GMLS Ch 57

The 2nd Prince had been defeated in a sacred contest held in the name of Sangseon. It wasn’t for nothing that the 3rd Prince had committed suicide. The commanders of the Golden Army, the Secret Guard, and the civil officials had all seen Muryun place his hand on The Sky Monument. In that moment, the emperor was decided. And with it, the future of the one who failed to become emperor was also decided.

Even if something were to happen to Muryun, a new emperor would rise from the Wi or Yeo clan, but not him. Because he had lost his right. On the contrary, if he were discovered, he would be killed, confined for life, or exiled. Thus, everyone had thought the same thing: even if he lived, he would live in hiding, his life not truly his own.

But to think he would pull a stunt like this.

The 2nd Prince, Simuk, who appeared at the banquet hall leading a group of elite warriors, was even disabled. His left arm was severed, and he wore an eyepatch over his right eye.

“There was no preamble. He just started cutting down the people in the banquet hall.”

I see. Hearing those words, I realized the 2nd Prince’s objective.

“The throne wasn’t even on his mind. His intention was probably just to cause a scene because his anger hadn’t subsided. A madman who doesn’t even value his own life and doesn’t think about the consequences. In a way, he is the most difficult kind of enemy to deal with.”

It’s possible that after he fled and his body was safe, his anger flared up belatedly. He was the 2nd Prince, who, aside from the Crown Prince, was originally of the highest rank. Even if he were to live on like this, would that truly be living? His lofty pride might have made him cough up blood.

“Damn it.”

I swallowed a curse and bowed my head grimly.

It’s all just speculation. No one knows for sure what his true intentions are. It’s also impossible to know why, of all people, he abducted Yeo Yullyeong. I clasped my hands together tightly, as if in prayer.

Tap.

A large hand rested on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Muryun looking down at me. His expression was serious, but his eyes were filled with worry.

“I’m… alright.”

It was an empty platitude. Muryun didn’t believe it either. His hand squeezed my shoulder tightly. Just like Yeo Yullyeong. I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them.

“Let’s go over this again.”

After stirring up such a commotion, the 2nd Prince himself slipped out of the imperial palace like a ghost. Those who were killed or subdued had no intention of escaping in the first place. As soon as they were subdued, they immediately attempted to take their own lives. They were all warriors from Subaek.

After the 2nd Prince disappeared, Muryun took charge and brought the situation under control. He assigned escorts to the unsettled envoys and sent them back to their lodgings, organized a pursuit team, and had the officials return home with warrior escorts as well.

It was on his way home that Yeo Yullyeong met with this misfortune.

“All the escorting warriors were killed, and two members of the Golden Army were seriously injured. I didn’t think the 2nd Prince had such a strong force in his ranks.”

“It’s already been three months since the test ended. It wouldn’t be strange for him to have gathered a new force from somewhere in that time. Logically, it would be Subaek, but—”

At Muryun’s words, the atmosphere in the room changed.

“—I don’t think so.”

Subaek. Would that small country really have sided with the 2nd Prince, who had lost all his connections?

“Still, for now, we must proceed by the book. Wi Suhyeok. Who is the prince from Subaek currently here as an envoy?”

“It is the 4th Prince, Murae.”

I remembered him. He was the prince Tarahan had impersonated.

“I don’t care if they notice. Surround him with layers of the Golden Army and keep him under surveillance. Don’t let him take a single step outside his lodgings. If he resists, it’s fine to take him into custody. And deploy additional Golden Army and Secret Guard members to the other envoys’ lodgings under the pretext of increasing their security.”

“I accept your command.”

Wi Suhyeok, who had returned to his position as deputy commander after Wi Junghyuk’s return, bowed and left the room.

The capital was completely sealed off. There was no way the 2nd Prince could get out alive anyway. But if he had any lingering attachment to his life, he wouldn’t have caused such an incident in the first place.

‘Yeo Yullyeong.’

My insides, which had been calm for a moment, tightened. A swarm of countless anxious ants gnawed at my organs.

The voices of those sitting around the round table, discussing the 2nd Prince’s objectives and future actions, faded into the distance. Their speculations lacked brilliance. They were plausible, but no words came out that were convincing enough to elicit admiration.

‘If Yeo Yullyeong were here.’

If he were, with his shining eyes and brilliant mind, he would have pointed out the exact path we needed to take.

Smack!

I slapped my own cheeks with both hands. The attention of the people who had been seriously discussing matters, pointing at the map of the capital, all turned to me.

“I apologize. I’ve come to my senses now.”

“Alright. Don’t push yourself.”

Muryun was the first to speak gently. He tapped my shoulder again.

Yeo Yullyeong is not here. I accepted that fact first. I understood it not with my head, but with my heart. He is not here, and the reason he is not here is that he has been abducted. He might die. I must save him before that happens.

