Twenty-four court officials were caught up in this scandal. Some were stripped off of their titles while others were imprisoned and some exceptionally special people who had done too much were given a death penalty alongside Official Hwang.
The court had been cleaned, however, the leftover officials who hadn't done anything wrong couldn't help but feel a little bitter as they saw how ruthless the crown prince had been.
Sure, they hadn't been affected this time, but who could assure that it wouldn't be them in the future?
If the crown prince wanted to get rid of them as well, who was to say that he wouldn't come up with fake evidence and get rid of them as well.
If he could get rid of Official Hwang so easily, he would certainly have no problem getting rid of everyone else as well. After all Official Hwang had been a person who had been here even before Yoongi was born. He had been a part of the late king's court and had transferred to Yoongi's court as well. His rank among the other officials was naturally pretty high and there was almost no one else in this court who would even be able to trash the guy's name.
From this whole incident, the fear and dissatisfaction they had of Yoongi strengthened as their beliefs also underwent a change and more people grew unhappy with the way Yoongi dealt with everything.
The crown prince clearly didn't care about the country anymore. All they could see him caring about was his new boy toy.
It wouldn't take a genius to realize that the hostage prince had their crown prince completely wrapped around his fingers. Whatever he said, the crown prince would do and if there was anyone who would dare to slander the hostage, the crown prince would bite that courageous person to death.
Two days later, it was Lady Mirae's birthday but there was no celebration.
Her father was being beheaded along with some other officials while she was already escorted out of the country, or to be more exact, kicked out from the country.
She had no home outside and no family or servants to take care of her, however, there was no sense of grief on her face nor was there a hint of happiness. If anything, her face looked dead as if she had gained and lost at the same time.
She was wearing a cloak that covered her entire person. She walked and walked without stopping, her footsteps completely calm and unbothered. In just a day's time, she had already entered Gim, a place that clearly didn't welcome her nor did it kick her away.
She stopped by a food stall as she heard her stomach growling. Thankfully she still had some money on her, so without a worry, she ordered a bowl of warm seaweed soup (Miyeok Guk).
The waitress brought her the order and smiled as she asked with a bit of worry, "You look tired, Miss. You're not from around here, are you?"
Lady Mirae didn't bother turning her head up to look at the waitress as she answered, "You're right."
The waitress clicked her tongue in a delighted tone as she added, "I knew it! What brings you here?"
"..." Lady Mirae didn't know if she should laugh or cry as she heard this.
Could she really answer honestly? Could she really say that she was exiled and forced to come here?
She'll have to be extremely stupid if she were to say that and hence, she was simply silent.
The waitress could sense that she had knocked on an awkward topic so she lightly chuckled and asked another question to lighten up the mood, "Is it your birthday today?"
It was a random question that the waitress had asked because she saw the seaweed soup, but she didn't expect to get a positive response from the young woman.
Lady Mirae nodded softly as she answered, "You're right. It is my birthday."
The waitress seemed to be taken back as she heard this and she was pretty vocal about her shock as well, "Eh? Birthdays should be celebrated with your family. What are you doing here?"
Lady Mirae chuckled but there was no sense of joy in her voice as she looked up at the waitress and responded, "My situation is quite different."
The waitress was confused and for a minute she was silent before she finally decided to dig further into the topic, "Were you perhaps... Abandoned by your family?"
Lady Mirae who had just picked up the spoon couldn't help but smile thinly as she heard this question, "Today's my father's death."
"Eh?!" The waitress seemed to be even more shocked as she heard this.
Lady Mirae sighed as she added, "I can't celebrate my birthday with my family at a funeral,
now can I?"
The waitress gulped as she bowed and apologized immediately, "Forgive me! I shouldn't have asked about such a sensitive topic! It must have been hard for you to have the same birthday as your father's death anniversary."
"Death anniversary," Lady Mirae muttered as her muscles tensed up, "Next year, that would certainly be the case but... Not this time."
The waitress frowned as she heard this. She had the urge to ask more questions but talking about death while eating was not exactly something normal or proper. It was rather offensive.
However, Lady Mirae still continued, "It's his death today. He'll be going to hell today. Not his death anniversary but his funeral."
The waitress gulped as she felt a cold sweat trail down her forehead. She immediately bowed and apologized over and over again.
Lady Mirae took a deep breath in before she sighed and added, "You don't need to be sorry. I'd rather not accept your sympathy and pity."
The waitress immediately stopped bowing and apologizing as she heard this. She stood still as if she had turned into a stone statue as she simply looked at Lady Mirae who didn't look to be sad nor looked to be happy.
"Now that you have reminded me of his death..." Lady Mirae muttered as she looked up at the waitress and smiled thinly, "How about you bring me some boiled pork belly, rice wine, and some rice cakes with some dried fish and nuts? Don't forget the kimchi as well."
The waitress took a sharp breath in as she bowed and answered, "Noted."
She looked at Lady Mirae with clear pity evident in her eyes. To order a birthday special and a funeral menu at the same time, of course, anyone would feel pity for this girl.
She went away to bring all the freshly ordered things and Lady Mirae took this time to join her hands and pray before picking her spoon again and started drinking the delicious seaweed soup.
"It tastes good..." She muttered to herself as she finished the whole thing by herself.
