Chapter : 05
The Butterfly on the Wall (5)
Yeonho’s straight brows creased slightly as he read the Crown Prince’s letter.
“Is there a problem?”
Yulbok asked cautiously. He had already felt uneasy about the Crown Prince secretly sending a letter, especially now, when Yulbok was on the verge of marrying the princess. Seeing Yeonho frown only deepened the sense that something serious had happened.
“The princess already has a fiancé, apparently.”
Yeonho said this as he tossed the Crown Prince’s letter to Yulbok. While Yulbok read it, Yeonho continued, clearly displeased.
“He says that she must be suffering terribly, having to betray the man she loves in order to marry me, so I should treat her gently.”
“It sounds like His Highness feels very apologetic. He said he didn’t know, didn’t he? It’s not even written as an order, so why are you so upset? Just treat her well. If you do better, the princess will be able to forget that fiancé. You’re not… jealous, are you?”
“She’s acting as if she’s some holy maiden sacrificing herself for the sake of the nation by marrying me. As if I’m some kind of monster who’s offering the princess up as a human sacrifice.”
“That’s an inferiority complex. Read between the lines properly. The Crown Prince clearly wrote that he feels guilty for pushing ahead with this marriage without fully understanding the princess’s heart, and that he feels he’s sinned against both of you.”
Yulbok spoke firmly and handed the letter back to Yeonho.
Yeonho, however, burned the letter as he refuted him.
“Taking the Crown Prince’s words at face value doesn’t mean you’ve understood what’s between the lines. This marriage was arranged for your sake. That’s why he’s saying you should treat the princess better. Regardless of whether her heart belongs to someone else, you’re supposed to feel grateful for her sacrifice and not feel slighted. It’s not an inferiority complex. The Crown Prince doesn’t feel sorry toward me.”
“Well, that could be true. Still, what can you do? It’s a fact that we benefit from marrying the princess, and since we accepted the marriage for that reason, you shouldn’t overthink the rest. Political marriages are all like that.”
Since it wasn’t his own marriage anyway, Yulbok replied indifferently.
“I’m not so desperate that I have to force a woman who doesn’t want it into marriage. And I don’t want to look like I’m the one desperate either. She’s already someone I’ll have to serve and live with, and now I’m expected to respect her feelings for another man as well? It’s absurd.”
“That is jealousy.”
“No. What’s the advantage of a political marriage? Our interests align, so there’s no emotional drain or conflict—it’s clean. But now I’m being told to make an effort to win the princess’s favor. Do you really think that’ll work when she’s not even a woman I truly love?”
“Who knows? You might fall in love at first sight.”
“With a woman who already loves another man?”
“People tend to want things even more when they’re not theirs to begin with. Watching a woman at your side while she longs for someone else might stir desire—the frustration of wanting what you can’t have.”
At those words, Yeonho’s eyes narrowed and his brows rose.
“You seem amused. As if you’re hoping that happens.”
“What’s important right now isn’t the princess’s feelings, but her safety. Let’s discuss what His Highness is most concerned about first.”
Yeonho knew Yulbok had subtly changed the subject, but he let it slide.
As Yulbok said, the immediate problem wasn’t the princess’s heart. She had to stay alive first—only then could they worry about winning her favor or anything else.
“Where would be the best place to assassinate the princess?”
At Yeonho’s almost muttered question, Yulbok quickly spread out a map.
“In order to hold you responsible for failing to protect her, they’ll need her to enter the Northern Plains Province first.”
The Crown Prince had ordered them to be fully prepared, saying the Empress’s side was moving suspiciously.
“Then we’ll have to go and escort Her Highness the Princess.”
“In a way, this works out well. It’s a chance to win her favor.”
First impressions mattered. This was an opportunity to leave an impression as a young, handsome general who had come to rescue her from danger.
Late at night, in the Empress’s residence, the Empress and the Imperial Prince were chatting leisurely.
“By now, our Hyeok should be entering the Northern Plains Province, shouldn’t she?”
At Prince Jo-yoon’s question, the Empress set down her teacup with a gentle smile.
“She should be around there by now.”
“I do feel a bit sorry for Hyeok. I let her be since it seemed like she was seeing Jeong Jae-in, but because of the Crown Prince, that girl ended up pitiful as well.”
