.sixty eight.
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"Watch how you speak to the princes of Goryeo, lest you want to lose your ability to speak."
-
Minji returned to her house to find everyone in a frenzy searching for her, and she realized she had probably been gone far longer than she intended to.
There were guards at the front of the property as was the usual, but she could hear footsteps of others as they searched the entire property from top to bottom. The guards at the front saw her and one walked up to her with relief flooding his words. "Lady Hak Soon, your husband and family have been looking all over the estate for you. Please come with me and I will take you to them." He said to her with a voice full of respect, taking her arm gently to lead her in the direction of her house. Minji still found it strange that grown men, capable of bending anyone with the blade of their sword, could give her any respect. But she was the wife of a prince now and they had to be obedient.
She merely nodded her head and let him lead her further into the estate.
As they approached the house where she lived with her children and Eun, she heard her husband's voice calling out to her. "Hak Soon-ah." His voice was so full of worry, and yet there was relief that they had found her. He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. "Please don't scare me like that again. I thought something terrible happened. I couldn't possibly continue living without you." His words had a way of unsettling her because he hadn't said this to her just once, but several times already. That he could not, or would not, want to live without her. It was like in her dream, which she hadn't had for a while now, where she had been killed and he asked his brother to end his life shortly after.
Minji forced a small smile onto her face, still upset by what she heard earlier. She didn't want to ask, but she thought that by now her husband was probably engaged to that other woman. "I'm fine, love. Don't worry about me."
Her sister embraced her as well, telling her how worried they were when they couldn't find her. Then they all went in the house to share some lunch together. Minji sat at the table just waiting for her husband to give the announcement--that he was replacing her with someone better. The king was probably overjoyed at this, since he didn't seem to like Minji anymore.
Though it wasn't Minji who asked Eun about the woman who had been visiting the house on several occasions, but rather his younger brother Han. "Hyung, who was that girl that came by earlier to talk to you? You even made us leave you two alone." As the words left his mouth, his brother shot him death glares because he didn't want Minji to know about it. Minji had already been telling him that she would be fine with him getting a second wife, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings by having her know that a woman was coming by to make such proposals to him.
Minji now listened attentively for his response. Eun heaved a heavy sigh as he finally had to clear everything. He didn't want Minji to find out about it, but now here was his younger brother opening his mouth when he wasn't supposed to. He would have to have a talk with him about it later. "She's some woman his majesty sent for me. But I've dismissed her several times because I'm not interested. I told her if she really wanted to marry a prince of Goryeo, there's always Jung-ah. He's still single." He continued eating his food happily as though he didn't have a care in the world about his youngest brother. Minji couldn't bear to hear how the two talked about each other, like they were sworn enemies rather than brothers.
Minji tensed at the mention of her former lover, the man she was going to marry. She had just seen him that day, and though he hadn't caused any emotions to stir within her, she didn't want him married off to someone he didn't love. Still, she said nothing about it, and neither did the others. There was nothing more to talk about. Eun wasn't interested in her, and had turned her down twice already.
