I was worried that my disciple might fall to the ground while avoiding me. Fortunately, my disciple did hold onto me.

Right. Come to think of it, this bastard fed me poison but still supported me perfectly. Catching me well when I fall beside him must be this disciple bastard’s last conscience toward his master.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m… afraid… I’m scared of blood…”

Anyway, the important thing is to prevent my disciple from recalling the moment he killed me.

We can’t have this guy remembering that time and getting angry enough to try to kill me again, right?

“I’m scared of blood.”

I whispered faintly, barely audible, and stood right next to my disciple.

How long were we like that? But this disciple had no reaction at all. Why?

Do I look like a weak herbivore, like a wounded rabbit or bird, because I suddenly showed a fragile appearance?

I looked up at my disciple slightly, filled with expectation.

“!”

But my disciple was looking down at me with an expression that said ‘Why is my master acting like this?’ rather than showing sympathy.

The gaze looking at me wasn’t one looking at a wounded rabbit, but one looking at a monkey scratching its back with its foot.

This bastard. Bad bastard.

I cursed inwardly. But suddenly acting normal here would be truly shameful. It would be obvious I was faking.

In the end, knowing it wouldn’t work, I still continued clinging tightly to my disciple, breathing rapidly.

“My breathing… my breathing…”

Then my disciple reluctantly supported me and helped me out.

“Let’s go outside first. The space is small, so the blood smell seems stronger.”

“That would be good. Ah… it’s hard.”

“You’ll feel better when you breathe fresh air.”

But even after going outside, I deliberately stuck close to my disciple and refused to let go.

Was the effect of acting for so long finally showing? My disciple tried to sit me down on a large rock nearby, but when I clung to him and wouldn’t let go, his breathing became uneven for the first time.

Then he lightly tapped my shoulder as if he might or might not touch it, and asked.

“Master.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Is the blood less scary if you grab my collar?”

“!”

Ah. I didn’t think about hand position because I hurried to cling. How stupid!

But wouldn’t it be stranger if I moved my hand away now? Or is it stranger not to move it? Should I slowly remove my hand and ask why that eunuch is acting like that?

But as I was hesitating whether to slowly remove my hand or not, repeatedly clenching and unclenching my fist, there was a presence not far away.

Thinking this was fortunate, I quickly lowered my hand pretending to be surprised and turned around to see the Empress’s court lady standing a little way from the door.

But for some reason, Court Lady Go was staring blankly at us with her mouth open. Then when her eyes met the 13th Prince’s, she hurriedly smiled and greeted him.

“Greetings to His Highness the 13th Prince.”

While other princes and princesses treated the 13th Prince as if he didn’t exist during the time he was ignored, the Empress occasionally sent court ladies to check on how the 13th Prince was doing.

It wasn’t because she was fond of the 13th Prince. It was probably because she was the head of the inner court, an elder of the imperial family, and the stepmother of the illegitimate children.

So it wasn’t strange at all for the Empress’s court lady to appear here. What was strange was that the Empress’s court lady seemed more flustered than usual.

Does she think I was too informal, clinging to the 13th Prince?

“What brings you here?”

But the Empress’s court lady was a master of social life. As soon as the 13th Prince asked, she quickly controlled her expression and answered in a friendly tone.

“Her Majesty the Empress heard that Your Highness was ill and sent me because she was worried. She said to tell her without hesitation if you need anything.”

“Mother is truly kind.”

I can bet the 13th Prince’s wallet that his words are a lie. Why? Because the 13th Prince said before his regression that the Empress was the third person he hated most in the world.

But since Court Lady Go is also pretending to be kind while knowing the Empress dislikes the 13th Prince, we can’t blame the 13th Prince for being fake.

“Tell her I’m always living peacefully thanks to Mother.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The unexpected visit from Court Lady Go ended like that. But as soon as she left, an awkward atmosphere suddenly fell between me and my disciple.

It’s because the act of pretending to be scared was awkwardly interrupted in the middle.

But it would be strange to continue acting scared here, so I finally stopped pretending, tidied my clothes, and asked calmly.

“By the way, Your Highness. Wasn’t the man collapsed in the storehouse earlier Your Highness’s eunuch? Did Your Highness punish that eunuch?”

But did my carefully considered question seem awkward to him?

My disciple looked at me strangely and turned to the side, and for a moment, one corner of his mouth seemed to lift very slightly.

But he turned away so quickly that I couldn’t tell if I had seen his mouth corner lifting correctly or if I had seen wrong. Then my disciple spoke in a blunt voice.

“It wasn’t done by this disciple.”

I nodded blankly at those words.

“Ah. I see.”

Of course. There’s no way my disciple, who’s still putting on airs at this time, would beat his own eunuch that severely… What?

No, if that’s the case, it’s not something to just say “Ah, I see” and move on from, is it? I asked again, belatedly surprised.

“Then you mean someone else made Your Highness’s eunuch look like that?”

My disciple answered nonchalantly to my words.

“It seems so.”

What? It seems so? I opened my mouth in even more surprise. I was dumbfounded by how calmly my disciple was acting.

The eunuchs and court ladies belonging to someone were like that person’s face. Someone making the 13th Prince’s eunuch look like that was no different from making the 13th Prince’s face look like that.

Even if that eunuch was a lazy good-for-nothing who wasn’t much help to the 13th Prince. Yet he’s so calm!

“Who on earth did it?”

I asked, suppressing the urge to ask ‘Aren’t you angry?’

“Let’s ask directly.”

