Prince Ciwegai is unlike his elder brother who indulges in their father’s harem. He was the one who Prince Jhaan inspired to be until their goals diverted a few years back.
This Prince is tall with daring features. His eyes are like a void in which the light cannot reach. His skin is toned by the sun and blessed by the rivers.
He sees Anastasia who refuses to lower her head, but he could care less about a dead girl. To Gouyen, he asks, “Why are you followed by this poor excuse for a ghost and bodyguards?”
“The Head Priest of the Eastern Temple had asked them to follow this servant. This servant does not know much, please do not ask this servant questions in which she cannot answer,” Gouyen answers and the muscles on her arms tense up.
She turns to Michu who is just as frightened as she is.
“Lift your head for me,” Prince Ciwegai instructs her.
“Please, Your Majesty. This poor servant cannot look at your face, it is against the law—”
“Are you suggesting that I don't know the law of my land?” Prince Ciwegai asks in a deep and hoarse voice to tease Gouyen who easily fell for it.
She quickly raises her head up with her eyes shut, “Please pardon this rude servant, Your Majesty.”
The scholars behind the Prince laughs loudly in mockery of Gouyen, but her unique reaction has caught the eyes of the Prince himself.
He raises his hand to quiet his scholars and kneels on one knee before Gouyen. He reaches for her chin, “I've been looking for a wife. You shall do.”
Gouyen shots her eyes open and meets the Prince’s gaze for a moment before returning her face above the dirt ground.
“Do my looks not please you, young miss?” Prince Ciwegai softens his words to sooth Gouyen’s heart.
“Your Majesty, this servant belongs to the laundry service. This servant dares not dream to be your wife. Your proposal is very good, too good, so please accept this humble refusal.”
Gouyen’s lips quiver and she looks to Michu with frightened eyes. She had dreamed to be Prince Jhaan’s wife because she knows he does not see marriage as stepping stone or an easy assembly of a harem. She knows that as a wife of Prince Jhaan, she is his wife because of love, and the throne is only a byproduct of their love.
But what had she done to attract this Devil of a Prince?
“Sorry, but I don't think she likes you,” Anastasia openly speaks to Prince Ciwegai. “Could you back off?”
The Prince scoffs at Anastasia’s remark, and out of spite he picks up Gouyen and forcibly takes her back to his estate.
Anastasia follows Gouyen, so two of the little monks and Michu also follow behind while the other two return to the Eastern Temple.
There are guards and exorcists keeping the two little monks, Michu, and Anastasia at bay while Prince Ciwegai locks Gouyen in his sleeping suite.
With her eyes tired of crying and her hair messier than a bird's nest, she begs the Prince, “Please, Your Majesty. This servant is much to ugly for your taste. You can have any woman in this world that is much more beautiful, intelligent, and wealthy, so this servant asks that you allow this servant to keep her chastity. As a female servant, it is this servant only valuable.”
He listens to her plead while sitting on his bedside, and when she is done, he says, “I will take your most valuable by force, but I will keep you here until you've changed your mind.”
“This servant will not change her mind, Your Majesty. Please allow this servant to return to her work,” Gouyen wipes her dried tears and lowers her head to the ground.
Then the doors are kicked open by Prince Jhaan, “My dearest brother, why must you always intend to take what I've set my eyes upon?”
“You've your eyes set on this servant too?” Prince Ciwegai forms a devilish smile on his face. “If you're trying to win over the Prime Minister when Father dies, she's not it, my dear baby brother.”
“I don't intend on taking your throne, Brother,” Jhaan takes three steps forward.
Prince Ciwegai picks Gouyen up and begins embracing her in front of Prince Jhaan.
She turns her eyes away from the man she loves with no more tears to shed, unable to push the Second Prince away from her body.
“Ciwegai!” Prince Jhaan peels his brother off of Gouyen and shuts his eyes closed while defunding her body. “You win, Ciwegai… She's yours, but when you stop disrespecting her as you did just now, I will come back for her.”
He covers Gouyen with a sheet and leaves the room.
After the doors are closed one more, Prince Ciwegai laughs hysterically on the floor with his forearm shielding his eyes from the light.
And when he finally needs to gasp for air, he says, “I apologize. I didn't know you two were in love. But know that I will not let you go. I'll shower you with my love and you'll one day forget about him.”
As soon as he finishes telling Gouyen that, he leaves and allows for Gouyen’s followers to attend to her, the two monks, Michu, and Anastasia.
The boys turn their back against Gouyen, and Michu quickly and tightly embraces Gouyen with tears of her own.
Anastasia stares at them from afar, pitying Gouyen which is uncomfortable for her. And she asks herself, Is this the brutal truth of forced marriages? Is this why Phelan felt that he must replace his sister?
At least Phelan’s sister will gain the safety of her kingdom if she marries the Emperor, but Gouyen will gain nothing since she had nothing to lose… Is what Anastasia thinks.
“Why must I learn that Prince Jhaan feels the same way I feel about him when I can no longer have him?” Gouyen sobs on Michu’s shoulder. “Why is this world so unfair?”
Michu doesn't know how to comfort Gouyen because it is the first time that Gouyen is truly distressed. Before, Gouyen would be unhappy, and quickly gets back on her feet for simply knowing that Michu is by her side…
“Lady Gouyen shouldn't be sad because didn't Prince Jhaan promised to come back for you if Prince Ciwegai doesn't treat you well?” One of the little monks tries to comfort Gouyen.
She wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand, “Yes. Thank you for trying to comfort me.”
The boys smile and add, “And once we are older and become soldiers and scholars, we'll protect you. Then you can tell us if Prince Ciwegai mistreats you, and then we'll tell Prince Jhaan.”
“Why are you both thinking so far ahead?” Michu clicks her tongue with an angry tone, but laughs when Gouyen laughs.
“Thank you. I will be depending on you both,” Gouyen smiles warmly at their backs.
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