The man standing close to the palanquin tapped it lightly with his palm.

Though he must know her status, his tone and actions were unconstrained.

“The Deputy Chief Scholar has ordered me to escort the lady. I will escort you from now on.”

There were still two days left until her meeting with Hee Gyeom, and she hadn’t yet heard Yeori’s story.

But now, she thought that what she had suspected might be true even without hearing it.

This wasn’t like Hee Gyeom, to send someone to find her so recklessly.

It was suspicious that the person who cared about her safety most would send an unfamiliar man.

She scanned her surroundings, trying not to let the man notice.

Seeing no one passing by, it didn’t seem to be a main road.

It was quiet all around, and strangely, the palanquin bearers were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, goosebumps rose all over her body and fear washed over her.

Who on earth had sent this man?

She calmed her racing heart, smoothing her chest.

“Tell the master that I am unwell today and will visit another time.”

She spoke as calmly as possible to the man holding the palanquin.

“Now, please step aside.”

“You don’t seem to understand. I said it’s urgent now. My lady, you just need to sit quietly in the palanquin. It’s not that difficult, is it?”

The man’s voice was sharp, and there was a murderous glint in his eyes.

The man tapping the top of the palanquin as if annoyed seemed relaxed and composed, without a trace of impatience.

“How rude. Step aside before I call for help.”

As she finished speaking and was about to get out of the palanquin, the man’s large hand grabbed her hair.

“How annoying. Let’s go while I’m asking nicely. Go ahead, try to scream. I’ll strangle you right here!”

She was terrified.

She wanted to scream, but her voice was choked in her throat.

She was struck with fear, thinking she might never return to the palace if she was dragged away like this.

Still, she had to do something. Eun Seol tried to stay calm as she looked around.

Just as Eun Seol was about to call out for someone.

A strong force struck the nape of her neck.

‘I must stay conscious….’

Eun Seol’s body collapsed as she lost consciousness.

* * *

Her throat felt like it was burning with severe thirst. Her whole body felt as if it was on fire.

“Water… Lady Eom, some water please.”

Eun Seol flailed her arms and tried to get up.

But she collapsed back onto the floor due to the hot fever spreading throughout her body.

Suddenly, her lower abdomen twisted and she felt a pain she had never experienced before. She couldn’t breathe.

Eun Seol clutched her stomach and rolled on the floor. It felt like her internal organs were being torn apart.

Her breath was choked, no sound came from her throat, and her limbs trembled from the pain enveloping her entire body.

She desperately tried to keep her eyes open to stay conscious. When she finally managed to open them, her heart sank.

She saw her skirt stained with blood. The blood had soaked not only her skirt but also the floor.

“…Why is there blood… No, it can’t be… It can’t be.”

It didn’t take long to realize what kind of blood it was.

How could she not have noticed the changes in her body all this time?

It felt like the sky was falling.

Eun Seol lamented her own dullness as she felt the extreme pain in her lower abdomen.

She never dreamed that feeling tired, sleepy, and having specific food cravings were symptoms of pregnancy.

It was her first time, so she didn’t know anything.

If she had known, if only…

Eun Seol wailed, beating her chest.

Tears burst forth. She sobbed as she wiped the blood pooled on the floor with her palm.

How much time had passed?

Her eyes, weakly collapsed on the floor, saw the tightly closed barn door.

Suddenly, the nightmarish memory vividly came back to her.

As she was being dragged away by the man, she had repeatedly lost and regained consciousness.

Every time she came to, the man had forced her to drink something from a bottle.

Even in her unconscious state, she had felt she shouldn’t drink it.

She had tried her hardest not to drink, but she couldn’t overcome the man’s strong force.

After arriving here, the man had made her drink one last full bottle before shoving her inside as if annoyed.

The impact had caused her to hit a pillar, leaving her unable to move.

The man had dusted off his hands and talked with someone.

Even in her hazy consciousness, she had clearly heard the conversation between the two.

“You didn’t make any mistakes, right? Are you sure she’s unconscious?”

“Who do you think I am? I’ve never made a mistake until now. She won’t wake up for a while. She’s such a tough woman, others pass out after drinking half, but she only fainted after drinking a whole bottle.”

“Take that woman if you want. It’s not bad to have the woman the Crown Prince desires, is it?”

A clear sneer appeared on the lips of the person standing opposite.

The man who had been listening quietly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled coldly.

“I don’t want to touch the Crown Prince’s woman. How would I deal with that later?”

The other person clicked his tongue and laughed wickedly.

“And you can handle this now? I’ll see how long you can resist, you who go crazy for women. By the way, is that drug effective for sure?”

“Of course. It won’t kill her if she drinks it, but it’s fatal for women. The poison dries up the field so she can’t receive a man’s seed. With bad luck, she might never be able to have children for life.”

“Are you sure? She really won’t die?”

The voice asking again as if to confirm had no anxiety or impatience.

Rather, it was a light voice as if enjoying this situation.

“Isn’t what the young lady wants for that woman not to receive the Crown Prince’s seed? She’s not pregnant by any chance, is she? That would complicate things.”

“What’s complicated about that? Don’t worry about such things and just do your job well.”

“But why go this far? It would be easier to just kill her.”

