Chapter 12: Suspicions & Rain

Jungseol gasped for the hundredth time, hearing a knock on the door. She slowly breathed in, trying to calm herself down before walking to the entrance of the Princess’s Quarter with light steps. She stood quietly by the door, but didn’t open it as ordered.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door.

“It’s me. Dongil.”

Jungseol softly gasped again. She mentally panicked, hearing his voice. He wasn’t someone that was easily fooled. If he caught her lying for the Princess, he might report it. Even worse, she could be punished.

“Dongil-ssi,” she said without trying to stutter. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just passing by to ask if the Princess was okay. She’s been in her room all day, so...I was a little worried.”

“Don’t worry, Dongil-ssi. Princess Yeonhwa is alright. She’s just writing her stories, but in order to do that, she needs some quiet time.”

On the other side of the door, Dongil felt a little suspicious. He didn’t know why, but the strange feeling was getting to him. It was more like an instinct, actually. A really strong, worrisome instant.

“Okay, that’s good to hear,” he said. “Before I leave though, can I get a word from the Princess herself? Just to make sure she’s really alright?”

Jungseol widened her eyes, then looked at empty seat on the ground in the room, where Yeonhwa was supposed to sit. She bit her lip in nervousness. “P-Princess Yeonhwa can’t speak right now,” she accidentally stammered. “She’s taking a nap, so it’s best not to wake her up.”

Dongil furrowed his brows. “I thought you said the Princess was writing her stories.”

“She is. She was. But she got a little tired, so now she’s taking a nap.”

Unfortunately and strangely, the bodyguard didn’t believe the maid’s words.

“Jungseol, open the door,” he suddenly said, making her widened her eyes again in shock.

“I-I can’t do that, Dongil-ssi,” she responded. “Princess Yeonhwa’s sleeping.”

“Is she?”

Jungseol couldn’t say anything to reply.

“Open the door, Jungseol. I don’t want to use force to get in.”

“I can’t go against my orders.”

Dongil huffed a frustrated breath outside the room. “Jungseol, open this door right now.” He only got silence in return. He held onto his sword tightly, then took a step closer to the door. “Don’t make me use force, Jungseol.” Again, he heard nothing. “Jungseol. Jungseol!” When he shouted her name and still got no response, he had had it.

With strength and power, he kicked the door opened and entered without permission. When he went in, all he saw was Jungseol with her back to him, while facing ahead in the room. He looked over and saw a futon, but it wasn’t empty. There was someone under the covers of the made bed. At least, it appeared like it. The back was also faced to both of the people in the room, and there was hair covering from the shoulders to the back, so one couldn’t really tell if the person was real or not.

“Did you not hear me calling you?” Dongil calmly said without taking his eyes off of the mountain in the futon.

Jungseol’s lips quivered, making her bite her bottom one in fear. “I didn’t want to wake up the Princess,” she softly replied, trying to hide her hesitating tone.

“Jungseol.”

The maid listened.

“If the Princess is really sleeping, then wouldn’t she be awake by now due to my ruckus?”

Jungseol gulped nervously.

“Wouldn’t she be up, lecturing me and ordering me to get out of her room?” Dongil looked over at her when he still heard nothing but silence, then turned back to the supposedly dummy that he smartly knew of. He sighed in a mix of anger and worriness. “Don’t let anyone else come in the room. If they do, just make up the same excuse you made now. I will ask the Princess myself about all of this. Once she’s returned back to the palace.”

Jungseol immediately whipped her head to look at him with shocking eyes. She was pretty surprised by his sudden orders and the fact he knew that Yeonhwa wasn’t here in the Flower Palace. Not that she didn’t disagree with him to protect the Princess, but she actually wasn’t expecting him to help her. No, help Princess Yeonhwa.

“I’ll take my leave now.”

Jungseol blinked many times, watching Dongil turn and walk away to the entrance of Yeonhwa’s room.

“One more thing,” he said before disappearing out the exit. “Lock the door.”

Hwayang and Yeonhwa had been walking together for a while now, standing side by side, but only keeping a few inches of space between them. After asking, Hwayang told Yeonhwa that he was here at the farm obviously doing some fieldwork. He didn’t want to risk the chance of getting things done much quicker, so he wouldn’t need to it anymore, he told her.

While walking and talking, Yeonhwa felt unfamiliar butterflies playing around in her stomach. It might had been because she was literally beside Hwayang, but it was mainly because she was happy she found him. She thought she would have to go back to the Flower Palace with her backfired plan. Plus, there was a one in a million chances that he would be at the farm on the day she courageously snuck out to see him. Luckily, she saw him just in time.

“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Hwayang said to her.

“My tur