“I heard that you, Foreign Teacher, are a woman.”

The road was slippery from yesterday’s snow. I was walking carefully with my head down to avoid slipping.

At the sudden voice, I looked up to see the 7th Prince standing there with a smiling face.

“Greetings, Your Highness the 7th Prince.”

I quickly bowed to him.

“Is it true?”

The 7th Prince ignored my greeting and approached nonchalantly. Standing right in front of me, he closely examined my face.

“Of course not.”

I quickly answered while lowering my gaze. But the 7th Prince lifted my chin, making me meet his eyes.

“I’ve always thought. That your face is too pretty.”

The 7th Prince was smiling brighter than usual. How petty indeed! Just because I couldn’t lend him a horse, he’s trying to kill me.

Damn it, who exactly did Lin Hwa tell that I’m a woman? Lin Hwa wouldn’t have told the 7th Prince directly, so did the rumor spread until it reached his ears?

“Tell me, Foreign Teacher. Hmm? Are you a woman?”

The 7th Prince urged me.

“Who told such a story?”

I asked with a forced laugh, as if I’d heard something ridiculous.

“Well. It doesn’t matter who I heard it from. But it seems quite important that the original source was your sister.”

So it was that foal Lin Hwa after all. This time, a truly helpless laugh escaped me.

“Answer quickly, Foreign Teacher. Hmm? Are you deceiving people by dressing as a man? Did you become a prince’s teacher while being a woman?”

The 7th Prince urged as he released my chin. He’s quite elated, isn’t he? He’s truly a wicked one. It seems he’s taking out his anger on me when he’s actually mad at the 13th Prince.

“Foreign Teacher. Why aren’t you answering?”

“I already gave you an answer, Your Highness. At first.”

“Right. But that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“It was simply not the answer Your Highness wanted.”

“Foreign Teacher. You should choose your words carefully. You might be committing another deception right now.”

The 7th Prince’s eyes glinted like a night bird’s.

“Foreign Teacher?”

He called once more in a teasing tone.

“Are you really not going to answer?”

“I already gave you an answer.”

I tried to speak calmly, but he seems to have come with a clear purpose. He absolutely refused to back down.

Moreover, he’s carefully avoiding any mention of marriage to the 13th Prince.

Before, when he brought up the marriage along with this, the 13th Prince pulled in the Emperor and Empress. Because of that, the 7th Prince had to retreat without being able to press further.

So this time, it’s clear he’s omitting the marriage talk and only inquiring if I’m a woman to avoid making the same mistake.

‘Damn it. What should I do?’

The 9th Princess had her legs by the warm fireplace while her body was leaning away as much as possible, playing with an ice chunk brought by a court lady.

“Your Highness, Your Highness.”

When her close court lady Hwa Lin entered hurriedly calling her, she just turned her head blankly.

“What is it?”

Hwa Lin approached the 9th Princess, knelt down, and exclaimed in a hushed voice.

“The 7th Prince has taken Foreign Teacher Yo, who was going to the Wolmugung, to his quarters!”

The 9th Princess frowned and sat up properly.

“Why would Seventh Elder Brother do that?”

The 9th Princess knew that the 7th Prince disliked Yo Yohwa and the 13th Prince.

For such a 7th Prince to take Yo Yohwa, whom he wasn’t even close to, to his quarters surely couldn’t be for anything good.

But to rush over like this. The 9th Princess suspected if perhaps Hwa Lin liked Yo Yohwa.

“A rumor spread that Lady Yo told Your Highness that Master Yo is a woman. His Highness the 7th Prince openly confronted Master Yo, asking ‘Are you really a woman?’!”

“What?!”

The snowball the 9th Princess had been playing with melted in the heat of the fireplace and dripped. Another court lady watching quickly brought a basin and offered it to the 9th Princess.

The 9th Princess put the remaining snow in it while asking.

“How did that information leak out?”

Hwa Lin shook her head quickly.

“I don’t know either.”

“It must have been Yo Lin Hwa who spread it! Only Yo Lin Hwa and I knew about this, so if it wasn’t me, it must have been Yo Lin Hwa!”

The 9th Princess instructed while wiping her damp hands with a handkerchief.

“Bring me my fur-lined coat.”

“Are you going out?”

“Young Master Sun An sent a letter saying that Master Yo is not a woman. I believe Young Master Sun An’s words.”

A court lady standing nearby quickly brought a thick fur-lined coat and draped it over her.

The 9th Princess carelessly tossed aside the handkerchief she had used to wipe her hands, then grasped both ends of the fur coat to close it and left her quarters.

As the 9th Princess rushed out, Hwa Lin was about to follow but suddenly turned back.

The court lady who had brought the basin to the 9th Princess stepped back at that fierce gaze.

Hwa Lin approached that court lady and protested in a low voice.

“Did you tell?”

The court lady’s face turned bright red. Hwa Lin stomped her foot and shouted.

“How could you tell that! I told you to keep it to yourself!”

“I only told Mu Rin, saying absolutely not to tell anyone else…”

At the court lady’s excuse, Hwa Lin was about to snap back in disbelief but then realized she was no different from this court lady and just turned away.

The 3rd Prince also left his quarters at about the same time after hearing a similar rumor.

Perhaps worried that the 13th Prince might interfere again, this time the 7th Prince brought me all the way to his residence, the Sohyejeon of Seonhangung.

Considering that Lin Hwa’s Uhyejeon was across from the main hall, it was truly a clever location.

