A cloudy sky blanketed the palace that morning, as if the heavens themselves were guarding a secret they refused to reveal. Areum sat alone in the forgotten old library. Dust and crumbling pages of ancient manuscripts accompanied her silence, yet within that stillness, her soul screamed for the truth.
Before her lay an old handwritten manuscript, sealed with a wax stamp shaped like a rose — the secret emblem once used by the women of the royal court. It wasn't an official government record. It felt more like a diary… and the very first name on the opening page made Areum's breath catch.
> "I, Seol Hwa, do not belong here."
Areum touched the writing with her fingertips. A strange pulse stirred in her chest… as if she were holding memories that weren't hers.
Twenty Years Before the Reign of Wang Joon…
In a long, poetic passage, Seol Hwa described how she had suddenly appeared in the palace's forbidden garden. She was also a cook. Young. Strong-willed. With no idea how or why she had been brought to that time. But she was accepted by King Ji Won for the uniqueness of her methods and her knowledge — techniques no one else could replicate.
However, her brilliance bred jealousy. The nobles spread rumors, accusing her of bewitching the king through poisoned meals. That wasn't enough — they claimed she was pregnant with a child of foreign blood, something considered a disgrace to the royal lineage at the time.
> "If my child survives… they will return with the truth. Even if not in my time."
— Seol Hwa's final entry
Areum clutched the page, tears falling before she realized it. She knew… this feeling wasn't just sympathy. It was deeper. Closer. She wasn't just uncovering history — she was reviving her own origin.
"Miss Areum?" Yu Jin's voice gently called from the doorway.
Areum looked up. "I'm no one, Yu Jin. But in this story… I'm the daughter of someone they tried to erase from history."
Yu Jin stepped inside and sat across from her.
> "Miss Areum, do you remember when you asked why I never questioned where you came from?"
Areum shook her head.
> "Because I knew from the beginning… you carried something bigger than a love story. You carried a correction for the past."
That night, Areum walked out of the library with a single purpose.
She would no longer run from her fate. If Seol Hwa was truly her ancestor, and that blood still flowed through her veins — then she had to continue the story. Not with vengeance, but with truth.
Areum began taking steps: investigating who had hidden Seol Hwa's child, where that bloodline had grown, how it was lost — and how she, a cook from the 21st century, could become the one to restore a legacy buried in the dust of time.