Chapter 130
“Today feels like a day when something good is bound to happen.”
For some reason, Yi-hwa looked to be in high spirits. Despite her hollow eyes from sleepless nights, a rare smile bloomed on her face.
“Shall we go to the rear garden?”
Seizing the moment, a palace maid bravely spoke up.
“If you stroll through the rear garden where the spring flowers are in full bloom, you may enjoy the beauty of spring even more.”
The maid was desperate to maintain Yi-hwa’s good mood, if only a little. Lately, Yi-hwa’s temper had been unpredictable.
She could be cheerful one moment, then explode in anger over the smallest thing. And it would have been fortunate if it ended with anger alone. These days, her rage would only subside after someone had been slapped until their lips swelled.
So it was only natural for the palace maids to act so desperately.
“No.”
Yi-hwa replied in a bored voice to the maid’s suggestion.
“I’m tired of it.”
With contempt in her eyes, Yi-hwa stared at the bright spring scenery. Perhaps due to her lack of sleep, her vision felt blurred and dim.
Even now, the dead Gyeon-ji and the Grand Empress Dowager appeared in her dreams every night. And from some time ago, even the palace maid who had given her the ring had begun to appear.
After months of relentless nightmares, Yi-hwa’s life had become utterly ruined. When she stayed still, she felt as if someone were watching her, and at times she even heard voices that weren’t there.
While she suffered like this, the world remained radiant and peaceful—how could she not feel resentful?
“Then… shall we go to Geonwol Hall?”
“I hate it there. It’s suffocating.”
Because of the constant nightmares, Yi-hwa had come to loathe Geonwol Hall, her own residence. Whenever she was there, her mood would sour, and the feeling of being watched sent chills down her spine.
“Then…”
The maid, drenched in cold sweat, suddenly fell silent.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
A eunuch came running from afar in great urgency.
“How dare you cause such a commotion in the sacred palace?”
Yi-hwa scolded him sternly. Seeing her mood darken again, the palace maids behind her exchanged anxious glances.
“M-my apologies, Your Majesty.”
The eunuch, having run at full speed, was still gasping for breath.
“I was ordered to deliver this message to Your Majesty with urgency and thus committed this discourtesy.”
Kneeling on the ground, the eunuch presented a letter with both hands. Yi-hwa snatched it irritably.
I will join General Lee Mujin and head toward the capital, so make preparations. The time of the Cheon family has finally arrived.
“Hahaha!”
Yi-hwa suddenly burst into hearty laughter after reading the letter. The laughter was eerie, utterly out of place.
The palace attendants shrank back, nervously gauging her mood.
“Where is Consort Ui right now?”
At the sudden question, a palace maid trembled as she answered. Because Yi-hwa constantly kept tabs on Dan-seol, the attendants serving her were quicker than anyone at knowing her whereabouts.
“S-she is currently at the Office of Royal Physicians.”
“Lead the way.”
“…Pardon?”
“Did you not hear me? Lead the way! We’re going to the Office of Royal Physicians.”
“Y-yes! Th-this way, Your Majesty!”
At the icy command, the maid hurried toward the Office of Royal Physicians. Yi-hwa followed behind, her lips twisting into a chilling smile.
“Here it is.”
Seo-rang placed a small bottle on the table.
“This is…?”
“It’s a concentrated extract of an herb that reacts to tattoo dye.”
At Seo-rang’s words, Dan-seol carefully lifted the bottle. The fate of Empress Cheon Yi-hwa rested on this tiny object.
“But this method is a bit different from what we used before.”
When they had revealed the cause of the Grand Empress Dowager’s death, they had applied an ointment infused with herbs onto a thin cloth to induce a reaction.
“That method is certainly the easiest, but it takes far too long.”
Although the ointment was easy to make, the herbal components took a long time to permeate. When they used it on the Grand Empress Dowager’s body, they had waited quite a while for results.
“But if we boil and concentrate the herbs, the effect will be much faster.”
