"Your Majesty?"
Yeonhwa's voice trembled as she shifted under the heavy sheets. The room was too quiet. The weight of the king's arm no longer rested against her. Cold air crept across her skin.
She turned slowly.
"Your Majesty?" she whispered again, reaching out with a trembling hand to touch him.
King Hyunsu lay still.
His eyes were open, glassy and vacant. His lips, once warm and commanding, were tinged blue. His skin was unnaturally pale, his chest unmoving.
"No... no, no!"
Yeonhwa jolted upright, clutching the sheets to her chest as she scrambled backward. Her heel caught the edge of the silk, sending her tumbling off the bed with a soft thud.
"HELP! HELP! Guards! Someone…please!"
The doors slammed open within seconds. Metal boots pounded across the stone floor as the palace guards flooded in. Swords were drawn. Eyes widened. Gasps filled the king's chamber.
"By the heavens..."
"The king...!"
General Han stepped forward, gaze narrowing as it landed on the king's lifeless body…and the trembling girl at the foot of the bed.
"Seize her."
"No…please! I didn't do anything! I woke up and he was…he was already cold!" Yeonhwa cried, trying to stand, but two guards grabbed her arms and forced her to her knees.
More figures stormed in: the royal physician, several advisors, a few of the queen's maidens. The room filled with whispers, panic, and suspicion.
The physician hurried to the king's side, placing fingers on his throat, then his wrist. He pried open the king's mouth and frowned.
"Darkened tongue... signs of frothing... His Majesty was poisoned."
A collective gasp rippled through the room.
"Poisoned?!"
"He was well just yesterday…"
"This is treason!"
Yeonhwa shook her head violently. "No. No! I didn't…why would I hurt him? He summoned me! He said he was tired, he held me…"
General Han's voice was sharp as steel. "And now he's dead."
"I would never harm him! He cared for me! Please, someone…!"
One of the king's advisors sneered. "She was always too favored. The other maidens were jealous, but she? She knew it. Used it."
"She seduced him to gain power," another chimed in. "Maybe she thought removing him would give her more."
"Enough!" barked General Han. "Until proven otherwise, she is the only suspect. Lock her away."
Yeonhwa twisted in the guards' grip. "Please! Someone believe me! I didn't poison him!"
But no one listened.
More maidens appeared at the door, their faces pale, eyes wide with a mix of horror and satisfaction. Whispers floated through the air like smoke:
"She was too close to the king." "She wanted to be queen." "Maybe she thought he'd marry her."
Tears streamed down Yeonhwa's face as the guards dragged her out of the chamber, down the grand halls of the palace. Behind her, the king's lifeless body remained…alone in the bed they had once shared.
"Unhand me…please! I beg you…!" Her cries echoed through the halls, but the guards did not falter. They shoved open the palace doors leading down to the lower levels.
Thunder boomed outside. Lightning lit up the marble corridors. Servants and soldiers stared as she was dragged past, none daring to speak.
In her mind, the king's final moments played over and over. He had whispered something. Just before his grip slackened.
But what was it? What had he said?
They locked her in a dark, damp cell beneath the palace. The cold stone floor cut through her bare knees as she collapsed.
"I didn't do it," she whispered to the empty walls. "I didn't…"
Time passed in silence. No food. No questions. Just silence.
Above her, the bells of mourning began to toll.
One. Two. Three… Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.
Each chime stabbed into her heart like a blade.
She leaned back against the wall, wrapping her arms around herself. Her thin shift clung to her skin, soaked from the cold. A faint sob escaped her lips as she stared up into the dark. "Please... someone believe me," she whispered. "I didn't want this."
Somewhere above, in the highest wing of the palace, a man stood in the shadows of the war chamber. He looked out into the storm, the flicker of lightning painting lines across his face.
He watched the chaos below with calm, calculating eyes. His lips curled into the faintest smile.
Lightning flashed once more, illuminating the distant silhouette of the man in the war chamber. He turned away from the window, his expression unreadable, and disappeared into the shadows without a word.