Hye-jin tensed, although she could’ve easily seen through Min-jun’s bluff. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure how he’d punish her. Whether he liked it or not, the King would never allow Min-jun to hurt his dearest friend, just as he wouldn’t have agreed to Hye-jin’s plans to poison Min-jun. Now under the King’s watchful gaze, they would both have to be more careful.
Min-jun leaned back. An interrogation was still on the table, at least. The King wouldn’t be opposed to that, surely.
“I suppose you fully intended to kill me,” Min-jun said. “How you managed to get snow peony poison of all things is beyond me, but you must’ve known it would be close to impossible to heal me. It hurt like hell too.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel sorry for you?” Hye-jin asked coolly, crossing her arms.
“No,” Min-jun replied. “Truth be told, I always knew someone would poison me at one point or another. That’s the life of a consort, I suppose. Still, there’s one thing that’s been plaguing my mind.”
“And what is that?” Hye-jin asked.
Min-jun shook his head, as he voiced his concerns. “It makes no sense, considering how the King reacted. Why not use a common poison that could easily be countered? If it was the Ni family you were after, that would’ve sufficed.”
For the most part, Hye-jin gave no reaction, except that for a moment, her eyes became unfocused, nervous. Those were the eyes of a guilty party. Min-jun had interrogated enough criminals to know that much at least.
“But let’s say I really was your target. You could say you feared what I might do to the King, or that my influence was harmful to him. However, anyone close to the King as you are can see that that is not the case. The King has neither neglected his duties or abused his powers in favor of me. He’s . . .” Min-jun could scarcely believe he was saying this. “He’s as brilliant of a King as ever.”
Here he was complimenting the King! What next? Would he start singing his praises from the rooftops?
“So it would seem that you were guided more by your emotions than your reason,” Min-jun said. “Which is to say, are you in love with the King?”
Hye-jin laughed bitterly, looking away. “Of all the ridiculous things.”
“Even if you are not,” Min-jun continued. “You are jealous of his affection for me. You said it yourself last night: he loves me more than he loves you.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Lsf-plc rabbv jr kfii, jr rtf vlv cba kjca tlw ab tjnf atf tlutfg ugbecv, cb vbeya. “Ktlr lrc’a bcf bo sbeg qfaas mjrfr.”
“I know. I’d say it’s far from petty.” A headache had long since formed. Min-jun could not help as his nerves were stretched and tested. He wasn’t sure what he would do if his theory was proven true. “Because you were with Cheol when we first met in the river towns. You had kept an eye on us the entire time we were together. You had taken him from me when he’d wished to stay.”
“He had his destiny to fulfill,” Hye-jin said.
“That destiny was eating him up from the inside.” Min-jun turned on her. He felt protective, all of a sudden, of the boy he once loved. “That’s right. He always went on about his mission. To think that this was it.” He shook his head, the ends of his lips curling up.
“How tragic,” he murmured. “I suppose you’re also the one who got it into his head that he couldn’t possibly allow himself even a shred of a normal life.”
Hye-jin gestured toward him. He was breaking her down, slowly. “Because it would put everyone in danger! Look at you! Your entire life was destroyed because of your association with him –”
“Because he left,” Min-jun said. “Do you think it would’ve come to this had he stayed? Or if he had returned? I would’ve gone with him, had he asked.” He would’ve done so in a heartbeat. His mother would’ve found a way to help them too. She’d always been a formidable opponent. Things could’ve been so different.
“In any case, he gave up his memories of me.” Well, that was still debatable, but there was no time to get into the details now. In fact, much of what Min-jun said was contingent on whether or not the King’s memories were trustworthy. Still, with how Hye-jin was reacting . . . it would appear that they were at least here and that the King had indeed sentenced them to death. Min-jun’s stomach rolled uncomfortably. Ha, how quickly his excitement turned to dread. I don’t want it to be him. Please don’t let it be him.
Despite the fear rising in him, he continued on. “But yours were intact. So I wonder why you didn’t say anything when my parents were imprisoned.”
“What?” Hye-jin was breathless as she said it. “What sort of nonsense –”
“You’re smart, Hye-jin,” Min-jun told her. “You knew what my mother looked like, at least. It’s impossible that someone with your level of intelligence couldn’t have put the pieces together. You knew someone must’ve sent them there to die.”
Min-jun put a finger to his cheek, propping his elbow up in his hand. “What will the King say when he learns about that, I wonder.”
