Chapter 08
He should have killed them.
That was the right thing to do.
He should not have let anyone live who knew he existed.
No—he should never have let things reach this point in the first place.
So why did he lose control the moment he saw this child being taken away while unconscious?
He should have killed them.
He should not have stopped at just knocking them out.
If that person told the queen about this, the child’s life would be in danger.
He knew that well.
Yet he did not kill them.
That meant his personal feelings were already shaking him.
This was not a child who could stay calm after knowing someone died because of her.
Since when did he start caring about such things?
Sohwa’s brow twitched.
Without thinking, the man reached out his hand toward her, then pulled it back.
In that moment, Sohwa began to slowly regain awareness.
Behind her closed eyelids, light flickered on and off like fire.
Her throat burned and hurt.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
She did not even have the strength to open her eyes.
The only clear thing was the feeling that she was being carried somewhere.
Was she being held?
If so, whose arms were these?
And this smell—why did it feel familiar?
“…Sohwa.”
Someone called her name.
A large, cool hand touched her forehead.
The cold hand seemed to absorb all the heat in her body.
Sohwa flinched.
Then she realized who was holding her tightly.
But she could not believe it.
As the thought crossed her mind that this must be a dream, her eyes opened.
Her eyelashes were wet with tears.
Through her blurred vision, a shape came into view.
Long, strong fingers brushed over her eyelids and wiped away the tears.
“…Ah.”
A small sound escaped her lips.
His straight nose, dark eyebrows, and cold eyes became clear.
He was staring at her.
He felt her shaking eyelids and her hot breath.
“Medicine.”
Medicine?
The hand that touched her eyelids moved down to her dry lips and brushed across them.
No one had ever touched her there before.
Because of the difference in temperature—or because of the wild feeling in his touch—
a strange, unfamiliar sensation spread through her body.
So this is not a dream.
Sohwa slowly began to understand what was happening.
“W-why…?”
Her voice finally came out, broken and weak.
The man looked down at her silently, then looked at his fingertips.
They were lightly stained pink.
“ You drank medicine.”
A voice sounded far away.
She lifted her head and looked around.
She was in a small space surrounded by walls.
There was only one small house and one well.
It was too small and shabby to be inside the palace.
It felt like a place made to lock someone away, not a place meant for living.
“Medicine? I drank medicine?”
The man nodded and showed her his stained fingers.
The color was the same as the tea the queen had given her earlier.
There had been medicine in it?
Why?
As Sohwa thought back to her private meeting with the queen, she noticed the many scars on the man’s fingers.
If he was someone from the royal family…
“….”
Noticing the worry and pity in her eyes, the man quickly curled his fingers and pulled his hand back.
Then, still holding Sohwa, he began walking again.
“W-wait. Please.”
Only then did Sohwa fully realize that he had been carrying her the whole time.
She grabbed his clothes.
He stopped and looked at her.
“Put me down. I’m heavy.”
“……”
“I don’t know how we ended up here, but please put me down first.”
Sohwa forced a smile, trying to show she was fine.
The man stared at her for a moment, then moved again.
He gently set her down on a narrow wooden floor, barely big enough for two children to lie on.
“Water.”
“Huh?”
The man walked to the well.
He scooped water into his hands and brought it to her.
He looked like an untrained child trying too hard to take care of someone.
“Water.”
“……”
“You have to drink. The poison will leave.”
His words were clumsy, but understandable.
Sohwa hesitated, then lowered her head.
Think of him as a child.
He had the body of a grown man, but his actions were like a child’s.
Thinking that way, she could not refuse his care.
She drank.
Cool water touched her lips and flowed down her throat.
“You have a fever.”
“I’m okay.”
Sohwa smiled softly in thanks.
Only then did the man seem to relax and step back.
I think I’m finally thinking clearly.
As Sohwa tried to calmly understand what had happened, her eyes suddenly widened.
The man licked the water from his hand.
It was the same place her lips had touched moments ago.
“…!”
“Why?”
He asked calmly, as if nothing was strange.
That reaction made Sohwa even more flustered.
For someone she tried to think of as a child, his action felt far too intimate.
Even though Sohwa did not understand what it meant to spend a night with a man,
she felt a strange, aching sensation deep inside.
“Why?”
He asked again.
Sohwa opened her lips to speak, but no words came.
What could she even say?
She turned her head away, pretending not to notice, blaming the heat on the poison.
“…Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
The man tilted his head, as if the question confused him.
After a moment, he spoke.
“Since the beginning.”
The beginning?
Did he mean after death?
But there were too many things that did not fit for him to be a spirit.
“You shouldn’t stay here.”
“Where is this place?”
“……”
“I was talking with the queen. I drank tea and lost consciousness.
If what you say is true, the tea was poisoned.
But why?”
“Why?”
That was what Sohwa could not understand.
Why would the queen poison her?
She had called her in secret, to a place no one knew, as if she meant to harm her.
“She has no reason to hurt me. Giving me poison was…”
To test her?
But what could poison test?
Pain tolerance?
Her ability to stay calm?
No answer came.
But another thought crossed Sohwa’s mind.
This man had brought her here.
“Wait. How did you bring me?”
“…Like this.”
He suddenly stepped close and lifted her up again.
Sohwa struggled and pushed against his chest.
“No, not like that.”
“Like this?”
As if going further, he began to run lightly.
His sleeves fluttered.
Only then did Sohwa notice the bloodstains on them.
“What is that?”
Did he hurt someone and bring me here by force?
Is it really okay for me to be here?
Once she reached that thought, she could not hesitate anymore.
Whatever the queen’s intention was, Sohwa was not allowed to question it.
Even if the queen meant to kill her, Sohwa had to accept it quietly.
“I was going to take you.”
“Where?”
“To the doctor.”
“A doctor? Why…?”
Sohwa could not understand the queen’s actions.
Was it a test?
Or… did she doubt her purity?
“…Sohwa?”
The man called her name again.
Like a child repeating a new word, he spoke her name clearly, differently from anyone else.
But the sound did not reach Sohwa’s heart.
She only felt the strong need to fix this situation.
“I have to go.”
“Dangerous…”
“Still, I have to—”
“Sohwa!”
At that moment, a voice called out to her from far away.
The man’s eyes sharpened instantly.
It was Yeonwoo’s voice.
There were two or three sets of footsteps running toward them.
“Yeonwoo.”
Hearing his voice, Sohwa moved toward the wall without thinking.
There was no door.
To leave, she would have to climb over the wall.
As she reached up, a shadow fell behind her.
The moment she turned around, a firm hand covered her mouth.
