Chapter 08
He should have killed them.
That would have been the right thing to do.
Anyone who knew of his existence should not have been left alive.
No—this situation should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.
So why was it that, the moment he saw someone carrying away the unconscious girl, he lost his reason?
He should have killed them. Knocking them unconscious was not enough.
If that person reported this to the queen, the girl’s life would be in danger.
He knew that perfectly well.
The fact that he did not kill them meant only one thing.
He was already being shaken by personal feelings.
She was not a child who could remain unharmed knowing that someone had died because of her.
Since when had he started considering things like that?
Soa’s brow twitched.
Without realizing it, the man reached out toward her, then withdrew his hand.
Meanwhile, Soa, regaining consciousness, tried to grasp her situation.
Behind her eyelids, flashes of light flickered, brightening and darkening again and again, like fire.
Her throat burned painfully.
Even when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.
She could not even lift her eyelids.
The only thing she could clearly sense was that she was being carried somewhere.
Am I being held? Or did I grab on?
Then whose arms are these? Whose scent is this—one that feels unfamiliar, yet not strange?
“…Soa.”
Someone called her name.
A large, cool hand touched her forehead.
It felt as if the heat in her body was being absorbed entirely.
As her body flinched at the cold touch, Soa realized who was holding her close.
Even so, she could not believe it.
As the thought that this must all be a dream crossed her hazy mind, her eyes opened instead.
Through a blurred vision, her lashes heavy with tears, a shape came into focus.
Something brushed gently over her eyelids.
With long, strong fingers, he wiped away the tears clinging there.
“…Ah.”
A small sound escaped her lips.
His straight nose, thick eyebrows, and cool, sharp eyes became clear one by one.
He was staring at her.
He could feel her trembling eyelids and her hot breath.
“Medicine.”
Medicine?
The hand that had touched her eyelids moved down to her dry lips and brushed across them in an instant.
It was a place that had never been touched by another’s hand before.
Whether because of the difference in temperature or because of the wildness carried in his touch, the sensation was overwhelmingly unfamiliar.
A lingering aftereffect spread through her body.
This isn’t a dream.
Only then did Soa begin to understand what was happening.
“Wh… why…?”
The voice she managed to produce was hoarse and broken.
The man looked down at her quietly, then glanced at his own fingertips.
They were faintly stained pink.
“You drank medicine.”
A voice sounded from somewhere far away.
When she lifted her gaze to look around, she saw a space enclosed on all sides by walls.
There was only a small shack and a well standing alone.
It was too shabby and cramped to believe it was inside the palace.
Unless it existed to imprison a royal who had committed a crime and could not be sent elsewhere, its purpose was hard to imagine.
“Medicine? I drank medicine?”
The man nodded and showed her his stained fingers.
The color was the same as the tea the queen had given her earlier.
There had been poison in it.
Why?
As Soa recalled her private meeting with the queen and replayed their conversation, her eyes fell on the layers of scars covering the man’s fingers.
If he were someone of royal blood…
“…”
Sensing the worry or pity in her gaze, the man quickly curled his fingers and pulled them back.
Then, still holding her, he began walking again.
“W-wait a moment.”
Only then did Soa fully realize that he had been carrying her the entire time.
She grabbed the front of his robe.
He stopped and looked at her.
“Put me down. I’m heavy.”
“……”
“I don’t know how we ended up here, but… please put me down first.”
Soa even forced a smile, trying to show that she was fine.
The man stared at her blankly for a moment, then moved again.
He gently set her down on a narrow wooden platform, barely wide enough for a couple of small children to lie on.
“Water.”
“Huh?”
The man walked over to the well.
He scooped water into his hands and brought it to her, his movements awkward, like a child who had never learned proper manners but was eager to take care of someone.
“Water.”
“……”
“You have to drink. It will flush the poison out.”
Though his speech was clumsy and uneven, it was clear he was not completely uneducated.
Soa hesitated, then lowered her head.
Think of him as a child.
Though he had the solid body of a grown man, his actions were not so different from a child’s.
Thinking that way, she could not bring herself to refuse his concern.
As she touched her lips to the water, the cool liquid dampened them and slid down her throat.
“You have a fever.”
“I’m okay.”
Soa said that and smiled softly at him in gratitude.
Only then did he seem to relax and step back slightly.
I feel like my head is finally clearing.
As Soa tried to calmly review what had happened, her eyes suddenly widened.
The man brought the remaining water on his hands to his lips and licked it away.
It was the same place her lips had touched just moments ago.
“…!”
“Why?”
He asked calmly, seeing her reaction.
His expression suggested he did not even realize what he had done wrong.
That only made Soa more flustered.
Her resolution to think of him as a child wavered.
That gesture was not like a child’s at all, but rather like an intimate act between adults.
Even Soa, who knew nothing of spending the night with a man, felt a strange, aching sensation deep within her.
“Why?”
He asked again.
Soa parted her lips, wanting to say something, but no words came.
What could she possibly say?
She decided to turn her head away and pretend not to notice.
“…Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“Alone
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
The man tilted his head, as if he didn’t understand the question.
Just as Soa was wondering if it was too difficult, he answered.
“From the beginning.”
From the beginning?
Did he mean since he died?
But there were too many things that did not add up for him to be a spirit.
“You shouldn’t stay here.”
“Where is this place?”
“……”
“I was talking with the queen. I drank tea and lost consciousness. If what you say is true, the tea was poisoned. But why?”
“Why?”
That was exactly what Soa could not understand.
Why would the queen poison her?
Why summon her in secret to a place no one else knew of, as if intending to harm her?
“There’s no reason for Her Majesty to hurt me. To poison me like that…”
Was it a test?
But what could be tested by poisoning someone?
Endurance? Or whether she could remain composed after something like that?
Questions piled upon questions, with no clear answers.
But another thought crossed her mind.
He had taken her away from somewhere.
“Wait. How did you bring me here?”
“…Like this.”
The man suddenly stepped closer and scooped her up.
Soa pushed against his chest, flustered.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Like this?”
As if taking it further, he began to move and lightly leap forward.
The sleeves of his robe fluttered, and only then did Soa notice the bloodstains at their edges.
“What is this?”
Had he harmed someone to bring her here?
Was it even safe for her to be here?
Once that thought occurred to her, she could no longer hesitate.
Whatever the queen’s intention had been, questioning it was not something allowed to her.
Even if the queen had meant to kill her, Soa was expected to accept it quietly.
“I was taking you.”
“Where?”
“To a physician.”
“A physician? Why…?”
Soa could not understand why the queen would have wanted her taken to a physician.
Was she testing her?
Or… doubting her chastity?
“…Soa?”
The man called her name again.
Like a child repeating a newly learned word for fun, he spoke her name in a way that no one else did, clearly and distinctly.
But his voice did not reach her heart.
All she could think about was how to fix this situation.
“I have to go.”
“Dangerous…”
“But still…”
“Soa!”
At that moment, a voice calling her echoed from afar.
Instantly, the man’s eyes sharpened.
It was Yeonwoo’s voice.
There were two or three sets of footsteps rushing toward them.
“Yeonwoo…”
Hearing his voice, Soa instinctively moved toward the wall.
There was no door here.
To leave, she would have to climb over it.
The realization made her panic, but she had no choice.
As she stretched her hands upward, trying to climb, a shadow fell behind her.
The moment she turned around—
A firm hand clamped over her mouth.
