Chapter 10

Heonui, half-conscious, was brought to the chambers. Luxurious rooms, furnished in the latest fashion — upholstered sofas and lace poufs, decorated with bouquets of freshly cut garden flowers on a glass table, original stained glass windows and carved mirrors, a wood bed, bed linen to match the curtains and canopy — all scarlet and silk.

Wang Han, surrounded by servants already bustling nearby, carefully lowered the Princess onto the bed. Heonui opened her eyes. Her forehead was covered with cold perspiration; her hands were shaking from either shock or cold.

"Wang Tae, where is Wang Tae? Tell me this instant!" she stammered, trying to get up.

The servants exchanged worried glances.

"Heonui, you need to rest, please," Wang Han pleaded, placing the young lady back on the pillow.

"No, I do not want to rest. I want to see my husband! Where is my husband? Why are you all silent? Ah, Wang Han, let me go! Where is Wang Tae?"

"Well, well, that's enough, Your Royal Highness," one of the maids came to help Wang Han, who was trying to put Heonui back into bed. "Calm down, really, dear, you shouldn't worry." She looked at Wang Han and, with her eyes, asked him to leave the room. Bowing with a slight nod of his head to all the servants present in the room, he hurried away. Everyone whispered.

"What's going on?" Heonui panicked. "Where did Wang Han go? Where is my husband? Why do not you call him? Well, go now, what is it? How long will I beg you? Or should I get up and look for him myself?"

"Your Royal Highness, hush, hush! Do not be nervous, I beg you," the maid shook her head. "You do not remember anything, like you always do not, do you?"

"What? What do not I remember?"

"Oh, she doesn't remember anything again!" the rest of the maids groaned.

"Like a clean slate, poor thing!"

"That's grief!"

"You, stop it!" Heonui screamed, wrenching her pale hand from the maid's sweaty, nervous hands. "What do not I remember? What has happened?"

Ok-Gil entered the room and, going up to Heonui's bed and bowing to her, said:

"Your Royal Highness, dear, do not be mad at us! I'll tell you again, it is fine."

Heonui swallowed and sat up in bed. Her eyes darted wildly. It was clear that she had a serious fever. "What will you tell me? Talk to me, do not stare like that, please!"

"Leave her alone, Ok-Gira! Save her nerves; she'll go crazy this way, surely!" some servant pleaded, but Ok-Gil only waved her off.

"And so she will go crazy from ignorance! It hurts me to look at her every time she doesn't understand anything. And how do you all have enough heart to look at her like that without help? Let, at least for a day, but it will be in your mind. Turning to the seriously frightened Heonui, the washerwoman continued: "Your Royal Highness, we have already told you what happened, but your shock has done a cruel joke on you, and you forget everything the next day. Heaven has taken your husband. Right at your event. Wang Tae is dead, Your Royal Highness, dear."

A desperate scream escaped Heonui's chest.

"What are you talking about, you foe!" Heonui screamed and rushed at the washerwoman with her fists, but she deftly grabbed her, continuing to say:

"Hush, Your Royal Highness! He died in the garden. His heart seized, right at the feast. All the guests are witnesses to this, not my empty words. And you, my dear Heonui, Your Ladyship, yourself saw how The Prince fell to the ground and, in an instant, expired. Such a fate, nothing can be done, and the young are taken away!"

"You're lying, you poisonous one!" crying Heonui wrestled with her. "You're trying to drive me crazy! All of you here are snakes! Get away from me!"

"It is true, Heonui." Wang Han entered the room again. "Wang Tae has been gone for several weeks now. I buried him and mourned him. The world still mourns for him, and the news does not stop. And for several weeks now, you have not come to your senses, forgetting in the morning what the servants tell you, so I told them not to explain to you anymore because everything is empty. I told them that I would tell you myself. Ok-Gira, this heartless woman, again torments you, although she was punished for that already."

Ok-Gil, seeing his stern, reproachful look, jumped to her feet and began to bow, spilling her apologies.

"Forgive me, Your Royal Highness, I beg! There is no strength to watch how she suffers and goes to the garden every night, clueless of her actions! I believe she should be told so that one day, the memory will return."

"Please, you all leave the room this instant. Leave us," Wang Han ordered gloomily, and the servants hurried away, their heads downcast and guilty.

Heonui screamed and immediately burst into tears.

"I do not believe that! I do not believe! Bring me my husband, Wang Han! Away with your evil stories! How can you be so cruel?!"

"I am truly sorry, Heonui," Wang Han said with a sigh. "But Wang Tae is really not alive. And you were also in the park that night and saw his death. Because you were in such a shock that it was replaced by insanity. Every night, I find you wandering in this park, and I fear for your life. I do not know what to do…"

He sank into a chair. As he did the other night. As he did all these nights.

His face was pale and haggard, but he retained the former calmness of character that has always been inherent in him.

Heonui looked up at him with a sob. And in those eyes, she finally read the truth — her husband was not alive. And it hasn't been alive for a long time.

"What is it… Wang Tae… I saw you, my love… I saw you…" she muttered.

"I hope Ok-Gil is right. And one day, your memory will return to you. But, I suppose tomorrow, I will have to tell this terrible story all over and see you in such a state again."

Heonui, pale and wet with tears, turned to Wang Han:

"Prince. I conjure you, if this is so ... If everything is as you claim, I do not want to forget. I want to see my husband, whether He is alive or...d-d-dead. I want you to always remind me, even if I have lost my mind, and that you take me to my husband's grave."

Prince got up and walked to the door.

"I will send servants; you have a fever. But I want you to hear, dear Heonui — well, I shall do so. I shall tell you. I give you my promise."