Both of the late Youngmi's parents were untied and let go per the King's command.
The father immediately went and attacked the still-bound Lee Minsoo by strangling him by the neck. "You monster, you killed my daughter. Your own cousin. How could a young one like you have such an evil soul?"
The guards around tried to get him off the defenceless girl, but he wouldn't let go.
Youngmi's mother, who had been shell shocked to see the white-haired teenage boy, still couldn't make any sense of what she had heard during the king's interrogations.
'He was alive?' This is the first question that came to her mind after seeing Lee Minsoo. So many different thoughts followed after that in her head.
The tears she has been shedding since her daughter passed away ceased as she started to wonder if her daughter's death might be the universe's punishment or her karma for her past deeds.
"Honey, please leave the poor girl alone. Killing her will not bring our Youngmi back." She said and managed to peel off her husband's hand away from Minsu.
Her husband turned to look at her with bewilderment. "Poor girl? Yeobo (honey), did I just hear you refer to this devil as a 'poor girl' when she just murdered our daughter?"
"We all know very well who is responsible for our daughter's death, and it isn't this girl. I just didn't tell the king the truth because that would only make things worse. We'll deal with that at home." Youngmi's mother said, looking straight at Lee Minseo and then her parents.
"What do you mean, yeobo?" Her husband was confused, but his anger was dissipating, and in its place now was his curiosity.
"Let's just leave, honey. I need to go to the queen's palace right now. It's urgent." She said as she took her husband's hand to drag him away from Minsu's side and out of the interrogation grounds.
"The queen's palace? Why?" Her husband asked, but Youngmi's mother did not answer. Because answering that one question will only lead them into a rabbit hole. And that would only bring more chaos between both their household and the royal family.
***
"Mother?"
The queen was the first person the crown prince saw as soon as his eyes fluttered open. She was holding his right hand in hers and massaging his fingers.
The crown prince tried to sit up.
"Seja (crown prince)." The queen dowager said as she moved from the second prince's side to the crown prince's.
"Son, you're awake." The king, who had just entered the room, rushed to help his first son sit up. "Here. Take it slow."
"Both of you shouldn't be getting up right now in your conditions. You're just waking up. Your bodies haven't completely healed yet." He chastised his two sons.
The second prince was already awake and sitting up on his bed when his father arrived at the Donggung. Fortunately for him, the poison didn't affect him much.
All the nurses and physicians plus the ministers are currently waiting outside at the moment, with the exception of the head physician, who was allowed to remain in the room to brief the king about the princes' conditions.
Consort Hwi didn't bother to move from the second prince's bed, although her son seemed perfectly fine, nor did she even say anything to the crown prince, who had just woken up.
"Father, grandmother, what happened?" The crown prince asked.
"It seems that you two ate something that your stomachs were not used to at the festival yesterday; you both had food poisoning. But don't worry, it's alright now." The doctor explained.
The king wanted to wait until their full recovery before he told them the truth. He has thus warned the entire royal court and his cabinet not to divulge anything to his sons yet, considering their closeness to the dead girl.
The second prince furrowed his brows. "Food poisoning? Weird. We hardly ate anything out there last night."
"Oh, then what about Lady Youngmi? She was with us last night, and she ate the same foods as well. Is she alright?" The crown prince asked, looking up at his father.
"What have I told you two about sneaking out of the palace? Don't you see the dangers of going out there without the proper security measures?" The king avoided answering the question.
The crown prince winced in pain as he apologised. "It's all my fault; I'm sorry, Father."
Cough. Cough.
He coughed afterward.
"Crown Prince, do you want to drink some water? Here." The queen dowager asked and handed a porcelain cup of water to the queen, who in turn offered it to her son.
"No, father. I am at fault. It was my idea that we should go out of the palace for the festivities last night. I know you wouldn't have allowed us to go had we been informed. Brother only went with me because he wanted to make sure that I didn't fall into any danger." The second prince explained.
"I'm very disappointed in both of you for this. But more so in you, Crown Prince. You should have been the voice of reasoning..."
"My king!" The queen dowager called out her son. "Leave them to recover first. Now is not the time for this, please."
Cough. Cough. Cough.
The crown prince's cough only seems to worsen. There was blood in the phlegm that came out of his mouth this time, but he hid it from everyone else in the room with him.
"Crown prince, are you okay?" Both his mother and grandmother asked worriedly.
"Royal head physician, what is wrong with my brother? Why am I fine, but he keeps coughing and seems to be very weak?" The second prince enquired as he got up from his bed to move to the crown prince's side.
His mother, Consort Hwi, tried to stop him by grabbing his hand, but he yanked it out of her hold and moved to his brother's side.
All eyes were on the physician except for the Crown Prince, who was battling with the coughs and chest pain.
"Mama, I..." The physician's words were cut short when the crown prince's coughs started to come in successively.
Cough. Cough. Cough.
He coughed up more blood this time before finally collapsing back on his bed.
"Son!!!" Both the king and queen screamed.
"Brother!!!"
"My prince!!!"
"Seja Jeoha (His Highness the Crown Prince)!!!" The physician also screamed.
Everyone screamed with the exception of one.
Consort Hwi.
A secret smirk formed on her lips. She then changed her demeanour and asked in a worried tone as she joined the others at the crown prince's bedside. "Is everything alright with Seja Jeoha?"
Every one of them rushed to check on the crown prince, and then... thud!!! The second prince has also fallen hard on the floor on his face.
In a bit of a hurry to check on his bigger brother, the second prince lost his balance as his legs gave way due to his now weakened body.
"My prince!!!"
All the others screamed the grand prince's name as he too has also collapsed on the floor.
"Now is not the time to play jokes, my princes! Wake up. Crown prince, grand prince, both of you wake up. You're making us worried here." The queen dowager cried as she kept shaking up her first grandsons alternately.
"The grand prince will be fine with a few hours of sleep." The physician said after checking up on the princes.
"Okay. But what of the crown prince? You haven't said anything about him." The queen was the one to ask.
"I'm sorry, my queen, but the crown prince's condition isn't getting better. His pulse is too weak, and all the treatments administered don't seem to work."
The king grabbed the physician by the collar of his robe. "What do you mean that the treatment's not working? Aren't you the royal doctor? So do something!"
"The... the poison used, it was very potent, my king. Even if he does survive, I doubt that he'll be normal again. Your Majesty."
The prime minister and Minister Oh also entered the crown prince's chamber. They quickly loosened the King's hand on the physician.
The ministers outside had heard the wailing of the queen mother and the commotion going on inside, and so they designated the two of them to check on what was going on inside.
Consort Hwi decided to leave once the two ministers entered. Since her son was said to be fine, she didn't see the need to be there anymore.
The news of the princes collapsing again spread throughout the palace and beyond in under a quarter of an hour, and even those in the royal prison also heard of it.
The king became very furious. His heir was suffering and in pain, and it was because of someone else's carelessness.
Not wanting to delay the ruling any more, he burst out of the Eastern Palace and went straight into the interrogation grounds.
His ministers followed suit without saying anything. Even the prime minister didn't dare to say a word to the king.