[What the hell are you talking about out of the blue? What nonsense is this?]
[Don’t lie]
[I’m not, why are you being so scary]
[Wait, what’s this photo that got posted? Huiseo’s really outside at this hour? (link)]
[Isn’t it a vacation or something? That could be it]
While comments from people desperately trying to deny it continued, a meaningful comment appeared from someone who seemed to know the situation.
[He did leave. It’s hard to explain everything, but there’s an emergency at the palace]
[??????]
[Why? No, why? What did Huiseo do wrong?]
[What did our boy do wrong that he had to leave the palace]
[It’s not Huiseo’s fault, but there’s been a problem]
[If it’s not Huiseo’s fault, then it’s Hwan’s fault]
[No way]
[But why isn’t the gossiper denying that it’s Hwan’s fault? Is it really true?]
[Lee Hwan, what trouble did that bastard cause this time]
[Aaah no wayㅠ I thought I’d get to thoroughly scold this kidㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
There hadn’t been any other signs to notice beforehand. But suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, shocking news arrived, and the posts and comments from the bewildered people of HwanHui’s Garden were flooded with tears.
‘No, what on earth is this all about?’
Juyoung, who had hastily logged in after hearing the news and witnessed that scene, felt her heart sink just the same.
She couldn’t understand what had suddenly happened. It hadn’t been long since the false accusation incident was resolved, yet somehow, after overcoming one mountain, an even higher mountain was waiting—it was absurd.
Of course, she knew that leaving the palace didn’t mean their relationship would be severed forever. If anything, the fact that the two of them had lived together in the palace until now was the exceptional case.
Right, thinking calmly about it, there was no need to make a fuss. Even if Huiseo really had left the palace, it only meant he wouldn’t be eating and sleeping there anymore; it didn’t mean he would never set foot in the palace again. In fact, there were plenty of palace staff who commuted despite having palace accommodations available.
Also, right, school.
They would soon move up a grade, but the two would still be in the same class, sitting next to each other as always. Yes, so there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
‘I know. I know, but…’
Still, perhaps because they had been stuck together since childhood, now that she thought about them being separated, she couldn’t stop her heart from feeling bitter and queasy.
She had been somewhat prepared, vaguely knowing that this was something the kids would have to experience once they became adults, but this was too sudden.
In truth, the reason Juyoung couldn’t shake off her anxiety was none other than the fact that Hwan, who had diligently logged into HwanHui’s Garden even during the previous uproar, wasn’t accessing it at all this time for some reason. The Hwan she knew would never be like that.
‘She must not be okay.’
The longer Hwan’s absence continued, the more Juyoung didn’t know what to do with such thoughts.
“…Ha, what’s going on, kids?”
It seemed like trouble had really broken out properly, and Juyoung buried her face in her hands with a deep sigh.
***
As expected, that message that had come to Hwan’s phone last night was from Huiseo.
Too afraid to check what it might say, Hwan hadn’t been able to confirm it right away, and only mustered the courage to pick up her phone at dawn, long after receiving it. However, the message she checked afterward contained only three simple characters, making that time of confusion and conflict seem futile.
[I’m leaving]
Looking at that plain text, Hwan squeezed her eyes shut.
How cold.
Was that all he had to say as he left? It was better than just leaving without a word, but still, the fact that this was all he had to say left her feeling hurt. Of course, it wasn’t like they were parting forever, so such a grand farewell wasn’t necessary, but…
‘…That’s a bit too much.’
The coward who had been too scared to check right away now had so much to say belatedly.
‘No, never mind. It’s fine. It’s okay. Like he said, it’s not like we’re parting forever or anything.’
The next day, getting up and shaking it off, Hwan tried hard not to feel too discouraged. Huiseo had left the palace in anger, but that was something he could always come back from if he changed his mind. Hwan comforted herself that way.
Also, as Juyoung had immediately thought of, she still had school left.
Right, school.
She could meet Huiseo at school.
So Hwan didn’t know how nervous she was in the car on the way to school today. She almost threw up everything she had barely managed to eat for breakfast. Whether she was in the car or not, her stomach kept churning, and it had really been too painful since yesterday.
Yet as school drew closer and closer, her heart raced at the thought of meeting Huiseo.
