TRSCSS 02

Chapter 02

The Truth

“Would you perhaps like to work here? No, it’s just that you always seem to be looking at this every day.”

Pointing at the help wanted sign, the shop owner spoke. Lee Seo’s face turned red. She had no idea he had been watching her.

“N-No, I mean… yes, if you would have me, I’ll do my best. But my age doesn’t fit the requirements.”

“Ah, this?”

The owner of the traditional dessert shop tore the paper down, crumpled it, and ripped it apart.

“I only wrote that because other people write things like that. It’s not like I was specifically looking for someone like that. More importantly, when can you start working? It would be difficult right away, wouldn’t it? I need to make the sweets, but I don’t have anyone to handle customers.”

“No, it’s fine. I can start right now.”

Even if she went back home, there was nothing particular for her to do. She would probably just read books until she fell asleep.

“Oh my! That’s wonderful. Come inside quickly.”

From that day on, Lee Seo began working at the dessert shop. During the day, she handled the register and dealt with customers, and at night she learned how to make traditional sweets. Right after quitting her company job, dealing with people had been unbearably exhausting, but now a smile always rested on Lee Seo’s face as she greeted customers.

She liked watching customers carefully choose their sweets. Whenever she imagined people someday selecting traditional confections she herself had made with excited expressions, Lee Seo felt new energy welling up inside her.

Later on, even the time spent traveling between home and the shop felt wasteful, so she asked the owner for permission and moved her belongings into the small room behind the store. She spent nights organizing and refining the traditional sweet recipes the owner had taught her. Even then, she never felt tired at all.

“Fire!”

By the time she opened her eyes at someone’s scream, thick smoke had already filled the room. Half-awake, Lee Seo stretched out her arms and groped around.

“Miss Lee Seo! Miss Lee Seo! Hurry and come out! Lee Seo!”

It was the shop owner’s voice. Lee Seo desperately waved her arms toward the sound, but her hands caught nothing. The black smoke obscured the exit completely.

“Help me!”

She couldn’t breathe. Her throat burned too badly for her to shout properly. Lee Seo rasped out pleas for help, but she knew no one would hear her voice. Flames flicked their tongues through the black smoke as they crept closer.

“Please… help me.”

Her eyes slowly closed.

That was the end of Lee Seo’s memories of her previous life.

Lee Seo bit down hard on her lip. Why did she have to remember this at a time like this?

“My lady!”

Samdeuk called out to her desperately again.

Outside had already become a living hell, and the only way for him to survive was to flee while protecting his mistress, young master, and young lady. The fates of the elder master and the younger master were practically sealed already. Their sacrifice could not be wasted.

When Lee Seo refused to move, he grabbed her flat against his shoulder, determined to run even if he had to carry her by force. But Lee Seo suddenly struggled violently. Her movements were astonishingly strong for a little girl, and Samdeuk stumbled awkwardly before accidentally dropping her. Lee Seo immediately pressed her ear against the crack in the door again.

“You thought no one would know if you resigned your post and lived hidden away in a place like this?”

Seokcheol knelt down, using his upright sword as support. Then he stared directly into Hwang Yunseok’s eyes and sneered.

“What are you talking about?”

A mocking smile spread across Seokcheol’s face. He found it ridiculous how Hwang Yunseok always pretended to be righteous and noble. A man about to die, yet still carrying himself with such dignity.

“I heard the young lady of this household is Prince Jian’s fiancée. What do you suppose that means?”

Hwang Yunseok’s brow twitched.

“How could I possibly understand the intentions of those above? But from the beginning, the current king ascended the throne after slaughtering all his brothers. Only Prince Jian remains.”

Seokcheol raised a finger and playfully wagged it in front of Hwang Yunseok’s eyes.

“The reason Prince Jian was left alive is because His Majesty knew the boy posed no threat. Though born of the Queen Dowager, the prince is only thirteen. No matter what, I suppose His Majesty wished to avoid leaving behind a record that he exterminated every single one of his brothers. Leaving even one alive would make history judge him less harshly.”

“A man who killed so many brothers and even his nephews feared criticism? Ridiculous beyond words. You mean he caused all this because my granddaughter is Prince Jian’s fiancée? What a foolish tyrant. All those innocent deaths outside are his people! He would do all this just to eliminate one old man like me?”

Hwang Yunseok shouted furiously as he glared at Seokcheol.

“No, no. You only understand half the matter. This wasn’t done to kill you. It was done to threaten the Queen Dowager. In truth, it doesn’t matter where powerless little Prince Jian is. His Majesty simply doesn’t want more bloodshed in the royal family, but Her Majesty refuses to remain still.”

“Y-You think that makes any sense?”

“What does my opinion matter? It’s what His Majesty desires. Really, why didn’t you treasure your lovely granddaughter a little more?”

Seokcheol rose to his feet with a sinister smile.

Watching everything unfold, Lee Seo’s body trembled violently. He was about to kill her grandfather and father.

Everything was exactly as written in the book she had stayed up late reading night after night. After witnessing her grandfather and father’s deaths, she would lose her mind, rush out at Seokcheol, and meet her own death as well.

