Lee Gyo Young’s mother was the daughter of an interpreter’s family.

However, when Lee Gyo Young was born, he did not know who his father was.

His mother was stigmatized as a vulgar woman who had conceived a child of unknown origin.

Wherever he went, he was the subject of ridicule.

His young heart was always full of resentment, but his mother said he had to endure it.

One day, he had even cried out asking who his father was.

But his mother kept her mouth shut like a clam and said nothing.

Until he turned ten, Lee Gyo Young and his mother lived being treated worse than animals.

Then one day, they came. They were the minions employed by Lee Gyo Young’s biological father.

His mother had been carrying the child of none other than the Minister of War, yet she had kept her mouth shut.

Lee Gyo Young’s father came looking for the son he had hidden as soon as his legal wife died.

The middle-class woman now became a concubine in a prestigious family.

Lee Gyo Young, too, no longer had to hear that he was a lowly seed of unknown paternity.

But although their treatment changed, their circumstances had not.

Instead of being called a fatherless child, Lee Gyo Young was now shadowed by the title of ‘illegitimate son’.

The children of the legal wife looked at him as if he were a disgusting insect.

If his touch ever landed on them, they would have the servants wash their hands and feet all day, inflicting deep humiliation on him.

It must have been from that time.

That Lee Gyo Young became engrossed in martial arts.

He opened his heart to swords and blades instead of people, and conversed with them.

Not only when he was awake, but even when he slept, Lee Gyo Young never separated from his sword.

He learned the basics of martial arts by secretly reading his father’s books, and practiced swordsmanship alone.

Thus, by the time Lee Gyo Young turned sixteen, he had already established himself as an excellent warrior with no match in the vicinity.

His father expressed regret that Lee Gyo Young was an illegitimate son.

The more he did so, the more the children of the legal wife tormented Lee Gyo Young, fearing their positions might be threatened.

They mixed stones into the grains that Lee Gyo Young and his mother ate.

When their father was away, they didn’t hesitate to lock the two in the storage and starve them.

It was an unspoken pressure that they deserved such treatment and should behave according to their status.

But Lee Gyo Young didn’t want to submit. He didn’t want to live in humiliation either.

He would surpass them somehow.

He would stand proudly on this land not as the illegitimate son of the Minister of War, but as ‘Lee Gyo Young’ the person.

The more intense the mockery and oppression became, the firmer Lee Gyo Young’s resolve grew.

And finally, the day came for his resolve to shine.

The king granted even illegitimate sons the opportunity to take the state examination.

Although it was limited to military official positions, that opportunity alone was enough.

Lee Gyo Young didn’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Being proficient in military texts and strategy, and excellent in martial arts, there was no way he wouldn’t pass the examination.

On the day he passed the exam, his father called him ‘son’ for the first time.

He didn’t forget to tell him to call him ‘father’ from now on, instead of ‘Your Excellency’.

A sneering smile appeared on Lee Gyo Young’s face.

It was just passing the state examination. Yet things that hadn’t been allowed to him despite a lifetime of effort were now permitted.

He thought all that remained was to walk an easy path.

But that was a huge miscalculation.

His illegitimate birth clung to Lee Gyo Young like an invisible stigma that wouldn’t come off.

It was the same even among the secret royal inspectors, a group composed of carefully selected individuals.

Somehow, rumors of his illegitimate birth spread widely.

Even those who were initially friendly to him distanced themselves from Lee Gyo Young at the mention of his illegitimate status.

What a narrow-minded and petty world it was.

Lee Gyo Young’s cynicism towards people and the world deepened with each passing day.

Then he met Kwon Jwa Woo.

A person who approached him without reservation.

An existence that showed Lee Gyo Young a friendly smile.

But surely, if she knew he was an illegitimate son, she would act like the others.

He was used to being disappointed after having expectations.

So he told her early on.

‘I am an illegitimate son.’

Lee Gyo Young expected Kwon Jwa Woo to be shocked and leave.

But it wasn’t so.

With an expression that said ‘What’s the big deal?’, she rather looked at Lee Gyo Young with strange eyes.

Lee Gyo Young, who had built walls in his heart based on assumptions, felt embarrassed.

At the same time, he was curious.

What thoughts were in the mind of Kwon Jwa Woo?

Where and how had she lived to be able to show such an unguarded expression towards him?

So he followed her, Kwon Jwa Woo who was secretly leaving the separate palace with a man named Hong Woo Geon.

He worried that he might see something he shouldn’t.

Moving in the dark of deep night meant doing something, or planning to do something, that one didn’t want to be caught doing.

However, to his great surprise, the place the two headed was the archives of the Office of the Inspector-General.

What were they looking for in the archives of the Office of the Inspector-General?

Another curiosity coiled in Lee Gyo Young’s mind.

Then he heard Hong Woo Geon’s voice.

“You are the first woman to treat me like this.”

Woman…!

The one Hong Woo Geon referred to as a woman was clearly Kwon Jwa Woo.

Then does that mean that Kwon Jwa Woo, he… no, she is a woman?

Lee Gyo Young looked alternately at Hong Woo Geon and Kwon Jwa Woo, who were staring at him with half-dazed faces.

“You were a woman?”

Lee Gyo Young repeated the same words several times.

Now he understood.

The look in Kwon Jwa Woo’s eyes when she looked at him.

The source of that nonchalant behavior.

Although their intentions were different, it was because their circumstances were the same.

“Huh.”

Suddenly, a hollow laugh came out.

Various emotions crossed Lee Gyo Young’s face.

Was he sympathized with because they were in similar situations?

