Episode 10
Despite his sharp words, Ga-heun felt a foolish joy that the Crown Prince had thought of her. However, that brief happiness was short-lived as Min Chi-hyung blocked Hwi’s gesture of concern.
“The Crown Princess has been frail since childhood, so we will bring in a physician from our private residence. You may return.”
“Pardon? But that goes against palace protocol.”
“Her constitution is difficult to diagnose; it is not easy to discern her ailments. She is a Crown Princess who barely managed to complete the wedding after years of careful care. If you misdiagnose her and harm comes to her, your head will not stay on your shoulders. Do you still wish to examine her?”
The physician broke into a cold sweat at Min Chi-hyung’s lethal threat. He was stuck between the Prince’s command and Min Chi-hyung’s blade. Watching Min Chi-hyung wield his power so brazenly, Ga-heun knew it was up to her to settle the matter.
“I merely lost sleep last night. There is no other discomfort, so leave without worry.”
She didn’t forget to offer a plausible smile. Once the medical staff were dismissed, only Ga-heun and Min Chi-hyung remained. Min Chi-hyung’s eyes flashed with a terrifying intensity. Even as his daughter, Ga-heun was so afraid of him she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“So, I hear you failed to spend the first night together?”
“How… how did you know that?”
Min Chi-hyung twisted his lips into a sneer and spread one thick hand wide.
“This palace is within the palm of my hand. Have you forgotten already that I can clench or open it as I please?”
Though the King was the owner of the palace, Min Chi-hyung was the man who had replaced the King three times already. Ga-heun knew his influence reached everywhere, but she hadn’t expected him to know the intimate details of a couple’s bedchamber.
“Why did you send the royal physician away?”
“Foolish girl!”
Ga-heun flinched at the thunderous roar.
“Do you truly believe that arrogant Prince sent a physician out of concern for you?”
“Your weakness becomes my weakness. Have I not told you that over and over?”
“Forgive me…”
As Min Chi-hyung’s gaze grew fiercer, Ga-heun’s head bowed lower. To her, Min Chi-hyung was not a father but a “Lord” she dared not look at—a habit that began ten years ago. Even as the Crown Princess, she was merely a chess piece to be moved as long as he held her mother’s life hostage.
“Once your menses end, the most auspicious day for conception will be your night of consummation.”
He tossed a silk pouch in front of her.
“Keep this on your person that night.”
It smelled similar to the one she had on her wedding day.
“What is… this?”
“It is musk. When a man is intoxicated by this scent, he cannot help but take a woman. You must ensure the consummation happens this time. Understood?”
No matter how much the palace was in Min Chi-hyung’s palm, there was one thing that didn’t go his way: the union of Hwi and Ga-heun. Every month, on the scheduled night, Hwi would find the musk pouch with ghost-like precision.
“As expected of Min Chi-hyung’s daughter, using such shallow tricks. Have you no shame, Crown Princess?”
After spitting out those chilling words, Hwi would storm out. Even when Ga-heun got rid of the pouches Min Chi-hyung gave her, Hwi refused to spend the night. The reason was simple: she was Min Chi-hyung’s daughter. Three years passed, and the distance between them didn’t shrink an inch. As news of the empty womb spread, petitions to bring in a royal concubine began to flood the court.
Ga-heun walked toward the library with a light step. It had been three years since she entered the palace—a life with no secrets, where she was caught between Hwi, who looked for her flaws, and Min Chi-hyung, who tried to control her. Her quarters had long felt like a prison, so she spent most of her time in the library.
Today, she chose a book about traveling across the vast ocean to different lands. Reading about countries with eternal summer and strange foods gave her a sense of liberation. Her maid, Dan-ah, scurried over, her face flushed as if she were about to cry.
“Your Highness, how can you look at books right now?”
Ga-heun ignored the distress and spoke of her reading. “Dan-ah, it says the sea far away is a blue so deep it’s darker than indigo. Doesn’t that sound wondrous?”
“Sigh, My Lady!” Dan-ah’s voice rose. “The palace is in an uproar about bringing in a concubine for the Prince!”
“Yes, I heard.”
“You have to see the sky to pick a star! How can you conceive a royal heir if the Prince never stays the night?”
“Your voice is too loud. Stop it.”
Dan-ah huffed in frustration on behalf of her mistress. “Aren’t you resentful? Aren’t you angry?”
Of course, Ga-heun was. But there was nothing she could do. She had to survive by pretending to be a person who knew nothing and thought of nothing.
“Is it not amazing that there are places where the sea is the color of jade?”
“Sigh…”
As Dan-ah’s sigh trailed off, a low voice interrupted.
“Are you here again today?”
Ga-heun looked up to see a tall, handsome man approaching with a bright smile. It was Prince In-yeong. He was the only person in this desolate palace she could talk to like a friend.
Their bond started before she became the Crown Princess. They had met at a bookstore in the marketplace, arguing over the same book. Eventually, they became “book buddies,” meeting whenever a new shipment arrived. They hadn’t known each other’s status back then.
Only after she became the Crown Princess did they realize the truth. Her book buddy was the son of Grand Prince Gyeong-min—the man Min Chi-hyung had driven to his death. Ga-heun thought they could never be friends again, especially after In-yeong left to travel for a year. But when he returned, he was the same friend she always knew, never mentioning the court’s blood-stained politics.
“You have come, Prince In-yeong.”
