Go Sanggung looked at the Empress in bewilderment. She did not understand why the conversation had jumped there.

“Your Majesty. This lowly one does not quite understand Your Majesty’s wise words.”

In the end, Go Sanggung spoke frankly.

The Empress could not say that Yo Yohwa was a woman, so she just smiled meaningfully and leaned her arm on the side table.

It wasn’t just a carelessly thrown remark. The Empress thought that what she had come up with seemed like a better plan the more she considered it.

All the emperors of Hwaeum had been male. So the Empress had tried hard to bear sons, but only gave birth to four daughters.

Especially when giving birth to the youngest, she had pushed herself too much, and the royal physician warned the Empress that another pregnancy would endanger her life.

The Empress had thought ‘next time, next time’ and tried continuously to conceive, but when everything ultimately came to nothing, she was greatly disappointed.

The 5th Princess and 8th Princess were more intelligent than the other princes, but what use was that?

Moreover, the Emperor had eight healthy sons. There were fifteen imperial grandchildren in total, of which seven were princesses, and four of those seven were her daughters.

It was frustrating, but the next throne would be inherited by a prince born to a concubine, and if that happened, the Empress would become one of two Empress Dowagers no matter which prince ascended, having to watch her subordinate become her superior.

Both the Empress and the Emperor’s birth mother would ascend to the position of Empress Dowager, but fundamentally the two were of equal rank.

It was bad enough for the Empress to be on equal footing with a concubine, but since the Emperor would inevitably favor his birth mother more, in reality the Empress Dowager who was the birth mother had greater power between the two Empress Dowagers. Always throughout history.

This was the case even if the Empress raised a prince under her, so it was inevitably distressing for the Empress.

So after much deliberation with her family, the Empress decided to put one of the two intelligent princesses on the throne.

And to do this, she decided to eliminate all the princes so they could not ascend to the throne.

‘If my prince is stupid, I only need to remove the intelligent princes. But for my daughter to ascend, all the princes must be eliminated.’

Princes with powerful mothers and maternal families were threatening in that regard, but conversely, there were more opportunities to eliminate them because of it.

With many relatives, there were more people who could cause trouble, and opportunities could be found anywhere.

She just had to wait quietly and eliminate them when they made mistakes. Or induce mistakes.

However, the 13th Prince had no maternal relatives, all his in-laws were of imperial blood, and he was so stupid he didn’t even have a power base, making it rather difficult to find fault with him.

If he were truly a stupid prince, she could induce him to cause trouble later. But the 13th Prince seemed to be pretending to be dull, so such schemes wouldn’t work either.

But now such a good opportunity had fallen into her lap.

‘Yo Yohwa is a woman, but publicly a man. If the 13th Prince becomes engaged to Yo Yohwa, he can never inherit the throne. Even if Yo Yohwa reveals herself as a woman later, it will be useless by then. There will be extreme opposition from the ministers for deceiving for so long. He could divorce Yo Yohwa, but His Majesty wouldn’t be able to drive out a daughter-in-law he personally married off, if only for pride. Even if His Majesty tries to drive out Yo Yohwa, I can block it by saying it’s pitiful… In this case, the only way for the 13th Prince to ascend the throne with Yo Yohwa is to eliminate all his political opponents!’

The Empress raised the corners of her mouth and asked.

“Is today the day His Majesty comes to me?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then I should speak to him then.”

Go Sanggung was still bewildered as she looked at the Empress and asked.

“For a marriage to be recognized by the country and entered into the family register, it must be between a man and a woman. Could it be that you are doing this because marrying the 13th Prince to a man would make him unable to inherit the throne?”

“That’s right.”

When the Empress answered flatly, Go Sanggung drooped her eyebrows down and worried.

“If the 13th Prince becomes engaged to Yo Yohwa, of course he will no longer be able to ascend the throne. But Your Majesty, His Majesty is unlikely to approve this. His Majesty may even suspect Your Majesty has other intentions. His Majesty has no intention of making the princesses his heirs, does he?”

“His Majesty will not notice my intentions.”

The Empress smiled confidently.

‘His Majesty also knows that Yo Yohwa is a woman.’

[This is the timeline separator]

That evening. When the Emperor visited the bedchamber, the Empress really brought up the topic while helping him take off his outer robe.

“Children’s marriages should be arranged by their parents.”

Go Sanggung brought warm tea and set the teacups on the table, glancing anxiously at the Empress.

The Emperor nodded with an expression similar to usual, but he didn’t seem very interested in the Empress’s words yet.

“That’s right. Why do you say that? Have you found a suitable son-in-law?”

