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Join the ServerBeneath the doctor’s dazed stare, Anok reached out and calmly unfurled a single paper medicine pouch with his own hands. Instantly, the physician’s sluggish, overwhelmed look sharpened into one of razor-focused intensity.
Anok feigned complete ignorance, continuing in a mild voice.
“This is the medicine I was taking right up until our wedding day. I was told it was a standard restorative tonic, but now that I think about it, isn’t the prescription I am currently draining meant to restore my vitality as well? If the efficacy is the same, it would be far better to brew what remains of this old batch first.”
Had he heard these words prior to checking the pouch’s true contents, Physician Do would have simply marvelled at how remarkably frugal the new master of this sprawling, magnificent estate was. But the exact moment his eyes mapped the dried herbs exposed within the paper wrapping, any such thought evaporated entirely.
“You…… you mean to say you have been actively ingesting this?”
“I have. Were you not aware, doctor?”
“No, Your Highness. The court lady anchoring your bedside two nights ago explicitly stated that you were consuming zero external remedies, so I took her at her word.”
The court lady anchoring my bedside. Out of everyone in the inner quarters, there was only one person arrogant enough to feed the physician such a definitive lie. Anok felt a surge of absolute certainty—he had seized the winning card.
This was entirely different from his past life, where he had foolishly confronted Yeo Jae-won armed with nothing but fragmented, terrifying memories. Now, he possessed hard evidence, an expert witness, and an official medical testimony. Yet, Anok deliberately chose to lock his emotions away behind a flat facade.
This was the absolute baseline of survival: remain unfazed under any circumstance. He felt a profound sense of irony that the only useful skill he had managed to perfect across seven years of misery in his past life was this exact emotional detachment.
“I suppose she simply assumed that since it was a standard tonic to boost my system, it wouldn’t pose a significant conflict. But tell me, doctor, why has your complexion turned so pale?”
“How long have you been consuming this specific formulation?”
“From the moment I arrived at the capital estate until the eve of the wedding ceremony.”
“……Your Highness, by any chance, was this medicine formulated and sent to you by Prince Yeo Jae-won?”
Knowing the true nature of the ingredients as he did, Anok found the question both utterly absurd and deeply comical. What possible benefit could Yeo Jae-won extract from artificially forcing his bride into an early heat cycle? It would do nothing but violently offend his sensibilities.
Nevertheless, Anok offered a slow, deliberate shake of his head.
“No. However, I am not at liberty to disclose the identity of the sender.”
“Ah……”
“What is the matter?”
Physician Do felt an intense wave of awkwardness. Whoever had sent this pouch had clearly engineered it with the explicit, malicious intent of throwing the young bride into a volatile crisis. Yet, this innocent, gentle youth before him seemed to genuinely believe, with all his heart, that someone had gifted him this medicine out of pure, loving concern for his health.
To expose the raw, unvarnished truth felt like delivering a devastating psychological blow to the Grand Consort, yet it was absolutely not a matter that could be swept under the rug. After a long, agonizing pause, the doctor finally forced the words past his lips.
“Your Highness…… the truth is, mixed directly into this pouch is a powerful stimulant designed to artificially accelerate an Omega’s heat cycle.”
Unable to bring himself to look Anok in the eye, Physician Do finished his explanation in a low, heavy murmur before dropping his gaze completely to the floorboards.
In response, Anok merely let his mouth part in a silent, empty ‘Ah,’ his mind instantly calculating whether Court Lady Cho had managed to transit back to the estate by now. There was no time to waste. He had to execute his strike swiftly, backing her into a corner before she could find an escape hatch.
“……So, you are saying the sudden, violent manifestation of my heat cycle was highly likely triggered by these specific herbs?”
“As data stands right now, yes, Your Highness.”
Immediately upon his arrival in the capital, Anok had been forced to thoroughly disclose the historical data of his past cycles to Court Lady Cho. It was an essential baseline required to coordinate the bridal chamber logistics.
Naturally, that data had also been passed along to Physician Do, as sudden anomalies in a Sub-gender’s cycle usually demanded that a doctor investigate for underlying physical trauma or hidden illnesses.
From a clinical standpoint, Anok’s cycles—while slightly longer than average—had always been remarkably predictable, making this sudden explosion completely anomalous.
Two nights ago, the doctor had formally reported to the Prince that the crisis was likely born from the grueling travel fatigue of the journey from the provinces combined with intense psychological stress. But the active intervention of an accelerated stimulant completely flipped the medical context.
“Your Highness, it is Han-wol. I have brought the maidservant you requested.”
“Bring her in.”
Anok offered a subtle nod to Physician Do, silently requesting him to excuse himself. The doctor offered a deeply respectful bow and backed out of the pavilion, passing the young maidservant as she entered.
The girl instantly dropped to her knees, burying her face against the floorboards as her voice shook with violent, unchecked terror.
“I am told you are the personal maid who directly assists Court Lady Cho.”
“Y-yes, Grand Consort! That is correct.”
“Where is Court Lady Cho at this moment?”
Among the domestic servants of the estate, the reputation of the new, young Grand Consort was remarkably favorable. He never unleashed needless tyranny, nor did he ever deploy violent or abusive language against the staff.
Yet, precisely because his cadence was so terrifyingly soft and gentle, the young maid found herself utterly paralyzed by a fear of the unknown. Attempting to force the words out, she accidentally bit her own tongue before stammering a panicked response.
