The next day, Yoon Eun Seol called for Eom Sang Gung to find Min Ah.

It wasn’t because of Soon Young’s request.

Eun Seol also needed to find Min Ah.

The Min Ah she knew, although of slave status, was not the type to seduce men first.

Though they didn’t meet often, whenever they did, her speech and behavior were always proper and never disrespectful.

That’s why she remembers the household members not treating Min Ah carelessly.

Min Ah being with her father is clearly not of her own will.

She felt she needed to meet and ask what had happened.

If left alone, she might really die at Soon Young’s hands.

“Eom Sang Gung, please call one person who can keep a secret.”

“What is the matter, my lady?”

“There’s someone I need to find. It’s related to my father, so I don’t want others to know.”

“Tell me who it is. I will relay the message to that person.”

Despite trusting Eom Sang Gung, Eun Seol felt embarrassed to bring up Min Ah’s story.

After hesitating for a while, she spoke with difficulty.

“It’s a shameful story to tell you, but it seems my father has taken a house with a female slave from our household.”

“Do you mean he’s taken her as a concubine?”

“That’s one way to put it. Anyway, I need to find her. If mother finds her first, that girl might die.”

“Couldn’t you speak to the Minister? He would protect that slave from your mother. Surely he wouldn’t ignore a concubine he’s taken.”

“He’s the type who would stay silent even if mother killed that girl. Father wouldn’t care whether she lives or dies.”

That was the kind of person her father was. More painful and bitter than her stepmother’s beatings were her father’s contempt and indifference.

At an age too young to understand, her father would grit his teeth and pour out anger whenever he saw her.

−It’s my fault for making a mistake while drunk. Who knew something like that would be born. If only it had been born a boy, instead this useless thing was born and is just wasting food.

As she grew older, she understood. It seemed her father was already in a relationship with her stepmother before marriage and had an unwanted marriage with the mother her family had arranged first.

−You were conceived from one drunken embrace. It’s bad luck every time I see you.

This was what she heard from her father nearly every day. It was also what Soon Young said while beating the young girl.

The birth mother who bore her didn’t receive proper treatment as a wife even after marriage and seemed to have lost her husband to Soon Young.

Even as they said these words dozens of times, she couldn’t find any sense of guilt from the two of them.

Father is not someone who will protect Min Ah. He’s someone who will only satisfy his own desires and abandon her at any time.

That’s why she had to find Min Ah before Soon Young did.

“Eom Sang Gung, I know it’s difficult, but please.”

“I understand. But please don’t act directly, my lady. If the Minister finds out, he’ll have something to say again.”

She nodded silently.

“I think you now know the Minister’s temperament to some extent. You’ll now know that the rumors in Hanyang aren’t true, and who is most precious to him. So I tell you this. No matter what happens, don’t do anything dangerous. If you get hurt or are in danger, the Crown Prince is someone who will rush in recklessly. As you may have guessed, behind his gentle nature is a stubbornness that no one can break. Do you understand why I’m saying this? I’m telling you that now, you are everything to the Minister.”

Her eyes unconsciously welled up with the emotion that suddenly rose.

.

.

.

After sending Eom Sang Gung away, she left the inner quarters and headed for the outer quarters.

If she didn’t see him right now, at this moment, she felt she might go crazy.

Eun Seol gathered herself in front of the office door and knocked.

“Come in.”

Lee Woon was sitting deeply reclined in his chair with his eyes closed.

“What is it?”

His voice was dry as he spoke with his eyes still closed. After a long silence, he opened his eyes.

Seeing her standing at the door, he jumped up from his seat.

“My wife?”

She quickly walked over and threw herself into his arms.

“Why are you doing such sweet things lately? What is it this time?”

“I just wanted to see you.”

He sat her on his lap and embraced her waist.

The feeling of his breath on her nape made her hair stand on end.

“Did you really come because you wanted to see me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how happy I’ve been lately? I’m so happy that things I used to find bothersome and unnecessary now interest me. I’m so grateful just to open my eyes in the morning.”

He tightened his arms around her waist and gently rested his head on her shoulder.

Unable to express the overwhelming emotion in words, she reached out and caressed his face. A small sound like a moan escaped his lips.

Eun Seol closed her eyes for a moment, wanting to feel this sensation for a long time, then opened them. She gently turned her head to look at him.

“My lord, may I ask you one thing?”

“Please speak.”

“Why did you create rumors that would discredit you and make everyone misunderstand?”

“Was that what you were curious about? Well, at first it was because I wanted to stay out of the eyes of those who were wary of me.”

