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Join the ServerEunuch Jo replied in a voice that shook with every word.
“Your… your servant merely heard it was medicinal tea and delivered it.”
“Who gave the order to deliver that tea?”
“His… His Majesty gave the command.”
“How strange. Whenever His Majesty bestowed something upon this palace, he always sent it through the Chief Eunuch. Why did he command you this time?”
Haeryeong watched in silence as Eunuch Jo’s back flinched.
“That… your servant does not know the reason for that.”
“In that case, may I ask His Majesty personally? I wish to know if His Majesty truly bestowed that tea himself.”
The eunuch likely did not yet know that the Emperor had collapsed after drinking the tea in Haeryeong’s stead.
As Haeryeong asked, the man’s voice trembled even more violently than before.
“Ple… please, ask him.”
Su-yong, who had been waiting silently behind them, finally interjected.
“It seems this wretch still hasn’t come to his senses, Your Highness. Words won’t work on him; how about we begin the torture?”
Haeryeong looked back at Su-yong and shook his head with a weary expression.
“I have no desire to see any more blood.”
With the amount of blood the Emperor had spilled, Haeryeong felt he had seen a lifetime’s worth.
He bit his lip, recalling the Emperor who had bled far more than he himself had when he died.
Haeryeong squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, addressing Eunuch Jo in a quiet, steady voice.
“His Majesty, who drank the tea you brought, has collapsed from poisoning. Therefore, I wish to ask you directly once more. Was it truly His Majesty who handed you that tea?”
“Pardon…? Wh-what do you mean by that, Your Highness…? His… His Majesty…?”
“He has been poisoned by Chilyeopcho.”
“Yo… your servant knows nothing of this! There is no way the tea I delivered was poison!”
“I see.”
Haeryeong nodded, giving a flat response.
Su-yong doubted his own ears.
‘”I see”? Just like that?’
Su-yong wanted to demand an explanation from Haeryeong right then and there.
He wanted to ask if this was why the Empress had refused to allow torture.
“I am told it was you who delivered the tea to the court lady of the Empress’s Palace. Do you know the nature of the tea contained within that paulownia box?”
Wait.
Haeryeong had asked the exact same question again without a hint of agitation.
The eunuch was equally bewildered; he slowly lifted his head from the floor to peer at the Empress’s face.
But the Empress remained perfectly still, sitting upright and repeating the same words as if nothing had changed.
It was the same whether the eunuch’s answer remained the same or shifted.
“His Majesty, who drank the tea you brought, has collapsed from poisoning. Therefore, I wish to ask you directly once more. Was it truly His Majesty who handed you that tea?”
“That… it is so, Your Highness.”
“I see.”
After half a sijin had passed, Su-yong stared at the back of Haeryeong’s head with a look of exhaustion.
The Empress asked and asked again with a posture and voice that did not waver in the slightest.
At intervals, Iryeon would enter to place fresh tea by his side.
The Empress simply repeated the same words and took a sip of tea only when his throat grew dry.
Observing his unchanging back, Su-yong looked at Seok-hwan standing on the opposite side.
The eyebrows of the usually stoic man were twisted in a strange way.
Su-yong found great comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one finding this situation distressing.
But that comfort didn’t last long.
After two hours, he found himself wishing someone would just gag the Empress.
Even as the interrogation that began at midday stretched into the evening, the Empress’s voice remained unchanged as he tormented both the eunuch and Su-yong.
Of course, he didn’t feel pity for the eunuch.
If anyone deserved pity, it was himself and Seok-hwan, who were entirely innocent.
Seok-hwan, standing opposite him, now looked as though he had reached a state of meditative detachment.
Su-yong was willing to bet a month’s salary that the man was letting the words go in one ear and out the other.
The dinner hour had already passed, yet Haeryeong continued the interrogation without eating.
He sensed Iryeon quietly opening the door and gauging the situation from outside.
When her eyes met Su-yong’s, she twitched her face as if telling him to come out for a moment.
Once Su-yong stepped outside and closed the door, she asked in a hushed tone.
“Could you not ask His Highness to rest for a while? He needs strength to continue speaking, yet he has even skipped dinner…”
“I do not know if he will listen, but I shall try to ask.”
“I beg of you.”
“Yes, Head Court Lady.”
Su-yong returned inside and sent a telepathic message to Seok-hwan while the eunuch was answering.
[Captain, Head Court Lady Yang wants me to ask His Highness to rest. Should he not at least eat dinner? He is already so physically frail.]
[It is useless.]
[Pardon?]
Seok-hwan sent back a sharp look along with his message.
