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Chapter: 19
I let out a sigh and took out the Eightfold Spirit Bell. Using the third bell, I opened the treasure vault and had Ansi bring me a lacquered box.
“What do you intend to use the Three Corpse Worms for?”
“I’m going to make that man incapable of lying.”
Before dragging him to the Royal Investigation Bureau, I intended to make him confess his crimes to the Crown Prince with his own mouth.
The Three Corpse Worms were three parasites that lived inside the human body. They watched over a person’s thoughts and actions, then returned to Heaven every Gyeongsin Day to report everything to the Jade Emperor.
Mother once listened to their reports and judged people accordingly, shortening their lifespans or adding to the karma they would bear after death depending on the severity of their sins. But humans eventually learned about the reports and came up with all kinds of methods, like staying awake through Gyeongsin Night, to avoid them. As a result, the system gradually lost its effectiveness, so Heaven hardly used them anymore.
‘That’s why Mother gave me a few to play with.’
Playing around with the Three Corpse Worms had taught me a few useful tricks.
When I opened the box, I saw three translucent white butterflies nibbling happily on flower nectar. They instinctively obeyed the Jade Emperor, so they listened to me as well since I carried the Jade Emperor’s bloodline.
“Tsk, tsk.”
As I clicked my tongue, the Three Corpse Worms fluttered into the air, scattering light like fireflies. I pointed at the court eunuch, who was still gagging and hadn’t fully regained his senses.
“Go inside that human. And if he tries to lie, bite him hard.”
The butterfly-like creatures fluttered busily around me.
“Can you take a bite out of his organs if he lies? Hmm? Sure, you may.”
Long ago, before Mother became the Jade Emperor, the Three Corpse Worms didn’t report sins—they simply devoured the organs of humans the moment they committed evil. It had eventually been forbidden because it was far too cruel, but forbidding it hadn’t erased their instincts.
“Still, don’t eat enough to kill him. Stay inside until I call you back.”
I released all three.
The translucent butterflies flew toward the eunuch in trails of light and burrowed into his body—one into his head, one into his chest, and one into his abdomen.
Ordinary humans couldn’t see them, so the half-conscious eunuch never even realized something had entered his body.
After waiting for him to recover somewhat, I finally spoke.
“I heard from His Highness the Crown Prince that you planned to help me escape the palace.”
“Y-Yes…?”
“Were you really planning to help me run away?”
“I-I was—Aaaagh!”
The eunuch clutched his stomach and rolled across the floor in agony.
Resting my chin on my hand while sitting on the wooden veranda, I watched him calmly.
“My, my. Didn’t anyone teach you by your age that liars are punished by heaven?”
“Ghh… Guh… Wh-What…?”
“You told me you’d help me escape the palace, but your real plan was to kill me and make it look like the Crown Prince did it, wasn’t it?”
“N-No! How could you possibly misunderstand—Aaaah! Aaaagh!”
As he desperately protested, he suddenly grabbed his head and screamed again.
I snorted.
“You’re a slow learner.”
“Ghhhk… W-Why…?”
“Because you keep lying.”
“I-It hurts… if I lie?”
“That’s right. And if you keep it up, pain won’t be the only consequence.”
“W-What exactly… what have you done to me?”
“Who knows?”
Shrugging, I added,
“I simply gave you a little help so your punishment in hell might be reduced.”
“W-Why would I be punished in h-hell—Aaaagh!”
“So you do know, deep down, whether you’re someone destined for hell.”
At least he knew he’d done evil.
I’d heard that the Underworld was full of people who committed terrible acts while sincerely believing they were doing the right thing.
“Huff… Haa… Haa…”
“So? Ready to tell the truth now?”
Smiling brightly, I asked the eunuch, who was clawing at his chest.
He looked up at me as though he were seeing a ghost before lowering his head in despair.
“…Yes.”
After that, I asked him several more questions to confirm he could only speak the truth.
He’d become wonderfully obedient.
“Good enough. Ansi, go bring the Crown Prince.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Ansi ran inside and soon returned with the Crown Prince.
He emerged wearing gloves, and over his 익선관 official hat he had wrapped layer upon layer of gauze, so thick it was hard to imagine he could even see properly.
‘That was this eunuch’s doing too. He told him that because he was cursed, he must never show his bare face to anyone.’
The Darkness Spirit during the daytime was relatively harmless. Unless bare skin touched bare skin, it neither summoned darkness nor stirred fear.
Which meant this was completely excessive.
They’d practically wrapped the poor boy up like he was a walking disaster. He probably couldn’t even see.
Feeling slightly irritated, I walked over and grabbed the veil.
“My lady?”
“You don’t have to wear this, Your Highness.”
“W-Wait, my lady!”
Ignoring his startled protest, I pulled the veil away.
The Crown Prince hurriedly covered his face with his gloved hands.
I sighed and gently took hold of them.
“You don’t need to hide.”
“But Head Eunuch Jang said it was dangerous…”
“That was all a lie.”
“…What?”
“The part about it becoming dangerous if you showed your face to other people—that was something he made up.”
“…Is that true? How did you learn this?”
“I found him suspicious, so I questioned him until he finally admitted he’d been lying.”
Turning toward the trembling eunuch, I asked,
“Isn’t that right?”
