The following morning, Yewon hoped that Seungcheol would come to breakfast, and he did. What’s more was that he took the seat right beside hers and wished her a good morning.

They were small things, but they were significant coming from him, for they felt like signs that told Yewon that things were going well between them, and lately, things had been going well. Ever since he saw her at the hospital that day, it felt like something had shifted, as if he’d suddenly gone from viewing her as the person who represented the hated enemy country to viewing her as someone he had no reason to hate. He even told her that he was fond of her. Whenever she thought about it, she always found herself in disbelief. Did he really say that to her?

There was only that one time since then when she yelled at him when he prevented her from seeing Wonwoo. She regretted yelling at him now. She now knew he only did it because he did truly believe that Wonwoo was using her. In many ways, she realized, the fact he prevented her from seeing Wonwoo showed that he cared for her, at least to some extent.

Or maybe he really did prevent her out of pride, she began to think. Whatever his motive, at least he hadn’t intentionally lied to her. And if it had been the truth, she definitely would have appreciated that he told her.

She snapped out of her thoughts when a shaky arm began to serve her food. She turned to see that it was Seokmin; he looked ill and was sweating from his forehead.

“Seokmin, are you okay?” she asked him, pushing her chair back to turn to him.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Seokmin replied, but from the way the words came out in a wheeze, Yewon knew he was starting to have another panic attack.

Soonyoung, who had been sitting right in front of Yewon, got up from his chair and made his way to where Seokmin was. Seokmin had to put down the tray he was carrying to hold his chest as his gradually began to gasp for air.

“Breathe, Seokmin, breathe,” Soonyoung instructed.

Seokmin tried to breathe, but instead he collapsed on the floor, desperately gasping for air.

Yewon knelt beside Seokmin as well, holding his hand like she had done last time. Seokmin made eye contact with her, his eyes so deep and fearful. It looked like he had something to say to her, but his heavy breathing did not allow a word to come out of his mouth.

He suddenly squeezed her hand tight and closed his eyes as he tried to catch his breath again. Yewon had never seen Seokmin have an anxiety attack that bad before. He had gasped for air, but never had he started to wriggle on the floor the way he was now.

“Get the physician!” Soonyoung called to one of the guards, who immediately rushed out. Soonyoung lifted Seokmin’s upper body so that he was sitting up against his chest and loosened Seokmin’s buttoned up uniform around his neck so that he had more space to breathe.

Seokmin’s face suddenly turned white and his lips went blue as he squirmed, and for a second, Yewon felt like was actually going to die.

Seokmin finally calmed down enough to stop squirming, much to Yewon’s relief. His breaths were still loud and dangerous, and it took a good many seconds for them to finally calm down, leaving Seokmin in cold sweat, panting and exhausted in Soonyoung’s arms.

“You should rest, Seok,” Soonyoung told Seokmin softly his shoulders. “Go to bed, and I’ll send the physician to you.”

When Seokmin could move again he pulled his hand away from Yewon’s and got up from against Soonyoung’s chest, taking hold of chair to pull himself to his feet.

He bowed to Yewon and Soonyoung and to everyone else sitting at the table, and apologized for being a disturbance, saying that he will carefully reflect on the nuisance that he had just caused. He picked up the tray to start serving again, but Soonyoung ordered that he go lay down. It was only when the King interfered and told Seokmin to stop serving that Seokmin obliged.

Just as he was about to leave, Soonyoung called out to him.

“Yes, your highness?” Seokmin respectfully replied.

“What’s on your shoulder?” Soonyoung asked.

Before Yewon could see what Soonyoung was referring to, Seokmin immediately pulled his loosened shirt more tightly over his neck. “Nothing to concern yourself with, your highness,” Seokmin replied before bowing and retreating.

Soonyoung looked dissatisfied with that. A few seconds later, he went after Seokmin himself, and Yewon followed

Soonyoung caught up with Seokmin and told him to stop, quickly moving the collar of his shirt to the side. With one glance, Yewon realized that it was dried blood on his shoulders

“What is that?” Soonyoung asked Seokmin again insistently with a frown on his face.

“Nothing,” Seokmin answered. His breathing started to grow louder again, and that made Soonyoung back off of him and stop pushing him to answer.

“If anyone is hurting you, tell me. I’ll exile them,” Soonyoung told him calmly. “We’ll talk about this later though.”

Seokmin took a moment to catch his breath again before bowing to Soonyoung.

“Do you want me to walk with you…”

“Please don’t. Please,” he requested earnestly. Soonyoung nodded and Seokmin scurried away.