He paused briefly and carefully turned her around to sit. Then he buried his face in her chest.

“An even more important reason was that I didn’t want to marry anyone. No one would give their precious daughter to me, branded as a dissolute womanizer. I did it so that no one could put their name on the selection list. Because there was only one person I wanted to marry.”

She knows who that person is.

Crown Prince Jin Heon, Lee Woon. The woman he wanted to marry wasn’t Yoon Eun Joo, but her from the beginning.

The man before her wouldn’t know how overwhelmingly happy and tearful this fact makes her.

Eun Seol thought that she might be the happiest person in the world right now.

“Who is that person?”

She asked even though she knew. She wanted to hear it from his lips and confirm it. Her lips touched his once more.

In that moment, her body lifted into the air as he picked her up. His eyes curved gently.

“What a vixen. Why ask when you already know?”

“My lord, if someone comes in……”

“Shh!”

He carefully carried her onto the bed.

* * *

Seong Won Gun, entering Unyeongung Palace, asked the eunuch about the Crown Prince’s absence.

If the Crown Prince wasn’t in the palace, he planned to go to the inner quarters.

“He’s at the training grounds now. He just went there, shall I send word?”

“Never mind. I’ll be in the outer quarters, let him know when he returns.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The outer quarters were quiet without its owner.

Slowly surveying his surroundings as he entered the guest room, he made eye contact with a working maid.

“What are you doing here?”

“I, I was cleaning.”

The maid’s ears turned red as she stammered, bowing her head.

Seong Won Gun sat down in a seat with a view of the window and looked at the maid standing as if frozen.

Even as the maid didn’t know where to look, she occasionally glanced at him.

“Don’t mind me, continue what you were doing.”

At his indifferent words, the maid finally began wiping the table.

Feeling his persistent gaze, her face turned red.

He rested his chin on one hand and stared intently at the maid approaching while wiping.

“I don’t recognize your face, are you new?”

The maid stopped wiping and answered in a small voice.

“I, I came from elsewhere. The girl who usually cleans here wasn’t feeling well, so I was asked to do it just for today.”

“Where else?”

“I served the second madam at Minister Byung Pan’s house before coming here.”

“Then you work in the inner quarters. Your name?”

The maid opened her eyes wide and stared at him when asked for her name.

A rather surprised expression. It was natural. No one would ask the name of a lowly slave.

He deliberately tilted his head and smiled.

“I asked for your name.”

“Ah, Yeori. My name is Yeori.”

“A pretty name. By the way, are you hot?”

“…Pardon?”

“You’re sweating, aren’t you?”

“Ah, no. It’s just from cleaning…”

Seong Won Gun took out a handkerchief from his chest and handed it to Yeori.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Take it. My arm is getting tired.”

The maid’s eyes trembled as she took the handkerchief with shaking hands.

Seeing this, a fleeting smile of amusement crossed Seong Won Gun’s face.

He took a step closer to the maid whose eyes were darting around, not knowing where to look. Then he lightly placed his hand on her shoulder.

The startled maid flinched and trembled.

“Why are you so surprised? I just removed a hair I saw.”

He showed the hair in front of the maid’s eyes and casually let it float away.

The maid’s face flushed even redder, if possible. It was pitiful to see.

Her helplessness at a man’s touch resembled someone.

A shameless wench always ready to untie her clothes before a man.

It seems the baseness can’t be hidden.

He tried to hide his emotions as he turned away.

“My brother is quite late. I should go to the training grounds.”

“Um… this.”

Yeori shyly offered the handkerchief.

“Keep it. You can throw it away if you like.”

As he left the outer quarters and glanced back, he saw the maid still looking at him.

She was endlessly gazing at him as he walked away, clutching the handkerchief he had given her.

He gave a slight smile he didn’t mean and waved gently at the maid.

The maid, who had been looking around, bowed hurriedly in embarrassment and quickly left.

“Ah, Yeori was it? This will be interesting.”

The smile disappeared from Seong Won Gun’s face and his eyes quickly sharpened.

Standing in front of the training grounds, he saw Woon in the midst of a long duel with Seo Yeom.

The world may know Crown Prince Jin Heon as dissolute and lecherous, but that’s something said out of ignorance.

He had known from the beginning.

That it was all just rumors Woon had created.

In the midst of this, a question arose.

Why would someone who spreads such rumors train like that every day and not neglect his studies?

Unless he had ambitions for the throne.

But even so, Crown Prince Jin Heon will not ascend to the throne.

Because he won’t just stand by and watch that happen.