The pain in my lower abdomen grows steadily more intense.
I let out a brief groan as a tight, squeezing ache constricts my belly.
“Daebin Palace Saga, are you alright? Does where you were struck hurt? We should get you to the medical center immediately—”
“No. I’m going to stay right here and listen. Hyunwook, I’m going to hear everything before I leave.”
As I whispered to Hyunwook in a faint voice, my grandfather, making no attempt to hide his sneer, began to actively shake Joo Minhyuk’s composure.
“Look at the state of that child. Anyone can see he’s far from fine. Since you say you watched and listened, did you see that as well? The fact that I reduced that child to such a state. Even if there weren’t any cameras, surely you couldn’t have been ignorant of it. Wasn’t it entirely expected on your part?”
I bit my lip at his demonic question.
“Why do you say nothing? If Your Majesty saw through my entire plot, you must have anticipated that I would lay hands on that child. Yet, you took absolutely no measures to address that part.”
“…I didn’t expect the Prime Minister to reduce the Daebin Palace to that state. No one could have imagined you would dare lay hands on his body in such a manner.”
“No. Your Majesty absolutely anticipated it, and you abandoned him. You simply left him to his fate knowing it would turn out like this. Because there was a definitive benefit to be gained through the Daebin Palace, you neglected him to get what you wanted.”
“Shut your filthy mouth!”
With a sound of grinding teeth, Joo Minhyuk violently shook my grandfather by the collar.
‘Right.’
No normal person would imagine a grandfather would beat his own flesh and blood like this.
But Joo Minhyuk, you knew.
You deny it, but you definitely knew.
Just as the old man said, you anticipated it, and despite knowing I was being beaten, you just watched.
Because the evidence lay within the conversation between my grandfather and me.
Joo Minhyuk chose not to help me just to listen to that.
‘Ha…’
I have no idea when or where he installed those cameras, but it is certain that he stood by and watched me get beaten for the sake of his objective.
What did he think while watching?
Did he even think it was pitiful?
Since he needed absolute evidence, did he perhaps hope I would take a few more blows?
Or was he entirely indifferent to my assault, focusing solely on my grandfather’s words?
Whichever it was, it is utterly wretched.
It is deeply humiliating to have every bit of that wretchedness exposed to him.
Even in the midst of that agonizing pain, I struggled to call out for you and endured it all, yet it was completely in vain.
“His Majesty had no other choice.”
An unexpected voice echoed from the direction of the doorway.
As I painfully lifted my head, I recognized a face among the surrounding soldiers.
Isn’t that the Omega from back then?
I don’t know his name, but he was the recessive Omega friend of Joo Minhyuk whom Han Heesung had mentioned.
“It was agonizing, but it was for the greater good. At a critical moment when high treason had to be intercepted, absolute evidence was required, so His Majesty had no choice. Furthermore, His Majesty wasn’t even in a location close enough to rush over immediately.”
What on earth is this?
So this entire affair was a plan that everyone except me was aware of.
Devoid of any inclusion, they shared everything among themselves and watched this situation unfold.
Remaining completely in the dark, I agonized and worried just to find even the corpse of a supposedly dead Joo Minhyuk.
I was terrified all by myself, left with no choice but to take the beating because I didn’t know what to do, forced to feel the sheer terror and dread of being left entirely alone in the world.
Rather than the physical pain inflicted by my grandfather, the bleakness of the reality I had to endure alone was the far greater terror.
Yet, it seems Joo Minhyuk desired precisely that picture.
A completely oblivious me desperately clinging to my grandfather.
Because only then would the old man let his guard down upon seeing me like that.
“Do not interfere, Lee Siyoon.”
“I am merely trying to correct a misunderstanding. Do you have any idea how hard His Majesty has labored to intercept this treason plot? The matter regarding the Daebin Palace Saga breaks his heart, but he endured it for the greater good. Because the definitive and decisive evidence had to come out of the Prime Minister’s own mouth, he had no choice but to wait for it…”
“Lee Siyoon!”
As Lee Siyoon continued to speak, Joo Minhyuk let go of my grandfather roughly and bellowed at him.
‘Ha, thank you.’
Thanks to you, I’ve confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joo Minhyuk watched it all happen and actively chose to stand by.
To people like you, is someone being beaten to a pulp a trifling matter that can be observed indefinitely for the sake of the ‘greater good’?
Is that what it is?
Everyone except me knew about this plan, and they even watched me get beaten right along with Joo Minhyuk.
How amusing it must have been.
I couldn’t possibly be reduced to anything more pathetic than this.
I couldn’t even believe Joo Minhyuk was alive.
Because the shock was so overwhelming, I couldn’t feel a single shred of joy.
Right now, the relief that he is alive and the betrayal that he utilized me are twisting together, making my head feel as if it is about to explode.
“…Your Majesty.”
In stark contrast to Lee Siyoon’s clear voice, a cracked, broken sound escaped my throat.
Hearing me call out, Joo Minhyuk spun around instantly.
Exhausted and worn down, I looked up at him. How do I look in Joo Minhyuk’s eyes right now?
I must look like an absolute wreck.
It would have been better if I had never found out.
“Your Majesty, did you truly plan all of this on purpose? Then, did you watch me get beaten as well?”
At my meaningless confirmation, Joo Minhyuk tightly clamped his mouth shut, offering no answer.
“Did you know I would end up like this?”
