I couldn’t close my mouth as I looked up at the 13th Prince. Why is he here?

No, I know why he’s here. In front of me is Cheong Yang, and next to the 13th Prince are Yu Dong Baek, Woon Gwi, and Cho Gam… It’s a gathering of their clique.

Damn it. Why did I have to come here today of all days!

“Master.”

Through my confused thoughts, I heard my disciple’s gentle voice.

“Is Cheong Yang your ideal type?”

Look at him, skipping greetings and pretenses to ask that question right away. It’s a question that compresses all his anger into one concentrated essence.

I wonder where he heard it from?

“What? No, he’s not.”

I denied it for now.

“Oh Yo Yohwa, earlier you were asking to be introduced to my aunt though.”

The sharp-witted one pretending to be oblivious chimed in with a smirk, but I kept my gaze fixed on my disciple, trying to distort the truth with my eyes.

“Is that not the case?”

“Of course not, d-disciple.”

I widened my eyes as much as possible and said with a shy smile.

“You’re my ideal type, disciple.”

“My lord’s master is a fraud.”

The assassin insulted me from the side, but I still steadfastly looked only at my disciple. No matter how scary Cheong Yang is, he’s nothing compared to this disciple.

Come to think of it, just widening my eyes didn’t seem enough, so I tried to make the most pitiful expression possible by drooping the ends of my eyebrows too.

But my disciple smiled gently and immediately brushed off my efforts.

“Now you’re even lying. You’re changing your words even though I heard everything from right behind you.”

Not only that, but my disciple looked at me as if he wanted to pull my mouth.

This is bad, very bad. I was already hearing all sorts of talk about being lecherous and having a fickle heart and body. To think I’d be caught red-handed while acting like a playboy.

After quick deliberation, I decided to leave the scene first. My disciple seems to be furious right now, so I should step away and wait for his anger to subside.

Then I can calmly explain things.

‘Cheong Yang kept picking fights with me and blocking my way, so I was just spouting nonsense to shake him off,’ I’d say.

“Disciple.”

As soon as I made my decision, I smiled broadly and bowed.

“I have a prior engagement, so I’ll be going now.”

But as I turned to leave quickly, my disciple’s arm came over my shoulder.

I flinched and looked up, and he pulled me closer to him as he asked.

“Master. Who do you have a prior engagement with?”

“S-Sun An.”

“I see. Where is Sun An right now?”

“Well, that’s… Cheon, Cheongeum, Cheongeumsuhwa.”

“I see.”

My disciple smiled warmly, but somehow it felt even more ominous. Then he pulled me even closer and whispered softly into my ear.

“This disciple just came from there, Master.”

“!”

As he lowered his arm from my stiff shoulder, my disciple muttered in a disappointed tone.

“I told you not to lie so many times. Yet you lie again. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

Then, without giving me a chance to reply, my disciple wrapped his arm around my shoulder again, pulled me towards him, and started walking.

Is he taking me somewhere to kill me?

“D-disciple? Disciple? Where are we going?”

I asked in panic, clinging to his arm like a sloth. His posture of embracing me was extremely friendly, but the aura emanating from him beside me was chillingly cold.

A creeping fear rose that if I followed my disciple like this, I might die even sooner than before my regression.

However, my disciple just kept walking forward instead of answering.

Around us, my disciple’s followers were watching me being dragged away by him as if observing a strange animal.

Cheong Yang, the culprit behind this situation, asked Yu Dong Baek in an annoying manner.

“Aren’t the lord and that guy moving a bit too close together?”

Where on earth is my disciple taking me? I followed along, trembling.

However, the place my disciple arrived at was an ordinary, unremarkable restaurant. Moreover, there were many people around, so it wasn’t a place suitable for poisoning someone.

‘Really here?’

As I looked around in confusion, my disciple handed me a wooden board with food names written on it.

“Please choose.”

“Why this……”

“Shall this disciple choose for you?”

Though I didn’t understand what was happening, it didn’t seem like he was trying to poison me, so I picked the dish that looked the most delicious.

“Wow, you boldly chose the most expensive one.”

Cheong Yang kept picking fights from the side, but I pretended not to hear and just watched my disciple’s reactions.

However, after bringing me here, my disciple didn’t even look at me once I had chosen my food.

Even after the waiter brought the food and placed it on our table, my disciple still didn’t look in my direction.

It’s not like they were discussing secret strategies and covert operations among themselves either.

“This is delicious. They say this place is the best restaurant these days.”

“I think our shop does it better.”

“Oh Yu, we go to your shop often. Stop talking about that shop already.”

They were just having this kind of conversation.

It was impossible to imagine that these were the future emperor and his loyal subjects who would overthrow the imperial family and depose the emperor.

I quietly ate my meal while watching them with some curiosity.

‘Before my regression, I only interacted with my disciple’s inner circle when I had no choice but to join them. By then, they were already tightly knit, and I was forced to join, so I didn’t blend in well with them.’

Moreover, by the time I joined, my disciple’s subordinates already had quite a formal atmosphere.

But now, perhaps because they’re all younger than they were then, my disciple’s subordinates seemed brighter and more mischievous.

