Seeing my expression, the 3rd Prince muttered with an awkward smile.

“Oh my. I thought you knew.”

“H-how did you know, Your Highness?”

“Well, because I saw it before?”

The 3rd Prince looked at me intently as I remained in shock, then said bitterly.

“Don’t worry. It’s something I’ve kept secret for a long time, and I have no intention of telling anyone about this in the future.”

“Your Highness…”

“It’s a memory just between the two of us.”

The 3rd Prince smiled playfully, then looked at my forehead and asked with wide eyes.

“What happened to your forehead?”

The area hit by the inkstone was covered with hair, so it’s hard to notice unless looking closely. But the 3rd Prince had sharp eyes.

I quickly covered that part with my hand, but the 3rd Prince seemed to have already confirmed it was an injury and asked with concern.

“Did you fall somewhere?”

“No. Well… yes.”

It’s so unfair. I have to say I fell when I was actually hit by an inkstone. It makes me look clumsy. I want to appear composed in front of the 3rd Prince.

“You look pale.”

“I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired. Thank you for your concern. I’m deeply honored by Your Highness’s care. I feel energized now that Your Highness has noticed. Perhaps it’s because Your Highness has such a nice voice.”

I answered calmly and quickly regained my balance. I didn’t want to appear weak in front of the 3rd Prince.

I had just managed to get over my feelings for the 3rd Prince from before the regression. If he shows concern for me, I might get swept up again without realizing it.

I’m now Yo Yohwa who doesn’t have feelings for the 3rd Prince anymore. I absolutely won’t let that happen.

“Are you going home?”

“No. I’m going to Wolmugung. I have to tutor the 13th Prince.”

“Then I’ll escort you. You look like you might collapse.”

But the moment the 3rd Prince said that, the strength I had barely maintained in my legs gave out. I was so surprised that I reacted foolishly.

As I stared blankly, the 3rd Prince worriedly rubbed his forehead slightly.

“Your head. It seems badly injured. We can’t have you collapsing on the way.”

“Y-you’re saying you’ll escort me, Your Highness? You? But I won’t be able to breathe. But, um, I-I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”

Despite my hurried words, the 3rd Prince didn’t back down. In the end, I had no choice but to walk to Wolmugung with the 3rd Prince.

I hoped a little that he might offer to support me, but the 3rd Prince didn’t do that.

‘No wonder he didn’t recognize me.’

Well, the 3rd Prince is originally kind and warm to everyone.

Even if he didn’t know I was a woman, even if that incident from childhood hadn’t happened, the 3rd Prince would have treated any fallen foreign envoy like this.

As I carefully walked following the 3rd Prince, I felt bitter and ashamed remembering how I had acted like a fool over his brief kindness.

I had already gotten over my feelings for the 3rd Prince. Why did I act so stupidly?

As soon as I had that thought, before reaching Wolmugung, I stopped and said to the 3rd Prince.

“This is far enough. I’ll go alone from here.”

“But there’s still quite a way to go.”

The 3rd Prince spoke with concern, but I quickly shook my head and used his earlier words as an excuse.

“It’s just talk, but there are marriage discussions going on with the 13th Prince.”

The 3rd Prince paused for a moment, then nodded gently with a warm smile.

“That’s right. Do as you see fit.”

“Thank you for escorting me.”

The 3rd Prince bowed and walked back alone the way we had come. I stupidly realized only now that he didn’t have even one eunuch with him.

But what could I do for him? I could only watch him from behind until he was out of sight, in case he might fall while walking.

After staring at his back for a long time, I turned around weakly and discovered my student standing in front of Wolmugung’s main gate, looking at me.

“!”

Since when had he been there? How much did he see?

From the moment our eyes met, my heart started pounding violently. It was beating as hard as when I heard about Lin Hwa from the Emperor earlier.

Was my student there when I parted with the 3rd Prince? I wracked my brain but couldn’t remember anything except how handsome the 3rd Prince was.

No, calm down, calm down. Maybe my student was just watching because I was standing there blankly alone. I had been staring at the 3rd Prince’s back for a long time after all.

Right. My student probably didn’t see me coming here with the 3rd Prince. Surely.

Having barely composed myself, I walked hesitantly towards my student.

‘He saw! He definitely saw!’

But as soon as I saw my student’s eyes, my heart that I had just managed to calm started pounding again. My student’s eyes were like the bitter wind of midwinter. There was no doubt he had clearly seen me with the 3rd Prince.

My student often made sarcastic remarks about the 3rd Prince. Now that he had openly seen me walking side by side with the 3rd Prince, how much more would he mock me.

‘But my student still doesn’t know I’m a woman, so he probably won’t make a big deal out of it… maybe.’

Suppressing the anxious thoughts that kept rising, I greeted my student with a friendly smile.

“Greetings, 13th Prince. The weather is getting colder, yet you were out here.”

“I’ve told you many times that I dislike frivolous people.”

“!”

He’s angry! He’s already angry! My carefully calmed heart was overturned by my student’s single sentence.

My student looked down at my stunned face with eyes that seemed devoid of any emotion, then turned away sharply and said.

