There’s no way my disciple would help me in this situation. He must be in a difficult situation too right now, and he’s the type of person who would enjoy seeing me suffer.

What to do. What if I deny the rumors? If things go well in that case? The 13th Prince and Lin Hwa will marry as planned.

The Emperor will change my assignment to serve directly under him. When the 13th Prince dethrones the Emperor, he’ll probably kill me.

If denying the rumors doesn’t work out well… Many things could happen. All of them bad.

Then what if I confirm the rumors? Oh dear heavens.

I wracked my brain for memories from before my regression. How did my disciple deal with the 7th Prince? Perhaps there’s a solution to the current situation in that process.

Using information from before my regression in my disciple’s backyard might make him suspicious, but I need to get through this immediate crisis.

‘The 7th Prince fell from his horse and then…’

“Elder brother.”

Just then, a voice came from behind the gathered royal family members. Looking toward the sound, I saw my disciple standing there blankly. He looked completely unaffected by this urgent situation.

My disciple didn’t look relaxed, nor angry, nor anxious. His gaze was indifferent, as if watching people passing by in a line to pay their respects from afar.

Startled by this, the 7th Prince couldn’t bombard my disciple with questions like he did to me.

But that was only for a moment. The 7th Prince, perhaps irritated at his momentary hesitation before the 13th Prince whom he looked down on, left me and approached the 13th Prince, standing face to face confrontationally and asked:

“Oh, will my younger brother answer instead?”

“Yes. It’s true that there have been marriage talks.”

Unlike me, my disciple acknowledged it without hesitation. At those words, the royal family members who had gathered out of curiosity all let out deflating sounds and began to murmur.

The 7th Prince, not expecting the 13th Prince to confirm it so readily, failed to continue his attack immediately. After missing a beat, he finally opened his mouth with a mocking smile.

“Then-”

“Our Royal Father and the Empress have shown their generosity. They learned that my teacher and I deeply admire each other. I am always grateful for their grace.”

“!”

However, the 13th Prince spoke up skillfully just as the 7th Prince was about to speak, cutting him off. He even invoked the names of the Emperor and Empress first, making it difficult for the 7th Prince to interject.

Unlike me, a powerless low-ranking official, my disciple, being a prince, had no qualms about using his father’s and the Empress’s names.

While the 7th Prince was flustered by this, the 9th Princess quickly chimed in to add her words.

“It’s true that there are marriage talks between Yo Yohwa and our thirteenth brother, elder brother. I also happened to overhear Mother talking about it.”

When the 9th Princess, the Empress’s own child, came out in support of the 13th Prince’s words here, the 7th Prince was left speechless. After the Emperor and Empress’s names were mentioned, adding even a word would be challenging the Emperor’s decision.

Only court officials or courageous ministers could possibly object to the Emperor about my marriage to the 13th Prince.

The princes should avoid adding to the Emperor’s decisions unless the Emperor asked first, to avoid being misunderstood as trying to interfere with the Emperor’s rule.

The 3rd Prince, who had been observing the situation, also stepped in to point this out.

“If His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress have decided on this matter, there must be a reason. They probably wanted to proceed quietly, and we’d displease them by interfering.”

At this point, even other royal family members close to the 7th Prince began to persuade him that it was better to let it go.

“We’ll know when the time comes. Let’s stop here and go, elder brother.”

“Yes. His Majesty might be displeased if he learns we found out about this.”

The 6th Prince also chimed in, clicking his tongue.

“Marriage talks are typically handled by parents. If there were talks between Yo Yohwa and our thirteenth brother, would these two be leading it themselves? It’s obvious if you think about it for a moment.”

With the 11th and 12th Princes, who were close to the 7th Prince, pleading out of fear, and the 6th Prince speaking as if scolding him, the 7th Prince found it difficult to persist and finally backed down.

“If His Majesty has permitted it, there must be circumstances.”

This is why the atmosphere is important. Before the 13th Prince brought up the Emperor and Empress, everyone knew in theory that marriage was a parental matter, but they couldn’t stop the 7th Prince from pressing me.

As the 7th Prince left with those he had brought, the other royal family members who had followed him also filed out.

Before leaving, the 9th Princess, 6th Prince, and 3rd Prince each sent me their own signals. They seemed to be gestures of encouragement, relief, or something similar.

Since it was difficult to respond to all three at once, I just slightly bowed my head. This way, they would all think it was a signal meant for them.

After all the royal family members left, Wolmugung regained its usual quiet and desolate atmosphere. Finally. The scenery I used to find gloomy now seemed peaceful and charming.

I was half relieved. But unable to fully let my guard down, I looked at my disciple. The 13th Prince, who had sent the 7th Prince away with just a few words, was still standing in his place, continuing to look at me.

‘Come to think of it, that disciple. He naturally glossed over the talk of my male disguise…’

I should thank him, right? Though he didn’t step up for my sake.

I hesitantly approached him. However, before I could express my gratitude, my silent disciple spoke first.

“You wouldn’t want to hand over your family and assets to a distant relative, would you?”

“Pardon?”

