Chapter 42: The Viper’s Thread

The master of Damyeon Palace, the most favored imperial consort of her time. And the man who had inflicted all kinds of humiliation upon him in his past life: Seol Eun-hyun.

Yeo Jae-won despised him. Naturally, the Prince would never want his official wife, Anok, to associate with such a man. Beyond mere association, Yeo Jae-won would utterly loathe the idea of Seol Eun-hyun manipulating Anok like a puppet in his hands.

It went without saying how pathetic the Prince would find Anok if he played the fool, completely ignorant, dancing to Seol Eun-hyun’s tune. Therefore, if Seol Eun-hyun could not be avoided, he had to be used.

Wiping his hands down his face, Anok steadied his breathing. He bound himself to the dangerous vow of using a man who was ready to bite and kill him with venomous fangs at any given moment.

For several days, Anok had been under the care of Physician Do, regularly taking his meals and medicine. Though he hadn’t gained much weight, a faint, healthy flush had finally returned to his face. He looked at least somewhat lively.

With his audience at the palace looming, Eunuch Im brought out an array of garments he must have prepared well in advance, spreading them before Anok and eagerly urging him to choose his favorite. In truth, it was Eunuch Im and Han-wol who were making all the fuss, excitedly inspecting and comparing the robes.

Ultimately, after the two of them made their selections and Anok gave a nod of approval, he was dressed in snow-white inner and outer robes, tied with a waist belt, and covered by a deep purple overcoat. His hair was bound up into a topknot, secured by a crown crafted from blackened water buffalo horn and ornately engraved with gold.

“Where is His Highness?” Anok asked.

“Ah, he entered the palace ahead of you. Since today is an official court day…”

Eunuch Im, who had been completely engrossed in dressing his master—a remarkably handsome man rare even in the capital—hesitated at Anok’s question. He trailed off, explaining that the Prince had to arrive early for the grand morning assembly, but his cautious, anxious glances spoke volumes.

Though a sharp pang of disappointment flared in his chest, Anok forced a reassuring smile. In the uneven surface of the mirror, the curve of his lips looked awkward and distorted.

“The Emperor cannot grant us an audience until the morning assembly concludes anyway… It is better that I arrive to match that timing.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Eunuch Seok said he would watch the situation at the main hall and dispatch a messenger to our estate when the time is right.”

From the wedding day to their bridal night, Yeo Jae-won had acted so differently during that brief window that Anok had momentarily forgotten. He had forgotten that this was exactly how things had played out in his past life.

When he thought about it, there was no reason for anything to change. The wedding date remained the same, Anok had ruined their bridal night, and he had only awakened after barely enduring his heat cycle through the use of suppressants. Even in his past life, the day he had finally recovered enough to pay his formal respects had happened to fall on an official court day. Because of the grand assembly, he had no choice but to enter the palace separately from Yeo Jae-won.

He could rationalize all of it, so why did his heart refuse to ease? Why did these tangled, petty grievances keep floating to the surface of his consciousness like stagnant debris?

He was terrified. The way the past few days had mirrored his previous life with absolute precision made him deeply anxious. What was meant to happen would happen, but he desperately needed proof that this life would not end in the exact same tragedy. To find that proof, he had to act. Only by doing something could he change the trajectory.

Rising from his vanity, Anok walked into the library. Unlike in his past life, the room was filled with clear evidence of his preparations to send return gifts to those who had congratulated them on their marriage.

After finishing the list, he instructed Eunuch Im to have messengers deliver the gifts and his written greetings. He had taken a step his past self never did. Therefore, the outcome would surely be different.

This was merely a trivial matter among the countless trials he would face. Yet, it would serve as his anchor. Just as he had saved Han-wol, aided Yoon Gyeok, and cast out Court Lady Cho… it would stand as undeniable proof that his own hands could alter fate.

Anok sat quietly in the library, losing himself in thought for nearly an hour before leaving. The messenger dispatched by Eunuch Seok had finally arrived at the estate, breathless and bearing the word.

Throughout the carriage ride to the imperial palace, Anok fought to govern the cold, freezing dread settling over his heart.

To put it mildly, the imperial palace held nothing but horrific memories for him. The years he had spent within its walls were so twisted and grotesquely blurred by trauma that they felt like a living hell. It was a place where things occurred that no sane mind could bear to remember.

Leaning on Eunuch Im for support, Anok stepped down from the carriage. Keeping his spine perfectly rigid, he looked up at the towering, majestic walls of the imperial palace. Once, those high, cynical walls had kept him entirely imprisoned, abandoning him to utter despair.

“His Highness the Prince of Myeong is waiting for you in front of Seonghwa Hall.”

