My Ultimate Ambition

Long afterwards, the prime minister remembered how the sunshine lay slanting on her face yesterday, how the flowers seemed to breathe perfume around her and how the wind seemed to dance before her. She had looked pale but was lively therefore he dismissed any notion of sickness and attributed it to tiredness.

As he opened the door barricading her room, a short startled scream flew out from his lips. When would he forget this sight? The sun shone full and bright into the room, and it's light seemed centered on the white face full of red spots.

Her bed had been drawn near the window and she lay on it. The sunshine falling on her face illuminated the spots making it shine. Her pretty face had undergone a great change __ so pale, so wan , so spotty that he shrank back , startled, shocked and frightened. She saw him then , and a low weak cry came from her lips.

"Father!" she said, and the next moment he was kneeling by her side, he clasped her in his arms showering her with kisses.

"Seo-yun, you foolish girl... how could you hide such thing from me?"

"I was afraid of disappointing father. I thought if I held on till I'm selected, everything will be alright. But you know what father? I am so afraid, I feel pain and itches all over my body... I feel so strangely ill that I have a foreboding of death" she said amidst tears .

He controlled the dreadful fear that overcame him as he felt helpless for the first time. " No my child, you will live long to possess what rightfully belongs to you, if I had known... only if I had known, I would have returned earlier than this to keep you company". He wiped the tears flowing down from the corner of her eyes and kissed her forehead.

"No father, stop! It is contagious" she said, unclasping herself from him and shooing him away. "It's chicken pox, father".

"My child, what type of father stays away from his child just because the illness is contagious?". He gave her a warm hug and blew cold air on her hands that felt hot.

The more he looked at her, the more shocked he became at that terrible change. Her face in just one day had grown thin, pale and wan, with a terrible haggard expression, as one who had suffered great pain. Her eyes looked larger and brighter, but the light in them was of fever not of health. The head was burning and the little hand he held burned too.

"How long have you been ill, my dear?" he inquired.

"Right before the selection... the evening before our arrival, I experienced a faint , terrible cold , shivering fit and weakness but I dismissed it as anxiousness"

"How did you manage it all this while?" he asked a little bit fl.u.s.tered that it had gone unnoticed for such a long time.

"I had fought against my illness hour by hour. I refused to give in eventhough I never seemed to have recovered from my dizziness" she cried, with a passionate burst of tears .

"Listen to me" he said sternly, "I want you to fight this illness with as much vigor as before. You need to fight this thing because that's the only way we will recover what is ours" he said, wiping off the bead of sweat assembling on her forehead.

"Yes father" she said, recovering some of her spirit and strength to fight this terrible illness.

A loud excited voice cut in through their conversation, a high pitch surrounding the sound. Suddenly, the door was flung open and she breezed in, a proud intoxicating smile on her face.

"My lord, was our Seo-yun selected? Am I finally a crown prince mother-in-law?". Lady Seo-yun's mother who had gone to the temple to offer prayers to their deity returned quite excited. In all conviction, her child must have been selected, and according to prophesy, the phoenix palace belongs to her.

On entering the room, a quiet gleam of amus.e.m.e.nt was visible in her eyes as she saw a shadow of what looked like her daughter. "My lord? What's going on? Why does that thing look like our Seo-yun?" she asked , puzzled because as far as her memory can take her, her child should be in the palace.

"That thing ... is our daughter" he answered sarcastically.

Seo-yun's mother stood deeply rooted to the ground. This must be the biggest joke of the century, someone shouldn't change this much in a span of a day , right?

"My lord, is this a joke?", she asked , an unknown fear creeping into her heart.

"Seo-yun?", she called out, trying to confirm that it's not her daughter but a prank her husband is staging.

"Yes mother", the confirmation she dreaded came, hitting her hard. She burst into an uncontrollable sob as she found herself crawling to her bedside.

"My child... my lord", she said, looking from the unrecognizable face of her daughter to her husband's, "Tell me this is a dream I need to wake up from"

"Please tell me it's a dream. Why is my child lying on her bed sick instead of in the palace?". Spasm took control of her body sending her on the ground. The man grabbed his wife and shook her vigorously, "Get a hold of yourself, this foolish woman!... Don't act weak before our child", he roared, his grief intermixed with anger.

After a while, she gathered her emotions together and rushed out to send for a doctor.

"I am returning to the palace, my dear. I need to stop the crown prince before it's too late for us" he told Seo-yun.

"Why father?".

(Because you hid your illness... he found out about it and might use it as a strong political move against me. We might all die, you foolish girl).

"I haven't congratulated him on his new bride ", he answered.

A small ripple appeared in her eyes at the mention of the topic."Who was selected?", she asked, a little bit defeated.

"Your best friend"

The word 'best friend' sounded foreign to her for the only best friend, in fact only friend she had is Jang Eun-hye who had no interest at all or was it feigned?

"I know what you are thinking, my child but it's that best friend you are thinking about". He told her.

A strong wave of emotion passed through her leaving her conflicted. Was she lied to? Did she fake a strong dislike for the process so as to grab the seat behind her? ... That cunning snake!.

A doctor arrived, and after a few words, he left for the palace. Her mother stood at a distance, sobbing quietly.