Jo Ri continued to stare at him, stunned by his sudden entrance and the intrusion into her sanctuary. But he caught her off guard, shouting with suppressed frustration:
- How did you leave through the school gate without me seeing you? I was waiting for you all that time!
Jo Ri replied with a voice dripping with irony:
- Perhaps because your eyes were imprisoned by the 'beloved's' gaze... letting me pass right in front of you like a ghost without you even sensing my presence. Now, what do you want from me?
She kept the secret of her risky wall-climbing hidden; she didn't want to hear another insult from him about "how princesses should behave." His "perfect princess" was far removed from this woman who acted with the rebellion of a Joseon commoner.
De Lan raised his hand, pointing to the key she had carelessly left in the outer door. He twirled it around his finger in a provocative, circular motion and said coldly:
- This key... people here take it out and put it back inside the door, or even hang it up like my mother does downstairs. They don't just leave it there.
- Fine, I get it. You can leave now,
She replied, turning her face away.
- Not before we talk,
He said firmly, taking another step into the room.
- Didn't I already tell you... that I have no intention of leaving?
Reckoning of the Past and the Slap of the Present
De Lan tried to use her mother as a pawn, thinking that tugging at her heartstrings would force her to relent unaware that he was opening a door to hell for himself.
- Do you not think of your ailing mother, whom you left behind all alone there?
It was as if he had touched a raw nerve in her soul. A muscle in Jo Ri's face twitched, and a heavy shroud of sorrow filled the room for a few seconds before her expression shifted into pure, unadulterated rage.
- You speak of my mother? The woman you threw to the ground without a second thought for the fact that she is your aunt? And for what? For a girl you loved but couldn't have!
De Lan rubbed his head in frustration, his voice sharp:
- That isn't what happened to your mother back then. You don't understand
Jo Ri cut him off with even greater intensity:
- That is exactly what I saw! And that is exactly what I understood later from your conversation with Mi Fa that cursed night. In your blind rage, you were ready to kill us all without blinking, even as your aunt lay fallen on the ground. How incredibly selfish you were!
She paused to catch her breath, then added with a tone of vengeful satisfaction:
- Do you know what truly makes me happy about this place? It's that my 'strong' mother here took back the rights of my 'weak' mother there. She struck you on the head with a frying pan not once, but twice!
Jo Ri waved her hands in the air, mockingly mimicking the way her mother had hit De Lan. She then abruptly sat back on the bed when she noticed his dark, smoldering gaze, which looked as though it could burn her alive.
The Naked Truth and the Ghosts of Identity
- I wasn't the only one who got hit that night; you got your share from my mother too!
De Lan didn't say it with a smirk; he spat the words out, fuming at the humiliating situation they were forced into. Silence fell once more, heavy and suffocating. He seemed to deliberate for a moment before asking:
- Were you eavesdropping on Mi Fa and me that night?
- Is that a crime?
Jo Ri shot back with defiance and bitterness.
- Especially after what I heard? Am I the 'criminal' who destroyed your future? Or am I the 'sinner' who deserves imprisonment simply for surpassing Mi Fa in the marriage trials?
Unable to counter her wounded logic, De Lan abruptly shifted the conversation:
- Look... we are bound to one another as long as we are here, whether we like it or not. But I promise you, as soon as we return, I will set everything right between us.
- There is nothing to set right, so don't bother,
he replied with lethal coldness, gesturing toward the exit.
- Now leave... and don't forget to hang the key wherever you see fit.
Instead of leaving, De Lan stepped further into the room, firmly closing the door behind him. He spoke in a low voice, thick with rage and urgency:
- Listen to me, you spoiled brat! Two teenagers have vanished, and a horrific crime has taken place... I have a strong suspicion that the victims are the real De Lan and Jo Ri of this world!
Jo Ri didn't grasp the horror of his words at first, but then the realization hit her like a thunderbolt. She gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with the shock of a terrifying epiphany.
Evidences of Absence and the Mystery of the Phones
Jo Ri asked through her terrified gaze, her voice trembling:
- Why are you so certain?
De Lan stepped into the center of the room and, with a mechanical grace born of years in the palace, sat cross-legged on the floor as he always had in the past. He spoke in a solemn tone:
- I'm not entirely certain, but we desperately need to find out what happened that night. Why did they vanish? Did they actually go to the crime scene? And how far is that place from here?
He paused for a moment to gauge her reaction. She listened in utter stillness, appearing initially unmoved by his words, so he continued:
- What we know for sure is that the backpacks are still here in the house. That is definitive proof that they returned and then left again... but we don't know at what time they departed. And there's something else: the phone is missing I mean the other De Lan's phone. The police will find it sooner or later, and then everyone might discover that we've taken their places. Or worse... they might accuse us of murdering them!
- But we know nothing of this world! How could they suspect us?
She interrupted in a panic.
De Lan answered with a steady, resolute heart:
- I am laying out all the possibilities; they might be right, or they might be wrong. We just don't know yet.
