Chapter 88: Chapter 88
In addition, Bipaan protected her on the pretext of caring for Kyosul in person.
“Why would Bipaan protect Kyosul in this situation? Is he hiding something?”
“It looks like her relationship with Ruhae is not just mere scandal. I think we might have come to a hasty conclusion.”
“Yeah, we had better watch her a little more.”
Both of them saw eye to eye on this. Actually they were sick and tired of waiting. They had been waiting for the perfect timing to carry out their plan, so they tried every way to entrap Bipaan and Kyosul along the way.
Dukwol asked, “What about Bipaan’s second wife, Kyoyoung? Does she know about this?”
Kyoyoung was Bipaan’s second wife, who had been ignored by Bipaan since the wedding night.
Smiling coquettishly, Oran replied, “I think I have to make friends with her sooner or later.”
“Oh, sounds good. We’re going to see a more interesting situation in the East Palace.”
“You bet. We can’t miss this fantastic chance.”
In no time, they had sex again.
***
Back at the Dongbi Palace, her residence, Kyosul was trying to find the answers to some difficult questions. With a serious expression, she paced up and down in her room. Resting her chin on her arm and lowering her head, she walked inside the room slowly, holding a purple flower with wrinkled petals in hand. That was the flower that she found placed on her windowsill this morning. After she returned from the East Palace, it had been there in place of the blue flowers with round petals. It was not a purple flower with wrinkled petals.
She had to pay attention to it. He had placed a different flower on her windowsill every day throughout the summer and suddenly changed it.
Besides, Bipaan’s words echoed in her mind and made her think.
‘This flower won’t bloom anymore.’
That was what he said on the day she returned to the Dongbi Palace, and he tipped her on the name of the flower, which was called cucumber herb.
As it turned out, the flower placed on her windowsill was changed after Bipaan reminded her of the new fact. What a coincidence!
“And he even knew the name of the flower!”
That bothered her persistently.
And she couldn’t believe that it was Bipaan who placed the flower every day rather than Ruhae.
“No, no, it can’t be the him! That’s nonsense!”
Nonetheless, she found herself wondering who really placed the flower there.
Se recalled what Ruhae told her on the day they went out on an outing.”Do you like this flower? I don’t know much about flowers.’
At that time, she thought Ruhae pretended not to know about the blue flowers for some reason. Did he really know the flowers?
“If he really didn’t know the flowers, then he must not have….”
Who the hell placed this flower on her windowsill if it wasn’t Ruhae?
She looked at the purple flower with a perplexed expression.
At that moment she came to her senses at someone’s loud knocking on the door.
She suddenly turned her head towards the door.
The sound was heard from the windowsill where someone placed the flower and an empty slip every day. Someone was cautiously knocking on the window right now.
Knock, knock.
Her heart was pounding fast. She had high expectations that she could finally find out who really placed the flower every day when she opened the window.
“Who is it?”
She had mixed feelings of excitement, expectation and fear.
With such mixed feelings, she slowly pushed the window open.
As the hinge turned softly, the window opened, bringing in fresh air.
Ruhae stood beneath the window looking up at her.
Her eyes were opened wide with surprise after she confirmed who he was.
“Ruhae!”
Was it a sigh of relief or disappointment?
When she confirmed his face, she was happy. Fortunately, it was Ruhae who brought the flower everyday. He was standing right before the very window he placed flowers up to now.
Lowering her body as much as she could, she asked with an excited expression, “Did you knock on this window knowingly?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you know that this window here is nearest to my bed?”
“Of course, I did.”
She smiled naturally at his instant reply.
As she expected, the man who brought the flower every day was Ruhae. There could be no other person than him.
It didn’t matter whether Ruhae knew the name of the flower or not. He just plucked the flower because it was beautiful and gave it to her every day as a gift.
She felt she got all the confusing thoughts about the flower off her chest overnight. And she felt more happy because she saw him standing outside the window and knocking on it.
Looking at her bright smile, he also gave her a big smile.
As if it was not a big deal, he said, “If I had been to your room, I would have immediately inferred which window was nearest to your bed, but as I didn’t, I just thought this window would be the nearest to your bed, given the structure of your room.”
“Nearest to my bed?” she repeated his words and smiled bashfully.
He then extended his hands inside the window and wrapped her face in his hands. His hands were cold, but she cooled her bushed face by touching it to his cold hands.
“Are you really happy I came here?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, I wish I had come here and asked you to open the window much earlier.”
“Do you come here often?”
“Shush! This is a secret!”
He put his finger on his lips, pretending to look around carefully. As he looked so serious, she was surprised and hunched her shoulders, putting her finger on her lips, too.
“This is the only place I can come and look at you secretly and go back. If I get caught, I can’t come back again, as you know. So, this is a top secret to me!”
Lowering her head, she gestured toward him to come nearer.
When he approached, she whispered into his ears, “You’re in big trouble now. You have been caught already.”
Embarrassed, he stepped back and asked, “Really? Is somebody in the room now?”
Grinning at him innocently, she said, “You were caught by me.”
“Oh my god! It looks like I was tricked while I was trying to deceive you.”
He also laughed. She found even this kind of silly talk interesting and funny.
“By the way, what business has brought you here? You have never come here secretly at this hour,” she said.
“Well, I think I have to leave the palace urgently, so I’ve come running here tell you about it.”
“What? Why are you leaving so suddenly?”She asked in big surprise.
Though he was smiling at her, he was making a perplexed expression at the moment.
Her heart sank. She stuck her body out of the window quickly and asked, “Was it because of our recent outing scandal in the Mokak mountain? Did the Crown Prince punish you? If that’s true, let me go to the East Palace right away to protest. He can’t do this to you.”
“Calm down, please, Kyosul.”
He grabbed her hands now holding the windowsill tightly.
Though he was embarrassed, he almost burst into laughter at her passionate emotions.
“It looks like you are a switch on/switch off person, Kyosul. I really thought you would come out right away and head for the East Palace.”
“Absolutely! I’m going to go right now. Do you think I can’t? I’m not scared at all when it comes to you!”
Smiling at her kindly, he caressed her face again with his fingertips, not his palms.
“I’m deeply touched by what you have just told me. It’s amazing to know you are ready to fight with that dreadful Crown Prince on my behalf.”
“Sure, I can. This is very unfair. As the Crown Prince of the Mok Kingdom, he should not abuse his power, even the Emperor can’t do this.”
“Wonderful!” he seconded, nodding. He almost clapped his hands but shook his head.
Ruhae calmed her down and said, “Well, I’m not leaving the palace for unfair reasons.”
His expression changed every time he said something. Sometimes, he got upset and dejected, sometimes he looked sad and then he resolved herself firmly. In the end, he told her the truth.
“As you know, I’m in charge of education and cultural affairs, so I have been ordered to patrol the provincial towns temporarily in connection with my job.”
“In connection with your job?”
She let out a sigh of relief.
Pulling her hands back, she pressed them to her chest to calm down then asked with a sharp expression, “Why didn’t you tell me the fact from the beginning? You teased me by beating around the bush when you said you were leaving the palace suddenly, right?”
“Oh, did I tease you too much?”
“Yeah, you’re so mean!”