Heart of Ice

Hearsay

A move toward war.

After all of that pain and suffering, after everything that she had been though in Solen... was it really going to end up like this?

All she could do was sigh and lament the way that everything was turning out. She felt numb and useless; there was nothing she could do about any of this.

"Please stop telling me these things," she requested softly.

Soonyoung narrowed his eyes and glared at her. She could tell by how he clenched his fists that he was unsettled by her lack of interest. He looked like he had a lot of to say to her but was holding his tongue.

"What?" she asked.

"So you don't want to do anything about it?" he muttered under his breath.

"What can I do, Soonyoung? You're the crown prince. You go back and stop it. I can't do anything. I'm not even a princess anymore for crying out loud!" Yewon exclaimed.

"But I don't want you to be a princess!" Soonyoung snapped. "I want you to be a queen. I want you to marry me!"

Yewon froze.

"Marry me," he repeated more softly, this time gazing at her with gentle focus. "Please."

"That's... that's crazy," she stammered.

"Is it though? You asked me earlier why I'm here. Well, this is why, Yewon. I came to fulfill my brother's will and make you Queen of Solen."

"I... I can't, Soonyoung," she managed. "I wish I could, but I can't." She really meant it. Just considering it for a split second made her feel sick to the stomach– remarrying, going back to Solen, living in the country where her husband had died, getting involved in politics again, dealing with the people who killed her husband, carrying the responsibility of an entire country on her shoulders. She couldn't do it, and she didn't want to do it.

Soonyoung was clearly very upset by her refusal. "Just think about it," he pressed. "Please, Yewon. I can't just go back to Solen and claim the throne like this. The royals kill me without a second thought! I need you by my side to give me the power to overtake them."

"How will marrying me do anything for you? I'm not even a princess anymore. Marry one of my sisters­. They're prettier anyways, and they have better reputations too, and–"

"You really don't know, do you?" he cut her off, narrowing his eyes at her.

Yewon looked at him quizzically. "What?"

"Just go to Solen, and you'll see it immediately," Soonyoung stated.

"See what?"

"Your reputation," Soonyoung answered. "Yewon, no one has a better reputation than you in Solen. The people idolize you. Maybe in Galacia, people think you're a defector and a whore or whatever, but in Solen, you're like a... a legend."

Yewon really did not know that.

He further explained: "It took a while, but your stories have spread among the people, and everyone knows you. Now, there are thousands of anecdotes about you; many of them are exaggerated or untrue, but the point is that people in Solen love you very much."

Soonyoung explained that he had spent some time among the villagers after his life in the cave, and so he had heard the stories and saw how much people exalted her. He told her that everyone knew how she pardoned the maid who hurt her and showed mercy, and how she saved Solen from ruin by standing up to the King of Galacia and refusing to marry the prince of China, and how she stowed away in a ship and saved Wonwoo's life, and how she sacrificed her hair, and how she worked in a hospital and took care of sick patients. Those patients apparently also shared stories about their experiences with her, and all of those stories also circulated.