Soonyoung looked worried as he watched him. He then turned to Yewon: “How well do you know him?” he asked her.

“Not very well,” she answered.

“What do you know about him?” Soonyoung asked, eying her intently.

“Not much about his personal life,” she lied quickly. “I just talk to him sometimes…”

“Whenever I ask him about his family and background, he would start breathing like that,” Soonyoung told her with an annoyed expression on his face. Yewon knew why that happened. Soonyoung was not aware that Seokmin was Galacian after all.

Soonyoung then continued: “Something tells me his household is abusive, and so he’s ashamed of talking about his background. His body is covered in scars, you know?”

“What?” Yewon asked, narrowing her eyes at Soonyoung curiously.

“He passed out once in my room, and when the physicians came to check on him, they had to remove his clothes. There were whip marks all over his back. Turns out he passed out because the pain and the blood loss made him nauseous. I didn’t confront him about it, because I knew he wouldn’t tell and would have trouble breathing again.”

Yewon could only guess who had done that to him: the other spies. She had always known something was wrong with that association.If Seokmin was being whipped by them, then they were certainly not good people.

-

Yewon went to the hospital that day, as there was a lot of relocation work to be done. She helped the discharged patients by organizing transportation from the hospital, and she also had to allocate the money they would be given to help them survive.

It was really difficult to say goodbye to the patients, whom she knew she would probably never see again as they disperse into their homes. What was most touching was how that they themselves seemed so saddened that they could never see her again. They all thanked her for her hard work for them, and expressed their wishes for peace between her country and Solen. Hearing them say that, she knew she accomplished something.

She remembered how the first day at the hospital, she was treated like an outsider. Some of the same men who had spat at her the first day were now expressing how sad they would be that they were never going to see her again.

It was hardest to say goodbye to Dino most of all. The thought of never seeing his smiling face again made her feel too sad for words. She left the hospital with a heavy heart that night.

-

Yewon requested to see Seokmin, and he did indeed come to her room. He was back in the uniform which was tight around his neck, but he still looked pale and in need of rest.

“Your highness,” he bowed to her. “You requested me.”

“Are you feeling better?” she asked him, signaling for him to sit down in a chair beside hers.

“I’m fine,” he answered, hesitantly sitting. “I regret causing a scene and drawing attention to myself. That’s the worst thing you can do as a spy, you know. I wish I could turn back time and prevent the whole thing from happening.”

“You looked like you were about to die.”

“I know,” Seokmin said. “I felt like I was going to die too.”

“Who hurts you?” she asked straight away. “Why are there scars on your back?”

Seokmin looked like he expected the question. When she asked, he looked at the floor and softly answered: “whenever I make a grave mistake, I have to be punished.”

“What are you saying? What do they do to you?” she asked him worriedly.

“Don’t worry, your highness. I’m used to being punished; I make a lot mistakes. Plus, I deserve it. My actions could lead to bad things for our country, and the punishments help me be more careful about what I do.”

“I don’t agree with this...”

Seokmin smiled a bright, gleaming smile, one that felt so misplaced considering what he was talking about. “I feel so happy right now,” he told her. “You’re worrying about me! I didn’t think you would worry about me so much, your highness.”

It hit her then how truly lonely he was. He was happy because someone was simply worrying about him after he nearly died. Of course she would worry. It would be cruel not to worry, especially after learning that he was being beaten in painful ways.

“Do they whip you?”

“Yes.”

“What else do they do?”

“They don’t impair me or hurt me in places where it would be visible to others. It’s not that bad.”

“This is so wrong, and if they answer to my father, I need to tell him to…”

“No!” Seokmin said quickly. “You can’t! You can’t write to him! There are people who read your letters, your highness. They know what you’re sending. You can’t write any of this down at all.”

Yewon knew that, but she felt so driven to do something. How can she help him? He was already sick and lonely, and this extra burden of being beaten seemed simply inhumane to her.

She felt so much sympathy for him. This life he was living was not meant for him. He was not ever cut out to be a spy, and not only because of his panic attacks. But she could tell that he was not a person who could stay cold and serious enough to be a spy.

She imagined him being whipped and felt so angry at the world for making him go through that. She wished he could just escape this life and go back to Galacia and be a regular person who did not have to deal with all of the anxiety of politics and espionage.

“How often does this happen?” she asked with a regretful expression on her face.

“Not often. I’m probably going to get beat tonight because of the scene I caused at breakfast…”

“But you can’t help your condition. Why would they beat you for that?” she asked restlessly.

