The subordinates in the room quickly bowed their heads or turned away, pretending not to have seen what had just happened.

However, the 9th Princess was already deeply shocked. She held her slapped cheek for a moment before belatedly getting angry and protesting.

“Mother!”

The Empress placed her stinging hand on the cold stone chair and gave a firm instruction.

“Don’t even dream of such thoughts in the future.”

“Why not?”

But instead of immediately obeying her mother’s words, the 9th Princess instantly talked back.

“Yo is from a good family and is intelligent. Mother, he’s not lacking in anything as a son-in-law candidate, so why can’t I even dream of it?”

The 9th Princess’s eyes turned cold as she finished speaking.

“Don’t tell me. Are you thinking of matching Yo with my elder sisters?”

The Empress was angry at her daughter for speaking this way without understanding people’s true intentions, and even with her hand on the stone, the heat did not subside.

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“What nonsense? Mother, you always give the good things to my elder sisters and leave the leftovers for me and Wi Ryeo.”

The Empress became even angrier at her childish daughter’s rebellion, but she couldn’t bring herself to slap her a second time and instead gritted her teeth as she spoke.

“Neither your two elder sisters, you, nor your younger sister – I have no intention of matching any of you with Yo Yohwa. Is that clear?”

“Why not?”

As the 9th Princess still wouldn’t back down easily, the Empress really wanted to give her another smack.

The court lady quickly took out a fan and fanned the Empress.

The Empress sat on the long chair, resting her arm on the table and supporting her head, then warned in a forcibly lowered voice.

“Yo Yohwa has too many scandals. As you said, he’s from a good family and has good abilities, but don’t you see that he still hasn’t had any proper marriage talks? That man is a womanizer. Do you know how many women he’s been involved with?”

“That’s… all a misunderstanding. Yo is kind and gentle to everyone, so he often gets misunderstood like that.”

“If he’s kind and gentle to everyone, why does he only get such misunderstandings with women? It’s because he’s only kind to women!”

“No! Mother, you don’t know, but Yo is close with the sixth elder brother and the second elder brother. And how close is he with the thirteenth younger brother? When the thirteenth got a bit sick, he immediately called for Yo to nurse him!”

Unexpectedly, the Empress showed curiosity at the 9th Princess’s forced words in defense of Yo Yohwa.

“The 13th Prince called for Yo Yohwa when he was unwell?”

“Yes! That’s what I’m saying! He said only Yo could nurse him back to health!”

The 9th Princess quickly responded and then thought for a moment before adding.

“It turns out it was even a fake illness.”

“A fake illness?”

As the Empress showed more curiosity, the 9th Princess excitedly said.

“Yes. The 13th Prince’s close eunuch came to me and secretly told me. The 13th Prince faked being sick to call Yo. This is all because Yo is kind and caring and good, so the 13th Prince is taking advantage of the situation.”

The Empress’s eyes narrowed with a hint of amusement. But contrary to the 9th Princess’s expectations, it wasn’t because her prejudice about Yo Yohwa being a womanizer had disappeared.

The Empress smiled because she knew Yo Yohwa was a woman. To the Empress, it was interesting that the 13th Prince had faked an illness to have Yo Yohwa nurse him.

Was the 13th Prince really acknowledging Yo Yohwa as a mentor and relying on her? Or… had the Prince sensed that Yo Yohwa was a woman and was attracted to her?

“What do you think about what Mi Ryeo said?”

After scolding her daughter once more, the Empress asked Go Sanggung on her way back to her chambers.

Go Sanggung, who had been quietly following the Empress, looked at her superior cautiously before speaking.

“I am too foolish to read Your Majesty’s intentions. From what I can see, Yo seems like quite an excellent son-in-law candidate.”

The Empress frowned.

“Didn’t I say? That man is a womanizer and lusts after women, so it’s not possible.”

At the sharp tone, Go Sanggung lowered her voice a bit.

“Of course. But if he becomes a son-in-law, such habits would naturally be corrected. How could he dare to live like that after marriage if he wants to keep his life?”

However, the Empress snorted and said firmly.

“I’ll say it again, that man won’t do. What I asked about was what Mi Ryeo said about the 13th Prince.”

Go Sanggung had only misunderstood at first. As soon as the Empress said that, she understood the point and asked.

“Your Majesty, are you still suspicious of the 13th Prince?”

When the 13th Prince was about four or five years old, the Empress reluctantly went to check on the young prince who had no guardian, only to witness an unexpected scene. The young 13th Prince was fluently reading books he had never been taught.

If she had only seen this much, the Empress would have just thought the prince was intelligent and left it at that. It wasn’t that there were no such precocious individuals, though they were rare.

However, the Empress saw something even more surprising.

The day after the Empress pressed the 13th Prince about ‘who taught you to read’, when she called the 13th Prince before the Emperor to read a book, that child suddenly started acting like a fool.

The 13th Prince suddenly pretended to be dull, saying he had only imitated what he saw his elder brothers reading.

The Emperor, who had little interest in the 13th Prince to begin with, lost even more interest in him after that incident, but it made the Empress take notice of and be wary of the 13th Prince.

Although the Empress’s vigilance gradually lessened as the 13th Prince continued to live quietly without standing out, she still felt uneasy whenever she recalled that incident.

Go Sanggung, who had experienced that incident with the Empress, knew how she felt and smiled.

