The Wise Monkey's POV:

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Soojin paced back and forth in the massive and vacant space of the dark halls of the palace. It was the perturbation of an inferior, indigent maiden who was to break the news to the superior, opulent man that impregnated her. Agitation was all she had in these eerie halls as her companion. Footsteps reverberated from the near distance and out of instinct, Soojin hid behind a wall, camouflaging herself in the shadows. 

"It is just who you were expecting," she heard her prince's voice. She peeped to see his glorious face radiating in the sparks of dim lamps amidst the darkness. But today, the radiance could only be credited to his good genes and not his otherwise naturally pleasant eyes and smiling face. It was a dispassionate man she saw walking towards her. And without her cognizance and will, her eyes betrayed her, spilling all her anxiety and fears making her vulnerable by rolling down fat tears down her puffy cheeks. Deep down she was afraid of her lover turning out to be one of those Mingi or her brother always told her to be alert of. She tried rubbing her tears away but her eyes wouldn't stop betraying her.

"Soojin-ah," Jisoo rushed to her. "What happened?" he held her to his side. There was a look of trouble on his face as he scanned her for any possible injury. That was the only emotion Soojin could get from him in many weeks; a look of apathy was what he loved to flaunt her way lately.

She looked up meeting his eyes. "These days..."

"These days?" he encouraged.

"You wouldn't look at me pleasantly. You're like a different person, my prince. I might even dare to say you intentionally avoid me," she cried.

His eyes softened for an instant. "Is that why you are crying?"

"I do not know why I am crying. I'm being silly, forgive me."

Jisoo took a pause before he spoke. "You have been sick lately? Am I right?"

"What?"

"You did not deny," he stated firmly. "I noticed you've been so since that day when you told me you had experienced some sickness. I remember telling you to notify me if it continued. But what I got from you since that day was active avoidance. Are you sure you are in a place to blame me, Soojin?"

"So you are disappointed because of that?" Soojin asked. Jisoo did not reply. It was one of the reasons, yes. And it was but an inferior reason. Jaejoong's opinion of Soojin had stuck with him lately. And the vicious spiral of theories and doubts he had created in his own mind were eating away his conscience and his trust in his lover.

"I will give you the answers today, prince. That is why I wanted to meet you," Soojin said wiping all the remainder tears away. She looked around and grabbed his hands. "But not here," she said as she guided him to one of the unoccupied guest rooms in the forbidden wing of the palace. She needed privacy and Jisoo agreed. But unbeknownst to both, two pairs of legs silently followed them in the dark throughout their journey.

"What is it?" Jisoo asked Soojin.

"I'm...." she whispered.

"I cannot hear you Soojin," Jisoo said. "And I am getting rather impatient at this point."

"I..."

"You?" Jisoo grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him.

"I am sorry, my prince, but I am expecting a child!" she yelled out in one breath. Jisoo's hands fell from her as soon as she said that.

"What did you say?" His voice reverberated deeper, darker and unwantedly louder. It was a man(a generally gentle and passive man, here) who was about to succumb to fury.

"I am sorry," Soojin stuttered out as she failed to hold her tears back. She hanged her head low, afraid to meet his eyes.

Jisoo backed away from her and feigning indifference and apathy on his straight face, he now asked, "Who is the father? I want his name." Each syllable left heavy, sounding even heavier to Soojin's ears.

She snapped her neck back up instantly with widened eyes. "Prince!" She could not believe him.

"Is it that librarian? Is this why he left the palace?" He said with an emotionless face but his clenching fists betrayed him.

"Prince!" Soojin sobbed out. "How can you even say that? It is yours!"

Jisoo's jaws clenched at that, eyes rolling and lids pressing shut tight as he took a deep breath to keep himself calm.

"You stayed unfaithful to me and what did he do to you? He left you alone when you are expecting his child. You deserved it, I say! But your audacity to come here and foolishly blame this unborn child on me is infuriating. How ridiculous are you!"

