“Lift your head right now, Rin…” Ren said as his feet came within my line of sight. I could feel his presence close to me and knew that he had come to stand in front of me. “I’ll only lift my head after you allow me to see Jeely,” I stated stubbornly.“Rin…” Ren said my name with an edge to his voice. “Please just let me see her!” I cried out in frustration. I could hear Ren’s footsteps as he paced about, and I could sense his frustration. My guilt bubbled up inside me; I didn’t want to do something like this, but I didn’t have any other options left. I apologized inwardly to Ren. I knew that I was pushing him and that I was being unreasonable but no matter what, I just couldn’t give up on this. “…take Shin with you…” Ren said softly. Did I heard that correctly or am I just dreaming? Ren…he finally granted my wish. I lifted my head up and looked up at him. Ren reached out for me and slowly helped me up to my feet. “Thank you, Ren…and I am so sorry…” I said softly. “You should h

Tomorrow, Shin would take me to see Jeely on the condition that he would always be present during our talk. I readily agreed to that, knowing that there was no point in trying to negotiate. Shin was someone that I trust as well, so it wasn’t like I had things to keep away from him. I would probably feel more secured and reassured if he was there with me as well. I spent some time before bed praying that something good would come out of my meeting with Jeely tomorrow. The morning arrived and after getting ready, I met Shin in the living room in my palace. He was early while I was roughly on time. Just as expected, I didn’t get a good night’s sleep the night before. Naturally, I was worried and stressed over my meeting with Jeely. Although I had pushed so hard for it, when it came down to it, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to say to her. Rather, I wasn’t sure how I would handle her reactions or the things that she would have to say. “Are you ready to go?” Shin asked when he saw me

I felt a shiver run down my spine. I think Ren did mention something to that effect about his uncle before. “Then…if Ren decides not to punish her…” I said as I reflected on Shin’s words.“Stop! I did not tell you this for you to beg Ren again to have mercy on Jeely,” Shin intervened with my suggestion immediately. “Then why are you telling me this?” I asked, not quite getting it. “I’m telling you this so that you will know that Ren has already shown her mercy in his own way. The law is still the law, no one, not even the crown prince, can simply ignore the law,” Shin explained. “I’m sorry. I don’t follow…” I admitted softly. “You’ll see soon for yourself. Just know that Ren is a very fair and merciful person. Don’t you dare act selfishly and burden the crown prince,” Shin said strictly. “Ok…” I replied. Basically, the best thing that I could do was sit still and watch what Ren would do in Jeely’s case. I closed my eyes and prayed that he would indeed have mercy on her. …A fe

We continued to kiss as he ran his hands over the curves of my body, making me sigh and moan into his kiss from the pleasure. His caresses were making my body heat up as desire started building up inside of me. It was clear that Ren was trying his best to be patient and gentle with me. He took his time undressing me, trailing small kisses on all parts of my body as he unveiled them. My neck, my chest, my stomach and then finally my thighs. “Ren…” I called out his name softly once he had undressed me completely. “Are you ok?” Ren asked with concern. “Yes. May I undress you?” I asked a little shyly. Ren was definitely surprised by my suggestion, but he just nodded his approval. I helped him out of his clothes before we fell down onto the bed together. I laid under him as he got on top of me and all I could see was Ren. For some reason, Ren seemed very hesitant as he sat in between my legs. “Is something…wrong?” I asked. “No…sorry…I was just distracted…” Ren replied. I wasn’t sure

Time passed by and little by little I managed to return to my peaceful life. It has been around a month now since Jeely’s public execution. Although that was the talk of the town at the time, people have since moved on. No one spoke of her anymore and it was just like she had never existed in the palace. As for me, I still mourned over her from time to time. However, I knew that I had to move on too. Never will I forget her and all that she’s done for me. People tend to forget her years of good deed after she committed her crime; however, I beg to differ. I returned to work, train, and study at the hospital with my mentors. With the exam coming up, I needed to focus on both my patients and also studying from textbooks. The exam was a combination of working on actual cases and a written test. I wasn’t at all concerned about the actual case; however, I was scared of the written test. After finishing work at the hospital, I would return to my room and study from medical textbooks. I wa