The 21st Century Grand Grand Duchess in the Royal Academy - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Twenty-First Century Grand Duchess in the Royal Academy
A Step Beyond Return
The Crown Prince’s wedding preparations were advancing toward their final stages. The Palace had renovated the chambers that would become the Crown Princess’s residence, and the Cabinet was calculating the national benefits the royal marriage would bring.
Irang had become the focus of the entire nation’s attention. Not only were childhood anecdotes circulating, but interest in the Yoon Clan’s background and the Royal Hospital had intensified. Given how deeply connected the family was to the Royal Family, criticism of it being a typical political marriage was unavoidable.
Yet the evaluation of Irang, who would become Crown Princess, was flawlessly positive.
A person born to become queen.
Whenever the daily life of the prospective Crown Princess majoring in piano at the Royal University was made public, people spoke of her in such terms. Her dignified manner of speech, her expressionless face that revealed no emotion, her impeccable posture, and her beautiful appearance—there was nothing lacking.
People were certain. Irang would perfectly fulfill the role of mistress of the Royal Family, a position that had remained vacant for so long.
The King, Irang’s future father-in-law, shared this conviction. Unlike the Crown Prince, whose heart was weak, Irang remained unshaken in any circumstance. Simply observing how she managed the rigorous education from the court ladies and her schedule as a freshman at the Royal University without showing any signs of strain left no room for doubt.
She would become a reliable pillar of support for the Crown Prince.
The King thought so, but Hwan, the person directly involved, held the opposite view. He felt that Irang’s serene composure would someday suffocate him, cutting off his breath.
A few days before his formal proposal, Hwan visited Irang’s home. Irang’s father was delighted by the Crown Prince’s visit, but Irang seemed somewhat bewildered. It was because they had never met outside of schedules predetermined by the Royal Secretariat.
As Hwan looked around Irang’s room, where a piano stood, he quietly closed the door. Sensing that this was no casual visit, Irang remained silent until Hwan spoke first.
“I will be making a formal proposal soon.”
“I am aware, Your Highness.”
“After that… there will be no turning back.”
“I am aware of that as well.”
Her response carried a boldness that seemed beyond mere submission to fate. There was a composed resolve that suggested she had chosen her own destiny.
Perhaps from that moment, Hwan thought they could never be of one mind. Yet clinging to a thin thread of hope, Hwan struggled to speak.
“I will not be able to cherish you.”
“Is it that I do not please you, Your Highness?”
“It is not a matter of you.”
“….”
“It is my own inadequacy.”
Hwan, as if frustrated, adjusted his collar and looked at Irang. Despite hearing words that could not have been pleasant, Irang showed not the slightest sign of disturbance.
“I am not fit to be king. Therefore, I will not become a good king. I cannot be a good husband either. So….”
“Your Highness.”
Irang cut off Hwan’s words. Her quiet, deep eyes gazed indifferently at his trembling ones.
“Your Highness is the foundation of this nation.”
“….”
“Therefore, you must become an excellent king. As for being a good husband….”
“….”
“It does not matter if you are not.”
On the surface, it sounded like tender words. But they were cold words that held no expectations, no empathy. They reminded him of Mother’s command—that he need not be a good son, only a good Crown Prince.
“Even if I….”
“….”
“…held another person in my heart, would your answer be the same?”
Hwan asked, forcing strength into his glistening eyes. The fact that he was speaking to someone who might become his wife about a beloved he had hidden from everyone, never letting it be discovered, filled him with both sorrow and dread.
“I will pretend not to know.”
Irang, whom he had expected would at least be startled if not shocked or betrayed, spoke with perfect calm. It was Hwan who found himself taken aback, his brow furrowing.
“How is that even possible?”
“My heart will belong to someone else as well, so there’s no need for you to apologize.”
“….”
Unable to bear the surge of bitter resentment welling up inside me, I fled from Irang’s Room like a coward. It felt as though I were conversing with an impenetrable wall.
Nothing changed after that. The betrothal proceeded on the scheduled date and in the appointed place, and Irang treated me as though nothing had ever happened.
