So it had been the kitchen boy this whole time?

Based on all the clues that Haein had revealed, it could be no one else.

That boy had been invisible to her until now. He only served her, only delivered things to her; she had never thought more of him. She couldn’t even recall exactly how he looked like, even though she saw him nearly every day. He was the one who brought in her food to her room when she was sick, the one who delivered the bread, and the one who served them during royal meals. He was everywhere, but passed by unnoticed.

Yewon told Haein to not turn in the kitchen boy for clearly breaking so many rules to get the bread to her. She wanted to speak to him first, to know what he was doing and why he was doing it. She didn’t understand why a kitchen boy would risk so much to give her bread. It didn’t make sense, and she was suspicious. What if there were things in it that were meant to hurt her? What if Haein had been right to prevent her from eating them? Had Yewon been a fool this entire time?

-

During the royal dinner, she saw the kitchen boy for the first time since she had figured it out. She tried not to make it obvious that something was different now and only glanced at him a couple of times as he was serving the royal family. He exuded of kindness, and she found it so hard to think that someone who smiled the way he did would be out to hurt her.

He had a nice smile, Yewon thought.

She reassured herself that there was nothing to be afraid of with this young man. He seemed so far from dangerous. Perhaps he had sent her the bread out of the kindness of his heart, because he knew how much it would mean to her? Then again, that seemed highly idealistic.

She really wanted to speak to him alone, and so when he left the dining room, she also excused herself and followed him out.

“Why do you give me Galacian bread?” Yewon called out to him as he walked forward with an empty tray in his hand.

The boy stopped midway in his tracks and turned to face her. He looked scared, because the bright smile that had been on his face was replaced with pursed lips. He bowed to her like he usually did. “Is there something you want, your highness?” he asked.

“What’s your name?” she asked him for the very first time.

He hesitated to answer, but he eventually did: “it’s Seokmin, your highness.”

S.

“Seokmin,” she repeated to herself. “You’re S, aren’t you?”

Seokmin didn’t answer and instead looked at the floor, but she took that to mean confirmation.

“Why?” she asked him.

Seokmin looked around to see if there was anyone to hear, and when he saw there was no one he transferred the tray he was holding from his left hand to his right and put his left hand on his heart. “Hail,” he greeted her.

Yewon froze in her place as she saw the gesture from him; it gave her goosebumps. It’s been so long since she’d seen it, and it flooded her with memories of her home which she missed with everything she had.

From the way that he executed the greeting, Yewon could tell with so much clarity that Seokmin was not Solenese. He was of her own blood, a Galacian, and it made her so happy.

“Who are you?” she asked him.

“I promise I’ll explain, your highness,” Seokmin whispered, “but not in the palace hallways. I hope you understand. Can I just put the tray back in the kitchen and meet you in your room in ten minutes?” he asked politely.

Yewon nodded. He bowed to her, and she retreated to her room, anxiously waiting for him, anxiously wanting to speak to him.

He did come as promised, with a sealed letter in his hands. He gave her the letter, and she saw that it was the same exact letter: “to my princess, from S.”

“I need to have a royally sealed letter to be allowed in your room by the guards outside,” Seokmin explained, “it’s a good thing I have about four of them on hand with me,” he said, laughing awkwardly. “I can get some more whenever I want though. Your husband is not very careful with the royal seal,” he explained as she just stared at him with wonder.

It was almost surreal to see another Galacian, and she was so pleased by it. She noted that how he dropped the coarse accent that he had been faking before, and reverted back to the Galacian dialect that she had not heard since her parents. After being trapped among foreigners for so long, it felt like a dream to encounter someone who was the same as her.

“How are you here? How are you working in the Solenese palace?” she had so many questions, but those were the only two she could manage right now.

“I’m not really a kitchen boy,” Seokmin answered her uncertainly, gulping as if he were scared of her reaction. “His majesty your father sent me to look after you and to report what happens to you. The whole kitchen boy thing is a disguise. Please don’t tell anyone,” he requested with a soft expression in his eyes.

“Of course I won’t tell anyone,” Yewon reassured him. Her initial anxiety was quickly replaced with relief and delight. She was not alone after all. She had never been alone. Her father had never abandoned her like she thought. His eyes were there watching her through the eyes of this young man.

“Anyways, I knew you were depressed, and I didn’t know how else to help with that but send you Galacian bread to remind you of home. But in order to get the bread to you and make you trust it enough to eat it, I needed the royal seal, and your husband just leaves it out and about on his table. Whenever I bring him tea after his baths, I’m able to seal a letter so I can send it to you with the box. So… that’s all there is to that story,” Seokmin said with a reluctant shrug.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Yewon asked him.

“Orders from your father,” he answered quickly, biting his lips. “But now that you figured out by yourself, I have to tell you everything. How did you figure it out, by the way?”

“My maid noticed that your handwriting is too simple to be from a royal…”

“So your maid knows?” Seokmin suddenly looked scared again. His eyes widened and his lips parted slightly in shock.

“Yes, she knows that it’s you...”

Seokmin looked extremely troubled by that.

“What?”

“Oh my God, she can’t know,” Seokmin said, a desperate look in his eyes. He turned around, pacing back and forth and rubbing his forehead. “She can’t know!”

“She’s trustworthy,” Yewon said, “I told her not to say anything…”

Seokmin looked like he was having trouble breathing as he paced back and forth.