“I… I don’t know,” he answered, with a shrug.

“I want to talk to them,” she insisted.

“No, no, no, no!” Seokmin told her quickly. “Your highness, please don’t. The truth is that they don’t know that you found out the truth about me. They think you still believe I’m a Solenese kitchen boy and that you’re still eating the Galacian bread I send. If they know that you found out I was a spy and I didn’t tell them, they’ll beat me so hard. I didn’t tell them in the first place, because I was afraid of the beating, so please don’t ask to talk to them. Please.”

She didn’t know that. She thought the other spies were aware she had figured it out. But now, Yewon felt totally helpless. She couldn’t talk to the people beating him, and she couldn’t talk to her father. She couldn’t do anything for him, and it felt so wrong to let this injustice keep taking place.

“I should probably return. If I’m late, they’ll hit me harder,” he said, laughing as if it were some kind of joke. “But before I leave, may I be so bold and request something from you?”

“Anything,” she answered.

“If I die, can you deliver two letters for me?”

“What do you mean ‘if you die’?” She suddenly panicked.

“I don’t think I will,” he explained, “but who knows when my panic attacks would kill me? But just in case…”

“Okay,” she told him. “I’ll deliver them.”

“But, princess, you have to promise me something…”

“What?”

“First of all, hide them well so that no one else can get to them. And second of all, don’t read them. It’s very important to me that you don’t read them. I know that hardly makes me trustworthy, but please just trust me and promise me you won’t read them,” he had a desperate, pleading look in his eyes that made it hard for her deny him anything.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I promise I won’t read them.”

He reached into his pockets and pulled out the letters. “One is for my family in Galacia, and the other is for Prince Soonyoung.” She nodded her head and reached out to take the letters. He pulled them away quickly before she took them.

“You promise not read them?” he asked again. She promised him again, and he reluctantly handed them to her.

The door suddenly opened, startling him. Seungcheol entered, and stopped at the doorway when he saw Seokmin there.

Seokmin’s breathing started to grow louder again. He bowed to Yewon and to Seungcheol. “I will leave you now, your highness.” He made eye contact with her and gulped as he quickly whizzed past Seungcheol. Yewon watched him leave, feeling glum upon realizing that he was probably heading towards another beating.

“What is that?” Seungcheol asked her, pointing to the letters in her hand. She quickly put the letters in a drawer as she thought of how to answer him.

“Just things he asked me to deliver,” she answered.

“Why did he ask you to deliver them?” Seungcheol asked, a frown on his face.

“Just… don’t inquire any further.”

“Is it a love letter?”

“What? No, of course not!”

“Let me see then,” he put out his hand.

She looked at his extended hand and then at him: “even if it was a love letter, don’t you trust me enough not to encourage something like that?” She asked him, trying to change the subject from the letters she knew Seungcheol was not supposed to read.

“By taking the love letter, you are encouraging it,” he replied, his face going dark.

“Well, I haven’t read it, so I don’t know what it is. And I don’t want you to read it either, so can we move on?”

Seungcheol glared at her, a frown appearing on his face.

Yewon only felt regretful. Just when things were going well between them, it was already starting to fall apart.

“Are you really that desperate for romance?” he asked.

“What?”

“You found out that Wonwoo was a fake, and one day later you’re going for someone else. And a kitchen boy at that.”

Yewon was offended by that. What did he think of her? Someone who jumps from one man to another just because she was desperate for romance? “Just leave if you’re going to make comments like that about me,” she snapped at him.

“Need I remind you that you’ll be the queen of this country. You have your honor to protect, and so you can’t go around fraternizing with kitchen boys for crying out loud,” he said angrily.

“He’s a friend. Am I not allowed to be friends with the servants?”

“The way you held his hand this morning suggests that he’s not just a friend…”

“He was close to dying; what are you saying?”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Seungcheol replied. “I’ll just fire him…”

“You can’t do that!” she replied, feeling so frustrated with Seungcheol that she wanted to punch him. Being fired would obviously be a horrible thing for Seokmin, and Yewon could only imagine what the other spies would do to him if that happened.

“I’m the prince. I can do whatever I want.”

“Why does it bother you so much that I have friends?” she yelled. “Why do you want to prevent me from every single one of them? You exiled Wonwoo, your stupid battle decision made me lose the ability to see Dino, and now you’re threatening to fire Seokmin? Why don’t you just lock me in a cage if you don’t want me to get close to anyone?”

He looked startled by her outburst. “Calm down,” he told her.

