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1202 Words
The rain did not stop for two days.
Dark clouds covered the capital, and the palace halls felt colder than usual. Servants whispered quietly as they walked, and even the officials seemed more careful with their words.
Jin Woo noticed everything.
Since returning to the palace, he had learned that fear changed the atmosphere of a place before people openly showed it.
And lately, fear was growing.
That morning, Jin Woo was reviewing documents inside his study when a servant entered carefully.
“My lord.”
Jin Woo looked up.
“What is it?”
“There is someone outside asking to see you.”
“Who?”
The servant hesitated.
“She refused to give her name.”
Jin Woo’s expression stayed calm, but his thoughts sharpened immediately.
“Did she say why she came?”
“She only said the matter concerns Lady Ara.”
Silence filled the room for a moment.
Then Jin Woo stood.
“Bring her in.”
The servant bowed and quickly left.
A few moments later, a woman entered slowly.
She wore a simple blue robe with a hood covering part of her face. Her clothes were plain, but the way she carried herself did not seem ordinary.
Jin Woo studied her carefully.
Older than Ara.
Younger than the palace ministers.
Her hands were trembling slightly.
Not from cold.
Fear.
The woman lowered her head respectfully.
“Lord Jin Woo.”
“You know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“And you know my wife’s name.”
The woman swallowed nervously.
“I once worked in the palace.”
Jin Woo motioned toward the chair across from him.
“Sit.”
She obeyed carefully.
Even after sitting down, she looked ready to leave at any moment.
Jin Woo remained standing for a few seconds before finally sitting opposite her.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Miyeon.”
“Why come to me now?”
Miyeon lowered her eyes.
“Because I heard you started searching again.”
Again.
Interesting choice of word.
Jin Woo noticed it immediately.
“You knew I searched before?”
“After Lady Ara died, you asked many questions.”
His face remained calm.
“I received very few answers.”
“Yes,” Miyeon whispered. “Because people were afraid.”
Jin Woo leaned slightly back.
“And are you afraid?”
Her fingers tightened against her robe.
“Yes.”
“At least you are honest.”
Miyeon looked at him carefully after hearing that.
Perhaps she had expected anger.
Instead, she found calmness.
That often frightened people more.
Jin Woo spoke again.
“What did you want to tell me?”
Miyeon hesitated for several seconds.
Then finally—
“The night before Lady Ara died… she came to the palace.”
Jin Woo’s eyes became still.
Ara came to the palace?
He had never heard that before.
“When?”
“Late evening. Quietly.”
“Why?”
Miyeon shook her head.
“I do not know everything. I only know she was meeting someone.”
Jin Woo’s voice lowered slightly.
“Who?”
Miyeon looked nervous again.
“I never saw the person directly.”
“That is not enough.”
“I know.”
Jin Woo watched her silently.
Then asked the question carefully.
“How were you involved?”
Miyeon took a slow breath.
“I was one of the servants working near the eastern library that night. Lady Ara looked frightened.”
That immediately caught his attention.
Frightened?
Ara was gentle, but not easily frightened.
“What happened?”
“She kept asking if someone had arrived yet.”
“Did she mention a name?”
“No.”
Miyeon looked down.
“But I remember something strange.”
Jin Woo stayed silent, waiting.
“She kept holding a small cloth pouch very tightly. Like it was important.”
A cloth pouch.
Jin Woo frowned slightly.
He did not remember Ara carrying anything unusual before her death.
“What was inside it?”
“I do not know.”
“Did you see it again?”
Miyeon shook her head slowly.
“No. After that night, it disappeared.”
The room became quiet.
Jin Woo’s thoughts moved carefully.
A secret meeting.
A hidden pouch.
Fear.
None of it matched the simple story he had believed for years.
Miyeon suddenly looked toward the door nervously.
“You should stop searching.”
Jin Woo almost sighed at hearing those words again.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because people are dying.”
That made him still.
“What do you mean?”
Miyeon’s face had become pale now.
“There were others who knew pieces of the truth. One by one, they disappeared.”
Jin Woo’s gaze sharpened instantly.
“Who?”
“A guard.”
“Name.”
“I do not know.”
“Who else?”
Miyeon hesitated.
Then whispered,
“A servant girl from the western hall. She vanished months after Lady Ara died.”
Jin Woo’s expression darkened slightly.
Too many disappearances.
Too many silenced people.
This was becoming larger with every answer.
Miyeon slowly stood.
“I should not have come.”
“Not yet.”
She froze.
Jin Woo looked directly at her.
“Did Ara meet Princess Serina that night?”
Miyeon’s eyes widened slightly.
Not shock.
Recognition.
That was enough.
“She did, didn’t she?”
Miyeon looked down immediately.
“I never heard their conversation.”
“But they met.”
A long silence followed.
Finally, Miyeon nodded once.
Very slightly.
Jin Woo’s chest tightened quietly.
So Serina lied.
Or at least hid part of the truth.
Miyeon quickly spoke again.
“But Your Highness was not alone.”
Jin Woo looked up sharply.
“What?”
“There was another person there.”
The air inside the room suddenly felt heavy.
“Who?”
Miyeon looked terrified now.
“I never saw the face clearly.”
“Man or woman?”
“A man.”
Jin Woo stood slowly.
“Describe him.”
“He wore black official robes. Higher rank. I remember his voice sounded older.”
Minister Hwan.
The thought appeared immediately inside Jin Woo’s mind.
Miyeon stepped back nervously.
“I truly do not know more.”
Jin Woo noticed genuine fear in her eyes.
She was not pretending.
He slowly sat back down again.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Jin Woo asked quietly,
“Why help me now?”
Miyeon’s eyes lowered.
“Because Lady Ara once helped my son.”
Again.
Ara’s kindness returned to him through strangers.
Even after years.
Even after death.
Miyeon wiped her trembling hands against her robe.
“She was a good person. She did not deserve what happened.”
Jin Woo looked away for a brief moment.
His voice became quieter than before.
“No. She did not.”
Outside, thunder echoed softly across the capital.
The storm was returning again.
And inside Jin Woo’s mind, another hidden thread had finally appeared.
Ara came to the palace willingly that night.
She met Serina.
And another man was there watching everything from the shadows.
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