chapter 11

It has been several days since Raimin came to this place. She was quite satisfied about the recent talk she had with Song Kang. She felt glad that she could honestly tell him that she didn't want to continue with their marriage. Even though the only reason she told him was the fact that she no longer held any feelings towards him, it was a more than enough reason for her to break up with him. Or at least that's what she thought. It took time for her to realize that the things were far from being that simple in the sky castle.

When they were back in her room, Haeyon was so eager to know what Raimin had talked with Song Kang. Even so, Raimin purposefully avoided answering her questions. She just smiled in response and told her to wait for sometime to find out about it. She knew for a fact that, if the word of Raimin asking Song Kang for an annulment of their engagement reaches the chairwoman's ear, she'll try everything to stop that from happening. However, she couldn't deny the fact that, song Kang himself wishes for an annulment. So she kept believing that Song Kang will be able to take a decision despite the chairwoman's meddling because it was something related to his life. Raimin spent the whole afternoon thinking about it and by the time she realized it, it was already evening.

Mrs. Hong came to her room with some tea and a snack. She looked at raimin who was deep in thought and didn't lay finger on her tea cup until it turned cold. The middle aged woman suddenly began to feel worried.

"Ahem… young lady, are you not going to drink the tea?" she asked.

Raimin raised her head and looked at her. "oh… the tea! Sorry I forgot about it." she replied.

"You don't have to apologize young lady. But, rather, are you okay? You seem to have something troubling you." mrs.Hong asked.

Raimin looked at her and wondered. 'Ah… she seem worried. Does she think that I'm depressed?…. Then I guess this is the right time to ask her about it.' she thought.

"well… you're right Mrs.Hong. I've been thinking about the day when I fell into the lake. It's really troublin' me that all of you except I can remember about it. It's really unfair that I'm the one who doesn't even know how it happened, yet everyone is asking me about it. It would've been better if I can at least see that lake. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to remember what happened that day." she pouted, while telling the biggest lies with a cute face.

Mrs. Hong stared at her sympathetically and sighed. "I guess it's okay to let you see the lake now. Haeyon and I will be accompanying you so, you have to promise not to go near the lake." she replied, softly.

'Wow… I can't believe she just agreed to take me to see the lake. I guess acting cute works on her the best.' Raimin thought.

"But will it be alright? Mrs hong?" she asked.

"I can explain it to chairwoman later. I'm sure she'll understand the situation." Mrs.Hong replied.

After that, they took Raimin to see the lake. For that, they had to walk a long way past many buildings to finally reach the lake. The mansion and its garden was really massive that it almost looked like a palace of sorts. The only difference was that the sky castle has been built with modernized architecture. The lake was located at one end of the garden. By the time they came near the lake, it was beginning to fall dark and Raimin was exhausted from the long walk.

After all that, Raimin finally got to see the lake which everyone told her that she fell into. The sky was filled with pink and orange clouds, so the view of the vast lake made Raimin instantly fall in love with the lake. A cold breeze which came flowing from the far end of the lake was slowly circulating around her. For some time, she was unable to think about anything, and was swept away by the beauty of the lake which was right in front of her eyes.

'Woah… I didn't know that it was this beautiful.' she mumbled.

For some reason, this atmosphere gave her a familiar feeling.

'What's this, Deja- vu? Have I been here before?' the sudden thought came to her mind. But she knew that there's no way she has ever been to a place like this. This was different from all the lakes she's seen so far. Then, why does this give her a familiar feeling? 'Why does it look like this atmosphere is similar to something happened in the past?' Raimin wondered.

Then she suddenly remembered the dream she saw the night before waking up in this body.* She recalled how she saw herself standing in front of a lake.

'Yes… that's right. This is the exact same lake I saw in my dream. And this faint light, it was there too. The dream was so realistic that I even felt the cold breeze on my body. Then, did I see a place that exist in in this world?!'. Raimin mumbled while slowly brushing away the hair strands that fell on her face due to the wind.

"so, this is getting more and more complicated. I wish all of this is a part of that dream. Once I wake up, I won't have to worry about any of this. But, can there be a dream this long? it doesn't seem to have an ending.' raimin sighed, while thinking about all this.

'In that dream, I was sitting somewhere near here. And what happened after that? Ah… right. I fell into the lake. I was drowning. Now that I think about it, I thought I was going to die. I even tried screaming for help. So.., what did actually happen? Was it not a dream? Did I really fall into the lake just as they say? And I went into a coma? Did all that happen for real?' she thought, while slowly taking steps towards the lake. Haeyon and mrs. Hong patiently followed her, but they didn't do anything to disturb Raimin's train of thoughts.

*flashback of the first chapter.

"Haah….. all of this just doesn't make any sense. I… I shouldn't be here. I know that I'm not someone who belongs here. I must go back to where I came from.... But, what do I need to do if I need to go back?….. Try to fall or jump into this lake again?…. Will it work though? Isn't it the same as trying to take my own life?….. What if I just die here without being able to return at all?