“No. There is no one suitable among the princesses’ peers. The most outstanding one is the Yo envoy, but you know, Your Majesty. The Yo envoy is… too lustful.”

“That’s right.”

The Emperor understood what she meant, even though the Empress spoke indirectly.

The Empress signaled Go Sanggung with her eyes to leave. Then, after Go Sanggung left, she handed a warm teacup to the Emperor and began the main conversation.

“I don’t need to worry about the other princes and princesses. They all have birth mothers and powerful maternal families. But Your Majesty, the 13th Prince has no birth mother to care for him, so shouldn’t I take charge of this? It would be difficult for Your Majesty, busy with state affairs, to personally choose a daughter-in-law.”

The Emperor looked at the Empress while drinking tea.

“It seems you have a maiden in mind to match with the 13th Prince.”

The Empress waited for the Emperor to take a sip of tea and set down his cup, then spoke with a playful smile.

“Actually, Your Majesty. I was thinking of betrothing the 13th Prince to the Yo envoy.”

This was a very wise choice. If the Emperor had still been holding his teacup, he surely would have spilled it. The Emperor gaped at the Empress blankly and asked.

“I think I must have misheard.”

The Empress lightly placed her hand on the Emperor’s arm as if to say don’t get excited, and spoke.

“Actually, Your Majesty. I found out that the Yo envoy is in love with the 13th Prince.”

The Emperor asked back in a tone of disbelief.

“The Yo envoy? With the thirteenth?”

“Why are you surprised? Even to my eyes as his mother, the 13th Prince is truly handsome. I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as that child. And the Yo envoy is the same age as the prince. How could feelings not develop between the two who are always together?”

The Emperor listened in a daze, then barely managed to nod.

“That is true. That is true, but Yo Yohwa is publicly a man. To betroth the two… It doesn’t make sense.”

“I was surprised at first too. But thinking about it, it’s actually a very good thing.”

“A good thing?”

“The 13th Prince has no maternal family, so he needs to marry well. But… forgive me, Your Majesty. Those with high status who could help the prince don’t want to form ties with the 13th Prince. Because there are already eight intelligent princes.”

“…”

“But we can’t marry off the 13th Prince, with his precious imperial blood, just anywhere, can we? However, the Yo clan of Shinjiao has everything. They have power, fame, and a good reputation. Moreover, the Yo envoy is publicly the eldest son, so he will inherit that family. If the 13th Prince marries into that family, Your Majesty’s grandchildren will be comfortable in the future.”

In Hwaeum, only princes and princesses received substantial support as members of the imperial family. Though they did not cease being imperial family members upon marriage, their children were not treated as imperial grandchildren.

That’s why imperial sons-in-law and relatives could hold official positions.

In any case, though they were still highly regarded for having imperial blood, since they would no longer receive support from the imperial family, even princes and princesses needed to marry into good families for their descendants to live well.

This was the point the Empress was emphasizing.

The Emperor pondered with a worried expression, then agreed.

“Since the 13th Prince has no maternal family, he does need to obtain a wife with high status and wealth for his children to do well.”

The Emperor had no trust in the useless 13th Prince, but he wasn’t without pity. He too wanted to send his son without maternal family to a good family.

The Empress smiled with satisfaction.

“So the Yo envoy is perfect. The Yo envoy’s position is also ambiguous, isn’t it?”

“I’m not sure they would accept.”

“They will accept. Didn’t Your Majesty grant the Yo clan head’s request to raise his daughter as the eldest son?”

“That was because it didn’t matter either way. But this is a marriage issue.”

“The Yo envoy is truly in a pitiful situation. With such a beautiful face and intelligence too, but unable to marry properly. Knowing this, he pretends to be lustful and lives that way.”

“Hmm.”

“Who could the Yo envoy marry in that situation? If the Yo envoy marries a woman, what sin has that woman committed? She will feel hurt in her pride that the lustful envoy won’t even share her bed, and suffer a lifetime of nagging from the family elders asking when she will conceive.”

“That is true.”

“If the envoy marries a man, that’s pitiful too. The Yo clan will surely bring in a man from a weak family they can silence and have him dress as a woman. Dressing as a woman is one thing, but to keep it secret, that man would have to live as if cutting ties with his own family.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor was gradually showing signs of being swayed by the Empress’s words. It was clear from the way he sipped his now cold tea.

“If the 13th Prince marries a man, there would surely be an uproar. It’s not even a marriage that can be done officially. But since the 13th Prince has no connection to the throne anyway, this would bring him more benefit than harm.”

“Still, appearances…”

“Later, when a child is conceived, we can tell him to stop dressing as a man. His belly will be swollen, and we’ll need to send physicians for examinations, so the male disguise can be naturally revealed. People will believe it too. If we say the 13th Prince knew everything but stayed silent for his wife’s sake, people will say the prince is tight-lipped.”

