Chapter 3
"A... Abigail," Jeffery blurted out, his voice full of shock.
Jeffery stood in front of Vaomi, doing his best to hide her behind him.
He pointed at me, his hand shaking. "Why... are you here?"
Before I could say anything, Neera silently mouthed four words at him.
'We're here to end your miserable life!'
I mock-chided Neera, pretending to be annoyed.
I said, "Don't talk so crudely.
"Let's be civilized. We should reason with him."
As I stepped forward, Jeffery instinctively backed away, matching my every move.
When he finally ran out of space, Jeffery still held Vaomi close, keeping her partly behind him as if shielding her from harm.
Suddenly, he dropped to his knees. "Please, don't hurt Vaomi."
Things changed in a flash.
I was stunned, unable to react.
It felt like something squeezed my heart tight, and I stumbled back two steps, freaked out.
I hadn't even done anything yet.
Suddenly, Vaomi pressed her hand to her chest, putting on her best damsel act. "Your Highness, my heart's acting up again."
Jeffery rushed to her side, worry written all over his face. "Vaomi, are you okay?"
Vaomi abruptly jabbed her finger at me. "It's all her fault.
"If she hadn't barged in out of nowhere and freaked me out, my heart wouldn't be acting up like this."
She tucked herself even deeper behind Jeffery, her voice soft and pleading. "Your Highness, you have to protect me."
Hearing that, Jeffery, who'd been terrified just moments ago, suddenly seemed to find some unexpected courage.
He got to his feet, forcing himself to stand tall as he faced me. "You... You should go back to the Eastern Palace.
"Don't... Don't scare Vaomi."
I looked at him with a smirk. "What if I decide not to go back?"
"Your Highness, my heart... is getting worse. I can't take it anymore," Vaomi gasped, her voice trembling.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Vaomi suddenly collapsed to the floor.
She looked up, her pale face now blotchy and red from crying, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
Seeing Vaomi cry, Jeffery's heart ached for her. He anxiously gathered her into his arms, desperate to comfort her.
He shouted for the steward, "Quick! Go and fetch the royal physician."
The whole place was thrown into a frenzy.
Jeffery was about to rush out, carrying Vaomi in his arms.
As he brushed past me, Jeffery said, "I admit I messed up the marriage thing, but you've slapped me around, yelled at me, and tossed out everything I ever gave you.
"I'm letting all that slide.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble already?
"Vaomi's life is at stake right now, so please, don't make things worse.
"Otherwise...
"If you drag this mess to Father, it's not going to end well for anyone."
With a grim look on his face, Jeffery scooped Vaomi into his arms and headed back to his chambers without another word.
Soon enough, I saw the steward rush in with the royal physician, and a moment later, the physician grabbed his medicine box and left.
I stopped the physician and asked about Vaomi's condition.
The physician shook his head and muttered, "Vaomi's so-called 'heart condition' flares up hundreds of times a day. Honestly, Crown Prince is the only one who ever buys it."
After a bit, Neera looked at me and asked, "So, what do we do now, my lady?"
I rubbed my temples, feeling drained. "Let's just go back to the Eastern Palace for now."
Neera's eyes widened in disbelief. "My lady, are we seriously just leaving now?"
'Seriously? Is that it? Am I just going to leave like this?' I wondered to myself.
Honestly, before I even got here today, I was pissed off the whole way.
I thought for sure, once I saw Jeffery and Vaomi together, I'd give them both a good beating and finally blow off some steam.
But when I actually saw Jeffery defending Vaomi, even dropping to his knees to face me, all that anger I'd been holding onto just disappeared.
And instead, I felt so powerless, as nothing I did would matter.
Jeffery didn't care about me. Even if I tried to beat him or Vaomi up, it wouldn't make any difference.
Honestly, it made me look like some bitter, jealous woman.
Forget it. Just let it go.
Without hesitation, Neera and I hopped on our horses and headed back to the Eastern Palace.
As we passed the Broken Bridge again, the wind sent cherry blossoms swirling toward us, petals dancing in the air.
Moved by the sight, I turned to Neera and whispered, "Tomorrow, see if you can get someone to transplant a few cherry blossom trees into the Eastern Palace."
The next day, I slept in until the sun was already high overhead. By the time I finally got up, the cherry blossom trees had already been transplanted into the courtyard.
Neera came running over, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "My lady, you have to come out and see this."
I followed where she pointed and could make out the outline of half a cherry blossom tree.
In the deep, misty quiet of the Eastern Palace, a subtle fragrance lingered in the air.
A sudden commotion broke out outside the door.
Word came that Jeffery was back.
Vaomi was with him.
Apparently, the emperor himself had personally ordered Jeffery to move back into the Eastern Palace.
Jeffery thought I was the one who snitched to the emperor, so the moment he got back, he stormed straight into my room, looking furious.