Princess | Kim Jiwoong

Chapter 7 : The wedding

After the hectic and a long 5 days of wedding planning, today was the D-Day.

  The main character of today's big event,the bride, was getting her final makeup retouch before entering the aisle.
  Suddenly, The door of the dressing room was opened, revealing Zhang Hao.

Getting up from her seat, she looked at Huiying. Getting the signal, Huiying left with the other people in the room.

"My beautiful little sister, Looking as pretty as ever." Zhang Hao had his eternal hypocritical smile on.
  Hana wondered if he ever actually meant any of his seemingly empty compliments.

" The real battle starts from today." He pauses.

" It will be hard but I know our xiao liánhuā won't let us down."
    The way he worded his speech, the way his voice was bright yet cruel, the way his head was resting on his fisted palm, the subtle smug smirk on his face,
    Hana despised all of it.

Hao occasionally calls her xiao liánhuā.
  And she loathes it even more because it reminds her of the time somewhere in the past, when he used to say the same with a warm and tender smile.

Liánhuā or Lotus is the symbol of honesty, goodness, beauty and purity in the eyes of the Chinese people.
   But to the 6 years old Zhang Hao, it reminded him of his 11 months younger precious sister who tried to eat a lotus when they were taking a walk in the garden.

Tears brimming in her eyes, she plopped down on her knees in front of her brother's feet.

" Can't we just not do this. We will gain a lot solely from the marriage. Can't I just quitly stay here? Why are you even doing this? You already have everything, Hao." She pleaded with a shaky voice.
" I don't want to hurt the feelings of the people here."

Leaning forward, Zhang Hao moved the single strand of hair in front of her eye and tugged it behind her ear.
" Then just don't get caught"

"I don't want to play with people's feelings."
   The image of the queen asking her to call her 'mother',  Gyuvin shyly calling her 'sister-in-law' and Jiwoong calling her 'my fiancé', flashed before her eyes.

  The back of his index finger trailed down her jawline, to her chin.
Gripping it with his thumb, he harshly pulled her chin upwards, forcing her to meet his eyes.

He stared straight into her eyes, terrifying her with his gaze.
  Even with her blurry vision she could see his widened eyeballs and wide devilish smile.

" That's fancy coming from a murderer's daughter."  Her breath hitched at his words.

  " Dry your tears, Hana. It's your big day. Don't ruin your pretty makeup." He said letting go of her chin.

...

With hundreds of prestigeious personals from all over the world clapping, Hana walked down the aisle holding her father's arms.
    The king, her father knew nothing about the little puppet game Zhang Hao was playing with her, neither did he know about the little secret that he was holding against her.

Jiwoong's eyes widened at the sight of his bride walking towards him. She was looking much more breathtakingly stunning than he had imagined.

He noticed the vague reddiness in her eyes and a faint shakiness in her voice as she took her vows.

" I, Kim Jiwoong take you, Zhang Hana, as my wife."

" I, Zhang Hana, take you, Kim Jiwoong, as my husband."

They stared into each other's eyes.