Perfect Crown in Royal Academy of Korea - Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: An Ideal Proposal

The graduation ceremony hall was turned upside down. It wasn't because of Jungwoo, who had grasped even the honor of being the top graduate following the student council president. Nor was it because of Grand Prince Leean, whose bearing was perfect without any difference from usual.
 
It was because Sung Taejoo, who was receiving his graduation certificate while fluttering his dark blue ceremonial robe—
 
"Dayoung, let's get married!"
 
Carried out a proposal.
 
The inside of the hall, which had frozen momentarily, became filled with laughing sounds. Heejoo was in a state of mind where she wanted to die on the spot because she was so embarrassed. Looking at her father who sat at her side, it appeared he was in the same state of mind. When he had just become an adult, what kind of dog-nonsense was marriage.
 
The principal who had been handing over the graduation certificate, and the homeroom teacher of the Cheongryong Palace who had been standing at the side, had their faces flushed red too. Above all, Han Dayoung's face was the most serious. Because her heat rose so bright red, it was to the extent that she wished to splash even ice water on her.
 
Around the time she was doing the thought that Dayoung was pitiful for the first time, Heejoo faced a spectacle she didn't wish to believe. Dayoung, whom she had thought was red because she was angry, was nodding her head while welling up with tears.
 
"What is that.."
 
Surely that doesn't mean she accepts.
 
Heejoo, who dropped the bouquet she had been embracing, thought. But if it were those crazy humans, it seemed it could be so.
 
"Father, is it truly alright to send him to America alone?"
 
"Hah.."
 
If it were usual, he would have given a scolding asking what kind of speaking habit that was toward her older brother, but her father could not bring himself to say any word. Rather, he appeared to be exerting all kinds of effort to hold back his anger.
 
"Let's go out."
 
Her father, who rose from his seat at long last, said. Heejoo, who nodded her head nimbly, followed behind her father. Escaping the inside of the hall where the cheering sounds and jeering sounds of the students were jumbled together was not easy.
 
Wan and Jungwoo, who were on top of the platform, were dumbfounded at the event that opened up suddenly.
 
"Is he Sung Heejoo's older brother?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Is he originally like that?"
 
"Likely so."
 
The gazes of the two people looking at Sung Taejoo naturally headed toward Heejoo's back view. Her back view, which was almost running toward the door, brought about a laugh. How embarrassed she would be in that pride of hers, they seemed to know even without looking at her face.
 
"This is why ideals are fearful."
 
Jungwoo said gently.
 
"Because they do only ideal thoughts, they commit that kind of act too."
 
It was a word targeting the Cheongryong Palace where idealists gathered. Wan, who was like the symbol of the Cheongryong Palace itself, tilted his head crookedly.
 
"It seems the will of the Jujak Palace does not premise an ideal."
 
"Because a will that is not realistic is not a will."
 
"Coward."
 
At Wan speaking with force, Jungwoo wore a face asking if he was dying of childishness.
 
"Why, what. It's true he's a coward."
 
Wan, who shrugged his shoulders, roared what kind of problem there was in dreaming.
 
Behind the two people standing like pillars of the grand auditorium, the banners of the Guardian Deities of the Four Directions fluttered. The difference between the Blue Dragon that flies the sky even without wings and the Vermilion Bird that flies the sky because it has wings was the same as the difference between the two people.
 
Wan, who finished the graduation ceremony, headed straight to his private residence. They said Hwan had come from the palace. When he lamented his situation where no one came to his graduation ceremony last night, he somehow managed to pull time out. Thinking what he would give as a graduation gift was enjoyable.
 
"Brother!"
 
The voice of Wan crossing the main gate was resonant.
 
"......"
 
Hwan, who was waiting in the garden, pointed at the surroundings with a glance. It held the meaning that since the court servants of the Eastern Palace and the royal guards were present, he should be careful of his words and deeds. Wan, who checked the situation belatedly, straightened his posture.
 
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
 
Only then did Hwan show a smile.
 
"Congratulations on graduation."
 
"Have you brought the gift?"
 
"You will like it."
 
Hwan, who nodded his head confidently, stared at Court Lady Park who was standing at his side. The court servants who were standing behind extended a lacquer-painted chest as if they had been waiting. At Wan whose eyes sparkled with anticipation, Court Lady Park could not hold back her laugh.
 
"Grand Prince Your Highness, because it is a painting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince obtained with difficulty, please regard it preciously."
 
"A painting?"
 
