Veil of the Dusken Rose - #ambw (18+)

32장 || Ephemeral Echoes

Neeria's pov

"My lady, these hairpins accent your beauty perfectly," my head handmaiden gushed. I offered her a smile in thanks as she secured the carved ornaments in my coiffed locks.

I glanced up as a familiar face appeared in my bedchamber doorway.

"Unnie! How beautiful," Uhn Yuhn declared, breezing into my bedchamber with an armful of folded linens. I bit back a laugh - only Yuhn would carry out her household tasks even while paying a social visit.

I chuckled, warming at the praise from one so dear, and held obligingly still as my cosmetics were seen to. The scent of crushed ginseng filled the air. "You lift my spirits with your visit this morning, Uhn Yuhn. To what do I owe the pleasure? Is the general any better?"

Yuhn came to stand beside me. "He hasn't made much adjustment. However, he's not dead. To put it bluntly."

"Enough about me," she sighed. "What is your prince making you do today?" She asked, lowering her voice.

She looked at me, like she was hiding something in her gaze. Still, I chose not to press forward.
Instead I shot her a wry look at her gentle teasing but felt an anticipatory flutter of what to expect nonetheless.

"Flatterer," I murmured, first allowing the finishing touches to my hanbok.

"Anyways, I'm not all too sure. The queen dowager invited me to join. I was planning on paying Lady Jeongsun a visit so I had Ji-hye and another worker go over to tell the guards I'd be late."

" Anything else planned for today?" She asked.

"I don't know. You seem to know my schedule now better than I," I remarked wryly. "What else might be on the docket today that I am ignorant of?"

I turned with an arched brow to find Uhn Yuhn studying her nails with sudden nonchalance.

" One step at a time." Uhn Yuhn said as she patted my shoulder.

"Now. let's hurry. I saw Lady Yoon on the way here, so I feel like it's something worth witnessing."

Soon enough we arrived to the meeting hall. Before I could even speak, the Queen Dowager had grasped Uhn Yuhn and I by the wrists gently and all but dragged us into the royal meeting chamber in a hurry.

I mouthed 'What's happening?' to Yuhn as we were pulled across the cavernous room.

I stumbled slightly, blinking in the sudden change from daylight courtyard to dim, cavernous room. Across the expanse of inlaid marble floor, I glimpsed the Crown Prince pivot to face us.

Even at a distance I noticed subtle signs of amusement- the squaring of his shoulders, the muscle feathering along his sharp jawline.

The Dowager's insistent tugging drew my attention away. "Come along girls, let's not keep His Highness waiting," she trilled, though her usually genial features were pinched with evident consternation.

As we crossed the room, I risked a shy smile at the Prince but his gaze remained fixed elsewhere, brow furrowed as if he was offended to hear the words he was hearing. He seemed distracted, preoccupied in thought. On occasion he scoffed to himself absentmindedly.

As we drew nearer to the front, I glimpsed Lady Yoon clinging to the arm of a younger woman who shared her strong bone structure. Her daughter, perhaps? But the girl seemed to curl inward under the attention, as if wishing to disappear entirely.