Chapter : 01
Having One’s Wings Torn Off
The room was steeped in stillness, yet the flickering lamp, stirred by ragged, furious breaths, betrayed anything but calm.
“Do not regret what happened today. That day, you said it yourself. Is it my fault for having let your advice slip past me?”
At Yeonho’s heavy voice, the shadow of Joyeong cast on the wall trembled uneasily.
“Y-yes… I clearly told you it wasn’t so.”
The words were forced out with difficulty.
They were a paltry, cowardly excuse—far from enough to shift all the blame onto him for everything she had done while concealing her status and pretending to be a princess at his side.
“So that’s it. I was curious too—what you were thinking when you denied being a princess. But now I think I understand.”
Even in the chill that had seeped into his voice, Joyeong looked at him, clinging to the hope that he might yet understand her sincerity.
“It was for a moment like this—when you’d be exposed.”
But when she met his cold gaze, it felt as though her entire body froze solid.
“I was the one at fault for being deceived; you didn’t want to deceive me. You planned to tell the truth later, once the time was right, but you were too afraid to speak. Wasn’t that what you were going to say?”
He had already spoken all the words she wanted to say herself, leaving Joyeong without even a chance to make excuses.
She felt wronged and confused—she, too, had fallen into a trap.
She had pretended to be a princess simply to survive; the idea that she was some spy of the Empress was absurd.
But his eyes were already filled with distrust. Before that wall of contempt, there was no way to explain that she was not a spy. Whatever her purpose, the fact remained that she had deceived him and lived as a false princess. Who would believe the words of a liar?
“Even so, you were clever. The real princess was planning to run from me as well, so saying you weren’t a princess sounded all the more convincing. If I’d let my guard down, I might really have been fooled.”
At Yeonho’s continued words, Joyeong lifted her head.
“Then… does that mean you already knew I wasn’t the princess?”
A mocking smile tugged at Yeonho’s lips.
“How could I not? I used you as well. I needed someone to stand in until the missing princess was found.”
“!”
Frozen in shock, Joyeong’s lips trembled as she managed to ask,
“Then… once you found the princess, what did you intend to do with me?”
“What do you think I would have done?”
“…….”
The answer was already there in his cold counterquestion. Even so, Yeonho cruelly spelled it out for her.
“You should be grateful your brother came to take you away so quickly. Otherwise, you’d have been beheaded in front of Her Highness the Princess.”
Joyeong squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart, which had been pounding wildly, now felt tightly strangled.
All the time she had spent with him was stained with lies. Knowing it was a feeling she had no right to harbor, she had crushed down the affection she felt for him—and now it seemed shameful and sorrowful.
It felt as though the sincerity with which she had cared for him had been trampled and violated.
If this was how it would end, I should have run away when I had the chance. Who did I think I was, staying here to help anyone?
Throughout the time she deceived him, she had been afraid and wracked with guilt. That was why she had done her utmost to help him. Was that truly sincerity toward him—or merely a way to ease her own conscience?
If she thought of it that way, then it wasn’t her sincerity that had been violated. Perhaps believing that would be easier on her heart.
How much must he have laughed at me, watching me play the princess?
After taking several slow breaths, Joyeong opened her eyes again.
“Since we deceived each other, please don’t be too resentful. If you have nothing more to say, I will take my leave.”
Joyeong would return to the Ha family estate, which had been like hell.
No—that wasn’t her choice to make. It had already been decided: Ha Jinsan had come for her, and Kang Yeonho had chosen to cast her out.
Joyeong would once again live like a worm.
The butterfly that had briefly fluttered through a flower garden had its wings torn off and was sent back to the dirt.
Even as she left, Joyeong still clung to a grain-sized hope.
That perhaps he might stop her. That he might at least recognize the sincerity with which she had treated him.
“It would be better for you to hope that we never meet again. If we do, I may have to kill you with my own hands.”
At his following words, dripping with contempt, Joyeong’s heart collapsed completely.
“Please don’t worry about that.”
Because before then, I will already be dead.
