( Warning : this chapter may be upsetting to some viewers)
Ina fondled with the blanket in her hand, it was a knitted blanket that she has been knitting for weeks now since she found out that she was pregnant, she smiled as she awaited for the arrival of her beloved , she heard the rustling of leaves , she turned back with joy thinking it was Seugh min but her lips immediately fell as she saw some of the Queens guards , she quickly put the blanket in her cloak as she stepped backwards a little , " the Queen requests to see you ", said one of the guards , Ina clenched her first tightly , she was in no position to ask why the Queen was calling her , she was in no position to reject her offer but she had a bad feeling about this , she clenched her cloth, her fist almost turning white , she looked up at the guards as she slowly nodded her head as an approval to the Queens request.
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Sizzling tea from a kettle was poured into two ceramic cups , seated a little distance away was the Queen and Ina , Ina felt uncomfortable that someone was serving her tea , she attempted to take the kettle from the maid but the Queen stopped her with a smile , " you are my son's wife now , you don't have to do that", she said sweetly , a tone she had never used before , it was normal to say that In a was more uncomfortable with that sweet voice of hers , " Your Majesty , why did you me", she asked as politely as she could so that the Queen won't be offended by anything she was going to say , " you know,
....., just to see what my son saw in you that he decided to leave the palace ", said the Queen as she elegantly drank her tea from her cup, what she said felt so sinister , Ina looked down , what was she to say at thos moment . The environment felt eerie , the Queen leaned more forward with a smile still plastered on her face , " Seugh min is loosing everything because of you and you are doing nothing to change his mind....", Ina wanted to say something , anything that could put her out of this situation, she was getting scared, why did she come here?, before she could stop herself, sh quickly knelt down as she bowed her head avoiding the Queens scorching gaze.
" Forgive my ignorance your Majesty, I will try to speak to.....", " do you think that is the only offense that should be forgiven?", Ina raised her head up slowly finally seeing the face that that never surprised her yet greatly frightened her, the look she had gotten used to for the past years she had served the Queen at the palace , the look of disgust , she was used to this but why did she feel so scared, the look she had grown so familiar to suddenly felt unfamiliar , " wh.....what.....what do you mean your Majesty?", her words breaking down as she trembled in fear , the Queen gave a sly expression , " royals marry royals, peasants marry peasants, did you think you are out of the slums just because you have that filthy child I your belly .....", saying that the Queen stood up while Ina remained still kneeling on the floor as she clenched her fist, clenching it tightly to stop it from trembling , " I will give you a surplus amount of gold and jewels to leave the palace , go faraway and never come back , you are ruining my son's life...", said the Queen as she slowly bent down and softly carresed Ina's face , " he was just bored , he just decided to toy with you , it was all a mistake don't get your hopes up... ", she bent over and leaned close to Ina's ear and whispered, " he doesn't love you", she said as she snickered wickedly , Ina closed her eyes tightly then she opened them , it was true what the Queen said , royals belong to royals, peasants belong to peasants , there was a clear boundary separating these facts , when Seugh ming min started pursuing her she felt he just wanted to toy with her just because he was bored or because he was a prince and therefore he could do anything he wanted with her , but in all those moments that she was with him she was genuinely happy , moments with him made her forget many things , it made her forget her place , he made her feel human , he treated her like a woman when others saw her as filth.
She lifted her head up , her eyes meeting the wicked gaze of the Queen , this was the first time she actually dared to make eye contact with the Queen but this time she wasn't scared, " I would say you are right about everything except from one thing....., you are right that royals and commoners belong to two different worlds , I am faraway from reaching that of your esteemed caliber , I am not worthy to marry your son or to bore his child , but I must say that you can't tear us apart....", the Queen tilted her head confused and shocked at the response she got bit Ina wasn't done yet, " I love Seugh min and he loves me too, I don't care about your gold and jewels , if I am leaving , if I am going faraway I go with Seugh min, anywhere he goes I go , he is my husband and he is the father of our child ..." Said Ina as she stood up, the Queen clenched her first, " you disgusting whore, you opened your legs and got pregnant, you don't put the responsibility of that child on my son. " When intimacy is done , it is done between a man and a woman , Seugh min was happy to hear that he was going to be a father , why would I deprive him of such joy by moving faraway without him knowing , it will crush him ,as a mother you won't bear to see your child go through that pain, he.....", mid to her words , she was interrupted with a hard slap on her face , the Queen had slapped her and she was panting in sheer anger, Ina turned her head towards the Queen as she held her cheek , it looked like she was about to cry and and her cheek was clearly bruised , " you think that since you are with child that I can't kill you, you are clearly mistaken", said the Queen , her voice rogued with anger , Ina began trembling as she backed away attempting to run but the Queen caught her by her arm and then in a flash something sharp and eeringly painful plunged into Ina stomach, Ina gasped as she twitched in pain , she felt a warm liquid wetting between her legs , she slowly looked down and saw the Queen has plunged a knife into her stomach, her face was twisted in pain , she looked up at the Queen who had a twisted smile on her face , Ina was trembling hands held onto the Queens hand that held the knife that was plunged into her stomach , her eyes filled with plea , telling her to stop this , not to do this , " your Majesty...., your grandchild, not my.... child , I beg you", she said under whispered breaths , the Queen smiled once again and whispered in an eeriely calm tone , " you and your bastard child will now meet your soon, die and shall your corpse be eaten by dogs ", saying that she pulled out the knife roughly from Inas stomach, some bits of Ina's flesh and clots of blood was stuck on the knife to describe hiw roughly the knife was pulled.
