Chapter 10

“I really can’t explain why the queen’s son does not inherit his mother’s beauty.”

The queen heard a servant mumbled as she passed by along the hallway. She clenched her fist as she tries to suppress her anger towards the servant. She ordered the other servants following her that she wished to be alone inside her room.

As soon as the queen was all alone inside her room, she faces a mirror, an ordinary mirror, and a flashback suddenly came into her mind, a past which she dreaded to remember.

“What an ugly lady?! Maybe that’s the reason why her parents left her.”

“She deserves to be alone. She’s a monster, an ugly and deformed monster.”

“Even a blind man won’t agree to marry a woman like her.”

Yoojin hears these all but tries her very best to ignore them, as if she doesn’t hear anything. They are always like that, they always judge people because of their appearance, every one of them and Yoojin is one of the victims of their judgments.

Her train of thought was disturbed when someone pushed her hard that she fell on the ground. She heard everyone laughed and mocked her, not even trying to help her stand up. She was about to stand up when a hand came into her sight. She slowly looked up and saw an old woman offering her hand to help her. Once she was on her feet again, she saw the old woman smile at her.

“Don’t mind them. Come with me.”, she heard the old woman tell her.

“What is this place? Y-You live here?” Yoojin asked as she scanned the place where the old woman brought her. She saw the old woman nods her head and suddenly looked at her with a smile on her face.

“I can help you, you know, my dear.”

Yoojin becomes confused at what the old woman was talking about. She doesn’t know what the person is talking about. Help? She thought. What help does she need?

The old woman smirked. “I can make you beautiful, more beautiful than any woman in this kingdom, in this planet.” After hearing the old woman, Yoojin’s face suddenly brightens, interested in what the old woman was offering her.

“R-Really? Y-You can do that? How?”, she asked with much enthusiasm and excitement.

“There’s nothing more needed but a curse.”

“A-A curse? What curse?”, Yoojin felt her heart stopped at the word curse. She thought that it could be dangerous if she agrees with the help the woman was offering her. The old woman smiled at her and placed her hand on her stomach.

“A curse to your unborn child.”

How did she know? Yoojin thought with her eyes as wide as possible. No one knew that she’s pregnant because of some drunken bastards who forced her. She hates the guy so much but that doesn’t mean she hates the child too. No, she always thought that her child will be the only person who will love her for who she really is.

“What?”

“Your child will have the ugliness and deformities you have while you, you will be beautiful, the most beautiful woman anyone would meet.” Then, the old woman sees something in Yoojin’s eyes; wonderful yet dangerous. Hope.

“I’m sorry, my son.”, the queen mumbled as a tear flows down her cheeks. “I will make sure the princess dies. I won’t let the sacrifice I had becomes useless just because of her.”

*******

“Can you accompany me to the market, Yuri-ah?”

Taeyeon asked as she saw Yuri while the latter was cleaning the library. Yuri turned around and saw the scholar standing beside the door.

“I can just buy what you need, Ms. Kim. You don’t need to go there. The market place is quite a chaos, you know?”, Yuri offered kindly as she continues to wipe the shelves.

The scholar smiled at the thoughtfulness of the younger one. “Don’t worry. I’ve been to the market place before and I just want to spend some time with you. You seem to have a lot of things you want to talk to.”

Yuri was caught off-guard at what Taeyeon said. Of course, she can’t hide the fact that she’s really having some things running inside her mind. Ever since her last talk with the princess, she’s been having sleepless nights. She always kept thinking of what ifs. What if she decided to pretend as the princess? What if she got caught? What if the prince fell in love with her? Of course she’s hoping that the latter to come true.

“With that silence you’re just giving me the thinking that I’m right about my conclusion.”. Yuri’s train of thought was interrupted by Taeyeon.

Yuri sighed. “I’m sorry, Ms. Kim. It’s just that-“

“I think we should head now, shall we?” Yuri just nodded.

“You know, life is like a market place, Yuri-ah.” Yuri looked at Taeyeon with a confused look.

“Eh? A market place? What kind of comparison is that, Ms. Kim? I think that the market place is such a messy and chaotic place”

Taeyeon smiled. “Well, that’s what makes it more like life. It is messy and chaotic but at the same time, fun and unpredictable. Fun because of the people you’ll meet and befriended. Unpredictable, because even though you already have the list of the things you need to buy, there always things that would caught your attention and without your own knowing, you already bought it, unpredictable, right?”

Unpredictable.

The word kept on repeating inside Yuri’s mind. She sighed. Yes, life’s sure is unpredictable.

She then remembered the night she met Taeyeon, then the day Yoona gave her the invitation and suggested her to come instead of the princess herself. Yeah, those moments sure are unpredictable. Taeyeon smiled at the confused girl beside her.

“Well, we all don’t know what fate has stored for us.” The scholar said as she started to walk faster, leaving the younger one puzzled.

Then, as Yuri was about to follow the beautiful yet intriguing scholar, someone bumped her, causing her to stumble down on the ground. Yuri winced in pain as she got in contact with the hard ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss. Are you alright? I really didn’t mean to.”

A deep yet manly voice asked her. She looked up and saw a hand offered to her. She accepted it and got up. She patted her back to remove the dirt. She looked up and finds the guy staring at her.