That was enough to make Hye-jin rise from her seat.
“I had no other choice,” Hye-jin hissed. “How could I allow the son of such filthy traitors back into his heart!”
Another string inside his heart snapped. How dare she? After all that his parents had suffered under her compliance. After everything Min-jun and Su-jin had been through because of her actions. She called them traitors! Min-jun could not say a word. He could hardly believe she had the nerve to speak in such a manner.
“What did you just say?”
Hye-jin trembled a bit, and in the length of time it might take for a pin to fall, she even showed some remorse. It was gone as quickly as it came, her face returning to its steely expression. “They were traitors. Their crimes were as clear as day. They deserved their fates as much as any criminal –”
Min-jun’s hand moved on its own, as he crossed the space between them. It came down hard against Hye-jin’s cheek, so much so that she stumbled in the other direction. Min-jun clenched his hand into a fist. It stung from the impact. His chest felt full with a familiar emotion. Hatred. Rage. It was what he was most comfortable with.
“You dare –” Hye-jin started, one hand lifted to her reddening cheek.
“Did you want him to yourself that much?” Min-jun asked her, his voice silencing her indignance. “Did you want him to be King so badly that you had to kill them?”
Min-jun drew closer to her, towering over the fuming Hye-jin.
“Very well then,” he whispered, his tone eerily level. “I shall take that which you treasure most and make your worst fears come true. Soon, your King shall not even have a thought to spare on the likes of you.”
Hye-jin seethed, returning Min-jun’s hatred with her own. “I always knew you couldn’t be trusted.”
She still didn’t understand, did she? “Your lack of faith is what brought you here. If you wish to blame someone for being deceitful, perhaps you should look in the mirror.”
Having said his piece, Min-jun swung around on his heel and crossed the room to the doors. When he slid them open, Sun was standing there, his eyes downcast. Min-jun had forgotten about him. How much had he heard?
“Sun,” Hye-jin whispered.
Sun ignored her, his gaze focusing on Min-jun instead. “It’s time for us to go, Your Highness. His Majesty will be taking a break for lunch soon. I’m sure he’s planning to spend that time with you.”
That certainly struck another nail in the coffin. Min-jun glanced over his shoulder. Terror had taken the place of Hye-jin’s hateful expression.
“Sun,” Hye-jin said, louder now. “You can’t tell him. Please.”
Min-jun glanced between the two of them. It looked as if Sun had heard just enough to make Hye-jin worry.
“I’m sure His Majesty has already realized,” Sun replied. Protective as ever, Sun raised an arm in front of Min-jun, pushing him to stand behind his back.
Hye-jin took a step forward. “Sun –”
“It’ll be best if you do not have anything to do with His Highness.” Sun’s tone left no more room for argument. Min-jun rarely saw him get so upset. “Please keep your distance. As for your betrayal of His Majesty’s trust, that is your problem to deal with. I will not involve myself further.”
Good. Min-jun’s blackmail wouldn’t work very well if Sun went and tattled on Hye-jin. But could it be that the King already knew about Hye-jin’s betrayal?
“Are you coming, Your Highness?” Sun had walked a few steps down the corridor. Shaken from his trance, Min-jun followed him back down the spotless hallways, leaving Hye-jin behind to wallow in her sorrows.
A/N: This chapter took me so long to write because I couldn’t get into the flow of the story. I hope it doesn’t show. Anyway, thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment below.
Thanks dor the chapter! I hate Hye-jin, ugh. I hope the next chapter will be full of fluff hehe
Thanks for commenting! Just a little bit of fluff next chapter, i hope you enjoy it! And yes, hye-jin isn’t very popular right now. she’s made a lot of mistakes and instead of trying to make them right, she just digs in her heels.
A slap well deserved even though it would have been good to send a few (hundreds) more
lmao such violence
Karma come get Hye-Jin!
oh it will
Hye-jin has been in such a privileged position all this time! Apparently she took it completely for granted. She’s been treating Cheol like a puppet king, breaking them up as teens, assuming her judgment is better than his, and did she go after Min-jun’s parents just to make sure he stayed away?? That slap felt pretty good 😑. It was pretty funny when Min-jun caught himself calling Cheol brilliant lol.
Thank you so much for your chapters. I was at school the whole entire day I was looking forward to the time I could finally sit down and read this novel!!
doesnt show i got ceo vibes from mu jin