Ina staggered before she knew what was happening again, the Queen stabbed her again, then again and again, stabbing her multiple times till she fell to the floor, all through those moments of pain while she was being stabbed, it felt like her life wasn't worth being flashed before her eyes , the only one who made it worth it was going to be left alone in this world, a world they had promised to live together , to grow old together and continue to love each other , and here she was breaking that promise , the hurt was more deep than the wounds that had been inflicted on her , it was more painful , as more tears rolled down her cheeks, she hoped that Seugh min will forgive her and prayed that they will both meet again in the after life where no one objected to them and where they were free to love each other , she whispered in between her haggard breath, " I love you Seugh min, let's....let's meet again and be happy...", barely managing to finish her sentence she finally closed her eyes , a wave of peace washed over her as she took her last breath, everything became dark , all the good memories Thay had shared flashed within seconds and then it vanished into an abyss of darkness and she was gone forever.
The Queen cracked her neck before giving a satisfactory smile , she threw the knife on the lifeless body of Ina , " the wench and the bastard are gone now, Seugh min will finally get back to his senses", saying that she called for her guards who were shocked to see the bloody sight before them, but they composed themselves. " Take that trash and throw her away, I don't care where you throw her as long as it is out of my sight", said the Queen non challantly as if everything was alright , as if she had not just murdered a child and it's mother, her son's wife and his child were both bloodied and dead before her feet but she couldn't care less, " send a messenger to the leader of the Northern region of Gwunjae island, tell him we will be happy to accept his daughter hand in marriage is", said the Queen as she elegantly sat down , her guards bowed their head in response, she held up her cup of tea to her lips as she gently blew at the steam emnating from the tea.
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Seugh min rubbed his hands together, it was cold , he had been waiting at the garden for quite a while now , where was she ?, didn't she say he should come to the garden at midnight?, as the wind grew more chilly with the long hours of waiting he felt something was off, something was wrong, all of a sudden he felt himself walking, then pacing and then he was running, and sokn he was at the maid quarters , the maids were shocked seeing the second crown prince in their quarters , they all bowed quickly but Seugh min didn't slare them a glance as he went over to Ina's room but she wasn't there, her belongings were still there so she must have not gone anywhere , she was still here but where?. He suddenly had this feeling , the feeling was too strong to ignore, he quickly left the quarters while leaving all the maids wondering what he was doing here of all places , Seugh min had that hunch, the hunch that he so desperately prayed wasn't right, that even thought it was right nothing unimaginable had happened , he began to run , his feet quicker than the other , he hoped that eventhough it was to happen, he hoped he wasn't too late, and there he found himself in the palace and then he was inside, then he was at the door of his mother's chamber , without wasting he came into his mother's room, soft music was playing and the Queen lay on her bed , one hand supporting her head , the soft sounds of music coming from the harp.
Seeing Seugh min, she wasn't surprised, she held up her hand to signify that the woman playing the instrument should stop playing it, she sat up on her bed and lazily looked at Seugh min, " that expression on your face, the sweat on your face , those trembling hands and your ragged breath,looks like you are looking for something", said the Queen coldly sitting up as she looked at Seugh min as if she was clueless , Seugh min took a step forward towards his mother, his face became pale , coming close to his mother he had a very bad feeling.
" She's gone....", said his mother, her voice as emotionless as her expression , " what....., what do you mean mother, where is Ina ?", asked Seugh min, his voice trembling, the more the realization set in the more he didn't want to believe it, pushing all thoughts from his mind, his mother couldn't have done that, she wasn't like that eventhough she was heartless she had her boundaries, she knew when to stop especially if it concerned her son's but why was he feeling this way , why was he sacred?, if he knew his mother so well he should trust her shouldn't he?, why was he trembling and why, just why did he feel like Ina was..., he didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to realize it, but the pain was surging in.
The Queen stood up from her bed and walked slowly to her sonas she softly placed her hand on Seugh mins cheekwith her expressionless face, she softly carresed her son's cheek , " she is dead , I killed her", she said , at that moment the world turned dark and life didn't seem to exist anymore.