In This Life

Fate's Sardonic Humor

Song Ji

The first thing they were told when they'd arrived at the eunuch's quarters was to strip completely naked. As you can tell from the recent chapters, it was an obvious problem for Jeon Song Ji. The worry creases were evident on her forehead as she waited in line for the inspection. What was she supposed to do now? It was against the law to portray as a man. She mentally smacked her forehead. They'll send her away forever and most definitely have her executed. She stood at the back of the line, quietly pacing the mahogany corridor.

"What's eating you up?"

Song Ji's head looked up from the glossy floors and met the beady eyes of the fat eunuch that talked to her earlier. At the sound of the sincerity in his voice, her rigid posture softened. She was supposed to be a eunuch. Why would she need to worry about the inspection? Song Ji soon realized she now had two lives to live. And if she's not careful... both of them might as well be gone.

Instinctively, she blurted out the first thing that came to her head, "I'm hungry."

It wasn't a lie; she really was hungry since Mi Na hadn't packed her anything to eat during the long trip.

The eunuch's eyes rounded, and he cordially nodded his head, "I understand. Several times during the ride, I wanted to jump off that cart and snatch a stick of chicken from the vendor's stand."

Song Ji, too, wanted to escape that cart, not for a stick a chicken, of course, but for freedom. She smiled as her imagination took flight.

"My name is Choi Bok Hee, but people call me Pang."

She looked Bok Hee up and down and wasn't at all surprised that people called him Pang.

"Pang, as in bread?"

"I'm big-boned," He said, gesturing to his pot belly, "But the bread might have been a contributing factor."

The girl and the eunuch began to laugh, but everything came to a sudden halt when the entrance doors flung open. Out came a furious lady in shiny silk, her face as red as an apple.

"Kyung Soo!" She wailed as she charged into the corridor.

The lines of eunuchs all turned their heads to witness the alarming scene before them, including Song Ji and Pang.

"Where's Kyung Soo?" The lady growled to the first person she saw, which happened to be Song Ji.

"Um, h-he's inspecting the c-cuts, my lady," She stammered out.

Who was this madwoman?

"Fine, then you... and fatty," She pointed to Song Ji and then Pang, "Follow me."

With a whip of her hair, she marched back down the corridor while Song Ji looked at Pang for help. What should we do? She said with her eyes. Pang didn't get the chance to respond before the lady screamed again, "Do not make repeat myself!"

I guess that answers that; Pang shrugged, and together they followed the insane woman out the doors.

She walked pretty fast wearing those tiny shoes only proper ladies wore, leaving her and Pang to follow like dogs on a leash. Song Ji had no clue where they were heading. She examined the palace grounds and daydreamed she would have stayed and relished the colorful landscape, the greenery and flower if it weren't for the situation at hand. After scurrying past several large sections of the palace, the lady finally stopped at one of the houses connected to the royal manor bigger than Song Ji's and Mi Na's house combined.

"Go pack up everything in that room and bring it out. I want to leave this place before sundown."

In unison, the two eunuchs replied, "Yes, my lady."

They opened the doors, but Song Ji was too afraid to analyze the spacious room. She ran straight for the closet and began folding clothes into an empty chest while Pang carried the heavier items out of the room. Minutes later, another voice was heard through the thin walls. It belonged to a man who sounded both shaken and timid, which wasn't the most suitable combination to calm down the mad women with the screaming abilities of a banshee.

"Lady Yin Jidam, you must relax," He whispered to the girl.

She scoffed in reply, "Was that prince of yours ever taught manners? Why was he taking a lady for a walk in the worker's quarters, and for heaven's sake, he can't even remember my name!"

Song Ji suddenly recalled the day at the market with the old grandma and the snobbish girl in the carriage. The lady must have been one of the palace's guests rivalling the crown prince's heart.

"My lady, I will send someone for him right away!" The man squeaked.

The sound of their bickering continued until the doors of Lady Yin Jidam's room opened, and a head peeked through. Song Ji could tell that the man was a eunuch because of his black, round hat and rich green uniform. He was searching for something and finally found it when his eyes landed on Song Ji.

"You, scrawny!"

Song Ji's heart was in her throat as she looked to Pang for help. He only mouthed the words, not me.

"Quick! Go find the Crowned Prince!" He hissed at her.

She leapt up from her knees, her posture as stiff as a board, "I'm sorry. I don't know what his highness looks like."

The eunuch sighed, "Handsome, tall, most likely frowning, and walking around the worker's entrance. Tell him it's Byung-ho. Go!"

Byung-ho?

Byung-ho!

It's him! The guy Mi Na told her about. She can't believe she actually found him.

"Go! Now!"

Without a second thought, Song Ji nodded and was once again running through the foreign palace, trying to find the prince who she's never seen in her life. After several turns through different corridors, Song Ji was lost. Determined, she continued walking through somewhat familiar pathways, but the palace grounds were like a maze. Every turn she took felt like she was walking into the same place before, like a mouse running in circles.

Noblemen, ladies, and servants moved by, while Song Ji pretended to know where she was going. She must have been good since nobody came to ask why a dirty little man was walking around the palace's grounds.

Finally, she decided to make a sharp turn but ended up running into a wall.

Wait, it wasn't a wall... okay, yes, never mind, it was actually a wall.

"Ahhh," She hissed while rubbing her forehead.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked. It had belonged to a man who sound genuinely worried for her.

"No, I just ran into a wall."

"That's quite obvious," Another one said sarcastically.

She looked back up to see the faces of the two strangers, and when her eyes met the familiar face, it felt like she was hit with another wall.

No.

A knife.

A knife that cut deep into a wound that hasn't healed.

Why was he here? Out of all the places in this world, why was he here? That question repeated in Song Ji's head until suddenly everything rushed back to that day. She was back at the meadow, reading the books of glass slippers and pumpkin carriages, waiting on the bench for a boy that never came, and recalling her mother's face in the darkness of the empty library.

Why was he here?

Kwang So, her prince of flowers.

One last image of the begonia flower he gave her surfaced in her mind before everything went black.

~~~

Author's Note

Sardonic: 

adj.  Grimly mocking or cynical

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