“I’m not going to calm down. You’re such a tyrant and you don’t even realize it!”

“If I’m such a tyrant to you, then why did you say what you said yesterday?” he snapped, glowering at her.

Still angry with him for threatening to fire Seokmin, she blurted: “just because I don’t want you to die doesn’t mean I like you.”

He froze for a moment at her words, and then replied: “just stop pretending that you don’t want me die. If you don’t like me, it would thrill you to see me killed.”

“It didn’t thrill me to see Jeonghan killed, and he was just as much a tyrant as you were,” she snarled. She regretted it as soon as it came out of , especially seeing how Seungcheol’s face fell at the mention of Jeonghan’s name.

“I see how it is,” he replied, his voice softer. “I don’t want to have this conversation with you anymore.”

He turned towards the door, but she felt like there was so much that was left unresolved, and so she grabbed his arm before he could leave.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to fire him,” he told her, violently shoving his arm away from her. “Let him give you that romance that you crave so badly.”

With that, he left, slamming the door behind him. Yewon was too annoyed with him to even consider going after him and apologizing for what she said.

She was regretful that things between them had to fall apart within the course of minutes, but he had gotten on her last nerve. What did he think of her to so readily accuse her of a “romance” with Seokmin? And how he threatened to fire the poor boy drove her mad. One word from him, and Seokmin’s life would fall apart, but he doesn’t think about that. Yewon tried to imagine what would happen if Seokmin lost his job. Would he be killed for no longer being helpful? Knowing all that she knew about those spies, she imagined that they very well could.

But when her rage had calmed down, and she reflected on what she had said to Seungcheol, she felt guilty. She had carelessly brought up Jeonghan, when she knew Seungcheol was still mourning him. She had also called Seungcheol a tyrant and told him that she didn’t like him. So much for being the person he could rely on…

She wondered if she had hurt him with her words, and something about the way his face changed when she told him she didn’t like him told her that he was indeed hurt. She felt guilty about that, and also surprised that she even had the ability to hurt him.

Haein came a few minutes after the fight to bathe her.

“You know, Seungcheol is leaving to battle tonight,” Haein told her. “The whole army will leave before daylight.”

Yewon did not know it was that soon. The thought of him leaving while they were on such bad terms made her feel uneasy.

“I fought with him,” Yewon revealed to Haein. “Should I apologize?”

“You should, your highness,” Haein advised. “Imagine he passes away on this journey? You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if that happens.”

That was all the push Yewon needed to decide to apologize.

After she finished her bath and was dressed in something of Haein’s choosing (a dress that revealed more of her chest that any of the others did), Yewon made her way to Seungcheol’s room.

The guards outside of Seungcheol’s room told her that she was not allowed inside. She figured as much, and even as she tried to force herself through, they stopped her in time before she could.

And so, she used her voice and yelled, hoping Seungcheol would be able to hear her from inside: “I’m going to wait out here until you let me in. I’ll be here all night if I have to.”

She stood there for many minutes, and then figured she’d be there for a long time. Sat down on the floor in front of his door. If he wouldn’t open the door for her, she would wait for him until he had to. She knew it wasn’t very proper and princess-like for her to be sitting down on the floor like that, but she was stubborn and told herself it was all Seungcheol’s fault for making her do it.

“You’re making your princess sit on the ground,” she yelled loud enough so that Seungcheol would hear her. “My honor is at stake!” she shouted jokingly. She heard one of the guards stifle a laugh.

Indeed, many people who were passing through the palace hallways were startled to see her on the floor like that, bowing uncomfortably and asking her what was wrong.

“Prince Seungcheol is not letting me in!” she would respond loudly, hoping he would hear her, “and so I’m waiting here until he does.”

She figured she really was ruining her pristine image as princess. She had managed to suppress her wild side for so long while she was in Solen, but for the first time, she felt that wild side come out, and she was enjoying it.

“If you don’t open the door, I’m going to be so bored. I’ll end up making friends with the guards. And we both know how much you hate when I make friends with men!” she yelled shamelessly. She knew she was probably embarrassing him, and she smiled when she imagined how annoyed he would be with her.

Still on the ground, she turned around and sat so that she was now facing the two guards.

“What are your names?” she asked them.

The two guards eyed one another, hesitant to answer the question.

“Come on! I’m bored,” she pouted. “I’m going to be here all night because my dumb husband isn’t opening the door.”

One of the guards laughed but he masked it with a cough.

“What’s your name?” she asked the one who laughed.

