When it came to being eccentric and having conversations bounce all over the place, Hwan would be hurt to take second place to anyone. But today, the Seoran he faced seemed like she would make even Hwan stick out his tongue, saying he couldn’t match her. Of course, it might feel even more so because he knew so little about her.
In front of yet another bewildering answer Seoran presented, Huiseo turned both his cheeks bright red. It was quite different from just moments ago when he’d been tense and even breaking into a cold sweat.
‘Envious? Me?’
Huiseo had absolutely no clue what words he should use to respond to that out-of-the-blue statement.
Since the other party was none other than the Crown Princess, it felt completely strange either to acknowledge it saying it was reasonable, or conversely to wave his hands saying it wasn’t so. The former seemed presumptuously arrogant, not knowing his place, while the latter could sound like deception since he was indeed an ‘exception’ in various ways anyway.
‘When I can’t do this or that…’
There was no choice, he had to compete with unexpectedness himself. He meant to counter absurdity with absurdity. Having made up his mind, Huiseo suddenly curved his eyes and smiled softly in front of Seoran.
“Your Highness, could you perhaps walk outside with me for a moment?”
Then this time, Seoran’s head finally tilted.
‘Suddenly?’
***
Wondering if it might be related to the question she’d asked earlier, she followed along in bewilderment, but in truth neither of them was in a position to leave the Eastern Palace and go far. Because of that, they ended up just strolling around the front yard of the Eastern Palace, but Huiseo seemed fine with that.
‘Huiseo-ya, what on earth are you thinking?’
Only the court attendants who had followed looked at him with anxious gazes. However, Huiseo just smiled, raising the corners of his mouth slightly as if telling them not to worry.
Following that, Huiseo swept his gaze around the front of the Eastern Palace with somewhat distant eyes.
So Seoran, who had been quietly watching what Huiseo was doing, also turned her gaze accordingly. Of course, she wondered what connection there was between her question and this action he was taking now. Still, she decided to watch what Huiseo did for the time being.
Then Huiseo suddenly opened his mouth first.
“Before Your Highness came, the Eastern Palace wasn’t this splendid.”
Only after those words from Huiseo did what he’d been looking at finally become visible to Seoran’s eyes as well.
Listening to it now, despite the weather that would soon turn chilly, this place alone was filled with colorful flowers and trees as if forgetting the season. As Seoran looked at that carefully, a secretly proud smile appeared on Huiseo’s face.
“The Office of Gardens and the court attendants of the Eastern Palace ran around making such a fuss that if His Highness had seen it, he would have been quite amused.”
At those words from Huiseo, Seoran looked somewhat puzzled, while the court attendants standing behind them looked at him in shock. Why is he suddenly talking about the court attendants? None of them seemed able to guess why Huiseo was telling this story.
But a moment later, when Huiseo didn’t stop there and made more jokes, everyone’s expressions split.
“These days, the court attendants’ quarters are so noisy I can’t tell you. Honestly, it’s distracting when I’m studying. Do you know what they’re all chattering about?”
“Well, I wonder.”
“They say that when Your Highness is pleased, the tail of your left eyebrow rises slightly. They also say you secretly like sweets even though you pretend otherwise. Is that true?”
It was because the content was none other than something close to exposing the court attendants who had been making a fuss behind them.
There are things you should and shouldn’t say in front of Her Highness! As Huiseo’s words crossed that line without knowing it, the court attendants’ efforts to stop Huiseo continued, flinching or clearing their throats from behind.
“Ahem, hmm. Hui, hmm. Huiseo… hmm!”
“…Huiseo-ya!”
“Also yesterday….”
“That won’t do!”
However, as Huiseo continued his story without batting an eye, finally a scream-like cry burst out from around the back row. Then it was obvious that everyone was biting their molars hard to keep from laughing. Seoran seemed to find those playful appearances fascinating rather than disrespectful.
Rolling her eyes like a very curious child as she watched, in the end even Huiseo couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
It was true that he’d been very tense on the way here, wondering if he’d done something wrong. However, after hearing Seoran’s excessively honest words, he couldn’t misunderstand what kind of feelings she’d called him with.
‘She might have felt like she’d suddenly been dropped into an unfamiliar place one day.’
It was natural to be anxious.
Just getting married would have been nerve-wracking, but the character ‘guk (國),’ meaning nation, was attached before her marriage.
The reason she’d asked him such an absurd thing as a ‘secret’ earlier was probably because of that. Because she wanted to do even a little better. Of course, it was somewhat eccentric in many ways, including who she was asking.
He’d heard that the adults of the imperial family considered it fortunate that Seoran had a quiet and gentle disposition.
However, in Huiseo’s judgment after meeting her directly like this, it seemed that as time passed and the Crown Princess’s public exposure increased, quite a different evaluation would emerge. Seeing how her words that she blurted out flatly without changing expression were endlessly eccentric, she might cause an uproar comparable to Hwan’s.
On the other hand, some people might describe Seoran as excessively naive for an imperial family member.