[I have already sent six telepathic messages, and he hasn’t responded to a single one. Just leave him be; let him continue until his heart is satisfied.]
‘Leave him be?’
That was madness.
‘He acts like this because he doesn’t know how weak this person is.’
How could he tell him to keep going until he was satisfied, when this was a man who collapsed at the slightest shock?
Su-yong tried to argue further with Seok-hwan but eventually gave up.
Between the Captain and the Empress, both were as stubborn as stone; it seemed the future would be a sight to behold.
Su-yong worried that the glimpse he caught of Haeryeong’s profile looked even paler than before.
He wondered if the yellow glow of the candles lighting the evening room was masking the true state of his complexion.
Since he was a man who took to his bed at the slightest shock, it wouldn’t even be surprising if he fainted right now.
As he watched with concern, Haeryeong let out a brief sigh.
No matter how much tea he drank, speaking so much was bound to take a toll on his throat.
Su-yong hoped he would stop soon, but that hope was cruelly crushed.
Another two hours passed, and the date had already changed.
Just as Su-yong had reached a level of standing meditation similar to Seok-hwan’s, Eunuch Jo—unable to endure any longer—finally confessed.
“Noble Consort Jeong… told me to deliver it to the Empress’s Palace.”
“And what did he say to you?”
Eunuch Jo squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head as low as it could go.
“He said it was a medicine to ensure a child would not be conceived. Your servant believed those words and delivered it. I truly did not know it was poison. I have committed a mortal sin, Your Highness!”
“So you are saying he told you to deliver the medicine as if it were from His Majesty?”
“That is correct.”
Once his mouth was open, the eunuch confessed every detail of how he had received the drug.
While listening to the story, Haeryeong’s gaze briefly flickered over Seok-hwan and Su-yong before dropping away.
Su-yong blinked, wondering why the Empress wore such a look, only to see Seok-hwan’s expression turn lukewarm.
[Captain, why do you look like that?]
[You don’t need to know.]
Seok-hwan sent the message to Su-yong and clicked his tongue inwardly.
It was because he had read a silent rebuke in the Empress’s eyes.
A look that asked: ‘Why did you not know of the Consort’s actions?’
Seok-hwan felt a sense of distress; the Empress hadn’t even frowned, yet that one glance had rendered him speechless.
What could he possibly say?
Since they had failed in their surveillance, he had no excuse whatsoever.
However, Seok-hwan did have a reason.
People mistakenly believed the Black Shadow Unit was a group of legendary martial arts masters, but in reality, they were just ordinary soldiers.
Most were men who had come from tilling fields and chopping wood.
He himself, a former centurion, held the highest rank, and the relatively young and quick-witted Su-yong was only a squad leader.
The rest were comprised of regular infantry, archers, and cavalry.
So how were they supposed to detect a plot being hatched in the middle of a bridge?
Black Shadow members could use stealth, but following a moving target was no simple task.
In that regard, the Noble Consort had been remarkably sharp.
He had chosen the exact moment when they were least likely to be caught.
But would this excuse work with the Empress?
More importantly, was it safe to reveal such things to the Empress? That was the problem.
The Emperor, during his time as a general, had made a name for himself in the military, but in the palace and the capital, he was a loner with no blood relatives to rely on.
Furthermore, he was the sixteenth prince.
Even if he had killed all the other royals to take the throne, what backing did he have to actually control the Imperial Palace?
That was why the Black Shadow Unit was created.
The Black Shadows were a small force of fewer than a hundred men, barely taught the basics of stealth.
It had taken the combined efforts of the Emperor and Seok-hwan to turn that motley crew of disobedient misfits into something resembling a functional unit.
To achieve this, the Emperor had orchestrated a rebellion before his enthronement to carry out a mass purge of the dominant officials and buy himself time.
For the year following that, the Emperor had barely slept, spending his time training the Black Shadows and attending to state affairs.
That secret was the Emperor’s greatest weakness.
It could never be known that the Black Shadows—who made people bow out of fear by creating the illusion that they controlled the entire palace—were actually quite ordinary.
Thus, he was in a dilemma.
The Emperor was in his current state, and he had designated the Empress as his proxy.
There were matters that clearly needed to be discussed, but Seok-hwan was not certain if it was wise to tell him.
He knew the Emperor trusted the Empress, but that was the Emperor’s perspective, not his own.
In Seokhwan’s eyes, the Empress was still someone in opposition to the Emperor.
His position was entirely different from the Emperor, who had grown soft for the man out of affection.
You’ve got to see this next! The Phantom of the Library will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : The Phantom of the Library