“It’s Seungkwan, your highness” he answered with a slight bow of his head and small smile.

“That’s a nice name,” she told him.

“Thank you, your highness.”

“So, Seungkwan, tell me: does Seungcheol bring a lot of women to his room?”

“He doesn’t at all, your highness. Don’t worry,” Seungkwan said with a smile.

“Never?”

“You’re the only woman he let in since…” Seungkwan hesitated.

“Since Solbin?”

“Yeah,” Seungkwan answered sadly.

“What was she like?” Yewon asked him.

“I don’t know how to explain her, your highness. She was just… a very bright person. She was so bright that Prince Seungcheol used to call her his Sun.”

“Really?” Yewon asked, surprised. She didn’t realize that Seungcheol was even capable of giving anyone an affectionate name. “What was Seungcheol like?” she then asked curiously. She knew that Solbin’s tragedy had changed him, and she was now truly curious about how he had been.

“Very different,” Seungkwan answered her. “Like, very different.”

“He’s so dark and cold now…”

“He was the opposite before.”

“Did he smile?”

“All the time.”

“I think I’ve only seen him smile twice in the time I’ve been married to him.”

“Two more times than I’ve seen him smile since then!” Seungkwan told her comically, and Yewon laughed.

“Tell me more!” she asked eagerly.

“Well, I witnessed him ask her to marry him,” Seungkwan told Yewon. “He told her that she was the sun of his life and that he wanted her to be the queen of his country. She cried and he kissed her tears away. It was so sweet, even I cried!”

It was sweet, and Yewon pouted when she heard it. “I feel like such an intrusion in his life. He had the perfect lover and now someone like me has to replace her. Small wonder he acts so cold towards me…”

“Oh no, your highness! You shouldn’t feel like that at all.” Seungkwan leaned in closer and whispered to Yewon, “I once overheard him speaking with Jeonghan, and Prince Seungcheol was saying that you would be a good queen.”

“Really?” Yewon whispered back, truly surprised. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not!”

“And he also…”

The door suddenly opened, startling both Yewon and Seungkwan.

“You’ve told her quite enough, Seungkwan,” Seungcheol told his guard with scowl on his face. Seungkwan stood up straight with a nervous look in his eyes.

“And you,” Seungcheol turned to Yewon. “Get up from the floor, for the love of God.”

“Are you going to let me in first?” Yewon asked with her arms crossed.

“I will if you get off the floor within the next three seconds.”

Rushing to get up within his assigned seconds, she stepped on her dress and tripped on it. Unfortunately for her the tripping was not the most embarrassing thing about that episode. The dress was dragged further down to reveal even more of her chest.

Seungkwan’s eyes widened as he stared, and the other guard averted his eyes. Seungcheol grumbled and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up from the floor and leading her into his room, and closing the door behind him.

She adjusted her dress, her face flushed pink from embarrassment.

“You’re crazy,” he told her, as he watched her fix the dress. “Why are you here? To embarrass me?”

“I’m here to apologize to you,” she replied.

He eyed her expectantly, showing that he was willing to listen to her. That was a good sign.

“I said some insensitive things,” she admitted, “because I was angry. I’m sorry I brought up Jeonghan so carelessly like that. And also, I don’t think you’re a tyrant; I was serious about what I said yesterday: even though you frustrate me to no end, I still like you and I truly wish you a long and prosperous life.”

“Thank you for apologizing,” he told her calmly. “But I don’t want you to say things that you don’t mean. I know you don’t like me. If I were you, I wouldn’t like me either.”

“You’re wrong about that,” she replied. “I do like you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here apologizing, and I also wouldn’t be so anxious about you riding out to battle tomorrow.”

“I don’t understand you, princess,” Seungcheol told her, eying her curiously. “How can you claim to like me when I treat you the way I do?”

“You don’t treat me badly…”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, I nearly beat you!” he suddenly spluttered, and Yewon was startled by the fervor in his eyes as he said it. She immediately knew he was referring to the time he pushed her after finding out that Jeonghan was killed. He had accused her of killing him, and Yewon had felt that he wanted to hurt her.

Yewon had forgotten about that incident. She never faulted him for it, and she never thought about it ever since it happened. But Seungcheol clearly did think about it with a sense of remorse, remorse that Yewon never knew he had.

“I don’t hold you accountable for that,” she told him.

“Well you should,” he replied.

“You’re a good man Seungcheol. Just the fact you’re owning up to that incident shows me that. And I know that even more now after talking to Seungkwan…”

Seungcheol clenched his fists, evidently angry at the guard for talking to her about him.

