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Chapter 01
At the break of dawn, the palace was endlessly silent. The sky had not yet fully awakened, and the thick mist blanketing the grounds drifted through the air, circling coldly around those who stirred the early morning to life.
But that silence did not mean peace.
For three days now, not a single word had passed the King’s lips. The lights between the Royal Infirmary and the Great Hall had not gone out, and the gazes of those guarding the King’s bedchamber had grown sharper with each passing day.
No one dared to say it aloud, yet everyone knew.
His Majesty’s condition was critical. And yet no one called it an “illness,” nor did they dare utter the word “death.” Thus another day in the palace dragged on, heavy and suffocating.
Within that oppressive time, Soheon unfolded a worn medical text beneath the glow of a small oil lamp. The faded letters flickered in the candlelight as though alive, dancing before her eyes. Following the line her grandfather had once written—Medicine must always be used to save lives—she murmured softly,
“Grandfather… am I doing the right thing?”
Just then, the faint rustle of leaves drifted in from outside the window. She turned her gaze toward it. Through the night fog, a tree branch swayed unsteadily. It was not the wind. It felt like something unfamiliar.
An unexplainable chill crept up her spine, and from somewhere deep within her heart, a strange unease began to rise.
And then—
The door burst open abruptly. A palace eunuch stood there, breathing hard, urgency clear in his eyes.
“Medical Lady Yun! You are summoned to His Majesty’s chamber at once. Prepare yourself immediately.”
“What? Why would I be called? Are you certain it is me?”
His voice was desperate, as though something grave had occurred at Gangnyeongjeon. Soheon stared at him in stunned confusion. Attending to the King was the royal physician’s duty. For her—a mere female medical officer—to be summoned in the dead of night was unheard of and entirely against royal protocol.
But her hesitation did not last long.
She rose calmly from her seat.
“Please have my acupuncture kit prepared, just in case.”
Carrying the kit, she hurried toward the royal bedchamber. Her footsteps echoed coldly across the courtyard. Her heart pounded wildly, yet her face remained composed. Only her eyes betrayed the turmoil within.
Why would they summon someone like me to see His Majesty? What has happened?
As she quickened her pace toward Gangnyeongjeon, her breathing grew uneven with tension. The lanterns at her feet cast long, distorted shadows that only deepened her anxiety. At every turn of the corridor, strange shapes seemed to flicker in her peripheral vision, but when she blinked, nothing was there.
This is strange. There are no eunuchs. No court ladies anywhere.
Though she was near Gangnyeongjeon, she heard none of the usual voices or footsteps that should have guarded the area at night. A cold sweat trickled down her spine. With each step, the chill rising from the stone floor felt as though it were tightening around her throat.
She narrowed her eyes at a distant shadow, hoping to find someone who could explain her summons—but it was only an old stone statue. She tried to walk quietly so as not to disturb the silence, yet her own pounding heartbeat roared in her ears.
As she approached the bedchamber, the air itself seemed to change. The thick scent of mugwort brushed against her nose, mingled with an unpleasant coldness that seemed to have seeped in from nowhere.
At last, she reached the chamber doors—but there was no one to announce her arrival.
Steadying her breath, Soheon straightened her trembling body and spoke in a shaking voice.
“I am Medical Lady Yun Soheon.”
—Click.
The door slid open, and a heavy stench of medicinal herbs pierced her senses. But this was not the familiar scent of healing decoctions. It was more bitter, more oppressive—laced with something old and unmistakably akin to death.
Inside, candlelight barely pushed back the darkness. The chamber felt as though time itself had stopped. In the dim glow, the sight before her was chilling.
Layered silk quilts lay neatly folded, and upon them rested the King, covered in fine red silk embroidered faintly with phoenix patterns. He did not move at all.
Beside the royal bed stood the Head Court Eunuch, silent.
Soheon looked at him in confusion.
“Head Eunuch… why have I been brought here? Am I to examine His Majesty? Is it truly permissible for someone like me to touch the royal body…?”
He gazed at her quietly before speaking in a small but stern voice. Yet his usual authority was gone, replaced by a faint tremor.
“You will understand why you are here in due time. For now, ask nothing and examine His Majesty.”
The meaning behind his words swirled in her mind, but she asked no further questions. Slowly, she knelt beside the bed.
First, she studied the King’s face.
Once healthy and full of color, it was now terribly pale. There was no sign of breath, no rise or fall of the chest. He was utterly still—like a wax figure.
Suppressing her racing heart, she placed her fingers on his wrist.
The moment she tried to find his pulse, she recoiled in shock.
There was none.
What met her fingertips was not warmth, but an icy, lifeless chill.
This cannot be…
She checked again. The other wrist. The neck. The breath. The eyes.
Nothing.
His lips had darkened to a bluish hue, and beneath his eyelids lay the coldness of ice. There was no room for doubt.
The man before her was not alive.
Though she had witnessed many deaths as a medical officer, this was different.
The one lying before her was the King of Joseon.
The realization turned her mind blank.
“His Majesty… has already passed.”
Even to her own ears, her voice trembled as she announced the royal passing. More terrifying than the King’s death was the fact that she was here to witness it. Simply confirming his death felt as though it would drag her into an inescapable whirlpool.
“Head Eunuch, why was I summoned? Why must someone like me see a man who has already passed?”
“Do not rush. You will learn everything in time.”
With that, he lowered his head.
A silence heavier than death itself filled the chamber.
Then—
She sensed someone’s presence.
Without a sound of footsteps, two shadows emerged from behind the folding screen, cutting through the darkness.
The first to appear was the Crown Prince, Lee Ham.
Tall and imposing, his sharp eyes gleamed even in the dim light. As he stepped forward without a word, he seemed to blend into the darkness itself—heavy, resolute.
Soheon was not surprised.
In fact, somewhere in her heart, she had already expected him to be here.
Behind him followed his mentor and the Left State Councillor, Jeong Hak-yeon. The middle-aged official wore a composed, cautious expression etched with deep lines of experience. His gaze was sharp and seasoned by years of court life, yet now unmistakably tense.
Both men stared at her silently.
As Soheon parted her lips to speak, Lee Ham raised a finger slowly to his own and said in a low, firm voice,
“Medical Lady Yun, remain silent.”
At that moment, an overwhelming sense of déjà vu washed over her, as if all of this had been arranged beforehand. She swallowed her words, her chest tightening.
In his eyes was not only command—but something deeper, darker. A secret.
Councillor Jeong’s expression was equally rigid. The Head Eunuch kept his head bowed, saying nothing.
Under Lee Ham’s piercing gaze, Soheon glanced up at him. Strangely—though it made no sense—she felt not only gravity in his presence, but something almost wistful, as though he were looking upon a long-lost companion.
She quickly dismissed the foolish thought and looked back at the King.
Now she was certain.
She had not been summoned merely to examine him.
The dead King… the Crown Prince… Jeong Hak-yeon… the Head Eunuch—each of them seemed to have known this outcome in advance.
What lay before her was not simply the death of a monarch.
It was the unmistakable beginning of a vast conspiracy.
They already knew… so why call for me?
