CHAPTER 2
The Empress Dowager didn’t offer a single word of comfort to the mother who had just lost her daughter.
Instead, she chose to blame Yoon Soo-ryun.
Still, Soo-ryun couldn’t bring herself to respond to her cold-hearted mother-in-law.
“More importantly, where is His Majesty?”
The Empress Dowager looked around for her son, the Emperor.
Now that she thought of it, her husband had been nowhere to be seen since earlier.
“He’s likely tied up with work in his office. Should I go check on him?”
A palace maid by the Empress Dowager’s side asked, prompting the elder woman to glance at Soo-ryun.
“Tsk tsk. While her husband is dutifully fulfilling his responsibilities even after the death of his daughter…”
The Empress Dowager’s gaze toward her daughter-in-law was full of contempt.
“And yet our so-called empress is sitting there blank and useless… It’s truly worrisome to think about the future of our royal house.”
Her husband was always busy.
He had even been absent from the palace just before Se-hee’s death.
Soo-ryun had known this.
She knew that before being a grieving mother, she was also the Empress of this nation.
That it was her duty to support her husband, the ruler of an empire.
With difficulty, Soo-ryun stood up under her mother-in-law’s rebuke.
“…I’ll go see him.”
As if she’d been waiting for that answer, the Empress Dowager made no move to stop her.
Soo-ryun’s steps leaving Taewonjeon were unsteady.
Though the weather was still bitterly cold, she didn’t feel it.
She simply walked in a daze toward where her husband might be, her body moving on its own.
She was wandering without direction when—
“Soo-ryun.”
The familiar voice brought her footsteps to an abrupt halt.
She turned her head toward the sound, and her face stiffened noticeably.
“Lee Heon…?”
It had been over ten years, but she recognized him instantly.
He had been a childhood friend, someone she had once promised a future with.
“What are you doing here…?”
He had left Korea after the sudden deaths of the late Emperor Yeonjong and his wife.
She had thought he would never return.
Though momentarily confused by his unexpected appearance, her heart yearned for someone—anyone—to lean on. She took a step toward him.
But she froze in place the moment she remembered where they were: inside the palace.
Tears threatened to fall.
She nearly forgot her dignity as Empress and collapsed into his arms in despair.
But she couldn’t allow herself to do that.
“Soo-ryun.”
Lee Heon called her name again, stepping forward.
Soo-ryun took a step back and murmured quietly.
“Thank you for coming all this way. The Empress Dowager is in Taewonjeon. You should greet her. As for me, I’ll be going now…”
With those words, she turned and left as if fleeing.
If she stayed a moment longer, she felt she might forget her place as Empress altogether.
She wandered through the palace in a daze for some time.
Eventually, she realized she’d been walking far too long and looked up.
“This is…”
To her dismay, she wasn’t anywhere near her husband’s office.
She stood in front of Hyangwonjeong — the pavilion where her daughter had drowned.
She must have wandered here without realizing it, lost in thought.
Looking at the black pond under the moonlight, Soo-ryun turned her head in anguish.
Thinking about her daughter who had died here made her heart feel torn to shreds all over again.
She quickly averted her gaze.
‘I should go.’
She didn’t know how much time had passed, but if she lingered any longer, her mother-in-law would surely scold her again.
Just as she was about to head toward her husband’s office—
She sensed a presence from the direction of Hyangwonjeong.
Tilting her head, she stared that way.
“That’s strange. No one should be at Hyangwonjeong…”
Since the princess’s death, both the pavilion and the bridge leading to it — Chwihyanggyo — had been closed off.
Even if it weren’t, who would dare visit the site of a recent death?
Something felt off.
Almost as if drawn by a force, Soo-ryun headed toward the source of the sound.
She moved so quietly even her own footsteps were inaudible.
Then — a sound came from inside Hyangwonjeong.
A woman’s sobbing.
“Sob… What should I do, Your Majesty? I never expected the princess to die like that…”
She knew that voice well.
It belonged to none other than Se-hee’s nanny court lady — Jeong-ah.
‘Wait… “Your Majesty”?’
There was only one person in the palace who could be called that…
Heart pounding, Soo-ryun peered through the slightly open door.
What she saw was—
“……!”
Her husband, comforting the crying court lady.
‘What is this…?’
Soo-ryun struggled to comprehend the scene before her, but then—
“Don’t cry. It was just an accident. It’s not your fault.”
“But if it gets out that I brought the princess to Hyangwonjeong just to secretly meet with Your Majesty…!”
‘What?’
Soo-ryun doubted her own ears.
‘Se-hee didn’t go there on her own…?’
“I shouldn’t have taken her with me that day. Or at the very least, I should never have left her alone outside… She wouldn’t have fallen in otherwise…!”
She had left a five-year-old alone by the water.
Right in front of a bridge with no railings.
“So let’s make sure no one ever finds out we met that day. Right? I wasn’t even supposed to be in the palace, and you were playing hide-and-seek with Se-hee.”
“Your Majesty…”
Tears falling, Jeong-ah leaned into his arms.
Soo-ryun’s face went pale watching it all unfold.
‘I thought Se-hee’s death wasn’t anyone’s fault…’
She had believed the nanny had simply done what the child asked.
That it was just a heartbreaking accident.
She had even blamed herself for not taking better care of her daughter.
That was why she accepted it when her husband slapped her in front of the palace staff.
Why she bore the Empress Dowager’s cruel accusations in silence.
But now she realized — her daughter had died because those two were having a secret affair?
Soo-ryun’s hands began to tremble.
‘They might as well have killed her themselves.’
Her rage boiled up from deep in her gut.
Then she heard the next words exchanged between the pair.
“I’ll probably be kicked out of the palace soon…”
Jeong-ah’s voice trembled with fear.
“I failed to take proper care of the princess, so I’ll be punished… Sob…”
Lee Jun embraced her tightly, trying to comfort her.
“Don’t worry. You’re my woman. No one would dare expel the Emperor’s woman from the palace.”
He whispered sweet words to soothe her.
“I only slapped the Empress that day in case she got the idea to blame you. If she’s demoralized, she won’t have the nerve to say anything foolish.”
“Your Majesty…”
“And everyone around her is on our side. Even Chief Lady Jeong — the one Soo-ryun treats like a sister — she knows everything about us, doesn’t she?”
Chief Lady Jeong had served Soo-ryun since her days as Crown Princess.
In this cold palace, she had been like a real sister to her.
Soo-ryun shook her head in disbelief.
“The Empress has no allies. So what do you have to be afraid of?
More importantly, you carry my child. No one will dare lay a hand on you.”
Jeong-ah’s voice quivered with emotion.
“I’m so happy… That I can give you the son you’ve always wanted.”
Lee Jun embraced her tightly, overjoyed.
“Yes, the son I’ve been longing for. My mother will be thrilled. She wanted a son more than anyone.”
Jeong-ah rested her head on his chest, clearly pleased by his words.
“I really hope so. This child will surely fill the void left by the princess…”
Her honeyed voice stung Soo-ryun’s ears.
Her gaze dropped low.
‘She’s pregnant?’
With my husband’s child?
It felt like her heart had dropped into her stomach.
