Starfall. |Lee Know

Thirty-Five.

Three months after Minho left, and there was no single word from him. No clue where he was expelled. No updates on his case. He was still guilty of something he surely didn't do. He fell straight into the trap of his cousins and no one could help him out. Changbin and the boys were still trying their best, but those cousins left no evidence behind them. They planned and executed their scheme very professionally.

Dabin was in an active war with her family all the time. First, they let out an official statement on her situation that the engagement was off, and that Princess Dabin never knew about Minho's hidden intentions of using her and their marriage to cover up his hideous actions. Bullshit!

The statement went on and on about how Dabin was the victim in this case and how Minho was an evil cunny man to do that to the little innocent Dabin who was now heartbroken. Dabin watched that statement being aired and stated by their official spokesman on the TV. She had no idea there was a statement to be aired. When she demanded an explanation for the things said on her behalf, which she surely never uttered, her mother didn't even care to give her an answer. When Dabin started to protest, talk, and yell, she was just escorted back to her chambers and locked there so her mother wouldn't see her face.

Dabin was forced to take her ring off, but luckily, Changbin managed to save the ring from the clutches of his mother and return it back to Dabin who cried her heart out when the ring was taken away from her. The weak girl didn't need anything that might break her for more, and Changbin had nothing left in his hands to do for her.

Again, Dabin became the forgotten princess, left and neglected in her faraway wing in the palace with no one to care for her, until she started to forget herself. She was barely eating and drinking. She might spend the whole day without moving a single muscle, and weeks might pass by without her uttering a word. She was slowly and painfully fading.

"Your Highness, Your Highness!"

Dabin snapped out to find one of the maids standing at her door, calling for her for God knows how long. Dabin looked at her with empty eyes and an emotionless face.

"You have a guest." The maid announced politely. "He's waiting in the living room."

A guest? Who would be visiting her? No one ever does come to her wing. She had no one but Changbin. Heavily, Dabin pushed the covers away and stood up from her bed. She put on her slippers and walked to the door as slow as a walking dead.

"Your Highness, let me help you change and refre-" The maid offered but Dabin just shooed her away and walked past her to the opposing door which was the living room of her wing.

Dabin was in her grey nightgown and bed hair that was braided two days before and hadn't been washed or even brushed since then, simply because she was asleep for those two days. Once she entered the room, her heavy steps alerted her guest who turned around to face her with a wide smile, but that smile dropped once he saw her state.

She had lost at least ten kilograms of her weight. Her usually naturally blushed cheeks were pale. Her bones were more prominent. Her eyes looked wider yet lifeless. Her hair looked like it might fall off her scalp.

"P-Princess Dabin," He uttered.

Dabin looked at him weirdly. Why was he here?

Why was Prince Hyunjin visiting her?

He wasn't even one of the closest to her to be checking on her or anything, let alone visiting her chambers.

"You-r H-Highness," Dabin said and bowed formally, immediately regretting it as she felt her world spin.

Hyunjin was fast to catch her before she fell. "Oh, God! You are so weak, Princess." Hyunjin said with much concern. He walked her to the nearest couch and sat her down before sitting by her side. "What happened to our beautiful princess? Are you even eating?"

"I'm eating enough to stay alive." She gave him a broken smile.

"It doesn't seem like that." Hyunjin sighed. "If Minho was here and saw you like this, he wou-"

"What brought you here, Prince Hyunjin?" Dabin cut his words, not enjoying being guilted about not being able to eat or even bear the sight of food.

Hyunjin pulled something from his pocket. A rectangular velvet blue box. "I came to give you this." He handed it to Dabin. "It's something Minho said 'you really liked and wished to have'."

Dabin jolted and snatched the box out of his hands. Flashbacks from the night she spent at Minho's private palace. The night before hell broke. That morning Minho said he had something for her. 'Something she really liked and wished to have'. She remembered he said he would leave that 'something' to later when it was ready and when he wanted to impress her.

With a thudding heart, Dabin opened the box to find a key. A large one that was beautifully carved with its head in the shape of a curvy star, having a blue stud in the middle of it.

"There was a land in my kingdom that used to be mine." Hyunjin talked as Dabin's eyes were still planted on the key. "It's a little bit special. It's a remote private one where no soul steps there. A land on the sand of the beach, having a magnificent view of the ocean. After your engagement, Minho literally blackmailed me for this land." Hyunjin chuckled. "He didn't stop until he had his hands on it. And shortly after, construction started there. He had a specific beach house in mind. A small, warm, and cozy one. A simple one that would embrace both of you away from the hustle of our busy lives. A beautiful house by the beach and under the starry sky."

By then, Dabin was crying her heart out.

It might have slipped out of Dabin's lips how she adored the ocean at the Hwang Kingdom and how she wished to have a house there, not knowing that her fiance was actually working on making her dream come true.

"The constructions are done now." Hyunjin resumed. "This key is yours and you can go there whenever you want." Hyunjin extended his hand to her chin to lift her head up. He gave her a knowing look. "Remember, this house is in an empty private secluded area, and no single soul knows of its existence."

He uttered and immediately, Dabin's dormant braincells made their comeback.