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Draw Me a Date***Warning! This could be a double update for some! Make sure you've read chapter 36 first!***
Chen was right that the prince was not very happy. He greeted Yeonhee on the front steps of the palace, lips pressed into a thin line, before ushering her through into a security office, where two female security agents who usually attended the queen checked over her to make sure that nothing was amiss. What surprised Yeonhee was that Yixing appeared to have told the queen herself about what had happened, because when the security agents allowed Yeonhee to leave their care, it was to discover that the prince was talking to his mother quietly outside the room in Zenyu. He shut up as soon as he realised she was there.
Gulping, Yeonhee directed a polite, small bow in the queen’s direction.
“You do bring trouble, dear,” the woman sighed, but it wasn’t an aggressive tone, more as if she was admonishing a favourite child who just wouldn’t stop messing things up.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Yeonhee squeaked out.
“It’s not your fault,” the queen told her tiredly in Zenyu. “Have you eaten?”
Unsure whether this meant the queen approved of her, Yeonhee hesitantly shook her head. She hadn’t managed to grab dinner between Sehun and going back to her room, and after speaking to Chen, she’d been told to get herself out into the city, making sure that she wasn’t being followed, so that one of the palace staff could pick her up from a tram stop halfway between Tempe and the palace. It had been a staff car rather than one of the royal fleet to make her look less conspicuous.
Twenty minutes later, Yeonhee found herself in the royal family’s private dining room eating dinner with the queen. Yixing had wanted to stay, but he had a hospital appointment and he was also supposed to be checking up on his father in preparation for assuming joint power of attorney with his mother, since the doctors weren’t too hopeful of the king making a full recovery any time soon, let alone waking up from his coma. Yeonhee made a mental note to ask Sehun if this meant any changes in the prince’s legal status to govern the country.
Without her son around, the queen was full of questions. She was aware of the full story of how Yeonhee and her son had met, since Yixing had told her the first time Yeonhee had stayed over at the palace, but she was interested to hear Yeonhee’s perspective on it, and she also appeared to have taken the time to look through Yeonhee’s art portfolio. Yeonhee got the impression that whether or not the queen approved of her, she had mellowed towards her compared to previously and no longer regarded her with suspicion.
“Yixing’s been going through a rough time recently,” the queen told her as she served her a second portion of vegetables. “It’s good he has somebody he can turn to.”
Yeonhee hummed softly and nodded, unsure how to respond to that.
“He keeps asking me what kinds of things you would like,” the queen went on as she spooned vegetables onto her own plate, “and I have absolutely no idea what to tell him, especially since he knows you much better than I do.”
Startled, Yeonhee almost flipped her plate over in as her hand jerked with surprise. She could feel her face flaming as she picked up her cutlery again.
“He gives me more than enough already,” she said, thoroughly embarrassed.
“I told him not to overwhelm you,” the queen said. “It’s difficult enough to adjust to the glitz of being with royalty even if you’ve grown up in those circles. I imagine it’s much harder if you’re from a completely different background, especially if you’re trying to keep everything secret.”
Yeonhee chewed thoughtfully. The queen was right, but she was also speaking from experience. After all, she was the one who’d married into royalty, though she’d been from one of the most aristocratic families in the country.
It wasn’t until they were both tucking into desert that the queen addressed the issue of the worrying gifts being left for her.
“I haven’t had the opportunity yet to get the details from Chen,” she said, “but I understand a secret recording device was left in your room.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Yeonhee replied dutifully.
“Is this because of suspected connections to my son, or for some other reason?”
Yeonhee momentarily clamped her lips together.
“I have no idea, ma’am. Other than Valentine’s day, I’ve had no indication that any reporter’s seen me with the prince. Other than Thursday we’ve only ever met here since then, and before that the prince was never recognised when we went out in public. Most of the time when we met up we spent it drawing, anyway, and we were in places the bodyguards would have found it easy to stop and spot anybody trying to take photographs. I haven’t even seen any suspicions that it’s me yet, and I imagine rumours would spread quickly if somebody thought it was the case because I’m quite a well known republican.”
“The press can be quite tight-lipped if they want to wait for maximum impact,” the queen warned. “But it’s true you’re sufficiently controversial for anybody to want to make sure they’ve got the scoop and to get in there before anybody else.” She added extra cream to her dessert. “What other reasons are there for somebody to target you?”
“I don’t know,” Yeonhee admitted in some distress. “Other than the fact that I’m well known for being the poster child of the republicans. I don’t even know if Antiroyo were the ones that sent that welcome pack with the mug.”
“If it wasn’t them, then it’s somebody who considers you to be far enough that way politically inclined for it not to look out of the ordinary,” the queen commented.
Yeonhee gulped.
“I have to ask,” said the queen. “If my son asked you to support him in his capacity as prince when it comes to running this country, would you do it?”
“Currently?” Yeonhee scooped the last of her dessert into . “Yes, ma’am, I would.”
“Hmph.” The queen looked pleased but surprised. “Publicly?”
That gave Yeonhee pause. “If he asked me to and I though it would help, probably,” she said. “The country needs something to unify it. But once there is unity, I—” She abruptly cut off, realising what she was about to say and who to. While Yixing was mostly unbothered by her political views, she didn’t want to risk offending his mother too much.
The queen obviously knew enough about Yeonhee to guess how that sentence ended for herself. There was a very awkward pause, and then the queen wiped on her linen napkin.
“Well,” she said. “It’s a start.”
Yeonhee did her best not to frown in response.
Yixing knocked on her door almost as soon as he got back from the hospital. Yeonhee had been given the same guest room as previously, which had this time been stocked up with a significant number of Hanmi books in a new bookcase in the corner (part of her couldn’t help wondering if this meant she was considered as a semi-permanent guest, or if they expected her to be staying over a lot, but it was really quite sweet), and it was with huge reluctance that she heaved herself out of the extremely comfortable bed to open the door.
“Come in,” she mumbled
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