“Yes, ma’am.”

“Have you been like this all day?”

Yeon just opened and closed her mouth, unable to speak.

She tried to steel herself and tell herself to stop crying, since what was going to happen would happen anyway, but it was no use.

Even when she tried to do some embroidery, the tears kept falling. Walking around the palace gardens to clear her mind only made her angrier.

She couldn’t forgive Ryu, and because of that, she hated him.

The more she thought about him, the angrier she became. Even the Grand Empress Dowager and Princess Sukon seemed cruel.

It felt like there wasn’t a single person on her side in the imperial palace.

“Get up now.”

Yeon bit her lip hard and staggered to her feet. Two court ladies supported her as she wobbled unsteadily.

She had barely eaten in recent days and was feeling light-headed as a result.

Lady Noh looked at her in the dim light for a moment, then led her towards the bathhouse.

Sniffling quietly, Yeon followed.

Once they arrived, the court ladies undressed her.

First, they removed the sheer outer robe draped over her arms, which was made of sari cloth.

Then they untied the ribbon around her chest and took off the red skirt embroidered with arabesque patterns and the yellow underskirt.

Finally, with only a translucent, single-layered robe left on her body, they helped her step into a round, camphor-wood tub.

The hands that had been working on her neatly plaited hair removed the jade hairpin. Her jet-black hair tumbled down over her shoulders.

As she felt the gentle touch of hands tending to her body, her thoughts turned to Ryu.

She remembered how he would grab her chin and kiss her, and how aggressively he would grope her shoulders.

There was no courtesy or restraint in his actions. His behaviour seemed almost frantic.

Yeon knew exactly when Ryu had started acting as if he was desperate to possess her. It was after the incident with Song Yeong-ha, when she had tried to leave.

Not just leave the palace, but leave him to marry someone else.

Ryu flew into an uncontrollable rage that not even the Grand Empress Dowager could stop.

Yeon could only kneel and beg for his forgiveness.

She remembered the night she had knelt before Yanmyeong Hall.

Song Yeong-ha, stripped of all titles, had been dragged there in chains.

Frozen with fear, Yeon stared at Ryu. This was the boy who had once fed her rice cakes and given her plums.

Hearing that he had tortured her royal guard left her pale with horror.

“Have you exposed yourself to this man?”

Ryu, who had been holding a brush, looked up.

Yeon’s eyelids trembled. His face was calm, showing no hint of anger — he looked just like a seventeen-year-old boy. However, his broad shoulders and well-defined physique were not typical of someone his age.

Yeon stared into his sharp eyes, framed by neatly shaped dark brows and a straight nose.

Although he was a young emperor who had not yet come of age, he looked more severe and terrifying than ever.

Yeon pressed her lips tightly together and turned to look at Song Yeong-ha.

Having already been tortured, he slumped like a corpse.

Yeon, who had been sitting next to the emperor grinding ink, jumped to her feet, walked over to Song Yeong-ha, and knelt down in front of him.

“Your Majesty, why—what are you…!”

“I asked you, didn’t I? Did you bare your br*asts to another man who wasn’t me?”

That vulgar accusation rang in her ears. Yeon trembled and shook her head desperately. But Ryu’s expression did not soften.

Yeon wondered what Ryu was thinking. She had told him many times before that she wanted to leave the palace. Every time she mentioned it, he grabbed her cheeks and tried to devour her lips.

Sometimes he would roughly seize her hair, which was still pinned with an ornament, and complain, ‘Stop making such boring jokes,’ showing his discomfort. Yet his faint smile had never seemed truly harsh.

She thought it was just jealousy: Childish jealousy towards an older girl he had grown up with and cared for.

Didn’t he also fly into a rage when she tried to leave Yanmyeong Hall and be assigned new quarters?

She had believed that it wasn’t because of any deeper feeling. But now Ryu had reduced Song Yeong-ha to a breathing corpse. Yeon bit her lip in terror.

“Your Majesty, Officer Song did nothing wrong. It—it was I who…”

Yeon trembled as she spoke. The emperor seemed to be reprimanding her as though she were a concubine caught committing adultery.

Not knowing what to say, Yeon could only cry. She had never been scolded like this before.

Even the Grand Empress Dowager, strict as she was, had never slammed a desk or hardened her expression in her presence before.

Given her lowly status, Yeon had always been treated with unusual kindness.

But now, to have the emperor bare his teeth at her like this . Yeon thought she would rather be imprisoned.

