Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 19

If anyone had seen Soo-yun and Ha-neul walking hand-in-hand across the palace grounds that night, they would have assumed the two had snuck away from the banquet. It is not uncommon for newlyweds to want to have some time alone. It would have been an easy assumption to make; it would also have been wrong.

"Let go of me," Soo-yun said as she pulled her hand out of Ha-neul's grasp. The two had just rounded the third bend in the path, and Soo-yun had no idea where they were. "What has gotten into you?"

"I don't know!" the Crown Prince snapped back. "I-I just wanted to get you away from there and my brother."

"Why? Nothing happened. I already told you that I left the banquet to get some air and merely bumped into Prince Bon-hwa," Soo-yun explained.

"I know. He told me. It was all just so... convenient. You decide to leave just in time to run into Prince Bon-hwa. There are very few coincidences in the palace, and you expect me to believe that."

"How could I have possibly planned that? I've never even met the man before tonight! Everyone talked about him being gone and not knowing when he would return. Besides, why would I try to contrive such an elaborate plan to run into him when you are the one that I'm married to?"

"You're Councilor Min Won-shik's daughter. Who knows what he told you to do? He is always scheming something. My brother could provide you with what I never could. Perhaps your father asked you to-"

The Crown Prince's accusation was cut short by the sting of Soo-yun's slap. She looked down at her hand in disbelief and then back up at the red welt on Ha-neul's cheek. Soo-yun didn't know what had come over her. She had never struck anyone before in anger, or for any other reason for that matter.

Ha-neul seemed in shock as well. She saw the Crown Prince slowly raise a hand, and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the return blow. Her father would never allow such defiance from her, and, if she had ever done anything like this to him, she was certain his retribution would be swift and painful. The strike never came, and Soo-yun heard the rustle of grass.

Soo-yun opened her eyes to see that the Crown Prince had actually taken a step back. She watched Ha-neul massage the slapped cheek. She was surprised to see that the Crown Prince did not look enraged, but defeated instead.

"My apologies, your Royal Highness," Ha-neul said. "I should not have said that. You have never given me any reason to doubt you."

"Then why would you insinuate such a thing?" Soo-yun asked. "After all of the time we spent together, why would you even think that I could do... that?"

"Because you confuse me," the Crown Prince answered. "I have never been as baffled by anyone as I am with you. You are unlike anyone I have ever met before."

"What do you mean?" Soo-yun was bewildered by Ha-neul's words.

"You appear so... guileless and open," Ha-neul remarked. "I don't know what to make of you."

"I'm just being myself," Soo-yun defended. "I have been nothing but true and honest with you."

"That's exactly my issue," Ha-neul said. The Crown Prince paced back and forth as if the mere act of movement could cause things to make sense. "The very first thing that was taught to me as a child was that everyone wears masks. Everyone wants something and is willing to change who they are in order to get what they want. No one is merely 'themselves' and appearances are deceiving."

"Even with you?" Soo-yun asked.

"Especially me. More than anyone else in the palace, I am not who I appear to be," Ha-neul responded. "I beg you to understand that."