Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 4

Over the following days, Soo-yun's days were filled with appointments and lessons. Choi Beom-soo spent most of the waking hours droning on classic texts or quizzing her about the Sohak, the Confucian primer known as 'Elementary Learning'. Starting next week, the court matrons were scheduled to come to Byeolgung to teach her the court rules and etiquette as well as help her practice the rites and ceremonies that she would be tasked with performing as Crown Princess. These were all things that she was already intimately familiar with but Choi Beom-soo was a stickler for protocol.

In fact, he had spent most of the morning complaining about the delays that were going on with the Yukrye. The Napchaeui happened as scheduled with the formal proposal letter arriving the morning after the archery field. The messenger rode up to the Detached Palace and delivered it to her representative, who had been chosen by her father. The representative then gave Soo-yun's official reply to be returned to the Crown Prince.

The whole process had been rather cut and dry with little input needed from Soo-yun. Her family and the royal family had already ironed out most of the details during Royal Selection Process and this was a mere formality. There was no way either party was going to reject the proposal. The issue that the Garye Dogam official had was the delivery of the wedding gifts for the Napjingeui ritual.

"This is most irregular," Beom-soo groused. "The wedding gifts should have been here days ago. I inquired and was told that they are waiting on a single item. This should have all been taken care of by the time the gantaek started."

Soo-yun mostly tuned him out to focus on her watercolor painting of flowers by a stream. They were between court etiquette lessons and he had been 'kind' enough to give her some free time. However, her mind was less on the composition and more about tonight. The painting was merely a means to hide her racing thoughts.

In the week that passed since the archery field, all Soo-yun could think about was that night and the Crown Prince. He seemed different from the gossip that she heard so much about. While he did come off a bit serious in their conversation, he wasn't cold and some of his responses were actually rather witty. It was hard to reconcile the person that she had spent the evening with and the 'Stone Prince' people talked about.

Furthermore, he was very handsome, in an unconventional manner. His features were much slenderer and more refined compared to most men that she had seen before. Despite being shorter than expected, there was a sense of power and steadiness in his form that rivaled taller men she knew when she watched him pull back the bowstring.

If what the Crown Prince said was true, he would be there practicing his archery on that field again. He would be all alone and it would be a perfect opportunity to spend time with her fiancée. There was so much that she wanted to talk to him about and learn.

Despite her burgeoning excitement, she couldn't help having several nagging doubts. Would he actually be there tonight? What if he didn't actually like her and that was just an excuse to get her to leave? Could he have just been playing a callous prank to see if she would show up to find an empty archery field?

Whenever those troubling thoughts started to worm into her mind, she thought about the compassion in his eyes when she told him about her mother. She closed her eyes and recalled the scent of his sandalwood cologne as well as the warmth of his hand on hers. She would remind herself that, for all the rumors about him, none ever claimed that he was purposefully cruel.

A sudden commotion outside the Detached Palace drew Soo-yun out of her reverie. There was a soft knock at the door and Yeo-jin entered, interrupting Beom-soo mid-rant. Her maid seemed to be bubbling with excitement.