The first thing that Ahri needed to do as a Queen was appoint a personal secretary for herself. It was supposed to be an easy task to do, but unfortunately, Ahri only had a few select of people that she trusted. The first one being her own best friend, Park Chaeyoung. She had spoken to the woman and had personally asked her to be the Queen’s secretary. Chaeyoung had a master’s degree in international political science, and was one of the top students in her class. But Chaeyoung had refused because of the organization that she was currently handling alone. And as much as Ahri wanted to force her, she knew that she also needed someone she could trust to run the organization that she loved so much.

So Chaeyong was quickly out of the list. The second one was the Prime Minister’s son himself. Originally, Ahri thought that Jaehyun would appoint Youngho as his own secretary, but he had decided to appoint his father’s former secretary, Mr. Hwang, as his own. The almost sixty year old man was like a family to Jaehyun, and he trusted him as much as the late King Yunho did. So, Ahri asked Youngho. And the man also refused, saying that he didn’t want to be involved in the field where his father was going to be involved. Youngho and his father might not have the worst kind of relationship, but they would have their differences most times, and he didn’t want that to affect the Queen’s work in the future.

And now, Ahri had run out of list. She had exactly only two people on her list, and that was it.

Time was off the essence, and Ahri could not get to work without a secretary on her side. And the words had reached the ears of the former Queen, Duchess Jessica.

It was late morning when the Duchess arrived at the Palace, when Ahri had just finished a meeting with the household staff.

“Mother, what a pleasant surprise!” Ahri couldn’t help but march towards the Duchess with a wide smile. The widowed was still as elegant as always, and was adorning the same smile as he pulled the young Queen in a hug.

“How are you, Ahri?” Jessica pulled away rubbed Ahri’s arm in a loving way.

“I’m great, mother… um… I believe Jaehyun’s in his study right now—”

“Oh, but I’m not here for Jaehyun, actually. I came here for you,” Jessica smiled.

“Oh?”

“Now, I’ve heard that you have difficulty in choosing for a secretary, darling…”

Ahri couldn’t help the embarrassed chuckle from escaping. “Ah, news seems to travel fast…” she ducked her head.

Duchess Jessica stepped closer and put her hand on Ahri’s shoulder. “That’s how it is when your life is no longer yours only,” she said with patronizing smile.

“Yes, I’ve come to realize that,” Ahri smiled back.

“Well, I’ve come to offer someone whom you might want to meet,” the Duchess mentioned. “Yonghwa was the one who told me about this, and he recommended his assistant secretary, Kim Doyoung. He’s only a year older than you, but Yonghwa told me that he’s proven his quality and loyalty during his three years of being the Prime Minister’s staff. Now, if you agree, I can arrange a meeting.”

Ahri felt relieved and grateful washing over her. She was almost at a dead end. But if the Prime Minister himself was going to recommend someone, then she would not turn them down. “Of course, mother, that would be lovely!” Ahri beamed. “Of course I will approve any of Prime Minister Seo’s recommendation.”

“Excellent,” the Duchess grinned, and then she turned around to her personal aide. “Gyuri, could you please contact Doyoung and have him here in fifteen minutes?”

“Yes, milady.”

“Oh, that fast?” Ahri wondered.

“Yes, he has actually been told to be prepared for today, so as soon as you give your approval, you can immediately meet him.”

“Thank you very much, mother,” Ahri smiled gratefully. “Mother, why don’t we wait at the library and have some tea?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Soon as they arrived at the library Ahri had asked Jinri to prepare some tea for her and the Duchess. And right when the aide left, Jessica turned towards Ahri, but this time, her face changed into a more serious façade.

“I’ve heard the news about Lady Kim Yerim.”

And Ahri couldn’t be more shocked.

The news about Yerim’s baby and Jaehyun’s relation was kept highly a secret, even from the former Queen herself at that time. And now, Ahri wasn’t sure how to react in front of the Duchess. This was a scandal, whether she wanted to admit it or not, and she was sure the Duchess wouldn’t take it well.

“I take it that Jaehyun is handling it well?”

Ahri cleared subtly, “Yes, he is taking matters in his hand…” she trailed.

The Duchess was looking at the young Queen with a little bit of dissatisfaction from her answer. She then straightened her back and gave her stern façade. “I expected better from Jaehyun, and I might say that I am a tad disappointed in him,” she spoke in a soft yet reprimanding voice, and Ahri couldn’t help but cower underneath her gaze.

And Ahri continued, albeit timidly. “She has demanded for a paternity test, and has threatened to expose the news if Jaehyun refused to do it.”

Duchess Jessica didn’t react to it, but Ahri could see the anger in her eyes. “I’ve heard that Jaehyun is convinced it’s not his son?”

Ahri swallowed nervously, “The blood type doesn’t match. And we have talked to Dr. Moon Taeil, and he said the probability of Jaehyun being biologically related is almost zero.”