Think. Think.

How would the 2nd Prince have acted? What would Yeo Yullyeong have done in this situation?

“……The folding fan.”

The gazes that had gathered on me had not yet fallen away. I looked at the faces occupying the seats at the round table and said.

“Among the items found at the scene, was there no folding fan?”

“There was not.”

Wi Junghyuk answered.

“In that case, Yeo Yullyeong was likely conscious when he was taken, and it’s highly probable that he wasn’t restrained. Since he’s a civilian with no physical training whatsoever, they wouldn’t have felt the need to be wary of him in that regard.”

“And so?”

“We must find the folding fan.”

Why a folding fan all of a sudden? The expressions of those who thought so changed at my next words.

“There is no way that Yeo Yullyeong, conscious and unrestrained as he was being taken, would not have left a trail.”

Dawn was breaking. It was now morning.

“Please mobilize all available soldiers to search for a folding fan that has been dropped on the ground. If you find it, do not touch it and call for me.”

“Do you know what the fan he brought to the banquet looked like? I don’t think a dropped fan would be that common, but it would be helpful to know.”

“It must have been……”

At first, I had thought, surely not. Even after seeing him casually hold the blood-caked fan, that thought hadn’t changed. But on the other hand, the Yeo Yullyeong I knew might have taken it to the banquet hall just for the fun of seeing others’ reactions.

No. He must have.

“It will be a fan with dried blood on it. It’s not the high-quality item he usually carries. It’s plain, simple, and made of a material that only poor scholars would use.”

“Understood.”

Muryun gave the order. The people at the round table rose in unison and moved with perfect coordination. In the end, only Muryun and I were left. I was lost in thought, and Muryun was gazing at me. I didn’t look at him, despite his worried gaze.

Something…… Something I was continuously missing was flitting about behind my head like a firefly. As if within reach but just out of grasp, the tiny speck of light kept cluttering my mind.

“I heard you weren’t feeling well. For now, you should at least—”

“The 2nd Prince’s arm and eye.”

Even though I had dared to interrupt him, Muryun did not reprimand me. Instead, he closed his mouth as if to let me continue. I lifted my head and looked at Muryun with bewildered eyes.

“When the test was over, Your Majesty was the victor in the end, but our group was not in a good state. We were half-scattered and broken, weren’t we?”

“We were.”

Muryun’s expression clouded over, as if he was recalling that time. He was surely remembering me, seriously injured and on the verge of death.

My heart, which would have melted on a normal day, was frozen solid. That’s right. I was dying then. Heukwol was also left behind alone, and for Monghyul and Wi Junghyuk, the best they could do was to carry Muryun to the summit.

“The 3rd Prince was still at the foot of the mountain at that time. He hanged himself there. And at that time, there was nothing in the report about the 2nd Prince’s injuries.”

Muryun’s eyes widened as if he had realized something. I snatched the firefly that had been darting around distractingly.

“Then who was it that did that to the 2nd Prince’s arm and eye?”

The 3rd Prince had hanged himself. There were also signs that he had taken his own life, so everyone assumed it was suicide. In any case, he was dead, and the emperor was decided. No one paid any attention to the already dead loser. I was the same. He may be a fool, but I guess he had his pride as a prince. I thought that and let it go.

But what if that was a murder?

If it wasn’t us, who didn’t have the capacity, and it wasn’t the 2nd Prince, who wasn’t nearby at the time.

“In the first place, the ones who attacked us might not have been under the command of the 2nd or 3rd Prince.”

I felt the need to re-evaluate what we had experienced back then.

The ones who first attacked us were indeed the 2nd Prince’s men. They had said so themselves. But what about the ones who attacked with poison at the end? Whose men were they?

Heukwol and I had seen them and firmly believed that one of the 2nd and 3rd Princes had broken the rules. Because only the two of them had a reason to. We were especially suspicious of the 3rd Prince, whose chances of winning through conventional means were remarkably low. As if to add weight to our suspicions, those guys used a poison that blinded the eyes.

Looking back, a flood of strange points emerged.

First. There was no way the 3rd Prince, who commanded many poison masters, would have used such a pathetic poison. Moreover, the attackers were elite warriors, not poison masters.

Second. The 2nd Prince might have had such a group, but the 3rd Prince did not have such a large armed force. Even if he had them for some reason, he should have started with all those elite warriors instead of over a hundred riffraff.

‘Damn it. How could I have been so stupid.’

“Yihwa.”

Muryun grabbed my arm as I was agonizing and pulled me to my feet.

“There’s no need to blame yourself. This happened because all of our perspectives were narrow. Do that later. Not now. Right now, finding the Shangshuling is the top priority.”

“Yes. I know.”

I know.

I straightened my body, muttering as if in a groan. I had to get a grip. Yeo Yullye-ong’s life might depend on my actions.