“If you don’t want that, then from now on, you’ll have to continue pretending to admire this disciple even in front of others.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t I claim that we were granted permission to marry because this disciple and you admire each other too much? If we don’t appear close, those who heard this rumor will recall the rumors about your male disguise.”

“I admire Your Highness. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“Yes.”

My disciple raised one corner of his mouth mockingly, then slightly lifted the hair near where I had been hit by the inkstone and finished speaking.

“Just like that.”

“W-why are you looking at my hair? Do you think I’m not in my right mind?”

“I was checking if you’ve been applying the ointment this disciple provided well.”

“Ah.”

After lowering my hair, my disciple looked at me once with a strange expression, then held out a handkerchief to me.

Wondering why he was offering me a handkerchief, I alternately looked at him and the handkerchief. My disciple spoke coldly.

“Didn’t you say you admire this disciple?”

“!”

“If not, you should at least pretend.”

“What does admiring have to do with a handkerchief…”

“You should quickly take it and put it in your bosom.”

“!”

That red leaf I saw over the 3rd Prince’s shoulder a few days ago was my disciple after all! No, more than that, he could see me taking the handkerchief from that distance? Are his eyes like an eagle’s!

“You still haven’t taken it.”

I quickly took the handkerchief, kissed it repeatedly, then put it in my bosom and looked at my disciple.

“L-like this?”

My disciple, who had been wearing a cool expression, looked at me for a moment with eyes that seemed to say ‘Has she gone mad?’, then turned around abruptly and said.

“There was no need to kiss it.”

You bastard! Making me embarrassed like that!

Even in this situation, my disciple attended all his lessons. And surprisingly, the lesson time brought peace to my mind as well.

At first, I was preoccupied with my disciple’s help, the public declaration of “We’re in a relationship of mutual admiration,” and temporarily postponing the 7th Prince’s anger, among other things.

“The ancient sages said— ah, but Your Highness.”

I kept explaining like this, but “ah, but Your Highness” would often pop out. Each time, my disciple would scold me without even taking his eyes off his book.

“Did the sages say that?”

“Wouldn’t they say it sometimes? They were human too, after all.”

But as I taught the lesson, I realized that this incident had surely put an end to the marriage talks between Lin Hwa and the 13th Prince.

It was an act deliberately committed by the Empress to overturn the marriage talks between Lin Hwa and the 13th Prince, and thanks to it, I and my family were almost put in danger, but it was at least minimally beneficial to me as well.

‘I should still keep my resignation letter for now. And I need to be careful of the Empress. To use my secret so easily like this to get her way…’

While Yo Yohwa immediately suspected the Empress for this incident, the Emperor’s suspicions were a bit broader.

The Emperor suspected everyone except Yo Yohwa and her parents, who had nearly been put in great danger by this incident.

The reason the Emperor didn’t immediately direct his suspicions towards the Empress was because he hadn’t regressed. The Emperor naturally assumed that his successor would come from among the princes, so he couldn’t conceive of including the Empress, who only had four princesses, in the power struggle.

He couldn’t even imagine that the Empress would dislike the marriage between the 13th Prince and Lin Hwa.

Knowing this well, the Empress went to see the Emperor as soon as she heard from the 8th Princess how things had concluded at Wolmugung.

“Why does the Empress keep coming here?”

The Emperor asked gruffly, not in a good mood, but the Empress ignored it and approached, opening with a tone of distress.

“I heard a rumor has spread that Your Majesty and I are trying to marry the thirteenth prince to Yo Yohwa. Because of this, the seventh prince went to Wolmugung and caused quite a commotion. They say the thirteenth prince quelled the disturbance by claiming he admires Yo Yohwa.”

The Emperor replied in an annoyed voice.

“I’ve heard about that.”

Instead of shrinking back here, the Empress continued speaking.

“I was so surprised when I heard. To think such a rumor would spread when our thirteenth prince was about to exchange marriage talks with the second daughter of the Yo family.”

“…”

“The Yo family has raised their second daughter too carelessly. This incident might put Yo Yohwa in great difficulty. She acted far too recklessly.”

The Emperor frowned at the Empress’s strange words and asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Surely the only person who would do such a thing is that family’s second daughter, isn’t it?”

“How could a young lady who can’t even enter the palace spread a rumor that shook the entire court?”

“If she set her mind to it, there would be many ways. Are there only one or two officials entering and leaving the palace? Moreover, being the second daughter of the Yo family, how many acquaintances from noble families would she have?”

“But would the Yo family’s second daughter have any reason to take such a risk?”

“Who knows. Maybe she knew her elder sister admired the 13th Prince and did this to give way. Or perhaps she herself was averse to the 13th Prince. Sadly, since our thirteenth son has no birth mother or maternal family… good families don’t want to take him as a son-in-law.”

The Emperor nodded slowly. The Empress took out a fan and gently fanned the Emperor’s face, speaking as if to comfort him.

“Still, don’t be too angry, Your Majesty. A young lady who has only lived in the inner chambers probably didn’t know that her one word would upset Your Majesty’s mood like this.”

“I suppose so. But it’s vexing.”

The corners of the Empress’s mouth turned up slightly.