Your Son's Condition Is a Bit...
Morning came early for the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
More precisely, the Empress was the sort of person who moved from the crack of dawn, so I had to move just as quickly.
I shrugged into the brocade uniform the deputy commander had handed me, hung the imperial dragon sword at my waist, and stood before a noblewoman dripping with ornate jewelry.
"An unfamiliar face," said Empress Ga Hwiryung, her expression cold as she pointed me out.
"Your Majesty the Empress, you yourself said last time that unsavory factions might target His Highness the Crown Prince, and that more guards were needed, did you not?"
Jang Chun-sam of the Embroidered Uniform Guard stepped forward and explained why new blood had been brought in.
I suppose when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Now that the Crown Prince was starting to regain consciousness, the Empress clearly believed other factions would try to assassinate him.
"This is the capable subordinate I mentioned. He just finished a mission outside Beijing, so I brought him in."
Poisoning Princess Dohwa's food or planting a thunder bomb in a gift for the Emperor—exactly the kind of thinking that woman would go for.
Fortunately, my goal wasn't assassination. I only needed to confirm the suspicions hanging over her and uncover the truth.
Namely, the suspicion that the Emperor's own wife had joined hands with the Blood Sect, which the court had officially denounced. Even if exposing her stopped the Blood Sect's "treatments" and the Crown Prince's condition worsened until he died, that would simply be her reaping what she had sown.
To do that, though, I first had to earn the Empress's trust and get close enough to witness the secret sites where her sorcery and forbidden arts were performed. Only by seeing it with my own eyes and learning exactly when and where the Blood Sect made contact could I bring outsiders in at the right moment and blow the whole thing open.
"So you are one of those Black Embroidered Guards who supposedly went around taking heads of martial artists and rebel bands along the borders? I did not expect you to be so young."
An intrigued look from the Empress brushed over me. Second Prince Ju Gachi, standing beside her, also glanced my way with mild surprise at the words "Black Embroidered Guard."
The Black Embroidered Guard. Even within the Embroidered Uniform Guard—who already wielded extralegal authority in the name of imperial security—they were the shadow unit organized solely for assassination and purges. Real combat specialists whose identities even the capital's power-playing Embroidered Guards barely knew. Only the Guard's commander knew them all thoroughly, and he was currently away in Tibet negotiating with certain factions on the Empress's behalf.
Which meant there was an opening for me to slip into the Empress's faction.
"Please call me Mubyeok, Your Majesty the Empress."
My role right now was the solitary, cold, fiercely loyal assassin type. Keeping my emotions tightly reined in, I offered the formal Embroidered Guard salute to the Empress.
"Yes. Countless foreign generals and chieftains, as well as martial artists from beyond the borders, are said to have died by your hand."
"Everything was for His Imperial Majesty and the peace of the Central Plains."
I hadn't killed any of them. I was simply dredging up the old lines from my undercover days that used to score points with superiors.
"When Chun-sam told me about you, I had high hopes. But you look younger than I expected. It worries me."
Empress Ga Hwiryung narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down as if appraising livestock.
"Yet at that age he is already Transcendental Peak Realm."
"…Oh?"
This time she seemed genuinely surprised; those narrowing eyes opened a fraction wider.
"And he is extremely loyal. A talent who will do anything he is ordered to do, Your Majesty."
Deputy Commander Jang Chun-sam spoke with absolute certainty, as if daring her to put me to the test.
"Anything, you say?"
"Yes. Anything at all. Simply give the command, Your Majesty the Empress."
I immediately confirmed it and bowed my head low.
A strange little smile curved her lips, and then she made a rather alarming request.
"Then slip into the Imperial Noble Consort's palace and bring me the head of that owl-spirit Ma Ju-yeong who is manipulating the Son of Heaven. I hear that is the sort of work you do best."
"…"
An open order for assassination. At that unthinkably dangerous demand, every gaze in the room seemed to lock onto me—the Second Prince, the retainers attending him, everyone. Even Deputy Commander Jang Chun-sam, who knew I had been sent from the Imperial Noble Consort's side, shot me a nervous look, afraid I might do something rash.
"Everything shall be as Your Majesty commands. Grant me but one day, and this Mubyeok will surely lay Ma Ju-yeong's head at Your Majesty's feet."
Yet I had instinctively sensed it: there was no real killing intent in her words. This was a loyalty test. I had run into the same thing back when I was undercover hunting industrial spies.
So I declared that I would set out on the assassination at once and only needed a single day, radiating the air of a man about to bolt out the door that very second.
"Wait."
The moment I shot to my feet as if ready to march straight for the Imperial Noble Consort's palace, Empress Ga Hwiryung raised a hand and stopped me. The unfamiliarity and distrust that had lingered on her face were already melting into interest and approval.
"You are hasty. It was a jest. Stop."
I had thought the killing intent was thin—turns out I was right. Good thing I had bluffed so hard. I seemed to have scored points with that lofty, arrogant woman.
"As my son Ju U-gi continues to recover his senses, it works in our favor. There is no need to go thrashing about in the bushes. Who knows what might come leaping out."
