Chapter 18: The Broken Prediction

It was a quiet and calm greeting. Feeling a sense of relief internally, Ahnok anticipated Yeo Jae-won’s next move. While he couldn’t remember everything in detail, he remembered the words he had heard during their first meeting as clearly as if they were branded on his mind.

—I would prefer it if you stayed out of everyone’s sight, including mine.

A cold line drawn by an expressionless face and a monotonous voice. After that, Ahnok had spent a lifetime unable to cross that line.

It would likely not be much different this time. The Prince would mutter a few warning words, send him back to the annex, and certainly wouldn’t look at him again until the wedding day arrived.

In any case, there was no need to wait for the wedding. Ahnok planned to leave this place within a few days.

“Sit.”

Eunuch Seok placed two teacups on the round table between the two facing seats. Yeo Jae-won walked around the table to sit in the head seat and gestured for Ahnok to take the seat opposite him.

Following the man’s lead, Ahnok took a silent sip of tea, his mind searching for an opening. He decided it would be better to strike first before the Prince could speak.

“Regarding the marriage… I have a request.”

At that, Yeo Jae-won’s eyes—sharp-edged but usually veiled with indifference—pierced through Ahnok as if trying to see into his very soul.

“A request?”

“Yes.”

At the rather resolute tone, Yeo Jae-won set down his teacup and pressed his right index finger against his temple. Simultaneously, the right corner of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a dimple.

While he was almost entirely expressionless specifically in front of Ahnok in the past, Ahnok knew well that Yeo Jae-won actually harbored sneers or scoffs quite often. This was surely one of those subtle, mocking smiles.

“I’m a bit confused.”

“…”

“Are you proposing a deal? Or are you simply seeking my unilateral grace?”

Ahnok felt a sudden surge of tension. He thought he could handle this calmly as practiced, but being unable to read the Prince’s intentions from his attitude made him feel deeply unsettled.

Besides, wasn’t the choice ultimately up to Yeo Jae-won either way? The man spoke as if granting a breath of air to someone he intended to manipulate at will. Ahnok’s expression hardened.

“If I were to ask for Your Highness’s grace, would you grant it?”

Yeo Jae-won, who had been leaning somewhat languidly against his backrest, leaned forward. He slowly pushed his teacup aside with his left hand and rested both arms on the round table.

“Well?”

“…”

“I won’t know until I hear what it is you want.”

Obtaining what he wanted without giving anything up would have been the best strategy. However, looking at that attitude, it seemed Yeo Jae-won intended to hear everything Ahnok had to say.

“If I were to provide Your Highness with information regarding the late Crown Prince…”

“…?”

“Then, would you grant my request?”

To Yeo Jae-won, the late Crown Prince who died young was a “reverse scale”—a fatal weakness. And Ahnok intended to touch it.

According to what was revealed in his past life, those who killed the Crown Prince were Noble Consort Sa and Prince Hye. After assassinating the Crown Prince using a poison refined from Aconite (초오, Choo), they attempted to frame the Minister of Justice, who supported Yeo Jae-won.

Fortunately, Yeo Jae-won stepped in to prove the Minister’s innocence, but to cut their losses, Noble Consort Sa and Prince Hye eventually framed the physician from the Imperial Medical Office who was in charge of the Eastern Palace.

“Information regarding the late Crown Prince, you say…”

A slight note of displeasure surfaced in the low-pitched voice. Others might not have noticed, but Ahnok was certain. Yeo Jae-won was shaken. He was curious about this information but clearly didn’t want to show his hand so easily.

“The cause of death was poison extracted from Aconite. It must be used in the correct dosage, but Kim Myeong-hyeon, the Assistant Director of the Medical Office, wrote the wrong prescription, and the medicine boy brought an excessive amount. That was served directly to the Crown Prince, and he passed away within an hour of taking the decoction.”

As if he had prepared the answer, Yeo Jae-won recited the facts that had been established thus far. And Ahnok, as if waiting for those words, countered with a question.

“Do you truly believe that?”

“…”

“What if the prescription Kim Myeong-hyeon allegedly wrote was actually written by someone else after the Crown Prince’s death? What if the medicine boy didn’t bring an excessive amount by mistake? What if… all of this was orchestrated by someone?”

Yeo Jae-won, who had been wearing a faint smile, returned to his usual expressionless face and watched Ahnok.

