Chapter – 13
The Crown Prince’s Accusation (2)
When Ana Rosa received the Emperor, his face openly showed displeasure, unlike usual. There was only one thing that could make him look like that. As soon as he sat down, Ana Rosa shook her head and began to massage his shoulders.
“Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is always the same. Why do you become angry every time?”
“You know I’m angry, so why do you always speak like this!”
The Emperor shouted. He looked fierce enough to flip over the tea table at any moment, but Ana Rosa only smiled. She was not very afraid of him.
“Your neck is stiff, that is why. The royal physician said that if you wish to live long, you must keep your mind at ease.”
“I have already lived long. Even if I die now, I have lived long enough!”
“You must live even longer. I—”
“Did I not tell you that I get goosebumps whenever you say that? My temper is bad today, so do not joke.”
At his words, Ana Rosa tilted her head and looked at his profile.
Time had rounded the hero of an era, smoothing him like a weathered stone. Yet the spirit inside him had not faded at all.
Ana Rosa pressed his neck and shoulders firmly. His body was still strong, but she never forgot that he was a man past seventy, almost eighty.
To her, he was the most precious and grateful family member in the world. She was always afraid that he might die.
Without realizing it, her hands became desperate. Lee Juwon gently held the hand of Ana Rosa—who was somewhere between granddaughter and great-granddaughter in age to him—and lowered it.
He knew well the fear she had never admitted. The young princess who had been pushed away by her family and almost sold to a distant foreign land was no longer here. Ana Rosa had grown into a fine woman, but somewhere in her heart remained the fear of being left alone.
‘One day, you will be alone.’
Lee Juwon always wanted to say those words, but he never could. Whenever he saw a trace of fear slipping out from her clear green eyes, like transparent jade, he would close his mouth.
He would die. Certainly.
And she would have to continue living after his death.
Death was approaching him in a clear and certain shape, yet Ana Rosa was like a child who covered her ears and shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head as if that future would never come.
She was wise in every other matter, but when it came to his death, she foolishly avoided it.
“It hurts. Your strength has only grown.”
At the Emperor’s exaggerated complaint, Ana Rosa smiled brightly.
“You do not even send word to me, yet you give such praise?”
“Sit down. I have something to discuss about the Crown Prince.”
Ana Rosa sat, as if she had expected this.
The one who made the Emperor worry so deeply—and at the same time, the one he could not cast aside—there was only one such person in the world.
The Crown Prince, son of the late Empress whom the Emperor had cherished dearly.
The Emperor spoke.
“The Crown Prince says that the envoy from Ausis committed murder. He claims the envoy took a courtesan at a gisaeng house, made remarks that could anger the people, and then killed her. But the story sounds very suspicious. Do you know anything about it?”
In the imperial palace, people never showed that they were listening to their superiors’ conversations. They stood still like decorations. Yet humans have emotions, and when many people are shocked, even the air seems to tremble.
Ana Rosa felt the air shake just now. Still, as was proper for her position, she pretended not to notice.
To answer the Emperor’s question, she knelt before him. At once, everyone except the Emperor lowered themselves even further than the Empress and bowed their heads.
Ana Rosa spoke clearly.
“Your Majesty, regarding this grave matter, I do not know everything, but I have heard a few things.
First, the dead man was not the courtesan Seo, but the chief steward of the Umun Merchant Guild. He tried to steal the money pouch of the Ausis envoy and lost his life to a guard’s sword.
Second, the master of the guard who killed him is Count Menios, Miguel La Puares.
Third, the one who testified to these two matters is the courtesan Seo.
Fourth, the head of the Umun Merchant Guild met Count Casella three times in Seo’s room. It is assumed that some sort of agreement was made.
Fifth, Miguel La Puares claims his memory of that time is unclear and has refused to cooperate about what he did in Seo’s room.”
She glanced up at the Emperor, then changed her language.
“Sixth, according to what Seo told another person, there was some kind of powder in her room—like sugar or salt. Count Casella was selling it, and the Umun Merchant Guild was buying it.
Before the guard killed the chief steward, Miguel La Puares was alone in the room. The steward left the room carrying his money pouch and met the guard who was returning. The guard recognized the pouch, judged him a thief, and killed him on the spot.
However, those who knew the steward said he would never steal such a thing. The pouch did not even contain much money, nor was it valuable enough for a chief steward of a great merchant guild to covet. He was known for being careful with wealth and was trusted deeply by the guild master.
The guild master doubted Seo’s testimony and searched for witnesses, but no other statements were found.”
Lee Juwon clicked his tongue. Now he understood why the Crown Prince had rushed to him.
The Umun Merchant Guild was the Crown Prince’s money pouch—those who offered him wealth in exchange for protection under his power.
The Crown Prince could not do many things well, but he was better than anyone at squeezing money from petty men and making them submit. Even Lee Juwon could not handle such cunning people as skillfully as his son.
But it was like a snake swallowing a poisonous centipede. As both Emperor and father, Lee Juwon always felt troubled.
Now the guild master had lost a trusted right-hand man. How precious must the chief steward, who managed the guild’s wealth, have been? He must have been close personally, and his ability would have been vital to the guild.
To lose both a capable man and part of the strength that ran the guild—how furious would the guild master be?
And yet the opponent was an envoy, someone who could not easily be punished. No one in Mun Country would accept that calmly. The guild master would use every connection to seek private revenge, and naturally, the Crown Prince would be among those connections.
The Crown Prince must have thought: since it is the request of my money pouch, I cannot refuse. Moreover, the envoys of Ausis are involved. Perhaps I can attack the Empress and wound her politically.
Lee Juwon could clearly see the foolish thoughts of his son.
The Empress and the Crown Prince were political enemies. Like two weights on opposite sides of a scale—if one grew heavier, the other must grow lighter.
The Empress currently enjoyed the Emperor’s favor, but her future was uncertain. The Crown Prince’s future was guaranteed, yet the path to that future could still be cut off.
‘Ana is not truly interested in this.’
Ana Rosa had been attacked many times by the Crown Prince, yet she always let it flow past like water. To her, the Crown Prince was both “an unlucky and incompetent man” and the chosen heir of the person she loved, respected, and trusted the most.
The Crown Prince always took things for granted, but even when Ana Rosa struck back at him, she always saved him at the last moment.
Even now, the matters that would truly harm the Crown Prince were spoken in the Ausis language. The Umun Merchant Guild had bought goods from Count Casella. No one even knew what those goods were.
It was no secret that the guild was the Crown Prince’s money pouch. Yet that guild had secretly entered a courtesan’s room and purchased goods, avoiding the government offices.
Ana Rosa used gentle words, but in the end, it meant smuggling. The envoys of Ausis and a merchant guild of Mun Country had joined hands to begin smuggling.
Would the Crown Prince hear this story and still think it could become a stain on the Empress?
If he did, Lee Juwon felt suffocated.
No matter how clever Ana Rosa was, she was ultimately the mistress of the imperial palace—the manager of the inner court and the mother of the nation who oversaw the women’s affairs. What could she possibly have to do with smuggling?
