Heat rose to my face in shame. How could this be! The confidant of the future 13th Prince was in the 6th Prince’s quarters!

The author’s name was definitely Woon Gwi. My head is all confused. So does Woon Gwi serve as the 6th Prince’s eunuch now and later go to the 13th Prince? Or is he already the 13th Prince’s confidant?

I hope it’s the former, but I’m bothered by the look Woon Gwi gave me earlier when the 13th Prince was mentioned and I praised his appearance.

That disapproving gaze… Could it be because he’s already the 13th Prince’s confidant?

My hand holding the chopsticks trembles with embarrassment. Damn. If Woon Gwi is the 13th Prince’s confidant, he’ll surely relay all of this!

He’ll tell about the 6th Prince and 2nd Prince badmouthing the 13th Prince, and me praising the 13th Prince’s looks! Ah, damn it!

But well. Aside from the embarrassment, getting caught praising is better than getting caught cursing.

Maybe the 13th Prince will hear about me from Woon Gwi and think I truly admire his face…

“Sigh…”

‘Life isn’t easy.’

But things didn’t end there. There was a commotion outside, and then the eunuch who had guided me earlier rushed over and announced:

“Your Highness, 6th Prince. The 9th Princess has arrived.”

‘9th Princess?’

The 2nd Prince asked the 6th Prince, as if this wasn’t planned:

“Did you invite her?”

The 6th Prince immediately shook his head.

“No, I didn’t.”

What kind of chaos is this? It’s bewildering enough that the 13th Prince’s confidant turned out to be the 6th Prince’s eunuch, and now the 9th Princess shows up out of nowhere?

It’s utterly baffling, but as the lowest-ranked person here, I had no right to speak up.

The 2nd Prince and 6th Prince only exchanged glances with each other, not asking me anything.

The two princes looked troubled, but lacking the courage to turn away a princess born of the Empress, the 6th Prince finally gave permission.

“Bring her in at once.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After a brief wait, the 9th Princess entered, exuding an arrogant air. Her round, small chrysanthemum-like face was slightly flushed, giving off an unsettling atmosphere from the moment she entered.

“Sir Yo!”

Sure enough. As soon as she came in, the 9th Princess ignored her two elder brothers and greeted me first.

The 2nd Prince and 6th Prince simultaneously looked in my direction.

I deliberately smiled awkwardly, but the 9th Princess paid no mind and strode over, stopping right in front of me. She pretended to be shy, covering her mouth with a handkerchief and smiling with her eyes.

“I heard there was a banquet here. If I had known the foreign envoy would be here, I would have come right away!”

No, you came quickly enough, Your Highness. We’ve barely had a few bites of food yet.

I can joke around freely with others, but I can’t make such jests to a princess.

However, the 9th Princess didn’t seem to care about such things at all. She glanced at her eunuch, giving him a signal. The 9th Princess’s eunuch quickly brought over a chair and placed it next to the 6th Prince.

While it was said to be next to the 6th Prince, it was practically right in front of me.

Since she couldn’t sit directly next to me as we’re not married, she adjusted the angle to be beside the 6th Prince.

“Elder brother. You should invite me to such gatherings too.”

As the 9th Princess spoke cheerfully and sat down, using an obvious ploy that everyone could see through, the 6th Prince, who had been watching the situation unfold in a daze as if swept away by waves, finally seemed to grasp the situation and burst into laughter.

“Oh my. How inconsiderate of me.”

But unable to joke about a princess’s marriage, the 6th Prince simply smiled mischievously at me instead of openly acknowledging the situation.

The 2nd Prince also looked back and forth between me and the 9th Princess, shaking his head before making a pointed remark.

“I thought Sir Yo might become a close friend, but it seems he might become family instead.”

The 9th Princess grinned at those words, then playfully chided the 2nd Prince in a whining tone.

“Don’t say such things, second elder brother.”

The 2nd Prince smiled as if finding his young sister cute and raised his wine cup.

‘No one is asking for my opinion in this situation.’

I felt a chill at the 9th Princess’s cute glances and quickly picked up my spoon, lowering my head.

Objectively, the 9th Princess is much cuter than my sister. If I were truly a man, I’d be very flattered by the interest of the 9th Princess born of the Empress.

Unlike some other countries, in our Hwa-eum, there’s no law saying the husband of a princess can’t participate in politics.