“Your evidence?”

The question turned the air in the room, which had been heating up more like a confrontation than a first greeting, ice-cold.

Ahnok, who had been relying solely on the information he already knew, silently clenched his fists.

In his past life, this matter was revealed only after the fall of Prince Hye. It became known that the prescription was written after the Prince’s death and that the medicine boy had been bribed by Noble Consort Sa. But right now, Ahnok did not hold that evidence in his hands.

Yeo Jae-won stared blankly at the twenty-year-old youth whose long eyelashes drooped as if soaked in frustration, and then slowly stood up from his seat.

“There are people like that. Those who have nothing in their hands, knowing they will only break themselves if they charge forward, yet they rush in anyway…”

“…”

“Ignorant, pitiful people.”

Approaching closely, Yeo Jae-won stood right next to Ahnok and looked down at him as he continued. In Ahnok’s forward-facing vision, he could only see the seat the master had just vacated.

Ignorant and pitiful.

How well those words fit his current self. As he tightened the fists he held under the table, his knuckles turned white.

“…I have given you the information.”

“Information without evidence is nothing more than a rumor. Though it might help narrow the scope to Kim Myeong-hyeon’s prescription.”

Ahnok swallowed hard. The more he did, the more stiffly he held his head. The corners of his large, forward-staring eyes tilted upward. Above him, Yeo Jae-won would be watching with a blunt, expressionless gaze.

Now was the time to repeat the words he had rehearsed countless times in his mind.

“Therefore, I beg of you, Your Highness. In exchange for this information, please break off our engagement.”

This betrothal was something neither Yeo Jae-won nor he desired. This was a truth Ahnok had realized poignantly during those seven years of being practically denied existence.

Even if he let Ahnok go like this, Yeo Jae-won had nothing to lose. While the “pitiful information” might have been laughable, the fact that the party involved wanted to break the engagement meant Yeo Jae-won could use it to his advantage.

Since the request for a breakup came from Ahnok’s mouth, the responsibility would fall on Baekya-bu. It was a golden opportunity for Yeo Jae-won to avoid marrying an Eumin man, whom he loathed so much. There was no way he would refuse this chance…

The thought of him agreeing to the proposal with an indifferent face made Ahnok’s heart feel strangely bitter and cold.

He thought he wouldn’t care. He thought he would be happy to escape. He thought only relief remained, thankful that he wouldn’t have to endure those many hardships again.

Yet, Ahnok didn’t have the confidence to look into Yeo Jae-won’s eyes while hearing him agree to the breakup. His long eyelashes sank sorrowfully.

“What should I do?”

“…?”

“Your condition is interesting, but I cannot break the engagement.”

Ahnok’s gaze reflexively snapped upward. He could hardly believe what he had just heard.

The expressionless Yeo Jae-won was now outright smiling.

“Because… I’ve taken a liking to you.”

Taken a liking to me?

It was a phrase he hadn’t heard once in seven years of living together. It was hard to believe such words even came out of Yeo Jae-won’s mouth.

Which part of him could he possibly like? Was satisfying him such an easy task? Then what were those seven years of his past life for?

His heart, which had become calloused by neglect worse than contempt, felt nothing but rejection toward Yeo Jae-won’s words.

Truly, the world was not easy on him. Just as he tried to give up, resign himself, and run away, it grabbed his ankle and forced him to keep living.

If it was going to be like this, he should have just closed his eyes and jumped when he stood on the cliff after escaping Seol Ga-hyo. He was foolish to think he could run away from Yeo Jae-won, who was like a tiger with its mouth wide open.

His biggest mistake was assuming that because Yeo Jae-won at this point in time suspected foul play in the Crown Prince’s death but lacked concrete information, this would be enough.

To calm his chaotic emotions and the situation that was flowing contrary to his thoughts, Ahnok slowly closed and opened his eyes.

He had to act as indifferent as possible. He must not let himself be played with in Yeo Jae-won’s hands, no matter what the man said.

After steadying his breath, Ahnok lifted his head again. Seeing that the Prince was no longer smiling, he finally looked like the Yeo Jae-won he knew.

The words Yeo Jae-won had spoken on this day seven years ago flashed through his mind.

—I dislike Eumin.

That voice mentioning his dislike had callously, yet surely, driven a dagger into the heart of the Ahnok who had harbored a sliver of expectation and hope.