CHAPTER~04
“The daughter she treasured so dearly died that way. That child must feel no lingering regrets now.”
The Empress Dowager’s indifferent voice sent chills down his spine.
“But… but…”
Lee Jun looked at Su-ryeon, who was flailing desperately in the pond, begging for life.
His wife looked moments away from her last breath.
When he hesitated, Jung-ah, who had been watching from afar, strode over.
“If you save Her Majesty like this, do you think she’ll thank you and pretend she didn’t say what you just heard?”
Grabbing both his arms, she shook him firmly, as if telling him to wake up.
“She said she’ll tell the world! And then what will happen to us?”
At her words, Lee Jun looked back at Su-ryeon.
After Se-hee’s death, no one ever came to Hyangwonjeong.
So if the three of them kept their mouths shut, no one would ever know the truth behind the Empress’s death.
Su-ryeon heard every word they said.
But submerged in freezing water, struggling for her life, there was nothing she could do.
All she could do was reach out her trembling hand, begging.
She mustered her last bit of strength and reached toward her husband once more.
“P-please… save…”
But Lee Jun—his eyes wavering—ultimately turned away.
Ah… so I’m really going to die like this.
Her lungs burned as if tearing apart, filled with water she had swallowed.
In her fading consciousness, Su-ryeon stared at the three people who simply watched her die.
My daughter must have died like this too.
The thought of her child’s pain twisted her heart.
She quietly closed her eyes.
If only I could turn back time…
If only she could save her daughter.
With that irreversible regret, Su-ryeon let the last of her strength slip away.
—
What followed was a long, endless darkness.
She wandered through it for what felt like ages.
Then, finally, she reached a place where light seeped in.
As the white glow wrapped around her, a steady beeping sound brushed her ears.
Someone’s voice came from beside her.
“Are you awake?”
“Where… is this…”
“You’re in the hospital. I’ll go call the professor.”
That familiar smell of antiseptic—it really was a hospital.
Someone must have saved her from drowning.
Su-ryeon asked the nurse, her voice cracked from long silence.
“Who… saved me?”
“Sorry?”
“The person who pulled me out of the water. I want to thank—”
The nurse blinked, baffled.
“You… fell into water? It must’ve been a dream. That happens, especially after long labor and heavy bleeding. I’ll bring the professor.”
“Labor…?”
Only then did a sharp pain surge from below her abdomen.
And she remembered exactly what this pain was.
“Yes, you struggled a lot since it was your first delivery. But thankfully, both mother and baby are healthy now.”
Su-ryeon froze.
First… delivery?
She had definitely drowned.
And after giving birth to Se-hee five years ago, she had never been pregnant again.
While Su-ryeon blinked in confusion, the nurse moved as though to help her understand.
She picked up something small from a bassinet and brought it to her.
“Such a lovely princess. Congratulations, Your Majesty.”
The nurse handed her a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket.
A newborn.
Eyes barely open, breathing softly in her arms.
As Su-ryeon held her, warmth spread into her hands—undeniable, living warmth.
“…Se-hee.”
It was unmistakable.
The baby in her arms was her daughter, Se-hee.
In that moment, Su-ryeon realized:
She was neither dreaming nor dead.
She had returned.
She held the baby for a long, trembling moment.
“How is… this possible…”
Her dizziness worsened, and her body pitched forward.
She nearly dropped the child.
“Your Majesty!”
The nurse gasped, quickly taking the baby from her arms.
“You mustn’t exert yourself. You lost a lot of blood.”
After tucking the baby safely in the bassinet, she came back to examine Su-ryeon.
“You were unconscious for quite some time. I’ll bring the professor right away.”
When the nurse left, Su-ryeon lay staring at the ceiling.
She soon realized why she felt so weak.
I remember now… They forced me to do natural labor despite the doctor recommending a C-section.
She had nearly died from hemorrhage.
Even after giving birth, she was bedridden for a long time.
“Natural birth makes babies healthier and smarter. Look at His Majesty. A natural birth made him the wise ruler he is.”
It had been nothing but absurd nonsense.
But Su-ryeon alone couldn’t go against the Empress Dowager.
Sometimes she wondered how things might’ve changed if her husband—then abroad—had been beside her.
But that had been foolish.
He left his wife during her first childbirth to attend a banquet celebrating another country’s royal birth.
And he had always jumped to obey his mother’s slightest word.
At the time, Su-ryeon had told herself he was simply filial.
How laughable that seemed now.
She looked down at herself, raising her hand slowly.
Have I truly returned to the past…?
While she retraced her memories, the hospital door suddenly burst open.
No knock—just rude intrusion.
Su-ryeon frowned at the person entering.
A familiar face.
A woman with her hair tied back neatly bowed.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
It was Secretary Jo from Jagyeongjeon.
She served under Chief Secretary Han Se-gyeong—right hand of the Empress Dowager.
The third most powerful person in the Empress Dowager’s residence.
Su-ryeon had never liked her.
Using the Empress Dowager’s authority, Jo often acted with the exact same rudeness she displayed now.
And the Empress Dowager doesn’t even bother visiting her first grandchild…
She remembered—back then too, the Empress Dowager didn’t come because the baby wasn’t a boy.
Even though Su-ryeon nearly died giving birth.
While she thought bitterly, Secretary Jo approached and held something out.
A letter wrapped in pale pink silk.
Su-ryeon narrowed her eyes.
“What is that?”
“It is the name Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has chosen for the young princess.”
“…I see.”
Traditionally, the names of royal children were chosen by the Inner Palace.
As its head, Su-ryeon should have named her own child.
Of course the Empress Dowager’s opinion mattered, but this—being handed a name without consultation—was a blatant show of disrespect.
Yet that wasn’t the biggest issue.
Su-ryeon accepted the letter coolly and unfolded it.
On the white paper was a single neat name.
[Lee Yeong (李英)]
“‘Yeong’—as in brilliance and excellence in all things. Her Majesty selected it personally,” Jo announced proudly, as if she had named the child herself.
“Though she is not a royal grandson, she is still the first grandchild. The Empress Dowager has poured special affection into this name.”
“…Special affection, is it?”
Su-ryeon let out a short laugh.
If she cared so much, wouldn’t she at least come see the baby?
The hypocrisy was ridiculous.
But the most absurd thing was the name itself.
“Yeong… brilliant, exceptional.”
The moment she saw the character, Su-ryeon was certain.
She had truly returned to the past.
Because this exact moment—this name—had happened once before.
Su-ryeon stared at the paper.
Then her lips curled.
And—
Rip—
Without a shred of hesitation, she tore the letter cleanly in half.