- So... you are suggesting that the real De Lan and Jo Ri were killed that night?
- I strongly suspect so.
- And why exactly have you formed such a hypothesis?
Jo Ri asked, still unable to believe his dark speculations. He replied:
- Because neither of the parents has reported their children missing to the authorities yet.
Jo Ri went silent for a moment, then asked in a low whisper:
- Do you believe that if we weren't here... their parents would have discovered their actual disappearance?
De Lan confirmed her words sternly:
- Yes, and they would have reported them missing immediately.
Jo Ri raised her hand in terror, placing her trembling fingers against her neck as if feeling the reality of her own existence in this body, drowning in the horror of the thought.
Bargains of the Past and Tools of the Future
After a heavy silence, Jo Ri remained on her bed, pulling her knees to her chest and staring into the void, while De Lan was absorbed in scribbling notes in a notebook. She sighed bitterly and asked:
- What should we do then? Should we tell them the truth?
- Of course not,
De Lan replied without looking up.
We aren't certain yet if they are truly the victims. Everything I've said is merely a hypothesis.
He slid the paper toward her and added:
This is all the information I can recall about that night and the people who vanished.
Jo Ri thought for a moment, then placed her phone in front of him.
Do you even know how to use this?
- No... I don't,
He answered curtly.
- We need to get you a new one.
- And how am I supposed to get that in this world?
A spark of an idea lit up her eyes. She stood up abruptly, grabbed his hand in a spontaneous motion, and said firmly:
- Come with me!
The Queen's Legacy and the Survival Bargain
She pulled out one of her precious hair accessories, the one she had worn on her ill-fated wedding day. Looking at its somber glint, she said:
- We will sell this... and with the money, we'll get you a phone.
De Lan froze in his tracks, stunned into silence once he realized she intended to sell her royal wedding jewelry. He stopped her with a firmness laced with disbelief:
- What are you doing? These are sacred royal possessions... How could you even think of selling them?
Jo Ri looked at him with a chilling calmness, replying with a steadfastness he had never witnessed in her before:
- They might be precious to you and your family, but they mean nothing to me now. This is just one piece among dozens that weighed down my head and body that night. Consider it a way to lighten my load for when the time comes to return.
She said it with the triumphant smile of a warrior who had emerged victorious from a fierce battle, leaving De Lan bewildered. Yet, he stopped her with an unexpected question, cracking the armor of his own pride:
- So... have you truly decided to return with me then?
Heartbeats Behind Closed Doors and the Discovery of Beauty
She didn't offer an answer. Instead, she moved to open the door and end the argument, but at that exact moment, the sound of the front door opening echoed—Jo Ri's mother had returned.
With a swift motion, De Lan pulled her back into the room, clamping his hand over her mouth to stifle any sound. He was so close that she could feel the heat of his breath and hear the steady rhythm of his heart. Her own heart began to race frantically, and she feared he might hear its wild thumping in the tense silence of the room. She shoved him away quickly, whispering with bated breath:
- Don't you ever get that close to me again!
De Lan hissed back, trying to regain his composure:
- What did I do wrong now? Don't you realize that if they find us together in one room at this hour, we will be severely punished?
She arched an eyebrow mockingly and asked with a playful smirk:
- Are you actually afraid of punishment now... Your Highness?
That radiant smile made De Lan's heart skip a beat. A confusing thought rattled his pride: (Was Jo Ri always this beautiful in the past, or has she completely changed here?). Jo Ri broke his train of thought as she headed toward the door again, saying:
- Wait here... and don't move.
Touches of Loyalty and the Escape of Specters
Jo Ri stepped out to find her mother lying on the sofa, her tired feet propped up and a damp towel draped over her face. Exhaustion was etched into her frame after a grueling day at the beauty salon. Jo Ri asked softly:
- Are you tired?
- Oh... yes, very much so, my daughter.
Jo Ri began massaging her mother's shoulders. The mother startled at first from this sudden gesture, but she soon relaxed under Jo Ri's calm and skillful touch. Surprised, the mother asked:
- Where did you learn to give a massage so perfectly?
- A friend at school taught me,
Jo Ri replied, nodding urgently toward De Lan to make his move.
Seizing the moment, De Lan slipped out of the room with extreme caution, passing behind the sofa like an invisible phantom until he reached the front door without making a sound. Jo Ri then said aloud:
- I'll get some ointment to put on your shoulder.
She headed for the door and opened it to let De Lan out, but the sound made her mother lift the towel from her face.
- Where are you going at this hour?
- I'm just going to buy you that ointment from the pharmacy.
- Alright... pick up some eggs on your way back. Do you have money?
- Yes, I do.
- It's okay, don't use your own allowance. Take some money from my purse over there.
- Fine... I'm leaving now.
Jo Ri shut the door behind her quickly, only to realize in her frantic state that she hadn't actually taken the money. She hurried down the stairs to find De Lan waiting for her in the shadows at the base of the building.