The light in Joo Minhyuk’s eyes wavers as he looks down at me.
His inability to answer must be because he lacks any excuse.
Because my words are not wrong.
Even so, I wanted to hear him deny it.
I wanted him to say it wasn’t true, that he didn’t know.
“Did everyone know except for me? Did you perhaps not trust me? Because I am the Prime Minister’s grandson?”
I am deeply curious to know what you were thinking when I was being beaten by my grandfather, begging him to spare the Emperor’s life and promising to do anything.
Did you secretly rejoice, thinking that everything was unfolding exactly as desired?
Since Lee Siyoon mentioned you were waiting for decisive evidence, did you perhaps cheer me on to hold out just a little longer?
Wow… It’s truly absurd.
It is so absurd that a laugh slips out.
Watching me take those blows alongside those people, you must have thought only of your grand design.
It is incredibly cruel of you to share my ridiculous and deeply humiliating state with them while waiting for the perfect timing.
You told me to trust you.
So I trusted you.
And this is the ultimate result of that trust.
“Cha Haejoo. Even if you verify it, nothing about the outcome will change. You were foolishly utilized and deceived. In the end, you’ve been discarded. Everyone else knew, yet you alone played the fool in total ignorance.”
“Prime Minister!”
I don’t want to look at the nonsense of that mad old man, nor the hypocrisy of a selfish Joo Minhyuk.
“Shut up! Shut up, just shut that mouth of yours! You two are exactly the same.”
Whether startled by my outburst to shut up or shocked by the statement that they are exactly the same, Joo Minhyuk cannot readily bring himself to step closer to me.
Irrespective of his hesitation, I slowly forced my uncooperative, aching body to stand.
Hyunwook rushed over instantly to support me.
His face was already flushed crimson, his eyes welling with tears.
In this place, Hyunwook was the only true ally I had.
The moment a hesitant Joo Minhyuk stepped forward and grabbed my arm as I stood, I violently wrenched it out of his grasp.
“Don’t touch me! Do not lay a finger on my body!”
“Haejoo.”
The sorrowful eyes Joo Minhyuk directed at me no longer invoked any pity.
They were merely detestable and uncomfortable.
“Do not call my name ever again, and do not look at me with those eyes. I am glad you achieved the objective you desired. So do not grow greedy for anything else.”
“First, calm down and talk to me slowly. I beg of you.”
Brushing him off, I leaned my weight against Hyunwook to leave the hall, but Joo Minhyuk attempted to pull Hyunwook away from me.
I desperately wanted to put an end to this.
I merely wanted to escape this place.
It was utterly sickening that I had been reduced to such a wreck, and that there were so many spectating eyes watching it all.
“Let go of me! I told you not to touch me! Agh!”
It happened the exact moment I screamed with all the strength left in my body.
A horrific, piercing pain, like a spark of fire bursting, suddenly flared in my lower abdomen.
The pain shot up through my stomach and climbed straight up my spine.
“Aaargh!”
“Daebin Palace Saga? What—what is wrong?”
“Cha Haejoo!”
Clutching my lower abdomen, I collapsed inward, and Joo Minhyuk and Hyunwook caught me simultaneously.
As I crumpled to the floor holding my stomach, even my grandfather approached with a scowl, looking utterly baffled, while the surrounding soldiers panicked and called for a doctor.
“Gungju Saga, where does it hurt? Your stomach, why—Haejoo!”
“Hyunwook, my stomach… something is wrong with my stomach. Aaagh…! My stomach, my stomach… Uh?”
Suddenly, a strange sensation manifested from below.
Something hot, viscous, and distinctly metallic began to flow between my legs.
W-what is this?
A hot, dark-crimson fluid was streaming down my thighs.
The speed of the fluid grew rapidly faster, completely pooling down my legs.
Horrified by the sight of the blood, Joo Minhyuk stood frozen with his mouth agape before frantically shouting for a doctor.
Left with no choice but to lean against Hyunwook in total shock, I could only stare blankly at the flowing blood.
Why blood… this is a hemorrhage, isn’t it?
“Haejoo! Why—what is happening! I’ll call a doctor.”
As I began to hemorrhage heavily, Lee Siyoon rushed out to summon a medical team under Joo Minhyuk’s command, and Joo Minhyuk pulled me away from Hyunwook to cradle me in his arms.
I possessed neither the energy nor the luxury to struggle against Joo Minhyuk.
I stared endlessly at the hot blood pooling beneath me.
My lower abdomen had been throbbing continuously… could it be that I… completely by chance?
“You’ve lost the child.”
My grandfather’s mockery-laced words sliced sharply into my ears.
Wearing an expression of utter disdain, my grandfather was looking down at me with chillingly cold eyes.
“Blinded by an Alpha, you abandoned your family and your grandfather, only to end up losing your own child. A stellar job you’ve done. Foolish creature.”
In that instant, unable to endure it a moment longer, Hyunwook let out a furious scream and hurled his fist directly into my grandfather’s face.
A commotion erupted as the surrounding soldiers rushed to restrain him.
Yet, even as I witnessed Hyunwook’s actions, I couldn’t register any reaction.
The sheer shock plunged my mind into absolute darkness. I miscarried.
Due to my own ignorance, I remained entirely unaware that a child even existed, failing to protect the little life that had been holding on all by itself.
The pooling blood felt as though it were blaming me.
Staring down at the crimson fluid, I lost consciousness entirely.