Soojin was tongue-tied; even though she had to say a lot, even though she wanted to scream, and yell, and tell the man that he wasn't the only one furious, and that, unlike him, she was rightfully so for she had a real and non-fictitious reason for it. But she was a maid and he was a prince, after all. In the end, the gaping difference in their class and background mattered.

"P-Prince..." she wailed out, the only way she could have manifested her blazing anger. "You're hating me for something I'm not guilty of. Please... just please calm down. Please."

"It...This hurts my heart," she continued. "That you would even think like that. That that is your opinion of me. That you have no faith in me. But this accusation! So blatant and inconsiderate, it's so so cruel, prince... so cruel."

"These tears of yours will testify nothing, I'm a rational man and I have reasonings to be this direct and blatant, I know it, you know it. We both know why this child can never be mine yet this audacity of yours is perplexing."

"Why?" she yelled. "Why can't this be yours? Why would you think it's someone else's? Why?"

"Because we never slept together! How dare you still persist on this! Do you take me for an idiot!"

Soojin gasped loudly, her hand immediately flying to her gaping mouth. "No! Please stop this. You don't have to take any responsibility, I'll leave from your sight forever. But don't lie like this please, don't slander me."

"Watch your words! You're indicating that we did sleep together but that is not true at all. Do you even understand what a child-making process entails?" He advanced towards her threateningly.

"I'm uneducated, I agree. But I know basic biology, I do, I know how my body works. You are a learned scholar, prince. You should be knowing how it goes. So you can't deny what happened that night at the last royal hunting expedition."

Soojin remembered each and every detail from the night. How Jisoo suddenly woke her up from the maids' tent full of sleeping women in the middle of the night and how easygoing he was about the risky task. How he had taken her to his private tent and found intimate solace in her body immediately without a word spoken. Soojin had been shaky from his raw need at first, his seemingly forceful handling of hers but she didn't speak a word against it as well, and when his hands and mouth roamed more intimately on her exposed visage, she had mentally and spiritually consented to it. That was the day when they had involved in the physical act of love for the first and last time.

"Hunting expedition?" Jisoo asked, baffled. "I was with my friends that night! We had wine and I went to sleep. Nothing happened that night." The prince searched his brain for any piece of information he could remember from the night. But all that his memory flashed instead was what he heard of Jaejoong's special memory from the same night a few days ago.

"Prince Kim Jaejoong," he chuckled like a madman. He suddenly stopped and faced her with the most repulsive look Soojin noted she had ever received from him; his irises held venom in it as he eyed her. It was when she understood that it was his limit, that he couldn't be any angrier or hateful towards her than this, that the relationship they once cherished and promised to keep forever had come tumbling down like a sandcastle. "It was Jaejoong, was it not?"

Soojin glared at him, her tears had stopped now. She resonated a part of the same venom he was throwing her way. She couldn't believe he had associated her with that disgusting man she hated the guts of with passion.

"A librarian, a prince, is there more? Probably. I should have been careful of disgusting women like you! As of today, I am just a part of the family you work for and you are just a worker here, that is what we are for each other. But if you still have some shame and dignity left, you'd leave this place and not appear in front of me ever." Saying that the prince hurried out of the room in fury and a litter to other overwhelming emotions that he denied to physically manifest.

Soojin fell to the ground sobbing her heart out but that didn't last more than a few seconds when she was surprised with a blurry image of a figure entering the room. Getting up and blinking the tears away she focused on the womanly figure to see that it was her superior, the lady-in-waiting of the elder princess. And just as she recognized her, the princess herself entered the room harbouring a sour, angry face. Soojin immediately bowed to her, looking to the ground. The princess didn't stop advancing till she was inches away from Soojin.

"Look up," the princess she served for said. And just as Soojin did, she received two rough smacks on her cheek one after the other.

