CHAPTER 9-THE SLY FOX and THE SAD SQUIRREL

“That sly fox!”, Ae-Ra cried out throwing her pillow harshly across the room.

“That sly, sly fox!”, she cried, throwing the duvet as well across the room. Ha-Yoon held her hand, trying to pin her down in her fit of rage.

“Ya! Stop! What grievous insult has your bed done to you?! Why are you hurting your poor duvet and pillow?”, she walked across the room and caressed the pillow. Ae-Ra looked at her. What was she doing? Or the better question was what Ae-Ra doing? Well, she was having a hissy fit, and throwing a tantrum like a child. Why? Because she the most foolish person in this entire, universe, no galaxy.

“How could I have agreed Ha-Yoon ah? Why am I so impulsive? Why did I agree to be his Empress,” she made a disgusted choking sound,

“His wife, just to teach him a lesson? How did I think that was good idea? That sly fox! He probably had this all planned, knowing because of impulsive nature, I would say yes just to ‘irritate’ him!”

“Oh! That!”, Ha-Yoon’s face brightened like sunflower. Ae-Ra scowled like a rotting weed.

“That was the best decision you ever made cousin. I knew it, I could see your stars, you were destined to be the Queen!”, Ha-Yoon said, her eyes distant her hand picturing out Ae-Ra’s ill future. She snapped her head and looked at Ae-Ra,

“Do you think I’m a seer? I think I am. You know I can feel things… like I know the future, something ominous in the wind just whispers it in my ear.”, she said solemnly, her voice dropping to a whisper. Ae-Ra’s eye twitched, first that sly fox and now the ‘seer’ Ha-Yoon? How did she end up with all annoying and crazy people? Did she have “I like insane people” written across her forehead with some invisible ink?

“What do you think?”, Ha-Yoon whispered.

“No, you are just odd. And why are we whispering?”, Ae-Ra whispered. Truly, why were they whispering?

“We are whispering so that I can hear the ominous voice in the wind more clearly. Also, there is greatness in oddness, that is why your fiancé is the future Emperor.”, Ha-Yoon whispered giving a sly wink to Ae-Ra in the end.

Ae-Ra groaned and slammed her head into her bed. She would really get brain damage if she continued slamming her head so much. She was just so….irritated? Angry? Frustrated? She didn’t know.

Ha-Yoon settled herself snugly on the bed, putting her chin in between her hands,

“So, tell me is he absolutely ravishing to look at? Do you look at him and-..”, Ha-Yoon was cut of by the pillow thrown right at her face. Ravishing? Ae-Ra gagged.

“He is just a sly fox, do you hear me? A S.L.Y F.O.X.”, Ae-Ra said shaking Ha-Yoon.

Ha-Yoon shrieked, her voice shrill,

“Aunt! Ae-Ra has become into a violent bull! She is going on a stampede! Help me! Please!”

Ae-Ra looked at her in disbelief, letting go of her. Her too?

“I am not violent! Why does every one call me violent?! First that sly fox, that I admit he is deranged in the brain, but now you? You were my only hope! I am not violent!”, Ae-Ra wailed, slamming her hands repeatedly on the bed, shaking it lightly on the process.

Ha-Yoon looked at her, almost pointedly. Ae-Ra sighed.

“I am upset right now, that does not count.”

Ha-Yoon just sighed and flopped on her bed, Ae-Ra falling her suit like a sad little squirrel.

What a sad life it was.

******

Ji-Ho grinned on his bed. He was a genius. A mastermind. Revolutionary. His plan had worked smoother than silken Hanboks. He laughed as he remembered her determined little face when she agreed to be his Empress. She had thought she was irritating him, vexing him by doing that. Admittedly, his acting skills were absolutely mind boggling. He completely played the part of being horrified by the thought of her being the Empress, encouraging her impulsive nature to fall into his trap. Ha! He had fooled her! Was it nice to fool and trap your saviour? Ji-Ho shrugged, it was a hard world. He truly had no ill intentions, the truth was that he too was in a fix. His father’s wish was for him to get married, and have an Empress by his side. He was ill, on the verge of dying, the least Ji-Ho could do was fulfil his wish. But, the only thing was that all the noble ladies his father had in mind for him to marry, were completely not on Ji-Ho’s list to marry. The only time Ji-Ho had fallen in love, and wanted to marry was when he was nine, and that too with his pet fish. The fish was now dead, so his list of potential brides was empty. It was then he had happened to meet Ae-Ra. It was the first noble woman he had actually met, or actually any woman he had met except for the palace staff. That was mainly because he was kept hidden as the crown prince, hidden in the prison of the palace. The day he broke out from his prison, he met Ae-Ra. Romantics would call it destiny, but Ji-Ho firmly believed his destiny was Mi-Na, his beloved fish. But, considering that Ji-Ho was comfortable around Ae-Ra, and didn’t feel awkward or weird around her and she was a noble, she seemed like a perfect candidate to marry. At least he would have someone to irritate if not love. His father had been slightly stiff at the idea of marrying the daughter of the Health Minister to him, for she was a spinster, but seeing her fight had completely won him over. Empress Ae-Ra. Ji-Ho laughed, it fit her quite well, though he could not imagine her sitting patiently and listening to all the grievances of the peasants in Court. But that was the future, and whatever the future held he would deal with it then. That was Ji-Ho’s motto. But for the present, he felt like a smug cat.

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