The Queen and her National Treasure

Chapter 20

Third person's POV

Mina's tantrum has calmed down a little after Chaeyoung gave in. She has stopped crying but is still sniffing from too much tears,

On the other hand, seeing that the girl has kinda stopped crying a little bit, the Queen continues to ask, 'Then can you tell me why were you crying so hard? Huhm Mina?' She adoringly reaches her hand over and wipes the tears away from Mina's cheeks,

And that is what Mina has been waiting for, the adoration from the Queen is the green light for her to pout her way out of the pending punishment. She starts to sulkily tell Chaeyoung with her still super adorable pouting lips, 'It's because... I feel so sad. Last time I really did try... to escape the palace, and... that's why when you punished me... I didn't have a word of complain. But this time, Your Majesty, I wasn't running away... but... but you don't want to hear my explanation. You just want it... your way because... because Your Majesty doesn't... love me any more. You said that I... I'm your National Treasure, but then you... you want to punish me so harshly. Why would you... want to hurt your Treasure, Your Majesty?'

The Queen's heart flipped up side down because of how adorable that was. No matter how upset or grumpy or jealous she is at the moment, all of those feelings quickly vanish into thin air, and what left is the overflowing love she has for this gorgeous Princess. Chaeyoung stares at Mina for a while, then she slowly and gently pulls the girl into her warm embrace, hugging Mina with so much love and care, as if she is hugging the most fragile and precious thing on earth, 'Of course you are my Treasure, a Treasure so so precious that I love and adore with all my heart.'

Mina buries her face into the crook of the Queen's neck, still sniffing a little, 'Then... why would you want... to punish me with... 30 strokes of flogging? Your Majesty, please... don't, because... because those will... hurt a lot...'

Chaeyoung squeezes Mina so tight as a reassurance, she starts to gently caress the girl's silky hair to soothe her, 'I know, I know they hurt. And believe me I would never put you through another stroke of flogging again, never again. Unlike last time, things were unavoidable because everyone was witnessing it, this time I made sure to not say anything about any punishment in front of anyone because my Treasure, I have no plan to punish you. I only mentioned about the flogging to you just to vent out my frustration, because... I was quite grumpy, because I had so many different thoughts in my head, because... I actually am so scared.'

Mina looks up at Chaeyoung with her innocent eyes, 'What are you scared of, Your Majesty?' She asks,

'I'm scared that... that someone else... might take my Treasure away from me.' The Queen admits, this is certainly the first time ever, she is stuttering,

Mina tilts her head a little, 'Someone will take me away?' She thought, 'But she got the evil bandit killed, why is she still scared that I will be taken away?' And right then, a different thought suddenly came into Mina's mind, 'Perhaps....?' She remembered the changes on Chaeyoung's face when she told her about how JeongYeon and herself were at the flower field together, and also Mina certainly remembered how the smile quickly disappeared from the Queen's face when she saw JeongYeon held her wrist. Mina quickly diverts her eyes to Chaeyoung, 'Could it be that... she's jealous?' She questioned herself,

'Somebody indeed tried to sway me...' Mina tests the water while studying The Queen's face,

And right away, Mina could literally feel Chaeyoung's body tenses up, this great Queen's ever so bright and determined pair of eyes quickly turned cloudy and vulnerable. As of that instant, Mina got the answer, 'So... all of this was because she is jealous?' She concluded inside her head,