"The first one:" the princess said harshly. "For committing the sin of trying to seduce and conspire against my brother, a royal you are highly undeserving of. You conniving witch, I really thought you were a righteous woman even though I...." she stopped at that. Even though the princess was always jealous of Soojin's beauty, she held the maid as a kind, honest and righteous person. The princess still tried to not succumb to her emotions of jealousy and treat the special(as per the people in the town and beyond) maid with equality, unlike the Queen who openly despised the poor maid.

"And the second one: for raising your voice at my brother and speaking inappropriately with him. Learn to know your place!" she paused for a while to think of her verdict. "I am not informing this to the Queen, not because you don't deserve any punishment; everything will turn for the absolute worse if she comes to know of this. You will leave this palace, you hear me? I am giving you two days. Sooner if you think anyone else has suspicions of your conspiracy, if you don't have a death wish, you will."

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Soojin walked to the horse stable. It was still quite early in the morning. She figured it would be intelligent to tell her brother of the news at the earliest. And Wooyoung would have to start getting to work if it got any later than now.

The young maiden could not get a minute worth of sleep last night. She would think and think and rethink and rethink; she would loathe the prince a minute and forgive him the next, and it was all a cycle. By the morning she hadn't concluded anything even after a long, depressing night of vigorous jogging of her fogged mind. But what was obvious was that that the part of her brain(that foolish part of a love-sick human) that still loved the prince and felt hopeful was larger than that that reasoned rationally. Soojin did not know what she wanted to do further, but she did know what she didn't want, and that was leaving the palace and giving up on her love this early. Unfortunately for her, even though the prince gave her options, the princess didn't.

"What are you doing here?" the head hostler and cattle rearer asked her as she reached.

"To meet the horses, why else?" she said monotonously. "I have been here before."

"Isn't it unusually too early?" he asked as stood guiding a cow out of the nearby cowshed.

"Is there a time to meet them? Besides, you wouldn't have to worry about me coming here anymore. This is a goodbye meeting, you see."

"Oh, you are leaving the palace? You must be getting married. Well, carry on then," the old man said and walked away.

Married, she repeated in her mind.

When she stepped inside the stable, she immediately heard a neigh that instantly alleviated her mood a little. It was her favourite horse, rather the only horse she ever came to the stable for. She ran to engulf him in a hug as he merrily dipped down to rest his chin on the human. Soojin rubbed his crest back and forth.

"There's my boy," she said. "Last time I visited you, you were sick. Now you're back to regular." The white horse wouldn't pull back his chin from the woman when she tried to get out of the hug. She laughed. "Did you miss me that much, Hwaseong-ah?" She ran her hands through his long, silky mane. He was one of the most beautiful horses in the whole of the stable, and in Soojin's personal and biased opinion, the most beautiful one ever. And legitimately, as everyone would agree, the most social one too.

When she finally pulled back after much trouble, it was a weeping woman the horse saw. He became silent, all his excited sighs and soft snorting stopped. He rested his muzzle slowly on her head as if he was sympathizing with her. When Soojin heard footsteps, she immediately wiped her tears and stepped back, now patting the horse's head and kissing him multiple times to relay her gratitude and love. In a few seconds, Wooyoung stood by her side. She turned to him as he started signing with his hands.

'You are always with this one whenever I see you. But I must say, he is a friendly one,' he signed and started patting the horse himself. 

"His name is Hwaseong. And he just happens to be my favourite."

Wooyoung playfully gasped. 'You bad human! You cannot say that openly in front of all these horses.'

'He usually is happier than this, tell me, am I imagining it?' he signed.

"He was very merry when I came here. But then he suddenly became gloomy when I started crying. They can sense sadness, and tears are just very obvious."

Wooyoung suddenly turned her towards him by the shoulders. 'What happened?' he asked with just one hand, all serious now. Soojin suddenly hugged him tight and he comforted her for the few seconds that lasted before he pulled back grabbing his hand to place on her slightly bulged stomach. His eyes widened in pure shock as he let out a flabbergasted squeal and a small jump.

'Tell me everything.' There was a look of panic in his eyes as he tugged his hair.

