• Barren Land •

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Chapter thirty: Barren Land

"Father!" The now Queen Hwa Young muttered, eyes firm as she gaze at the man across to her

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"Father!" The now Queen Hwa Young muttered, eyes firm as she gaze at the man across to her. "I don't want it! Let's stop this! You already got what you want! I am Queen, just like what you've always wanted me to! It's time to stop!" She hissed, making sure that her voice won't be heard by her attendants on the other side of her room's door. "Please, for me, just stop." She pleaded, eyes brimming with tears but the man in front of her did not even flinch.

His aged, firm, face stared at her. No emotion can be seen in his eyes.

"Please...I don't want to do it. We've given enough pain, we've ruined enough lives!" Hwa Young continued.

The man sighed, "I am still not a Prime Minister." He seethed. "Your cunning King really chose a lowly scum to be his Prime Minister!?"

"But I am Queen! I hold enough authorities that you can use! So let's stop this and just settle—"

"I DID NOT START ALL OF THESE JUST TO SETTLE!" The man's voice boomed loudly inside the Queen's room.

Hwa Young stared at her father, or whoever it was sitting across to her. She no longer see the rightful man she used to call her father, she no longer see love on those black orbs. She've completely lost the man that raised her.

"You...You're hideous." She muttered, catching the man off guard. "You're not my father! Get out! Get out of my palace!" She shouted loud enough for the women outside to hear. "I don't want to see you after this." Hwa Young gritted, calling out for the men guarding her room to usher the aged man out.

"If you think you can stop me just because you have the title of Queen, remember that the person who previously owns that title tried to do the same and did not succeed! So how can someone like you, when you're far different and weaker than her!" The man gritted while being ushered by the Queen's men. Eyes glaring on the woman. "I was the one who put you in that seat!" Was the last thing Hwa Young heard before her father completely disappear from her sight.

Hwa Young clutched her robe, she cried silently, regretting every seconds she've spent inside her own palace that the King have given her.
It's been long since Hyun Ae was vanished for being wrongly accused of adultery. And it's been long since Jungkook visited her.

She has no one now but herself. And she deserve it.

She was nothing but a puppet of her father. She was living in constant fear and regret. And now she has to live a life where people would not hesitate to harm her.

Hwa Young never dreamed of being in a palace, and there she was, experiencing the same thing her friend goes through because of her.
But the difference was—Hyun Ae don't deserve it, and she does.

  "Your Majesty," Her attendant said from the outside of her room, moments after her father left. "The King was outside wishing to see you."

Hwa Young immediately wiped her tears away, composing herself. Jungkook shouldn't see any hint of vulnerability on her, or he'll be suspicious.

"Let him in." She muttered as she stood up, waiting to welcome her King.

The door opened. The serious face of Jungkook was the first thing she see.

Hwa Young bowed in respect, "What brings you here, Your Majesty?" She said, still trying to whisk her tears away.
The sight of Jungkook was enough to make her feel more vulnerable. At that moment, just want to wrap her arms around the man and cry.

Jungkook is the only safe place for her. 

The King entered without any word, motioning her to sit back down.

"I heard you've visited a physician." The man muttered, no hint of any emotion.

Hwa Young stiffened on her seat, her heart suddenly pounding loudly inside her chest.
"I...uh, yes I did, Your Majesty." She forced herself to say.

Jungkook stared at her, causing her to feel more afraid of what was coming. She can't read the man, no emotions was plastered on his face, making it harder for Hwa Young to know what he was thinking.

"I want to hear the truth, nothing but the truth." The man finally muttered, and at that point, Hwa Young can now hear the loud thump of her heart.

The firmness on the man's voice was enough for Hwa Young to know that he knows.

"What..What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Hwa Young asked, her mind refusing to accept her reality. She know what the young King meant, she just can't believe it's real.

"Please Hwa Young, tell me the truth." The man muttered.

Hwa Young...

It's the first time Jungkook muttered her name. He always call him Hui Bin, the name he've given her when she was just a mere Consort. The name that symbolize her being the light to the King's dim world. The star of his sun.

But now...he's calling her name with nothing but firmness, perhaps a hidden taunt of hate.

"One mistake is enough, Hwa Young." His next words confirmed Hwa Young's assumption.

He do know.
The King know.

"You've done one mistake already. That should be enough. Please don't do another mistake that would completely drawn me away from you." The King muttered.
"Please don't fake your pregnancy. I know you're a barren."

Hwa Young felt her world shaking. It was suddenly hard to breathe.
She was being faced by reality now, and she's not ready.

"When..When did you know." Hwa Young weakly said, her hand shaking on both of her sides. "H-How.."

"I may look ignorant but I am not a fool." The King hissed. "I know since the beginning that you've been secretly meeting a physician outside the palace. I know the days you've sneaked out to meet that Uinyeo." 
"And how can a woman carry my child when we've never consummated even before the former Queen's vanishment!?" Jungkook hissed.

One by one, Hwa Young's tears came out of her eyes.

"Please forgive me!" She cried, bowing lowly on the man. Begging him. "Please forgive me, Jungkook! I didn't want it! I never want any of it! My father...my father was the one behind all of these! I tried to get away, I tried to refused, but he has his control over me!" The woman begged, taking Jungkook's hand in her as she continue to cry.

That was painful to bear for the young King, but what was more painful was the woman that deserves to be beside him were thrown out of the palace. Hyun Ae was suffering because of their hunger for power. Someone was suffering because of Hwa Young's silence.

"Tell me, what were you and your father has been planning!?" Jungkook raised his voice, the first time he've done to her. "What were you planning to do after faking being fertile! For faking to carry my child!?"

Hwa Young sobbed, "There was a woman my father pay, she was carrying a child..and that child will—"

"You're going to take a stranger's child to be my heir?" Jungkook can no longer handle everything. He felt so stupid. So pathetic.

Greed really make people do unexpected things. And all of these, for power?

"Do you know what that would bring?" Jungkook hissed, voice weak. He felt so betrayed. "That would bring nothing but misfortune to the land MY FAMILY BUILT!" He growled. Voice making the woman flinch. "You're letting a commoner's child to soon rule this land? How can you be so cruel!? First it was my brother now it's my child!" Jungkook cried, swatting the woman's hand away from him and standing up to leave.

Hwa Young continued to beg, to cry.
Her fear just happened. Jungkook finally found out.



















A/N: y'all actually think I'd do my man dirty????? Jungkook has my favor so....well see you next week!!!! HHAHAGSSJKSSHHAHAAH

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