Chapter 44

"A very beautiful garden," admired Ah Eun Hi, still a very young court lady, carefully stepping her shoes along a winding path of bright pebbles. "I just cannot stand still! When will Prince Wang Han come out to visit?!"

"Oh, ladies, it would be better never!" muttered Heonui in despair.

"Heonui! Heonui! You will, Your Royal Highness! Just think — he is the most enviable groom! All the young ladies of the kingdom are crying into the pillow! And I am so special!" Ah Eun Hi sighed, not knowing herself that by this phrase, she had made the Princess turn pale.

"Do not worry, dear Heonui," Wang Han's voice was heard at the entrance to the garden. "Everything will go well."

Heonui turned around.

Wang Han looked great. She swallowed.

Could she decide? The wedding? With Wang Han? Only three years had passed, but she was still not ready and trembled all over, thinking about how she would go down the aisle.

"Everything will go well," Wang Han repeated again, approaching the Princess, surrounded by gasps and enchanted glances of the court ladies and Queenes who had come to the wedding and whiled away the time walking and talking in the garden.

Heonui glanced at Wang Han. He immediately read her fears and doubts.

"Will you give me a few minutes of your time for a walk?" he asked the Princess, trying to take her away for a conversation.

Heonui nodded, and they hurried away from the guests.

It was August, the favourite month of Wang Tae the Poet, who so admired the mild heat and the chirping of the birds of that month.

Heonui was in a modest wedding dress — without the luxuries due, without diamonds and tiaras. But her beauty shone with the same strength, despite the numerous scars on her face and hands, which she wore with pride and dignity, thanking Wang Tae every night for saving her life. She recalled how, having sipped wine on that ill-fated night three years ago, his image appeared before her, and with one hand, Wang Tae crushed the glass so that she would not drink the poison prepared for her by the one whom she considered the friend of her whole life, the one whom she trusted all the most intimate thoughts and experiences, the one who knew all the secrets. The one who killed her young husband, hoping to kill her.

Wang Han stopped. Around them, it was quiet from conversation but noisy from the bursts of the garden fountain and the singing of the restless nightingale.

"I'll understand everything," Wang Han said, taking Heonui's hands. "Just say the word."

Heonui smiled sadly. She did not know how to answer him. She was not ready — even loving him with all her heart, this new love that she was so ashamed of, which she never recognized but which she did not want to lose.

She lacked only ... one thing, the most important one.

The blessing of Wang Tae, which she will not receive because of all the injustice, because of all the hurt and pain that ...

Heonui looked up and froze.

Right behind Wang Han stood ... he.

Wang Tae himself.

Beloved, killed, forgotten by the world, Wang Tae.

And here she, Heonui, stood and looked at him — so beloved, killed, forgotten by the world — and so distant, alive, always in her memory, Wang Tae.

He was in front of her. She knew why. And he knew why he was in front of her.

Without saying a word, Wang Tae just looked into her eyes and... smiled.

And that smile and that look was enough for her to understand that he had blessed her. She smiled back at him, and the vision... disappeared.

"Why are you smiling, Heonui?" asked Wang Han.

Heonui looked at him.

Wang Han. Wang Han, betrayed by love, having lost his family, devoted himself to rule, caring for loved ones, honour, and going through life with an unbearable burden of pain in his soul, was now ready to be rejected again, and still kept his head straight, ready for everything that was prepared for him fate.

"I love you," said Heonui, speaking each word more quietly than before. "And I am ready to marry you today."

He did not expect this. He was ready for anything. But not for this. He rehearsed an apology to the guests if Heonui would cancel the event. He expected a change of heart in her, a rejection, but he still wanted to go with her until the last moment, until her decision to be with him changed, and she disowned him.

"I..." he tried to answer, but the words wouldn't leave his mouth. "I cannot believe..."

And Heonui, rising closer to his beautiful, full of embarrassment face, kissed him.

"Shhh…" the leaves of the garden trees rustled for the last time. "Shhh..."

…THE END…