“Y-Yes! It was all lies! I invented it because I didn’t want Your Highness getting close to anyone!”
The eunuch blurted everything out in panic.
Behind his gloves, the muscles around the Crown Prince’s eyes twitched.
“What do you mean all of a sudden?”
“…This humble servant… has deceived Your Highness all this time while pretending to serve you faithfully. I deserve death…”
Slowly, the Crown Prince lowered his hands.
A pale, refined young face came into view.
“You’ve… been deceiving me? Since when?”
“…Since the very first day I entered Your Highness’s service. I beg your forgiveness…”
“Since the beginning?”
His black eyes, dark as a lake at night, blinked with gathering moisture.
“Why? For what purpose?”
“T-The Left State Councilor… paid me.”
“The Left State Councilor…”
The Crown Prince lowered his gaze.
“I see. Now I understand.”
He looked less shocked than deeply wounded.
So he hadn’t been completely unaware.
Even when things seemed suspicious, he’d simply… chosen to believe.
Or rather, he’d wanted to believe.
Otherwise, he would have had no one left.
Looking quietly down at the kneeling eunuch, the Crown Prince asked softly,
“So… your promise to help my lady escape was also a lie.”
“…Yes.”
“Then that means…”
He clenched his teeth before turning toward me and bowing his head.
“I’m sorry, my lady.”
“Huh? N-No…”
“I said I would save you… but because of my foolishness, I nearly caused you harm instead.”
“It’s alright. You didn’t do it on purpose.”
I shook my head.
“I never intended to run away in the first place, Your Highness.”
“But you said someone attacked you today. Remaining in the palace is dangerous.”
“We’ve already caught the one responsible.”
I pointed toward the trembling eunuch.
The Crown Prince’s face hardened.
“Are you saying he was behind that as well?”
“Yes. The Royal Investigation Bureau will make things clearer once they investigate, but…”
“…Ha.”
He let out a hollow laugh before lowering his head.
“So I knew someone was watching my every move… and I knew your life would be in danger if you remained alive after our wedding night… Yet…”
He smiled bitterly.
“…the person I should have suspected first was the one I trusted most.”
Self-loathing.
Betrayal.
Guilt.
Negative emotions churned across the face of the eleven-year-old boy.
But what child that young could possibly be expected to suspect everything?
He was too intelligent to remain ignorant of reality.
He had already tasted enough bitterness in life to lose the innocence of childhood.
Yet his nature was kind and upright, so instead of blaming the world or others…
…he blamed himself.
Why did he become more pitiful the longer I looked at him?
“Your Highness.”
Just as I opened my mouth to comfort him, the boy raised his head again.
The shadows had already disappeared from his face, leaving behind only calm composure.
“First, we should send this man to the Royal Investigation Bureau. The testimony of a mere eunuch won’t be enough to shake the Left State Councilor, but the bureau’s chief judge is an honest man. He won’t simply bury this matter.”
…Why was someone so tiny acting so much like an adult?
This was a situation where he could have cried.
Instead, he continued in his usual calm voice.
“But someone needs to escort him there. Since there’s no one left I can trust to do it, I’ll personally—”
“No. Ansi can do it. Ansi.”
“Your Highness—no, my lady, I must remain by your side…”
Ansi started protesting, unwilling to leave me alone.
I lightly pointed toward my waist before giving the order again.
“It’s fine. Go.”
“Ah! Yes! I’ll be back in a flash!”
Remembering that I still carried Cheoyong’s protective talisman, Ansi immediately relaxed, shoved the eunuch forward, and led him outside.
The Crown Prince watched them with concern before stepping down from the veranda.
“Where are you going, Your Highness?”
“That court maid is still just a young girl, isn’t she? If Head Eunuch Jang resists, she could be hurt.”
“You don’t have to worry about Ansi. She’s…”
I couldn’t exactly reveal that she was a phoenix.
After hesitating briefly, I remembered Court Lady Kim’s misunderstanding and borrowed it as an excuse.
“She’s my shadow guard.”
“One of the supernatural?”
“Something like that.”
Apparently satisfied, the Crown Prince stopped walking into the courtyard.
I tugged lightly on his sleeve.
“Let’s talk, Your Highness.”
He obediently followed me.
We entered a room beside the main hall, closed the door behind us, and sat facing one another.
“Is there something important you wished to discuss?”
His slightly tearful black eyes gazed quietly at me from across the room.
He was trying to maintain a calm expression, but he couldn’t completely hide the hurt.
His damp eyes trembled ever so slightly.
A child who had just lost everyone he trusted.
Looking at him made the words stick in my throat.
‘I’m deceiving him too.’
Who I really was.
Why I had come here.
Even our wedding ceremony had been fake, carried out using the Vermilion Bird Robe.
Originally, I’d planned to gloss over everything.
Just as I had with the King, I was going to say that I intended to save the Queen together with Seoldeunghwa using the power of the Seol Clan.
Then I’d tell him that once that burden was lifted, he shouldn’t run away—that we should survive this palace together.
That whatever this darkness inside him truly was, we’d work together until he learned to control it himself.
‘How would that make me any different from that eunuch?’
I had just told someone that lying brought heavenly punishment.
And now I was about to bury him beneath lies of my own.
