Her Tempestuous Villain

SD was in the kitchen, preparing crispy fried chicken and coleslaw. Even though he had offered a lavish dinner, Sunye said just fried chicken would do because she missed junk food. Seeing how she was pleading, he could not refuse her. He stifled a yawn as he deep fried the chicken.

Meanwhile, Sunye had set up a tent in the living room which she found in one of SD's cupboards. She placed blankets, pillows, a laptop and wine inside the tent. Once she was done, she scrolled through the laptop to find a good movie.

"Romantic?" she wondered. "Or some action thriller? Comedy?"

SD entered the tent with a plate full of hot fried chicken.

"Bon appetit!" he cheerfully exclaimed.

"What sort of movie do you wanna watch?" Sunye asked.

"Adult film," SD joked. Sunye threw a dirty gaze at him before settling on a historical film about a Prince being punished by his own father, the Emperor, for treason.

"I heard this one's good," she said. "Even went to the Oscars!"

"Let's watch it then," SD shrugged. She pressed the play button and they leaned backwards. To Sunye's slight embarrassment, SD pulled her to his lap and wrapped his arms around her.

"Oi!" she said sharply. "No perverted stuff! I'm still angry at you for not coming home immediately!"

"I've missed you for five days," he whined. "I thought you'd be happy to cuddle!"

"In that case," Sunye said in a sweet tone. "You'll have to endure it for five more days. No touching in a perverted way, no kissing me anywhere and no sex for five days!"

SD pouted. "Hugs and cuddles are an exception," he countered. "I won't go any further than that! I swear!"

"Fine," Sunye agreed, suppressing her smile. Not wasting any more time, he curled her up against his chest, cocooning her so that she could not escape. He missed her a lot and her punishment was going to kill him but he must endure it for a while. After all, he did worry her a lot.

Sunye picked up a fried chicken and offered it to him but the shameless guy insisted on making her feed it to him. She sighed and began to feed him with her hands. He might not be able to make love to her for the next five days but he could still enjoy some perks.

"What's the guy doing?" he frowned at the screen.

"The Prince went to kill his father but for some reason backed out," Sunye noted. They watched the movie with interest with SD occasionally cuddling her or feeding her chicken. But they spent a good two hours watching the movie.

For once, Sunye felt that they were actually capable of doing some things which normal couples did. SD kept his promise and did not make any advances towards her but he was still very attentive, shifting positions to make her feel comfortable or made sure she ate well.

"I think the Prince backed out because of his son," Sunye said as the scene played in front of them. "He saw the son with the Emperor and they were spending some family time together. Seeing that must have melted the Prince's heart."

SD was intently watching the movie, not saying anything.

"Power is weird, huh?" Sunye went on. "Pitting family against family, friends against friends. I never understood why people chase it."

"They want to think they're better than everyone else," SD said quietly. "Seek something which did not belong to them. You wanna know what a person is like, give him power and see what he or she does with it."

"Scary," Sunye mumbled. The movie had ended and she was now leaning against his chest, listening to him. They were silent for a while before Sunye spoke up again.

"When I was in the palace," she recalled. "I didn't know a lot about what was going on there. The traditions were so weird. So many rules to keep us in check and yet, people there were so cold. They were distant and secretive as if they wouldn't hesitate to kill one another. Yet, they put up fake smiles. It was hard to tell at that time but now that I think back, their deceptions were obvious."

"Was there anyone who wasn't deceptive there?" SD asked. He slowly lay back and Sunye naturally cozied into his arms, narrating her story.

​ "San," she said. "He was a kid just like me but strangely perceptive. Maybe he was raised that way but he used to be able to identify fake smiles easily. I hardly saw the Emperor other than a few occasions but he was a good person too. Tired of all the palace politics but he seemed to be genuinely nice. And Concubine Gwi. The only person who was not hesitant to call out other people's bullshit. She was kind and generous unlike her sister, the Empress."

"Ah," SD pretended to understand. "Two sisters were engaged in a power struggle."

"I'm not sure," Sunye said. "The Empress was a nasty piece of work but auntie Dahyun was the opposite. I don't think she wanted power but rather a peaceful solution to the palace's problems. She loved San like her own son. Even more than Kim San-"

Sunye froze mid-sentence. Even SD was surprised to hear what she just said.

"She loved San like her own son and even more than Kim San?" SD questioned her. "What do you mean, Sunye?"

He looked at her but Sunye avoided his eyes. She sat up, fidgeting with her nails.

"There's...there's something you should know about the palace," she confessed. "There wasn't one Kim San, but two of them."

SD pretended to be surprised at the 'revelation'. "Really?" he exclaimed. "How? Why?"

Sunye took a deep breath and recapped everything she had said to Orea. SD was surprised that Sunye had known about the tradition all this time because it was a closely guarded secret. Only the core staff knew.

"I figured out there were two Princes through my interactions with them," she went on. "But I didn't know about the tradition then. I just assumed they just had the same name. My father told me about the tradition shortly before his death."

Of course. Han Daewhi would have known because he was the Head Chef at the palace. He used to prepare everyone's food and hence, was aware of who was eating how much food. Moreover, he had assigned staff to take care of each Prince's individual diet needs so he had known.

But he was amazed at how Sunye was able to figure it out.

"Did you tell anyone else about this?" he asked.

"Just Orea," she shrugged. "Anyways, I don't know what happened to the Empress or any of the Crown Princes. I don't even know if any of them are alive at this point."

"Which Kim San was your first love?" SD asked bluntly. Sunye blinked in surprise.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "Are you jealous?"

"Of course I am!" SD said, feeling indignant. "Which boyfriend wouldn't be jealous if he finds out that his girlfriend still holds a torch for her childhood love?"

"It was a long time ago!" Sunye protested. But he crossed his legs and waited for her answer.

"So tell me," SD said, suddenly becoming serious again. "Which Kim San did you love?"

"I had only one friend there and it was San!" she exclaimed. "The Empress' son. His mother might have been a bitch but he was good! So I used to hang out with him more."

"And his brother?"

"I played with him as well but I wasn't as close to him as I was with San," Sunye pouted a little. "But why are we talking about them-"

SD suddenly leaned forward to kiss her deeply. Sunye was taken aback but had no time to think because he was slowly playing with her lips, pulling her closer while prying deep into her mouth with his tongue.

"Hey!" she weakly protested between their kiss but he kissed her again, burying his fingers in her hair. Sunye also gave up the fight and kissed him back, since she missed him a lot over the past few days.

He pushed her back against the pillows, not breaking their kiss at all. Sunye sucked on his lips, her body feeling very hot as he grinded against her. She let out a soft moan, pulling him closer.

SD broke off the kiss and whispered, "Does the five day rule still count?"

Sunye was too dazed by the kiss to care.

"It can start from tomorrow," she groaned and pulled him down for another kiss. He was on top of her, his hands sliding downwards to the buttons of the shirt, opening them one by one. Sunye wrapped her legs around him and trailed kisses to his neck, leaving tiny red marks on his skin.

Suddenly, she paused. SD's hands which were unbuttoning her shirt had stopped in their actions. In fact, SD had gone still!

"Kim?" she called out to him but to her surprise, his eyes were closed. She panicked for a moment, wondering if something was wrong with him before realizing that he had fallen asleep.

"The idiot didn't rest at all," she sighed. Gently pushing him on a pillow, she put a blanket over him. SD curled up like a child, peacefully sleeping.

"Sleep tight, villain," she sighed. "You need to rest if you wanna be your evil self again tomorrow."

Smiling, she lay beside him, gently patting his head as he slept.