Dan-seol nodded at the explanation. To expose the empress’s tattoo as fake, they needed a method that would work instantly.
“How much more concentrated is this compared to the ointment?”
“Well, if I had to say… more than a hundred times. Possibly several hundred.”
Dan-seol stared at the small bottle in awe.
“That’s incredible.”
“I barely slept and spent days boiling the herbs. Honestly, I might collapse any moment now.”
“Are you all right? I’m sorry to trouble you because of me…”
As Dan-seol looked stricken with guilt, Seo-rang spoke in a playful tone.
“It’s fine. For the sake of revenge, this is bearable.”
“You startled me!”
As Dan-seol raised her voice, Seo-rang burst into laughter. Seeing that, Dan-seol, who had been fuming, ended up laughing too.
“You’re finally smiling.”
“You really are incorrigible. You must have learned that from the royal physician.”
Thinking of Gyeom, who was far away enduring hardships, Dan-seol’s expression darkened again.
“Do you think His Majesty will be all right?”
“Of course. He’s incredibly strong.”
“That’s exactly why I’m worried. Strong people tend to push themselves too hard…”
Dan-seol recalled the countless scars covering Gyeom’s body.
“Any warrior who wields a sword has scars like these.”
Gyeom had said it lightly, but Dan-seol knew how much pain each scar represented—and how close to death he must have been.
If she hadn’t witnessed him fighting during the conquest of Yuldo herself, she might have dismissed it as nothing. But after seeing it, she couldn’t.
Because she knew he could have lost his life at any moment.
“His Majesty will do well, just as he always has. So we should focus on our own task.”
“Our task…”
Seo-rang was right. While waiting for Gyeom, Dan-seol needed to steadily carry out what she had to do.
Not wallow in despair like this.
I was foolish.
Seo-rang’s words jolted Dan-seol awake. Instead of being listless, she should have been devoting all her energy to exposing Yi-hwa’s tattoo as fake.
“Please tell me how to use it.”
“It’s simple. You just need to drop it onto the area with the tattoo—”
Bang!
The door burst open violently, cutting Seo-rang off mid-sentence.
“Your Majesty…?”
The one who barged in without warning was Yi-hwa. As she strode inside, Seo-rang hurriedly hid the bottle in her sleeve.
“What brings Your Majesty here?”
Smack—!
Ignoring Seo-rang completely, Yi-hwa suddenly slapped Dan-seol across the face. The blow was so strong that Dan-seol’s head snapped to the side, her lips splitting as blood flowed.
“Your Majesty! What are you doing?!”
Seo-rang cried out in shock. Even if Gyeom was absent, treating a consort like this was unacceptable.
“How dare you stop me, the empress?”
“You struck Consort Ui without cause! How can you—”
“Then I suppose it’s fine if she has committed a crime.”
At Yi-hwa’s chilling voice, Seo-rang fell silent. Yi-hwa curled her lips into a smile and turned to issue an order behind her.
“What are you waiting for? Seize the criminal at once!”
At her command, soldiers rushed in.
“Ah! Let go of me!”
They forced Dan-seol to her knees and bound her with a rope. It all happened in an instant.
“What crime has Consort Ui committed?! This is unjust!”
“Crimes against the imperial family.”
Yi-hwa’s red lips twisted as she answered Seo-rang’s outcry.
“How have I committed crimes against the imperial family?!”
“The crime of deceiving His Majesty by hiding your true identity.”
“…!”
“If that is not an affront to the imperial family, then what is?”
At Yi-hwa’s words, Dan-seol’s face turned deathly pale.
How did she find out…?
Seeing Dan-seol’s ashen face, Yi-hwa slowly approached her.
“Ugh!”
Yi-hwa grabbed Dan-seol by the hair and yanked her head back, wrenching her neck painfully. Her slow, venomous voice crept into Dan-seol’s ear.
“Princess of Seolhwa, Baek Dan-seol. How long did you think you could keep hiding who you really are?”