But I was not a man, I was a woman. Though I was dressed as a man, I could never marry a woman. Naturally, the 9th Princess’s interest could only be poison to me.

However, unaware of this, the 9th Princess smiled brightly and spoke to me.

“I thought the foreign envoy didn’t often attend royal banquets. What brings you here today?”

“How could a lowly person like me have such noble intentions to avoid royal banquets? I’m still struggling to manage my time properly, finding it difficult to handle the tasks given to me.”

“The foreign envoy is truly humble.”

“I’m honored by your kind words, Your Highness.”

“Your voice is so nice too.”

“…I’m flattered.”

“You should come more often from now on. Don’t just stay cooped up in that gloomy Wolmugung. Okay?”

I looked to the 6th Prince for help, but he just smiled with an amused expression.

How much time passed in such an uncomfortable and awkward manner?

The table full of dishes remained untouched. The 9th Princess was busy looking at me, I was busy receiving her gaze, and the 2nd and 6th Princes were busy watching us.

As the situation became unfavorable, I even had the foolish thought of asking Woon Gwi for help.

It’s really difficult either way. Being too outstanding is a problem too. To be this attractive even while disguised as a man. If I were in my original female form, men would surely line up to profess their love.

But just as I was stuck in this predicament, unable to do anything:

“Your Highness.”

A voice came from outside the door. At the unclear address, all three royal personages raised their heads. Though I wasn’t a ‘Your Highness’, I looked up as well, following their lead.

Then the door opened slightly, and a eunuch entered with quick steps to announce:

“Your Highness. The 13th Prince is unwell and is asking for Sir Yo.”

“The thirteenth?”

The 6th Prince frowned, then asked in a voice that sounded more displeased than worried:

“If he’s unwell, why is he looking for Sir Yo the foreign envoy? He should be looking for a royal physician.”

“He says… Sir Yo, his teacher, is the only one who can nurse him by his side.”

As the eunuch spoke while gauging the situation, the 6th Prince glanced at the 9th Princess and 2nd Prince. He seemed worried about whether to let me go, given that the 2nd Prince had come all this way to meet me, and the 9th Princess had personally come to show interest in me.

The 9th Princess immediately frowned. She clearly disliked the idea.

Fortunately, the 2nd Prince made a strange expression for a moment, then smiled and spoke up first:

“It seems the thirteenth relies heavily on his teacher. The thirteenth has no close siblings or mother to depend on, so it can’t be helped, sister. We should let Sir Yo go, right?”

Though the 9th Princess spoke in a sulky voice, she seemed to have no choice but to allow it after the 2nd Prince had preemptively listed out the 13th Prince’s pitiful circumstances:

“Fine. After all, Sir Yo is currently the thirteenth’s teacher.”

When I looked at the 2nd Prince, he nodded slightly. Though he had spoken as if mocking the 13th Prince, it seemed he had done so intentionally to let me go.

I bowed lightly to express my gratitude and stood up to bid farewell to the three royal personages.

“Please forgive me for leaving early, 9th Princess, 2nd Prince, 6th Prince.”

I spoke as if regretful and quickly left the place.

When I went out to the courtyard, the 13th Prince’s eunuch, whose name I couldn’t remember due to his frequent truancy, was standing there uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot. Upon seeing me, he spoke with a relieved expression:

“I apologize, Sir Yo. You must have been having a good time. Let’s hurry now.”

I nodded and followed the eunuch.

At first, I followed with relief at having escaped that situation. But as we continued walking through the dark night, my heart gradually began to flutter.

Did my disciple have a major illness at this time? I’m not sure. I don’t know if he’s sick or not, but I do know he’s not the type to call for me when he’s ill.

But how sick must he be to call for me? I felt 10% faint worry and 90% relief.

Whatever the reason, if my disciple becomes sickly in this life, perhaps he won’t try to kill me?

But after walking for a long time through the palace grounds, even before we reached Wolmugung, the 13th Prince’s eunuch stopped and spoke to me apologetically:

“Um… I’ve committed a grave sin, Sir. Actually, the 13th Prince ordered me to send you back to your residence once you had left Seonghwangung and moved far enough away.”

At those unexpected words, I didn’t know whether to feel relieved, angry at the 13th Prince for acting on his own, or disappointed that he wasn’t becoming sickly.

When I stared blankly for a moment, the eunuch, thinking I was angry, bowed his head even lower.