No… hold on… What… if I… can't return at all? Why didn't this thought come up until now?…. Was I being too optimistic all this time?" raimin suddenly stopped, she felt as if something was choking her throat. She felt the urge to cry.

"Mom…" she mumbled. "what if I can't go back? What should I do now?" she covered her face with her hands while she collapsed down on her knees. For the first time after waking up in this body, Raimin felt warm tears running down her cheeks.

Haeyon came running towards her. "Oh.. my lady, why are you crying?" she said, while taking Raimin's hand. Mrs. Hong stepped forward and slowly covered her with the blanket she brought.

"let's go back now, my lady. You might fall sick if we stay here more." she said, while helping her to stand up.

When Han Seo returned back to Jae-In's place with his car, it was getting dark. He was apologetic about being late and had already guessed that Song kang would hesitate to go back to sky castle. But, as soon as he appeared, Song kang got up from where he was sitting and called their driver over. To Han Seo's surprise, he got into the car without hesitation. It was a very rare sight to see him go straight home after hanging out with his friends. So han seo assumed that he must be having something important to do at the mansion. However, it was quite different from what he had in mind.

The first thing song kang did when he came back to his room was to call the old butler in.

Whenever a servant was called to Song kang's room, they would always be hesitant and anxious as he was well known among the servants to be cold and stubborn. But that was not the case for the old butler. He has been working for the family since a long time and has seen song kang's childhood and how he grew up though all those years. In fact, he knew little to everything about the only young master of the family. The old butler was busy supervising the kitchen servants when he heard that he was called in by the young master. So he wrapped up the work and hurried over to Song kang's room.

There was a knock on the door, when song Kang was waiting in hisroom. After a while, the old butler came in. He bowed his head when he saw song kang.

"Good evening young master." he greeted politely.

"Good evening mr.Gil. How have you been?" song kang replied, with a soft smile.

"I've been good as always, young master. May I know why you called me?" the butler asked.

"were you in the middle of something when I called? Sorry about that." song kang replied. "I wanted to ask you about few things."

"it's fine, young master, please ask." the butler replied.

"well… it's.. have you met ms. Kim or either of her maids recently?" song kang asked.

"yes young master. As the head butler, I always meet the servants of this mansion. And of course I met the young lady also." Mr.gil replied.

"Then, how is her condition? Have you observed any kind of odd behaviour from her?" song kang asked.

The old butler quietly stared at song kang's eyes for a second. Then he replied, "The young lady's health seemed to have improved as of lately. And.. about her behaviour, I don't think I find anything odd, young master."

Song kang seemed to be deep in thought, with a serious look on his face. The old butler was staring at both song kang and Han seo who was standing next to him. After a while, song kang looked at the butler with the same serious expression.

"Then has she met anyone recently other than her servants?" he asked.

"as I can remember, the young lady has not met with anyone other than the chairwoman and young master's friends." the butler replied.

"are you sure that's all?" SK asked.

The butler looked at him with a puzzled face. Then he thought about it again. "Mm.. I bet I forgot to tell you about something, young master. A few days ago, the young master Kim came to see the young lady."

Song kang's eyes narrowed. "Who came?" he asked.

"The heir to the SG group. The young master Kim is the son of ms.Kim's legal guardian, the late prime minister Kim San gyul."

"You mean Kim Young-dae?… Why?" SK asked.

"The young master Kim recently came back from his business trip abroad. It seems that he only heard about the young lady's accident after his return. So, I assume that he immediately came to visit her to check on her condition. As I remember, it was midnight when he asked for a visit." Mr. Gil replied.

"So did he meet her?" SK asked.

"Yes, but the young master Kim left not long after he came."

After the butler's reply, Song Kang let him go back to his work again. The room fell into silence.

"why did you ask about her?" Han seo asked.

"I wanted to know what kind of thing happened to make her change her mind." SK replied.

"I thought you were not thinking much about it." han seo said.

"I'm not. But it's just strange that she suddenly had a change of mind." SK replied.

Song kang has met Kim Young-dae one or two times before that. As the heir of the Shinsae group, they've met each other during business meetings and official dinners of the two groups. He knew him as an excellent business administrator who succeeded in getting many sponsors from foreign countries. he also knew that Kyd was the son of Kim Raimin's legal guardian. So in SK's point of view, he was no different than her adoptive brother.

Even though it was quite odd to think that Kyd came straightly from the airport to see kim Raimin after such a long exhausting journey just because she was his adoptive sister. They didn't share any blood relationship and they didn't grow up together for that many years enough to naturally grow close.

Up till now, SK showed zero interest in finding out about who Raimin met with and what her relationships were. But now, he's focused on finding more about his fiancee just to figure out why she decided to call off the engagement.