Chapter 10 - Our Wedding Day

Irene’s cries echoed inside the room. The prince had caged her inside the castle, locking her up.

Why did he kidnap her? How on earth could she marry someone whom she didn’t even know nor love? Yet there would be no escape, she knew it.

Someone unlatched the door from the outside, and her sobs stopped. Who could that be? She trudged away from the bed, creating more distance from the door, fear building up inside her.

Ye Ryung came into the room and gasped in disbelief. It was indeed the princess whom she thought dead. Her son had asked her to check by herself. When Ye Ryung darted her gaze at Irene’s condition, she knew that her son had sent her here to calm Irene down, since he couldn't do it himself.

Irene rose and flinched, her legs shaking as she moved.

"My dear princess." Ye Ryung brushed her fingers across Irene’s face. Her son was right. Irene had lost her memory. There was only fear in her eyes. It was obvious that she didn't recognize Ye Ryung.

"W-who are you?" Irene choked between sobs.

Sadness crossed Ye Ryung’s expression. "It's okay. You can trust me. I'm Ye Ryung, and I'm not going to hurt you." Ye Ryung had an aura that somehow reminded Irene of Hana's tenderness and warmth.

"What will happen to me?"

Ye Ryung broke into a soft smile and took Irene's hand in hers. She sat on the bed while Irene fell to her knees, staring up at her.

"Nothing bad will happen to you, my dear," Ye Ryung said.

"But—“

"You have to understand. If anything happens to you, it would be nothing bad. He will make sure of that."

"He?" Irene’s brow furrowed.

A soft sigh escaped from Ye Ryung’s lips. "The Prince."

What? The prince would make sure that nothing bad happens to her? Was she kidding? He was the one responsible for the bad things happening to her.

"The prince is my son."

Irene's eyes widened.

"I know him more than anyone else does," Ye Ryung said. "I know him so well, and you do too."

The last sentence startled Irene. How could she know him too? "What do you mean?" She didn't understand. Yet when a thought crossed her mind, she froze. "Are you talking about my past?"

Ye Ryung sighed and nodded. Now, there was only disbelief and doubt in Irene’s eyes. "I don't know if I should tell you about your past yet. Some memories are just so painful that you may want to forget them." Ye Ryung drifted off in the memories of what had happened to Silla Kingdom, and to Irene’s father.

The betrayal of her family and the bloodshed in Silla Kingdom were painful memories.

"But one thing is for sure; you have to trust him. You have to trust my son, Irene," she mentioned her name, making her aware.

Irene. That was what he had called her when he came to destroy the sculpture. Was it her real name? Her mind still fought against everything that had been thrown upon her. "But, I can't trust him," Irene defended herself. "He took me away from my family and destroyed the thing I cherished the most. He took me away from the people I love. Those people, they saved my life. Without them, I--" she tried to find her voice. A tear made its way down her cheek, followed by another, and another.

"I know." Ye Ryung only smiled. "And he's grateful to them for saving your life, my dear, even more than you are. What he's doing to you right now is for your own good. He's doing this to protect you." She caressed Irene’s hair and stood up. "Remember, you have to trust him."

Irene rose as Ye Ryung shuffled over to the door. "No, wait. Please! Help me."

Ye Ryung came to a halt as she touched the door knob. She turned around to face Irene again. Her eyes glistened with tears as she thought about her son. "Oh, and his name is Sehun." One last smile appeared on her lips before she turned the door knob and walked out of the room.

"No, wait," Irene cried, but the door was locked again from the outside. "Please!" She fell to her knees.

Her sobs filled the room. Sehun is his name.

…Sehun?

She whispered his name, and her heart ached at a sudden. Had it ached for that name before? Had she spoken that name before?

She didn't know that she had. It was not just one time, but thousands of times. Even when she thought that she'd lost him, when she thought that he'd died, and when she thought that he would come back to her if she called him.

Sehun.

