Chapter 1

A blizzard raged during the funeral.

The death of the Duke of Muk, who had guarded the northern frontier.

Yet his funeral was pitiful.

I stood beneath the eaves, staring blankly at the snow covering the world.

“They say it was an accidental fall.”

“It makes no sense……! How could someone who had reached the Five-Hwa-Ryeon realm possibly die from a simple fall?”

“Shh, watch your tongue.”

The people talking inside glanced nervously at me.

As if the Duke of Muk’s death had something to do with me.

I had no reason to make excuses.

I knew the truth behind the Duke of Muk’s death, but……

【The Emperor poisoned the Duke of Muk and threw him into the Yogo Valley to kill him.】

I couldn’t go around telling everyone everything.

I bit down on my dry, cracked lips.

‘If only I had found out a little sooner…….’

If I had, I would have stopped His Majesty.

I had been anxiously watching the snow pile up when I turned away.

“Where is His Majesty?”

It had been three days since I had come to attend the Duke of Muk’s funeral and become stranded here because of the blizzard.

The Emperor had come for his younger brother’s funeral, recited a perfunctory eulogy, and then disappeared from sight.

“Your Majesty the Empress, His Majesty is resting in his chambers because of a headache. He ordered that no one be allowed inside.”

A headache?

I raised my head.

A hawk perched on the eaves met my gaze.

【The physician has been in the medical hall the whole time.】

A voice echoed inside my head.

I possessed the ability to understand the speech of animals.

It was thanks to this ability that I had helped His Majesty, pushed aside the Crown Prince, and placed him on the imperial throne.

His Majesty knew that as well, yet he was brazenly lying to me.

Perhaps it was because of the bone-chilling cold of the Duke of Muk’s residence.

A chill settled in my chest.

“I must see His Majesty.”

As I began walking, my maid hurried after me.

When I reached the chambers, the expression of the guard standing outside stiffened.

“Inform His Majesty that I have arrived.”

“Your Majesty the Empress, His Majesty’s headache is severe, so he ordered that no one be allowed inside……”

“Mm~ Your Majesty~ I’m so embarrassed~”

Before the guard could finish speaking, a coquettish voice drifted out from inside the chambers.

The guard’s face went deathly pale.

I stared silently at the closed door.

“Haha, it’s been quite a while.”

“Your Majesty, how do you still have so much energy after what you did yesterday?”

The laughter of a man and woman mingled together.

The sounds of pleasure from beyond the door did not stop.

I knew the owner of that coquettish voice all too well.

My half-sister, and the lowest-ranking concubine of the Duke of Muk—

Jin Mok-yeon.

“Ha……!”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

I didn’t care if His Majesty slept with another woman.

I had never expected that kind of love from him in the first place.

But Jin Mok-yeon was different.

“Oh my, did you stumble around and fall into the pond all by yourself? How foolish.”

Since childhood, she had looked down on me for being an illegitimate daughter and taken pleasure in tormenting me.

I clenched my trembling hands into fists.

‘Her husband’s corpse hasn’t even gone cold, yet she’s this shameless.’

My eyes fell upon the plaque hanging above the entrance to the chambers.

Hyeonanjae (玄安齋).

Despite its tranquil name, the sounds coming from within were anything but peaceful.

“Stand aside.”

“Your Majesty, but……”

Clatter!

I pushed the guard aside and flung the door open.

The air inside was thick with the stifling scent of pleasure and debauchery.

Beyond the curtains, I saw four bare feet tangled together on the bed.

“Did I not order that no one be allowed inside!”

The Emperor, dressed in disheveled clothes beyond the red blankets, sat up.

He raised his voice, but the instant he saw me, he froze.

Yet soon, a smile spread across Emperor Seo-gon’s lips.

Mok-yeon also straightened her clothes and smiled sweetly.

“Oh my, So-a? You came at just the right time.”

Her shamelessness left me speechless.

“I was just about to call for you anyway.”

Mok-yeon brushed her disheveled hair behind her ear and narrowed her eyes seductively.

“What are you trying to say?”

“His Majesty promised to make me the Empress.”

“What……?”

When I looked at the Emperor, he ran a hand through his sweat-dampened black hair without even bothering to straighten his disheveled collar.

“That is what will happen.”

“What does that mean?”

I was the Empress of the Empire.

I was the one who had raised Seo-gon, who had once been the Third Prince, to the imperial throne.

“Isn’t your crime serious?”

“My crime?”

“You committed adultery with the Duke of Muk, did you not?”

What?

It was absurd.

I had not even had any contact with the Duke of Muk apart from interacting with him on official occasions.

If using my animals to gather information from the Duke of Muk’s residence and deliver it to Emperor Seo-gon counted as contact, then perhaps that was the only connection between us.

“Mok-yeon saw it herself, apparently. I hear that the Duke of Muk even killed himself because he was afraid his affair with the Empress would be discovered.”

“What are you talking about!”

It was an outrageous lie. There couldn’t possibly be any evidence.

And yet—

Clink.

Mok-yeon, who was sitting on the bed, tossed something at my feet.

“Oh my. Your Majesty! We found something like this on the Duke of Muk’s bed.”

A hairpin rolled across the floor.

At its tip, an ornament shaped like a lotus glimmered beneath the candlelight.

I recognized it at once.

“This is the hairpin you lost, isn’t it? What’s the big deal? I bought it when I went to the marketplace! Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“How dare you treat me like a thief!”

