Masters of the Sea

003

Lee Sol had been waiting alone in the bridal chamber for over two hours.

Throughout the past two hours she could hear the sounds of the wedding revellers enjoying the banquet in the great hall, but as per tradition, the bride was not allowed to partake in any of the festivities. It wasn't as though she wanted to. This wasn't her wedding, it was her funeral. The day on which the Lee Sol of the past would be buried forever, replaced by a soulless girl that they would now call the crown princess of Goguryeo.

As the sounds of the festivities faded away into the night, she tapped her fingers on her thighs restlessly, wondering how soon it would be before the man she would now have to call husband would walk in through those doors. The anxiety and nervousness was real—who wouldn't be on their wedding night? Even if the man you were marrying was someone you had never seen before.

Ten minutes passed.

Thirty minutes.

An hour.

By now the banquet should have been long over, but still there was no sign of the groom.

Where on earth is he? Did he pass out from having too much to drink?

Just as she was contemplating the possibilities for his delay, a cautious knock came at the door and someone walked in. Lee Sol clenched her fists tightly in anticipation of what was to come. She had imagined what it would be like on the night of her wedding before, but in her imagination, the groom was always Sunghyun. Now that it wasn't, all those expectations were knocked into disarray. What kind of a man was Go Yeon? Who exactly had she married?

It was premature to be worrying about that, because Go Yeon wasn't the one who had just walked in. Instead, the meek voice of a servant girl greeted her ears. "Your Highness, I am here to help you get changed. Please rest early tonight, the prince will not be coming. He will only be back in the morning..."

Lee Sol couldn't quite believe what she just heard. "What did you just say?"

"The... the prince will not be coming tonight," the girl stammered, repeating what she had previously conveyed.

"What?" Lee Sol ripped off the veil covering her face, staring in disbelief at the servant girl who was trembling in front of her.

Seeing the enraged look on her face, the girl immediately dropped to her knees. "Your Highness, please don't be angry, I... I am just following orders..."

This was the night of her wedding, the wedding between the princess of Baekje and the crown prince of Goguryeo. Yet she was now being told that her husband would not even be coming to see her tonight. This was definitely not how she had envisioned her wedding to be. Even if she didn't care for him, her pride couldn't take the lying down.

"Where is he?" she asked, trying hard to control the rising anger inside her.

The girl simply shook her head. Either she honestly didn't know or she had been given orders not to say a word. Lee Sol suspected it was the latter.

Since she wasn't going to be able to get any information from this girl, she would just have to take matters into her own hands and find out for herself. She stood up from the bed and walked towards the door.

"Your Highness, where are you going? You're not supposed to leave the bridal chamber until sunrise! It's against tradition!" the servant girl exclaimed in alarm when she realised what the princess was doing. According to tradition, the bride was not to step out of the bridal chamber until the sun rose the next morning, or else the marriage would be doomed to fail.

Lee Sol laughed at the irony. It doesn't really matter does it? This marriage is a farce anyway. It was doomed to fail even before it began. She ignored the protests of the servant girl and continued walking straight ahead and out of the room.