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Chapter 43
Hwanya headed straight for the underground prison.
In the dark, decrepit dungeon, Songhyeon was imprisoned, his face worn down by all the hardship he had endured.
Hwanya silently stared at him with an indifferent expression. He felt no particular sympathy.
Before coming here, he had already heard everything that had happened.
‘Songhyeon tried to bring a young girl into the Ju family by disguising her as Myeongyeong’s daughter.’
It was not particularly surprising.
Namto was not exactly a peaceful land.
Ever since the Emperor withdrew his influence from Namto and the Jujak family had ruled over it like kings, such schemes had never ceased.
However, the reason this matter was serious was because they had been unable to determine exactly what method Songhyeon had used to make the girl’s face identical to Myeongyeong’s.
When abilities were used to alter a face, there was always a trace.
Other ability users could perceive it even more clearly.
‘Yet Father, Hwayeong, and Do-ui all failed to notice anything…’
That meant Songhyeon had used some other cunning method.
Tilting his head slightly, Hwanya spoke.
“You should talk now. It’s not as though I have no idea who’s behind this anyway.”
“Khehehe… Then why not just keep guessing, Young Master?”
Perhaps because he had kept his mouth shut for so long, his dry throat produced a scraping sound.
“Guessing and confirming are different things.”
Hwanya slowly walked forward and stopped in front of the iron bars.
Songhyeon looked up at him while kneeling on the floor.
For someone who had once been the head of the Song family, a powerful figure throughout Namto, he looked pitifully shabby.
“Eventually, we’ll figure out who’s behind this if we investigate. The Song family is already finished. If it’s all over anyway, are you staying silent out of loyalty?”
Hwanya sounded genuinely unable to understand.
“What do you gain from this?”
“Have you never considered that I’m not keeping silent because I want to gain something, but because there is something I hate?”
Hehehe.
Songhyeon laughed like a ghost.
“The eldest young master is still just a child…”
Ignoring Songhyeon’s words, Hwanya spoke.
“There’s no need for further conversation.”
He slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.
“I’m going to search through your memories now. If it hurts, feel free to scream.”
Flames rose from Hwanya’s hand.
This was Hwanya’s ability.
It was called the “Flames of Memory.”
A powerful fire capable of burning memories themselves. It would tear through a person’s mind, dragging out everything hidden inside.
The process was unimaginably painful.
Once all their memories had been extracted, the victim would become an empty-minded fool.
Because of that, this method was not used except on the most heinous criminals.
Jujeokseo also disliked seeing Hwanya become excessively cruel, so there were very few occasions when he used such a method.
But this time was different.
Hwanya reached through the bars and grabbed Songhyeon’s head.
Fwoooosh!
A massive blaze erupted, and Songhyeon’s eyes rolled back.
The next moment, Songhyeon’s memories began appearing within the flames.
Through those memories, Hwanya saw Ahee for the first time.
His brow furrowed.
‘They made her resemble her to a terrifying degree.’
It was a face that anyone would believe belonged to Ju Myeongyeong if she had suddenly returned as a child.
Hwanya widened his eyes.
This method could only be used once.
He had to observe everything without missing anything.
As he dug deeper into the memories and traveled further into the past, he saw a brown-haired girl who was presumably Ahee.
And then—
Fwoooosh!
“Ugh!”
A horrifying pain struck Hwanya, forcing him to retreat from Songhyeon.
The flames instantly died down.
“Guaaaargh!”
With a scream, Songhyeon’s head suddenly drooped to one side.
One of the guards rushed over to check on him, but Songhyeon was already dead.
The guard spoke in a panicked voice.
“Y-Young Master…!”
“…I didn’t do it.”
Hwanya replied calmly.
He stared at Songhyeon’s limp corpse.
‘A secret technique had been placed on him. One that kills anyone whose memories are peeked into.’
That was why Songhyeon had been so confident.
No matter how deeply Hwanya searched his mind, he believed Hwanya would never be able to identify the mastermind with certainty.
“What shall we do? He died during interrogation, so we’ll need to report this.”
“I’ll report it myself.”
Hwanya rose to his feet as though it were nothing significant.