Wan, whose eyes became grand, asked toward Hwan. Instead of an answer, Hwan, who placed his hands behind his back leisurely, ascended to the veranda.
 
"Stop standing and come inside."
 
"Is it a painting? Is it truly that? Uh?"
 
Wan, who forgot even that there were many looking eyes, asked while making a fuss. Seeing his older brother being that confident, it was certain it was that painting he had sung a song saying he wished to possess.
 
"Are you going to look at that precious thing under the sunlight."
 
"Uh? Ah, no!"
 
Wan, who nimbly shook his head, headed to the study following behind Hwan. Although he was an adult male of a tall stature surpassing 6 cheok, his shape of embracing the wooden box in his arms was an unmistakable boy.
 
Wan, who unfolded the painting, stomped his feet because he liked it. To Wan, who liked folk paintings drawn in the Joseon Dynasty and also cats, a folk painting where a cat was drawn was no different from a treasure.
 
"Where should I hang it? The study is better than the guest house, right?"
 
"Do the hanging later and sit down a bit. It distracts my mind."
 
"Got it, got it."
 
Wan, who answered swiftly, sat in his place with a mild face. For today at least, whatever it was his older brother wanted, he was intending to grant it all.
 
Looking at that child-like appearance, Hwan felt a bit of guilt. He didn't wish to ruin his younger brother's good mood, but it was a situation where he must make an unappealing request.
 
"Wan."
 
"Yeah."
 
"There is something I must request...."
 
"What is it?"
 
Wan, who noticed the sorry feeling reflected on his older brother's face, knitted his brows. His older brother's sorry feeling usually arose when he itself had to concede something.
 
"That..."
 
"......"
 
"Yesterday, the state marriage approval came out from the Cabinet."
 
"I know too."
 
"Although it is ritualistic, I have to carry out a proposal too."
 
"So what, you're telling me to help with that?"
 
"No, that, the ring Queen Mother passed down to you...."
 
In an instant, Wan's expression froze coldly.
 
"No."
 
"Wan."
 
"Did Royal Father tell you to do so? To propose with Queen Mother's ring?"
 
"......"
 
Hwan avoided his gaze. Wan rose from his seat and opened the window at the feeling like his inside would turn upside down. Even when the winter wind filled his lungs, his boiling inside did not subside.
 
Queen Mother's wedding ring was the only thing Queen Mother left behind to himself. There was no way Royal Father, or his older brother, did not know that.
 
He had known that Royal Father disapproved of it. As if having expected she would die by an unexpected accident, Royal Father appeared unable to comprehend to the very end Queen Mother, who left behind a record saying she would pass down her wedding ring to her youngest son.
 
It was the same for Wan, who had come to possess the treasure of the royal family in a daze, that it was difficult to comprehend. To that kind of Wan, Court Lady Lee of the Central Palace came and said.
 
'Her Highness was anxious for Grand Prince Your Highness, who would come to possess nothing.'
 
'So she made me possess even a jewel.'
 
'She said if a loved one arises, give everything.'
 
"......"
 
'While saying that if there is a loved person, it is no different from having possessed everything.'
 
Even though a quite long time passed, Wan still could not comprehend the baseline of that mind entirely. But it was certain it was the unique inheritance to recall Queen Mother. That was his own thing that no one could snatch away.
 
"It's mine."
 
"Wan."
 
"You step back, Brother. Because I will speak to Royal Father personally."
 
As far as this thing, he held no intention to concede to anyone.
 
Hwan proposed to Irang only after 3 months passed from then. The scene where the Crown Prince, who was appreciating an opera performance from a box seat, handed over a ring to the lover who sat at his side, received the ardent cheering of the people. Among them, the greatest interest was what that ring Irang received was.
 
It wasn't Queen Uihyeon's ring. It was because the King held up a white flag before the stubbornness of Wan, who neglected eating and drinking and carried out a violent tantrum. No matter how much he was a king, he could not forcefully snatch away the treasure of the royal family his son received as an inheritance.
 
To the King who raged asking whom he resembled to be that stubborn, Hwan did not answer. Because to anyone looking, Wan was Royal Father's mold.
 
Having no choice, the King commanded the production of a new ring for the Crown Princess Consort. So that its status would not fall in comparison with Queen Uihyeon's ring, the King even showed the sincerity of picking a jewel personally from the vault of the royal family. The ring completed like that decorated Irang's fine finger.
 
Although the point that it was excessively luxurious for a ring of a person who played the piano was a flaw, there was no one who thought that as a flaw.
 
The state marriage of the Crown Prince was right under the nose.