Heart of Ice

Hawk

Without even realizing it, Yewon had given her brother the power to manipulate her. His words rang loudly in her ears. I'll order the guards to kill him. He said it with such ease, like it didn't bother his conscience at all that he was mentally torturing her, let alone threatening to kill someone in cold blood.

She felt caught in the greatest dilemma she had ever faced in her life, and for a long time, she could not even begin to dwell on it or she'd feel herself in a mental breakdown.

It took her many hours of stress before she could finally try to think about the options that Jihoon was giving her: if she didn't marry Jun, Wonwoo's life was at stake, and if she did, a large-scale war was at stake. She was in the center of this power struggle, and so much depended on her decision.

Weighing things on a purely political level, Wonwoo's life was a lot less important than the destructive war that this marriage would bring. However, Yewon could not remain political about this. She could not imagine knowingly doing something that would end Wonwoo's life. This was Wonwoo, her sweet, mellow prince for whom she had fallen, with whom she had shared intimate moments and whom she trusted with all her heart

She couldn't do it. Neither option seemed to work for her, and so she had to think of others.

The first she could think of was a fake pregnancy. However, there was so much that could possibly go wrong with that plan, including the fact that her father would wait to make sure her belly was indeed growing like it should. And it wouldn't grow like it should, and she would be exposed as a liar.

There was one other thing that was there, lingering in the back of her head. She was the center of this dilemma. She was the reason that Wonwoo would die, and she was the reason an alliance with China would take place. All that had to happen was for her to disappear for both threats to dissolve. All she had to do was die. She had thought about dying before when she threatened Seungcheol with her own life before. However, she had made that threat with no intention of ever carrying it out.

But this time, that prospect was there, and it was something that she did have the intention of carrying out. It made her tremble, but it seemed like the only solution, the only way out of this dilemma. Even if the consequences aren't crystal clear, at least her brother would have no reason to execute Wonwoo.

Maybe Jun would marry one of her sisters and the alliance would still take place, which seemed a worse option than Yewon marrying him herself. It made her shudder to imagine one of her sisters in the arms of that man. That sister would suffer in her marriage life and the alliance would still take place.

Suddenly, dying did not seem like the optimal solution either.

She thought about maybe just threatening her brother with her own life. Maybe that would guilt Jihoon out of coercing her into it. Jihoon was a determined person, but she knew that his sisters were his weakness, including her. She knew that Jihoon loved her very much, and so she knew that threatening to end her own life would trigger something in him.

-

She went to Jihoon's room later that day, prepared to make her threat.

He was seated at his desk reading letters when Yewon entered, a determined look on her face.

"Well, I'm happy to see you aren't crying and moping," Jihoon said as she entered.

"I'm here to fight back," Yewon told him.

"Fight back?"

"I'm going to respond to your ultimatum with another ultimatum."

Jihoon sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, waiting for her to say what she wanted to say. He didn't look like he expected much from her.