Jeonghan was murdered in the castle. He was found mutilated in one of the guestrooms, and dead from a sword to his heart.

Seungcheol had blamed Yewon for it, and for many hours, a lot of people seemed to believe that she was somehow responsible for it. It made sense why many would think it was her, especially if there were aware of Seungcheol’s affair. Jeonghan not only stole her husband’s affection, but he was also in part responsible for the war and for her country’s suffering. He was the most anti-Galacian man in the castle, and everyone knew that he wanted to continue the war, that he wanted to sway Seungcheol into agreeing to attack.

She was thus held in the courtroom with the King and the Queen as the murder was investigated. Seungcheol was held in another room.

As Yewon waited for the verdict, she felt shaken and lost. Jeonghan died. He was dead. She had only spoken to him a few hours earlier, but now he was dead. It was difficult to process, difficult to wrap her head around how something like that could suddenly happen, how a life can suddenly just end.

She found herself crying when she thought of it.

It was not that she liked him; she did not. She found herself, however, imagining the pain his death would bring.

The Solenese people who thought him an angel. The patients in the hospital who adored him. Little Dino who looked up to him. Seungcheol who depended on and perhaps loved him. No matter his violent policies, he held and important presence, and it was so hard to think of what it meant that he was now gone.

Even bad people are important to others. Even people who have wronged you have a place in this world that makes their life valuable. Even bad people have a lot of good in them, and now that Jeonghan was dead, Yewon thought a lot about all the good that Jeonghan was.

The picture of his bright smile was etched into her head. He had looked like such an angel, and she could only imagine how much more of an angel he had been to the patients at the hospital, and to Seungcheol.

She recalled the last conversation she had with him: “please don’t turn him against me,” he had told her. He had also opened up about how important Seungcheol was to him, and it made her feel so guilty. That she had been a source of pain for someone who was now dead overwhelmed her with remorse.

It’s strange that her initial dislike for him was suddenly so petty now that he was dead. That’s the thing with death; it makes you realize how useless you are. She had disliked him, but now it did not matter because he was gone, and she hated that he was gone. How she wished he were still alive and that she still disliked him.

She had to sit in the court for about two hours until she was finally vindicated; a young Solenese scholar came forth and confessed to the crime himself, and reproduced the sword that he used to kill Jeonghan.

Yewon got to see the culprit right in front of her. A tall, handsome fellow who looked slightly terrified of what awaited him. Mingyu was his name.

“I killed Sir Jeonghan,” Mingyu admitted, “because he was a violent man who was trying to implement violent policies and prolong the war with the enemy country.” Mingyu had glanced at her when he said that, sending chills down her spine. “I wanted to put an end to it, and so I killed him. I now accept whatever punishment awaits me.”

When Mingyu was taken to the dungeons, he glanced at her again. She looked away, feeling so burdened with that murderer’s gaze, as if it were somehow implicating her into the murder.

-

Mingyu was to hang the next day, right after Jeonghan’s funeral. Yewon had to attend both the funeral and the hanging.

The morning of the funeral, she woke up feeling strangely hollow. And when Haein dressed her, Yewon felt this hollowness in her maid too. Haein looked like she had been mourning. There were tears in her eyes, and Yewon guessed that Haein had thought Jeonghan an angel as well.

It was not just Haein though, it was all of Solen. Everyone was mourning his death. The whole country had attended his funeral. Women and even a few men were sobbing. He was a hero to these people.

Seungcheol did not look at her. He did not look at anyone. With bags under his bloodshot eyes and wounds on his knuckles, he was in another world altogether as Jeonghan’s corpse was lowered into the ground. He even refused to give a word when he was asked.

Wonwoo was wrong, Yewon thought as she watched her husband during the funeral. It seemed Seungcheol had been in love with Jeonghan after all.

-

That night, Seokmin arrived with the bread. She was sitting on her desk writing a letter to her parents to tell them what happened.

She had almost forgotten about Seokmin after Jeonghan’s death. She needed a couple of seconds to remember what he had told her about himself.

“How are you faring, your highness?” Seokmin asked her with an uncertain look in his eyes.

Yewon only shrugged sadly. She wasn’t sure how she was faring herself; all she knew was that the world seemed like a darker place since the murder, and she couldn’t see prospects for anything brighter.

