoung’s diary, although potentially quite compelling, was not something she wished to read right away.

Maybe later, though.

A/N: I’m sorry for the lateness I was out of the country and this chapter’s kinda long so I didn’t have much time to write it out and publish it when I was there but now im back! I won’t take as long to update the next chapter, I promise!! >.<