8. Daehyun
The sun lay shrouded beyondthe palace walls. Pavilion roofs were silhouetted against the sky, and the wide eaves cast the deepest shadows, cloaking Daehyun as he hastened toward the main gate. After an uneventful audience with the king, he had lingered at the royal library, reading about coups of the past. But the hour was late. The curfew bell had struck, and soon no prince over the age of ten would be permitted within the palace walls, aside from the crown prince.
He was passing by a row of red-painted pillars when a guttural cry stopped him dead in his steps. He looked across the courtyard to see a figure looming over another. The king’s silk red robe thrashed as he beat a motionless man, and the dragon emblem on His Majesty’s back gleamed gold in the lantern light.
“Why did you not save her?” the king roared. “You are a royal physician! How dare you let her die?!”
His Majesty unsheathed a sword. The silhouettes of petrified palace attendants disappeared into the pavilions. Daehyun looked away, his limbs tensing as gruesome noises filled the night, of blade piercing flesh, of screaming and gurgling. No matter how many were killed within these walls, each time Daehyun still felt shock carve a gaping hole in his chest.
“L-little brother.”
Daehyun’s blood turned cold. At once, he tried to retreat, but he was backed up against a wall as the king charged toward him. His Majesty cupped Daehyun’s face, the physician’s blood hot on his cheeks. “Lady Seungpyeong is dead, little brother.”
“Jeonha…,” Daehyun whispered, fear straining his voice. “She was in perfectly good health a few days ago.”
“Lady Seungpyeong was like a mother to me, and now she is dead.” He was shaking, like a stray leaf in winter. “They say she died by suicide, but why would she do that? Only this morning I laid eyes upon her beautiful face. I told her, she is fifty and yet her beauty continues to startle me. Someone must have poisoned her.”
“Poisoned?”
“The royal physician found a suspicious substance at the bottom of her tea bowl.” The king whipped around and bellowed, “Eunuch Mun!”
A frail servant darted out from the shadows, sweat dripping down his pale face.
“Where is Investigator Gu?” the king growled. “Find him, tell him to come now. I will open an investigation into her death. I will rip the killer apart with my own hands!”
Daehyun stood frozen as the king staggered away into the dark, the eunuch scrambling alongside His Majesty. He remained still for a long time, blood dripping down his cheek, down his throat.
“Daegam.”
He flinched. It took a moment for his stare to fix upon a young palace servant peeping out from behind a pillar. It was Jiyu, a lowly musuri maid. He had occasionally sent her on discreet errands within the palace, and in return he had provided for her ill mother.
“Daegam!”
His legs would not move.
The girl glanced around, then like a mouse, she scurried over to his side.
“I wanted to tell you earlier, daegam—” She squeaked as leaves stirred behind them. A bird lurched off a branch and flapped away. She continued, trembling. “Royal Guard Min Hyukjin’s sister requested a strange favor.”
He could not find his voice. Stiffly, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sides of his face, rubbing his cheeks raw.
“She asked m-me to send her brother a message—to procure medicine for her, and that if he should n-not, she would be punished for being d-disloyal. I warned him that it was forbidden to bring outside medicine into the palace, yet he did nevertheless. I thought you should know.”
“What do I care about any of this?” Daehyun snapped.
“B-because…” She blinked quickly, glancing around once more. “Court Lady Sonhui tasked her b-brother with procuring kyungpo-buja for Lady Seungpyeong. And now Her Ladyship is dead.”
Dread constricted his heart. Kyungpo-buja—the small purple flower was both a cure and a weapon. A remedy for pain if properly prepared… or a deadly poison for when one wished to kill without a trace.
What had Hyukjin entangled himself in?