“No matter how many times I say it, you don’t listen. I don’t want to see your face today. Go back.”

I tried not to incur his hatred, but I’ve done it again! Feeling as if a quick path to death had opened up, I hurriedly ran after my student and said.

“Your Highness. It’s a misunderstanding. I just happened to run into the 3rd Prince and walked together, because my forehead, my forehead hurt. The 3rd Prince just escorted me here. There was nothing frivolous or serious about it.”

“Go back.”

“But we haven’t had lessons for several days. Your Highness, please don’t be angry. Okay? We just came together, that’s all-”

I tried to follow my student through the main gate, but his long arm blocked my way completely.

I stopped and looked up, and my student said once more, cutting me off.

“Go back.”

And the gaze he sent me was incomparably colder than how he usually looked at me.

“Your Highness…”

I called out to him weakly, disregarding my dignity, but it was useless. When I called him pitifully, my student’s expression twisted even more, and he closed the door right in my face.

With a loud bang, the huge door firmly blocked the way into Wolmugung.

I stared blankly at the large closed door for a while, then finally had to turn away weakly.

‘What should I do? I’ve incurred his hatred again…’

It wasn’t actually the first time Shin Hwa Ryeo had refused Yo Yohwa’s lessons.

In his first life, though perplexed by a teacher not much older than himself, he diligently attended the lessons.

Despite her young age, Yo Yohwa was a talent who had passed the state examination with high marks. It was said that Yo Yohwa was the first among her peers in the academy to pass the exam.

Shin Hwa Ryeo tried to learn many things from Yo Yohwa.

In his second life, he refused Yo Yohwa’s lessons. His hatred and disgust reached the sky after being betrayed for the first time by the teacher who had begged him to spare her life.

Shin Hwa Ryeo ignored Yo Yohwa with all his might, and this refusal of lessons continued until his sixth life.

From the seventh life, he became a bit bored with the repeating time and started attending Yo Yohwa’s lessons again.

And until now, he had been attending Yo Yohwa’s lessons relatively well. It was to analyze and understand the teacher who betrayed him every time without getting tired of it.

But today, he didn’t have the confidence to look at Yo Yohwa’s face calmly. Even his foolish teacher would think something was strange if she saw him today.

Shin Hwa Ryeo walked to the neglected backyard and sat on an old wooden chair, breathing in the cold air.

He tried to erase from his mind the image of his teacher staring blankly at the 3rd Prince’s back for nearly an hour.

But it wasn’t working.

In his fifteenth life, Shin Hwa Ryeo asked his teacher who had betrayed him “again”:

-Teacher. Why do you try to kill me? You said you would always be my teacher, that even if you hated me, I would be your only student.

It wasn’t a question expecting an answer. In fourteen deaths, the teacher had never answered why she handed over the poisoned drink.

He was just dumbfounded. At that time, his bewilderment was greater than his fear of death.

But perhaps due to efforts to improve their relationship, in the fifteenth betrayal, the teacher said something like a reason for the first time:

-Your Highness must die… for him to live. I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.

Of course, she gave a completely different reason before the sixteenth death, so Shin Hwa Ryeo couldn’t know if that was the truth, or if the reasons for the fifteenth and sixteenth assassination attempts were different.

But the sight of Yo Yohwa endlessly staring at the 3rd Prince’s back stirred up his unpleasant memories.

‘I mustn’t trust her even when she smiles at me. Don’t be swayed by whispers of love. That person is the same. She doesn’t change. Teacher… will betray me this time too. As she has done every time.’

“What are you saying? His Majesty wants to match the 13th Prince with whom?!”

A sharp shout struck harshly inside the Empress’s chambers. The Empress’s close court ladies bowed their heads as low as possible, trying not to be swept up in the Empress’s anger. The Empress grabbed a teacup and let out a hollow laugh.

“Ha. This is maddening.”

Just before, one of her people working close to the Emperor had come to tell her about the proposal the Emperor had made to Yo Yohwa.

It was a proposal to marry Yo Yohwa’s younger sister to the 13th Prince, and for Yo Yohwa to remain in office as the Emperor’s close aide.

The Empress slammed her fist on the table.

“This absolutely cannot happen!”

The plan to marry Yo Yohwa to the 13th Prince was based on the calculation that even if Yo Yohwa later revealed her true gender, there would be strong opposition from ministers due to her long years of dressing as a man, preventing her from becoming Crown Princess.

Yo Yohwa would become a weakness, holding back the 13th Prince.

But if the legitimate daughter of the Yo family marries the 13th Prince, her scheme would be completely ruined.

The 13th Prince, with the Yo family’s legitimate daughter as his wife, would seize the Crown Prince position by default when the Empress had taken down all the strong princes.

Yo Yohwa herself would become the Emperor’s close aide, benefiting her family. It would be like attaching two forces to the 13th Prince, turning her scheme to attach the Yo family to the 13th Prince into a self-defeating move.

“This absolutely cannot happen.”

The Empress hastily rose from her seat.

“I must persuade His Majesty.”