“Are you okay…?” she asked him. He looked like he was about to have a seizure.

After calming down, he apologized to her by clumsily bowing at least 100 times. “When I get anxious, I have breathing problems,” Seokmin explained. He then took another deep breath and closed his eyes, as he put his hand on his chest. He then looked towards her and, in a hushed tone asked: “do you trust her?”

Yewon nodded

“Are you sure?”

“I do,” Yewon said, suddenly anxious herself because of Seokmin’s extreme reaction.

“Listen to me,” Seokmin told her in a fraught whisper: “if they know that she knows, they’ll kill her.”

“W…what?” Yewon stammered, “K…kill? Who?”

“There are a group of Galacian spies around the castle, your highness,” Seokmin told her softly, still breathing heavily, “they’re disguised as Solenese and are here to protect both you and our people by knowing the enemy’s plans from the inside. And if this maid knows that something is suspicious, they could…” he gulped.

“Of course they can’t kill her!” Yewon said a little too loudly.

“Shhhh!” Seokmin shushed her, “if you want to save your maid, make sure you keep her ignorant and make sure she doesn’t ask any more questions. Don’t tell her I’m Galacian; tell her I’m a stupid kitchen boy who wanted to the impress the princess or something. If she knows any more than that, it will be so unsafe for her.”

Yewon felt like she was being dragged unknowingly into something dangerous all of the sudden. She could see that danger in the way that Seokmin was looking at her with this imploring look in his eyes. He seemed like he himself was unwillingly dragged into this mess himself. He didn’t seem like the spy type…

“This is so wrong,” Yewon said to him.

“I know it’s wrong,” Seokmin nodded. “I agree with you. But you have to understand, they just want to protect Galacia. People resort to a lot of wrong things when so much is at stake. That’s why politics is dangerous business.”

Something about that reminded Yewon of something Seungcheol had said to her: ‘there is no passion in politics.’

Yewon was really starting to understand that now.

She certainly did not want Haein to die, but at the same time, she wasn’t absolutely certain that Haein would not investigate more and do something to jeopardize whatever advantage Galacia had in the palace right now, and therefore jeopardize her entire country. But still, no matter the consequences, killing her was unjust on so many levels.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t ask any more questions,” Yewon told him. “But you can’t let them kill her.”

“I won’t even tell them about her, your highness. I promise,” Seokmin told her, hand on his heart in an expression of sincerity. “I don’t want anyone to die either, especially if they’re important to you.”

“No one should die,” Yewon said. “If these spies are killing people, then I’m going to write my father and tell him…”

“No! You can’t!” Seokmin shouted quickly, interrupting her.

Yewon was startled by the sudden outburst, and Seokmin quickly but anxiously explained: “You can’t write this information down in letters. Who know what eyes read those letters before they get to your father?”

She nodded in understanding.

“Your highness: you can’t reveal this information to absolutely anyone. Not even the bastard boy that you trust. Don’t write it in any letter; if you get caught, you’ll be the one who will be targeted by Solenese officials. So… just… pretend that you don’t know…”

“This is all so crazy,” Yewon replied, feeling so overwhelmed with all of this new information.

“I know it is, your highness. It’s a lot to take in,” Seokmin smiled at her, but he looked scared as he did so. “But I hope you’re glad to know that you’re not alone. We are with you, and we will protect you from anything.”

-

Yewon had expected Seungcheol that night. They had made plans to finally consolidate their marriage, to finally go for the son that they both wanted so badly.

And Seungcheol did come, but he was not himself when he stormed through the door into Yewon’s room.

Yewon was alarmed by how he suddenly barged in, a host of royals and guards behind him.

His body was rigid. There were tears in his eyes, which were wide with trauma. There was blood on his fists, and his lower lip was quivering in an expression of anguish.

“You did this,” he said to her, his voice hoarse and filled with resentment. She saw hatred in the way he looked at her, and for the first time ever, she felt like he would hurt her.

“W... what?” she stammered. She was confused: why the blood, why the crying, and why the host of people walking into her room?

His hands were suddenly on her shoulders, thumbs squeezing into her back with full pressure as he violently shook her. “I know it’s you! I know it’s you! I know it’s you!” he yelled, and he pushed her onto the ground roughly and sobbed. “I know you hated him,” Seungcheol spat at her as he cried.

Yewon didn’t understand what was happening, but her instincts were telling her to escape from him. His gaze was filled with hatred for her, the kind that could kill her. She tried to get up from the floor, but he seemed prepared to lunge at her. He was stopped by Soonyoung, who ran into the room and pulled him away from her. At Soonyoung’s command, the guards also interfered and held Seungcheol so he could not get near her.

“Get your act together!” Soonyoung yelled at his older brother, “you’re the prince!”

“She killed him!” Seungcheol yelled in frenzy. “She killed him! She killed him!” He struggled to break free from the guards, who were holding him tight at this point.

“Take him away from her,” Soonyoung told his guards, who obliged and struggled to keep him still as he tried to break free from them.

Soonyoung looked to Yewon with concern, who was shocked by what was happening. “Are you okay?” he asked her with concern, taking her arm and pulling her up from the floor.

“W…what’s wrong with him?” she stuttered.

Soonyoung’s expression went grim. “Yoon Jeonghan was just murdered,” he answered.

A/N: 😇