.forty seven.
"You had that dream again, didn't you?"
-
He held her close to his body when he woke up to his crying wife, trying to comfort her as tears spilled from her eyes. At the moment, she was unable to even speak, overwhelmed by what she had seen in that dream. It all felt so real to her. She could feel Yo's hatred towards them and the desperation of his other brothers to help them. But in the end it was all of no use. Wang Eun and Park Hak Soon had been slain by the king in power who was no longer Taejo, or crown Prince Wang Mu. It had to be several years into the future if he was the one to rule.
When she managed to calm down, her husband asked her, "You had that dream again, didn't you?" He had pulled away from her just a moment to read in the look on her face. She was terrified, her face soaked with tears.
Each time she had the dream, she would wake up a crying mess, clinging onto him for dear life. That was how she was now, her hands desperately grabbing at the material of his sleeping gown in fists. Her tears were beginning to soak the front of his gown. Minji had told him from the start what the nightmares were about--them being sought out like criminals by the palace guards and being taken into the court yard where so many times they had all had breakfast together. In her dreams it was all but a friendly visit like the ones they used to have. She told him of Yo, and how he had become king, and how he wanted them dead. How he had sent the guards to find them and bring them to him.
Eun was skeptical about her dreams when she told him about them. It wasn't that he thought she was lying, or that he didn't trust her. But Yo was his brother, one of his closest ones. He and eight others had all grown up together in the palace and were around the same age ranges. He thought that had to count for something. Yo had to think of their past bond growing up together under the same roof. He had to have at least some love for him and the other princes.
Still, he gave Minji the comfort she needed and held her in his arms until she felt better.
"It was just a bad dream." He told her, his voice gentle and soothing as he held her in his arms.
They remained in their bed together until the maids came in to help them with their morning routine. But Minji was still in shock over the events of the dream and wanted to keep Eun close to her. It was then that she decided to stop lingering in her feelings for Jung and embrace her marriage to the tenth prince.
He truly seemed to care for her, while she was still secretly holding feelings and pining over his younger brother. It was unfair to him and he deserved so much better than that. Minji decided she would make an effort to love him like he wanted. Perhaps in the end she would still not fall in love with him, but she would at least give it a try. The thought of losing him was too painful to bear and she knew from that that she at least had to like him a little bit.
There was a knock on their bedroom door, followed by the voice of one of the maids calling out to them. "Prince Eun...are you and your wife ready for us to come in?" Her small voice came from outside. It always bothered Minji that he was called by his own name, while she was just his wife. Like she wasn't her own person.
But she didn't have time for it to bother her too much, or for her to think about it then. Before her husband could speak, giving them permission to let them into the room, Minji placed her index finger over his lips to silence him. He watched her with curiosity as she replied to them instead. "Please take the day off and come back tomorrow." She instructed them, her voice was already calmed from her earlier crying. "I will personally take care of my husbands needs today."
