**

Seungwan arrived home a little close to midnight. She was dead tired.

After meeting joohyun’s mom, she went to ground zero to discuss a few things with Yerim.

“You can go to your room, Seul,” the young royal dismissed her guard.

“I saw a shadow in your room, taenyeo,” Seulgi says in an alarmed voice, “I should check your room first”

“Female or male?”

“Female.”

“That must be unnie, no need to check.”

Seulgi looked past seungwan’s shoulder to her room once again before sighing, “she must’ve heard about the wedding, what are you gonna do?”

“Seungmin probably told her. Don’t worry, I can handle her.”

“Taenyeo, you should know a woman who got her heart broken can be as deadly as an assassin.”

Wendy smiles, “I know, go.”

Seulgi bowed before taking her leave. Her room was in the Sunjong Hall, where all the royal guards and maids reside. The hall was a lot closer to the King’s residence, meanwhile, it took 15 minutes to walk across the vast garden from Taejong Hall (where Seungwan resides) to Sunjong Hall.

She stopped outside Taejeong Hall and leaned her back on one of the wooden pillars. There were five guards guarding this hall at night but all of them are the King’s guard, meaning they would allow anyone from the royal family to come inside seungwan’s residence at any time.

The young guard looked up to the moon and counted inside her head, 5, 6, 7…

She planned to wait until Sohee walked out of the hall, just to make sure that Seungwan was safe.

**

As soon as Seungwan stepped into her room, she found Sohee sitting on her bed while holding a box, a familiar red velvet box.

“So you’re planning to give this ring to her huh?”

Seungwan walked closer to the older woman, “You know I have to.”

“Tell me Seungwan, what am I to you?” Sohee asks in her most vulnerable voice, “Are you really going to marry her?”

“Unnie,” the young royal kneels down beside her bed before taking Sohee’s hands, “You are my special person, nothing’s gonna change that. Even if I get married to someone, you’ll still be my person.”

Sohee opened the box and took out the ring, she put it in her ring finger, “I should be the one wearing this, not her.”

The ring was her mother's wedding ring.

It was a tradition to pass the ring to the first daughter-in-law.

Sohee got hers from Queen Soohyang, Seungmin’s mother.

“I love you, Seungwan,” Sohee mutters under her breath, “Say it back.”

The young royal brushed her cheek tenderly, “You know I can’t say it back.”

“Nobody is here, please.”

“We agreed to keep everything casual between us, unnie.”

“I want more,” Sohee grips Seungwan’s hand that covers her cheek, “I want you.”

“We can’t,” Seungwan sighs, “You’re our future Queen, unnie so when the time comes, we have to stop this.”

“I don’t want to!” The future queen refuses, “Even if I get crowned, I still want you beside me.”

“I’ll always be beside you.”

“Not like this, I want all of you,” Sohee bits her lip “What if I divorce your brother?”

“Divorcing Min means you are being sent away from The Palace.”

“But if that makes you mine, I’m willing to do it.”

“Unnie,” Seungwan shakes her head, “You don’t want that, trust me, it’s not worth the pain and everything that you’ve been through to be here.”

“But I can’t see you with someone else! It drives me crazy just thinking that she can hold you every night.”

Seungwan stood on her feet before kissing her forehead, “I’m doing this for his majesty and our family. It’s not about love or anything.”

“But what if you fall for her? I never thought that I’d fall for you either but here I am, begging you to love me back!”

“I won’t allow myself to,” Seungwan assures her, “You know to whom my heart belongs. I’ll only love one woman in my life, my mother, and if one day I can love someone else, that someone is gonna be you, unnie.”

“How can I believe your words?”

The young royal looks at the ring on her finger, “You can take eomma-nim’s ring with you, it’s the only thing that I value more than my life.”

Sohee contemplates before shaking her head and taking off the ring, “Jeonha and Min will get suspicious if she doesn’t wear this ring.”

“But that’s the only thing I can offer for you to trust my words.”

“I trust you.”

