By Zephyria 
When the bulky grandfather fell backward, a truly massive sound pierced my ears. I had no idea what was happening. Because the situation was shifting so rapidly and incessantly, I didn’t even have a moment to think. I was terrified of what might happen next. My body hurt so much from being kicked that I couldn’t even lift my head, and when someone touched me, I struggled. Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! Hyun-wook! Strong arms lifted and embraced my body as I struggled painfully, clutching my lower abdomen.
“Hae-joo, Grand Imperial Concubine! It’s me, it’s me!”
Huh…?
I had heard he was dead and hadn’t seen him for days; I wondered if I was hallucinating. Like a fool, I didn’t even think to verify who he was; I simply stopped moving, my head filling with hundreds of question marks. As I slowly turned my head, the hands holding me began to tremble violently upon confirming my appearance. I could feel the grip embracing me shaking more and more.
Who?
Before I could even register that he was Joo Min-hyeok, my grandfather, who had collapsed after being hit by the desk, struggled to pull himself up. He seemed shocked to see Joo Min-hyeok, unable to say a word as he scrambled to grasp the situation. And Joo Min-hyeok, who had appeared out of nowhere, stroked my hair and face, checking my entire body before hugging me tightly.
“Ugh….”
“Does it hurt here too? Oh, goodness….”
As he tightened his embrace, various parts of my body hurt intensely. Startled, Joo Min-hyeok carried me to the sofa and laid me down. I could faintly smell Joo Min-hyeok’s pheromones. It really is Joo Min-hyeok. But why did he ask if it hurt here too? The suddenly appearing Joo Min-hyeok acted as if he knew exactly where I had been beaten.
“…Your Majesty? Is it really you?”
“I… I’ll explain. Just wait a moment.”
The voice, the face, and this scent of pheromones were all Joo Min-hyeok’s. Therefore, the person in front of me was definitely Joo Min-hyeok. I have no idea how things are playing out. Hyun-wook, who approached closely beside me, also looked bewildered, unable to judge the situation.
Leaving the words “wait a moment,” Joo Min-hyeok approached my grandfather. Before I knew it, the interior of the royal chamber was surrounded by soldiers from another company, their muzzles pointed at my grandfather. Did this old man get turned on his own game? That was the only thought that flashed through my mind, which was otherwise blank.
I had thought everything felt too sloppy for some reason. Then how on earth did Joo Min-hyeok escape America and get here? Is he okay despite the injuries he supposedly sustained because of my grandfather? I couldn’t believe the fact that Joo Min-hyeok was walking around in front of me without having died; it made my head spin.
“How on earth did this happen? How did you survive there…. The car you were in was clearly turned into a honeycomb….”
It seemed my grandfather found it just as unbelievable as I did that Joo Min-hyeok was moving before his eyes, as he asked exactly what I was wondering. Having reached my grandfather, Joo Min-hyeok looked at him with a sneer and a mocking laugh.
“That’s because I was never inside that honeycomb to begin with.”
“What?”
Whether he disliked Joo Min-hyeok’s cryptic answer or not, my grandfather frowned and raised his voice.
“I wasn’t in that car from the start. In fact, I never even went to America.”
…?
He didn’t go to America? A thunderbolt of shock struck my entire body. What does this mean? Joo Min-hyeok didn’t go to America? Extremely shocked, I pushed myself up from the sofa. I didn’t think my expression differed much from my grandfather’s right now.
“Why waste money going all the way to America when there’s no sick person? By the way, Prime Minister. Do you really think those soldiers outside are your people? And what about the person who supposedly turned the car into a honeycomb in America? No, that killer who made the honeycomb—is he really your man?”
As he listened to Joo Min-hyeok’s relentless words, my grandfather’s face began to turn pale. Without letting the sneer leave his face, Joo Min-hyeok approached the man who had been watching the situation from a distance—the one called the Emperor-designate. The man gave Joo Min-hyeok a bright smile.
…W-what on earth is this…. Could it be the two of them? As if responding to the smile, Joo Min-hyeok gave a faint smile back and patted his shoulder. I stared at the two of them, unable to even breathe deeply.
“Is this new Emperor-designate, whom the Prime Minister spent months painstakingly acquiring, truly your man?”
A heavy silence instantly fell over the royal chamber. Right. Now I get it. The fact that Joo Min-hyeok didn’t go to America means no one was sick from the start, which means all of this was Joo Min-hyeok’s plan. My grandfather had been played by Joo Min-hyeok from beginning to end.
