Heart of Ice

Here

Things had changed a lot in the palace. After losing Soonyoung, and now Haein, it felt like the palace atmosphere was different, and in a bad way. Yewon did not how to explain it, but somehow both Haein and Soonyoung had been an essential part of the palace, and now that they were gone, it was quiet and dull.

It was Yulhee's maid who took over Haein's job until Haein's replacement could be found.

"I want Seungyeon back," Yewon told Seungcheol one day.

With a frown on his face, he replied: "no."

"Why not?"

"Do I need to explain it? She hurt you!"

"She's different now, and she needs the money." Yewon remembered the time when she ended up in Seungyeon's home in the village. She and her sisters were very poor, and for that reason, Yewon felt obliged to give the maid another chance.

"I don't care. I don't want to see that witch around you anymore," Seungcheol replied.

Yewon tried to reason with him, but he would have it no other way. At one point, he stopped listening to her and ignored her when she tried to talk to him about it, and it drove her crazy.

This was Seungcheol's biggest flaw; he was stubborn and refused to listen to anyone once he made up his mind. And this was just one of many shortcomings that Yewon saw in him.

Men in real life were very different from the men in the novels. The picture-perfect princes on white horses who do everything for the girl that they love– that was such a fantasy only found in the stories. In real life, the people you love have serious flaws, and you loved them in spite of it. Seungcheol was no different.

Once, he had gone too far though.

"I don't like how close you are to the translator. Stop talking to him," he demanded.

Of course, Yewon did not heed Seungcheol's orders and kept meeting Minghao, thinking he had no right to prevent her. One day, however, she didn't find Minghao in their designated meeting spot. When she ran into him in the halls, he scurried away without a word. This went on for a couple of days.

Afterwards, there was a banquet in which she tried to approach Minghao again, but when he saw her, his widened and he hastily slipped out of the hall.

Something was wrong, and Yewon knew that Seungcheol had something to do with it.

"What did you tell Minghao?" she asked Seungcheol in the middle of the banquet.

"I threatened him," Seungcheol stated matter-of-factly. "I told him to stop talking to my wife, or I'm kicking him out of the palace."

Yewon wanted to scream in that moment. She wanted to make a fuss and throw her arms at Seungcheol and publicly shame him for being a possessive jerk, but she held it all in for the sake of his honor. Instead she stormed out of the banquet, furious and angrier with him than she had ever been in a very long time.

He was such a jerk.

Unfortunately for her, Seungcheol followed her to her room, but not to make it up to her. Rather, he came to scold her.

"Your highness, go back to the banquet immediately!" he demanded with a frown on his face. "How dishonorable is it for you to walk out on a banquet like that?"

Yewon only threw a pillow at him, which he caught with his hand and approached her as she buried her face in her sheets to groan.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled, voice muffled by her sheets. "I don't like you very much right now."