Seungwan smiles inwardly, she knew Sohee wouldn’t take the ring.

It was a risque move to offer the ring, but the young royal needed something to convince the older woman.

The ring was finally back in the box.

“I’m sorry. I was being overly emotional with your marriage news,” Sohee tells her, “I should’ve prepared myself for this. I knew one day you’ll have to marry someone. I just didn’t think it would be this soon.”

“I understand, you don’t have to be sorry. You can always come to me if you have any doubt or problems.”

“After you get married, I won’t be able to come here.”

“Well, maybe not come inside my room unannounced like this,” Seungwan chuckles, “But we can arrange a time to meet each other somewhere.”

A smile finally graced Sohee’s face.

“See, it’s better when you smile,” Seungwan smiles back at her, “Now it’s past midnight, you have to go back.”

“Can you give me a kiss before I leave?”

“You don’t have to ask,” Seungwan tilts her head before capturing the older woman’s lips. The lips that probably she kissed the most out of all her flings, out of all the women that she used to get closer to her goal.

All of them fell left and right for her.

All of them didn't know that they were being used by her.

Sweet words and empty promises were all she could give to them.

They didn’t know that Seungwan’s heart was incapable of loving anyone.

Love meant nothing but a tool for her.

Love was her revenge.

**

“1.599, 1.600, 1.601…”

Seulgi finally heard the wooden door being opened from inside, she immediately stopped counting and straightened her back.

Once she saw Sohee, she immediately bowed.

“Do you want me to accompany you back, wangnyeo?”

“It’s fine, my maid is waiting at the bridge.” Sohee shakes her head, “Take care of Seungwan. My husband is very mad right now, you understand what I mean right?”

“Yes, thank you for letting me know,” Seulgi bows once again and keeps her head lowered until the future queen passes by her.

The first time Seulgi saw her was at her wedding. The young guard thought that the woman was very pretty and fit to be their future Queen, simply put, everyone was jealous of her but too bad she was married to the wrong person.

She was never really treated with love by her husband. Seungmin loved to spend his time more with his concubines than his own wife. Their marriage was nothing but camouflage. That’s where Seungwan came in, the young royal charmed their future Queen.

Seungwan didn’t do much but shower her with love, the only thing she wanted and the only thing that would crush her because neither Seungwan nor Seungmin were capable of loving her the way she wanted them to be. Seungwan was a warm and loving person but not a good lover, she wasn’t born to be someone’s lover.

Poor woman.

She was caught too deep in this royal game. Seulgi hoped, at least, she would get her happiness one day. When all of this was over, she hoped everyone could get their happy ending.

**

Next day

Dance studio.

“Stop bumping into each other!” An old woman with big glasses scolds them for the nth time.

“Agassi, if taenyeo takes a step forward with her left foot then you must step back with your right. If she closes her left foot to her right then you close your right foot to your left. Simple, basic, easy, peasy!”

Irene and Wendy were attending a waltz dance class after the boring tea ceremony etiquette class. Today they are scheduled to attend both classes. But it seemed that waltzing was harder than she thought. She kept bumping into Wendy who looked at her funny throughout their lesson, the young royal found it was strange that Irene would be so bad at dancing.

“Why are you so bad?” Wendy asks as she puts her left hand on Irene’s waist, her right hand holding the woman’s left hand in a perfect waltz posture, “I thought you like to dance?”

“I am a frequent club attendee. I can twerk flawlessly, not this!” Irene mutters irritatedly, trying to follow Wendy's dance steps, “Tell me why I have to learn this again?”

“Ballroom dance for our reception.”

“I thought it would be all about traditional ceremonies??”

“We’re living in a modern time, of course, there will be a little touch of modernity. The ceremony and stuff will be done in the morning, then we’ll have a ballroom party in the evening.”

“Now do a natural turn, one, two, three…” the teacher tells them from the side.

The music was a little bit loud but the woman’s voice was even louder.

“Step forward with your right foot, as you simultaneously turn to the right and…”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter