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Chapter 81
“W-What did I do to deserve this?”
Go Jun-hwan wiped the cold sweat from his brow and immediately tried to deny it.
“Seems like you’ve forgotten. Or maybe it’s something you want to forget.”
As if expecting his reaction, Yeon let out a laugh.
“I’ll tell you. First, there’s the surveillance of civilians.”
On the orders of the Crown Prince Byeong, Go Jun-hwan had conducted background checks on many people, including Kang Seo-jun. Several of Yeon’s close associates were also included.
“You didn’t just surveil them, though. You even used their weaknesses to threaten them, didn’t you?”
Through these investigations, he had blackmailed some of the shady individuals to extract information about Yeon.
“And there was the assassination contract on me and Kang Seo-jun in the Czech Republic.”
Go Jun-hwan hung his head low.
Yeon and Seo-jun already knew everything.
All the kindness they had shown him until now was deliberate—they already knew his actions.
“If you were caught for the royal assassination, the minimum sentence is life imprisonment. But if you were involved unwillingly—say, threatened by someone—your sentence might be reduced to about 20 years.”
As Yeon spoke, Seo-jun added,
“I mention it because you might think life imprisonment and 20 years are practically the same. But life is long. Depending on how you handle things, the Princess could help you in the trial.”
Jun-hwan’s face brightened slightly at Seo-jun’s words. Yeon noticed and pressed further.
“We’ll assemble a professional legal team for you. As I said, we’ll protect you from taking the fall for someone else’s crime. And Go Jun-hwan, your ex-wife is raising your daughter, right? She studies music, doesn’t she? Doesn’t she want to study abroad?”
All the information on Go Jun-hwan so far had been gathered by a private investigator assistant.
Though the assistant failed to track his location, they even discovered the color of underwear he preferred.
“My daughter?”
Jun-hwan tensed for a brief moment.
“Yes. She’s talented. We could even write a recommendation for the Royal Academy of Music in England.”
The words “Royal Academy of Music in England” made Jun-hwan’s eyes waver. He didn’t know much about classical music, but his daughter had dreamed of studying there.
For a moment, he imagined his daughter, bathed in Yeon’s influence, studying freely at the Royal Academy of Music.
Though Jun-hwan lived a life covered in filth, handling others’ errands, he wanted to be a normal father for his daughter—and it shook him.
“…Is my safety guaranteed?”
“Whose safety do you want guaranteed?”
“My daughter and ex-wife, and me… and my… older brother.”
Jun-hwan’s twin had suffered from polio and tuberculosis as a child, leaving him disabled. Whenever the Crown Prince’s schemes went awry, it was Jun-hwan’s brother who would take the brunt of the blame.
“Is your brother okay? Life is hard enough—maybe sending him off would be easier?”
Remembering the Crown Prince’s threats, Jun-hwan shuddered.
Yeon, who had silently observed, spoke up.
“Would you like me to draft a written guarantee?”
Jun-hwan repeatedly licked his dry lips.
“Can I really trust you, Princess?”
“Do you know Yoo Seo-yeon?”
Jun-hwan swallowed hard.
“I’m protecting her too. Is that enough of an answer?”
Yoo Seo-yeon—someone the Crown Prince had desperately searched for by any means but failed to find—was now under Yeon’s protection.
Jun-hwan nodded bitterly but agreed.
“You’re very trustworthy. What do you want to know, Princess?”
Jun-hwan switched gears quickly.
“Shall we start with the CCTV at Hyeopgyeongmun?”
“…Twelve years ago, I disposed of a courtier’s body and the CCTV evidence.”
“Do you remember the courtier’s name?” Seo-jun asked.
“Well… I heard it, but it was such a hectic situation that I can’t really recall…”
Yeon and Seo-jun swallowed their breath simultaneously.
“What exactly was recorded on that CCTV?” Yeon asked, her voice trembling slightly.
“I don’t know beyond that. That’s all I know. I have nothing more to say. I only did what I was told.”
“The order came from the Crown Prince, right?”
“Yes.”
Go Jun-hwan spoke without hesitation about the atrocities committed by the Crown Prince, someone he had partnered with for a long time. Their relationship was never built on trust—Jun-hwan would do anything to survive.
