Futile Love

But Kyosul firmly cut off her words. She gently stroke her belly with both hands, which she had been clenching firmly a moment ago. Slightly lowering her head, she looked down her belly.

“I can never forgive you if you harm my child.”

Silence fell again on them.

Kyosul now stroked her belly more often, and her warm expression slowly faded.

She raised her head again and made eye contact with her. Kyoyoung also did not avoid her eyes. Although both of them shut up, the atmosphere surrounding them was different.

Though Kyoyoung pretended to be calm, she was clearly tense at the moment.

“Haven’t you made it for me this time, too, right? Why did you take it back instead of giving it to me?” Kyosul asked directly.

“I’m not ready yet.”

“Isn’t it because you are scared to hear that I’ve had stomach pains?”

“That’s your speculation,” replied Kyoyoung, biting her lip.

Up to now Kyoyoung regarded her as a little bitch. Kyoyoung even ignored her because she was childish and ridiculous, but now she felt as if she was being fooled by Kyosul.

Kyoyoung tightened her grip on the hem of her dress, which was crumpled instantly.

When she pulled the hem, the small box she hid under the knee was revealed finally.

“You said you made it by yourself, right?” Kyosul asked again.

“What did you put in? Did you know what you put in?”

Kyoyoung did not answer. Instead she closed her eyes.

Kyosul didn’t press on her. She waited without asking more.

Silence followed again.

She didn’t know what she was thinking when she closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes, unexpectedly, she smiled, “Didn’t you already checked it all?”

“Princess Kyoyoung!”

While watching her with patience, Ruhae tried to interfere. He tried to stop Kyoyoung’s rude words, but he was stopped by Kyosul.

As he moved, Kyosul raised her hand lightly. Her little motion stopped him. After stopping him from interfering, she looked straight at Kyoyoung.

“Did you give this to me knowingly?”

“I just wished you liked it.”

Kyoyoung’s response astonished everyone in the room. The nanny standing on one side of her room clicked her tongue. Ruhae could not hide his anger and stared at her sharply.

Only Kyosul remained calm as before. Instead of fearing at all, Kyoyoung faced her.

Now, her dirty trick was revealed and it was all over.

Convinced that she failed completely, Kyoyoung didn’t hesitate to speak her mind.

Watching her acting shamelessly, Kyosul even felt at ease. Funny enough, she felt she got her pent-up anger about Kyoyoung off her chest suddenly.

She could feel a bit more relaxed and talk with Kyoyoung.

“So, what did you expect after you gave it to me?”

“… I hoped my pain would end.”

Kyoyoung replied it was pain.

That word echoed through the room and reached Kyosul’s ears. As its meaning implied, it caused pain to Kyosul. She tightened her hands wrapping her stomach. She covered it more firmly now.

Kyosul had been waiting for this happiness for a long time, but it was a big pain to Kyoyoung.

“Is my great happiness a big pain to you? You also wanted me to be happy, right?”

Kyouyoung’s face was wet with tears and said, “You never wished for his love, right? Did you lie to me last time? How come you are so happy when you’re pregnant with the baby of the Crown Prince that you said you don’t love?”

“Princess Kyoyong, that was…”

Having heard Kyoyoung’s sharp reminder of her erstwhile confession, Kyosul could figure out why she ended up with the current situation, but she could not clarify her position to Kyoyoung now. Even though she did, Kyoyoung’s actions were no more than her ill-advised jealousy.

“I didn’t take your baby, Kyoyoung…”

“How come you can…!” Kyoyoung raised her voice suddenly. “I was here before you in this palace! I came to the palace first and served the Crown Prince first. Even before you got here, I was already here. Why should I remain as your shade?”

That was true. Even before Kyosul set foot in the Mok Kingdom, Kyoyoung was her shade.

“Why should you have all of it?”

Kyoyoung couldn’t understand the whole situation at all. Kyosul came to the East Palace later than she, and when she met Kyoyoung privately, she confessed that she couldn’t love Bipaan.

And Kyoyoung thought she was too young, immature, childish, stupid and good-hearted.

How could such a woman now announce proudly she was pregnant?