“…Since it’s come to this, why don’t you kindly explain? When did you meet that man?”
A bitter smile escaped my grandfather’s lips as he spoke while looking at the Emperor-designate. Since he isn’t that stupid, he seems to have finally noticed how the situation is turning.
“The moment the Prime Minister first entered negotiations? Despite how I look, I found out about the Prime Minister’s treasonous plot quite a long time ago. From the moment you thought I was a novice and looked down on me, I had my own plan.”
“Ha,”
“Do you think there wasn’t a single one of my people among those you believed were yours? The soldiers outside are the same. The real small fry have already been suppressed, and while you were playing king in the palace, I was cleaning up outside.”
Joo Min-hyeok had overwritten the plan my grandfather prepared with his own. There was no assassin targeting him in the first place. He had handled them in advance and replaced them with his own people.
So, getting a car and putting on a play would have been a piece of cake. The soldiers in the palace had either already been replaced by Joo Min-hyeok’s people or had been his people from the start.
“I intentionally left the palace empty because I didn’t want to drag this out. True to my expectations, you rushed right in. Thanks to that, things were very easy. I’m quite grateful. Still, I had to secure definitive and decisive evidence. I couldn’t catch you halfway. Everything had to be certain—that you prepared for treason and that you admitted to it. I couldn’t let you slip away.”
“I see. How admirable. You are indeed different from the weak and listless Late Emperor.”
“…Do not put my father in that filthy mouth of yours.”
Joo Min-hyeok’s low, powerful voice echoed through the royal chamber.
“I assume you’ve secured the evidence you wanted.”
“Of course, Prime Minister. Your residence has already been raided, and I’ve captured the heads of the families who shared your intent, military officials, and politicians and conglomerates both domestic and foreign. They will all receive the appropriate punishment for complicity in insurrection or negligence.”
“…You must have wiretapped everything I did as well.”
“Just wiretapping? The palace is a given, and I suspect it would be harder to find a place in the Prime Minister’s residence without a camera. Thanks to that, I saw everything clearly.”
“Haha, you saw? You saw? Then you’re saying you saw every single action until now? Eh?”
Listening silently to their absurd conversation, I could be certain of one thing if nothing else. That I had been used. It wasn’t just my grandfather in the palm of Joo Min-hyeok’s hand; I was included as well.
“He must have seen, heard, and recorded everything perfectly. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”
Understanding what my grandfather was inducing, Joo Min-hyeok remained silent and showed no reaction. It was likely because he knew I was included in that sarcasm. So this was why he wanted to talk after returning.
“Looking at your face, you didn’t know about this either, did you, Cha Hae-joo?”
Yes, I didn’t.
“Your Alpha, the one you begged to return even if it was just a corpse. What now, Cha Hae-joo? From where I stand, it looks like you were used quite thoroughly as well.”
I know, so please just be quiet. My head is a mess, and a mixture of resentment and sorrow surges up from below. No, ‘sorrow’ isn’t the right word. Look at me, Joo Min-hyeok.
If he saw everything, did he also see me getting beaten? Would Joo Min-hyeok, who must have been certain the Prime Minister was coming to my quarters, not have installed a single camera there?
“I admit it, Your Majesty. I admit I was played by Your Majesty. You must have enjoyed it, watching the process of preparing for treason. In that case, keeping that child by your side must have also been part of the plan.”
“…That wasn’t the case, so don’t jump to conclusions.”
“It’s not a conclusion, it’s a fact. You had to keep that fool by your side to deceive my eyes. To make the plan… to make all of this a success, you needed a screen. A screen to distract the attention in front. That was that child, and he fell for it beautifully.”
“Shut your mouth, Prime Minister. I said it wasn’t.”
“Not? Then you embraced that child with a pure heart? That’s not it, is it? How could you purely love that child who shares my blood? You left him alone because he had utility value.”
I half-raised my leaning body and looked at the two of them. More accurately, I looked at Joo Min-hyeok, but since his back was to me, I couldn’t see his expression. I was curious about his expression right now. Tell him it’s not true. Tell him that after helping the pitiful me, your heart came to me. Tell me there was no such thing as a plan. No reaction came from Joo Min-hyeok, who was gripping my grandfather by the collar. I felt anxious at his failure to deny it.