Chapter 2
Yeon was silent long after the Crown Prince left her mountaintop. The stone steps that had echoed with his presence now felt like old bones beneath her feet.
Even after Chae-ran tucked herself in and Danji resumed his nightly patrols, Yeon remained in her moonlit garden. The wind carried the faint smell of night-blooming herbs - belladonna, datura, and monkshood. No innocent apothecary kept flowers unless they knew how to kill a man without leaving a trace.
She remembered the way Jiran had looked at her. Not like a man in love. Not even like a man desperate.
No, he looked at her like someone remembering a myth that once terrified him as a child - and realizing it was real.
"The kingdom is rotting from within."
His words kept echoing.
But it was the silence after that had troubled her more.
- The Poisoned Scroll -
Two days after Jiran's visit, a scroll arrived - carried not by a hawk but by a courier plain robes, sweating despite the chill. The parchment smelled faintly of crushed poppy.
To Lady Yeon of Saryong,
His royal highness extends a formal request for your attendance at Gyeongbok Palace. You will be permitted entry through the east gate. A private wing has been prepared in the Hall of Jade Silence.
You will be recognized as an external consultant to the Crown's medical council.
It was not a plea. It was not an invitation.
It was a calculated risk.
Chae-ran turn pale when she read it, "The Hall of Jade Silence... That's where they used to hold internal interrogations, isn't it?"
Yeon smiled thinly. "It used to be."
"And now?"
"Now it's probably where they cage snakes before choosing which one to set loose."
Danji said nothing. He had already begun packing.
---
The journey to Hanyang took three days on horseback. The capital had changed - not visibly, but deeply. Yeon could feel it in the way the guards at each checkpoint stared too long, in the way the farmers bowed too low, and in the way every village inn suddenly had no room for travelers who smelled of mountain herbs.
The wind bit colder the moment Yeon crossed the threshold of the Hall of Jade Silence. Every inch of the palace seemed different, but only slightly - like something had worn its skin wrong while pretending to be what it once was.
Chae-ran, walking just behind her, slowed her pace as they passed through the inner gate. "My lady... is it just me, or is everything quieter than before?"
"It's not just you," Yeon replied. "Something in this place is holding its breath."
---
Gyeongbok Palace had never welcomed her, not even as a child. It was all silk screens and quiet assassinations - rooms drenched in sunlight but reeking of blood beneath their polished floors.
Now, years later, she returned not as the obedient noble daughter and merchant matriarch, but as a living omen. Her mother, Lady Ji-hae, had been noblewoman from a wealthy merchant clan who had married into the lowest tier nobility. That fragile alliance of blood and coin had not saved Ji-hae from the blade.
The guards barely bowed. That was fine. The last time she walk these grounds, they were dragging her by the wrists.
Danji walked behind them, eyes scanning rooftops, shadows, windows. His blade was hidden in robe, but Yeon could see the tension in his fingers.
The Hall of Jade Silence had once been used to isolate nobles who had fallen out of favor. The irony wasn't lost on her.
A servant greeted them with a scroll bearing the royal seal.
"You are to be housed here under the Crown Prince's direct order. No one enters without his permission. The Hall has been cleared. Everything else will be sent to you by the Royal Medical Bureau."
Yeon didn't answer.
She stepped inside. The sound of the doors closing behind her was not unlike a coffin's lid sealing shut.
The first few hours were spent in silence. Chae-ran cleaned and inspected the quarters, placing subtle detection threads across the windows and entryways. Danji checked the perimeter.
Yeon sat on the floor, unfolding her mother's old scrolls.
She needed time.
And a plan.
---
Later that night, Yeon sat by the window, overlooking the jade pond. She held an old coin between her fingers - one of the talismans her mother once gave her for protection. She wasn't superstitious, but some things were habits etched into blood.
Chae-ran brought her tea. "You shouldn't trust the cups they give us."
"I don't." Yeon set it aside. "Boil your own water and never drink from an open vessel."
Danji stepped in. "Minister Seo sent an invitation. He wants to speak with you privately."
