WHEN THE MARRIAGE COLLAPSE

thirteen - "I want you to protect me."

Sunghoon led Yeonbyul to a dark place. It was cold than usual. He turned on the lights and they both were at the ice skating rink. She looked around and saw two pairs of skating shoes prepared for them.

"Is this place yours?" She asked in awe. He laughed softly and took his shoes before putting them on, "I rented this place just now. The place is ours for tonight."

After tying his shoelaces, he went to her to help her put them on. She watched as he silently tied the shoelaces. He got up and held her hand before helping her walk to the rink.

He started to skate elegantly, showing his interesting moves. She watched him, her stomach producing butterflies everywhere. He does look like a prince. She held the wall to prevent herself from falling.

Sunghoon did a triple axel beautifully. He ignored his surroundings as he continued to skate. She smiled as she fell deep into her thoughts. He panted as he finished skating. He waved in front of her face, "Are you okay, my lady?"

"Yes. You can skate, " she clapped her hands. He chuckled, "Well, I used to learn skating when I was little. I stopped since I got busy with the royal work."

"It was beautiful."

He grabbed her hand gently and brought her to the middle of the rink. They both skated together, with him behind her, holding her by the waist to guide her. She missed her steps and fell, hitting her head on the floor.

"Your Majesty! Are you okay?"

"Let me stay like this for a while."

She exhaled and closed her eyes, letting the coldness spread to her head. He chuckled and lied down next to her.

"Are you thinking about Heeseung?"

"No. I'm thinking about that mistress."

"What are you going to do with her?"

Yeonbyul sat up and took out her phone before playing the recording that Mr Choi sent to her. It was the recording of the meeting that was held by Mr Kim at the famous restaurant.

"He and his daughter are planning to push me away from the throne. Just because I wanted to get some time for myself, " she scoffed.

"Now that we know their true colours, why don't we try to bring them down first? Your Majesty, with your intelligent brain and my investigating skills, we could bring them down quickly."

She looked at him, confused, "You're helping me?"

"I'm joining hands with you. I also wanted to bring down Mr Kim for stealing almost a million dollars worth of gold from the North Kingdom. My father executed an innocent person that was hired by him. And he got away just like that. That gold was given to me by my late grandfather. And it was the last precious thing I have of him."

"Now that we know they're already planning to take me down, they'll start to either harm me or spread scandalous rumours about me to ruin my reputation. We must act fast and secretly."

She got up and dusted off the ice on her pants. She looked at him and put out a hand to shake his, "Will you stay at the South palace? I want you to protect me and I will protect you. Depending on Heeseung for protection would be impossible since he would side with his mistress. So please be the only person who would protect me and side with me."

He got up and shook her hand before pulling her into his embrace. Her eyes widened at the sudden contact but her body made no effort to pull away. His body was giving her warmth, making her body melt into the embrace.

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Heeseung sat in his dark office, looking through the photo albums of his and Yeonbyul's wedding. It was so obvious that they were faking a smile. He turned to the next page and it was a photo of him kissing her forehead. He was supposed to kiss her lips but felt like he didn't deserve to kiss her. Even the guests were surprised and some even whispered to each other, coming up with their own conclusions and theories.

They both know that he's just using her to take over the throne. His father had forced him to marry a noblewoman for him to ascend to the throne. And he chose Yeonbyul to be his saviour. Sometimes he felt like he was hurting her. But what can he do? She was the one who agreed to help him. He wasn't going to lie, she is a good Queen to the kingdom.

He thought about what Haesun said the other day. His mistress wanted to be Queen also. There were so many cons of her being the Queen.

1. Haesun would punish the people who did nothing wrong.

2. She would spend the money until the Kingdom would go bankrupt just like what she is doing now.

3. She would fire all the court ladies when they did nothing wrong.

4. The kingdom would be destroyed.

He groaned frustratedly and leaned back against his chair. He wanted Yeonbyul to be Queen, but he wanted to make Haesun his wife.

ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ
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Yeonbyul sneaked into the kitchen to search for some ice cream. Her stomach kept growling for some late-night snacks. She opened the freezer and squealed happily when she saw a tube of peanut butter ice cream.

She took it out and jumped in fear when she saw the prince leaning against the wall, watching her.

"You scared me!" She yelled, calming herself down. He sighed and sat at the kitchen island, putting down his wine glass.

She looked at him, "Were you drinking?"

"I was stressed."

She took a spoon and sat next to him, opening the cap of the ice cream tube before feeding herself.

"My father kept telling me to get married. I must have a wife to support me as the future king of the North."

"I'm sure it's easy for you. Many girls would marry you. You're handsome, hot, smart, talented...should I go on?"

He chuckled, "I had a person in mind. But she's not available."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled at him excitedly, "Who is it? I can help you persuade her. You know persuasion is my speciality."

You.

"Don't worry. I'm trying to move on. She's in love with someone else."

Yeonbyul nodded slowly, "It hurts, isn't it? Loving someone that doesn't love you back."

"Yeah."