Crowned Prince | hendery

32: My Life and My Breath

"You have not looked my way from the moment that I have sat here with you." Hendery was now sitting down outside the room with which they placed the mother giving birth and the children anxiously waiting for their mother.

"Now is not the time." Taeha glances over at the children who were probably going to be traumatized upon hearing their mother's screams and shouts of pain.

The small house was not the ideal place for her to give birth to the last child with her late husband, but the situation was not the best in the town and for their family. They were simply living in the impoverished of the war that was upon them. She was thinking of ways her small hands could help them.

"Taeha."

She raises her head and looks at Hendery, who was much more than mad, looking at her worried.

"There is no need to worry, she will be fine."

Taeha shakes her head. "I do not worry about her well-being. She is a mother that has a will to live for her children."

"Then what is the reason behind your worry?"

Taeha looks at the prince, doubting how he was handling this all. There was much more to worry about aside from their marriage. This was the prince reclaiming the lands of his mother from a foreign tyrant ruler. He should not be worrying about her stubborn wife, who did not want to be sat out of the problem as she usually is.

"Are you the prince?" Jun, the little boy who had asked Taeha earlier, walked up to the two of them and placed his small arms on top of his thighs.

Hendery looked over to the side. "I am a prince, if that is what you want me to be." He lifts the child into his arms before placing him on his thighs.

"You look like a prince."

"That is the highest praise I have heard from someone." Hendery smiles and leans in closer towards Jun.

She knew it was a lie. He hated being called a prince, he hated how people only associated him with the name. Yet, when he is in front of the people to which he serves– in this case, even if he does not– he would smile and tell them gladly that he indeed adores his position.

He was an expert politician.

Which is why she could not seem to wrap her head upon the idea that he wishes out of his position. Their may have been hearsay, but none could ever truly compare to being in such a presence as he had. He was commanding yet he was kind and gentle. He knew when to wield his power and when to act in kindness. He would be a perfect king.

"Then we're you a princess all this time, Taeha?" Jun turns towards the girl sitting beside Hendery and watching their little exchange.

"Why do you think that I am a princess?"

"Are you not married? And the prince and princess always get married to each other." He tilts his head to the side as he looks between Hendery and Taeha.

Hendery and Taeha exchanged knowing looks immediately. Since Hendery has arrived here, there has not been a moment where they were talking except for right now. No part of their bodies were touching except for their shoulders as they sat and waited upon the birth of the next sibling of this kind household. They were sure that there were no signs that they were married.

"You are one smart child!" Hendery couldn't help but smile. "How is it that you knew?"

"You looked at Taeha like how my father once looked at my mother."

Hendery's eyes grew wide at the comment. He doesn't want to make it all too obvious, but he feels his face heat up at the remark of the young boy.

"Taeha is my wife."

During the time she had run away, she wanted to forget about it, but it was the only thing that constantly ran through her mind. If he was alive and well and whether or not he has been sleeping well. As Taeha glances at his side profile as Hendery stares at the little boy, she could not help but feel relieved that he was well. THough it was clear that sleep has not been this prince's priority. The bags beneath his eyes and his tired demeanor spoke loudly about his well being.

"Then you must love each other." There was a certain gleam in the eyes of this child. One that made it hard to ruin his spirit if told the truth about their union.

Hendery nods his head. "I love her."

Taeha's eyes grew twice– even thrice the size it normally is as she sits there staring at him with her cheeks feeling a lot hotter than usual.

In the time that they've spent, from the anguish and frustration to the downright disrespect of Hendery throwing her back to Sui– where she could have harbored every thought of hatred for the prince– not once did she ever think that she hated him.

"Father had always called my mama his life and breath–" Jun's eyes were shining between the two of them– "is Taeha also your life and breath?"

The mother and his late husband must have been so in love for their children to admire a marriage like this.

It reminds her of what she once believed in.

"Taeha–" Hendery turns his head towards her all of a sudden as if she wasn't already shocked with his confession earlier, her heart drops once their eyes meet– "she is the light of my life and my breath." He turns towards Jun with a smile on his face and ears red. "Just like your mother was to your father."

Taeha looks away as she comes to be shaken by the shouts of pain that the mother was letting out. Yet at his side, the little Jun was laughing and giggling in Hendery's arms.

How was she able to hold back on her feelings for this long?