Yeon turned her gaze toward the east. "Of course he does."
---
The meeting with Minister Seo took place under the guise of courtesy - a tea ceremony, late morning, minimal witnesses.
Yeon wore black.
He greeted her with a smile he'd worn for decades. The same one he wore at her mother's execution.
"You haven't changed," he said. "Still walk like you expect the walls to betray you,"
"That's because they did."
He poured tea.
"I want to make peace," he said.
Yeon picked up the cup but did not drink. "Peace doesn't require poison."
He chuckled. "Then I assume you won't accept my apology either?"
"Not unless it's pinned to your resignation letter."
His smile faltered.
She placed the cup back down - untouched.
"I'm not here to sip pleasantries, Minister. I'm here to uncover what's rotting this kingdom from within."
---
The next day, Yeon was summoned to the Queen Mother's chamber.
The corridors leading to her rooms were heavily guarded, yet early silent.
Inside, incense curled like dying breath, The Queen Mother lay on the bed - pale, eyes fluttering beneath closed lids, sweat slicking her brow.
Jiran stood beside her, still dressed in formal robes, his expression stone.
Yeon bowed briefly, then went straight to the bedside.
She took the Queen's pulse. Cold. Shallow.
"She's been given something," she said.
Jiran didn't flinch. "What kind of something?"
Yeon turned to the attending physician. "Answer him."
The man swallowed hard. "We've used dreamroot and nightshade. At very low doses. For comfort-"
"She's not dying from illness," Yeon interrupted.
"She's being kept in a state between sleep and wakefulness. Someone wants her to remain confused. Maybe even confess something that isn't true."
Jiran's jaw clenched. "Is there a cure?"
I need time. And truth. Give me both."
He nodded once.
Yeon glanced down at the Queen Mother again. "Keep everyone out of this room unless they report to me. That includes your ministers."
---
That night, Yeon returned to the Queen's chamber - alone. Chae-ran stood guard outside.
Yeon mixed a tincture she hadn't used in years: dried lion's fang bark, powdered ginseng, and extract of silver root. A concoction meant to rouse minds long buried under drugged sleep.
She placed a drop beneath the Queen's tongue.
Minutes passed.
Then the Queen's eyes opened. Wide. Aware.
"You... you have her eyes," she whispered.
Yeon's heart stopped. "Whose?"
"Ji-hae. Your mother. She warned me..."
Yeon leaned in. "Warned you of what?"
"That they would use the Prince as a mask."
"That the true heir... wasn't her son."
Yeon's breath caught. "What do you mean?"
"The ledger... it's hidden in the temple garden. Tell him... Tell Jiran..."
And then the Queen collapsed back into sleep.
---
The garden of the old temple shrine hadn't been used in years. Moss grew between the tiles. The lanterns were long extinguished.
Yeon and Danji searched for hours.
Finally, beneath a cracked stone basin, they found a scroll. Wrapped in oilcloth. Wax-sealed.
Yeon unrolled it slowly.
Dozens of transactions. Signed orders. Names redacted but not well enough.
And one name that appeared again and again - linked to bribes, forged decrees, and the falsified execution warrant of Ji-hae:
| Minister Seo.
---
Yeon didn't wait for an invitation.
The council chambers were in session.
Ministers lined the room, discussing border defenses.
Jiran sat at the head.
Yeon stormed in, robe trailing behind her like a storm cloud.
Gasps followed.
She threw the scroll onto the floor.
"Read it. And understand this: the rot in your kingdom wears your court's finest robes."
She turned to Minister Seo.
"You forged my mother's death. Framed her. Killed her. And now you poison the Queen Mother to hide it."
He paled. "You have no proof-"
Yeon cut him off. "The ledger has your seal. Your hand writing. And her words - they named you."
The chamber erupted in whispers.
Jiran stood. "Is this true?"
Seo faltered.
Yeon stepped forward.
"If you want me to save your dynasty, I will. But only if you let me burn down the one that betrayed mine."
Jiran stared at her.
Then nodded.
The war had begun.
And Yeon would fight it her way.
With Fire.