The man asked as if he didn’t understand.

There was a brief chilling laugh, then the eyes of the person opposite gleamed cruelly.

“That’s no fun. How entertaining is it to watch someone suffer slowly and become miserable? And if there’s a child in her womb, it’ll die unfortunately, and if not, she won’t be able to have one in the future. I’m already excited thinking about how the Crown Prince will abandon her soon.”

Laughing as if truly enjoying it, the man turned away from his counterpart, telling him to prepare a hefty sum of money, and returned to the storehouse.

When the man kicked her to check her consciousness, goosebumps rose all over her body.

Fortunately, the man didn’t do anything more and left.

She must have lost consciousness again after that.

Eun Seol clutched her stomach and crawled on the floor, looking for something to lean against.

Enduring the pain like being stabbed with a knife, she barely managed to lean against the wall and cried silently as she watched the blood flowing between her legs.

The sobs she couldn’t voice out from her throat pressed down on her chest.

Yet she couldn’t cry out loud. She had no right to do so.

“I’m sorry… Baby, I’m sorry. Your foolish mother didn’t recognize you and painfully sent you away. My child must have been in so much pain… Never forgive this mother.”

She hadn’t recognized or protected the precious life that had come to her.

How painful must it have been dying? How much did it hurt?

Even as her breath was choked and her breathing became rapid, she gritted her teeth to avoid losing consciousness.

Tears flowed incessantly down her cheeks, and muffled sobs escaped through her clenched teeth.

As if resenting its mother, the pain in her abdomen intensified.

Her consciousness faded from the flesh-searing pain. She wished to die like this and never wake up.

“Why… Why are you doing this to me? It’s time to stop now. What on earth did I do wrong to be treated so cruelly?”

Eun Seol wailed, beating her chest towards the empty air.

She thought it was the end. She had believed there would be no more misfortune in her life, basking in momentary happiness.

After marrying the Crown Prince, she thought she had escaped her miserable and wretched life. She thought her life had changed.

But heaven did not allow her happiness and threw her back into the swamp of hell.

No matter how much she struggled to escape, misfortune gripped her ankle and wouldn’t let go.

Now she really wanted to let go of everything. Eun Seol clawed at her chest and screamed silently.

Then her eyes fell once again on her blood-stained skirt.

It felt as if her heart had stopped; she couldn’t breathe.

With trembling hands, she grasped her skirt and slowly lifted it.

“…Hic.”

Seeing the dark red blood pooled on the floor, she covered her mouth with both hands and cried.

Tears flowed incessantly, but she gritted her teeth and tried to gather her wits.

This is where my child died, spitting blood unjustly.

Yet the one called mother sat lamenting her own situation and lingering in regret.

“Yoon Eun Seol, please pull yourself together.”

Having sent her child off so futilely, she had no right to be a mother, nor did she have the right to die.

She couldn’t just let the person who caused her child’s death go unpunished.

She would surely punish them mercilessly. Her whole body trembled with boiling anger.

“I will never forgive you. I will make sure you pay for your sins, so wait.”

She would not just be a victim. She took a deep breath and slowly surveyed her surroundings.

The two people she had seen before losing consciousness didn’t seem to be here.

Desperately clinging to her fading consciousness, she crawled around examining the inside of the storehouse.

She had heard the man who drugged her and another person talking here for a long time.

She had to find it. In that moment when her consciousness was fading, she remembered the evil voice of the person who came to check on her condition.

As if checking whether she had lost consciousness, they had tapped her cheek with the back of their hand and snickered.

-She’s completely out of it. Even if she wakes up, she won’t remember, right?

-When she wakes up, it’ll be hell… Huh, how pitiful.

-It’s a shame the Crown Prince can’t see this sight.

In that moment when her consciousness was fading, she had gathered all her strength to stand up and grab the person’s clothes.

-Let go of this! What a stubborn wench, so tenacious.

Despite the rough kicks, she had held on to the end without letting go of the object, that object must have fallen somewhere.

She must find the object that would be the only clue.

Perhaps because she had lost too much blood, her consciousness was gradually fading.

“Just a little more… Please, don’t lose consciousness.”

Relying on the light seeping through the cracks in the door, she thoroughly searched the storehouse floor.

She crawled around frantically, sifting through dirt, dust, and all sorts of junk.

The pain in her lower abdomen was nothing, but the trail of blood stains following her path drove her mad.

Swallowing the sobs rising in her throat, she continued to search every corner of the storehouse like a madwoman.

Eun Seol finally found the object not far from where she had collapsed.

It was an object familiar at a glance.

The boiling anger no longer allowed tears to fall.

She grasped the object with trembling hands and tucked it into her sleeve.

“Wait. I will… never forgive you.”

Now she had to escape from here.

The Crown Prince would worry if he knew she had disappeared, and how much more would it pain him to see her in this state?

She had to get out. She had to go to where he was.

She tried with all her might to stand up, but collapsed to the floor before she could even reach the door.

Her vision gradually blurred.

“He’ll be waiting… He’ll worry so much…”

What if the Crown Prince can’t find her? No, he will surely come looking.

If it’s the Crown Prince, he will recognize the traces she left behind.