“Then Lady Kim must have something up her sleeve,” the Duchess concluded. She sighed before leaning forward to take her cup of tea. “I know where this is going. This happened to Yunho’s grandfather a long time ago,” she paused before taking a sip. “He was a few years younger than Jaehyun is right now, and was already annointed as the king because his father died in the war,” she continued. “And he was betrothed to a woman from a noble house. A few years after, a woman came to the palace with a toddler in her arms, claiming that it was the king’s son. It turned out that she used to be the king’s favorite in the brothel before he ascended the throne. Some people said that the kid could be anyone’s, but it could also be the king’s. The kid ended up being the illegitimate child of the king’s, and inherited quite an amount.”

The Duchess then put the tea cup down on the coffee table in front of them.

This scenario didn’t sit well with Ahri. “They… accepted him in the royal family?”

“There was no DNA tests or anything like that at that time of age, and the woman had some very vocal witnesses that said the king was the only man who frequented her at the brothel. I suppose the king had nothing else he could do,” the Duchess then turned slightly sideways to face Ahri better. “The point is, the woman got what she wanted.”

“Money…” Ahri whispered.

The Duchess nodded. “And more. Status.”

Ahri didn’t want to think worse of Lady Kim than she already did. She despised her because she managed to turn Jaehyun into a different person. And if the fact that she was trying to make an advantage out of this situation was true, then she would definitely go out her ways to make her gone from her and Jaehyun’s lives.

“In this case, status is probably the bigger motivation. The law was changed many years ago, that basically made an illegitimate child the rightful heir to the throne if it is evidently proven. This was created to prevent the kings from having concubines. Ever since the 19th century, concubines had been deemed a disgrace for the royal family, and princes or kings who had them were looked down upon.”

“Mother, do you… do you think Lady Kim is after the status?” Ahri asked with concerned voice.

“To me, it looks like it,” the Duchess answered. “I don’t know the full story of it, but it’s not hard to see the intention.”

Ahri looked down to her lap and pondered on it.

The Duchess gazed at Ahri for a few moments, deliberating on what she was about to say next. “The test probably only takes a few days and soon we’ll know the result. Now, we all hope that it was a negative. But, Ahri, have considered yourself what are you going to do if it’s a positive?”

Ahri looked up at the older woman, her face looked like she was caught. She hadn’t thought about that, because frankly, she and Jaehyun had been so sure that everything will go as they hoped for. But what if it didn’t? As a queen, she needed to think ten steps ahead, if not for her and Jaehyun, for the line of the throne itself.

If what her mother in law said was right—that Kim Yerim was after the throne for her son, then she needed to do something to prevent it. What was to say that Yerim wouldn’t convince Jaehyun to marry her in order to make the child legitimate? If that was the worst scenario, then what would be of her, the Queen?

“You need to think about that, Ahri.”

——≈♦♦≈——

An hour later, the meeting with Doyoung and Duchess Jessica was finished, and the Duchess had finally left the palace. Ahri’s first impression with Doyoung was not bad. She could tell that Doyoung was an eager person and would work hard. But at the same time, he didn’t give off an overwhelming vibe. The way he talked and conversed made Ahri felt like she could probably be friends with him.

In conclusion, Ahri liked him, and she accepted him as her secretary.

Through out the conversation with Doyoung, Ahri was still distraught. Her mother in law’s words were still ringing inside her head. Taeil had convinced her that there was almost no way that the baby was Jaehyun’s. But there was still one percent chance of it being Jaehyun’s. And Ahri didn’t really believe in luck, so when it came to it, what would she do if it turned out to be Jaehyun’s?

The baby was going to be a rightful heir to the throne, he was going to be the crown prince. And even though she was the Queen, Yerim was still the mother of the crown prince. What would entail to that? She had never heard of this situation before, and she didn’t know where that would put Yerim in this whole situation—in her relationship with Jaehyun.

Like she said before, she was still the mother of his child. And that was such a strong case.

“Um…”

Doyoung cleared his throat subtly when he realized the Queen was staring off into space.

“Your Majesty?”

“Oh, Doyoung, I’m so sorry… I just… I have a lot on my mind at the moment,” Ahri chuckled.

Doyoung cleared his throat again, “Your Majesty, if I may?”

Ahri nodded her head to give him permission to talk.

“I know that I’m still on trial period for the next three weeks, but if you may, Your Majesty can tell me if there’s anything that I can be useful for.”

Ahri considered on this for a moment. The news about Yerim’s baby was not widely known, not even amongst that palatial staff. But, Doyoung was going to be by her side probably 24/7 from now on, he might as well be aware of what was happening.

So, she decided to tell him the summary of the news, and how she was concerned of the test result being tampered. Doyoung listened to her intently. But Ahri could see that the gear inside his head was turning—that he was thinking hard.

“Doyoung, you may speak of what’s inside your mind now,” she ordered.

“If I may, Your Majesty, I’d like to suggest that we do a tight escorting on the test. We can send our own people down the lab to supervise on the test.”

“Is that legal, though?”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, you are the Queen of Lucretia. And if you mandated it, nobody would dare to question the legality of it. Especially in this case, where the royal family is involved.”