The Unknown History

1

Yeonseo walked through the school hallway, searching for her boyfriend. It was break time and all the students were hanging around, discussing their history paper results. The students from other classes smiled to greet her.

She smiled back and looked around, still searching for her boyfriend. She reached the stairs and saw that it was empty. She was about to walk away until she heard familiar voices downstairs.

"She always scores the highest. It's not fair!"

She heard her best friend, Jinhae said. Her smile soon turned into a frown. She turned around and was about to leave until she heard her boyfriend's voice.

"It's okay, Jinhae-yah. You know I still love you, right? Just leave her be. Yeonseo is always so arrogant whenever she scores the highest."

"When are you going to leave her, Doohyuk-ah?"

"Soon. You know our relationship is just a dare. She's lucky I could put up with her for almost ten months."

Yeonseo exhaled heavily as her jaw started to clench out of disappointment. She noticed the signs of him cheating on her but she chose not to think about it. She thought it would be okay as long as he still treats her like his girlfriend.

I will not let myself get humiliated like this.

She blinked her tears away before stomping away from the stairs. People gave her confused looks as they watched her walk through the hallway while wiping her tears.

She went back into her class and took her history paper, seeing the number hundred being circled at the front with a red pen. She scoffed and closed her eyes.

You both are so pathetic, trying to humiliate me. This is why I'm better than both of you.

She rested her head on the desk, feeling tired and upset.

🌷

Yeonseo walked to the archaeology site, seeing the people in front of the old palace talking to each other. One of them noticed her and smiled, "Yeonseo-yah!"

She faked a smile before walking towards him, "Hey, Mr Choi."

"Your father is inside, still examining the old royal manuscripts. You're gonna love it, Yeonseo. We finally found the king's diary."

"You mean the East Kingdom's king?" She asked, walking next to the man. They both entered the site and she looked at the archaeologists in awe as they took out artefacts from the ground.

"We found out that the royal family hid a few things under the ground. Probably to keep them safe. Thank God our detector found it."

She nodded and bowed before walking to the tent where her father was. Mr Yoon smiled brightly at the sight of his daughter, "There's Yoon Yeonseo! How's school?"

"Still got the highest score in the history exam," she said before sitting at the table. She stared at all the artefacts on the table. Seeing old books, letters and jewellery that probably belonged to the royal family of the East.

"You sure are the daughter of an archaeologist. Guess what? You are very lucky to be the daughter of a boss," Mr Yoon excitedly said before giving her a book, "This is the diary of the late king, King Sunoo. You know how people never knew what happened to the royal family of the East. And you always ask me about it. Maybe this diary can be the answer to your questions?"

"Are you sure I can read it? It looks old."

"Of course, you can! Maybe this diary can be the answer to your questions about Princess Yeonseo? Who knows maybe you'll find things similar about her?"

She frowned, "You're still thinking about that? There's no way I'm the reincarnation of the princess."

"Hear me out. You both share the same name, except surnames. You've seen her portrait that I showed you a few days ago. You almost look like her."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes before opening the diary gently. She slowly read the words in it one by one.

Princess Yeonseo died in a very tragic way. Either suicide or being poisoned. No one knew what happened to her. At school, the textbooks will only tell her story until the part where she leaves the palace.

Rumours said that she disobeyed the king's orders by marrying a commoner. She was actually assigned to marry a prince. No one knew who she got married to. Could be a nobleman.

"Can I bring this home?" She asked. Mr Yoon nodded, "It needs to be brought home anyway for further examination. You can have it for a while."

She smiled and held the book close to her chest before leaving the tent. Her favourite place at the old palace was the lake. Her father said that it was also the princess's favourite place to calm her mind down.

That was why he wouldn't stop bringing up about her being the reincarnation of the princess. The lake was empty and silent. People rarely go there since it was located behind the palace.

She inhaled the fresh air, looking at the lake. She couldn't see the bottom of it, "It must be so deep."

She turned around and was about to leave. Her feet accidentally stepped on a rock, making her fall to the ground. She accidentally threw the ancient diary into the lake.

"Shit!" She cursed under her breath before going into the water. "Cold, cold, cold," she shivered as she tried to search for the book.

She smiled in relief when she caught it. The writings in the book weren't smudged. She was about to leave the lake until she felt something heavy tugging on her leg.

"What?" Her startled eyes widened. The tug became stronger, making her fall again into the lake. She tried to swim upwards but failed.

She let go of the diary and went into the water. She couldn't reach for air. The lake was deep and dark. It was slowly pulling her downwards. She slowly closed her eyes when she couldn't inhale the air anymore.

Her body became weak as she let herself get drowned.