Sun An couldn’t even finish his sentence properly.

“No. What nonsense is this?”

I hit Sun An’s arm and got up.

“Anyway, thanks for telling me.”

Act like it’s nothing. Act like it’s nothing!

“Yeah. Right? Yeah. How could a womanizer like you, who spreads rumors with all sorts of women, be a woman?”

When I responded calmly, Sun An finally relaxed and walked to the doorway.

“Still, scold your younger sister once.”

Before leaving, Sun An pulled one foot out and advised me.

“I won’t see you off.”

Hearing the door close, I collapsed on the bed. Yo Lin Hwa, Yo Lin Hwa… You little foal! You’ve finally caused trouble!

At that moment, the door burst open. As I raised my head from pulling my hair, I saw Sun An looking down at me with a bewildered expression.

When our eyes met, he took a similar posture and shouted.

“It was true?!”

That guy… He used his brain!

Old lady Sugil brought in a wooden tray with rice, soup, and two side dishes.

“Please eat a lot.”

As soon as old lady Sugil left, Sun An looked at me with troubled eyes and asked.

“Now that I know you’re a woman, I have to ask this one thing if nothing else.”

“What.”

“You… Do you really like women or were you just pretending to like them?”

As soon as Sun An’s question ended, I threw a pillow at him. Sun An quickly caught the pillow and put it down beside him.

“Ah, why are you angry at me! What did I do wrong!”

He was right. Sun An hadn’t done anything. He had used his wits to confirm I was a woman and sat down in shock, but after that, he didn’t say much.

He just came back into my room, then kept sighing deeply and shaking his head.

“Is that important?”

When I scolded him, Sun An puffed out his lips sulkily.

“You’re the most popular man among our friends. Of course I’m curious.”

“Is that all you’re curious about?”

More surprised by his reaction, I asked, and Sun An looked at me with a confused expression for a moment before asking back.

“Should I be more curious?”

“Like why I’m disguised as a man.”

“I’m not even curious about that. The reason is obvious, isn’t it? Family issues.”

When I looked at him in surprise, Sun An picked up his spoon and spoke smugly.

“How many years have I known you? How could I not know your family situation? Your parents don’t have a son, and your uncles also only have daughters. Even the illegitimate ones.”

I see. So that’s what everyone will think when they hear I’ve been disguising myself as a man. I can’t help but sigh.

“Why are you sighing?”

“Won’t others think the same? They’ll all think our family pulled off a scam.”

Which is true, actually.

Sun An burst into laughter as he was mixing rice with soup.

“What are you worried about? Don’t worry. Our Princess has a very tight lip. She even emphasized several times in her letter to me that it was a secret.”

“The Princess may keep secrets well. But what about my younger sister? Would she have only told the Princess?”

“Wouldn’t she have? The Princess said in her letter that your sister also earnestly asked to keep this matter a secret.”

After finishing his words, Sun An, seeming a bit more at ease, started eating his soup while blowing on it.

“Your house’s chef really cooks well.”

Sun An quickly emptied one bowl of rice and then asked politely while wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.

“What are you going to do about the Princess? Keep it a secret, or ask her to keep it a secret?”

The next day, my steps were heavier than usual as I walked to the palace. To make matters worse, sleet was falling, making the journey even colder.

Even though I pulled tight the padded coat my mother had made thick with plenty of cotton inside, my cheeks and ears that couldn’t be covered felt like they were about to fall off.

“You’ve come.”

The 13th Prince didn’t say anything when he saw me, perhaps because the 9th Princess had really kept her mouth shut until now. Instead, he glanced at the side of my head.

‘I didn’t. Neither magnolia nor seagull. There’s nothing to see!’

When the lesson ended, he handed me his white umbrella.

“Use this on your way back. The snow is cold.”

On my way back, I entered the garden and sat on a long bench installed outdoors, mulling over the dilemma I still couldn’t resolve.

Yesterday, Sun An asked me ‘whether I would reveal the truth to the 9th Princess or lie and say it wasn’t true.’ I said I’d think about it for a few days.

‘The reason Lin Hwa specifically told the 9th Princess that I’m a woman must be because I’m close with the 9th Princess and Sun An.’

So she must have told that story while earnestly asking to keep it a secret from others. Hoping that I would lose my closest friend.

What would happen if I admitted to the 9th Princess that I am indeed a woman, and she then told this story to others?

Or what if I denied being a woman to the 9th Princess, but Lin Hwa told the story to others and it eventually got exposed? The 9th Princess would be even more outraged at being deceived twice.

The fewer people who knew the secret, the better. Revealing my secret to the 9th Princess required utmost caution.

Then should I go find Lin Hwa first? Should I go and make her keep quiet even now? But Lin Hwa isn’t the type to calm down when she sees my face; she’d be more likely to get excited and act up.

“Foreign Envoy Yo?”

The 3rd Prince’s face appeared, piercing through my dazed mind.

I lowered my umbrella and quickly stood up. When did he arrive? The 3rd Prince was standing right in front of me, holding a blue umbrella.

When our eyes met, he smiled and asked.

“What were you thinking about so deeply that you didn’t hear me calling?”

