Womanish Lady

Chapter 35:

   That night, Prince Kyuni returned earlier than usual. By the time he arrived, his bed area was reorganized and new furniture was added.

He tried to go to sleep, but the silence and the silhouette of Fuyaiyah, who sat on the other side of the newly brought room divider, distracted him.

"Don't you need sleep too, Fuyaiyah?"

Her silhouette barely moved and there was no reply. Then-

-"May I inquire you, Prince Kyuni?"

Her tone was back to being formal. But this time, it wasn't as firm. The Prince forgot to answer, but the sound of him sitting up in bed let her know that he was listening.

"What was in your mind the morning you invaded, destroyed, and enslaved my village? The Kingdom?"

There was a moment of silence. He sighed.

"I guess I couldn't have avoided that question after all."

Fuyaiyah's silhouette turned around a little.

"You wanted to avoid it?"

Prince Kyuni, who was looking forward to having a pleasant night conversation with her like the first night, was suddenly tired and laid back down.

"Let's talk about that soon."

She couldn't help but bang her palm on the table.

"It's always me giving out explanations all this time! You'd better answer that one question in exchange for all of this!"

Though the Prince grew fond of Fuyaiyah, he still had no tolerance for rebellion. He got out of bed and visited her behind the room divider being very upset.

"Father calls me for daily reports about you. If you settle down now, I'll leave this part out."

He got to see Fuyaiyah's emotional, crying face. A combination of that, the sensitive question, and her appearance in her nightwear made him sigh.

"Just like how you want to give explanations properly - so do I."

He turned around to go back to bed.

Fuyaiyah stood up.

"Your passiveness when personally destroying my village, your aggression when I was your slave, and your demeanor with me now - I doubt it could ever add up to a proper explanation." She cried and threw a pillow at him and ran out of the room.

Though inappropriate, the Prince felt like laughing.

"We're not even officially married yet, and we've already had our first couple's quarrel."

The Prince was tired, but Fuyaiyah hadn't returned from the harsh cold so he couldn't sleep.

He walked around his area with an umbrella for the snow, whispering for her.

Fuyaiyah, who would rather sleep in the cold, dark storage room, kept quiet.

The Prince never found her.

"Oh? Where's the Princess, my Prince?" Asked the maid the next morning as she served him breakfast, not knowing what to do with the extra plate of food.

Prince Kyuni just stared into blank space.

Fuyaiyah did not sleep well, and her body was stiff from the cold. She stood up and stretched in the cold storage room. Her mood was low.

"I don't feel comfortable enough to return to the chamber, though Prince Kyuni should be absent." She thought. "But, I can't go about my day in a nightgown."

The friendly and warm maid wasn't there when Fuyaiyah returned, which disappointed her. Nonetheless, she continued her business in the cold silence.

Two hours later, Fuyaiyah arrived at the Embroidery Palace. The scurrying maidens stopped and looked at her. For a moment, she almost forgot what she was doing there.

"Is Winter here?"

The majority continued to look at her while associating her with the recent rumors. But one maid ran off and quickly came back with Winter.

"What -! Don't just grab me! Hey!"

Winter was dragged onto the scene. She was upset at the one who dragged her, but when she saw Fuyaiyah, she got even more upset and left in the other direction.

"Winter! What're you doing? She's the new Princess!" Said a maiden in a half whisper.

"No she's not! She's just Fuyaiyah!"

Winter started to run off and Fuyaiyah ran after her. Nobody's been faster than her; she caught Winter, who pushed her away but stopped. Both girls caught their breaths in the stinging cold. Snow slowly started to fall.