[The happily married Ju and Seol began as he tried his best to become a father of Goryeo. Surprisingly, Seol also displays her great intelligence with politics and bends every powerful clan to obey to her whim. And Ju (Gyeongjong) released the innocents who were accused during the reign of Gwangjong, earned their respects.]

Yoo Seol, who’s now the queen Hunui, fidgeted her fingers in anxiety. After the wedding, she was waiting at the queen’s chamber. In her regal red robes and veil covering her face no one could see how nervous she was. The servants were organizing the room with wide smiles and dismissed as she told them they were allowed to leave. First queen Hunsook were to leave the palace to visit her parents in Silla but she reassured Seol she would be alright at the palace for she was brave as her father, the previous king.

She flinched a bit as the door opened. Looked up to see who it was, her face brightened radiantly. Her husband and king Gyeongjong, Ju, had returned. He smiled as he approached and she stood up. His two hands reached out and held up the red veil, revealing Seol’s ethereal beauty. A pink blush smeared her cheeks as she smiled bashfully.

Uncle Baek-Ah was right for one thing; Seol was the most wondrous fair. Her lips shamed the red, red rose. The moonlight, the starlight was caught in her hair of blackest night. Her skin was fair as white snow.

His one hand took hers. Her fingers revealed the ring he had given to her when he asked for her hand in marriage. Discovering there was nothing to describe the raging passion with words, his hands touched her cheeks. Leaned forward and their lips brushed one another. He kissed her forehead, her earlobes, her cheeks, and gently he kissed on her rosy lips with bit less chastity. He turned towards the candle, blew the small flames away.

Baek-Ah and Jung, as the vice king, informed the new king Ju with early reports at the court. Gyeongjong rolled out the scrolls, revealing the reports. His face frowned at every messages. The one was about the accused ones who were tortured and imprisoned during the reign of Gwangjong. The last one revealed the one from ambassador, informing about Khitan. For as long as he knew, Goryeo had a rather bitter relationship with neighboring country ruled by Mongols.

Sighing heavily, he turned to the vice king.

“Vice king Moon-Won,” he spoke, “Release the wrongly accused ones from the prison.”

Jung looked up as Baek-Ah did the same.

“Keeping them in the jail will only bring their hatred towards the royal family. Release them and send them to their residence…I’ll offer them freedom as they will offer this royal family their support.” He continued with firmness in his voice.

Both thirteenth and fourteenth prince nodded their head in agreement.

“Though the only problem is this…Khitan’s army may have been decreasing, but their weaponry and horses are far more superior than ours. Soon, there will be war…” Ju looked more grim then.

Then, they heard the announcement of Seol’s arrival. Ju let her in as she entered. Seol, in her regal and majestic features, was wearing white and dark red hanbok with golden pattern of peony flowers. Her hair was tied up and decorated with white gold tiara headdress, and simple jade hairpins yet she looked radiant. For she was a snow queen possessed with kindness and grace. Both Baek-Ah and Jung knew her fate but her queenly presence surprised them as Ji-Mong was right about her birth with a star of the queen. Seol gave them a respectful bow.

“Queen Hunui…” Jung and Baek-Ah bowed.

Seol found their greeting uncomfortable but she didn’t let her uneasiness revealed. When she looked at her husband she smiled.

“Your majesty,” she spoke, “I have come to tell you all something important, regarding to our conflict with Khitan.”

It caused them all grew curious as the king allowed her to speak.

“I have figured out far from Goryeo, there was another empire struggling against Khitan. The Northern Song Empire, I recall,” with pride smile she continued, “why don’t we ally with them?”

Her request shocked the officials, Jung, Baek-Ah, and the king. Their queen had found out the affair of foreign country where it had once battled against Khitan. One of the officials, who were from Shinju, started to spoke up then.

“But what I remembered, the Northern Song lost the majority of their army after the against Khitan.”

“We have enough army,” Seol sternly cut off, “but we do lack of military supplies and horses. The Northern Song has more of them, that’s why we need to ally with them.”

The officials couldn’t argue for they knew she was right. Goryeo has enough army but they needed more military supplies and strong horses. Northern Song empire has strong steeds and weaponry. Jung and Baek-Ah nodded their heard in agreement. They all look at Ju who was listening to her. As he made a thought for a while, he smiled.

“Send the ambassadors to Northern Song.”

A week later, the ambassadors of Song-Ak returned along with surprising visitor. Emperor Taizong of Northern Song and his royal families came to Song-Ak. When the emperor of Northern Song heard the queen of Goryeo offered the alliance, he had a great urge to meet her. The palace prepared the banquets for the imperial visitor and the new king Gyeongjong’s alliance.

“Ay, such beautiful country…” Emperor Taizong mused.

“Thank you, emperor…to agree with the alliance.”

Then they both heard the arrival of Queen Hunui. With her hanbok has long white chŏgori and dark blue skirt with exterior white transparent one, she truly was the Snow queen. Her hair was decorated with white gold tiara, jade hairpins, with her face adorned with light makeup. She bowed to them with gentle grace, surprising the emperor of China.

“You must be the queen Hunui…,” the emperor formed a cordial smile at her, “pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m delighted to meet you too, sire.” She smiled back with courtesy.

She inspected the emperor of Song China. From what she heard, emperor Taizong had once sent his general to Khitan, too Zhuo and Yi prefectures, and later planned to take over Yanjing*. However, the result was a failure when Khitan’s most trusted general protected the fortress. There was also a rumor that Taizong might be the one responsible for the death of his brother and previous emperor Taizu, yet there weren’t any evidence. Nonetheless, Seol knew he wasn’t the type of a man to be underestimated.

Even Taizong found Seol a quite powerful woman. He heard that Yoo Seol, Queen Hunui, was favored by previous king Gwangjong who was infamous for the bloody purge and many reformations. She was also known to be intelligent, and very strong woman. He couldn’t help but seeing the similarities between them.

The banquet continued and every royal family from Northern Song were immediately mesmerized with Seol’s charm and genuine kindness. She displayed a rather modest demeanor for she also talked about her perspective of the role as king and queen.

“I’m afraid I should agree,” Taizong said, “after all, the world will spin around in time and we all men will grow foolish someday as we need stronger women to lead us to the right path. We Song empire may lack the army but we shall do our best to support.”

“Your kindness show no boundaries,” Ju chuckled heartily, “and with this alliance, we will bring peace on our home with no tragic sacrifices.”

“Yes,” Taizong then glanced at Seol briefly, “and to show our appreciation, I shall bestow the tributes from Persian to both king and queen.”

Jung and Baek-Ah sighed in relief for the alliance had turned out peaceful, thanks to Seol. Ju and Seol thanked the emperor with gratitude. Gyeongjong couldn’t be more surprised with his wife’s rare ability to ally the powerful empire with peace and prosperity but he could see how much his queen truly cares for Goryeo as her home. As the queen needed to rest, she was allowed to excuse herself and left the banquet hall. Noticing king of Goryeo’s loving gaze, Taizong made a knowing smile as he coughed.

“Mhmm…I heard the flower that blooms in misadventure is the most rare and beautiful of all.”

Ju blinked his eyes. Taizong then smiled boyishly as he whispered.

“You don’t meet such lady like THAT, in every dynasty.”

Hearing that, Ju blushed as the emperor of China laughed heartily.

Note:
Yanjing: present-day Beijing.

The emperor Taizong will appear in upcoming sequel of Snow White, “Snow White: The Wintering War”. The sequel will have Seol joining war against Khitan, with her sworn sister, Hwangbo Su, who becomes an Iron Empress.