It was only in that moment that something clicked in her head: the murder, Mingyu’s glances towards her, the spies in the castle, the awareness that they could have killed Haein, how they were tasked with ‘protecting Galacia’…

Her eyes widened and she turned to Seokmin: “did the spies do this? Was Mingyu one of them?”

Seokmin shook his head violently. “No! It wasn’t us! I was so afraid you’d think it was us, but it wasn’t. The murderer, Mingyu, was a known Solonese nobleman, and he was part of the Solenese resistance to the war. He has nothing to do with us, I swear it,” Seokmin put his hand on his heart. “Yes, the spies hated Sir Jeonghan, but they were afraid that killing him would have adverse consequences and lead Seungcheol to attack our country, and so they didn’t kill him. If they wanted to, they would have done it a long time ago. Please believe me,” Seokmin bowed to her.

She found that convincing enough, and she instantly believed him. But there was still something suspicious about the way Mingyu had looked at her, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this murder than meets the eye.

She felt like everything around her was a mystery all of the sudden. So many different coalitions working all around her: the spies (i.e. Seokmin), the resistance (i.e. Mingyu), the aggressors (i.e. Jeonghan), the royal family– she was now caught in their crossfire with no way to escape. How she wished she could just run away from all of this… all of this politics.

But she couldn’t run away. She was a pawn in this arena and she had to face it all. That meant she had to face deaths like this one. She had to trust people like she did Seokmin. She had to try and save people like she did Haein. There was no running away from this political power play.

She found herself overwhelmed with fear and insecurity, as well as this heart-wrenching feeling of despair. She didn’t think she could possible feel lonelier than she had, but it suddenly dawned on her that the loneliness was magnified with Jeonghan’s death because that death will inevitably drive her husband even further away from her.

“I hate this,” she said under her breath, trying so hard to keep herself together.

“I hate it too, your highness,” Seokmin told her. “And I know how you feel: alone and frightened. I feel it too, but we have to endure it for Galacia’s sake if nothing else.”

At that moment, Haein suddenly walked in. She had bloodshot eyes, and her nose was pink, probably still in mourning.

When she entered, Seokmin stiffened and gasped a little.

“Your highness,” Haein bowed to Yewon and glanced at Seokmin suspiciously.

Yewon realized the gravity of the situation. Haein needed to be kept in ignorance about Seokmin’s identity or else she would be in danger, and so this confrontation needed to go well.

“What do you want from her?” Haein asked Seokmin suddenly, “and why are you sending her unauthorized food?”

Seokmin’s breath suddenly started to become louder.

“Haein, leave him. I trust him,” Yewon told her maid. “He explained that he just wanted to impress me…”

“No one would go through such lengths for that!” Haein said with a frown, “don’t trust him, your highness. Something is so suspicious…”

Yewon wished Haein would just cooperate and stop asking questions. The more suspicious she became, the more likely she would be targeted and that was so unsettling. Haein’s life was on the line and Haein did not even realize it.

“Haein,” Yewon explained calmly, “I want to ask you to just trust my judgement. Leave him alone, okay? Don’t report him…”

“But your highness…”

At that point, Seokmin’s was breathing too heavily and was almost gasping for air. It was another anxiety attack, it seemed, one that made him lean against the wall and bend down as he choked.

“W… what’s wrong with him?” Haein asked as she witnessed him break down right in front of her.

“He has trouble breathing sometimes,” Yewon explained, watching him with concern and unsure of what to do for him as he wheezed for breath. She then knelt down beside him and held his hand, just to feel like she was doing something for him.

It took a couple of seconds for him to be able to breathe normally again, and when he did, he smiled at Yewon and thanked her.

Haein looked between the two of them and said: “I won’t ask any more questions. Princess Yewon, you have my loyalty and my secrecy. If you trust him and want me to be quiet about his transgressions, then I will for you. But I do have one condition: don’t consume anything else he gives you. You can exempt him from punishment, befriend him, talk to him and even have an affair with him, and I will stay quiet. But eat anything that he gives you, and I will report him immediately. Okay?”

Seokmin’s breathing became unsteady again, and Yewon could only squeeze his hand to help calm him down.

When his breathing slowed down, Yewon said: “I won’t accept bread from you anymore, okay?”

He managed a nod, still breathing heavily. He then said through loud inhalations, “got it. No more bread.”

“You won’t say anything to anyone?” Yewon looked to Haein and waited for her confirmation.

“I won’t, your highness,” Haein promised. “I swear, I won’t.”

