Heart of Ice

Heard

Jinye was apparently to stay for a few more weeks before she journeyed back to her hometown. When Yewon found out about that the morning after the banquet from Haein, she couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated. Jinye's presence made her uncomfortable though she hardly knew the girl. She was just so beautiful that Yewon felt diminished in front of her.

It was not only Jinye that was there; it was also her father who had come to the palace to give funds to the war effort and support Solen. Yewon learned from Haein that Jinye's family was extremely wealthy and were often giving money to the palace administration to help fund the war. Because of that, Jinye's family was considered important enough to lodge in the palace and dine with the royals.

She therefore had to see Jinye and her father at breakfast the following morning. When she entered the dining room, she found Jinye making Yulhee laugh. Yulhee looked so happy today, Yewon noted. She guessed that Yulhee really loved Jinye too.

When Jinye saw Yewon, she stood up immediately, clumsily making the chair behind her fall. She bowed to her a lot, smiling sweetly.

"Princess Yewon! Please forgive me for not greeting you nicely yesterday!" Jinye chimed, "When I saw Wonwoo, I forgot about etiquette and everything!"

She had a strange manner of speaking: high-pitched and childlike almost. Yewon was surprised; for someone as beautiful and as high-class as Jinye, you would expect her to sound more elegant.

Yewon bowed back to Jinye, who lifted her head and gazed intently at Yewon for a long time. She had a wondrous look in her eyes, making Yewon feel a little uncomfortable.

"Thank you for saving him," Jinye continued. "You saved Wonwoo when he was in Galacia, right? Thank you so much for saving him. Thank you for saving all of the hostages. You are amazing!"

Jinye was clearly in the dark about the fact that Wonwoo broke off the engagement because of her.

"I really admire you, princess," Jinye continued. "Everyone loves you! You are strong and faithful, and you also read a lot! I wish I could read."

Yewon tried to hide her surprise, but she couldn't. She narrowed her eyes at Jinye and asked her, "you can't read?"

Jinye shook her head, and a pout formed across her lips.

The rest of the breakfast with Jinye was filled with surprises. Jinye was much, much, much different than Yewon would have ever expected. She was not elegant at all. Not only was she illiterate, but she was very simple-minded and naïve. What was most surprising about this was that she was the woman who had been engaged to Wonwoo.

"She is not the kind of person I imagined that Wonwoo would ever fall for," Yewon told Haein later.

Haein nodded in agreement.

"She can't even read! How could Wonwoo have fallen for someone who can't read?" Yewon was truly puzzled by it all. Yewon imagined the girl to which Wonwoo had been engaged to be much, much different. She imagined her to be intelligent and erudite, someone who engages with him in his most favorite hobby of all time: reading.

"She's beautiful, rich, and comes from a powerful family," Haein reminded Yewon. "It's hard for any man not to fall for that."

But still, Yewon expected Wonwoo to be different.

-

She didn't understand why Jinye and Wonwoo occupied her thoughts for so long. But Yewon slowly began to piece things together.

Wonwoo could not possibly have been engaged to Jinye out of love. It didn't make sense for someone like him to fall for someone like her.

She began to see that Wonwoo only pretended to love Jinye, probably for power. He most definitely had the tendency to be dishonest. She also thought so because of the fact that it wasn't the first time Wonwoo pretended to love someone for his own interests. She had flashbacks to the time Wonwoo admitted he only pretended to care about Yewon because he wanted to keep her happy, because he didn't want her father to wage a war against them.