“I think you’re a good man,” Yewon revealed. “But your true self is hidden behind layers of ice you built around yourself since the death of your Sun…”

The mention of Solbin seemed to hit at a sensitive spot for Seungcheol, for he suddenly averted his eyes from hers and stiffened.

“But sometimes,” Yewon added, “the ice melts and I see that warmth of yours come out in the form of a smile or something. I know you are a warm person, and I see that now more than ever thanks to your guard.”

“I’m going to fire Seungkwan…” he muttered.

“You’re not going to fire him,” she said knowingly.

“What else did that idiot tell you?”

“How you proposed to her, and some things that you said about me. Do you really think I would be a good queen?” she asked him curiously, wanting to hear it from his mouth.

Surprisingly for Yewon, he didn’t deny it: “Why else do you think I didn’t divorce you? And why else would I permit Soonyoung to marry you once I died?”

This was the most gratifying compliment she had ever received from him ever. For him to want her to rule over his kingdom, and to actively push for it– that was the most flattering thing she could ever hope to hear; not even Wonwoo’s poem had pleased her like this. She smiled widely in response to the compliment and bowed to show her gratitude.

He bowed back to her respectfully. “And your apology is accepted,” he added.

“I’m glad,” she replied, still smiling widely. “Anyways, I know you’re leaving in a few hours, so I’ll leave and let you rest now. Best of luck in the battle, and remember your promise.”

“Yes, I remember. I won’t fight,” he reassured again.

“May I write to you while you’re there?” she asked.

He gazed at her for a moment before nodding his head. “A messenger will come every two or three days. I’ll let him know to go to you.”

“Thank you,” she told him.

“And as soon as I return, we’ll try for a son,” he said suddenly, still gazing at her.

Yewon was pleasantly surprised by that decision. “Finally! I thought you forgot we had to do that!” she joked.

He smiled at the joke, making her smile in return. She found herself wishing she could freeze the image of his rare smile and keep looking at it forever.

Yewon felt, without a single doubt, that this now was the best exchange that they ever had. Somehow, something felt different all of the sudden with the way he was speaking to her. He spoke with a calmness that didn’t make her feel like she wanted to snap at him. It was like something suddenly clicked between them and all their differences vanished, and what was left was mutual understanding.

“You should sleep now. I won’t keep you up any longer.”

“I’ll walk you back to your room,” Seungcheol offered.

“No need.”

“But it would be a pleasure,” he said, making her blush.

They walked side by side through the dimly lit palace halls. They were quiet at first, but then Seungcheol asked suddenly: “there’s nothing going on between you and that kitchen boy, right?”

“Nothing like you think,” she answered him. “I swear.”

“And there won’t be?”

“Of course not.”

He only nodded in response.

Yewon felt a growing sense of culpability in her heart as she remembered her escapade with Wonwoo that night. It seemed to bother him to think that she had relations outside of the marriage, and suddenly disappointing him was a fear of hers.

They arrived at her door, and he bowed to her and said good bye. It struck her with so much sadness when she realized that she wasn’t going to see him again in a long time.

“So long, Princess Yewon,” he told her one last time. He turned and walked away, leaving Yewon feeling flustered and a little bit confused.

She was confused about how suddenly his behavior towards her changed, but also about herself. Something had shifted inside of her, and for the first time, she actually felt like a wife who owed something to Seungcheol.

She walked into her room, and immediately went to her desk to write a letter.

Dear Wonwoo,

I am immensely grateful for you and all that you’ve done for me in Solen. Because of you, I did not feel lonely and forsaken, and I had a friend whom I trusted with everything. Thank you for all of the memories, but I can’t do this with you anymore. This secret romance that we have, I want to end it right now. I am married to Seungcheol, and although he will never make me feel the way you do, he’s still my husband, and I owe him my loyalty.

And so, for that reason, I would like to desist from sending you letters. I would like to honor Seungcheol’s request and not speak to you at all this month. I will ask Haein to stop giving me letters from you, so please don’t send them anymore.

Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Yewon.

A/N: sorry for the lack of a Thursday update. It’s just that this chapter was a serious struggle and I’m so sorry if it was long and boring and badly written. I wanted the Seungcheol part to be sweet but it ended being awkward OTL

Did Seungcheol’s change of character seem too abrupt? My brain is soo fried from writing this chapter I can’t even tell anymore. I really did try to make it as un-abrupt as possible though lol

Also im just gonna say that this chapter is hinting towards a major turning point in this story which will take place soon- ish :P