"Lady Jiwon of the Min Count and Kim Dokja of the Underworld Ducal house have arrived!"
Upon entering the royal palace, dozens of stares immediately landed on them. Whispers and gossip spread like a plague through the room, none of the nobles even bothering to be subtle about it.
"I heard that he poisoned Lady Seolhwa from Lee Ducal"
"Really?"
"Yes, apparently the Duke and Duchess of the Underworld Ducal aren't even his parents."
"I assumed those were just rumors..."
"No, I've even heard that His Highness the Crown Prince has confirmed it."
"How daring of him to poison Lady Seolhwa and then attend the banquet with all this information coming out."
"If I were him, I wouldn't even show my face, pf t."
He could do nothing bu bite his lip and fix his gaze ahead, trying to ignore the meaningless chatter Sensing his unease, Lady Jiwon tightened her grip on Dokja's arm and pulled his attention away from the nobles.
She leaned over to whisper to him. "Don't mind them Sir Dokja, I know that you wouldn't do that to a friend." She offered him a kind smile on her face, and he smiled back.
Right, he'd been so caught up in all the developments in the past few days he'd almost deluded himself into thinking that perhaps he could go out in public like a regular human being. Getting treated like a normal person by Lady Jiwon, Han Sooyoung, and his family instead of the center of a scandal had made him lower his guard for longer than usual.
Scanning the room, Dokja spotted Han Sooyoung standing near one of the room's giant, arched windows. She was wearing a long dress with a cloth train that fluttered behind her on the floor. Its long, purple sleeves covered her arms and the dress's square collar provided a generous view of her neck and upper chest. The dress's corset was tied in the back, and a long white fur cloth was draped on her arms. Of course, her outfit was complimented with tons of glistening jewelry.
Dokja was about to approach her when he noticed the woman she was speaking to. The woman had a gentle, lively look, and her smile was as refreshing as a breeze at the beach. She had flowing brown locks, and her bangs covered her eyebrows, framing her face well. The dress she wore was long like Han Sooyoung's, covering her arms and legs.
It was brown with orange hues, and its puffy sleeves were adorned with butterflies. She wasn't wearing a corset but it still hugged her figure, Dokja could see the slim curves of her body, and around her neck was an orange choker.
Dokja's eyebrow rose when he saw how Sooyoung smiled at her, he didn't know Han Sooyoung was capable of feeling any other emotion than grouchy and tired. Something fishy was definitely going on. He and Lady Jiwon went to approach the two. Upon noticing them, the two women looked in their direction. Kim Dokja formally bowed to the two.
"Good evening, Ladies" he said with a polite smile.
"Greetings, Sir Dokja." the girl murmured before she added, "Ah, I'm not sure if you remember me from our brief meeting before, my name is Yoo Sangah." He was about to respond when he saw Sooyoung glaring daggers at him.
He didn't understand why she was being so hostile, but he decided to ignore it. He then turned to look at Yoo Sangah, and decided to take a shot in the dark.
"Oh, no worries, I always remember the name of a…'friend' of a friend." He then narrowed his eyes at Han Sooyoung, but she very pointedly refused to meet his gaze. Yep, she's absolutely hiding something from him.
To Kim Dokja's side, Lady Jiwon stepped forward to offer her own gracious bow. "Greetings, Lady Sangah."
"Greetings to you as well, Lady Jiwon. Did you meet Sir Dokja at the banquet?"
"We came together, actually, he's my fiancé," she replied right away. Yoo Sangah blinked in alarm. Dokja couldn't help but be a bit insecure from her reaction. Was he really so ugly that it was inconceivable that he was Lady Jiwon's fiancé?
"Oh my, to think that you have a fiancé before my cousin..." Dokja stared at her blankly, not understanding who she was referring to. Kindly not calling attention to his confusion, she clarified, "His Highness the crown prince." At that moment, a lightbulb went off in his head.
Yoo Sangah: A saintess, the cousin of the crown prince, and Han Sooyoung's girlfriend. She was assassinated late into the story because she had massive influence over the royal throne. Her intelligence was rivaled only by Lee Seolhwa, and her knowledge about the inner workings of the palace made her a valuable ally to Lee Seolhwa and Yoo Joonghyuk.