She had no intention of beating the grass and startling the snake. The feel of her was different from the days when the Crown Prince lay bedridden and she had resorted to every desperate measure. Perhaps she had regained her composure now that he was starting to wake. The problem, of course, was the means by which he was waking.
"Mubyeok, was it? Assassination is unnecessary. Simply refill my teacup."
At that menial request, Deputy Commander Jang Chun-sam's eyebrows twitched in surprise. The others looked equally taken aback, so apparently letting someone handle something she would put in her mouth was one of the ways she acknowledged a subordinate.
Trickle.
Perfect chance. Fill it with poison.
As I swirled the tea leaves and poured, Salsung casually suggested poisoning her as if suggesting a stroll. As always, the creature never thought one step ahead. If I just murdered her outright, who was supposed to clean up the mess? And did she think I was Sister Dang Yeohye? I hadn't even brought any poison.
"Transcendental Peak at that age… you must have seen countless battles. Your exploits were surely mixed into the victory reports that reached us from the frontiers, were they not?"
The farther one got from the imperial capital, the thinner the administration's reach became, and the more the local lords who lived like little kings began to harbor other ideas. That was why the Embroidered Uniform Guard needed something like the Black Guard—an existence that reasserted imperial authority through blood. In other words, their blade did not only point outward. They were an assassination unit that stuck people full of holes wherever necessary.
Knowing that, the Empress regarded me with open curiosity.
"Now that you have stepped into the light, tell me of your past achievements. I shall listen with interest."
She savored the fragrance of the tea I had offered with lofty poise and demanded I speak for her entertainment, as if doing me a great honor.
I only kept a heavy expression and bowed my head in apparent regret.
"All activities of the Black Guard are classified. I cannot speak of them."
I could easily have made something up, yet when I refused, Deputy Commander Jang Chun-sam flinched and stared at me.
"You are entering my service. Is it proper to keep secrets from me?"
But the Empress kept pressing with a look that said, You must tell me everything, yes?
The Empress's faction was regaining its absolute golden age now that the Crown Prince had opened his eyes. Having someone openly refuse her order in that situation must have been unexpected; the Second Prince and the retainers watched me with complicated expressions.
Still, I felt I needed to dig in my heels here. People who lived buried in secrets and shady dealings actually preferred this type—the image of a man who kept every promise no matter what, and whose mouth was a fortress.
"I am sorry. It is a disloyal answer, yet it is impossible. Even if you take my head for it."
I stretched my neck out like a turtle, inviting her to cut it if she wished. The Empress set down her teacup and gave a short laugh.
"That, too, was a jest. Mubyeok, was it? You take this lady's words far too seriously at times."
She had created an atmosphere that suggested disobedience meant death, then casually chirped, "Just kidding~." Working under a superior like this must keep the subordinates' hearts in their throats every single day. The way the people around us were visibly wiping cold sweat proved it.
"Haaah."
Beside me, Deputy Commander Jang Chun-sam let out a long sigh of relief. First I had tried to charge off and kill the Imperial Noble Consort without hesitation, then I had defied the Empress's relentless order—he was looking at me as if wondering what kind of infiltrator he had brought in. He shot me a thoroughly fed-up glance, then looked away.
"A touch insolent, yet your tight lips please me. See that nothing of what happens here leaks out either."
Empress Ga Hwiryung regarded me with clear satisfaction.
"Of course, Your Majesty the Empress."
So that had been the right answer after all.
"At this level, I can trust you enough to assign you as escort for 'that business'… You will guard this lady by day, and my son by night."
From those words, it seemed the suspicious "treatments" took place at night. Still, I deliberately asked another question to pin it down for certain.
"Your Majesty the Empress… which of the princes do you mean, exactly…?"
I flicked a sidelong glance at the Second Prince beside her as I asked.
She snorted as if the answer were obvious.
"Why, my son Ju U-gi, of course. See to it that the Crown Prince's personal safety is flawless."
"…"
Blatant favoritism—and she said it without the slightest hesitation even though the Second Prince could hear every word. The Second Prince's shoulders slumped a little. Something about it felt uncomfortably familiar, like watching Moyong Hwi and my own past self, and a strange feeling stirred in my chest.
"And the chance of interference during the treatment is high… so be especially careful of a certain someone."
Under no circumstances must the treatment be interrupted, she said, and she named one particular person to watch for.
"Which person should I be careful of?"
If the Empress was going this far, it had to be someone the entire Empress faction was especially wary of. Cheon Su-gong, maybe?
"A young martial artist. His name was something like Mujin. A troubleshooter who has obstructed this lady's affairs at every turn."
"…"
Maybe I shouldn't have asked. All I learned was the awkward truth that the person the Empress's faction was watching for was me.
"He has infiltrated the palace under various names, but in the end his tail was stepped on. Once this matter is finished, I intend to deal with him properly."
She was saying some truly terrifying things. At this rate, I was going to have to take them down before they took me down. That was the only way I survived.
Without meaning to, I had just entered a fight to the death.
"Yes, ma'am! Understood!"