Perfect Crown in Royal Academy of Korea - Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: From Winter to Spring

Hwan, who opened his eyes only when it became late dawn, let out a groaning sound at his head that was painful as if it would break.
 
"Is there no one outside."
 
Whether because his voice was locked, there was no one who answered. Hwan, who poured out a dry cough several times, brushed away the suffocating blanket. Only then was the sleeping Wan visible. Although his breathing face was welcoming, the situation was not natural. If his memory was correct, because his younger brother must be in Onyang.
 
"Hah.."
 
Hwan, who blinked his eyes that adapted to the darkness, slowly surveyed the surroundings. His treasured items were all tumbling down, broken.
 
I created a disturbance again.
 
A sense of self-reproach rushed in at the situation that was faintly guessed. It was a mere week since Royal Father left his place. The night when he struggled at the end after enduring that week like a hundred years occurred to his mind. The mind that didn't wish to do anything and the mind that wished to do even something coexisted. Not being able to fill that gap, seeking out alcohol was his last memory.
 
"You must have done my clean-up after me again."
 
Hwan, who recited small, stared at the face of the sleeping Wan. His having liked it saying he was going to the Onyang Temporary Palace after a long time was vivid in his eyes, but when thinking that he must have come up at his worry, he himself was pathetic.
 
"Brother...?"
 
Wan, who woke up from sleep before one knew it, tossed and turned.
 
"Did you wake up?"
 
"You should rustle a bit less, Brother."
 
Despite being a subject who couldn't even open his eyes fully, his way of speaking was a gentle younger brother.
 
"Sorry."
 
"For what."
 
"Because of me, you wouldn't even have been able to rest."
 
"Forget it. Because doing a hot spring bath for a long time also made me sick of it."
 
He was not unaware that he acted indifferently on purpose so that he wouldn't feel sorry.
 
"When Royal Father returns... he will be angry, right?"
 
"What does it matter. I can just write about a degree of a reflection letter."
 
"As for a reflection letter, I would write even a hundred sheets."
 
"Then?"
 
"Is it not that he will be disappointed again."
 
"......"
 
"I am too fearful of watching that."
 
Wan, who was lying sideways supporting his face, knitted his brows.
 
"You are fearful of all kinds of useless things."
 
"What?"
 
"Brother, originally a child is an existence that disappoints parents. Just give up. If you give up, it's comfortable."
 
This time Hwan knitted his brows. To call it a bluff, he was a younger brother who actually lived that kind of life. While being scolded every day, rebelling every day, and not fearing writing a reflection letter. Therefore, sometimes he appeared like a person who had nothing to fear.
 
"You don't have anything you are fearful of."
 
"What are you saying. Do you know me as some kind of monster, Brother?"
 
"Is there?"
 
"Is that not obvious?"
 
"What is it."
 
"Hmm...."
 
The gaze of Wan, in which playfulness had been felt, became oddly calm. Around the time he was doing the thought that for some reason he appeared sad, Wan harbored a smile again.
 
"It's a secret."
 
"What, you punk?"
 
"Why, what. What are you going to do by knowing, Brother."
 
"Oh? Do you dare insult the state foundation of this country?"
 
"Yeah, I insult it."
 
He, who was not fearful of the disappointment of his father and older brother, possessed an outstanding talent in making those two furious. And Wan—
 
'Leean, are you not coming here???'
 
He was happiest when he used that talent.
 
And that face that rejoiced, Hwan loved immensely. In the Eastern Palace where the treasured items had all become broken, Wan was the only thing that did not become broken.
 
Please let it be so in the future as well.
 
Hwan prayed.
 
The scent of flowers was in full bloom on the campus of the Royal Academy. Although the might of winter was still the same for spring to arrive, the bouquets for the graduation ceremony were driving away the chilly winter wind.
 
Inside the arms of Heejoo, who was heading to the grand auditorium, a grand bouquet was also held. Although it was entirely unappealing that the target she must hand it over to was Sung Taejoo, she decided to endure today. Because tomorrow, Sung Taejoo would leave for America.
 
"Taejoo's sister!"
 
Just in time, Dayoung approached while shaking her hand. Looking at her eyes that were swollen plump at a lower tension than usual, she appeared to have spent the night awake with tears.
 
"Did you cry?"
 
"Does it show?"
 
"Inmensely."
 
Dayoung, who let out a deep sigh, rubbed her eye area.
 
"I have to take a picture later, so a big trouble has occurred."
 