"The prince and I were in love," she whispered so slow near Wooyoung, not even the horse could hear her. There was a slurp of Wooyoung inhaling through his mouth sharply. He shook his sister's shoulders and as they looked into each other's eyes, they silently communicated, a question might have been asked through Wooyoung's panicked, tense eyes to which Soojin sadly nodded an affirmation.

"I told him I am carrying his child yesterday but he refused to believe it was his. I don't know why he is being like this, Wooyoung...I-I...I thought he loved me, that he trusted me...He blamed the child on other men, Wooyoung. Mingi and even that Prince Jaejoong. How could he?... He hates me now. He doesn't want to see me ever. And..."

'And?' Wooyoung impatiently signed, tapping his foot vigorously in anxiety and anger.

"And the princess...The elder princess heard us when we were talking. She told me to leave the palace forever and never show up claiming this."

Wooyoung turned around and strode anxiously towards the door, and halfway to the way turned back again and walked towards her. He kept walking back and forth with tightened jaws and pursed lips, hands in his head. He abruptly stopped and faced the crying woman whose sole comfort now was the consoling horse.

'I never thought I would be saying this, but that prince is the lowest being I have seen in this family. And to think he was the kind one! I hate him so much for what he did, I hate this so much. He is such a....' Wooyoung kept going and Soojin did not stop him. At least he could openly do it as nobody else would understand him. Soojin did not know if she should be guilty about not stopping Wooyoung or not. She knew she was angry at the prince, she knew she was hurt by him, and she knew she still loved him. But she was certain that she would have to leave, and when she'd leave, she'd be giving up on the prince, on her love, forever.

'The king and queen must never learn of this.'

"I'm aware, Wooyoung."

'We need to leave as soon as possible. We will manage, we can stay at Yunho's for a while until we will be able to rent a place again.'

"We?"

'You think I will leave you alone? Together, we promised each other and mother. Always together. And do you think I would want to work in this devious family anymore? I don't want their wages. Let's get out of here before dusk today. Go and formally resign, it's easy for you, you don't even have to make up a reason to the princess. I will do the same.'

"But..."

'But what? You said the prince hates you, and don't you think for a minute that even if he accepted you and the child, the other royals would. I told you countless times to be wary of such people, didn't I?' he aggressively signed.

"W-Wooyoung..." she cried. "Do you hate me?"

Wooyoung exhaled and looked at her with a sober face. He advanced towards her and kept his hands on her shoulder lightly. He shook his head. "Really?" she asked and he nodded.

'I can never hate you, my elder sister' he signed and looked at her stomach. 'This child. If you decide to raise this child, don't worry too much about the future, we will manage. The child doesn't necessarily need a father. A kind mother and two really funny and loving uncles, that is what this baby will have. I will be the favourite uncle though, I can see it. We will name him or her something really nice. Maybe one of those names, remember?' He expectantly looked at her and she nodded with a small smile.

"I do. Even back then, I had the perfect name, I just didn't tell you. If it's a girl, I will name her that."

'So you are keeping the baby?' he asked.

Soojin hadn't decided in all these months. She just didn't know for sure. She had thought that Jisoo's stance on this would favour the outcome. But she didn't care about that anymore. There will be no more Jisoo in her life from the moment she will leave the gates of the palace this evening. So now she had a clear answer.

"I'm keeping this baby." She had lost enough. She didn't want to care about the shame and humiliation that would arise from raising a child alone in this world anymore. "I will raise this baby alone. I can do it."

'Are you sure? Don't just raise the baby out of vengeance for that man. It is a heavy responsibility. You know it will be an extreme struggle dealing with the people. Finance isn't the only factor to be considered here.'

"Would you be ashamed of having a single mother and her illegitimate child as your sister and nibling?"

'Never.'

"Then it's decided, brother... You're going to be an uncle first before you get to become a father." A smile cracked on her tear-stained face.

A/N:

Consent is necessary. Don't be like the historic Jisoo here. People in the past were idiots(so are some people in the present).

7 more chapters to go. Gaja! Don't forget to add this series to your reading list once you finish this book;)