“Dan-Bi let’s go to the library.”
“First finish your soup.”
Rose picked up the bowl and finished it in one gulp. She immediately regretted it as the hot liquid traveled down her throat.
“What are you up to? No, don't drink cold water, it will make it worse.”
Rose hung her tongue out as Dan-Bi blew on it to cool it down.
“Stay like this for sometime it will be fine. Why do you want to go to the library so bad?”
“I banna beep.”
“What do you want to read? I will get it for you here.”
Rose shook her head in a hurry. She wanted to go to the library to read about poisons and she wasn’t sure if that could trigger Dan-Bi’s memories or not. Andrew did say everyone would forget about the whole day but she couldn't take chances.
“I am fine now. Let’s go.”
Dan-Bi asked the maids to clean up and took Rose to the library. It was a separate building a little far away from Seo-yeon’s room. One man sat on the door and he decided on who could enter and who could not.
“Sir the Royal Noble Consort wishes to enter the library.”
“Why did she bother to come here? I could have sent the books she wanted.”
“She wanted to look around the library herself and read in seclusion.”
“More seclusion than her own room?”
“Library is a place to read; you cannot forbid a member of the Royal family from doing so.”
“I am doing no such thing, stop twisting my words.”
Rose stood there awkwardly as they bickered right in front of her over a topic about her while completely ignoring her presence. After a few back and forths, she was finally allowed in.
“I will be done in an hour or so. You can come for me then.”
“You don’t want me to wait for you here?”
“No no go do our work. I just want to read alone for sometime.”
Rose pushed Dan-Bi out and closed the door. She walked around trying to find books on poisons but she was met with an obstacle. The books were not in Hangul. Maybe because the story was set in time before Hangul was introduced. Oh what was she going to do now?
Rose picked up a few books randomly from the back side of the library. Even if she wouldn’t understand the words that well, she could learn some information through the pictures.
The library had tables placed in after every four bookshelves so as to give the people privacy to read in peace. Rose sat on one of the tables and opened the first book, with a plain black hard cover and no title. She recognized some of the Hanja letters but she didn’t know enough Chinese to make sense of what was written.
“A pair of lips stopped my words mid-sentence. They didn't move...at all. I sat there frozen with a mouth sealing mine…..Huibin, I didn’t know you liked reading such stuff.”
Rose turned back instantly to see the queen standing over her reading the book.
“After the initial shock I pushed her away in haste. Her eyes widened and she sat back with her hand covering her mouth.
Did she just kiss me?
Tears pooled in her eyes making her hazel eyes glisten, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. I had pushed her away in shock not to reject. Not knowing what to do I took her hand in mi-”
“Stop reading! I-I didn’t k-know it was about this. I am n-not interested in this s-stuff. What are you doing here?”
“I had come to read like every morning and then I heard some people talking so I walked around to see who it was.”
Rose stared at the words on the page. Were they really what Ha-Eun was reading or was she making it up?
Looking at the frown on Rose’s face Ha-Eun sat down next to her, with the concentration Rose was glaring at the page made her think...
“Do you not know how to read?”
“It’s nothing like that. Mind your own business.”
Rose closed the book in a hurry and got up to leave all the while stressing over if she had acted out of character. Andrew had asked her not to act out of character without considering that she didn’t even know her character. How did Seo-yeon behave with the queen? Why did everyone fail to mention that?
“Hey wait”
Ha-Eun grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her back making her sit back. The sudden pull compelled Rose to lean on Ha-Eun and with her hand intertwined with the other girl’s hand, she felt something weird happen in her stomach. She pushed her away and crawled to sit on the other side of the table.
“I am sorry I reacted without thinking. It’s just that you keep running away whenever you see me and I don't want you to leave again.”
So she had noticed. Rose looked away as she felt her face heat up.
“Is there something you wanted to talk about?”
“Yes, I wanted to return this to you. You had dropped it the last time we met. You ran off before I could tell you.”
Ha-Eun pulled out a white jade butterfly pendant from her sleeves and held it out to Rose. Rose gently took the pendant and examined it.
“You carried it around with you?”
“Ah...yes. I wanted you to have it back as soon as possible since I was the one who gave it to you.”
“You gave me this?”
“Yup, to welcome you to the palace. It is white jade because the king named you Huibin meaning the radiant one. Didn’t the court lady tell you this? I had mentioned it to let you know. Who did you think gave it?
Rose didn’t know if Seo-yen was told about this or not, so she went with the easiest answer.
“The king.”
“Joon-Woo? Ha! He has no knowledge of such things. It was because of this pendant only that I recognized you even though it was our first time meeting.”
Okay talking to Ha-Eun was out of character then. But if the queen approached Seo-yeon, she wouldn’t just ignore her, right?
“Can I um...can I make you wear it?”
Rose was already wearing one but she didn’t want to upset Ha-Eun, who looked like a small kid waiting for approval. So she nodded which made Ha-Eun brighten up. If she had a tail, it would be moving like crazy right now. She shifted closer and with utmost care removed the small jewellery which hung on Rose’s waistband.
While Ha-Eun took the pendant from Rose their fingers touched and Rose could feel her heartbeat increase. She glanced at the queen to check if she could hear the loud thumping in her chest, but she seemed ignorant to the weird mood in the library. Rose scolded herself in her head for thinking nonsense.
Ha-Eun went back to her place respecting Rose’s personal space. Even though it was a small gesture, almost irrelevant, it really warmed her heart.
“Thank you, the pendant is really beautiful.”
“Just like the person who wears it.”
Does this count as just complimenting or is she flirting?
“Your Highness, it is time to leave.”
Rose jumped at Dan-Bi’s voice suddenly popping up out of nowhere.
“When did you even get here?”
“Just a few minutes back.”
Dan-Bi stood there completely ignoring Ha-Eun’s existence. Rose tugged at her sleeves and motioned towards the girl sitting across her. It would be highly disrespectful to not greet the queen.
Dan-Bi seemed to hate the idea but complied with Rose’s silent request.
“Forgive me, Your Highness, I hadn’t noticed you. Please accept my greeting.”
Dan-Bi bowed in front of Ha-Eun to show respect.
“It is okay. You can stand up now.”
Rose gathered her books and got up to keep them back.
“It is okay Huibin, I will arrange them back, you should go. Your maid is waiting.”
Ha-Eun smirked towards Dan-Bi who was glaring at her. If looks could kill, Ha-En would have been buried thrice. Sensing the situation was going from bad to worse Rose decided to leave as soon as possible.
“Huibin wait.”
Ha-Eun hurried to her with her pendant in hand.
“You forgot this one today. Is it your way to make me come meet you?”
“No it’s not. I hadn’t noticed it. Thank you.”
“Would you like to have tea someday? Just the two of us?”
Noticing the increasingly sour mood of Dan-Bi Rose said that she would think about it and hurriedly left, taking Dan-Bi with her.