The physician and his assistant did as they said they would, arriving punctually at the Prince’s chamber every other hour. They attended him very meticulously, conducting medical examinations and doing everything in their power to treat their royal patient. Not once did they fail to show up on time, even at night when everyone else was asleep. Joohyun knew that there was no way she was going to be able to catch a wink of sleep if she did not get to be in Seulgi’s arms the whole time. Moonbyul, however, had no one to hold and cuddle, and sleep would not come to her. She figured she might as well get up and do something, anything, just to spend her time more productively than just staring at the ceiling.

She dusted herself off and went outside for a walk, treading slowly and subtly greeting the guards on night shift — a few of them she could still recognize as she and Seulgi trained with them a few years ago, under Master Kang. As she walked around, she did not really have a destination in mind, yet she found herself getting closer and closer to Jooyoung’s residence. But then someone beat her to it — it was the physician’s assistant, Yongsun, who was carrying a box of what Moonbyul guessed must have been medical tools. The guards let her in as usual, while Moonbyul paused in her tracks and wondered if she should also ask to enter the residence. Inwardly, she was admonishing herself for thinking about romancing when someone’s life was at stake. But maybe it would not be so bad to just have a word with the cute girl after she was done checking up on the patient. Priorities.

And so Moonbyul continued walking around, just casually meandering as she waited. The only other section of the spacious residence that still had some light was Princess Nongyu’s chamber. Moonbyul sighed to herself, thinking about just how devastated Her Highness must be. And indeed, Nongyu was devastated, but above that she was frustrated, and unable to hide any of that as she confronted her guard Yixing inside the room.

“I told you not to rush it,” she hissed, sounding quite agitated. “And now my husband is the one suffering, and we have achieved nothing.”

“It was the simplest way to get the job done, Your Highness,” Yixing uttered. “I had a fall guy, a motive, everything. How was I supposed to know that the Prince would end up eating the Queen’s food?”

“You should’ve at least discussed this with me. You used to consult me and get my approval first, before taking any action. Why have you not been doing that these days?” She questioned. “I don’t know what right you think you have, to make all these decisions by yourself. Harming my husband was never part of the plan.”

“I’m sorry for overstepping my boundaries and neglecting to ask for Your Highness’ permission. But I cannot help but wonder why you care so much about him. Surely, you aren’t about to let your feelings get in the way?”

“Excuse me?!” She huffed. “Need I remind you that we do need him around? We do need him to be alive and stay alive, at least until I manage to conceive and birth a legitimate child with him. Now that he's fallen into a coma, we obviously aren't going to be able to share a bed, which is just going to cause further delay in our plans. And now, thanks to your impulsivity, the Queen is more alarmed than ever. It's going to be so much more difficult to do what we came here to do. What were you thinking?!”

“Look, I really thought this through, you know? I had a plan and everything,” he insisted.

“Oh yeah? What rotten plan might that be? Please do share,” she commanded sardonically. “Because I have a feeling that if not for me interrogating you about it like I’m doing right now, you wouldn’t even bother to disclose any details to me.”

Yixing sighed deeply, and then began to explain what he had been plotting.

It all started when one of the noblewomen, who was sent by her clan to join the Queen’s harem, defied orders and secretly eloped with her betrothed. She did not wish to become the Queen’s concubine, yet her family was insistent. They even had her husband killed, and then sent her to the palace. It made sense to say that if not for the Queen’s edict that every clan must send someone, her husband would not have had to die. Therefore, she had reason to blame the Queen for it, and to want to avenge her husband’s death by making the Queen pay the price. This made her the perfect scapegoat for Yixing. The truth was that she did not care about the Queen. She did not even want revenge. She just wanted to die and be joined with her husband. In fact, she hung herself mere hours after news got out that Jooyoung got poisoned. This worked in Yixing’s favor, because to outsiders it would look as if she was guilty and feared punishment by the law and that was why she took her own life instead.

Yixing then extended his explanation to how he managed to add poison to the food that was meant for the Queen. As the monarch, she had food tasters and cupbearers, so there was only one opportunity for the poison to be slipped into the food — the only person who had access to this was the maid who was in charge of serving the cakes. Naturally, the maid in question was arrested and interrogated, where she claimed that she was instructed and bribed by the vengeful noblewoman, when it was in fact Yixing who orchestrated it. He managed to get in touch with this maid in the first place only because he once caught her stealing. That would have warranted her death anyway, if he were to report her. So he did not hesitate to use that as leverage against her, to coerce her into doing his bidding.

When Nongyu heard the full story, she was both cross and shocked. Cross that her guard had managed to pull so many strings and gather so much information behind her back. Shocked that things would really have gone to plan if not for Lord Jongin being the careless troublemaker that he was.

Even more shocked than the Princess was Moonbyul who had been eavesdropping on them the whole time. She had to put a hand over and suppress every urge to gasp or even scream. She could not believe her ears, nor was she able to move a muscle. Not of her own accord, at least. Never had she expected that it would be the innocent Prince’s own wife and her guard who was behind this assassination attempt. And they were originally trying to take the Queen’s life.

Moonbyul was so scared that she her heel and practically started to run away. As she did so, she almost crashed right into Yongsun who was exiting the Prince’s bedchamber. The assistant was startled, letting out a squeaky yelp as she dropped the box that she was carrying.

“Sorry,” Moonbyul uttered halfheartedly, but did not even pause or look back. If she ever had any intention to try to strike up a conversation with Yongsun or even to woo her, she most certainly had forgotten all about it after having overheard the conversation between Princess Nongyu and her guard.

She was still trembling by the time she got back to her own residence. Beyond being frightened by what she had just learned, she felt she had no control over the way her body was reacting, and that only made her feel worse. Desperately, she reached for a box placed on one of her shelves and opened it, promptly taking a pill and swallowing it. Frantically, she threw herself onto her bed. Moments later, the medically induced slumber took over her completely, offering comfort and peace for a number of hours.

When Moonbyul finally woke up and regained her composure, it was already midday. She did not even have the mood to eat anything; once she washed up she sped to the Queen’s residence, asking for an audience with Her Majesty and Captain Kang. When the three of them were in private, she told the couple about her latest, shocking discovery.

“Wow...” Seulgi was the first to react, shuddering as she spoke. “I...I c