“I’m so sorry, Sir. I didn’t want to do this either. But the Prince gave such forceful orders, I had no choice.”

Hearing the eunuch’s apology, disappointment, relief, and anger were all pushed aside by a feeling of dejection.

Listen here. You are the 13th Prince’s eunuch. You shouldn’t express it as if the 13th Prince is some kind of fool! Though he did give a foolish order!

“I understand. It’s fine.”

I forced a smile and turned around.

The anger I had barely suppressed boiled up again by the time I reached home.

This crazy disciple, what is he trying to do? Why is he playing with people?

He acted like he didn’t care at all. Is he actually wary of me becoming close to the 6th Prince or 2nd Prince?

The 9th Princess, having lost the Sir Yo she had gone to such lengths to meet, left Seonghwangung shortly after with a disinterested air.

But before reaching the Empress’s palace, a eunuch who had been standing by approached stealthily and said something that upset her even more.

“Actually, the 13th Prince is not ill at all, Your Highness. I was ordered to relay false information, but I cannot bring myself to deceive Your Highness, so I’m informing you.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Sang Ha, a eunuch of Wolmugung.”

The eunuch looked at the 9th Princess with a sycophantic attitude. The 9th Princess’s mood immediately soured after this.

“Insolent fool! A low-born dares to deceive me?!”

She was already angry about having Yo Yohwa taken away as soon as she had mustered the courage to visit. Learning it was a feigned illness only fueled her rage further.

As she entered Hwajungjeon where she resided, her mother’s stern voice rang out, causing the 9th Princess’s expression to crumple even more.

“Where have you been wandering around at this late hour!”

The 9th Princess quickly ran to the inner chambers, where she saw the Empress standing rigidly in front of Hwajungjeon.

The 9th Princess was about to retort angrily, but when her nanny eunuch secretly shook her head from behind the Empress, she closed her mouth.

The Empress looked at the 9th Princess and shook her head before turning around and ordering:

“Come in at once!”

The 9th Princess, sensing the stern atmosphere in her mother’s voice, realized her mother was truly angry and quickly followed.

The reason for the Empress’s anger became clear as soon as they entered the room.

“Have you lost your mind? Even if you’re a princess, for a grown woman to go uninvited to a gathering of men!”

“They were my elder brothers!”

The 9th Princess quickly retorted, but it was completely ineffective.

“Did you go to see your brothers? Yo Yohwa was there too!”

The 9th Princess puffed out her lips sulkily.

In Hwa-eum, unmarried noble women and men over 15 were expected to avoid encountering each other as much as possible.

It wasn’t such a rigid atmosphere that people would point fingers even in truly unavoidable chance encounters, but if an unmarried woman or man from a noble family rushed uninvited to a gathering of the opposite sex, they would surely be scolded.

Only commoners and slaves, who inevitably had to face such situations while working, were free from this.

But she was a princess born of the Empress, so no one would dare gossip about this incident. Yet her mother was making such a fuss! The 9th Princess pouted and stamped her foot uselessly.

Seeing this, the Empress glared even more fiercely, but the 9th Princess paid no mind at all. She continued to express her petty defiance.

But soon, a good idea occurred to the 9th Princess. As soon as the thought struck her, she smiled brightly, then grabbed the Empress’s arm and pleaded:

“Mother, what if people find out that I lost face running to see Sir Yo and start gossiping?”

“You did such a thing knowing this?”

“Mother, if I marry Sir Yo, won’t those who gossip about that incident disappear?”

The 9th Princess felt proud of her own suggestion.

When Yo Yohwa had saved her like an immortal descending from the clouds, like a hero from myths, and looked up at her with dew-filled eyes, she had already had her heart completely stolen.

The 9th Princess had never seen such a beautiful man in her life, except for the 13th Prince.

But to the 9th Princess, the 13th Prince was just a brother, and not even a close one, so no matter how handsome he was, she felt nothing.

So in effect, Yo Yohwa was the first peerlessly handsome man the 9th Princess had ever seen.

Moreover, Yo Yohwa’s Shin-gyo Yo clan was one of the most prestigious families. He was in no way lacking as a spouse for a princess born of the Empress.

However, as soon as she heard the 9th Princess’s words, the Empress, who knew Yo Yohwa was a woman, turned pale and immediately slapped her cheek.

“You haven’t reflected at all!”

“!”