Chapter 9

It was a deep night in the park. Heonui screamed in horror. Not understanding what she was doing in a dark alley in the middle of impenetrable darkness in only a lace nightgown, she looked around in a stunned way, seeing only hostile trees in front of her, rustling at her with their branches, driving her out of the park at the wrong time; dust rising from the night wind in the air, suffocating with its funnels circling in the air; and a huge flock of crows, barking with some especially ominous cry, leaving their rookery and describing now unknown figures in the dark blue starless sky above Heonui's head.

The young lady screamed. What was she doing here? What did it all mean?

At the same moment, a flock of raging ravens soared high into the sky, hiding for a moment from the field of view and, with the same deafening croak, rushed down, right at the shocked Heonui. Terrified, she covered her face with her hands and sank to the ground. A second later, everything was silent. The air smelled of carrion. It seemed that the stench spread everywhere, penetrating right under the skin. It was hard to breathe. The night air, rarefied until now, had become so dense. 

She raised her eyes full of tears and was stunned — right in front of her, all covered with crow feathers, with dirty, dark hair, stood her husband. Her beloved husband. He was as if not alive — all woven from fog, his face was transparent, and his empty eyes looked at Heonui, paralyzed with fear.

Not daring to utter a word, the Princess simply trembled. The wraith continued to silently look at her for a few more moments, and then, with a piercing, desperate cry, clasped its hands and disappeared into the air, raising clouds of dust and, as if resurrecting the strings of the previously missing crows, which flew around the unconscious Heonui Li-en and scattered in different directions, blending into the night.

"Heonui, Heonui, my dear, Your Royal Highness!"

A blond woman, never before dressed in colourful jeongjae dance gowns, only today on the occasion of a secret meeting with the footman Lee in the role of mysterious kisaeng, the washerwoman Ok-Gil ran to Heonui. Through the darkness, she saw Lady Li-en's slender figure fall into the cold ground in an inexplicable shock. Ok-Gil hurried to help, at the same time worrying that she would be found at this time so pretentiously dressed up and not in the basement servants' quarters.

Heonui, as soon as Ok-Gil ran up to her and laid her sweat-drenched head on her knees, opened her eyes.

"Wang Tae…" was all the Princess could say. "Wang Tae..."

"Ah, Heonui, You Highness, stop it, dear, you are scaring everyone!" pleaded the washerwoman. "Stay here for a minute. Let me put my knapsack under your head. I'll call for help, just give me a minute. Give me my hand, Your Royal Highness."

Heonui shook her head and groaned.

"Do not leave me, please! Mimi, please!"

"Ah, I am not Mimi, dear! My name is Ok-Gil. But never you mind, I am just'r servant, what a difference even to names. But you wait, dear. I need to call for help before you!"

"No! No! Do not leave me, please!"

But help came by itself. In the courtyard of the palace, torches were lit, and dogs, awakened by the event, barked loudly. Three figures — two with torches and dogs on the sides and one in the center — were approaching the young ladies. As soon as the light allowed Ok-Gil to recognize her face through the impenetrable veil of night, she awkwardly called out: "Ah!" and, placing the protesting Heonui on her shabby bag, jumped to her feet and bowed, profusely apologizing and explaining her version of events.

"Eh, exactly, sir. On earth's. Precisely, sir," she nodded, talking to a tall man on the sidelines.

"Here, poor thing," said young Servant, sadly holding a burning torch in one hand and in the other, a chain with an incessant guard dog, the housekeeper, the only one with his brother who did not sleep at such a late hour, and therefore, ran to help so soon.

"How many times has it been already, eh? And everything is here again. She is, she is. They say she sees things," Gorg, his brother, answered reluctantly. "I feel sorry for His Majesty. It wasn't enough for him to have troubles and a broken heart, so now this is on top, yeh."

"You are free, Ok-Gira. Gentlemen," the figure addressed the servants. "Do not stand still. Help me lift her up. But do not touch and hem her with your dirty hands. I myself will take her in my arms. You light the way for me."

Heonui opened her eyes again.

"Wang Tae?" she asked in a barely audible voice.

"Shh, do not be hard on yourself, Heonui," replied the voice. He carefully took her in his arms, trying not to offend his forced actions of touching her skin in the name of help. "I'll take you to your quarters; do not waste your energy."

And this voice belonged to Prince Wang Han.