What expression would Huiseo make when he saw her first? What would he say?
‘Then what should I say?’
In truth, since last night, the image of Huiseo crying wouldn’t leave her mind. So, weakened in heart, she ultimately wanted to say it was all her fault and apologize, as she usually did. What she had stubbornly insisted on the day before was that she couldn’t apologize to Choi Yuwon, not that she couldn’t apologize to Huiseo.
It was true that in that moment, she had felt deeply hurt that Huiseo hadn’t taken her side. But her resentful and bitter feelings were all just momentary sulking. They would disappear like melting snow just from sleeping and waking up. It was always like that toward Huiseo. Just like right now.
‘…How could I hate you?’
Right, how could she hate Huiseo?
The rough emotions that had swelled up fit to burst had disappeared, and in that empty space, only her longing to see Huiseo filled up completely. It grew more desperate as time passed. Looking back on it now, she really thought she had been in the wrong. Whatever the reason, she had done what Huiseo had earnestly pleaded with her never to do.
No, actually, all these excuses weren’t even necessary.
‘If I made Huiseo cry, then I’m completely in the wrong.’
Once her thoughts flowed to that point, there was nothing more to consider.
“Let’s apologize.”
In the end, Hwan decided to prostrate herself as soon as she saw Huiseo. There was no other way. Either way, she was dying from loving Huiseo so much. So she sat in the classroom, clutching her pounding heart and desperately waiting for Huiseo to arrive.
Frankly speaking, pride and everything else didn’t matter. As time passed, she grew more anxious, and she was gradually becoming prepared to even cry and prostrate herself standing on the teacher’s desk.
But the problem was that no matter how long she waited, Huiseo didn’t come.
‘This is strange. The first period is about to start.’
The anxious Hwan craned her neck and even lifted her bottom as she peered out the classroom window, but she couldn’t find Huiseo, let alone a single strand of his hair.
No matter how she thought about it, something was off.
Of course, they had finished all their second semester final exams and there was no particular schedule, so even if he was absent, it wouldn’t be a big problem. But Hwan knew Huiseo better than anyone. With his personality, skipping class or being absent simply didn’t make sense.
Until now, even when there were important external events, he had always stopped by school whenever possible. Even when sick, he would stubbornly go to school, saying that if he was going to collapse, he’d collapse in the nurse’s office.
Could such a Huiseo not come to school ‘because he was angry’ from fighting with her the day before?
She swore such a thing couldn’t happen.
So she could be certain that something serious was going on.
‘Could he be sick somewhere?’
Since he had left crying so much in the middle of the night, that might be possible, so Hwan anxiously chewed her lower lip. But soon her energy completely drained. So what if that was the case?
She couldn’t even go see him now.
As she once again experienced the reality that Huiseo had left the palace, Hwan hung her head in devastating feelings.
***
For whatever reason, since Huiseo didn’t show up like that, Hwan and Yuwon ended up being left completely alone in the classroom.
Yuwon, who had come in conspicuously with a bandage plastered on his cheek, seemed deflated when there was no one to show it to. He didn’t even glance at Hwan, the very person who had struck him, and was just listlessly fiddling with his phone.
In truth, Hwan, anxiously staring only out the window, wasn’t particularly interested in Yuwon or yesterday’s incident either. That matter would be resolved somehow as the imperial lawyers worked out a settlement with Myeongwoon’s lawyers, as Kang had told her this morning.
It was truly a shameless attitude, but what could she do? There was nothing else Hwan could do.
An apology?
If she did that, the settlement might become a bit easier. Huiseo had probably pressured her to apologize in that moment with such thoughts. But Hwan still didn’t want to do that. If she was going to bow her head to him now, she wouldn’t have let Huiseo go like that in the first place.
Hwan had no desire to forgive this guy who had wielded Huiseo’s weakness against him.
And to think he had tried to steal Huiseo’s lips in such a despicable way. Just thinking about that scene made Hwan feel like blood was rushing backward from her head to her toes. If they were going to take it to the end, then they could take it to the end.
‘Go ahead and tell the world if you want.’
If it came to that, Hwan planned to grab Choi Yuwon by the collar and roll around in the mud with him until the bitter end.
She had nothing left to lose anymore.
Not being able to meet Huiseo made her feel even more self-destructive.