Overwhelmed by the helplessness of knowing that my desperate attempts to alter anything had created not even the slightest ripple, I sank into despair.
I rose from my seat, blinking my dry eyes. As the wedding drew within a month, severe insomnia had plagued me for days. Behind me, as I exhaled a sigh, came the sound of a tongue clicking in disapproval.
“How pathetic.”
It was Wan, who had been banned from entering the Palace due to the betrothal incident.
“What?”
How did he get here at this hour?
“Did they lift the Palace entry ban?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get in?”
“Climbed the wall.”
“What?”
“Park Sanggung was making such a fuss saying you were dying, so I came to check… and it’s really true?”
Wan spoke while scanning me from head to toe. His claim about climbing the wall wasn’t a lie—grass clippings and such clung to his clothing.
“What, getting cold feet before the wedding? Marriage blues or something like that?”
Wan sat beside me, tossing out words casually, and looked directly into my eyes. What on earth was I so afraid of that I was trembling like this? I didn’t like how haggard he looked after not seeing him for a few days.
“You’re the one who proposed in the first place, so why are you like this?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Do you regret it?”
“I’m going to break off the engagement.”
After a moment of contemplation, I dropped a bombshell.
“What are you talking about? Have you been drinking again?”
Wan furrowed his brow and began sniffing the air.
“What? You don’t seem to have been drinking, so why are you spouting nonsense?”
“It’s not nonsense.”
Only then did Wan grasp the gravity of the situation, and he looked toward the closed doors of the East Palace. If Park Sanggung, with her keen ears, overheard this, it would be a disaster.
Seeing Wan like that, I retrieved a photograph I had kept in a drawer and handed it to him.
“What is this?”
Using the moonlight as illumination, Wan examined the woman in the photograph and exhaled a sigh. She was a Palace Maid of the East Palace, someone he knew well. There could be no conceivable reason for the Crown Prince of a nation to be carrying a photograph of a mere Palace Maid. Wan washed his face with a dry hand, looking troubled, and stared at me.
“How long has this been going on?”
“I don’t know. About three years?”
“Ha….”
That three years of secret love had gone unnoticed by anyone—Wan felt dizzy at the thought. Yet despite all that, proposing to another woman made no sense. And now breaking off the engagement on top of it all. No matter how much I loved my brother, I couldn’t suppress the urge to strike him.
“So what, you’re really going to break off the engagement?”
“….”
“Do you even have the courage to tell Mother?”
Fear flickered across Hwan’s face, and Wan began to snicker. His mouth curved into a long smile, but his eyes—dark and sunken—were utterly vicious.
“So what are you going to do about it.”
“I’m going to tell her.”
“Tell her what, exactly.”
“I already told Yoon Irang.”
“Told her what.”
“That there’s someone I care about.”
“Are you out of your damn mind.”
Wan’s grip on reason finally snapped. He was spewing curses without filter when Hwan calmly continued.
“She wasn’t even surprised. Said she didn’t care.”
“So what, you thought she’d say, ‘Oh well, I suppose we should call off the engagement’?”
“That’s exactly what I thought.”
“Argh!”
Wan let out a sharp cry and shot to his feet.
“I’m leaving. If I stay here any longer, I’ll lose my mind.”
He didn’t want to scale the palace walls twice in one night, but he couldn’t bear to remain here a moment longer. The instant he took a step—
“I’m going to petition for the Crown Prince’s abdication.”
Hwan spoke. Wan spun around, and something about his brother’s appearance struck him as odd. That frail body, yet eyes burning with such fierce light.
“Are you running away for love?”
“It has nothing to do with that person. I’ve already settled things.”
“Then why are you doing this.”
“I just want to live.”
….
“You know as well as I do that my mental state won’t allow it. If I cite the medical records as grounds… the Cabinet will approve it.”
Hwan had wanted to endure. Even if he couldn’t be a good husband, he wanted to be a good king and fulfill everyone’s expectations. But the more he endured, the more certain he became of one truth: he was crumbling, bit by bit.
So he would muster every ounce of courage just once—only once. His decision would disappoint everyone, but just this once.
“So, Wan.”
….
“You need to be my backing.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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