While Yeon pondered the missing pieces, Seo-jun leaned on the desk and asked Jun-hwan,
“Why were you monitoring Yoo Seo-yeon?”
“Because we feared she would expose what the Crown Prince had done to her.”
With this, the number of witnesses to the Crown Prince’s crimes grew to three.
However, there was still no direct evidence that he had committed acts of violence.
“You definitely destroyed the Hyeopgyeongmun CCTV, right?”
“I handed over the original file to the Crown Prince. I don’t know what happened afterward.”
Jun-hwan didn’t seem to be lying.
Yeon looked at Seo-jun.
“We should find that CCTV, it seems.”
As Yeon and Seo-jun exchanged glances, Jun-hwan fidgeted with his fingers and cautiously spoke.
“Sometimes… the Crown Prince loses his composure. On stormy, typhoon-like days, he panics. Then he acts like a madman… always talking about a certain woman. I think it’s the same woman I handled back then…”
“Why do you think so?”
Jun-hwan looked at Seo-jun.
“He screamed, asking why she tormented him even after death.”
Seo-jun’s eyes sharpened.
Seo-jun and Yeon returned to Nakseonjae.
Jun-hwan had asked the eunuch Oh for personal protection.
“How’s the situation at Donggungjeon?” Yeon asked, massaging her neck.
A few hours ago, the Crown Prince had returned to illness, so he would know that Jun-hwan had disappeared.
“It’s been completely turned upside down.”
Though Jun-hwan had disappeared, the Crown Prince couldn’t launch a full-scale search. Above all, he would suspect Jun-hwan might have left voluntarily.
‘They don’t seem to trust each other.’
That’s why Jun-hwan switched sides so easily.
“Let’s leave work aside for now. Things are flowing in our favor.”
Seo-jun sat Yeon on the sofa.
Yoo Seo-yeon had met Jang-mi, who had returned to Korea, and was recovering rapidly.
Through Jang-mi, she learned that the social worker who had helped her was actually the Princess, and she naturally accepted the situation.
Jang-mi and Seo-yeon were united in bringing down the Crown Prince.
They had contacted courtiers who could testify directly about the Crown Prince’s abuses.
Though not under Yeon’s orders, the two women took action, unwilling to let the Crown Prince’s abuse go unchecked.
Soon, news of the Crown Prince’s abuse would be reported extensively.
Yet, that alone wasn’t enough to strip him of power. A stronger, more decisive move was needed.
“Go out, Chief Seong.” Yeon instructed Shil-an.
With her gone, only Yeon and Seo-jun remained.
Yeon turned to Seo-jun.
“The woman Go Jun-hwan mentioned…” she began carefully.
Seo-jun’s hands trembled slightly as he loosened his watch and tie.
“Yes.”
“…Seems like it’s Ji-young, right?”
Twelve years ago, the Crown Prince’s panic episodes had begun the day Ji-young went missing.
Whenever he panicked, he searched for a woman matching a specific description: short hair, fair skin, round face, and…
“A red spot the size of a coin on her neck.”
Ji-young had used her short hair to cover the mark.
Seo-jun remained silent, the air around him heavy.
Yeon took his hand resting by her thigh.
“Seo-jun, you’ve been searching for Ji-young since coming to Nakseonjae, haven’t you?”
Using all his authority, Seo-jun checked CCTV footage and various records whenever he could.
He lived an extreme life, sneaking out while Yeon slept, returning just before she woke.
Yeon had pretended not to notice because, over time, her hope that Ji-young was alive was fading.
Clinging to a crumbling hope like sand was difficult.
Watching the empty space on the bed, Yeon silently wiped her tears.
But she couldn’t hold on to the slipping sand forever.
Finding the living and finding the dead are similar, yet different. You have to search places where the living shouldn’t be.
Yeon looked at the silent Seo-jun.
Though expressionless, she could feel his pain and helplessness.
So she carefully wrapped her arms around his waist.
She wanted to comfort him and soothe his wounds.
“Seo-jun, look at me.”
He slowly turned his head.
His bloodshot eyes swirled with emotion.
Yeon cupped his face with both hands.
“Tonight, you should sleep well. I’ll make sure you sleep this time.”
Before he could respond, their lips met.