“!”

“If Yo Yohwa marries someone else, he may lose his position as clan head and be unable to stop dressing as a man for life. But if he marries a prince and conceives, it’s a different story. Who would dare tell the Emperor’s daughter-in-law and grandchild to give up the clan head position?”

The Empress smiled benevolently as she concluded.

“Among the men Yo Yohwa could be matched with, there is no one better than our 13th Prince. The Yo clan will be honored to have a prince as a son-in-law. Yo Yohwa will be grateful to us for matching him with the 13th Prince he loves. Though the 13th Prince may be surprised at first, when he learns Yo Yohwa is a woman and understands Your Majesty’s deep intentions, he will be thankful for Your Majesty’s grace.”

The Emperor nodded with a serious expression. Seeing this, the Empress covered her mouth with her hand and deliberately added playfully.

“He’s already so beautiful now, the envoy must look like a heavenly maiden when he removes his male disguise. The 13th Prince may cry with joy when he sees it.”

The Emperor burst into laughter with a lightened heart and grasped the Empress’s shoulders, gently massaging them.

“The Empress is truly wise and thoughtful. To care so much even for a child not your own… There are no parents as kind as the Empress.”

[This is the timeline separator]

But marriage matters had to be handled with certainty. For that reason, though the Emperor was largely swayed by the Empress’s words, he decided to first find out if Yo Yohwa truly loved the 13th Prince, which was most important.

The premise for proceeding with this in the first place was that Yo Yohwa loved the 13th Prince, so if that wasn’t the case, it would be difficult to move forward.

“The Yo envoy has no close acquaintances among the officials, Your Majesty. The Yo envoy is the first among his friends to obtain an official position.”

But there was no one among the officials that Yo Yohwa was close with, and it was awkward for the Emperor to summon and sound out someone who wasn’t an official.

So the Emperor looked into whether there might be someone close among the princes, and heard some good news.

“The 2nd Prince and 6th Prince recently invited the Yo envoy to spend time together.”

The Emperor immediately summoned those two and after chatting about various things, subtly probed about Yo Yohwa.

“Is Yo Yohwa getting along well with the 13th Prince? It’s the first time I’ve assigned a peer as a teacher, so I’m concerned. But if I ask them directly, they’ll just say it’s good while being mindful of me. Tell me honestly.”

At those words, the 2nd Prince and 6th Prince looked at each other and laughed, then said what would please the Emperor.

“Father, the Yo envoy is completely smitten with our thirteenth brother’s looks.”

“We were just talking about that, and he said he likes the thirteenth’s face even more than power.”

The Emperor was pleased by the two princes’ words. Indeed, the Empress’s words were right.

But this matter truly required caution. Moreover, it wouldn’t look good for him to issue an order to marry the 13th Prince and Yo Yohwa, so the marriage talks also needed to proceed naturally.

So next, the Emperor sent a close eunuch to the Yo clan to subtly bring up the topic.

“The, the marriage talks between the Yo envoy and the 13th Prince? Not the 13th Princess?”

“Where do I have a 13th Princess?”

“That’s… but… yes.”

The close eunuch was very flustered by the Emperor’s instructions, but had no choice but to follow them.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Hey. A eunuch from the palace came and is meeting with Mother and Father. Did you cause some trouble?”

I was preparing to scold Lin Hwa from the moment she called me “hey”, but was surprised by the eunuch story and asked back.

“What? Really? You’re not lying?”

“I’m asking because I don’t know either.”

What reason would His Majesty have to send a eunuch to our family? I stared blankly at Lin Hwa.

Lin Hwa kept glaring at me.

Seeing that dull face. The 9th Princess, twice as lovable but burdensome as Lin Hwa, came to mind.

Suddenly the thought occurred that the eunuch’s visit might be about the 9th Princess.

No way! It can’t be? Right, it won’t be. How many times has the 9th Princess met with me?

Although both of them looked at me with fiery eyes during our first and second meetings, that alone wouldn’t lead to marriage talks.

No, knowing that I’m a woman, His Majesty wouldn’t bring up marriage talks.

‘What? Then why did they come?’

Perhaps… because the 9th Princess is begging to marry me, did they come to order me to quickly marry just anyone?

That question was answered after the eunuch left, when my parents called me directly.

“Yo Hwa. Speak honestly.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Do you love His Highness the 13th Prince?”

“No.”

“Speak honestly.”

“I’m being honest, I don’t.”

“His Majesty wishes to match you with His Highness the 13th Prince.”

“What?!”