TKEP 54🔐

Chapter 54

“His Majesty is currently scheduled for a relay meeting with an organization related to stray dog protection.”

Yeon had been moving around secretly under the guise of official schedules for the past few days.

“This is better than the schedule we caught yesterday.”

Yesterday, he was supposedly receiving aesthetic massages all day.

After walking twenty thousand steps in a day, every joint ached, and the thought that others would assume he was leisurely off getting massages made it all the more frustrating.

“How are you going to handle the directors of the stray dog protection centers?”

“I never said I’d be inviting the directors.”

When Yeon widened her eyes as if asking who exactly he had invited, Silan smiled slightly.

“The students who regularly volunteer at the stray dog center with His Majesty. I asked them to create an alibi for you today since you’re on a secret mission. Their expressions immediately changed when I told them.”

Creating an alibi for Yeon wasn’t as simple as just making a schedule.

They had to map out the routes she would take secretly, and there also needed to be trustworthy people who could unanimously claim they were with her in case something went wrong.

And such people couldn’t be bought with money.

Anyone bought with money would betray them if offered a bigger sum.

So Silan recruited people who genuinely liked Yeon and, ideally, trusted and supported her goodness.

The aesthetic massage therapist was someone whose hospital fees Yeon had once paid for her mother, and those recruited today had volunteered together before.

“How did they change?”

“I thought they were independence fighters. I didn’t think they’d even flinch if a thorn got under their nails.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“I already minimized it.”

Yeon let out a light laugh.

“Good job, Director Seong. Shall we go upstairs?”

Yeon pointed toward the staircase that seemed to reach the sky.

Silan muttered to himself, looking pale.

“I should’ve brought hiking sticks.”

“Such weak words.”

Yeon cheerfully stepped onto the stairs. Thanks to the stamina honed during her days as a reporter, she quickly reached the top.

Then, a road with completely broken pavement appeared.

It was a scene reminiscent of the 1980s, which she had only seen in photographs.

Yeon held onto the railing and glanced back at the panting Silan.

“Director Seong, I’ll go ahead, so take your time.”

“It’s dangerous alone, Your… I mean, Miss!”

Silan flailed, trying to stop Yeon.

Ignoring him, Yeon headed toward a shabby villa.

The villa, its wall covered in withered vines, looked emptier than most lived-in houses.

“Building A, Unit 301.”

Muttering to herself, Yeon moved a crushed can rolling across the ground and stepped inside.

The villa was much better inside than outside.

There was no trash scattered around, and the entrance door, plastered with various stickers, was intact.

Yeon quickly went up to the third floor and confirmed the number 301.

The stickers of the Korean Christian Church and the Catholic Church side by side were somewhat amusing.

‘The person I’m meeting today must be someone who keeps promises.’

Yeon had someone to meet here today.

The tenant of this house, once employed at Gyeongbokgung Palace, was Yoo Seoyeon.

Taking a deep breath, Yeon pressed the doorbell.

The house was silent.

‘Could she have made a promise and then run away somewhere else? I told her more than ten times it wasn’t coming from the royal family.’

She had searched extensively to find the disappeared woman.

Yoo Seoyeon’s ability to vanish was so good that if she missed this chance, finding her before the wedding would be impossible.

‘I won’t have time to deal with this later anyway.’

So today, please, let’s meet.

Just as Yeon pressed the doorbell with earnest hope, she heard the clicks and clanks of multiple locks being undone.

The creaky door swung open, revealing a woman with long hair draping her face.

“Yoo… Seoyeon?”

The woman slowly nodded. Yeon couldn’t bring herself to say she was glad to see her.

The woman’s face was completely different from the photo on her record card.

Yeon couldn’t find a single similarity between the woman in front of her and the picture.

The photo on her resume showed a lively person, but the current Yoo Seoyeon looked like a corpse.

No, that wasn’t enough. She looked even drier, almost like a mummy.

So Yeon asked again.

“You’re Yoo Seoyeon, right? From the palace…?”

“I don’t know!”

The moment she heard the word ‘palace,’ Yoo Seoyeon tightly shut her eyes, trembling as if shivering from a cold wind.

“Step aside, I don’t know. I know nothing!”

Suddenly, she pushed Yeon and tried to shut the door.

“Yoo Seoyeon, it’s me. We’ve been in touch. I’m from the welfare foundation. I just need to check inside the house briefly and then leave. That’s how we provide support, right?”

Yeon had disguised herself as a junior staff member of the welfare foundation to approach Yoo Seoyeon.

To avoid recognition, she wore a two-toned wig, large horn-rimmed glasses, and dressed like an ordinary college student.

Thanks to this disguise—and Yoo Seoyeon’s strong prejudice—she didn’t recognize Yeon as the princess.

Yoo Seoyeon assumed the great princess would never come looking for her, and that the noble royal family wouldn’t care about her.

“I brought food, too. You haven’t had a proper meal in days, right?”

Yeon reached back, and Silan quickly handed over a paper bag.

“Here. The kimbap and cream cheese bagels you like.”

Yoo Seoyeon swallowed hard and rolled her eyes.

Her once-large eyes stood out more from the weight loss, giving her a ghastly, almost skeletal appearance.

“…This is the welfare foundation, right?”

“Of course. I even have a business card. Shall I give it to you?”

Yeon moved to open her side bag, but Yoo Seoyeon shook her head and stepped aside.

“Come… in.”

“Thank you.”

Yeon swiftly entered before Yoo Seoyeon could change her mind.

Silan waited outside just in case.

Once the door closed, Yeon flinched.

The house was darker than outside. The north-facing windows and drawn curtains let almost no light in.

At least it was daytime, so she could make out objects. If it were cloudy or late, taking a single step would have been difficult.

Yeon tried to act nonchalant as she scanned the room.

The damp air carried a faint moldy smell. Trash covered the floor.

One thing stood out: newspapers neatly stacked in a corner.

Yeon looked through them. They all contained articles about the royal family. The same went for other dates.

‘She’s collecting articles about the royal family.’

There were only two reasons for collecting something: love it or hate it.

Yeon glanced at Yoo Seoyeon, standing nervously like a guest near the door.

She was biting her cracked lips.

Yeon sighed internally at her anxious state.

‘There’s no way I can find out anything today.’

Her condition was extremely unstable.

Time was tight, but investigations must consider the situation.

Today, it would be enough to check the condition of Yoo Seoyeon, the victim and survivor.

“Where’s the table? I want to prepare a meal.”

Hesitantly, Yoo Seoyeon pointed with her finger.

A round, low table piled high with instant noodle cups came into view.

“Shall we clear this before eating?”

Yeon rolled up her sleeves energetically.

The door opened, and Yeon came out of Yoo Seoyeon’s house.

Silan approached and asked,

“Did it go well?”

Yeon’s expression was grim.

“Why? What happened?”

“Yoo Seoyeon’s condition is very bad.”

Yeon explained what had happened inside.

While clearing around the desk and having Yoo Seoyeon eat, Yeon drew back the curtains, causing a seizure.

Pale as if she had seen a ghost, Yoo Seoyeon suddenly knelt, pleading for mercy.

“I didn’t say anything. I don’t know. So please…! I have no money now, okay? Don’t hit me!”

Then she crawled into a corner and curled up.

Yeon broke a sweat trying to calm the semi-conscious Seoyeon.

Fortunately, Seoyeon gradually regained her senses.

“I want to lie down. Can you leave now?”

With her gaunt face, Seoyeon asked.

Yeon tidied the surroundings, covered her with a blanket, and quietly left.

“How did someone young and intelligent end up like that?”

Silan looked at the closed iron door with sorrowful eyes.