“She…… she stated she was transiting to the imperial palace, and departed quite early.”
“The imperial palace? I suppose she went to offer her respects at Gyoyeong Palace.”
Knowing with absolute certainty that it was a lie, Anok casually tossed out the bait, and the terrified girl bit down instantly.
“N-no! A servant…… a servant from the imperial palace arrived in person to escort her.”
“A servant from Gyoyeong Palace?”
“It was a palace attendant dispatched directly from Damyeon Palace, Your Highness.”
The maid squeezed her head down between her shoulders like a retreating turtle, her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. Having successfully extracted the exact confirmation he required, Anok deliberately kept the girl pinned to the floorboards, tossing out a few more trivial questions to kill time.
By the time the interrogation concluded, a single stick of incense had burned down to ash. Anok calmly called for Han-wol.
Having safely located the remaining medicine pouch within this girl’s cramped quarters and neatly transferred it directly into Court Lady Cho’s private wardrobe while she was detained, Han-wol stepped back into the pavilion, looking entirely unbothered as he waited for his master’s next command.
“Has Court Lady Cho returned?”
“Not yet, Your Highness.”
“Lock this girl away in the adjoining waiting room until she arrives.”
The maidservant didn’t dare lift her head even as she was being led across the threshold. Once Han-wol escorted her out, Anok sat quietly before his desk, letting his thoughts crystallize in the silence.
In his past life, Court Lady Cho had been brutally executed only after Noble Consort Sa was completely stripped of her political power, caught red-handed in a web of treasonous conspiracies. Until that delayed salvation materialized, this woman had remained pinned to his side, methodically tearing his life to pieces with a relentless, suffocating malice.
Even after he was eventually moved into the Eastern Palace, Court Lady Cho had been removed from his immediate vicinity…… but by then, his spirit had already been entirely destroyed. He had spent years internalizing her poisonous, derogatory comments, allowing her to systematically erode his self-worth until nothing remained.
The realization that he possessed the absolute power to completely eliminate such a monster from his life right now felt unbelievably surreal—exhilarating, yet underscored by a faint, creeping wave of terror.
Is it truly right for me to alter the timeline with my own hands?
He hadn’t accepted this second life harboring grand dreams of triggering a massive political revolution. Ultimately, the solitary thing Anok craved in this lifecycle was a quiet, unbroken peace—completely detached from the bloody tragedies of his past.
Pressing his lips into a tight, thin line, Anok offered a sharp shake of his head. No, this is an absolute necessity. Since the evidence of Court Lady Cho’s malice was blindingly clear, he refused to sit idly by and allow her to slowly chew away at his sanity a second time.
“Your Highness, Court Lady Cho requests an audience.”
Fortifying his resolve once more, Anok smoothed the tension from his features, settling into a cold, impenetrable calm.
“Let her enter.”
The heavy wooden doors slid open, and Court Lady Cho stepped across the threshold. One look at her tight, miserable expression made the phrase ‘misfortune piling upon misfortune’ instantly spring to mind; her internal panic was radiating violently through her skin.
“I was informed you were seeking your servant, Your Highness.”
Her voice remained entirely calm and clinical. She met Anok’s gaze, expecting the same compliant, passive youth she had routinely looked down upon.
Still fiercely spinning in a spiral of despair over being utterly abandoned by Noble Consort Sa, Court Lady Cho couldn’t even bring herself to focus on the boy sitting before her. Her mind was entirely consumed with calculating her own survival.
“I was told you transited to the imperial palace today.”
“Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress, requested my presence to review administrative matters.”
“Is that so? And yet, I was distinctly informed that a palace attendant dispatched from Damyeon Palace arrived to escort you.”
Court Lady Cho’s brow twitched violently for a fraction of a second, but smoothly pivoting, she offered a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Ah, the common servants must have misidentified the uniform. It was merely a minor oversight on their part.”
It was a staggeringly lazy, arrogant defense. Intending to see exactly how far her audacity would stretch, Anok kept his lips sealed, his index finger beginning to tap a rhythmic, unsettling click, click against the surface of the desk.
Attempting to read the sudden change in the room’s atmosphere, Court Lady Cho quickly bowed her head. To an outside observer, she looked like the very picture of a loyal, dutiful subordinate, yet the words that tumbled from her lips were entirely dismissive and routine.
“If you do not possess an explicit command for your servant……”
“I do not.”
“……Then, if there are no further instructions, may I be permitted to take my leave for the evening?”
The steady, deliberate clicking echoing from the desk abruptly ceased. Placing his palms flat against the wood, Anok smoothly rose to his feet, closing the distance until he stood directly before Court Lady Cho.
Compared to a standard Alpha or beta male of his age, Anok possessed a notably slender frame and delicate bones, making him appear deceptively fragile. Yet, he still possessed more than enough height to completely look down upon the crouching court lady.
“You are entirely mistaken.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Whether you are permitted to stay or leave is absolutely not a decision that rests in your hands. You are the chief court lady explicitly stationed here to serve and obey me. Therefore, the solitary individual authorized to command a presence or grant a dismissal is me. Not you.”
Unable to comprehend the terrifying, authoritative tone echoing from the mouth of a boy she had deemed a spineless puppet, Court Lady Cho reflexively snapped her head up, her eyes widening in absolute shock.
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