Read Unexpected Empress :: Escape

Chapter 3 - Escape

I composed myself, helplessly, and knelt down to greet the emperor. When I got up, I saw his smiling face. It was such a beautiful smile that for a moment I thought it would really be a dream to marry that man, even if he wasn't the emperor. That is, if it weren't for my situation. Remembering this, a lump formed in my throat. I lowered my head again, wanting to erase that smile.

My parents scolded me, forcing me to say a whole gratitude protocol. I started talking, stuttering. The emperor then stood up, irritated. When my parents were about to scold me again, he interrupted them, and with the sweetest voice in the world, he said:

“My fiancee is shy. We don’t need to force her to speak.” And, changing the tone of his voice, he looked hard at my parents. “I want my bride to be treated with all the honors of an Empress. I will not forgive those who are rude to her, not even if they are her parents.” He looked at me and smiled again. “See you soon, my beloved.” And he turned to leave, without speaking to anyone else.

My family was stunned by everything the emperor had said. So much so, that they didn't know how to treat me. My parents spent the next few days avoiding me. They decided everything regarding the wedding themselves, and only had the employees inform me of their decisions. They heard reports of my resistance, of my desperation, and they ordered more employees to watch me to keep me in line.

The wedding had been scheduled for 20 days, a rush record that left everyone terrified. My house became an in-and-out hub for everything like tailors, jewelry stores, shoe artisans, and so on. The palace put the city in an uproar, all businesses working day and night to make it in time. And Seojun came daily to check if I was okay, if I needed anything.

At night, when everything was quiet, I would lie in bed and cry until dawn. After about 15 days, when almost everything was ready, the hustle and bustle in my house started to decrease. So I made an escape plan.

I noticed that when Seojun came over, everyone in the house was trying hard to make a good impression. With all the attentions focused on him, the vigilance over me relaxed. So there was a short time between the time he said goodbye to me until he left that I could walk around the house without being noticed. And I would need to run a lot. So, it would be perfect to wear men's clothing – in addition to allowing more movement, it could be a disguise.

I managed to scavenge an old outfit belonging to my second brother, Ma. I planned a route and listed some possible places to take shelter initially. Begrudgingly, I realized that I knew several discreet places where I could hide with little to none money, all of them introduced to me by Dong King – my “beloved”. Including a courtesan's house. How could I have not seen his bad intentions? But, anyway, no matter how painful it was to relive those memories, and no matter how humiliating this situation was, surviving was a priority.

Everything was practically ready for my escape. Seojun came to talk to me and said that the emperor intended to take me to a secondary palace, where I would live until the end of the wedding rites. My time was running out! If it was difficult to escape from my family's home, escaping from the palace would be impossible! Thousands of thoughts came at the same time.

“Hey, Lady Tang, can you hear me?”

“Sorry, Seojun, I’m not feeling well.” I spoke and immediately regretted it when I saw Seojun frowning. I ran to patch it up: “It’s no big deal. I haven’t been sleeping well because of anxiety.” Another thing learned from Dong Kim - the ability to tell the truth omitting information and tricking the other person into understanding something you didn't say.

Seojun's face relaxed and I sighed in relief.

As soon as he left my room, I put on Ma's clothes and put together in a bag some basic necessities that I already had separated and the jewelry that I managed to find. It was now or never. I ran away. When I turned into the hallway, I bumped into two unknown women.

“Pardon me, sir!”

My heart almost came out of my mouth with shock. But I couldn't waste time. Without looking back, I continued running. And that was my biggest mistake.