“Don’t worry too much, Your Majesty. Didn’t the Princess say? Even the 13th Prince’s close eunuch is betraying his master. Why be so wary of a prince who can’t even control his own subordinates?”

“That’s true.”

The Empress nodded and muttered at Go Sanggung’s words.

The next day.

I didn’t want to enter the palace, so I burrowed into the blanket and tried to hold out as long as possible.

Last night, the 13th Prince, who was perfectly fine at the banquet, faked illness and called me out. I could guess why he did such a thing, but I couldn’t confront him about it, so I didn’t want to see the 13th Prince’s face, pretending nothing had happened.

“Yo Hwa.”

But when I dawdled, my mother came directly from her quarters, opened the door, and shot me a warning glance.

“You really don’t have anything going on with His Highness the 13th Prince, do you? Is that why you’re like this even though it’s past time to leave the house?”

It seemed my mother was still suspicious about me and the 13th Prince after Lin Hwa’s tattling.

“No, I told you it’s not like that!”

I finally had no choice but to get up, wash quickly, put on my clothes, and enter the palace.

As I entered the palace, this time I felt my teeth on edge from the burdensome attention 9th Princess was showing me.

Of course, since the Empress knows I’m a woman, she would block the 9th Princess’s interest herself if necessary, but…

Why do my feet move so quickly when going somewhere I don’t want to go? Lost in idle thoughts, I found myself in front of Wolmugung before I knew it.

I took a deep breath and entered the palace.

But the atmosphere in Wolmugung, which was usually so quiet you couldn’t tell if anyone was there or not, was strange today.

No, it’s not that it’s not quiet. Should I say it’s ominously quiet? Still, usually when I’m walking, court ladies would come up and greet me, but why is there no sound at all?

I looked around curiously and then flinched when I heard a faint, small scream.

‘A scream?’

How often would you hear a scream in a prince’s quarters?

Of course, after the 13th Prince aimed for the throne, screams were heard all over his quarters, but it’s not that time yet.

I suppressed my presence and approached where the sound was coming from.

But as I was tiptoeing along, at some point the screams stopped coming, so I could no longer tell where to go.

I stood still for a moment, trying to recall if anything like this had happened in my past life. Nothing particular came to mind…

It might come to me later, but I couldn’t just stay here. After hesitating, I decided to return to the room where we have lessons first.

But just as I was about to enter the room, I heard the 13th Prince’s voice from behind.

“Teacher.”

There was only one person who would call me teacher.

I quickly turned my head to see my student standing with his hands behind his back, wearing clean white clothes without any decorations.

As soon as I bowed in greeting, my student approached, glanced once in the direction I had come from, and asked.

“Why are you coming from that direction?”

It was clearly a question indicating that he had seen me go towards where the scream came from and come back, not that he had just appeared.

I was momentarily conflicted. Should I be honest?

If the scream was from some kind of accident, it would be better to speak up.

However, if my student was now exercising his future temperament and had locked someone in a storage room, I should pretend I hadn’t seen or heard anything.

I hesitated, then recalled that my student was being as careful as possible during this period, and decided to be honest.

After all, my student seemed to have seen me go over there, and it would be more suspicious to pretend it was nothing.

“I apologize, Your Highness. I heard some sound.”

I said that and tried my best to put on a dignified expression.

“But the sound stopped midway, so I came back. I couldn’t rummage through Your Highness’s quarters without permission, could I?”

Then I quickly pointed to the room, suggesting we go have our lesson, but my student wore a strange smile, half-turned his body, and said.

“I see. Then let’s go together. We should check what you might have misheard, or if there really was some sound.”

“No, there’s no need…”

My student was already walking ahead.

“Um, then Your Highness. Why don’t you send a eunuch to check and report back?”

I timidly raised an objection from behind, but it was useless.

In the end, after stomping my feet a little, I had no choice but to follow.

How far did we walk like that? My student came exactly to where I had stopped earlier, then smiled at me with his eyes curving.

This brat, it’s obvious he had been watching me since I came in! Yet he pretended not to know!

‘Between yesterday’s fake illness incident and this, I really don’t know what he’s up to.’

But I suppressed these inner thoughts and innocently looked at my student as I said.

“This is exactly where I walked to earlier, Your Highness. But after that, the sound stopped.”

“I see. Then we should check inside one by one.”

My student said that and really started opening doors and checking without hesitation.

Surprisingly, seeing that, it didn’t seem like my student had locked someone up and was pretending not to know.

Still, I couldn’t open doors with him and anxiously watched from behind, when my student, who was about to open what looked like a storage room door, suddenly exclaimed.

“Oh no.”

Then my student turned to me and said.

“Teacher. Please look at this.”

I didn’t want to see what was inside, but I had no choice but to approach.

Then, standing side by side with my student in the doorway and looking inside, what was not visible at first due to the darkness soon came into view.

It was a eunuch collapsed in a pool of blood from his lower body. My student’s eunuch.

The moment I saw that, I recalled dying in my student’s arms inside a locked room, and a chill ran down my spine.

I opened my eyes wide and looked to the side.

My student was looking down at me, not at the eunuch. When our eyes met, he smiled faintly.

As soon as I recognized that expression, before I even understood why my student was smiling, my first thought was ‘I’m screwed.’

Not knowing what it was, I quickly pretended my legs had given out and collapsed onto him.

“Teacher?”