Glossary:

taeui - court physician, a doctor in charge of treating the royal family

A double update this time, because I think this chapter ends on a rather unsatisfactory note and I don't want to do that to you guys.

“I gave Hwang Sinbi the package as you requested.”

Yerin takes a sip of tea. “Thank you. Where was she?”

“At the garden.” Yuna hesitates. “She seemed very caught up in thoughts.”

“Hmm.” Yerin blows across the surface of her tea, even though it’s no longer steaming hot. “What did you think of her?”

“I liked her,” Yuna says. “She’s very…different.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Yerin murmurs. “She’s very unique. Very special.”

“Do you want her as your gungnyeo?”

“Don’t be silly. She’s Sojung unnie’s favourite gungnyeo. There’s no way Sojung unnie would let her go anywhere.”

“But do you want that, unnie?”

Yerin is silent for a moment. “It doesn’t matter what I want, Yuna. That doesn’t change anything. It’s easier not to want in this place.”

Yuna wisely doesn’t press the subject. “Would you like more tea, wangsejabin?”

“Yes, sure, is there—ah!” Yerin gasps and doubles over, clutching her stomach.

“Unnie?” Yuna sounds alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

“My…stomach…hurts a lot. Call…a…physician.” Yerin’s face is as pale as a sheet of paper, her legs giving out as she sinks to the floor. “And…Seokjin-jeoha.”

She mumbles something else that Yuna can’t catch, and then her eyes close as she slumps over. Yuna barely manages to catch her in time. She calls for a gungnyeo to get a physician right away, and another to find the crown prince, to tell them it’s an emergency, they need to come right away, wangsejabin is very ill.

Yuna sits with an unconscious Yerin and suddenly the words she whispered right before passing out come to Yuna:

Sojung unnie.

The crown prince is rarely seen upset or even ruffled, but that has obviously changed when he’s found racing through the palace with a distraught expression.

“Yerin!” he gasps when he finds her with a pallid face and closed eyes, slumped in Yuna’s arms. “Is she—oh heavens, is she—”

“She’s fine,” Yuna says, even though she can’t promise that. “She just lost consciousness.”

“What happened?” he demands, taking Yerin’s hand gently between both of his.

“She suddenly got sharp pains in her stomach and then she fell over and said to call the physician and you before she passed out.”

“In her stomach?” he repeats, his eyes, if possible, even more worried.

Yuna gasps, the realization coming to her. “Is there any way that…” Her eyes dart to Yerin’s stomach, and then lower. She’s beyond relieved when she sees no blood. Sudden stomach pains could be indicative of a miscarriage, but surely Yerin would have revealed a pregnancy if she knew…

The physician arrives, somehow radiating an air of composure and reassurance even though his steps are brisk and hurried, a medicinal chest in his hand.

“Kim-taeui,” Seokjin says, rising to his full, impressive height. It would be more impressive if the physician weren’t taller than him. “Please do everything you can for my wife.”

Yuna has never heard princes refer to their consorts as their wives. He really loves her, she thinks. How happy would she be if she heard him now?

“I will try my best,” Kim-taeui promises. “If you could just move aside, jeoha, so that I may inspect her.”

Seokjin doesn’t look like he wants to budge an inch, much less move aside. Yuna has seen mountains look more flexible. However, he sighs and shifts so that there is enough room for the physician.

“Wangseja,” Yuna says slowly. “If you do not need me, I would like to be dismissed temporarily.”

He gives her a swift, sharp look. “You’re going to leave Yerin now?”

“I will return immediately, but I would like to find someone who I believe will be very concerned.” Yuna hesitates, wondering if she should reveal this particular piece of information. “Yerin-sejabin asked for her as well.”

“All right then, find Sojung and come back as soon as possible.”

“How did you—” Yuna starts to ask before she can help herself.

“Yuna.” Seokjin smiles a little. He’s one of the few princes who remember her name. “I’m sure if Yerin asked for someone beside me, it would be Sojung. They’ve been best friends since they were young, after all. I think Yerin would feel better if Sojung were here when she wakes up.”

Yuna does not doubt that. She wonders which sibling Yerin would be happier to see. She rises to her feet and is about to head out when Seokjin’s voice makes her stop in her tracks.

“Yuna.”

“Yes, wangseja?”

“Thank you for watching out for Yerin. You are a fine gungnyeo.”

His warm, grateful smile makes her feel a little guilty, for some reason. She bows to him and says a quick, “I am merely fulfilling my duties,” before almost running for the door.