Lee Seo sprang to her feet.

“Samdeuk, let’s go! Hurry!”

The young lady who had refused to budge suddenly got up and started moving, leaving Samdeuk utterly confused. Still, he hurried after her at once. Behind them, the screams of the elder master and younger master rang out one after another. Alarmed by the horrifying sounds, Samdeuk glanced anxiously at Lee Seo, worried she might collapse in tears.

“Quickly! We have to hurry.”

Tears hung in Lee Seo’s eyes as she urged him on fiercely. But her young body could not move as quickly as she wanted. The ground was uneven, and the path was unsuitable for a seven-year-old girl running in a skirt.

The passage leading to the underground storage cave for autumn grain had been dug half as a pastime by Hwang Yunseok himself. He had gathered dried persimmons, honey, and snacks there so that whenever his grandchildren visited, he could personally prepare treats for them instead of leaving it to servants or daughters-in-law. It had been one of his small joys.

Naturally, the tunnel had not been made smoothly. Dug haphazardly by a scholar who had never touched dirt in his life, it was rough and filthy enough that it was a wonder it had not collapsed already. Thick tree roots occasionally protruded from the floor. Thanks to Hwang Yunseok frequently walking through it, the dirt had been packed down enough to prevent dust, but that only made it slippery and dangerous for Lee Seo to run across.

Even Samdeuk struggled to carry her on his back because the tunnel ceiling was too low. Every time Lee Seo stumbled, he stamped his feet anxiously.

“My lady, are you alright?”

Out of breath, Lee Seo merely waved her hand and urged him onward.

Faster. They had to hurry.

Unlike in the book, Lee Seo had no intention whatsoever of dying.

There had once been a time when she lived like the dead, exhausted by life itself. But not anymore.

How many sweets from her previous life had she never gotten the chance to make? Some she had only sold without even tasting because they felt too precious to waste. That was no way to live. She should never have treated herself like that.

She should have tasted the sweetest and most delicious things in the world first and lived happily.

If she had known she would die so meaninglessly, she would have treated herself better. She should have lived happily.

What was the point of finally finding something she loved, only to die before she could even properly enjoy it?

Gathering up the cumbersome hem of her skirt, Lee Seo hurried forward. Behind them came the sound of the door being smashed open. Once they reached the cave entrance and opened the door, the back mountain would be right outside.

“Lee Seo! Hurry!”

Her older brother Hyunwoo called frantically, stamping his feet.

Chaotic footsteps pursuing them echoed from behind. The cave door was already open. Upon spotting Lee Seo, Madam Jeong scooped her up with one arm, grabbed Hyunwoo’s hand with the other, and immediately began running toward the mountain. In the rush, the norigae hanging from Lee Seo’s waist snapped off, but there was no time to pick it up.

The village, including their house, had become a sea of flames.

After closing the cave door, Samdeuk picked up a nearby ember and set the entrance ablaze. The wood, dried out by the spring drought, quickly caught fire and roared upward. Urgent cries and screams sounded from inside.

Samdeuk briefly measured the distance between the burning cave and the fleeing family of his masters. Then he threw the norigae the young lady had dropped in a completely different direction from where the family had escaped.

After that, he too ran after the direction in which his masters had disappeared.

“Her Majesty the Queen Dowager arrives!”

The court lady shouted loudly, but the king, reclining lazily against his cushions, showed no sign of correcting his posture. The palace maids standing guard outside Gangnyeong Hall did not appear embarrassed by the king’s crude behavior at all. Instead, they proudly lifted their chins and looked the Queen Dowager’s attendants up and down.

“What can lowly people like you possibly do about it?”

Their mockery of the Queen Dowager’s attendants was obvious.

The senior court lady following behind the Queen Dowager bit her lip hard. But making an issue of their rudeness here would only place her mistress in a more difficult position.

“Her Majesty the Queen Dowager has arrived.”

Even long after entering the chamber, the king remained sprawled out without moving.

“Her Majesty the Queen Dowager has arr—”

“That’s enough. Leave us.”

Only after the Queen Dowager dismissed the senior court lady behind her did the king’s half-open eyes finally shift toward her. A faint smile lingered on his bored-looking face.

The Queen Dowager looked down at him for a moment before slowly kneeling.

At that, the king leisurely sat up.

“Oh dear, Your Majesty, why are you doing this? People already say I’m unfilial. Are you trying to turn your son into a complete scoundrel?”

“Please spare him, Your Majesty. Spare Prince Jian. I was wrong. Everything was my fault, so please, at least spare Prince Jian!”

“Spare him from what?”

The king asked teasingly, as though mocking her.

Though she was the Queen Dowager, she was actually younger than the king.

After the first queen of the late king gave birth to three princes and passed away, the second queen bore the current king, along with six other princes and one princess.

When the second queen died, the late king was already over seventy and reluctant to take another queen. However, the ministers insisted the inner palace required a matriarch, and so the current Queen Dowager entered the palace as the third queen.