Heart of Ice

Healing

Yewon was to rest for a few days in her room until her back recovered. A nurse had come in to disinfect and treat the damage by applying some special type of ointment on her back, and so Yewon was to lay down flat on her stomach and keep her back exposed for the entire day.

The nurses, physicians and the kitchen boy who delivered her meals and the sweet bread (which she still did not know who sent) walked in and out of her room to tend to her. She found that she had long gotten over the discomfort of her body being exposed in front of others now. It was like she was losing a part of her cultural identity; in Galacia she would have never exposed herself so readily, but here, a kitchen boy could walk in and she wouldn't move at all.

It was an uncomfortable position she was in, mostly because it was hard to read. She wanted to complete the memoir Wonwoo had recommended, but her arms could only hold up the book for so long as she laid on her stomach.

Wonwoo. Who was he? And why did Sungyeon call him "your highness"? How could he speak to Seungcheol with such conviction and power?

He wasn't a prince of Solen; the only princes were Seungcheol and Soonyoung. She was certain of that. Perhaps he was a visiting foreign prince, like Jun was? Maybe he was a cousin of the royal family who is still given the title of "prince"?

She thought a lot about Wonwoo... about what he did, and how he confronted Seungcheol about Sungyeon.

Yewon would have liked to think of Wonwoo as doing all that he did because he was kind, and because he cared about her. That was how romance novels started, at least. But Yewon did not let that fantasy distract her from the reality of the situation: Wonwoo did not come to her defense against Sungyeon and Seungcheol for her sake, he came to her defense for Solen's sake.

Wonwoo did not berate Seungcheol because she was hurt; he berated Seungcheol because of her father's threat and because of fear of war with Galacia. She could not help but feel bitter about that; it was like she was reduced to nothing but some political pawn with no feelings. No one cared about her. Not Seungcheol, not Wonwoo, no one...

But, she was glad to know one thing: these Solenese people were afraid of her father. They were afraid of his threats, and so she had some power over them.

She was also so very, very glad that Sungyeon was no longer in her service.

Though, it would be a lie to say that Yewon did not feel a spangle of sympathy for this woman. Sungyeon was a victim of this war, and the pain she caused was now just a little more understandable. Sungyeon did what she did as a form of revenge for her father's death; it was not just unreasonable spite like it had originally seemed.

-

When the ointment on Yewon's back dried up a few hours later, a nurse had come in again to reapply it. As the nurse was placing the cold herbal liquid over her back, Yewon was tiredly trying to hold up a novel to read.

Seungcheol walked in all of the sudden, making Yewon's spine run cold and making her drop the novel. She could not help but resent her husband after all that he put her through, and the sight of him brought back the dissatisfaction immediately.

"Leave us please," Seungcheol told the nurse who had started to rub the liquid into Yewon's back.

"But if I may just finish applying the medicine, your highness?" the nurse requested. "It has to be spread over her back immediately or it will dry without effect."

"I'll do it," Seungcheol said. "Leave us."

The nurse bowed to him and left, and Seungcheol took a seat at Yewon's bedside, picking up the book that had fallen to the ground and placing in on the counter.