At that time, Dayoung's family members called Dayoung. Befitting a family famous as a prestigious clan of the legal circles, an overall strict atmosphere was felt.
 
She seemed to know the reason why they called Han Dayoung a mutant of the Han family. Especially two men who appeared to be Dayoung's older brothers possessed an impression that would likely appear only in a gangster movie.
 
"Sung Taejoo will suffer a bit of hardship."
 
Heejoo, who shook her head, entered into the grand auditorium. Next to the central seats where the graduates sat, family seats were arranged. Among them, Heejoo, who sought out the Cheongryong Palace area, guarded the place alone. It was because she received her father's communication saying he would likely arrive only around the time the graduation ceremony ended. It appeared his business trip in Japan grew late.
 
"How regrettable for our father."
 
Heejoo, who murmured, recalled the scene she faced a few nights ago. Heejoo, who fell asleep in the early evening on that day unusually, woke up in the late night and left her room.
 
As soon as she placed her foot on the stairs, a laughing sound coming up from the 1st floor was heard. It was that of her father and Sung Taejoo. Heejoo, who went down while holding her breath without knowing it, saw the whiskey placed between the two people.
 
It was one among her father's whiskey collection that Sung Taejoo had been eyeing constantly. Whether he received permission for that whiskey at long last, Sung Taejoo's face was stained red. The gaze of her father looking at his son who had just become an adult could not be explained by any word other than love.
 
"......"
 
Heejoo, who became empty anew, headed to the 2nd floor again. She disliked herself, who ended up being disappointed to the very end. She also disliked herself, who had to envy her father's natural love toward his child. Wondering why she itself could not receive that natural thing.
 
Therefore, she decided to just grow greedy again. Remembering the name of the whiskey Sung Taejoo had been drinking, and pledging that on the day she itself became an adult, she would definitely receive a whiskey gift. Even if it was childish, there was no help for it.
 
"My, the Prime Minister has come too?"
 
"It is the graduation ceremony of his one and only son, so he must come."
 
At the time her thoughts were deepening, a buzzing sound was heard. It was because of Prime Minister Min, who appeared together with bodyguards. Compared to his son who possessed a bit of a sharp impression, his father held a much more benevolent atmosphere. The smile he wore while shaking the hands of all people who requested a handshake one by one, and the voice that handed over a word each.
 
A middle-aged beauty who was standing at his side recognized Heejoo.
 
"My, Heejoo."
 
The woman of a gentle voice was Jungwoo's mother. She, whom she had met on the day she went to play having bought a cookie set too, was a bit of a chatterbox unlike her elegant appearance. As there were immensely many things she was curious about, Heejoo's throat was to the extent of becoming hoarse while answering all kinds of questions on that day.
 
"Hello. Madam."
 
"I told you not to call me like that."
 
She, who gave a gentle scolding, wrapped around Heejoo's hand gently. And then she advanced without hesitation toward her husband who was surrounded by people.
 
"Honey, this friend is the Heejoo I talked about at that time."
 
"Ah, that friend who they said was our son's junior! Nice to meet you."
 
"Hello, Prime Minister. I am called Sung Heejoo."
 
"They say she is the top student all along since she entered. Admirable, right?"
 
Heejoo, who came to share a conversation with the Prime Minister couple in an instant, kept showing an awkward smile. It was felt that the gaze of the surroundings flashed. Looking like jealousy and envy, and also looking like curiosity.
 
"Are you preparing well for the early graduation you said you were preparing last time?"
 
She, who naturally linked arms with Heejoo, asked.
 
"Yes, I am preparing step by step."
 
"Heejoo's older brother is graduating this time too, right? Did they say he is going to study abroad?"
 
"Yes, today..."
 
"If I had known Heejoo was coming too, I wouldn't have bought a bouquet. Jungwoo would like receiving it from Heejoo more than from us."
 
She, who enjoyed mischievous jokes, liked the counterpart being troubled. It was Heejoo, for whom acting like a good student even without that was burdensome. She thought she wished anyone would come and end this conversation. And accurately—
 
"Sung Heejoo."
 
"Father?"
 
Her father appeared. Her father, who had said he would be late, recognized Prime Minister Min and created the face of a businessman. The handshake he handed over along with a moderate smile was also natural. The two people, who exchanged a few words of ritualistic conversation, widened the space between them as if they had planned it.
 
In that interval, Heejoo noticed that the expression of the Prime Minister couple looking at herself had changed. Whether they hadn't been able to guess that she would be Sung Hyun-guk's daughter, a hint of fluster was glimpsed.