Joohyun had been in such a good mood over the past few days, mostly because she was able to keep her mother at bay, at least temporarily. Yet her entire world came crashing down when her brother got poisoned and fell into a coma.

The physician arrived quickly and did his job. When he explained what went wrong, Joohyun felt that she ought to listen attentively. And yet, it felt like her consciousness was not even in her own body, which was also stuck in a state of catatonic immobility. It was like she was just a passive observer watching everything unfold before her eyes. That was how powerless she felt, just how little control she had over the situation. It was so ironic considering she was already the most powerful person in the country, so if there was so little, if at all, she could do to save her brother, what else could she expect from others?

What she did manage to catch while the physician explained things was that Jooyoung was lucky to still be alive. He was choking, which meant that he was able to get some of the poisoned food out of his system. He also only took one slice, so the amount of poison he ingested was enough to only put him in a coma instead of causing instant death. It was somehow a relief, and yet also so devastating that Joohyun felt as though she was reliving her other siblings’ deaths. And now it was happening to the only sibling she had left. Granted, Jooyoung was still alive, just unconscious, but close enough to death to drive Joohyun to insanity. She appeared so still and collected on the outside that it looked as if she was hardly affected, yet she was the one who was most affected.

“What kind of poison was that?” Moonbyul piped up, looking at the physician intently. She was very much devastated as well but at least still capable of reacting using words. “How do we cure him?”

“It’s very complicated. The poison is made up of 5 different kinds of poison targeting 5 of his organs,” the physician answered solemnly.

“But there’s an antidote, right?” She pressed on, and as her sentences got longer, her voice also started to quiver. “I mean, there has to be one. He can’t just...die. You can’t just let him die.”

“There is an antidote indeed. But the tricky thing is that the antidote also consists of exactly those 5 kinds of poison. If we feed it to His Highness in the wrong sequence or in the wrong proportion, it will accelerate his organs’ decay instead. So we have to do some testing and figure it out. It’s risky, but there is no other way,” he explained. “Forgive me for not being able to guarantee anything. The bottom line is that His Highness does stand a chance at survival, with the right combination of medicine, acupuncture, and some other therapies. I hope that this brings you some relief and reassurance, at the very least,” he added. “As he is in a critical condition, we will need to check on him every other hour and monitor his condition very closely. My assistant Yongsun and I will take turns.”

Moonbyul was so worried about Jooyoung and so focused on him just now that she had not even noticed that the physician was not here on his own. His assistant Yongsun bowed and said a few words, something along the lines of promising to do her best to ensure the Prince’s recovery. Moonbyul was staring at her the whole time, wondering how in the world someone could have such a beautiful face. And then Moonbyul could no longer tell if her heart was thumping wildly in her chest because she was so frightened and worried or because of the physician’s assistant’s attractiveness.

As the physician and his assistant gathered their equipment to conduct treatment on the Prince, only one of His Highness’ personal attendants was allowed to stay. Everyone else was advised to exit the room for now — crowding around the patient was just going to leave him with less room to breathe.

Despite the urge to stick around until Jooyoung regained consciousness, Joohyun was somehow still sane enough to remind herself that it would be best to follow the physician’s advice. And so, with a heavy heart, Moonbyul walked the Queen back to her residence. No words were exchanged on the way — it was clear that mere words would never be enough to describe just how she was feeling.

When Joohyun finally opened to speak, though, it was not about her own feelings.

“Moonbyul,” she piped up. “Please go and pay Princess Nongyu a visit on my behalf. Tell her what happened — tell her the truth. Nothing more and nothing less. And give her the reassurance that I am there for her if she needs me.”

“Majesty…” said Moonbyul. “Of course I will, but it looks as if you’re the one who most desperately needs someone to lean on. You can’t fool me. Prince Jooyoung isn’t just your brother. He isn’t just your only surviving sibling. He’s also your successor, the heir presumptive. On both personal and political levels, this is causing you a lot of distress. I understand that Your Majesty wants to be able to support your sister-in-law, but...what about yourself?”

Joohyun shook her head numbly. “Don’t worry about me.”

“But I am worried about you, Majesty. I can’t not worry about you,” Moonbyul insisted boldly. “What, are you just going to deal with this on your own? Don’t even dream about it; I’m not going to let you carry this burden all by yourself. You have me. Besides, Seulgi is here for you as well. Where is she, anyway?” She asked, looking around the Queen’s residence. She spotted a number of guards at their stations, but no Captain Kang in sight.

“We took your advice — I let her spend some time away from me, just for the sake of appearances, so she’s with the dancers today,” Joohyun answered. “And, Moonbyul, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me. But I need you to do one more thing — look after Jongin a little. He doesn’t know how to take care of himself. He loves to cause trouble, but this time, it isn’t his fault. I want him to know that — I need you to explain that to him. He might feel responsible for the state that Jooyoung is in. I’m sure he’d feel guilty, but he couldn’t have known. He must be feeling even worse than I am.”

“Majesty!” Moonbyul was getting exasperated. “You keep looking out for other people, what about yourself? Why are you pretending to be strong—”

“Please, Moonbyul. Looking out for them is already the best thing I can do for myself,” Joohyun also insisted. “It’s the only way I can still convince myself that I might still have some strength left within me. So please let me do that. Please help me with it.”

Moonbyul sighed and paused for a moment before nodding and agreeing to do what the Queen asked of her. Joohyun went inside and sat down for a while, just staring into blank space as she tried to process what just happened. When one of her handmaidens came up to her to ask if she wanted anything to eat or drink, she declined. Instead, she instructed her servants to prepare a palanquin — she wanted to visit the archery field. She spent an hour there, maybe two, or more, or less. She was not sure. She had lost track of the passage of time, the way she lost count of just how many arrows she had released from her bow. Her hands and arms were getting sore, but she still felt so numb