The heavy silence was lifted by the sound, and Hwayeong quickly replied in a cheerful voice.
“Come in.”
At her brief command, the door opened, and both Sohwa and Siyeong entered.
With their welcome arrival, Hwayeong’s expression brightened, and she began to unload the stories she had been saving.
Soon enough, everything returned to its peaceful normalcy as if nothing had happened.
* * *
On the second night since entering the palace, Hwayeong was finishing up the first exhausting task she had just managed to submit, marking the end of the day.
When she returned to her room, Sohwa was waiting, immediately chattering away.
“Isn’t it lucky, Miss? There were plenty of girls who couldn’t find a white flower either!”
“Indeed.”
After sunset, a lot of the vases filled by the candidates at Hwanghyeon Hall were missing white flowers.
Instead, most were filled with red and yellow blooms.
Of course, the most striking among them was Hwayeong’s vase, which had no flowers at all.
