Eun Seol walked without thinking. When she came to her senses, she was at Biyeonru.

Eun Seol stood for a long time in front of the moonlit pond, then sat down on the ground.

Except for the sound of insects coming from somewhere, the surroundings were eerily quiet.

She couldn’t bear it if she didn’t come out like this because it was so suffocating.

Even though ten days had passed since losing the child, it was still painful and difficult.

Because the prince became busier than anyone else when she was struggling, she gritted her teeth and pretended to be okay, but she wasn’t okay at all.

Her mind was so filled with memories of that day that she couldn’t think of anything else.

The bloodstains that wouldn’t disappear from her eyes wouldn’t erase no matter how much she tried to wipe them away.

Her chest felt tight and throbbing.

It felt like a huge rock was pressing down on her chest.

Eun Seol sat on the ground, hitting her chest with her fist and pouring out her pent-up sorrow.

She dug at the ground with her hands to erase the bloodstains on the floor and covered them, but the bloodstains appeared again.

As she was wiping the blood-stained floor with her hands and crying, someone approached her.

She slowly raised her head.

Somehow Lee Woon was standing in front of her.

He sat down with his knees up, wrapped his arms around her, climbed up to the pavilion, and carefully sat down.

“I wondered how you were enduring so well.”

The prince’s voice became choked as he held her in his arms.

“Seeing you like this makes me feel like I’m falling into hell. Don’t suffer alone like this. If you want to cry, cry in my arms.”

Her heart sank at his low voice.

Many emotions could be felt in his eyes as he quietly looked at her.

This person was hurting and suffering as much as she was. It wasn’t just seeing her in pain that was difficult.

He was also a parent who had lost a child.

Yet without showing it even once, he was more heartbroken by her crumbling appearance.

Thinking that he must have felt the emotions she was feeling now at every moment, her heart became heavy.

She came to her senses.

She thought she was the only one hurting. So she didn’t even think to consider his pain.

That selfish heart must have made him lonely and difficult.

“Did I tell you before? I’ve never coveted anything until now. I thought I shouldn’t be greedy. So I couldn’t covet the former king’s heart or Her Majesty’s love.”

His gaze wandered in the empty air before landing on her again.

“You are the only one I’ve ever coveted. Just as you are everything to me, I wish I could be everything to you.”

“…My lord.”

“Seo Yeom says I’m too obsessed with you. Do you think so too?”

What should she say at a time like this?

Eun Seol looked at him waiting quietly for an answer and gave a hollow laugh.

“Don’t just laugh, tell me. Do you dislike me being like this? I just love you. I want to see you when I can’t, I want to kill anyone who hurts you, how is this obsession?”

He blurted out the words as if displeased and kissed her hand.

Maybe it was obsession. But she liked it. Enough to make her cry.

“My lady, about that day. Do you remember anything?”

He carefully asked about that day.

Lee Woon hadn’t asked once during the ten days since it happened.

He must have been curious and frustrated about why she went there and who did such an atrocious thing for what reason.

But he waited until the end for her sake.

“If it’s too difficult, next time…”

“I remember everything. Every moment of that horrible day comes back to me and I feel like I’m going to go crazy… How, how could I forget?”

Her body trembled as if convulsing as she suppressed her anger.

Watching her, the prince’s sigh deepened.

“This is why I couldn’t ask carelessly. Catching the culprit is important, but your stability is more important to me.”

He cupped Eun Seol’s face with both hands and gently kissed her forehead.

With that brief kiss, her trembling stopped like a lie and her heart calmed down.

“Then tell me slowly from the beginning, as you remember.”

Unlike before, he spoke in a low voice with a very serious expression.

“As I was leaving the palace and almost at Unyeongung, my palanquin was attacked by a strange man.”

“I heard the story from the palanquin bearers. Was it also the first time you saw that man?”

She nodded instead of answering. The other person didn’t seem to know her either.

Unless someone told him, that is.

“I fainted for a moment from the man’s blow, and when I opened my eyes, it was Yongcheon Village. That place where you and I first met, under the wishing tree.”

The man moved with the palanquin intact, conscious of people’s eyes.

When she came to her senses, the first thing she saw was the wishing tree.

The man who was trying to put a sack over her head after subduing the palanquin bearers who seemed to be in cahoots with him hesitated for a moment when he saw that she had regained consciousness.