“What are you looking at, huh?”, she asked rudely.

The guy chuckled softly. “I’m sorry. I was just- uhm- how do I say this? Uhm, yeah, mesmerized.”, he said which made Yuri blushed but the girl kept it hidden. She was about to retort back when she felt a hand ruffling her hair.

“You’re so cute.” Her eyes widened and stared at the guy who was staring her back.

“Yuri-ah, where are you?” Yuri was startled when she heard Taeyeon’s voice. “I-I need to go.” She said as she leaves the guy.

Unpredictable. The words kept on playing inside her mind as she walked towards Taeyeon.

Well, life really is unpredictable. Yuri thought.

*******

“Have you seen my sister?”

Sooyoung was on her way to Yoona’s room for her daily cleaning when she was met with the prince and Joohyun who were looking anxious.

“I saw her at the garden a few minutes ago but I was informed that she was not there anymore, Prince Yi Fan.”

“What are we going to do, Prince Yi Fan?”, Joohyun asked, looking worried as if something bad would happen. Sooyoung looked confused at the actions of the two and began to get curious as she continues to watch them as they pace back and forth in front of her.

“If you would not mind, Prince Yi Fan, why are you two so anxious about the princess? Is there something wrong?” Curiosity was now eating her up and she’s getting anxious like the two because of the thought of maybe the princess is in danger. Yi Fan and Joohyun looked at each other and then to Sooyoung.

Yi Fan then sighed. “Do not leave this room. Wait for Yoona and then inform me as soon as she went here, is that clear? And if do not let her go out of this room once she got here. Do you hear me, Sooyoung?” Sooyoung could only nod as she watched Joohyun and the prince got out of the room.

She sat down on the bed while she’s trying to dissolve everything that’s happening. Then, something popped into her mind. Sooyoung got out of the library after cleaning it.

She was heading to the kitchen to have her lunch when she saw an unfamiliar face walking through the corridor. She eyed the guy but the guy seems unaware of her presence. The guy passes through her which made her shiver as if the guy possesses some kind of bad aura. Then, she remembered something.

Ever since Sooyoung was a child, she would shiver whenever she’s close to a person who has bad intentions. Her grandmother would always tell her that she should leave as soon as she shivers when close with any person because that’s her instinct as if it’s her defense mechanism.

That’s why every time she’s with someone and then she shivers, she would excuse herself without any doubt because her shivers never fail her. She watched the guy as he heads somewhere near the palace archives. She sighed and then continue to head to the kitchen to calm herself.

Sooyoung’s eyes widened as she remembers this and her heart started to beat faster when she recalled that the palace archive is also near the garden.

“The princess.”

That’s what she could only mutter as she dashed out of the room to look for the prince.

*******

“Do you like the place, princess?”

Kai was replied by Yoona’s sweetest smile. Kai was taken aback. He stares at princess as she tries to talk to the baby deer beside her. He sighed. He thought that it would be easy, hurting someone and almost killing them is not difficult for him to do but now, he’s having second thoughts.

How can he kill someone who looks so innocent? A person who seems like she can’t even swat a fly? But he’s determined, his sister is more important than anything else.

He walked close to the princess as he hid the dagger behind his back. Closely and slowly, he stares at the princess, with his pounding hard, he heaved a sigh. He was about to attack her when she suddenly turns around. He immediately hid the dagger and sighed in relief.

“I like it here very much. Thank you for bringing me here.”

Yoona said while clasping Kai’s free hand with hers. Kai was caught-off guard. Unconsciously, his heart began to pound louder. He never felt anything like this before. His breathing began to get unusual and Yoona noticed that he’s becoming anxious.

“Are you alright?” Yoona held Kai’s hand tighter as she looked at him with a worried face. “Do you want to go back to the palace now?”

Kai lowered down his head. He can’t do it. He just can’t hurt an innocent person. Suji would be mad at him if she knows about this. But, his sister would be in danger if he won’t do it. He heaved a sigh and looked up to Yoona with a determined look.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled as he pried away Yoona’s hands. The princess looked at him with bewilderment. 

“What are you talking about?” The princess asked but then she gasped as she saw the dagger Kai was holding. Her heart raced as she thought of being killed. She tried to stay calm but she just can’t. Kai went closer and every time he does, Yoona would step backward.

“P-please no. D-don’t kill me. I beg of you.” Yoona mumbled as tears slowly flows down her cheeks. Kai stared at her. He suddenly felt as if his heart crashed into pieces as he saw the crying princess in front of him.

“I’m sorry, princess.”

********

~ Okay, I know that it's been ages since my last update. I'm sorry. *bows 90 degrees* I'm really sorry. It' just college works and stuffs are eating my time. I'm really sorry. Still, I do hope you read my update and hope you'll like it. I promise I will try to update sooner. And your comments help in pursuing me to update and update. Don't worry I've made a story sequence for me not to mess up this story. I love you, guys. SmileLoveEnjoy.

P.S: I've post a LuYoon one-shot, so for those FAWNS out there, like me, I hope you have a time to read it and leave some comments and suggestions if I would need to make a sequel.

~ Kai :)