The first thing Dongwoo did the next day was make a visit to his friend and unpack his belongings down. He’d brought some luggage with him for the long stay. Jaesun hadn’t brought much with her since it would have drawn suspicion from her parents. Basically all she had on her was money.

Given the current state of the kingdom, Jaesun wasn’t expecting to find a job very easily. She couldn’t go around advertising her merchant status because that would earn her unwanted attention. Instead, she looked for more menial jobs. Surprisingly, she managed to acquire a position as a serving girl at a tavern. Apparently the girl before her had eloped with her lover, a fact she found quite ironic.

In the past, she’d had chores, but she had never had to work quite this hard. She didn’t complain, however. It was entirely her own choice to come to the capital, so she would take on whatever consequences it brought. There was no way she’d let a bit of hard labor deter her from her task.

The tavern was actually a perfect place for her to work since there were always people coming and going, bringing gossip with them. She wasn’t interested in people’s personal lives, but there was the chance someone knew what had happened to sister, or even what had happened to the queen. That had been kept so hushed up and remained a mystery that people could only speculate about.

Jaesun wondered, in a moment of what could have been termed insanity, whether her sister’s death could be related to the queen’s. That idea quickly got pushed away. Although the two incidents had were both connected to the palace, they had happened months apart, and in her sister’s case the cause of death had been clear, though the reason she’d been killed hadn’t.

The only reason anyone could think of to explain why the cause of the queen’s death had been hushed up was that something foul was amiss in the palace that someone wanted to keep a secret. Yet, it seemed illogical that no cause of death had been reported. It would have been less suspicious if they had simply attributed it to sickness or an accident. Something was better than nothing. Nothingness aroused suspicion, suspicion led to mistrust, which made it more likely that people would investigate.

But then again, who had the authority to investigate? If the matter had been kept a secret, it must have been with the king’s consent or at least knowledge, so who would dare contradict the king?

Jaesun worked two shifts at the tavern, and the rest of the time she spent on her hunt for information. She had to be careful about how she asked her questions. If she nosed around too much and seemed too interested in the goings on of the palace, someone might turn her in to an officer and goodness knew what would happen to her from there. These weren’t the days when people could stand up for themselves and were innocent until proven guilty. More often than not, anyone who got in trouble with the law was at the whim of the officer handling the case.

If only her sister had written back more often and gone into detail about her life here in the capital. Mostly she had sounded busy, though not unhappy. Jaesun couldn’t remember her sister ever mentioning her friends and acquaintances outside of the palace. If she knew any places or names, she could have started the search there. Which was why she had to resort to randomly looking.

Eventually she found a trail of acquaintanceships that led her to a girl her sister had known, Jinae.

“When is the last time you saw Jaesoo?” she asked.

The older girl thought back for a moment. “About three weeks ago? Why? Are you looking for her?”

Jinae had no idea what had happened. “She’s dead,” Jaesun said, bluntly.

“Oh my goodness.” Jinae’s hand flew to . “When did this happen?”

“I don’t really know, but her body was delivered to our door about two weeks ago.”

“That’s terrible,” Jinae murmured, her eyes filling with tears. “She came to visit me every time she had the chance. I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from her in a while.”

“I hoped that you could tell me what happened to her, but I guess not.”

Jinae wiped away some tears and said, “I can ask every person I know who might know something. It’s the least I can do.”

“Thank you.”

“What is a girl like you doing here all alone and investigating your sister’s murder, anyway?” Jinae asked, curious.

“The law enforcers have failed to do their job, so I’m doing it myself. So Jaesoo can truly rest in peace.”

“That’s terrible. What a place this kingdom has become. I could swear it was just yesterday that I could walk the streets with no fear of anything.”

“The queen’s death must have affected the king greatly,” Jaesun remarked.

Jinae nodded gravely. “Frankly, I’m surprised there haven’t been riots yet. I think people have been desperately hoping that the king would come to his senses and get over the queens death and turn this mess around, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.”

“That’s a foolish thing to hope. He’s evidently letting the kingdom fall around him. We could do with a change of kings.” The moment the words left , she regretted them. She could get jailed for treason and inciting rebellion if she wasn’t careful.

“You’re not the only one to think that,” Jinae replied, not meeting her eyes. “It’s only a matter of time before someone will take drastic action.”

The two girls sat in silence for a while. Finally, Jaesun stood up. “Thank you for your time, but I need to leave.”

“Good luck with your hunt. I am sorry about your sister.”

***

Within the next two weeks, Jaesun must have talked to a dozen more people. None of them could tell her more than what Jinae had told her, the time they had last seen her sister. The latest anyone had seen her was three days before her body was delivered. Since it took almost two days to get from the palace to her home city, that meant she must have been killed on the last day anyone saw her. That also meant she hadn’t been kidnapped or held for a long time.

Jaesun was trying to figure out what might have been special about the day Jaesoo died when Dongwoo came by to find her.

“You need to relax,” he told her, attempting to drag her away for a social night out. “Jaesoo is gone already. She can afford to wait a little bit longer. You shouldn’t stress yourself out too much.”

He managed to convince her to let go of the matter for a night. Jaesun found that she could breathe a lot more easily.

“By the way, can we drop the lover pretense?” Dongwoo asked. “We’re not even seen together that much or anything that would require much explaining.”

She glanced at him curiously. “Any particular reason why?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Well, there’s this one girl…”

“Two weeks and already you’ve found yourself a girl…really?”

“No, it’s not like that. I met her the second day we came here, and if she finds out that you’re my ‘lover,’ then…”

“Oh, okay. I can just jilt you,” Jaesun said, laughing like she hadn’t in a long time. “It happens all the time, right? A girl gets tired of her lover and tosses him aside in search of a new one.”

“Right…”

“Only joking. But yes, we are over, Dongwoo. There.”

“Thanks,” her cousin said, smiling his wide smile. She was certain any girl would fall for that smile, if nothing else.

“So where are we going?”

“To meet up with a friend of mine. He’s the one who introduced me to the girl in the first place.”

She nodded. “Anyone else?”

“Not sure, actually. He said there would be others, but he didn’t go into detail about who those other people would be. Something about this being a bit of an exclusive meeting.”

“Then why am I going? I don’t know anyone there.”

“He said I could bring one person I trust with my life,” Dongwoo explained.

“Oh, it’s nice to know that you have such confidence in me.” Despite her jocular tone, she wondered what this business was about. It sounded altogether a bit fishy to her. Maybe she was becoming a suspicious person and overanalyzing.

She would find out the truth soon enough.