Kyoyoung said, “If I’m invisible, don’t you think you should be the same?”

Pouring out her emotions without stopping for a minute, Kyoyoung calmed down gradually.

She now stopped smiling and returned to her true self as a princess like before.

“I’ve been married to the Crown Prince much longer than you. I have served him as his wife, filling the vacant position of his official wife for several years, but the Crown Prince has never visited me during those years. Although he didn’t sleep with me on the wedding night, I took it as my fate and stayed around quietly. But…”

Although her attitude and tone were elegant, her point was not. Kyosul didn’t blame her.

She just listened to Kyoyoung’s rude complaint silently.

“It’s no wonder that the Crown Prince visits you, but I really can’t accept it.”

“But fortunately, my baby is well and safe,” Kyosul said, adding, “It’s very healthy, too.”

She also said, “I’m going to clean up the Dongbi Palace,” referring to Kyoyoung’s residence.

Kyoyoung humbly accepted whatever measures she would take against her.

Compared with her harsh questioning, Kyosul’s response was unexpected.

“I just had intestinal pain because I didn’t pay attention to food.”

Kyosul diagnosed the cause of her abdominal pain. More than any of the words that she said after she was brought back into the room, Kyosul’s remarks disturbed her the most.

Kyoyoung made a frown and refuted, “Crown Princess!”

But Kyosul said, “As you said, you served the Crown Prince from the time he had yet to find his official wife. I hope you can continue to stay around and serve him to the end…”

Feeling bitter at her remarks, Kyoyoung bit her lip. She even dared to roll her eyes at Kyosul.

Kyosul continued, “I don’t have any hard feelings against you, Princess Kyoyoung, let alone any malice. I just hope I and you can fulfil our duty as his official and second wife respectively.”

“Never!” Kyoyoung sprang to her feet.

And then she announced, “I won’t thank you at all.”

“It’s not part of your duty to express gratitude to me.”

“Long live the Crown Princess.”

Kyoyoung said goodbye very quickly and left the place.

But Kyosul felt she couldn’t, and should not end her friendship with Kyoyoung like this.

But she just let it go as she was afraid of sinning against herself.

She wanted to deliver her baby as quietly as possible.

As her baby was precious, she just wished she didn’t reveal the truth by all means.

Only Ruhae was left alone after Kyoyoung left. While watching the situation, standing in the back, he asked for the first time, “How did you know?”

Of course, she didn’t ask what he was referring to. As if on cue, she quickly answered, “Well, on the day I had stomach pain, you also injured your hands, right? As I belatedly came to think of the rice cakes, I asked the nanny to bring the royal doctor again.”

“Oh, Lady Yuon did…”

“Don’t blame her. She just carried out her duty as my nanny.”

That’s true. If anyone carried out his or her duty sincerely, there would be no problem at all. The thing was one’s private feelings were mixed when they did things, which was the case of Kyoyoung. If Kyoyoung only had done her duty faithfully, she wouldn’t have caused such a big problem, and Ruhae wouldn’t have had to see her here.

The nanny, who was on standby nearby, bowed her head quietly. When he looked back at the nanny, Kyosul said, “So, I sent a message to the chief royal doctor through the nanny, asking him to get back to her as soon as he got the results of the diagnosis of the rice cakes.”

Kyosul wrapped her belly with hands and continued, “According to the doctor, there were various herbs in the rice cakes.”

She continued, “The doctor told me that the rice cakes have the aftereffects of preventing a baby from implanting in the womb and causing bleeding. As I had only a small amount of rice cakes, I could avoid any major aftereffects. Besides, they didn’t know when I first got pregnant, which also helped me avoid…”

In fact, the fetus in her womb grew at least a month longer than everyone knew.

Perhaps thanks to that, she could have avoided major aftereffects as the baby had already been implanted in her womb.

“How fortunate you are…” Ruhae said.

“Why did you want to hide from me the fact that there was something wrong with the rice cakes?”

“Because I was afraid you would feel hurt because you like Princess Kyoyoung.”

She seemed to agree with him. He always hid her weakness.

“Yes, I still can’t hate her,” she said, closing her eyes.