But the moment we returned to the storehouse and heard from the eunuch who had beaten him, I couldn’t help but look at the 13th Prince suspiciously.

“I apologize, Your Highness. But this lowly one doesn’t know why I was beaten either. I was going to Unhwa Garden on Your Highness’s errand when suddenly the 7th Prince called me and beat me over some nonsensical pretext.”

Unhwa Garden was the garden right next to Seonhan Palace where the 7th Prince stayed. The 7th Prince and the 13th Prince weren’t on good terms due to issues with borrowing horses.

And yesterday, that eunuch was very displeased while running errands for the 13th Prince. Would the sharp 13th Prince really not know that?

“……”

I looked at the 13th Prince, my suspicions rising. Perhaps sensing my gaze, the 13th Prince, who had been looking down at the eunuch with an expressionless face, immediately turned his head towards me.

Words I wanted to say rose to my throat, but I suppressed them and quickly put on a worried expression.

“I wonder why His Highness the 7th Prince did that?”

The Empress, leaning back on a long chair and leisurely reading a book, asked without looking up when Court Lady Go came forward.

“Did you go?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Empress, concerned about what the 9th Princess had said yesterday, used the 13th Prince’s feigned illness as an excuse to send Court Lady Go to him.

It was to find out if the 13th Prince was still living stupidly, if there were people around him, if he was really pretending to be sick, and so on.

If the 13th Prince was still living stupidly, the Empress would live at ease for about another half year.

Then the Empress became curious. She was turning a page in her book when she felt Court Lady Go’s gaze and looked up.

Normally, Court Lady Go would bring food or tea and lightly talk about what she had seen and heard, but now she was just standing there looking at her without doing anything.

The Empress closed her book and asked.

“There’s nothing interesting in Wolmugung. But it seems you saw something interesting there.”

When the Empress spoke first, Court Lady Go eagerly opened her mouth as if she had been waiting.

“Actually, Your Majesty. I saw a very strange scene there.”

“A strange scene?”

“Yes. Yo Daein, I mean Yo Yohwa, was clinging to the 13th Prince’s chest.”

“!”

The Empress, who had been listening leisurely, had her eyes pop out.

“Clinging? You mean they were that close?”

“No. Literally clinging. Then when I came, they were surprised and separated. I thought they would dislike each other since they’re similar in age. They unexpectedly seemed like close master and disciple.”

Court Lady Go just smiled while telling the story, as if not imagining anything more.

However, as soon as the Empress heard those words, she remembered that Yo Yohwa was a woman.

‘The 13th Prince pretends to be sick and brings Yo Yohwa late at night. Yo Yohwa clings to the 13th Prince’s chest…? Does the 13th Prince know Yo Yohwa is a woman?’

The Empress was lost in thought for a moment, recalling Yo Yohwa’s usual behavior, but soon concluded that it couldn’t be.

Yo Yohwa hadn’t disguised herself as a man after growing up due to circumstances, but had been dressed as a man since birth. Of course, the 13th Prince wouldn’t know Yo Yohwa was a woman. Yet they were that close.

‘Does Yo Yohwa have feelings for the 13th Prince?’

Then Court Lady Go relayed one more piece of information.

“Ah, that’s right. I heard on the way, Your Majesty. His Highness the 7th Prince picked a fight with the 13th Prince’s eunuch and beat him.”

“The 7th Prince?”

“Yes. What should we do?”

The Empress was about to say to pretend not to know, but suddenly asked again.

“The 7th Prince?”

“Huh? Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Court Lady Go answered, the Empress’s eyes turned cold.

“Everyone knows the 7th Prince dislikes the 13th Prince and is holding a grudge. But the 7th Prince beat the 13th Prince’s eunuch? And coincidentally, that beaten eunuch is the one who betrayed the 13th Prince? It’s as if the 13th Prince used the 7th Prince’s hand to deal with the eunuch who betrayed him.”

At the Empress’s words, Court Lady Go showed a surprised expression for a moment before smiling and objecting.

“There aren’t many palace people in Wolmugung. Couldn’t it be a coincidence?”

“A coincidence? A coincidence…”

But the Empress didn’t easily let it go. The Empress narrowed her eyes and put down the book on military tactics she had been reading all along.

In the Empress’s mind, the image of the young 13th Prince pretending to be dim-witted in front of the Emperor passed by.

And the stubborn 9th Princess from last night, who whined to be allowed to marry Yo Yohwa even after being scolded so much.

The 9th Princess had been stubborn since childhood and always tried every means to get what she wanted.

Now that she’s fallen for a person for the first time, the 9th Princess will probably try everything to marry Yo Yohwa.

After being lost in thought in that position for a long time, the Empress finally had a good idea and lifted the corners of her mouth slightly.

“That’s what we’ll do.”

“Pardon?”

“We should engage the 13th Prince.”

“Pardon?”

Court Lady Go became confused. They were talking about whether the 13th Prince was hiding his intelligence or was truly a pitiful figure, and suddenly engagement?

“Ah, do you mean to engage the 13th Prince to a daughter from a humble family? That’s good too. The 13th Prince can’t rely on the power of his maternal family, and if his wife is from a powerless family too, he won’t be able to do anything no matter how clever he is.”

However, what the Empress said was far more shocking than Court Lady Go expected.

“What if we betroth the 13th Prince and Yo Yohwa?”

Court Lady Go was so surprised that she dropped her jaw and stared blankly at the Empress for a while. When she finally came to her senses, she stammered.

“Your Majesty, what do you mean…?”