Chapter 21
The woman who had entered the room closed it lightly, her expression had changed as she sat on the couch, unbothered by the smoke coming from the alpha woman sitting opposite to hers.
"So, what is your impression of her, Xiao Zi?" The other woman with long curly crimson hair and deep golden eyes asked after putting her cigarettes away.
The woman called Xiao Zi who's wearing a blue dress, looked at her. "She's quite charming, I dare say." She answered as the woman laughed.
"Charming, huh?" She took a sip of the glass of alcohol sitting neatly in front of her. "What else?" She asked as she put down the glass.
"She seemed quite loyal. Seducing her would be a hard thing to do." Xiao Zi answered truthfully as she remembered the conversation between Kim Hae-yoon and Cho Shiye from the rooftop to the hallway where they met.
"It seems like it'll be hard to proceed with our plans, huh?" The woman looked at her with a serious look on her face. "Or is it?"
Xiao Zi felt the pressure coming from the alpha in front of her, an intoxicating scent of pheromone wrapped around her body, making it hard to breathe or move as she held herself back from fainting or showing any weakness.
"Good." The woman retrieved the pheromones hanging around the air as Xiao Zi took a deep breath. "I know you can do it, my dear Xiao Zi." The woman added as Xiao Zi bowed her head.
"Yes, your highness." She shouted as she beckoned herself.
*****
Kim Hae-yoon drove home with her guards, a male and female alpha who's keeping a close eye on her after that incident at the bar.
She didn't bother to talk to them as she mull over the fact that Cho Shiye ended the call with her, she felt aggrieved and looked pitiful as she sat in silence.
'Did I do something to make her angry?' Kim Hae-yoon's face looked sorrowful. 'How do I make it up to her?' She racked her brains out for any ideas until she finally remembered something.
'Ah! That's right!' Kim Hae-yoon smiled cheerfully.
*****
Cho Shiye instructed the servant robot to inform her once Kim Hae-yoon arrived and after half an hour, she heard the servant come in and tell her that Kim Hae-yoon had entered the palace.
It takes 20 minutes before Kim Hae-yoon could reach their room so Cho Shiye waited patiently, calming herself down and making sure everything's in order.
She wanted to change her pajamas but felt shy in doing so. She had never worn anything provocative before, she tried one time for Kim Yun-hee but she just told her she looked ugly in it.
Cho Shiye frowned. 'Ah, why should I bother thinking about her?' Cho Shiye took in deep breaths, her therapist, Dr. Jung Eun-sa, had helped her a lot to finally accept and slowly move on from Kim Yun-hee.
Kim Hae-yoon had helped a lot with her recovery and even the therapist had told her that she's showing good progress. Even she herself felt that she's slowly becoming better too.
"Marrying her was a good thing, huh?" She whispered as she smiled. "Now that I think about it, why isn't she here yet?" Cho Shiye called out the robot servant who came almost instantly.
"Yes, your highness?" The robot servant, which Cho Shiye had named as Seono, asked in a human-like voice.
"Where's Kim– Your majesty?" She asked as Seono took a minute before responding.
"Your majesty went towards the garden of the western palace." Seono replied as Cho Shiye frowned.
"What is she doing there?" She asked as Seono scanned the surveillance cameras and linked themselves to other robot servants nearby.
Kim Hae-yoon noticed that a robot servant came towards her direction as she realized something and brushed her soiled hands against her lips in a hush.
"Don't tell her." Kim Hae-yoon ordered as the robot servant answered.
"Orders received, your majesty." They responded and left.
Seono looked at Cho Shiye and smiled through the screen of their body which is where their face is located.
"It's confidential." Seono replied, which made Cho Shiye quite surprised.
Cho Shiye let it be as she ordered Seono to leave. She opened her optical brain and pressed Kim Hae-yoon's name on the message box.
Cho Shiye: 『 Where are you? 』
Kim Hae-yoon saw Cho Shiye's chat pop up as she smiled and ignored it. She stood up and dust herself as she ran outside.
Seo Sang-min left to get some supplies for the Empress and let Sung Hye-won, a female alpha, guard the empress who had run away in a frenzy.
"Your majesty! Wait for me!" She shouted as she tried to follow the empress but was left, breathless. "Y-your… Majesty… Haa…" She's way too far from Kim Hae-yoon who's running like a mad man.
This is the first time that Sung Hye-won had seen the empress act this way after working with her for the last 10 years.
The empress was always cold and dignified, never once had she picked out flowers for someone in the middle of the night, dirtying herself in the process and running like she's out of her mind.
'Well, I actually prefer the empress now than her gloomy self before.' Sung Hye-won thought.
*****
Kim Hae-yoon opened the door loudly, making Cho Shiye jolt and tensed up as she looked at the source of the noise and saw that disheveled and unruly appearance of Kim Hae-yoon who's holding a daffodil and smiling like a child.
"Hae-yoon?!" She shouted as she stood up from where she sat and walked towards Kim Hae-yoon. "Why are your clothes so dirty? What happened?!" She asked worriedly as Kim Hae-yoon offered the flowers towards her.
"Here, this is for you, honey." Kim Hae-yoon responded joyfully as Cho Shiye looked at her and held the back of her neck.
'Ah, this idiot!'
"You got yourself all dirty for this??" Cho Shiye asked as Kim Hae-yoon pouted.
"Do you not like it, honey?" Kim Hae-yoon asked, looking like an aggrieved puppy, no, she's an aggrieved big dog. "If you don't want it then, I'll get you something else ins–"
Kim Hae-yoon was about to turn around but was stopped by Cho Shiye holding her arm.
"What are you doing? It's already so late, you should change your clothes first and take a bath." Cho Shiye nagged as Kim Hae-yoon smiled foolishly at her. "What are you smiling for?" Cho Shiye asked, feeling annoyed.
"Because my wife cares alot about me!" Kim Hae-yoon responded eagerly, with a proud look that made Cho Shiye laugh.
"Idiot." Cho Shiye mumbled.
"Yes, my love?" Kim Hae-yoon asked as Cho Shiye blushed and pulled her towards the bathroom.
"I said you're an idiot so go wash yourself so that we can sleep!" Cho Shiye shouted as Kim Hae-yoon nodded with a smile of delight on her face.