Chapter – 16
The Crown Prince’s Accusation (5)
“Huuk… huuk—”
The Crown Prince could not even breathe properly. He was curled up on the floor like a shrimp, gasping for air. Only now did it seem like he was truly afraid.
Chief Eunuch Geum was wondering whether he should secretly inform the Empress—the only person who could possibly stop the Emperor—because he feared the Emperor might collapse from rage.
“Do not contact the Empress. That soft-hearted person is my son’s mother.”
Step. The Emperor walked toward the Crown Prince. Even while struggling to breathe, the Crown Prince tried to scoot backward on the floor. Seeing his pathetic 모습, the Emperor exploded in anger.
“I protected that fool again and again because I cherished him. That worthless creature!”
Chief Eunuch Geum only lowered his head. It was true. The Crown Prince had constantly slandered the Empress, and though she avoided his schemes, she always saved him whenever he was about to fall.
The Crown Prince hated the Empress because she was loved by the Emperor.
The Empress protected the Crown Prince because he was loved by the Emperor.
And the Emperor had watched all of it with sorrow. It seemed that today, at last, his anger had burst.
The Emperor took another step forward. The Crown Prince still could not catch his breath, and he could not believe that his father was walking toward him with eyes that looked ready to kill.
The Emperor’s presence was terrifying. A sense of death approached him. He pushed himself backward again with his hips. Tears fell.
“Your mother, as she was dying, worried only about you.”
Lee Juwon took another step forward, thinking of the woman he had loved and lost. She had never been crushed by the heavy and glorious title of Empress.
Rather, she had possessed enough presence and ability to overwhelm that very position.
But inside, she had been rotting away. She tried to live as the perfect Empress and died before enjoying her full lifespan.
Perhaps she had resented him. He had always put her second—because of wars, because of ruling the country. How could she not feel sorrow and bitterness?
In the end, she did not leave even a single word for him when she died. That was her true heart.
“To your mother, I was a useless husband—one who had much he should have done for her, yet did nothing. She never asked me for anything her whole life, but on the day she was dying, she asked for your future. So I decided to grant it. And yet, you…”
Yes. In the end.
Lee Juwon gritted his teeth.
“You make it so I cannot even raise my face before your mother. In the end, you make me a man who did nothing for his own wife. Hm?”
He had never truly felt affection for his children. They said that even the most supreme ruler loves his children—that at least one child would feel precious. But Lee Juwon was not like that.
There had been one, perhaps. A child who had been strong, bright, and clever. But she had been a princess. She married into a distant land and died there. After that, he could not give his heart to any of his children.
If only that child had been a son. He would have kept him by his side and taught him personally. He would have taught him everything needed to ascend the Dragon Throne and would have polished the world beautifully to lay it at his feet.
He had more than enough ability to do so. Yet there was no child he wished to give it to.
“F-Father… Your Majesty… I truly… did not kno—”
“I have long tolerated your arrogance—your belief that deceiving the Emperor is acceptable. Because you are the Crown Prince? No. You possess nothing. Everything you have is mine. The only thing you truly have is this—your mother was the woman who still makes me weep and beat my chest when I think of her. And her last wish as she died!”
In truth, when she died after only asking about you, I could not believe it. Not a single word about me.
Had we not loved each other so deeply? Perhaps it was my fault. Yes, it must have been. But still—while you were dying… was there truly not a single word for me? Not even resentment? Not even a curse?
Among all his children, he had hated the Crown Prince the most. He had wanted to tear him apart. He was the child she had chosen instead of him. The only one she worried about while her life was fading. Whenever he thought of it, his blood seemed to flow backward.
Even now, he remembered her—her voice, her face, her gestures, her scent, the warmth of her laughter and tears.
Yet even as she was dying, she had not thought of him.
He was the Emperor, yet he had been abandoned by his own wife. He realized it only at the moment of her death.
She did not even show that she had cast him out of her heart. If she had shown it, their child’s future would have become dangerous.
If she had truly loved him, could she have done that? If even a little affection had remained?
If he had done wrong, she could have scolded him. But she did not even do that. Because of their child.
The woman he loved had used him as a means. And the reason was the foolish son standing before him.
‘If you were still alive, would you have at least received filial devotion?’
He already knew the answer. Perhaps dying then had been a better ending for her. Though for him, it was unbearable pain.
“…I place the Crown Prince under house arrest.”
At Lee Juwon’s command, the palace guards approached the Crown Prince. He did not resist. He had just realized that he had barely pulled his head out of a lion’s jaws.
Still gasping, he quickly left the hall as the guards guided him.
Lee Juwon did not watch his son’s retreating back. He stared at the empty Dragon Throne. How much had he sacrificed for that seat?
The Crown Prince had no intention of sacrificing anything—only of enjoying it. History usually records such men as tyrants.
“Did the Crown Prince order this transaction to proceed?”
When Lee Juwon asked, Umun Jae tried to answer but only coughed because of the Hwarun powder. In the end, the man who seemed to be his son quickly answered instead.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And after purchasing Hwarun, what did he order you to do with it?”
“We did not receive orders regarding future plans.”
It was a lie. Hwarun was not cheap. If there had been no future plan, the Umun Merchant Group would never have purchased it.
But Lee Juwon knew he had to end this here. If he dug any deeper, he would not merely depose the Crown Prince—he would have to strip him of his royal status or even execute him.
That could not happen. If he ever wished to kneel before his beloved in the afterlife and beg forgiveness, the Crown Prince had to live in wealth and honor as a member of the royal family.
“You are clever.”
Lee Juwon briefly praised Umun Jae’s son.
Even knowing the grave crime of deceiving the Emperor, the young man did not push the Crown Prince into certain death. Instinctively, he understood that doing so would place the Emperor in difficulty.
“I will leave the matter of the Umun family to the Ministry of Justice.”
The Emperor withdrew his gaze from the Umun Merchant Group. The guards stepped forward and helped them up.
Chief Eunuch Geum signaled to a palace servant standing at a distance to clean Umun Jae. The servant bowed deeply in understanding.
It would be disastrous if someone died from the Hwarun powder while leaving the hall. The powder had to be shaken off outside first.
“And you are the courtesan—Seoyo, was it?”
At last, the Emperor’s eyes fell upon Seoyo. She bowed deeply.
“Yes, Your Majesty. This lowly one dares to behold the Dragon’s face.”
Her clear and ringing voice shocked everyone—the members of the Umun Merchant Group who were retreating, and even the envoys who stood at a distance with heads lowered in guilt.
Was she not said to be deaf and mute?
Yet Seoyo’s voice was clear, her pronunciation precise, and she seemed to hear perfectly well.
Count Casella glared murderously at the woman lying prostrate on the floor.
Could it be… she could speak?
