Secret of the Red Lotus Flower (빨간 연꽃의 비밀)

Chapter 23

The slow and methodical rocking motion of the carriage should have been enough to lull Soo-yun to sleep. However, the thought of returning to her childhood home filled her with a growing sense of suffocation. Every li they traveled brought her ever closer to the man she thought she had finally been free of: her father.

It was only the fact that Ha-neul was in the carriage with her prevented Soo-yun from having another anxiety attack. Despite bringing a riding horse, the Crown Prince had opted to join Soo-yun in the carriage. Unlike her, Ha-neul didn't seem to have any problem sleeping across from Soo-yun on the left side of the carriage. Either way, Soo-yun knew she had to fight to keep control over her emotions to avoid embarrassing herself, her fingernails digging into the wooden seat.

To distract herself, Soo-yun looked out the right window to watch the passing scenery. She could already start to see several lacquer trees outside. One of her ancestors was the first to discover the lacquer tree so close to the capital. The hidden groves were the finest in all of the Gyeonggi Province. While the lacquer trees of Gangwon Province may be superior, the proximity to Hanseong allowed her family to hire the best carpenters and buy top quality mother-of-pearl to make najeonchilgi wooden furniture, jewelry boxes, and various other accessories like brooches and combs. It was how Mins made their first fortune.

Following behind the carriage and wagons, Soo-yun saw Han Tae-hyeong and half a dozen of his black-clad men from the Saheonbu Bureau. Ha-neul had told her that there was a supposedly corrupt official that her new uncle was planning on investigating in the next province over and Tae-hyeong had decided to travel with the Crown Prince for a while. Something about the man was unsettling, especially the eerie way he was always staring at her, and Soo-yun tried to focus on the verdant forest again.

Despite the natural beauty around her, Soo-yun's thoughts kept drifting back to their destination. Soo-yun knew that she would never be totally free from having to see her father, but she had hoped that being in the palace would help limit her interaction with him. For the thousandth time, she wondered how she had allowed Ha-neul to convince her to go on this short trip.

Five hours ago...

"Where did you hear about Yi Ae-suk?" the Crown Prince asked. Soo-yun was happy to see that she had caught Ha-neul off-guard for once. It was rare that she had the upper hand in their conversations.

"Does it matter?" Soo-yun asked. "But if you really want to know, it was brought up during tea with your aunt and your father's concubines."

"Ah. That explains it," Ha-neul said. "If you want to be technical, she is my adopted sister."

"Sister? I heard that you two almost married." Soo-yun couldn't tell if Ha-neul was purposefully lying to her or merely obfuscating the subject.

"How about we sit down? This story might take a while." The Crown Prince gestured towards the sitting desk. Soo-yun couldn't think of a good reason to deny the request and sank down on one silk cushion while Ha-neul sat on the opposite side.

"If you must know, there have actually been two gantaek for me," Ha-neul said.

"Two? I thought ours was the only bridal selection that you'd had." If there had been another queen selection recently, surely her father would have mentioned it.

"There is a reason for that, but I will get to that later," Ha-neul replied. "It was shortly after I turned fifteen and had my Gwallye ceremony. My father decided without consulting my mother that I should wed now that I was considered an adult in the eyes of the court. Prince Bon-hwa had gotten married a few months earlier and all my father could talk about was 'securing his legacy.'