“Tell me quickly.”

The 7th Prince asked with a smirk after forcibly bringing me here.

The 7th Prince’s eunuchs also grinned and laughed among themselves, enjoying the sight of someone else’s predicament. The master and servants were exactly alike.

Among them, the eunuch standing right next to the 7th Prince even suggested while giggling.

“Your Highness, Your Highness. Why don’t you tell Foreign Teacher Yo to take off his top? What’s the issue between men? We even bathe together!”

The 7th Prince burst out laughing at the eunuch’s words.

“Oh ho! That would work!”

I imagine my eyes must be quite hollow by now. My mind had truly gone blank like a white sheet. I couldn’t reveal that I was a man, but I also couldn’t take off my top in front of them.

Taking off my top would not only expose that I was a woman but also completely crush my dignity.

“Take off your top.”

The 7th Prince immediately ordered me.

“I refuse.”

I rejected right away. But we both knew this answer would sound to them like an admission that I was a woman.

The 7th Prince raised the corners of his mouth.

“You refuse? It’s just taking off your top? I could show you my bare chest right now, Foreign Teacher.”

“I’m not doing it.”

“Because you’re a woman, right?”

The 7th Prince sneered, then pointed to his court ladies and said.

“Is it because of the court ladies? Then shall I send them out? Can you show us if it’s just men?”

My heart was racing rapidly. I couldn’t see a way out of this situation. I was only angry at the 7th Prince and resentful towards Lin Hwa.

Did Lin Hwa not think at all about what consequences this would bring?

Just then. Footsteps approached quickly, and the door burst open.

‘Is it my disciple?’

I turned around urgently, hoping the person who appeared was my disciple.

However, the person who appeared wasn’t my disciple. It was the 14th Princess. The 14th Princess looked back and forth between me and the 7th Prince, then exclaimed with an excited face.

“I’ll check for you!”

The young 14th Princess, who hadn’t even had her coming-of-age ceremony yet, just looked excited without a hint of embarrassment.

“I heard from our elder brother! If it turns out Foreign Teacher Yo is a woman after checking, it would be troublesome for Seventh Elder Brother too. I’ll do it for you!”

If even that tiny princess has heard about this, does it mean the rumor has truly spread everywhere? Damn it, how exactly did Lin Hwa spread this rumor?

The 7th Prince put his hands behind his back and turned around, then burst out laughing as if his young sister was cute.

“Fourteenth makes a good point. Very clever.”

The 7th Prince turned back to me and asked in a tone of great consideration.

“Would this be alright, Foreign Teacher?”

“……”

I kept my mouth completely shut.

That’s when it happened. Again, footsteps were heard coming down the corridor.

Since the 14th Princess hadn’t closed the door when she entered the room, we could immediately see who had come down the corridor this time. The person who appeared this time was the 9th Princess.

The 9th Princess pushed aside the 14th Princess standing in front with one hand, then approached the 7th Prince and protested.

“Seventh Elder Brother, what are you doing? Are you crazy?!”

Perhaps because she was born of the Empress, even though she was younger, the 7th Prince showed a slightly embarrassed expression at the 9th Princess’s fierce scolding.

The 7th Prince, who had been speaking loudly to me, smiled at the 9th Princess and said in a placating tone.

“Crazy? There was talk that Foreign Teacher Yo is a woman, so I was trying to confirm. If Foreign Teacher Yo is really a woman, wouldn’t it be a problem for him to work as a foreign teacher or act as the young master of a clan? I’m inquiring for the sake of our Hwa-eum’s order.”

The 7th Prince pointed at me and added.

“Look at Foreign Teacher. He could confirm he’s not a woman just by taking off his top, but he won’t even do that.”

The 9th Princess still scolded him.

“Why should Foreign Teacher Yo show his chest in front of Elder Brother?! He’s not doing it because there’s no reason to!”

I felt like openly cheering for the 9th Princess. The 14th Princess hadn’t said a word since the 9th Princess arrived.

“Foreign Teacher Yo, come over here quickly.”

The 9th Princess looked in my direction and said loudly. I quickly approached the 9th Princess.

But the 7th Prince grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him. I tried to resist by planting my feet, but as a result, I ended up falling on my backside.

Taking advantage of that moment, one of the 7th Prince’s eunuchs dumped a basin of water from the fireplace onto me.

In the already cold weather, being doused with cold water immediately caused me to shiver.

“Elder Brother!”

The 9th Princess shouted angrily and instructed her court ladies.

“Help him up quickly!”

The 9th Princess’s court ladies helped me to my feet.

The 7th Prince said with a smile.

“You’ll need to change clothes before leaving. You’ll surely fall seriously ill if you go around in wet clothes in this weather.”

The 9th Princess glared at the 7th Prince and warned.

“I’ll tell Mother about this, you know.”

Then, while the 7th Prince flinched, the 9th Princess ordered her court ladies.

“We have no choice. Help Foreign Teacher Yo change clothes.”

Then she shouted at the 7th Prince.

“Elder Brother, give us some clothes!”

The 9th Princess seemed convinced I was a man because of Sun An’s letter.

Because of that, the 9th Princess appeared to think that taking off my top to confirm my gender was insulting and shouldn’t be done, but changing clothes when they were wet was not a problem at all.

My clothes were cold, but heat rose to my face. Cold sweat ran down my back and I felt my liver shrinking. I could see no way out of this situation.