Chapter 12

In the dusky underground palace, one torch of fire was flickering.

He was half reclining on the throne, with his aura dim. Surprised at the quietness of the entire underground palace, he closed his eyes, and it seemed like he could hear the sound of time passing. He lightly sighed, with his lips holding a hint of self-deprecating. Lee Soo Hyuk, you’re actually missing her?

Hye Ryeong left the underground palace for a month already, and as for him, besides searching for traces of Kim Sung Yeol, he was in this dead silence of an underground palace feeling her remaining shadows. There were several times when he couldn’t help but ask Choi Chul Joong about Hye Ryeong’s current condition, but every time, when words were at the tip of his tongue, they were swallowed back down into the pit of his stomach. This taste isn’t easy to bear. He rolled his head, wanting to recline a bit more comfortably. To the side of his hand was the book that Hye Ryeong left on the table when she left, and on that day the lyrics of a poem that he accidentally read, has made him repeatedly reflect on it: The phoenix courts his mate, and gone without seeing her a day, and he would think of her like crazy. As for him, he has not seen her for a month already!  

Thought up to here, he suddenly sat up. Due to the friction of the fabric, the black and red long cloak made a stirring noise. “You just can’t not go and see her,” he said to himself. A smile leaked from the corners of his lips, as fervent hope filled his eyes.

***

“Miss, go ahead and rest. I’ll care for Madam.”

Jeong-ii helped Hye Ryeong up with worry, and helped her whose eyebrows were knitted return to her room, change her clothes, untie her hair, tuck her in, and blow out the candles. Closing the door, she also didn’t know what to do. The first time she met Miss, she felt that there was an indescribable intimate connection between herself and Miss, and naturally she understood Miss’s pain.

The first moment Miss stepped onto Yeong Sang estate, with outwardly expressed joy, she headed straight for Madam’s room. However, she was unimaginably locked out of the room by servants with the reason that Madam was resting. Miss wasn’t happy, but didn’t say anything and left. When it was dinner time, Madam still didn’t appear. Miss got suspicious and argued with the Lord, and finally opened the door to Madam’s room. Even though she didn’t know what happened in the past, but when she met Madam, Madam did not recognize Miss already. Thinking about it, Miss is also an unfortunate person.