In her mind, she was screaming to run away, but her body wouldn’t listen.

“When I came to my senses and tried to scream, the man gave me a drug. As my body went limp and my consciousness faded, I instinctively knew it was poison. So when the sack came down over my head, I used my last strength to pull out my hairpin. Hoping you would find me… Hoping you would come in time, I stuck the hairpin in the dirt ground. I wasn’t afraid of dying, but not being able to see you… *sob*.”

She couldn’t finish speaking and silently sobbed into his neck.

“No, actually I didn’t want to die. I was afraid you wouldn’t find me. I… I didn’t want to lose you.”

She cried for a long time.

During that time, the prince said nothing and just quietly patted her back.

How much time had passed?

When her sobbing stopped, he pulled her waist and sat her on his lap.

“If it weren’t for this, it would have taken longer to find you, but thanks to your quick thinking, I was able to find you quickly.”

What he took out of his pocket was the hairpin she had stuck under the tree before losing consciousness.

She couldn’t believe it even when she saw it. She had left it hoping he would find it, but she didn’t really think he would find it.

He gently held her pinned-up hair and inserted the hairpin he was holding into the place where it belonged.

“It seems this hairpin’s rightful owner is you. No matter what happens, it eventually returns to your hands.”

“How did you find the hairpin? With just this, you couldn’t have easily found where I was imprisoned.”

“Didn’t I tell you? That I could find you wherever you were. When you regained consciousness, was there no one there? There must have been someone else besides that man, didn’t you see?”

“When I briefly regained consciousness, that person was with someone next to me. The two were talking, not realizing I had woken up.”

Lee Woon sat up straight and faced her.

His face, with its smile gone, was quite serious.

His eyes looking at her rippled greatly.

After a moment of silence, he carefully opened his mouth.

“By any chance, did you see who was with that man?”

“…”

“Who is it? Is it someone you know?”

She should have told him earlier. She didn’t know how to bring it up, she just couldn’t get the words out.

“Tell me. Who is it?”

“It was Eun Joo, Yoon Eun Joo. The one who instigated my kidnapping and the one who poisoned me was Eun Joo.”

For a moment, silence fell as if time had stopped.

His face was emotionless to a frightening degree, and his eyes were chillingly cold.

Even without words, she could clearly feel how angry he was.

After a while of silence, he let out a deep sigh and took her trembling hand.

“I suspected, but hoped it wasn’t true. I hoped it wasn’t that bad… Hah, how have you endured all this time?”

He squeezed her hand and said firmly.

“Don’t think about anything, just be at ease. From now on, I’ll take care of everything.”

His low voice was filled with anger. She curled her trembling fingertips and calmly organized her thoughts.

She had to do anything that could help catch the culprit.

The first thing that came to mind was the item Eun Joo had left behind.

“I have the scent pouch that Eun Joo dropped. That child always carried a scent pouch she made herself. She may have been looking for it, realizing she lost it that day.”

That was the reason she had grabbed the scent pouch at the last moment.

In that brief moment, she didn’t know how such a thought had occurred to her, but she grabbed the scent pouch lying on Eun Joo’s skirt as she stood up.

Fortunately, Eun Joo was too preoccupied with pushing her away to notice.

“I have something to ask of you, my lord.”

“Tell me.”

“I’m thinking of calling Eun Joo to the palace. Not to interrogate her, but to make her anxious and afraid at every moment. While doing so, I plan to give her false hope.”

“False hope?”

“Yes, please just leave this matter to me and pretend not to know.”

He nodded, patting her hand that he was holding.

“I’m looking for the person who imitated the Chief Scholar’s handwriting. Once we find that person, I plan to apprehend both of them.”

He said he met with Kim Hee Gyeom and asked about the letter, and requested his help.

The prince, like her, did not suspect Kim Hee Gyeom from the moment he saw the letter.

If it was Chief Scholar Kim Hee Gyeom, he would never put her in a difficult situation.

“After finding the person who copied the writing and apprehending the two, what do you plan to do next?”

“They committed a crime, so they should receive appropriate punishment. I’m holding back from dragging them here and killing them right now.”

His eyes were cold and sharp.

Even without saying it, she could feel how angry he was.

The prince spoke in a quiet but firm voice.

“Whoever it is, I will not forgive anyone who touches my people.”