Within The Palace

Lady Dowager

"Why aren't there anyone here?"

"Do you think they figured out our plan?"
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Siwoon could see the palace from the road that they're standing on. He was just about to run towards it. Shinwoo reached out to grab him.

"Why why? I want to-" Siwoon was stopped in his tracks.

"Let's sneak in," Shinwoo whispered to Siwoon, "They don't know we're coming home early. I wanna see what happens when we're not here."

"Ahh." Siwoon clapped at Shinwoo's reasoning.

They dragged the others to the side of the palace, where an entrance that's lightly guarded is. Taekyeong was moving extra slowly, being nervous that he might mess something up. Just then, a familiar voice to Shinwoo and Daon came up.

"Hey!"

All nine of the men turned to see Taehyung waving at them. They quickly put their finger over their mouths, hushing him quickly and signaling him to not notice them. Looking at them, Taehyung got what they were trying to say. He waved them off as if he saw nothing.

The nine of them were walking silently. Throughout the palace, there were many corners and walls to hide behind. They were doing great at not getting detected, picking the route that's least used.

"Emperor Noh!!!" A booming voice echoed shaking the sky. All except Taekyeong knew who it was. They dreaded her, was scared of her, and the first person they have to interact with is her!

"Lady Dowager (og character)!"

They all bowed before her, Taekyeong was able to too. She walked towards the group, with her maids tailing her. She was around her late 30s, she was the daughters of the retired Minister of Trade, before becoming who she is now.

"Well, you're back early." Lady Dowager lowered her tone of voice. "Nothing troublesome happened, right?"

From the prospective of an outsider of the palace, like Taekyeong, they would think that Lady Dowager was asking that to show that she was worried. But to Shinwoo, he knew better. Oh he knew all right. Lady Dowager could have cared less for Shinwoo. Daon and Siwoon know this too, and her phrase 'nothing troublesome happened, right?', makes them suspect that the the masked man that attacked Daon was actually sent by her. As you can see, they don't have a great relationship with each other.

"No Lady Dowager, I was just feeling a bit... homesick." Shinwoo smiled.

'Fake. Fake as f*ck.' thought Lady Dowager almost laughing. Only an psycho would call this place 'home'. A crowd of ministers and servants had gathered around them, whispering about the what was happening. It was very usually to see the emperor and Lady Dowager walking around and talking. The air seemed sense, even to someone who's unaware of the circumstances, Taekyeong, they would know that it's best if they stay out of the conversation.

"I see that you brought a new 'friend' here." Her mouth stressing the word friend, "Emperor Noh, I would like to have a nice private chat with you."

Lady Dowager quickly walked off to her quarter. With her line of maids scurried along, Shinwoo also followed her. The group of people stepped, shoving each other to get out of the war quicker. They bowed to the Lady Dowager and Shinwoo, until they left. When entering her domain, Lady Dowager sat down behind a curtain that only showed the outline of her silhouette.

Shinwoo kneeled down on the pillow in the center of the room. Lady Dowager had waved her personal maid to leave the two of them alone.

Finally, it was just to two of them.

"Lady Do-"

"Shinwoo," She called him by his first name, "I hope you could behave yourself, you know, after your parents died..." She started to sniffle.

Either bring up Shinwoo's parents was only an accident, or an act of violence didn't matter to Shinwoo. She phrase 'after your parents died' struck him like a spear, like always. He know that Lady Dowager was using this to control and gain more power by guilting him into think that she only wants the best for him. But it works. He didn't know his parents to well, but from the stories of his eunuch, they seemed mighty impressive.

"Your parents, they- they... died so suddenly." Lady Dowager croaked, "To leave one's child so soon, I can't imagine."

"We're done talking." Shinwoo said. He was about to leave the room, but she quickly stopped him.

"Just behave yourself... we wouldn't want what happened to your parents happen to you too." The coldness in her voice reappeared again. That's right, Shinwoo's parents did die at a young age, but it wasn't a natural death, it was because they had become useless to the Lady and Ministers. In the palace, who really controls the land? Is it the emperor, or the one's behind the veils and currents?