A young eunuch from Seonghwa Hall stepped forward to lead the way. Eunuch Im and the other servants from the estate followed silently behind. Han-wol, who was not a part of the imperial staff, wasn’t even permitted to set foot inside the gates and remained waiting by the carriage.

Though in his mind it felt as if he had only recently left this place, it differed from the past in one major way: the current master of Seonghwa Hall was not yet Yeo Jae-won.

When he finally ascends to the highest seat in this palace, I pray with all my heart that I am no longer by his side.

“…….”

Staring at the familiar back of the man looking up at the plaque of Seonghwa Hall, Anok made his desperate wish.

Dressed in his customary dark purple court robes, Yeo Jae-won stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Whether he noticed Anok’s approach or remained entirely oblivious, his posture was entirely unreadable.

His back was broad, his stance firm and unbending.

Soon, Anok took his place beside him. Glancing briefly at the Prince’s sharp profile, Anok turned his gaze forward, his own face a mask of absolute calm.

“……You have arrived.”

“Did the morning assembly conclude without issue, Your Highness?”

Anok felt Yeo Jae-won’s gaze shift toward him, but he refused to look back. He did not want their eyes to meet. He did not want to see whatever emotion was dwelling within the Prince’s eyes.

Perhaps interpreting Anok’s question as a petty complaint for being left behind, Yeo Jae-won offered no reply and simply looked straight ahead once more. A suffocating silence settled between the husband and wife.

Outside, the season was drifting through the mildest days of late spring, and the palace grounds were filled with countless court ladies and eunuchs maintaining their stations. Yet, the interior of Seonghwa Hall felt deeply submerged in a profoundly isolated, authoritative stillness.

Ultimately, without exchanging another word with Yeo Jae-won, Anok entered the inner chambers. Like a cruel trick of fate, the very people he had watched die one by one in his past life now surrounded him, their eyes completely locked onto him.

He knew all too well what lay behind those false smiles: a deep, profound indifference and absolute contempt.

Yet, what occupied Anok’s heart was not a grand desire for vengeance, but a small, weary wish. A simple longing to never repeat the agonies of his past life. The profound lethargy brought on by a lifetime of exhaustion was not something that vanished easily.

“Anok of the Seol clan of Baekya Manor pays his respects to Your Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress. May you enjoy boundless fortune.”

After performing his deep prostrations and offering his formal greetings, Anok rose to stand side-by-side with Yeo Jae-won.

From what Anok remembered of this period, the Emperor’s chronic lung ailment had severely worsened, leaving him with a persistent, hacking cough. Not only that, but even while breathing normally, his chest would suddenly heave with thick fluid, and he had frequently collapsed from a lack of air.

Sure enough, the Emperor cleared his throat with a raspy cough before finally speaking. There were no grand, elegant words of blessings. To the Emperor, Anok was nothing more than a heavy shackle he had bound to Yeo Jae-won to stop the Prince from expanding his political reach.

“I hear the Grand Consort of Myeong has just reached twenty years of age this year?”

“That is correct, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Even at such a trivial inquiry, Anok kept his eyes calmly cast down to avoid the grave insolence of looking directly upon the dragon’s countenance. The Emperor’s gaze then shifted toward his son, who stood beside Anok with a completely expressionless face.

“The Prince of Myeong’s marriage was long delayed, which weighed heavily upon my mind.”

You mean you worried that he would form an alliance with a powerful family to expand his influence. Though Anok saw straight through the hidden calculations behind the Emperor’s words, he merely pretended to understand the surface meaning.

There was not a soul in this room who did not know the sordid details of why the Prince had remained unmarried well into his late twenties. Yet, the Emperor seemed to completely erase his own stubborn refusal to allow the Prince to marry, choosing instead to find fault only in Yeo Jae-won’s devotion to fulfilling the three-year mourning period for the late Crown Prince.

“Is it not a profound relief that he has finally taken such a proper spouse?”

Noble Consort Sa’s smooth, elegant voice cut through the awkward silence of the chamber. To an outsider, it might have sounded as though she were kindly stepping in to rescue a troubled young couple, but neither Yeo Jae-won nor Anok welcomed her intervention.

At a moment when even the Empress Dowager had chosen to remain silent, Noble Consort Sa’s sudden intrusion was purely an exercise in asserting her own presence.

The Emperor, who would have ignored the Empress with cold silence had she spoken, let out a soft sound as if suddenly remembering something at the Noble Consort’s words, warmly accepting her comment.

“Now that you mention it, both Noble Consort Sa and the Grand Consort of Myeong share the sub-gender of Omega. Grand Consort, you must follow Noble Consort Sa well from this day forward. She will personally ensure that you face zero difficulty adjusting to life here in the capital.”

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