RC 02

Chapter 2

Ha.

Seon let out a deep sigh. Her mind was still blank, and the whiteness clouding her vision refused to clear.

It was her uncle who had cherished her more than anyone.

He was family—someone who had loved and cared for his niece as if she were his own daughter, and who had sometimes been more dependable than her own father.

Such a precious person.

Why him, too?

Heat rushed to her face, and her entire body grew hot. She wanted to burst into tears and scream her uncle’s name at the top of her lungs.

No matter how many times one experienced it, the pain of parting never became familiar.

Seon lowered her gaze to the floor and took a deep breath.

Fresh air filled her empty lungs. As it did, a light slowly began to return to her tangled thoughts.

Seon was a member of the Imperial family.

If she opened the car window, she would find reporters everywhere, along with countless eyes watching them from every direction.

The fact that she had received the news through Seok-cheol meant the story was still under an embargo.

She could not afford to leave even the smallest opening.

She had to make her judgment as an Imperial family member.

“What about the press?”

“They’ve noticed that there was an accident, but apparently the Crown Prince’s condition has not been disclosed.”

She had to pull herself together.

Just as she had trained herself to do all her life, Seon repeated the same thought to herself.

She had to find the best role she could play at this moment and perform it flawlessly.

If anything about her looked even slightly strange, people would realize that something this enormous had happened.

Seon was confident in that regard.

She was the most beloved member of the Imperial family.

That was not a position one earned simply by having a pretty face.

She wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes before they could fall. Then she raised her hand mirror and carefully checked that every trace of moisture was gone.

“First, I’ll greet them.”

At Seon’s words, Seok-cheol also checked her face.

There was no trace of sorrow.

She looked exactly like what she needed to be: a flawless, beautiful member of the Imperial family.

When he nodded, Seon lowered the window with practiced ease.

It was part of the routine she had developed while building her public image as an Imperial family member.

If even the smallest thing went wrong, everything would be exposed.

Hide it.

She had to hide it.

Cheers from the people watching her car seeped in through the open window.

Seon smiled brightly as though nothing had happened and gave them a light wave.

“Your Highness!”

“Your Highness! Please look this way, too!”

Camera shutters clicked from the phones and cameras in people’s hands.

Seon did not so much as blink at the commotion. Instead, she put on an elegant smile.

A perfect doll, exactly as the people wanted to see her.

That was the reality of an Imperial family member standing at the center of the Republic of Korea.

The black limousine started moving slowly, giving the reporters and other people plenty of chances to take pictures.

Once the car had gotten far enough away from the crowd, Seon closed the window.

The bright expression she had put on for the public disappeared, leaving only her cold face behind.

Seok-cheol had silently watched the situation until the window was completely closed.

Then he quietly spoke.

“All Imperial family members who were carrying out official duties have been ordered to return to their residences. However, since it would take you too long to get to Jincheon, you’ve been instructed to go to the Imperial Palace instead.”

“All right.”

She answered briefly and turned her head.

Even along the sidewalk as they drove down from the hospital hill, people were waving at the tinted car.

Seon waved back at them without lowering the window.

She did not need to look at them.

It was simply an old habit and a duty.

“Let’s hurry.”

Seok-cheol gave a short nod and relayed the destination to the driver.

It took only about ten minutes to get from Suhakwon University’s affiliated hospital to Changdeokgung.

During that time, Seon’s phone rang nonstop.

Since the news had not yet reached the outside world, every call came from a member of the Imperial family.

—Seon. They told you to come to Changdeokgung, didn’t they? You must have been shocked, but first, please take good care of His Majesty and Her Majesty. They must be terribly shaken to have to go through something like this at their age.

The first person to call was her father, Prince Uijeong, Yeol.

His first concern was for his parents.

And that became Seon’s first assigned role.

—Sweetheart. You need to stay quiet. You know better than anyone how frightening the Imperial Palace can be, right? I’ll head to Seoul as soon as the movement restriction is lifted, so you have to keep quiet until then.

Her mother said this to her in a trembling voice.

It did not take Seon long to realize what kind of trigger this accident had been for her.

Seon had to promise her mother dozens of times that she would do as she was told, just so she would not be frightened or become even more anxious.

By the time she finally managed to end the call, even her sixth cousins had started calling her.

After listening until her ears nearly burst to words that were impossible to tell apart from warnings and concerns, Seon was even paler when she got out of the car than she had been immediately after hearing about her uncle’s condition.

Seok-cheol, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around several times to check on her.

