A/N: Before you panic, Seulhee's part isn't over yet. x)

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Although Jaesun could forgive Hoya for lying to her about his identity, she couldn’t quite forgive him for taking her rightful role away from her. She was consigned to watching and waiting for a stranger to take down the council.

Dongwoo told her that the person they had chosen was Sungyeol’s former best friend.

“Former? Doesn’t that mean she’s not trustworthy?” she demanded. If the girl had hard feelings against Sungyeol, then she might be persuaded to betray the conspiracy.

“No. They didn’t have any sort of argument. They simply grew apart. Sungyeol still trusts her with his life.”

“We’re letting the fate of our kingdom rest on Sungyeol’s judgment? No offense to him, but that seems a bit risky.”

“He wouldn’t do anything that is bad for the conspiracy, Jaesun. He’s as motivated as you are, if for different reasons.”

Who was he kidding? How could anyone have more reason to tear the council to pieces than she did? Her sister’s blood was on the hands of those bastards. Nobody else had this blood claim on the council members’ heads.

“So you’re going to go and bring this Seulhee back? Why isn’t Sungyeol going? She’s his friend, after all.”

“I have the time to. I need to go back and visit my family. Our family.” Dongwoo glanced at her. “Your parents will likely ask about you. I won’t tell them anything, though. They don’t even know that I was involved in your disappearance.”

It had been a few months now since she had run away. She had no idea how her parents were faring, and she wondered if they thought her dead. Even though she didn’t regret coming to the capital, she still felt guilty for abandoning her parents at a time when they likely needed her. They had lost one daughter, and now, for all intents and purposes, they had lost the other. Perhaps once it was all over, she would go back.

***

It was true that Dongwoo’s absence would leave her lonelier, but she hadn’t expected that Hoya would ask for her to come live with him for that short period of time. “What reason is there for this, anyway? It seems unnecessary to me. And what will people think? We’re not married or anything.“

Hoya enveloped her in an embrace from behind, and she rested her head against his left shoulder, drawing comfort from the contact. “I don’t want you to collapse like you did last time. Dongwoo says that was the second time it happened. And I’m doing a favor for a friend, that’s all. People can think whatever they want. I got permission from my father to do this.”

She didn’t fail to notice that he deliberately avoided the issue of marriage. They both knew it was basically impossible, yet they persisted in their relationship. Frankly speaking, Jaesun wasn’t expecting it to last very long, anyway. Soon enough, he would be married off to some dainty noblewoman who had lived a sheltered life, and that would be the end of them.

She wasn’t sure she even minded. A girl like that was probably better for him than Jaesun, and she didn’t want to live the life of a porcelain doll or caged bird. It would be a waste of her talent, in her own opinion. More likely she would help manage a business or head one off herself, as had been her original plan in the very beginning. As Dongwoo had advised, she had begun thinking very seriously about her life after the conspiracy. There was more for her to live for than revenge; she had almost let it consume her.

***

Jaesun’s family had been well-off enough, given that her father had been a successful merchant, but they had still only been middle class. The Lee manor seemed almost like a palace to her, with halls that seemed to stretch on forever and rooms that seemed almost bigger than her entire house.

She was given a room in the same hall as Hoya’s. Apparently the children of the Lee family had an entire floor to themselves. It was at this time that she found out Hoya had a sister because her room was across the hall from that of his sister. Specifically, his twin. Jaesun had never known about this, as Hoya had neglected to tell her pretty much anything about his family and background. What was even most surprising, however, was that Hoya’s twin was Dongwoo’s lover.

From the way Dongwoo acted when he mentioned her, Jaesun had figured that he was strongly attached to this girl. She’d never seen him like this before, which meant Hyora had to be something special. Since Jaesun had never actually met her, she hadn’t been able to judge that for herself.

However, before she had that opportunity, Dongwoo had suddenly told Jaesun that Hyora was getting married to another man. Jaesun regretted that her cousin had to experience betrayal the way she had. But now that she knew Hyora’s relationship to Hoya, suddenly it all made perfect sense to her. Siblings and accomplices in deceit.

Jaesun managed to forgive them all the same. Hoya had done it for the sake of the conspiracy, and he wasn’t the only one to hide his identity for that purpose. She also understood Hyora’s desire to escape the of life as a woman, someone to be married off for family gain. The noblewoman had managed to escape her marriage, just as Jaesun had, but it was only temporarily, and that didn’t change her situation with Dongwoo.

She reflected that it was as if their two families had been cursed to become entangled but share no common fate.