“I apologize. I was thinking about a rather troublesome problem.”

I quickly made an excuse and hesitantly raised the umbrella I had lowered.

The 3rd Prince sat down at the edge of the bench where I had been sitting and smiled.

“Is it a problem I can help with?”

I fiddled with the umbrella, stalling for time. The 3rd Prince didn’t press further or ask more questions. As I prolonged my answer, he just blew his breath into the air.

‘Ah, cute. He’s really cute. The cutest in the world.’

Did I stare too openly, entranced by that? The 3rd Prince turned his head towards me.

After hesitating, I trusted his ability to keep secrets and confided in him.

“Actually, this happened…”

I told him about how my sister got angry and revealed my secret to the 9th Princess, how the 9th Princess asked Sun An by letter if it was true, and how Sun An came to me after receiving that letter.

Although I revealed the secret since the 3rd Prince already knew I was a woman, I didn’t mention the reason why my sister got angry at me. It’s too embarrassing.

“So that’s what I’m worried about.”

The 3rd Prince didn’t say a single word while I was talking. When my confession ended, he carefully opened his mouth.

“I’ve never lived disguised as a woman, so I can’t fully understand Foreign Envoy Yo’s difficulties. But I can imagine it must have been hard.”

“Pardon? It’s not that hard. I’ve lived like this since birth.”

Truly, it wasn’t physically difficult. If anything was difficult, it was rather the pressure. The pressure of having to keep and protect a secret that involved the entire family for my whole life.

The 3rd Prince burst into laughter at my words.

“That’s right. That’s our brave Foreign Envoy.”

“!”

Just one compliment from the 3rd Prince made my legs tremble and my palms tingle. I even held my breath, too embarrassed to make a sound.

The 3rd Prince straightened my tilted umbrella and added.

“If I may offer one piece of advice, Foreign Envoy. My ninth sister may have a fiery temper, but she’s not a bad person. As long as your sister doesn’t spread the rumor further, my ninth sister won’t be the first to open her mouth.”

“Young Lady! Young Lady!”

A frantic shouting could be heard from afar.

Lin Hwa, who had been reciting from a book about the virtues of royal women that the Empress had distributed to three new concubines, looked towards the door. Soon, the door opened and Wol Mi rushed in.

“Young Lady!”

Wol Mi, who had come running, had turned pale.

“Something terrible has happened!”

“What’s the matter, making such a fuss?”

Lin Hwa asked, closing the book and putting it aside.

Since entering the palace, Wol Mi had been acting cautiously and observing her surroundings well.

The court lady had told her that one should always be careful with their actions because you never know what might happen in the palace at any time.

But now she was making a commotion like when she was at home.

“Young Lady, did you perhaps go around saying that the Young Master is a woman?”

At Wol Mi’s question, Lin Hwa’s heart sank and she shouted.

“What are you talking about!”

“Exactly!”

Wol Mi cried out with reddened eyes.

“Tell me in detail!”

Lin Hwa poured water into a cup and handed it over. Wol Mi took three sips and began her story.

“It was when I went to receive items directly from the Internal Affairs Department. The eunuchs and court ladies there were gathered, whispering and talking about Foreign Envoy Yo. Foreign Envoy Yo is our Young Master, right? Usually, I’m not the one who goes to receive items from the Internal Affairs Department, so those people might not know my face. They kept talking even as I approached.”

“What were they saying?”

“They were saying that the Young Lady, I mean, you had told the 9th Princess that Foreign Envoy Yo is a woman!”

Lin Hwa flailed her arms and dropped the book she had placed beside her. She had sworn everyone to secrecy at the time. How? How did the story spread?

The 9th Princess? Did the 9th Princess go around spreading that story everywhere?

“They say the 9th Princess is going around telling such stories?!”

When Lin Hwa shouted, Wol Mi shook her head.

“I don’t know. It could be true or not. Those people were just saying that you had told such a story to the 9th Princess.”

“!”

“Young Lady, you didn’t tell such a story, did you?”

Wol Mi asked with tears in her eyes.

Lin Hwa was at a loss for words. Lin Hwa had thought that the 9th Princess wouldn’t spread that story, if only for Sun An’s sake. She never imagined the rumor would spread like this in just two days.

“No, do people believe such false rumors?”

“Apparently, a similar rumor had spread before, but it was quickly suppressed when the Empress got angry. The Empress had forbidden anyone from even mentioning it.”

Lin Hwa couldn’t stay still and got up to pace around.

Wol Mi, looking at Lin Hwa’s frightened face, became scared as well.

When Lin Hwa didn’t angrily deny it and rush off to refute, but instead showed such an anxious reaction, she suddenly felt afraid. Could the rumor be true?

“Young Lady. Is it true? Is our Young Master really…”

“Be quiet, will you? I can’t think!”

“I’ll bring some tea.”

As Wol Mi quietly left, Lin Hwa bit her nails furiously. She had wanted to ruin Yo Hwa’s friendship, but she didn’t want things to escalate beyond that.

‘No. It’s just a rumor, right? It’ll be fine. They say a rumor spread before and then died down. This time too, the Empress will do something about it.’