Somehow, Seulhee managed to find Hoya and Hyora among the mess of people. To her surprise, they were at work healing the wounded in one of the castle’s bigger halls. All of the furniture had either been arranged for makeshift purposes or pushed out of the way to make space for pallets and sheets, on which the injured soldiers and conspiracy members laid.

She hadn’t realized that the nobles would use their magic for the sake of the common people. The twins had seemed like decent people when she had met them, but it was another thing entirely to see them leaning over bloodied men with their sleeves rolled up and skin and clothes spotted with other people’s blood.

Feeling a bit intrusive, she sidled up to Hyora. “Excuse me, but do you know where I might find Sungyeol?”
The older girl looked up from her work. Various strands of her hair had fallen out of their pins, and she looked a bit pale and sweaty from the exertion of healing. “He’s in the next room over, resting.” She pointed to the right wall.

“Thank you very much.” With this information, Seulhee sauntered off, no longer distracting anyone from important matters.
She opened the door to the neighboring room, which was barely larger than a closet, furnished with nothing more than a few chairs. She supposed the chairs were spares, to supplement the furniture in the hall whenever necessary. Sungyeol was collapsed in one of them, and he appeared to be asleep.

As she made a move to reach out and touch his arm, his eyes flickered open. He looked exhausted, most likely from whatever magical feats he’d been working a short while ago.

“Hey,” he said, smiling.

“Don’t kill yourself,” she said. Although she meant to , her voice betrayed her concern.

“No worries, I’m not going to die. I’m just dead tired. No pun intended,” he added, with a small chuckle. “Once I get some rest, I’ll be back to my usual self in no time.”

“Why aren’t you lying down, anyway? And why are you alone without anyone looking after you?”

Her friend shrugged. “Not enough people, I reckon. I’m not injured, so I’m not high priority or anything.”

Seulhee glanced at the chairs in the room. “Well, you should try to get comfortable.” She began to move the chairs so that they were lined up in a long row. There were just enough of them that Sungyeol could lie down across them without his feet protruding over the edge of the last chair in the row.

“There.”

“Thanks,” Sungyeol murmured, shutting his eyes.

“What am I supposed to do now?” Seulhee asked. “My part in all of this is done. But I can’t really go home yet. And I don’t suppose I’m going to continue working in the palace.”

“It will take a while for this mess to get sorted out,” Sungyeol remarked with his eyes closed. “You’re going to get rewarded for your efforts, of course, but you’ll have to wait. Go find Sungjong or Joora. I’m sure one of them can figure something out for you.”

“I see. Rest well, my friend,” she said, before exiting the chamber.

Although Sungjong could have been anywhere inside the palace or outside of it, Seulhee had an idea of where he might be. Sure enough, she found him in the stables, and talking to his favorite mare. “I knew I’d find you here,” she said with a grin.

He looked up. “Hello, Seulhee.” Turning back to the mare, he remarked, “I’m really glad no animals were harmed in this attack. I hate when innocent creatures get entangled in human conflicts and end up as the victims.”

Despite the fact that she wasn’t an animal, Seulhee could almost relate to that statement. She hadn’t set out to do anything for the conspiracy, but she had been pulled into its operations. Now, here she was, having laid the final cards and brought the whole endeavor to a successful close. It still felt a bit unreal to her.

Remembering her purpose in seeking the boy out, she asked, “What should I do now? Sungyeol told me to come find you.”

Sungjong thought for a moment. “The council coalition is gone, so you obviously won’t need to serve them. They were the ones paying you, so that’s a bit of a problem since they’re no longer in a position to give you that money. But I’m sure the king will more than make up for that. As for what you’ll do…I suppose you can just stay on at the palace for the time being. There are things that still need to be done, and any extra helping hand will be appreciated.”

To her surprise, she felt relieved that she wouldn’t have to leave quite yet. As much as she missed her parents and had been out of her element in the palace, she had grown attached to the place and its people.

Well, to Sungjong, at least.

***

That night, she revealed to the other servants that she wasn’t actually deaf and mute. They were all surprised, of course. When she explained that it had been a pretense for her work for the conspiracy, that added to their shock.

Their treatment of her changed, now that they knew she wasn’t actually handicapped. However, Seulhee wasn’t sure if she liked the change. Her involvement in the conspiracy had earned her a sort of reputation. The other girls seemed to see her more as a hero than a normal girl. Some flinched around her, as if afraid she was some sorceress who would blast them with fire or turn them into toads. In any case, it was difficult to say whether she was more or less accepted by her peers.

They would simply have to deal with her, though, since she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Now that she no longer had the assignment of serving the council, she spent all of her time on the same mundane tasks as everyone else.

She was friendly with some of the girls, but she wasn’t really friends with any of them. They didn’t see her as their equal, but rather held her in awe. It didn’t help that the king had summoned her on one occasion to thank her personally. When one of the pages poked his head into the kitchen to announce that she had an audience with the king, the whole place went silent for a moment, and everyone moved out of the way to let her through.

Thus, it was almost like before. Seulhee mostly talked to Sungjong. He had been reassigned away from the stables to do other things because of his magical abilities, but she could tell he still preferred working with the horses of the palace. Regardless, he still visited his favorite mare, whose name was Carrot and fed her the vegetable that was her namesake.

Whenever the two of them needed to escape, they climbed into the hay loft of the stables to relax and chat. It was comfortable, and Seulhee realized she was going to miss Sungjong’s companionship when she left the capital.