“Has the Cheongyang Hyeonju arrived?”

Perhaps they had known she was coming, because the Chief Court Lady was waiting for Seon the moment her feet touched the ground.

Unlike the world outside the Imperial Palace, where people were still going about their daily lives completely unaware of the terrible news, the palace was already in mourning.

No one raised their voice.

The entire place was quiet enough to feel lonely.

Seon looked at the court servants hurrying around.

Some had already changed into mourning clothes, while others were rushing from one place to another, but the expressions on every face were unusual.

“Where are Their Majesties?”

“They are in Daejojeon.”

The Chief Court Lady answered readily.

It meant she had no intention of stopping Seon from going there.

“However, Her Majesty the Empress has fainted. The physicians from the Imperial Medical Office are currently treating her.”

“…Ha.”

Seon looked up at the sky and let out a short breath.

The first face that came to mind was her eldest uncle’s.

He had only one son and often said that he felt lonely because of it, so he had always doted on his niece.

He had always laughed warmly and easily.

And now she would never see that face again.

The corners of the Chief Court Lady’s eyes, as she stood silently beside Seon, were already red as well.

Tonight would not be an easy night for anyone here.

Moisture gathered in Seon’s eyes despite all the effort she had made to hold it back.

“Your Highness.”

Perhaps she had noticed Seon’s resolve weakening, because Seok-cheol spoke from behind her in a firm voice.

“You must keep your heart strong. Right now, you are the only one who can attend to Their Majesties.”

Hmm.

Seon roughly wiped away the moisture in her eyes and steadied her voice.

She could not think of his words as cruel.

She still had a role to fulfill here.

“I know. That’s why the Imperial Household Office sent me here, expecting me to stay by Their Majesties’ side.”

The Chief Court Lady soon led Seon toward Daejojeon.

The short walk felt like an endless tunnel.

The court servants and eunuchs waiting in the courtyard before Daejojeon were in disarray.

Some were crying.

Some were whispering about what had happened.

Others leaned forward, seemingly trying to catch whatever news might come from inside Daejojeon.

“Ahem!”

The Chief Court Lady’s low, heavy reprimand rang out briefly.

She had lowered her voice in case the Emperor and Empress inside heard, but there was still enough authority in it to silence the area.

She glared at the court servants and eunuchs with a fierce look in her eyes.

Though she did not say another word of reproach, the surroundings instantly fell silent.

“Please forgive us, Your Highness.”

Seon also slowly looked around.

She saw the young court servants and eunuchs lowering their heads, looking as though they had been caught doing something wrong.

Seon let out a short sigh and shook her head.

“A lot will happen from today onward. Their Majesties will not have the time to concern themselves with the inner palace’s affairs, so the Chief Court Lady must restore order.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The Chief Court Lady bowed deeply.

Seon continued forward.

Like the Red Sea parting, the people who had been scattered chaotically quietly lined up and cleared a path for her.

Seon entered the main hall of Daejojeon.

As it was where the elderly Emperor and Empress lived, it was never especially lively.

But it had never been this quiet either.

This was where the Emperor sometimes sat in his mother-of-pearl chair and played Go, while the Empress spent her quiet days happily knitting after taking a liking to the hobby.

Yet now, aside from the sobbing of the senior court ladies guarding the corridor, the place was unbearably silent.

“Please enter the East Ondol.”

As Seon stood hesitating in the corridor, the Chief Court Lady spoke to her.

Seon glanced toward the West Ondol, where the Empress should have been, clearly concerned about her.

The Chief Court Lady explained firmly.

“Her Majesty is being treated by the physicians. His Majesty ordered that you be brought directly to the East Ondol.”

Being summoned to the East Ondol, the Emperor’s bedchamber, meant that the Emperor had something to say to Seon.

Seon glanced once more toward the West Ondol before nodding.

If the physicians were treating the Empress, there was nothing Seon could do there.

She walked through the center of the main hall’s corridor and headed east, toward the Emperor’s bedchamber.

In front of the bedchamber of the Emperor, the sovereign of the nation, only one elderly Chief Eunuch stood guard.

As though he had been waiting for Seon, the Chief Eunuch opened the door without saying a word.

Even though he had not announced her arrival, the door opened naturally and wide.

Inside, the master of the palace received Seon with a calm yet exhausted expression, as though he had known all along that she would come.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Seon.”

Her grandfather’s simple words—I’ve been waiting for you—sounded strangely different today.

It felt as though she had just stepped into a whirlpool whose depths she could not begin to comprehend.