Prince Shin Jo-yoon clicked his tongue, expressing pity for his younger sister. The Empress responded calmly as she placed her teacup down.
“Pitiful? The Crown Prince didn’t force her into this marriage. She chose it herself, didn’t she? That child is going to her death for the Crown Prince’s sake. There’s nothing to pity. She’s simply paying the price for her foolish choice—so you should find it satisfying.”
They drove the princess, who had obeyed the Crown Prince’s command, toward her death. And yet, without the slightest pang of conscience, they placed all the blame on the Crown Prince.
“Yes, Mother, you’re right. I suppose I just said that because she was obedient to you, unlike the Crown Prince, so it felt like a waste.”
Jo-yoon, though the legitimate son of the Empress, had always resented the fact that the position of Crown Prince had been taken by the elder Shin Seo-yoon. That sense of injustice was something the Empress had planted in him from childhood, but now it was meaningless.
As he grew, Jo-yoon proved infinitely inferior to Crown Prince Seo-yoon. Yet he refused to acknowledge his shortcomings, clinging only to claims of legitimacy, hating his elder brother and constantly scheming to seize his position.
“Yes, she was a good child. Thanks to her decision, we’ll finally be able to eliminate that thorn in our side, Kang Yeonho as well. She’ll remain a good child to the very end—for us.”
The Empress lifted her teacup with a faint smile, and the Prince, pleased for his own reasons, smiled back at her. The two faced each other, laughing softly for a long while.
Their earlier words of pity for their younger sister were nothing but pretense.
By the time the carriage carrying Ha Joyeong reached the crossroads, the sunset had already settled in.
The group bustled about, preparing to camp for the night on a nearby hill. It wasn’t anything new—most of their journey had been through mountain paths.
Occasionally they stayed at inns when they reached larger villages, but more often than not, they slept outdoors in the mountains. Joyeong suspected that the Ha siblings hadn’t wanted to spend much money on her marriage and had given them only a small travel allowance.
And that wasn’t all. It was harder to keep watch on her in crowded towns, so they likely instructed the party to stick to sparsely populated mountain roads. Whenever they did stop at an inn, the maids were frantic to lock her in her room, afraid someone might try to speak to her.
Joyeong stepped down from the carriage and looked around. Bisansung Fortress wasn’t far now, and everyone was exhausted, so their guard was lax.
If I don’t run away now, I may never get another chance.
She had overheard a conversation between a maid and a guard earlier. They said that after this crossroads, they would enter Bisansung within a few days.
This chaos was her only chance to escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
She had barely taken a few steps when a maid asked sharply. It was unfortunate she’d been caught so quickly, but Joyeong replied calmly.
“I’m just looking around to see if there’s a place to wash.”
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“Suit yourself.”
She answered casually and walked on without even looking back at the maid, maintaining a calm exterior. Inside, however, she was frantic.
How do I shake her off? If I find a stream, should I just jump in and run?
Living a miserable life as Ji Man-il’s wife—risking her life on a gamble didn’t seem like such a bad alternative.
If I marry that man, I might not even die peacefully anyway.
She had hidden a knife as a last resort for the wedding night, but escaping before that was the best option.
Her urgency made her steps quicken.
“Huff… huff… Miss! How far are you—haah—planning to go?”
Unlike Joyeong, who had ridden in the carriage, the maid had walked the entire way and seemed to be struggling to keep up on her exhausted legs. And since they were supposedly going to wash, she couldn’t very well order the men to follow.
“I told you. I’m going to wash. I’m looking for water.”
“P-please, slow down a bit… Aah!”
The maid, stumbling along, tripped over a stone and fell. At her scream, Joyeong stopped and turned around. The maid had hurt her leg and was sitting on the ground, unable to stand.
“Ow… Miss, just a moment. I think I twisted my ankle.”
Was the heavens helping her? This might actually be her chance to lose the maid.
“Oh dear. Then I’ll just go by myself.”
“No! You can’t!”
“What do you expect me to do? Carry you on my back after you’ve fallen?”
“W-what? No, that’s not what I meant… Miss!”
Joyeong turned her back on the maid.
“Wait! You can’t go alone!”
The maid shrieked shrilly, but Joyeong didn’t look back. She walked faster—faster than before.
And once she disappeared from the maid’s sight, she broke into a desperate run.
