Finally came the Lunar New Year. As part of the customs, the royal family had a big meal together, just like Jooyoung had explained to Nongyu previously.

The royal couple kept their eyes on each other pretty much the whole time, clearly smitten with each other. However, the Queen Mother had been closely observing the way Joohyun had been acting. Was she really going mad, just as Lord Kwon was insinuating?

After the meal, it was time for another custom where all the nobles living at court would assemble in the space in front of the grand hall where the council met. The Queen was supposed to make a speech and give her blessings to her people as part of the new year celebrations.

As was the case with most other formal occasions, Joohyun stood at the center. The rest of the royal family stood a few steps behind her but not directly, so that their faces could still be clearly seen by their subjects. Their remaining attendants and guards would have to keep to the sidelines; they were not supposed to be under the spotlight after all.

And yet, the spotlight of Joohyun’s attention was on Seulgi, and the Queen Mother was in sufficient proximity to pick up on this. Immediately, she frowned. The more Joohyun gazed fondly at Seulgi, the more the Queen Mother was displeased with this. She hardly even realized that her hands were already balled into tight fists, and this was more than just because yet another daughter of hers was getting involved with a guard. It was not even so much because it was a woman that Joohyun was looking at that way. No, the biggest reason for the Queen Mother’s vexation was that she recognized it as the same way her late husband lovingly gazed at another woman. Her nemesis, Concubine Lee. The one and only woman who seemed to be able to hold an important, irreplaceable place in the late King’s heart.

By the end of the ceremony, the Queen Mother was so pissed off that she had to confront Joohyun about it. It was unmistakable — Joohyun had very strong feelings for Seulgi, and the Queen Mother was having none of it. If she could have noticed her other daughter’s behavior toward her guard, if she could have picked up on those signs sooner, she would not have let Jooyeon make the deadly mistake of going that far with a guard. She had already lost one daughter over this, and she was not about to let it happen again with the only daughter she had left.

“Daughter,” she piped up sternly. “It would have been nice if Jooyeon could be celebrating this new year with us, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it would be really nice if you hadn’t killed her,” Joohyun uttered icily. She was not originally in too bad a mood — being in the same room as her sister’s murderer prevented her from enjoying herself fully, but it was still the new year, a new start, and she sure could use some hope in her gloomy life. However, now that her mother had brought up the one thing that Joohyun could never forgive, it completely ruined her mood.

“It would have been nicer if she hadn’t made a mistake that cost her her own life,” the Queen Mother replied flatly.

“It wasn’t something that couldn’t have been remedied,” Joohyun insisted fiercely. “But brutally you took away the only glimmer of hope that she and I had. And for that, I will never forgive you.”

“And I will never forgive you if you follow in her footsteps and make the same mistakes as she did,” the Queen Mother shot back, not at all intimidated. “Do you really think I am completely oblivious to whatever is going on between you and your guard?”

Joohyun smiled, but it was a menacing one. “How soon can I expect to die at your hands?” She then broke into hysterical giggles, but it sounded more like she was crying for help, for mercy, for salvation, and she was finding this anything but hilarious. “My elder brother died at your hands. My elder sister too. So I’m going to be next, right? Will you be satisfied then, or do you want to murder Jooyoung in cold blood, too? Go ahead. I’m ready.”

The Queen Mother shook her head. “You only see my actions but never my motives and intentions.”

“I don’t want to take a look into your heart that’s made of stone.”

“Even if you don’t try to understand where I’m coming from, you’ve still got to understand that this should not be happening. It’s simply not socially acceptable.”

“Conventions are only conventions as long as enough people subscribe to them and try to uphold them,” Joohyun declared, huffing in indignance. “Once they are bent and broken, they’ll be reduced to dust. I’ll start.”

“You’ll start nothing,” the Queen Mother hissed harshly. “Do you not realize that, as the monarch, the people expect you to be the epitome of the moral code that the country is supposed to obey?”

“So you do still remember that I am the ruler of this country,” Joohyun retorted, her tone sharper than any blade any guard could ever wield. “I am the supreme ruler of this nation that everyone must obey, and that includes you. I alone will decide what’s acceptable and what’s not. So don’t try to tell me what the rules permit or prohibit, because I’m the one who makes the rules. If you think it is a man’s prerogative to take concubines, well, that will cease to be the case under my reign. If it pleases me to make Seulgi one of my consorts, just like the way Father brought Concubine Lee into his harem, then I’ll do exactly that. Because I can, and no one can stop me, because they’re not the one in charge of this country. You’ll do well to remember that, Mother.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” the Queen Mother pretty much exclaimed. “If you insist on playing with fire, don’t come crying when you find yourself getting burned. You’re turning this country into an ugly mess, and I can’t imagine what shape or form it’s going to be in by the time you hand it over to Jooyoung.”

“You know the country would never have had to be in Jooyoung’s hands or mine if only our elder siblings were still alive,” said Joohyun sardonically. “All of this is your fault.”

“Now I’m starting to wish they were still around,” the Queen Mother uttered. “As long as either of them sits on the throne, you’ll be the one sent off to a foreign country to marry some emperor, or king, or prince. That would humble you a little. That way, you wouldn’t be spiralling into madness, nor would you be here, walking around with your nose in the air and talking so disrespectfully to your own mother.”

“I’ll just ask you one thing, Mother.” Joohyun sighed. “If your precious son Jooyoung becomes King one day, and he has a harem full of men, and he raises taxes on the rich, and he makes it mandatory for the nobles to make donations, and he has a love affair with one of his guards — would you think of him the same way you think of me now?”

“He would never,” she snarled.

“True. Because he would listen to you and do as you say. He would become your puppet. But I won’t, and that’s why you disapprove of me. That’s why you hate me. It’s not even so much about my policies or the way I rule. You just don’t like that I’m not someone you can easily control. You don’t like that I’m capable of making decisions for myself. You don’t like that I’m empowered,” Joohyun pointed out bitterly. “Which is just too bad for you, because you’re going to have to get used to it. Get used to me not having to ask for your permission to do anything. My word is law, so I will be the one to define what is allowed and what isn’t allowed. You’re no longer the one in charge. Deal with it.”

The Queen Mother shook her head in despair. Joohyun was already on the path of no return, and there was nothing more that could be said or done to deter her. But the Queen Mother was not going to be so easily defeated. After all, Joohyun was still relatively new to this, whereas her mother had been playing the game of thrones for more than two decades. Joohyun had been so singularly focused on fortifying her reign and striving for empowerment. She might be able to forge an intensely powerful sword, but if she failed to put her shield to good use, her opponents would not let go of this opportunity to take her down. She was not as invulnerable to attack as she would have liked to be. And unfortunately for her, her mother knew exactly what her weakness was.

Family drama aside, Joohyun had a lot of administrative work to do. She would have loved to delegate some of it to Jooyoung, but at this stage it was more suitable for him to focus on his le