The atmosphere in Hana's house was tense that night. A small group of people had gathered there: Hana, Kris, Joy, Won, Wendy, Seulgi and Yeri. All of them had heard from the villagers about what had happened earlier in the morning, about how the prince had kidnapped Irene.

"I can't take it anymore," Won, who had been pacing around, finally stated. "I'm going there now." Yet when he headed toward the door, a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with Kris.

"You're not thinking rationally," Kris warned , his eyes telling Won to consider another option.

"But I can't just be here and do nothing." Won couldn't take his mind off what could happen to Irene and what the prince might do to her. He should have taken it more seriously when she had expressed her worries after the incident with the prince the day before. It was just last night that they had agreed to get married soon, to have each other for the rest of their lives, and now she had just disappeared.

"Kris is right. You're not thinking clearly." Joy tried to knock some sense into her husband's best friend. "You have to remember that he is a prince of a kingdom. I'm not talking about just any kingdom either. I'm talking about the Goguryeo Kingdom, which as we all know, is one of the most powerful kingdoms to ever exist."

"You're going to have the whole Goguryeo army against you if you dare cross him," Kris added.

"But—“

"Stop, Won. They're right, we must find another way." Even Hana, the person in that room who had treated Irene like her own daughter, objected. "We will get her back, but not recklessly." She tried to look calm, but her voice was shaking.

Yeri’s soft sob echoed in the room.

"Yeri." Wendy wrapped her arms around her friend, who then cried on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get her back just like Aunt Hana said," she soothed Yeri, patting her back.

"That's right, Yeri," Seulgi added, tears forming in her eyes too. "We have to believe that she will get through this."

"It's all my fault."

"What?" They could barely hear Yeri's whisper.

"It's all my fault!" Yeri wailed at a sudden, her sobs getting louder.

"What do you mean that it's your fault? It's none of our faults," Wendy said.

"No, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have spoken to the prince. I shouldn't have told him anything. Now Anya is gone, and it's all because of me."

Her words surprised them all.

"What the hell do you mean?" Won roared and gripped her shoulders. "What did you do? What did you say to the prince?"

Yeri stared up at Won, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes full of guilt and regret. "It was when they met for the first time. The prince was asking me—“ She choked, trying to catch her breath. "The prince was asking me how long I had known Anya, and how we found her. He knew that she hadn't been here from the start. He said that she's not Anya. I-I think he's someone from her past."

Hana gasped, eyes wide. "Why though? The prince of Goguryeo and her, how do they know each other?"

No one, of course, was able to answer that question.

Won cursed under his breath. "Why did you have to tell him everything? Why, Yeri, why!?" he bit out. He wouldn’t let anybody take his fiancée away from him, whether it was someone from her past or not. She was his. All his.

Yeri's sobs became uncontrollable. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell him at first, but you should have seen him at that time. He kept asking me, and the way he did, I was scared to lie to him."

"Yeri!" Won thundered.

"Won." Kris pulled Won away from Yeri. Won had been too harsh on her. The girl was already blaming herself for what had happened.

"No… Anya…" Won fell to his knees and punched his fist on the floor, causing it to bleed.

They were speechless. Their Anya was gone, and they didn’t know how to bring her back.

Sehun crept into the room, only to find Irene fallen asleep with her head lying on the bed and her knees on the floor. She was already too tired from crying and yelling for someone to open the door.

He strode towards her, carefully carried her in his arms, and laid her on the bed. He pulled the bed cover over her body, and while he was watching her sleep, he gently removed the strand of honey brown hair that had fallen on her cheek. He darted his gaze on her face and knew that she had been crying a lot.

His heart ached from knowing that he was the cause of her pain. It hurt that she had forgotten about him, yet it hurt him more when he had to hurt her.

"Forgive me," he whispered. "I can't find any other way.” He caressed her hair. “Be strong." His whisper was so soft that it almost couldn't be heard. "You're not alone. I'm here." He