Ah, no wonder Han Sooyoung was grinning at her like an idiot. Dokja wondered if they were already dating or not. He'd make sure to tease her about it later. Snapping out of his thoughts, he saw the three women looking at him, worried about his sudden silence.
"Sir Dokja....Are you ok? Is something wrong?" Yoo Sangah inquired with a worried expression on her face.
He assured her, "I'm fine, don't worry, Lady Sangah, I just got a bit distracted for a second," but she didn't appear convinced. As she was about to speak, the sound of the trumpet fanfare interrupted her.
*PUUU UUUU PUUU*
"The Sun of the Seoul Empire and the royal family have made their arrived."
When the door opened, everyone in attendance bowed to the royalties. This time around, the whole royal family entered together, the emperor leading his family to the thrones, while the young princess followed the group from behind.
Seeing the whole royal family gathered like this made it easier to spot how the crown prince and princess lacked the golden eyes that the emperor and second crown prince possessed. There were rumors going around that the crown prince and the princess weren't part of the royal family, and that they were a result of an affair between the emperor and a concubine, but they had yet to be proven. Even then, given the talent and ruthlessness Yoo Joonghyuk displayed already, it was a question if it would even matter if the rumors were true.
"You all may rise," the emperor called out to his guests. Dokja snapped out of his reverie and straightened up, seeing that the royal family were already seated on their thrones. The emperor stood up and began giving a formal speech,thanking the guests for taking the time out of their nights to come to the banquet and reminding everyone that the ceremony was being held in honor of the previous emperor's triumphs. "That's all, please enjoy the banquet," the emperor concluded, then sat down on the throne. After that everyone went back to their conversations.
Noticing someone's eyes on him, Dokja turned behind him to meet Yoo Joonghyuk's stare, his face the same broody, angry look as always. Internally rolling his eyes at the prince's continual vindictiveness against him, Dokja looked away and turned back to the ladies around him.
Looking around the room, people had started to migrate to the middle of the hall to dance to the music that the musicians had started playing. Dokja tapped Lady Jiwon's arm to get her attention and offered his hand to her. "Shall we dance?" Lady Jiwon blinked, but then gave him a giddy grin and placed her hand in his, nodding her head.
Dokja pulled her to the center of the room, setting his hand on her waist as she placed a hand on his shoulder. They began moving their feet to the music, their bodies in rhythm with each other. Since the music was slow, it was easy for them to keep up with it. Dokja had no experience dancing, but he let his body move out of instinct.
Lucky for them both, he didn't once step on Lady Jiwon's toes throughout their dance. Though when they started spinning around one another, Dokja met prince Joonghyuk's gaze multiple times. Strangely enough, this time the prince's stare was a bit different. The prince gave him an indescribable look, his eyes shifting between him and Lady Jiwon until they just settled on him.. Dokja shook his head and looked away, ignoring him.
A few songs played and they got tired of dancing, so Dokja and Lady Jiwon left the dance floor and went to where Han Sooyoung was standing before, only to find that she and Yoo Sangah weren't there. They probably went to dance together too. He turned to Lady Jiwon and told her that he was going to step outside for a bit to catch his breath, both from the dancing and the crowd, to which she simply nodded. Dokja meandered around the manor for a bit before spotting a familiar fountain outside a window.
As he stepped into the hallway to make his way out, he noticed a maid approaching him. Dokja had intended to greet her, but she quickly rushed past him, brushing against his shoulder. Looking at where the maid had run to, he frowned.
"What was that?" he asked himself before shrugging his shoulders and continuing to walk down the hall.
When he arrived at the garden, he was graced with the moonlight shining gently down on him, gracing the already beautiful garden with an ethereal glow. Fireflies were roaming around the garden and a cool breeze rustled the flowers and grass.
He walked towards the back of the garden and sat on the edge of the fountain, listening to the sound of the water flowing and the crickets nearby. Leaning back, Dokja closed his eyes and dipped his hand in the fountain and ran his hands through the water, taking in the silence.
Barely hearing it over the fountain, Dokja heard a quiet thump from somewhere around his right. Looking around the garden, Dokja spotted the crown prince through one of the windows to the palace. He was in the corridor, clutching his head as if he were about to fall.
"What's wrong with this guy?"