When the bowl was empty, she simply had her head bowed down as she looked at the empty bowl and just a few seconds later, tears started rolling down from her eyes and dripped down into the empty soup bowl.
At this exact moment, the waitress came in with the other ordered dishes and witnessed this scene. She immediately placed everything down on the table and reached her hand out to pat Lady Mirae's head with sympathy, however, her hand paused in midair when Lady Mirae started laughing all of a sudden.
She laughed and laughed historically till her voice was completely drained out.
The waitress gulped as she decided that it was better to leave Lady Mirae alone for now.
Lady Mirae looked at the funeral menu she had ordered and couldn't help but mutter in between her laugh, "Is this really what people eat at a funeral...?"
She laughed so maniacally that not only had she shocked the waitress but she had been shocked at herself as well.
She picked up her chopsticks and continued to stuff her mouth with all the food. Sometimes crying and sometimes laughing as if she had gone completely crazy.
When she was done eating everything, she went to the owner and calmly paid for the food.
The owner gulped as he looked at her and reluctantly spoke, "We don't have change."
She nodded as she answered, "It's okay. You can keep the rest."
She had given the man a gold coin when the food only costed nothing more than a few copper coins.
The man said nothing as he watched her walk away from the shop calmly and elegantly. He would have to be a fool not to realize that she was probably from a noble family and hence, he immediately called the waitress over and questioned her, but the waitress refused to say anything.
For some reason, she felt like she should keep this secret with herself. It wasn't like it was her life so she would dare not say anything about the miserable life of that young miss.
Lady Mirae had filled her stomach and with full energy, she headed to the royal palace of Gim where she was received by the crown prince Hanyu.
Hanyu sighed as he looked at her, "It must have been hard for you."
Lady Mirae took off her hood and looked back at the man as she questioned, "Why would you think that?"
Hanyu was silent with an indecipherable poker face as he waited for Lady Mirae to say something.
"I got what I wanted," Lady Mirae added with a smile that lacked warmth, "In the end, my plan is going to succeed. I'll be the one that wins so why does anything else matter?"
Hanyu sighed, "You can cry if you want. You don't have to keep it in-"
"Your royal highness, what do you mean?" Lady Mirae cut his words short as she questioned, "Why the hell would I cry? Because of my father?" She scoffed as she added, "He deserved it. He had been too stupid and the power had got to his head."
"..."
"If he had been a bit smarter, he would've survived." Lady Mirae ruthlessly commented.
Hanyu said nothing as he nodded and simply led her to the queen who was waiting for her to come.
On their way to the queen, he couldn't help but think that Lady Mirae reminded him of a person. Ever since the two had met, he couldn't help but think that Lady Mirae was exactly like his mother. The queen and Lady Mirae ought to get along pretty well. They were too alike.
.
.
.
Hyun and Yeowool stood side by side as they looked up at the crown prince who was dancing on his balcony.
"Seeing the crown prince dance like that... Is certainly scary," Yeowool commented with a sigh. his mouth refusing to close up.
Hyun gulped as he nodded, "So scary." He held his hand up and moved his sleeve away as he added, "Look at the goosebumps!"
Yeowool's eyes were glued to the crown prince so of course, he didn't bother looking at the goosebumps that rose on Hyun's arm.
This morning, Taehyung, like always, decided to attach himself to Yoongi first thing in the morning.
Yoongi wasn't annoyed in the least and on the contrary, he was quite pleased with it as he smiled and thoroughly spoiled his little hostage.
Taehyung smiled brightly as he looked at Yoongi mischievously and asked, "Does your highness still remember that request I made?"
Yoongi thought about it for a minute before shaking his head and questioning, "What are you talking about?"
Taehyung's smile grew deeper as he leaned in closer to Yoongi's ear and whispered, "Your highness, can you dance for me?"
Yoongi's eyes went wide as he initially shook his head and denied the request strongly, but there was no way Taehyung would let him go that easily.
Taehyung stood up with a huff as he announced in a childish manner, "But I wanted to be entertained!"
Yoongi didn't say anything as he heard this, however, what Taehyung said next certainly had an effect on Yoongi.
"Should I just go to a Gisaeng and have them dance for me?" Taehyung smirked as he looked at Yoongi.
The crown prince frowned as he heard this and in the next second when Taehyung took a step away to head for the door, Yoongi immediately grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.
"I'll do it!"
Taehyung chuckled proudly as he heard this.
Could the rumors about the hostage having the crown prince wrapped around his fingers really be wrong?
_________________________________________
A/n: I think I'm being haunted... Lol
I mostly write from 12 am to 5 am so like every other day, I was writing at 3 am, and suddenly I heard the sound of someone scratching my room door. My door was open and there was nobody there but since I was writing, I didn't bother searching what caused it. When I got annoyed by it, I put on my earphones and started listening to some music but I could still hear the screeching sound over the music.
After a while, I finished writing a chapter and decided to finally check it out, and like expected, there was really nothing there and the annoying sound stopped.
I was so sad.
I was gonna ask the ghost to help me finish my assignments but even the ghost got scared.
fufufu~
At this point, I just question my sanity.
Next update: 16 April, 2021
Today's late chapter is sponsored by the pile of assignments that have buried me six feet under.
.·´¯'(>â<)´¯'·.
Like always,
Thank you for reading!
Take care of yourself. Stay hydrated and healthy! Sleep on time and all the best for.... Well... Life!!
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