Princess Yura walked steadily toward the front of the Emperor's horse, her steps deliberately slow and measured. Her mind was in turmoil. The Emperor's reminder echoed ceaselessly in her thoughts, "Come to me the moment I return."
Now that he had indeed returned, a sharp unease tightened around her heart.
What exactly was this man planning?
She stopped beside the great black stallion just as the Emperor dismounted. Lowering her gaze, she raised both hands respectfully to her forehead in formal greeting.
"Your Majesty, welcome back," she said softly.
Her head lifted only slightly, just enough for her eyes to find the Emperor's face, blank and unreadable, as always.
Standing near him was Meiylin, her smile trembling with a mixture of humiliation and sorrow. The moment Yura caught a glimpse of her, Meiylin stepped back instinctively, as though the princess's presence alone was a warning.
Indeed, Meiylin was an excellent actress,far better than the princess. She was manuplating everyone, Yura knew it. The Emperor knew it. But the citizen were getting a different picture.
The Emperor's gaze flickered. He had seen Meiylin's tiny falter, and he had certainly noticed Yura's cautious glance. Whether he believed Meiylin's pretense or not no longer mattered to Yura.
She gestured politely toward the golden carriage she had told Jing to bring.
"Your Majesty, I prepared a comfortable carriage for you. It is spacious and suited for rest."
Meiylin's expression darkened. 'A carriage? What scheme is she playing at now?' She herself had not thought about this .
Han Ji turned briefly toward Meiylin, and instantly her expression transformed. She bowed her head and forced a gentle smile, as if trying desperately to hide the pain in her heart.
'Heavens… she is skilled,' Yura thought to herself.
Meiylin was painting herself as the virtuous one, the woman quietly suffering, gracefully enduring.
She was shaping a story without speaking a single word. The story the echoed;
*"Even if my heart breaks, I am happy for him… even if it destroys me."*
And everyone was beginning to believe it.
"I will ride on my horse," the Emperor said suddenly.
His voice pulled Yura from her thoughts. Calm, yet unyielding. Everyone believed the Emperor had quietly chosen a side for refusing to ride in the carriage the princess had brought.
But this was more to it than people knew.
Han Ji stepped closer, close enough for his shadow to fall over Princess Yura. He tilted her chin upward with two fingers.
"You did not truly think I would enter a carriage simply so you could slip away and visit my prisoner, did you?" This was it, this was why he had refused the carriage.
Bringing the carriage so the Emperor could ride indoors would guve Yura a chance to meet Yunxi alone, she believed he had suffered severe injuries. But this man stomped on her plan, he had seen through her,...again.
Shame heated Yura's cheeks as she turned her eyes away.
Han Ji clicked his tongue in amusement. "You are beginning to annoy me, you know that?"
He straightened, then raised his voice so all could hear.
"The Princess will ride with me."
The words struck Meiylin like a blow.
She had used every trick she had, yet with a single sentence, this princess had taken everything from her. If the Emperor went back on this decision, Meiylin knew she would not survive. She could not watch Han Ji taken by another woman who was not her.
Tears welled up despite her efforts. She bowed stiffly and mounted her horse. With one sharp tug of the reins, she rode off, her departure as painful as it was undignified.
Han Ji did not stop her. He had no need to. His choice was already made....
Long before this day, before all of this.
Long....before he met both of them.
The journey was stiff and silent. Citizens lined the streets to welcome their Emperor, cheering at his return and at the criminals he brought with him, villains whose terror had haunted the city.
The carriage behind them looked like a simple transport wagon, covered thoroughly so no one could see what lay inside.
Inside the Emperor's own carriage, Han Ji's cold eyes fell upon the princess seated before him.
Yura had tried to refuse. She had offered every excuse she could think of.
But the Emperor saw through all of them. He had seized her wrist without care and pulled her inside.
She had been quietly crying, but he had too much on his mind to bother with a girl weeping over a bruised wrist.
"Do you hate it?" he asked suddenly.
The question startled her into silence.
He continued, his voice low. "The weight of responsibilities that you cannot escape… even though they have nothing to do with what you desire."
Yura slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were swollen and red.
She did not know exactly what she wanted from Yunxi, but she knew with certainty her heart did not belong to Han Ji.
Since childhood, she had admired the boy who would later became Emperor, admired his perfection, his status.
But as time passed, she noticed more about this perfect Crown prince. His ill temper was sharp, his dominance suffocating, he was so proud and unapologetically arrogant.
Yet for Yura, she wished for a gentle husband, someone who cherished, protected, and loved her without fear.
She longed for the kind of love she shared with her loved ones, thise who cherished her truthfully.
And Han Ji....., the little princess came to know she will never get that from Han Ji, she had found solace in someone far from her. Someone she wasn't sure she would ever get. Someone sweet, gentle, maybe loving, he was cute, exactly like her dream boy. She had seen him the first time, and loved him forever.
During a festival's full moon, Yura had met someone whom she wanted to spend the rest if her life with.
Someone she didn't know would forever be forbidden.
Surrounded by maids and royal guards, the boy had been smiling at someone Yura could not see because the person's back was to her. For a moment the little girl mistook the boy for a girl not until the servants addressed him as a young master.
When the fireworks began, the boy stood with the help of an older figure, likely his brother. They moved to the balcony hand-in-hand. Yura's gaze followed them until she suddenly looked up to the old boy's brother… and froze.
The Crown Prince.
Her maid immediately sensed the terror in her eyes and tried to pull her away.
Yura was terrified of being seen by him.
He had forbidden her from leaving her chambers that night.
She was supposed to be in bed.
But her maid, who pitied her, had smuggled her out to see the festival she had always dreamed of.
.....
Earlier that day, Yura had hoped the Crown Prince would let her accompany him tonight, she had looked for him until she gave up. When it was about to go dark, the prince had come to her for the first time. He had said calmly as if asking her,
"Princess Yura, I shall let it be. I will not force you into things you dislike."
The young princess had been confused. Feeling her uncertainty, he continued with chilling calmness:
"You dislike such festivals. You do not wish to go. There is nothing more to say."
"No, Your Highness!" she protested. "I like such celebrations! Miss Sujin told me and I..."
"Hey."
His voice suddenly rose, sharp enough to make her flinch backward.
It was the first time they had ever exchanged more than a few polite words.
He had always been cold, always distant. When he first spoke, she had thought he was being polite and asking but it turned out he had been commanding her, just that he was politely doing so.
She had assumed it was because of their age gap.
But she had never imagined he would yell at her.
No one had ever raised their voice at her.
Yura nearly cried, but before her tears could fall, he seized her wrist, hard enough to bruise. He then knelt to wipe her the tears that had flowed himself.
"I said you do not wish to go," he started again. Calm voice, cruel words.
"If I say you dislike something, then you dislike it. If I say you enjoy it, then you enjoy it."
His hand shifted from her cheek to the back of her neck, pulling her close until she could feel his breath.
"Be a good girl and go to sleep. It will be far more painful if anyone discovers you disobeyed your future husband."
The trembling child nodded. "I… I will sleep. I am sorry…"
"Not simply sleep," he corrected. "You do not wish to go, and you wish to rest alone. Say it."
The little girl repeated the words he forced into her mouth.
With that he finally released her, pushing her back slightly, she ran to her room and buried herself under the blankets.
Han Ji was the most terrifying person she had ever encountered.
Yet that very boy… was destined to be her husband.
Now, sitting across from him in the carriage, she realized the day she feared most had finally come.
Everyone expected them to marry.
And there was no escaping it.