-

Seokmin left a few minutes after, saying that he needed to get fresh air and breathe again. Before he left, he gave Yewon a reassuring look behind Haein’s back. An I-won’t-tell-the-other-spies-about-her look.

When he was gone, Haein asked: “are you sure about him?”

Yewon nodded.

“I don’t know what’s making you so sure,” Haein said doubtfully, “but I can tell that he is at least a friend to you…”

A friend. Was that what Seokmin was? He wasn’t a friend. Yewon didn’t know anything about him, really. He was more like her guard, her father’s eyes, her clumsy and strange spy that was way too kind and smiley to be a spy. But she couldn’t tell Haein that.

Haein continued: “I know that you’re lonely, and I would never want to get in the way of anything that could make that loneliness more bearable for you,” Haein’s voice faltered at the end of that, and before Yewon knew, Haein started to cry, an endless stream of tears immediately falling from her eyes without any warning.

“W…what’s wrong?” Yewon asked Haein, startled by the sudden outburst.

Haein apologized for the tears, turned away from Yewon and lowered herself to the floor as she cried in her hands.

Yewon knelt down beside Haein, putting her hand over her arm comfortingly, not knowing what else to do, but her heart breaking at the sight of Haein in so much pain.

“What’s making you cry?” Yewon asked curiously.

“I’m mourning, your highness,” Haein answered through her sniffles.

“Jeonghan?” Yewon asked.

Haein only bit her quivering lower lip and nodded brusquely.

Jeonghan had really captured so many people’s hearts, Yewon realized as she looked at Haein’s crying figure mourning the death of that man. She figured that Haein had probably been impacted by his charities. Perhaps one of her relatives was being cured in his hospital or being educated in his schools. She didn’t ask though. It was clearly not the right time to ask.

Haein calmed down after many minutes, apologizing and getting up from the floor. She then reached out into her pocket and took out a letter. “I only came to give you this. It’s from Wonwoo,” Haein said as she handed it to her with a sniffle. “It arrived today.”

Yewon took it from her and thanked her. Haein bowed to Yewon once and turned to leave.

-

To my sweet Yewon,

I sent this letter to Haein and told her to give it to you. I’m not going to send anything to you directly, because I don’t know who reads the letters you receive and censors the ones you send. You also, if you would perhaps grant me the honor of receiving letters from you, give them to Haein to send to me. This will ensure that our exchange is not monitored by unwelcome eyes.

By the time you get this, I probably would have arrived at my destination. Right now, I’m resting at a bookkeeper’s place, and I hope to arrive tomorrow. I’m very excited about arriving. I’m planning to read the entire library while I’m there! So much knowledge that we don’t have in the palace is packed into that library; that excites me so much!

Anyways, I think about you a lot while I travel. I always wonder if you’re sad or hurt, if Seungcheol is treating you well. I look forward to the day I see you again, hopefully happy. Please stay happy. Whatever sadness that you feel now, please let go of it and smile. Maybe you can think of me so you can smile? Or maybe I think too highly of myself!

I wonder: what would you be doing right now? How are you feeling? Why do I have a feeling that you are not happy? You’re unhappy right now, right? I wish I could be there to comfort you, to tell you that everything will pass in your favor. I wish I could come to you and talk to you about a book and watch your eyes light up with interest and make you feel happy. I wish I could lend you my handkerchief to wipe your tears and make you laugh. I also wish I could kiss you, kiss you so much until nothing else matters to you but me.

Did I go too far? Is it wrong to write such things to you? But I want to reveal the truth of my feelings to you, even if these feelings will never be converted to actions beyond those of the of my quill.

I will end this letter now. I hope that it made you feel happier and less lonely. And I hope you would give me the pleasure of reading your response letter. Goodbye, Yewon.

Wonwoo

-

Dearest Wonwoo,

You were right to sense that I was unhappy. You have probably now heard that Jeonghan was murdered, and I feel so shaken and scared because of it. But reading your letter has indeed made me forget about it all for a moment and revel in thinking of you.

I wish you were here too. I miss you so much. It’s much lonelier without you, but fortunately, I have been feeling a lot closer to Haein lately. I’m happy I have her.

I don’t know what else to say. I hope you enjoy your time wherever your destination is, and I hope to see you again very soon.

Yewon

A/N: Finally a chapter without a major plot twist! Except maybe, just maybe, this chapter is leading up to another major plot twist? Just throwing that out there for you to consider :P