Or did she approach him because he seemed the easiest target among the secret royal inspectors?

All sorts of thoughts about Kwon Jwa Woo flooded his mind.

A sharp edge appeared in Lee Gyo Young’s eyes towards her. Just as anger was filling him at the thought of being thoroughly duped.

He felt a heavy and hot pain on the back of his head.

Hong Woo Geon, who had somehow approached Lee Gyo Young’s side, had struck the back of his neck with the side of his hand.

“Who…?”

Lee Gyo Young turned his head to identify his attacker.

But his eyes could only see a blurry shadow.

His eyes closed slowly.

Lee Gyo Young collapsed right there.

[This is the timeline separator]

“How could you suddenly knock someone out?”

“Should I give a warning before knocking someone out from now on?”

Kwon Jwa Woo was dumbfounded by Hong Woo Geon’s absurd statement.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Shh! Your voice is too loud. More importantly, do something about this guy.”

Hong Woo Geon, holding the half-collapsed Lee Gyo Young, asked Kwon Jwa Woo for help.

“This is why you shouldn’t do things you can’t handle…”

“The one who did something they couldn’t handle was you in the first place.”

He must be referring to her role as the Hwa Seop Ja of Myeongye District.

“Yes. Everything originated from my mistake.”

Kwon Jwa Woo admitted readily and supported the unconscious Lee Gyo Young to prevent him from falling to the ground.

After steadying the limp Lee Gyo Young, Hong Woo Geon hoisted him onto his shoulder.

With a groan of effort, Hong Woo Geon began to move.

“Where are you going? No, what are you planning to do?”

“First, we need to get away from here.”

Hong Woo Geon gestured towards the outside of the archives.

Not far away, the torches of the patrolling officers of the Office of the Inspector-General could be seen.

“If we’re caught here, you’ll be in the most trouble, even more than me or this guy.”

Hong Woo Geon quickly left the archives of the Office of the Inspector-General with Lee Gyo Young on his shoulder.

Kwon Jwa Woo followed behind, whispering in a small voice.

“This is kidnapping. It’s a crime.”

Hong Woo Geon’s retort was heard soon after.

“Don’t forget, you’re an accomplice too.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Half an hour later.

“What are you going to do?”

A deep sigh flowed out of the eighth room, a secret location in the separate palace of the Western Palace and one of the lodgings where the secret royal inspectors lived.

Kwon Jwa Woo and Hong Woo Geon were sitting face to face.

Between the two, Lee Gyo Young lay unconscious.

Beads of sweat were forming on Hong Woo Geon’s forehead, perhaps from the exertion.

Hong Woo Geon wiped the dripping sweat with the back of his hand.

“Shouldn’t you start by saying thank you, you worked hard?”

“Why should I praise you for trouble you brought upon yourself?”

“What?”

“If you hadn’t knocked him out, we wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”

“Have you forgotten that our identities were about to be exposed?”

“We might have been able to resolve it peacefully with words.”

“As if that would have happened. We’d have been lucky if he didn’t start shouting right there.”

“He didn’t seem like someone who would think so shallowly…”

“How do you know him so well after seeing him just once?”

“We had breakfast together this morning.”

“You’re acting like you know him after just one meal together?”

“They say you can see a person’s character by how they eat. Even though it was just one meal, his manner of using chopsticks and his attitude towards food were careful and prudent.”

“Then what about me? Are you calling me a kidnapper because my way of using chopsticks isn’t good?”

“I haven’t had a meal with you yet, so I don’t know. And since you brought it up, this incident has made one thing clear.”

“What?”

“That you are indeed a kidnapper. Look, you’ve kidnapped someone again this time.”

“Wow, it’s a good thing I have two nostrils to breathe through. If I had only one, I might have suffocated.”

Hong Woo Geon thumped his chest as if annoyed.

“I save someone from drowning, and instead of thanks, I get called a kidnapper. This is why I don’t try to help just anyone.”

Kwon Jwa Woo glared at the grumbling Hong Woo Geon with a subtle gaze.

“Are you sure you really helped?”

“What?”

“You didn’t set this up from the beginning, did you?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?”

“Well, first you kidnapped me.”

“I generously let you go, didn’t I?”

“Then you made me take the state examination, saying I could see the daily records of the Office of the Inspector-General if I passed.”

“Thanks to that, you’re now receiving a government salary.”

“‘Would you rather be beheaded, hanged, or become a secret royal inspector?’… I was threatened and became a secret royal inspector like this.”

“That was His Majesty’s doing, not mine.”

“Have you already forgotten that you said you were in cahoots with His Majesty?”

“Ah…”

As if just remembering, Hong Woo Geon slapped his forehead.

“Why did I say that?”

Watching him self-reproach, Kwon Jwa Woo bit her lip bitterly.

“So it was indeed your trap that I fell into, and His Majesty pushed me into the pit of being a secret royal inspector.”

“This is why people who are too smart are troublesome.”

Hong Woo Geon muttered to himself, staring into the distant void.

Then he immediately launched a counterattack.

“Regardless of how the situation unfolded, you had your own objectives too. You willingly walked into the trap and fell into the pit.”

“Today I realized that my objective has disappeared. So this deal is void.”

“Void? What are you going to do if it’s void?”

“I’m going to leave this place.”

At that moment, a low, deep voice interjected between the two.

“This is a place where you can enter freely, but you can’t leave without permission.”

Hong Woo Geon and Kwon Jwa Woo’s gazes turned to Lee Gyo Young.

Lee Gyo Young, who had been unconscious, had slightly opened his eyes and was looking at the two alternately.