Especially Cheong Yang, the assassin, had an image of an inscrutable viper when I met him before my regression.

But looking at him now, he’s not a viper but just a small water snake. Though I’m not sure if water snakes are poisonous.

As the uncomfortable meal was coming to an end, I watched my disciple’s reactions.

I couldn’t guess whether he would call me aside to reprimand me or do it publicly. Either way was frightening.

“Master.”

When my disciple finally spoke, I stared at him blankly, unable to even lower the napkin I was using to wipe my mouth.

“You may go home now.”

But unexpectedly, my disciple just told me to leave after bringing me all the way here.

It’s fine by me, but why? There’s no way my disciple would just let me go like this?

“Pardon? But I only ate a meal?”

Sensing there must be some kind of trap, I asked, and Cheong Yang chimed in again from the side.

“Right, how can we send you off after just a meal? You should have some tea too.”

I quickly shook my head to refuse and looked at my disciple. But my disciple just gestured for me to go without saying anything else.

Even as I hesitantly stood up while watching my disciple’s reactions, he still didn’t stop me. It really seemed like my disciple was going to let me go like this.

What a relief. I guess he enjoyed the meal.

He must have realized he overreacted while eating?

Finally feeling relieved, I bowed deeply and hurried out of the restaurant. And I went straight home without detouring anywhere else.

After Yo Yohwa left, Cheong Yang, who had been spouting nonsense throughout the meal, changed his expression to a frown and asked Hwa Ryeo.

“My lord, why did you bring your master here? I thought your master was joining us. But you just fed him and sent him away.”

Yu Dong Baek, Woon Gwi, and Cho Gam also looked at Hwa Ryeo curiously.

When the 13th Prince brought his master to this rare gathering of everyone, they too thought a new comrade was joining.

But to just feed him and send him away? They couldn’t understand Hwa Ryeo’s actions either.

“Cheong Yang.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Do you have an aunt?”

However, Hwa Ryeo’s response was not an answer but a question.

“Pardon?”

Cheong Yang asked back in confusion. Hwa Ryeo put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and said impassively.

“Even if you do, say you don’t.”

“Excuse me?”

Cheong Yang didn’t understand the 13th Prince’s words for a moment, but then belatedly recalled what the prince’s master had said to him and let out a hollow laugh.

“No, Your Highness. Are you saying this because of what your master said?”

“Yes.”

Hwa Ryeo didn’t deny it. Cheong Yang watched him silently for a moment, then cautiously asked.

“My lord, are you perhaps angry with me?”

“I’m not angry with you. I’m angry with my master.”

“Ah, is it because of the aunt talk? Well, he did spout some nonsense, but I approached him first. He probably made up an excuse because of that.”

“Approached?”

“He’s Your Highness’s master, isn’t he? We’ve met before, so I just went to tease him a bit.”

Cheong Yang was smiling as he spoke, but upon seeing Hwa Ryeo’s expression, he quickly grasped his chopsticks.

Although Hwa Ryeo was the youngest among them, he usually controlled his emotions so well that he seemed like the eldest.

But today, his dissatisfaction was clearly visible in his expressionless face and hardened eyes.

However, since he didn’t say what that dissatisfaction was about, they found it difficult to guess at which point Hwa Ryeo had become upset.

Does he think it damages his reputation if his master is a playboy? Or…

Yu Dong Baek and Woon Gwi looked at Hwa Ryeo suspiciously.

The next day. I was preparing to enter the palace, but my hands moved slowly as I worried whether my disciple’s temper had cooled down overnight.

Still, I was reluctantly getting ready when my father came in and carefully made a request.

“Yo Yohwa. It’s been almost seven days since Lin Hwa entered the palace, so I think it would be alright to visit her now.”

“Oh come on. On the first day it was ‘Go see her because it’s the first day,’ on the second day ‘Go see her because it’s been two days,’ on the third day ‘Go see her because it’s been three days.’ Just pick one.”

My father cleared his throat unnecessarily at my words, then pretended to shout.

“You’ll understand how it feels when you have your own child. Even if you opposed it, I would have told you to go see Lin Hwa.”

“Ugh.”

“What can we do? You’re in a low-ranking position so you have some freedom of movement, but this father has a high rank. If I visit Lin Hwa too often, it’s easy to be misunderstood.”

I finally raised both arms in resignation.

“Alright, I’ll go see her today.”

Anyway, I’m afraid to see the 13th Prince right now. Perhaps if I enter the palace early and see Lin Hwa first, courage will spring forth and my fear of seeing the 13th Prince will subside.

Lin Hwa has the ability to boost my combat power, after all.

“Then I’ll enter the palace a bit earlier today.”

With that lukewarm feeling, I entered the palace earlier than usual.

But when I went to the Internal Affairs Department and heard that Lin Hwa’s quarters were in Seonhangung, worry began to rise in me as well.

Isn’t Seonhangung the Queen’s palace? The Queen is the 7th Prince’s birth mother. And the 7th Prince is the one who hates me and the 13th Prince…

‘Wow. Is Lin Hwa even alive?’