Kingdom

43.Memories(10)

Nori's face goes pale. Her heart almost burst out of her chest.

"That's nothing..." She rushes to grab the letter but the King is faster. He snatches the paper and leaps to his feet.

"Please, give it back!" Nori tries to fetch the letter out of his fingers but Yoongi stretches his hand high to avoid her.

"Give it back!" she insists.

The King's eyes fill with suspicion.

"You read my letters, let me have a glance at yours."

"No, no! Don't read it!" Nori grabs his hand and pulls it down aggressively. Yoongi frees himself with a quick move and seizes the Princess around the waist pulling her into his chest.

"I am going to read that letter and you will not intervene." he speaks into her ear."Don't force me to tie you up with the stripe of that bag. Okay?"

"Tie me up, because you are not reading it!" Nori stamps on his feet and swings her hand towards his neck. He seizes her wrists a second before she hits him.

"I see you are trained in self-defence" he snarls. "But if you fight me you will lose."

"Ignore that letter and there will be no reason to fight."

The King's eyes narrow.

"Is that how you want to earn my trust? By having secrets?"

"This is called privacy."

"You didn't respect my privacy, why should I respect yours!"

"Because we are learning to treat each other better."

Yoongi clenches his teeth and pushes the Princess away. He steps backwards.

"I am reading this." he declares,"Try to stop me and I will throw you in that pool."

"Fine." Nori crosses her arms."Read it."

The King raises a hand in the air, gesturing to Nori to stay away. His eyes fall on the paper.

"You seem to like reading other people's mail... " he says, his eyes squinting as he reads.

"My handmaiden gave it to me." Nori says "I didn't want to read it at first, I only read it today. I wasn't even sure what was written in it..."

Complete silence falls in the room, only the sounds of the crickets and the wind howling in the distance indicate that time hasn't stopped.

The King's expression turns cold, his jaw tenses, his eyes quickly moving as he reads.

Nori steps from one leg to another, an unpleasant feeling rising in her stomach.

"I can hang her for this." the King says through his teeth. "Some Ladies always fail to understand the rules of the Palace; they never know when to keep their mouths shut..."

His forehead furrows, his fingers holding the letter so tightly that the paper starts to bend.

"They had a gossip party, how lovely....", his lips twitch into a deadly smile.

Nori's heart sinks.

She throws the pillow bag at the King's face. He flinches back disorientated. The Princess dashes forward and places her hands over his eyes.

"Don't read this." she pleads. "That woman..., she didn't...., I ... "

Nori's hands drop down. It's too late. She fucked up again. Badly.