Chapter 29
An Unknown Man
“Your Majesty!”
With a sharp crack, Lady Ihwa’s head snapped to the side. The palace maids gasped in horror.
For even a high elder of the Imperial Court to slap the Empress—this was unthinkable. Unimaginable.
“…What is the meaning of this?”
Ihwa tried to speak calmly, but her voice trembled more than ever. She touched her swollen cheek in disbelief.
“I endured all your arrogance as Empress without complaint. But to dare lay hands on the Imperial Grandson!”
The Grand Empress Dowager raised her hand again in fury, but the attending maids rushed forward to restrain her.
“Your Highness, please calm yourself!”
“Release me! I’ll kill that wretch today if it’s the last thing I do!”
Ihwa let out a hollow sigh at the elder’s violent rage. All this fuss over a mere concubine—how laughable, how insulting. What burned even more was the deep humiliation of it all.
“So now, not only do you vent your anger on me over Lady Dan, who has done no wrong, but you dare to strike me as well?”
Clutching her cheek, Ihwa cried out. The palace women glanced uneasily at her, sympathy glimmering in their eyes. Whatever her faults in daily conduct, the Grand Empress Dowager had gone too far this time.
Ihwa seized the moment.
“When His Majesty suddenly brought in a concubine, when he neglected me day after day to dote on her, I bore it in silence. I even cared for Lady Dan as a senior, giving her one of my most trusted maids.”
It was well known that when Danseol entered the palace, Ihwa had given her cherished maid to attend her.
“And yet, even now as I am humiliated and assaulted, His Majesty will not even glance at me!”
“Your maid Geonji was caught red-handed attempting to murder Lady Dan and the Imperial Grandson! And you dare feign innocence!”
“Do you have proof?”
“What… what did you say?”
The Empress Dowager faltered. Even though the culprit had been seized on the spot, Ihwa stared her down, clutching her cheek, eyes blazing with indignation.
“Show me proof that I ordered such a thing.”
“Your own maid attempted it! What more proof is needed?”
“By that logic, should you not also be punished? You sent palace women to spy on me. I have suffered threats and intimidation for days on end!”
“T-That’s absurd!”
Yes, she had sent watchers, but she had never ordered them to threaten the Empress. Yet Ihwa twisted the matter, as though the Dowager herself had issued vile commands.
Just as the two women stood locked in fierce confrontation—
“Imperial Edict!”
The booming announcement preceded the arrival of Jung Hyul, a court official. He entered, unflinching even as his eyes flicked briefly to Ihwa’s swollen cheek.
Ihwa clenched her fists in fury.
Jung Hyul had once held a minor post until Gyeom raised him to the powerful position of Imperial Secretary. Worse, he had personally investigated Ihwa and her Cheon clan during the Huayeongjeon poisoning incident.
For him to appear now could only mean trouble.
He unfurled a golden-edged scroll.
“By the Emperor’s command: Empress Cheon Ihwa and her residence, Geonwoljeon, are to be thoroughly investigated for the attempted assassination of Lady Dan and the Imperial Grandson.”
Ihwa’s grim premonition had come true.
Through a haze of fevered dreams, Danseol’s eyes fluttered open.
‘Where… am I?’
She jolted at the sight of the gilded ceiling. The vast chamber glittered with golden ornamentation, a vision of opulence. Even her bed was draped with delicate silk. Spotting the great bow and jeweled sword mounted on the wall, Danseol finally realized where she was—and her tense shoulders eased.
“Until you recover, you’ll remain here.”
Thanks to Gyeom’s boundless consideration, she was now convalescing within Geoniljeon, the Emperor’s own quarters.
The problem was, she had to share his chamber.
He insisted it was for safety until the scandal subsided, but to Danseol, it felt more like childish torment.
‘He’s at it again.’
Her eyes shifted toward the desk. As always, Gyeom sat there, engrossed in memorials and state documents.
During her days here, Danseol had realized he was far more diligent than she ever imagined. From dawn until deep into the night, his hands never left the petitions. When rare moments freed him, he reached for books. Even his sword practice was never neglected.
Oddly enough, living in Geoniljeon hadn’t been unbearable. They hardly clashed face-to-face.
As she watched him, he suddenly set down his scroll and rose.
‘Ah… it’s that time again.’
Danseol quickly shut her eyes, feigning sleep.
He approached quietly, pulling back her blanket to check her injured leg. With patient, meticulous fingers, he unwrapped the bandages.
“Twice a day, apply this salve and bind it with fresh cloth.”
The palace physician had prescribed the herbal remedy.
Yet it was Gyeom himself—the Emperor—who carried out the treatment.
Danseol had once begged him to let the maids handle it, but he had refused.
“Would you have eunuchs lay hands upon a concubine’s body?”
She had heard of his avoidance of women, but after living here, she realized it was more than avoidance—he feared their touch. He bathed and dressed himself, never allowing a maid near.
Rumor had it he regarded women as stone.
‘Clearly nonsense,’ she thought bitterly. ‘Or how else do I explain this?’
Gyeom gently cleaned her ankle, wiping away the old salve, when loud voices echoed outside.
“I must see His Majesty at once!”
“By command, no one may enter.”
“I am the Empress of this realm! Not just anyone!”
Moments later, the chamber doors burst open.
“Your Majesty!”
Despite Tae-yeom’s attempts to restrain her, Ihwa stormed inside.
“You go too far,”
murmured Gyeom coldly, his voice like a blade of ice.
Danseol shuddered. She had never seen him like this—not even when she had once tried to kill him. His expression now was frigid enough to freeze the air.
“Your Majesty! Why do you treat me so?”
“What disgraceful behavior is this?”
He did not turn to face her. He would not even grant her his gaze. Ihwa bit her lip until it bled.
By Imperial decree, she was being investigated in connection with Danseol’s miscarriage. Her residence ransacked by mere officials, her dignity trampled by Jung Hyul’s interrogations.
Her pride was in tatters.
“Why else would I act this way? How could you do this to me?”
“I gave you everything you could ask for as Empress. What dissatisfaction still gnaws at you?”
At last, Gyeom turned slightly, casting her a sidelong glance. He looked her over, from the towering golden hairpiece upon her head to the gaudy robes drenched in gold thread.
“Or perhaps you would prefer I treat you truly as a criminal?”
The frost in his eyes made Ihwa shrink back in fear.
“Tae-yeom.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Escort the Empress out.”
And so, with nothing gained, Ihwa was expelled from Geoniljeon.
Silence returned, but Danseol dared not open her eyes. She focused every ounce of strength into pretending to sleep—
“Enough pretending. I know you’re awake.”
His sharp voice made her eyes flutter open at once.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to eavesdrop…”
The quarrel had been loud, impossible to ignore, yet Danseol still felt guilty—as if she had witnessed something too private.
“Forget it.”
Gyeom finished binding her ankle with practiced care. His hands were steady, almost gentle—so unlike the man who had just banished his Empress with icy words.
“As you saw, for now you will remain here quietly, without drawing notice.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
Having finished, he rose and returned to his desk, immediately resuming his endless work as though nothing had happened.
Danseol watched him from her bed, bewildered.
‘He really is… impossible to understand.’
The man before her, Emperor Yi Gyeom—what kind of person was he truly?
She no longer knew.