‘No, I think I was envious.’
What she’d said to Huiseo inside Jaseondang a little while ago was raw words without any embellishment or authority contained in them. It certainly wasn’t fitting for the imperial family and the position of Crown Princess. However, thanks to that, Huiseo came to think a little differently.
‘She’s really solid as a person.’
Envy toward someone was bound to transform into bad feelings called jealousy and resentment. It was because one’s own appearance felt shameful compared to the envied person. The easiest method people chose to hide such feelings was to hate that target.
However, Seoran had honestly revealed her feelings to the very person she envied.
Setting aside the question of whether Huiseo thought he was really someone even the Crown Princess would envy. Huiseo continued his thoughts while stroking his cheeks that were about to flush again.
‘What great courage.’
In that respect, Huiseo could gauge the relationship between Kang and Seoran anew.
For a reason clearly different from the imperial family adults, it seemed the two might get along even better than expected going forward. In other words, it was because Seoran seemed to be someone who could overcome things together solidly, not because she was quiet and gentle.
So Huiseo’s attitude inevitably changed favorably toward her as well.
“The reason I told you about this Eastern Palace’s front yard and the court attendants earlier was because I wanted to tell you that although they’re making scary faces, they’re actually very affectionate people. Everyone is delighted that Your Highness the Crown Princess has come, and they’re very excited wanting to serve you even a little better.”
At those words from Huiseo, Seoran’s left eyebrow slyly rose despite her pretense. If the information the court attendants had collected wasn’t wrong, it meant she found it secretly pleasant to hear.
Around that point, Huiseo offered one piece of advice.
It might indeed be presumptuous for him, who was neither a court attendant nor anything else, to say such a thing to the Crown Princess who had now officially become a member of the imperial family. However, if what Seoran really wanted to know was Huiseo’s ‘secret,’ this was the only thing he could tell her.
“The palace must still feel very unfamiliar, but please don’t rush and look for such pretty things one by one. And if you cherish them, whatever they are, they will all become yours without exception, Your Highness.”
At those words from Huiseo, Seoran stood there quietly looking up at him.
***
Urged by Hwan saying they had to go as quickly as possible, the two of them, Kang and Hwan, came rushing back to the Eastern Palace.
The fully grown Crown Prince and prince walked almost as if running unsightly through the palace. And in that short time, the two of them—especially Hwan—had done so much imagining and worrying that it couldn’t all be expressed in words.
‘Huiseo hasn’t already suffered some outrage in the meantime, has he?’
How should he resolve this misunderstanding? Since it’s come to this, should he speak honestly? His anxious feelings grew so much that in his imagination, Hwan was already embracing Huiseo in front of the Crown Princess and shouting.
‘Huiseo isn’t hyung’s person but mine!’
It wasn’t a joke—if push came to shove, he was even prepared to confess the tremendous secret that he liked Huiseo and overturn everything.
But what do you know—at the sight of Huiseo and Seoran that appeared as soon as they stepped into the Eastern Palace’s front yard, Hwan, who had entered with determination, and Kang, who had followed behind him, stood there for a moment too dumbfounded to close their mouths.
“…Why are they so harmonious?”
Hwan muttered like that in a daze.
It couldn’t be helped, because the two were crouching in front of the beautifully blooming colorful flowers. As Huiseo looked at them closely and told various stories, Seoran beside him was listening intently to those stories with shining eyes.
Then, as if Huiseo had thought of something, he plucked one red flower and handed it to Seoran. So Seoran preciously received that flower in her hands.
Sparks inevitably flew from Hwan’s eyes, which had witnessed that scene in its entirety.
“…Your Highness is too much! Even I haven’t received a flower yet!”
To make matters worse, he was spouting even more absurd words beside him, so Kang couldn’t help but rub his throbbing forehead. It would be truly fortunate if there was no problem contrary to his worries, but his face was burning hot recalling how he’d come rushing here just listening to Hwan’s words.
‘I fell for this bastard’s nonsense again.’
From the momentum with which Hwan had made a fuss, he’d thought those two were definitely grabbing each other’s hair and fighting. But what do you know—they were laughing happily looking at flowers as if in a scene from a painting. They say when startled by a turtle, you’re startled by a pot lid—it seemed he’d been even more on edge because of the incident when Choi Yuwon had visited and caused trouble.
Flabbergasted at being fooled, Kang gave Hwan a somewhat annoyed scolding.
“Don’t you act properly? Is this the situation you told me about?”
“You couldn’t say it wasn’t either, hyung.”
But far from being cowed, this guy actually shot back like that.
‘Annoying brat.’
The most annoying thing was that it wasn’t wrong.
Because of that, in the end Kang couldn’t make any particular retort and closed his mouth. In the meantime, Hwan couldn’t hold back and rushed out to find Huiseo, so finally Huiseo and Seoran also became aware that the two had arrived here.
So Kang too had no choice but to deliberately erase his embarrassed face and approach them.
“…Greetings, my lady.”
Watching Kang greeting her awkwardly, Seoran stood up.
