The daughters of officials who had attended the tea gathering murmured among themselves while waiting for their carriages.

“What could it have been? I’ve never seen Princess Chaewol so pale before…”

“Could something have happened in the Imperial Family?”

If that were the case, it was indeed grave. Every girl present here belonged to the Empress Ryu’s faction.

From a distance, they stole glances at Woo-hye, who stood apart awaiting her own carriage.

“Do you think Lady Dan has heard anything from His Highness the Ye Prince?”

Wan-ri, displeased, cut them off sharply.

“You had best hold your tongues. Should others overhear, they might misunderstand.”

The young women fell into sullen silence. Few ever dared linger near the princess’s manor, and so their words had been nothing more than idle spite. Still, to speak carelessly of the Imperial House was dangerous enough; prudence kept them subdued as they waited.

Wan-ri was the first to step into her carriage. As she did, she cast Woo-hye—who stood tall and serene—a glare sharp enough to wound.

’That wretchedly lucky b*tch.’

She had waited so long for this day, only to see her plans unravel before her eyes. Fury consumed her.

Because of Dan Woo-hye, the Dan household lay in ruins—yet her father had chosen to side with that woman, discarding her mother instead. The very mother who had sacrificed everything to protect their family was now abandoned by her faithless husband, left to rot in a prison cell.

And all of it was Woo-hye’s fault.

‘Even if Mother owed a crushing debt, once my marriage was secured it could have been repaid. The Dan and Seol clans are bound together on the same ship—they cannot cast each other off.’

Her face twisted with hatred.

‘Do they truly think we will ever let the Seol clan survive unscathed?’

Inside the carriage, Wan-ri pressed her fist hard against her chest, eyes squeezed shut, as nausea and a stabbing headache overcame her. Anger and grief left her trembling, her body weak.

‘The poison is still within me.’

Today had ended in failure, but Dan Woo-hye’s luck would not last forever. Most of Akyang’s powerful elite still belonged to Empress Ryu’s faction.

But even so… Wan-ri felt her own condition worsening rapidly, her face draining of color.

“My lady?”

Wan-ri had felt strangely nauseous for some time, her head throbbing dully—and now her vision was beginning to blur.

Had she fallen ill?

“Don’t go home—call for a physician…”

She could not finish the words.

It was no illusion. Her sight was truly growing darker.

“M-my eyes…!”

“What is it, my lady?!”

As her vision turned unnervingly dim, a chilling thought flashed through Wan-ri’s mind.

This was the poison that had been intended for Dan Woo-hye. Somehow, she had ingested it herself.

With bloodshot eyes, Wan-ri grabbed her maid by the hair.

“Did you dare poison me?! How could you have blundered so?!”

“Kyaa! W-why, what are you saying, my lady?!”

“If not—then why else would my eyes be failing me? My sight—it’s all wrong!”

Wan-ri wanted to lash out at everyone around her, but instead she bit her lip so hard it bled.

Woo-hye looked at her with a pitying expression.

“Don’t take out your anger on an innocent maid, sister. You’re hardly so uneducated that you don’t know how vulgar and disgraceful it is to strike and curse at people.”

“You—you dare…!”

Before closing the window, Woo-hye leaned in as though whispering a great secret.

“No one would know those symptoms better than Lady Seol herself. Go ask your mother.”

Then, with a smile as if to say do your best, she gave the order for the carriage to depart.

💍⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡💍

After several days in prison, Seol Mi-hee’s appearance was pitiful. Once the mistress of the Dan household and soon-to-be kin of the imperial family, she had lived a life of privilege and respect. Never before had she endured such humiliation—yet she was not one to despair so easily.

A tangled skein of thread cannot be pulled apart; it must be loosened carefully, one knot at a time.
For now, her only thought was securing her daughter’s place as the First Prince’s consort.

‘Did they truly believe I lived all these years without making preparations?’

Although Seol Mi-hee had been reckless enough to invest ten gold ingots in the Wugeum Trading Company, that did not mean she was penniless. A long time ago, she had transferred ownership of shops and farmland from the Dan family to herself. Furthermore, she knew the truth: Empress Ryu could never bear children.

Would the imperial family truly dare to cast her aside?

“Mother!”

Seol Mi-hee, eyes closed as she waited for her moment, suddenly heard her daughter’s voice at her ear.

“…Wan-ri!”

She rushed to the bars, clinging to them in a frenzy when she saw her most cherished daughter. Cowardly Dan Myeongwon had betrayed her, but the child she had borne still stood firmly at her side.

“At last, you’ve come! Do you know how long I have waited, desperate for you to visit your mother…!”

But her words froze in her throat as her eyes fixed on Wan-ri.

Supported by her maid, Wan-ri approached, sweeping a cane through the air around her.

The sight made every drop of blood drain from Seol Mi-hee’s body.

“I—I cannot see…! This afternoon it wasn’t nearly this bad, but now—I can’t see a thing!”

“What are you saying, Wan-ri? Calm yourself and explain clearly to me!”

Wan-ri screamed toward the direction of the sound as if driven mad.

“Dan Woo-hye was given that poison at Princess Chaewol’s tea gathering today. But someone must have slipped that poison into my cup and made me go blind!”

She collapsed, weeping as though she had lost the entire world. The sudden shock of losing her sight left her unable to steady herself.

“You gave Woo-hye that very poison….you must know something! Mother, surely there must be an antidote? Woo-hye’s sight has been restored!”

“What do you mean? Are you saying…..did you get that poison in my study?”

“Yes—that one! Tell me where the antidote is. What if I end up like Lady Na?”

A harsh voice cut through them.

“You two—how cruel you are!”

Startled, Seol Mi-hee looked up, then sank to the floor without meaning to.

“Y-Your Majesty….”

The Emperor had long believed that Woo-hye’s blindness and banishment to Doha were the result of a hereditary condition passed down from her birth mother. Woo-hye herself had never insisted on explaining otherwise, and San-gyeong, respecting her wishes, had remained silent.

“Did you blind Lady Na and Woo-hye with poison? There is no fiend more wicked than one who hides behind such a mask!”

Now, at last learning the ugly truth, the Emperor’s fury blazed to its peak. He understood—keenly—the small, desperate heart of the child robbed of her mother, forced to survive by sheer will in Doha, and who had honed her blade of vengeance in the dark.

“Seize that vile woman at once and cast her into prison! The Dan household could not have been ignorant of this. Arrest every member of that clan and lay bare the truth!”

“We obey Your Majesty’s command!”

The Emperor’s fury did not end there. His blazing eyes fixed on Seol Mi-hee. In that instant, she knew what he would say next.

“Execute the Seols and Dan Wan-ri by beheading, and make their crimes known to all. Never again shall such a thing be permitted in my realm!”