Continuation, Part 3.

There were only two persons. Hwon smiled as he opened the door to the enclosed pavilion, and he sees Woon standing on the other side of the bridge.
“Do you know where this place is?”
Wol just stood still at the door, and did not go in.
“I do not know.”
“This is ChwiRoJeong(翠露亭). My father used to come to this place with my mother. They were always surrounded by officials and palace maids all day, and therefore they always wished they could have a time and place where they could just be alone together. The reason why I brought you here today is because I want you to accompany me to look at the moonlight.”
The moonlight shines on his face, his body, and also reflected on his smile.
“Actually this area of the palace has some tigers. If you continue to stand down there, the tigers will come out and ask you, why are you standing there? Come here quickly.”
“Tigers?”
“Yes. Don’t tell me you have never heard of rumors that the palace infested with tigers?”
A smile of disbelief surfaced on Wol’s face. Seeing her smile, Hwon felt relaxed, and happy.
He continues to tell her about the tigers in the palace.
“How can there be tigers here? I cannot believe it.”
“I am really not lying.”
Wol still hesitated to come nearer to Hwon, so Hwon said: “Are you not one bit sad that we will waste this precious time of ours together? We will have to leave here sooner or later... Maybe even now. They will be here soon. The time we have together is really short.”
Hwon’s words were like magic. Wol slowly moved closer to him. Hwon lowered his head so Wol was unable to see his eyes. Only until Wol was right next to him, then she was able to see how sad he looked. She lifted her hands and gently puts in on his face to comfort him. Hot tears were falling down Hwon’s cheeks.
“Wol....”
Hwon pulled Wol to sit down next to him, and he could hear the cries from within her. He could not help but to pull her into his embrace. Even as the King, he was unable to stop her tears from falling.
“Wol, tell me. What is your name? Who are your parents? Who are the ones that cause you so much pain? Tell me, I can help you.”
“My name is Wol, and I am only a shaman.”
Even if it was only the two of them, she was unable to get the words “Yeonwoo”, out of her mouth. She could only answer like that.
“I am Heo Yeonwoo. I do not know if you’ve forgotten my name, but I am Heo Yeon Woo. I am that Yeonwoo that send you letters through my brother. How can I forget those writings… And our break up, did you forget? Yeonwoo remembers it.”(I’m not too sure about this translation, forgive me for the errors.)
Hwon holds Wol tightly by her waist. He could hear and see her sorrow and pain, but was helpless. He had a lot of things to ask her, but he was afraid that Wol would not be able to answer him, so he held it in.
The gentle wind blew pass the tress, rustling the branches.
“If you stop crying, I will tell you a story about the wind.”
“Can you hear the cries of the wind?”
“Come into my embrace, and you will hear what I can hear.”
Hwon gently pulls Wol down onto his lap, as he tries to help her wipe away her tears.
“Even though I am only able to wipe away your tears now, what I want to do is to wipe away the tears in your heart.”
Just as what Hwon wanted, a soft smile finally surfaced on Wol’s face. However in Wol’s heart, she feels guilty because she is lying to Hwon.
She knew that in her life now, she should not have this kind of desires, but she could not resist her gazes at Hwon. The two of them starts to walk over the bridge and heads back. Looking at the pale moonlight, Hwon’s heart was yearning Wol and therefore, he recites a poem.
“Thinking about each other and seeing each other are things I can have in dreams.
When I came to see you happily, you happily came to see me.
Wishing, in that distant other night’s dream….
At the same time, let us together arrive and meet in the middle of the road.”
This was the same poem that Yeonwoo wrote to Hwon when they were young. And at this very moment, Hwon remembers it again.
Wol looks at him in shock, but only sees a wry smile upon Hwon’s face.
“This was the poem I loved when I was still a crown prince. Till today, I always think of it. I just thought that this poem was describing our relationship. When I wake up, you’re asleep, when I’m asleep, you’re awake. Even if I long to see you even in my dreams, it can only just be a wishful thinking.”
“Do you still think of Yeonwoo?”
To cover up the pain that she was trying to hide, she tried to show joy in her eyes, and then went up to embrace him.
Hwon was happy because Wol finally got close to him on her own will. From that moment, he puts Yeonwoo away in an important corner of his heart, and puts Wol there as well. Wol suddenly recites a poem to him.
“The moon is climbing up above the sea. Although we are far away from each other, we share the same time.”
As Hwon hears the poem, his body stiffens up. This was the first poem he wrote to Yeonwoo.
“I finally realize, even though we’ve never met, and that they are now a world apart, that girl is now the one that is closest to his heart.”
As Hwon tightly embraces Wol, he did not realize that Woon has already silently walked up to his side, and from over Hwon’s shoulders, he peered at Wol. But within seconds, he hides his eyes away.
“I actually wasted precious time of ours because of those stupid thoughts of mind. All this while, I was living between the living Wol, and the deceased Yeonwoo. But how can I actually compare the living and the deceased? Or is it that was just my own thinking that made me frustrated.”
Woon hears the footsteps of the officials and palace maids coming closer. Hwon’s escape for the night has come to an end.
Wol hurriedly pushed Hwon away, and stood in a presentable position. They appear before the retainers as the King and the shaman, with a respectable distance between them.
“Wol, let’s escape together again the next time. I want to bring you to a bigger lake, where we can row boats and look at flowers together. We can also look at the ducks in the lake.”
Wol smiled, as she remembers the pond young Hwon once mentioned to her.
The officials and guards arrive.
“Stop nagging. I only wanted to enjoy the joy of playing hide and seek.”
“His majesty, how can you just vanish like that? You must watch your health.”
“Let’s go back.”
Once they returned to Hwon’s quarters, Woon starts to express his worries.
“His majesty, how could you give your robe to a shaman to wear?”
“Don’t tell me as a King, when I bring her to a freezing place, I must see her shiver in the cold? She just listened to my order.”
“That was not what I meant.”
“Wol, tell me. I brought you to that place right?”
Wol did not reply, she just sat in a far corner. Depressed as he did not receive Wol’s reply, he moved to Wol’s side.
“Even though you’re pretty, but you are really annoying. You don’t listen at all.”
Hwon pulls Wol into his embrace. Woon sits at a corner, without anything left to say. He was unable to push the blame on Wol.
“His majesty, why did you have to go there? What if you were attacked by a tiger?”
“Wol, he said this too. So even though you did not see a tiger with your own eyes, but you should believe that tigers actually exists. I did not lie.”
Hwon smiled as he looked at Wol, feeling proud.
“But I believe that Woon will protect us. Woon, forget the rules, come over here.”
Woon comes over, and they begin to discuss about Woon’s investigation about the palace records.
Wol sits in Hwon’s embrace and silently listens. Even though she could not see Hwon’s face, but she was able to feel his sorrow over Yeonwoo.


Please credit @redpinkboxes or Jaejoongstolemyheart @soompi

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