It would be better to be imprisoned than to see Song Yeong-ha bloodied and broken without warning. It would be better to be cast out forever or locked away by the emperor than to witness this.

“Your Majesty, please release Officer Song. He did nothing wrong.”

“Even now, you defend this man?”

“Your Majesty!”

Yeon burst into tears. Crawling on her knees, she made her way to Ryu’s side.

No matter what mischief he got up to, Ryu always stopped the moment Yeon looked even slightly uncomfortable.

Not once had his touch or gaze ever felt cold. Yeon had always believed that this was because he was young and saw her, his carer, as a mother figure.

“I’ll beg for forgiveness… just punish me instead.”

“Why would I hurt the person I love?”

“Your Majesty…”

“Go on. Say it.”

Ryu’s eyes were like blades of frost as they fixed on her.

Gripping his sleeve, Yeon trembled uncontrollably. She didn’t know what to say.

“Did Sukon tell you she’d cut you off from me?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s not…”

“Then what?”

“It’s just… I’m of marrying age now, and…”

“But don’t you already have a husband?”

Ryu gently wiped Yeon’s tear-soaked cheek with the back of his hand. She had felt his touch countless times before, but in that moment, it sent such a deep chill through her that her knees went weak.

Yeon swallowed her sobs and straightened her posture.

“Your Majesty…”

“Then what you’ve done is adultery.”

“How could you?”

Yeon fumbled for words as she turned to look at Song Yeong-ha. The man she once knew was gone; now, there was just a figure barely clinging to consciousness.

She recalled the faint smile he used to wear. Sometimes, he would pick flowers and give them to her. He would hand her books, saying that the women in the inner quarters liked reading them.

Yeon had liked that smile. It was a gentle warmth, like the soft sunlight of early spring on a face more delicate than most men’s.

But now, his hand had been completely crushed. Yeon shut her eyes tightly and buried her face in Ryu’s chest.

“Please… please…”

She clung to him. His chest was broad, firm and warm. Ryu gently patted her on the back. In the arms of a much younger man, Yeon wept like a child.

Suddenly, his hand stopped moving. Startled, she lifted her head to look at him. His red lips parted quietly.

“Take her outside.”

Ryu ordered the royal guards.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

But Ryu didn’t so much as flinch.

As the guards seized her arms, Yeon dropped to her knees and pressed her body to the ground. Still, Ryu didn’t look at her.

“Your Majesty! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

Yeon cried and begged for forgiveness. Terrified, she screamed, her face streaked with tears.

Without hesitation, one of the guards lifted her up.

Yeon let out a sharp breath, shocked. She slapped the man’s shoulder in a panic.

But through her blurred vision, she saw the Emperor walk away, unmoved and unchanged.

From that day on, Yeon knelt outside Yanmyeong Hall, begging for Song Yeong-ha’s life. Wearing only a single-layered robe, she pleaded tirelessly, day and night.

On the fourth day, just past noon, she lost consciousness. She hadn’t eaten. She hadn’t slept. And still, Ryu never looked back.

Not when he walked to Geoncheonggung Palace to attend to state affairs. Not when he visited the Grand Empress Dowager at Gyeongin Palace. Not once did he turn his gaze towards her.

By the time she opened her eyes again, so much time had passed that she couldn’t guess how long she had been unconscious for.

She stared up at the high ceiling. The scent of aged wood filled her lungs. It was a familiar place.

She realised that she was lying on the balbosang she had shared with Ryu.

Yeon swallowed dryly. She felt like sediment at the bottom of a still pond.

She opened and closed her eyes as if surfacing from the depths.

“You’re awake.”

A deep voice echoed in her ears. Yeon tried to respond, but her throat was too hoarse.

Lady Noh didn’t press her for an answer or attempt to start a conversation. Instead, she simply summoned the royal physician to take Yeon’s pulse.

After four days of distress, the physician said that Yeon needed proper rest and care. But Yeon couldn’t stop thinking about Song Yeong-ha.

She couldn’t sleep, wondering what had happened to him. Was his family safe? Had he survived?

The next day, Princess Sukon came to visit.

Yeon slowly pushed herself up to look at her.

“Your Highness…”

“I heard from Royal Physician On that your body has grown very weak. You’ve always been frail, haven’t you?”

Sukon tucked Yeon’s loose hair behind her ear with her slender fingers.

Yeon bit her lip softly. The princess would know what had happened to Song Yeong-ha.