It was not particularly rare to place a secret technique on someone to prevent them from revealing confidential information.
Jujeokseo had probably anticipated something like this to some extent.
Still, failing to uncover the mastermind left a bitter taste in Hwanya’s mouth.
‘It’s probably the Imperial Family.’
The important question was whether Songhyeon had acted alone or whether there were collaborators within Namto.
If it was the latter, they would have to root out every last one of them.
But now that the memories could no longer be read…
“Don’t move the body. Leave it somewhere safe. Father will want to see it later.”
“Yes, sir!”
Hwanya’s subordinates dragged the corpse away and tossed it into a corner.
The cold body collapsed heavily onto the dungeon floor.
“Songhyeon is dead?”
“Yes.”
Hwanya answered calmly.
“It seems a secret technique was placed on him. One that kills him if someone attempts to read his memories.”
“If someone capable of placing such a powerful secret technique was involved…”
“Then it was either the Emperor himself or someone close to him in the Imperial Capital.”
Jujeokseo nodded.
“There is no doubt that the Emperor has taken a great interest in Namto.”
“Could it really be because of Aunt Myeongyeong…?”
Hwanya murmured.
“It may be. If Yeon is truly Myeongyeong’s daughter, then it means Myeongyeong met the Emperor seven years ago.”
Perhaps the Emperor had been coveting Namto all this time because of Myeongyeong.
Hwanya narrowed his eyes.
“If the Emperor bribed Songhyeon because he wanted influence over Namto, then it also explains why he confidently brought a girl with Aunt’s exact face.”
“And it explains why she possessed Myeongyeong’s belongings.”
The belongings.
And a girl with an identical face.
Songhyeon had appeared completely certain that the Yeongbo would react to the girl.
That meant—
“Myeongyeong may still be alive.”
“Aunt may still be alive.”
Father and son arrived at the same conclusion simultaneously.
Baekyeon had once said that while living in the Imperial Palace, she had never heard a single story about her mother.
No one ever spoke of her.
It was as though her mother had never existed from the beginning.
When she spoke of it, there had been hesitation on her face, as though she believed her mother must already be dead.
However—
‘If the Emperor helped Songhyeon, then it would also explain how Songhyeon managed to make Ahee look exactly like Myeongyeong.’
They still did not know how her face had been changed.
However, Yeongbo was an object that reacted to its owner’s blood.
That was why it had reacted to Baekyeon.
So if someone possessed even a single drop of Myeongyeong’s blood—
And if that blood had somehow been given to Ahee—
Then Songhyeon’s strange confidence would no longer be impossible to explain.
“We should request assistance from the Hyeon family.”
The Hyeon family.
The clan that inherited the power of the Divine Beast Hyeonmu.
And once, they had been allies of the Jujak family.
Since Jujeokseo had completely severed ties with the Imperial Capital, he would need the Hyeon family’s help if he wished to investigate affairs inside it.
However, Hwanya seemed reluctant.
Something appeared to be bothering him.
“But Father, the Hyeon family…”
“Don’t worry. There won’t be any problems.”
Jujeokseo cut him off with a shake of his head.
“Is anyone there? I’m writing a letter! Prepare a carrier pigeon!”
At Jujeokseo’s command, the servants immediately sprang into action.
The carrier pigeons raised by the Ju family flapped their wings.
“Flower rain…”
“Wow! That’s right, Miss! You wrote it perfectly.”
“Hehe… Really?”
“Yes, our young miss. At this rate, you’ll finish an entire book before long.”
Sirang, who had been helping Baekyeon study writing, smiled brightly.
Sirang had entered the Jujak family at a young age and learned to read and write there, becoming highly skilled in literacy.
Baekyeon stared at the characters she had written and smiled softly.
‘I want to practice quickly and write even more beautifully.’
Unlike before, there were now more and more things she wanted to do.
They kept increasing one by one.
She worried a little that she might become greedy and start wanting too much.
But even so, it no longer frightened her the way it once had.
“I want to write… another word…”
Baekyeon carefully placed her hand on the table to write something else.
At that moment—
“Yeon-ah!”
A familiar voice came from outside.
Baekyeon immediately recognized the owner of the voice, and her face lit up with delight.