She breathes a little easier when she can’t see Seokjin and the loving way he Yerin’s hand and brushed the hair from her face anymore. She can’t help but wonder how Yerin handles it, and if she thinks of someone else when Seokjin touches her.

Yuna runs as quickly as she can, but Sojung’s living quarters are rather far, and by the time she reaches them she feels like she might collapse too.

As luck has it, Sojung is outside, gazing into the distance with a blank expression, a book dangling limply from her hand like she had meant to read it but had forgotten about it. She doesn’t even seem to register Yuna’s presence, like her mind is elsewhere.

“Gongjunim,” Yuna manages to make out.

Sojung’s head whips in her direction. “Yuna?” she asks, blinking. A look of concern settles over her features once she registers Yuna’s harried appearance. “What is it?”

“It’s…wangsejabin,” Yuna says, hunched over with her hands on her knees and gasping for breath. “She’s…unwell.”

“What do you mean?” Sojung demands. “What happened to her? Is she all right?”

“She was having tea and all of a sudden she said she was having a pain in her stomach and then she lost consciousness.”

“Lost consciousness?” The book slips out of Sojung’s fingers, hitting the ground with a muted thud. She doesn’t even glance at it, her eyes fixed on Yuna, intent and intense. “What do you mean, lost consciousness? Is she awake now? Did they call a physician? What caused it?”

Yuna wishes she could answer all of Sojung’s questions. “Wangseja is with her now, and a physician should be there shortly. I came here because she asked for you.”

“She asked for me?” Sojung repeats, already striding away, moving at a brisk pace that’s almost a jog. Yuna has a feeling that Sojung would be full out sprinting if she weren’t aware of how that would look. “Heavens,” she whispers, like she’s talking to herself. “She had better be all right. If she’s not…”

Sojung doesn’t finish the sentence, and Yuna is grateful for that. She doesn’t want to think about what would happen if something happened to Yerin. Even though she feels a stitch in her side from running, when Sojung picks up her pace so that she’s a whisper away from running, Yuna strives to match it.

They have to reach Yerin as soon as possible.

Seokjin seems to be waiting for them, standing alone near the door. Sojung doesn’t know how to feel at his expression: he doesn’t seem to be either pleased or distressed.

“Sojung,” Seokjin says when he sees them.

“How is Yerin?” Sojung demands, forgoing all court etiquette.

“She is fine,” Seokjin says. “Kim-taeui said she would be all right and would wake up shortly. He wrote her a medicine formula and they are preparing that right now.”

Sojung lets out a breath, feeling physically lighter at the news. “Did he find out what caused this? Yuna said she just fainted out of nowhere.”

“I believe he has a good idea of the cause,” Seokjin says slowly. “He asked to examine everything she ate, drank and touched today.”

Sojung’s mind jumps to one thing, and judging by the grim look in Seokjin’s eyes, she has a feeling he has reached the same conclusion. Poison.

“I hope that I am mistaken,” Seokjin says, his words slow and measured, “but if I find out that somebody harmed her on purpose, I will make sure they live out their few remaining days in agony.”

Sojung has never approved of violence. She remembers once when she was a child and had run away from whoever was supposed to watch over her and somehow ended up where they were flogging a eunuch. She had watched in horrified fascination, and to this day, she can still remember the sound of the heavy wooden stick hitting his flesh.

She has never approved of violence, but she finds her whole body roaring in approval of Seokjin’s words, demanding that whoever is responsible for this pay for it. Painfully.

“I am happy that Yerin has you, Sojung,” Seokjin suddenly says. “I don’t think she has many friends in the palace. I know she gets lonely, even if she doesn’t ever vocalize it.”

“Yerin isn’t really the complaining type,” is all Sojung can say, while she feels like a vice grips her heart.

“No, she is not. She is far too considerate for that.” There’s a look of such affection on Seokjin’s face that Sojung feels like she can’t bear to look at him. “Still, just because she doesn’t say it doesn’t mean that I don’t notice. I know it makes her very happy when you come to see her.”

“Does it,” Sojung murmurs.

“Of course,” Seokjin says. “You are her best and most trusted friend, no?”

Sojung keeps her head down and her eyes trained on the ground. “I hope so.” She bites her lip. “She is very important to me. I-I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her.” Somehow, she can admit this to him, if only because she knows that he must feel the same way she does, about the situation and about Yerin.

“I couldn’t either,” Seokjin says, quietly, like a hushed confession. “But she will be all right. I am sure.” His fingers are knotted together, and the way they tremble betray the confidence in his voice.

“She will be all right,” Sojung repeats, and prays to every deity she knows for it to be the truth.