It was my mother’s keepsake, which Mok-yeon had stolen from me long ago.

“So-a, why would your hairpin be found on the Duke of Muk’s bed?”

“Jin Mok-yeon!”

I could no longer contain my anger and shouted.

There was no way Seo-gon could actually have fallen for such a farce.

But rather than looking surprised, Seo-gon merely spoke with a bored expression.

“Do not resent me, So-a.”

My cold fingertips trembled.

Just then, Seo-gon rose from the bed and put on his outer robe.

“You kept defending the Duke of Muk, after all.”

“That was because I wanted to protect this country from the Yogo Valley!”

“How could I possibly make a witch who can understand the speech of beasts the Empress?”

Seo-gon interrupted me and tilted his head slightly.

“A witch……?”

I was rendered speechless.

I had devoted my entire ability to him.

And now that I was no longer useful, he called me a witch?

Seo-gon quietly bent at the waist until our eyes met.

“If you had been less clever, I would have placed you on the throne of Empress despite being an illegitimate daughter and cherished you for the rest of your life.”

His voice seeped softly into my ears.

“You just happened to be too clever.”

There was genuine regret in his voice.

That made it even more horrifying.

An empty laugh caught in my throat.

‘A human being is worse than a beast.’

How had I not known?

Even though the beasts had told me so much about the evil deeds of humans, why had I believed that Seo-gon would be different?

Smack!

Unable to contain my rage, I slapped him across the face.

Seo-gon’s head snapped to the side.

Then he slowly turned his eyes toward me.

“How dare you lay a hand on the Imperial Body?”

“I am the one who made that body an Imperial Body, and I am the one who made you Empress.”

I glared at him through clenched teeth.

I should never have made him Emperor.

I regretted the past when I had been deceived by his gentle words and smiles.

‘I was blinded by scraps of kindness that would have been enough to throw to a dog.’

And I was only realizing it now.

“Lock the Empress up and allow no one to see her until the funeral is over.”

He carelessly draped mourning clothes over himself and ordered the soldiers outside.

Then, with the same gentle expression he had always worn, he whispered to me.

“We have shared a long history together, so I will see you after the funeral procession.”

As though he were granting me several hours of mercy.

And so Seo-gon leisurely left Hyeonanjae.

“How pathetic, So-a.”

Mok-yeon rose from the bed and snickered.

“You should have known your place and lived accordingly.”

Mok-yeon slipped on a red outer garment that was completely inappropriate for a funeral.

But I could only laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jin Mok-yeon. You’re being used too.”

It must have been time for him to replace me with a puppet who was easier to control.

But Mok-yeon merely smiled seductively.

“Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

She calmly trimmed her long fingernails as she looked down at me.

I no longer wanted to remain in this place.

I tried to stand.

But—

Sway.

My body tilted, and I collapsed onto my knees.

“……!”

“Oh my, what’s wrong, So-a?”

The hand I placed against the floor trembled violently.

‘Why……?’

The strength was draining from my body.

My head was spinning.

“Ah, I suppose the incense was too strong for you.”

Mok-yeon smiled, her eyes curving as she gestured toward the incense burner with her chin.

Sharp, white smoke was rising from it.

“Why? I suppose your beasts didn’t tell you about this?”

As she spoke, Mok-yeon pulled a small bottle from inside her clothes.

“What good is it to prolong such a pitiful life for a few more hours?”

She walked barefoot toward me and grabbed my chin.

I wanted to knock her hand away, but I could barely even lift my arm.

Mok-yeon smiled sweetly as she watched me struggle.

“Since Her Majesty the Empress knows the shame she has brought upon herself and takes her own life……”

She quietly removed the stopper from the bottle, forced open my mouth, and poured the liquid inside.

“Ugh, mmph……!”

I tried to turn my head away and keep my mouth shut, but Mok-yeon’s fingernails dug into my cheek as she gripped my head even harder.

The liquid in the bottle flowed into my mouth.

It was scorching hot, as though I had swallowed molten lava.

“Cough……!”

Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth along with the poison.

Only then did Mok-yeon let go of my cheek, almost throwing it aside.

Bright red blood spilled onto the floor.

Through my fading vision,

I saw Mok-yeon smiling down at me.

“Goodbye, you foolish witch.”

I clawed at the floor and bit down on my lips.

I regretted it.

My foolish choices.

As the sounds around me grew more and more distant, I thought—

‘If only I could turn back time…….’

At the same moment, everything went dark.

And then—

“Get up already! What are you doing?”

Gasp!

At the sharp shout, I jolted upright, breathing heavily.

With my heart pounding as if it would burst, every breath I drew stabbed deep into my lungs.

As I instinctively touched my neck,

beyond my blurry vision,

I saw a scene that was painfully familiar from my memories.

Worn-out furniture, a familiar musty smell, and the contemptuous gazes of the maids looking down on me.

“You’re completely useless, and you’re lazy on top of that!”

The sharp voice brought me fully back to my senses.

‘I’m alive……?’

Without thinking, I touched my neck.

The sensation of my throat burning was still vividly etched into my memory.

Yet I was clearly alive and unharmed.

I approached the dressing mirror.

A youthful-looking face.

A body as thin and frail as a dried branch.

A stiff hemp garment so rough that it chafed against my skin.

Eighteen-year-old Jin So-a stood before the mirror.