Waiting for Minhyuk inside a completely deserted interrogation room, Hyunwook felt as though his heart were being squeezed tight.
Just after barely confirming that Haejoo had safely boarded the ship, the Emperor had arrived while he was frantically holding off the assailants.
The moment he laid eyes on the Emperor, a bottomless terror had washed over him.
Yet, the one who had assisted Hyunwook in subduing the attackers was none other than the Emperor himself.
To state the conclusion first, the puppet masters behind this entire incident were not the Emperor, but the Prime Minister and his eldest son.
They had been played so completely that the back of his head felt entirely numb.
Although he had considered the possibility, the Prime Minister’s direct movement was nothing short of a profound shock.
‘So much for blood ties; I guess they truly viewed him as nothing more than a traitor who aligned himself with the Imperial Family.’
The Prime Minister was a violent man to the very end. To think he would dispatch such a massive swarm of assassins just to capture his two grandsons.
The Prime Minister’s intention had been to seize the Grand Imperial Concubine—Joo Minhyuk’s greatest weakness—and use him to pressure the Emperor into a transaction.
The objective of that transaction was undoubtedly a dream of continuing the legacy of their failed coup.
‘Hand over the throne in exchange for the Grand Imperial Concubine’s life.’
Something along those lines?
Of course, the Emperor wasn’t a man to fall for such a ploy, but it was undeniably a reckless, absurd plan.
How could the Prime Minister be a human being who simply didn’t understand the concept of giving up?
To make matters worse, they had masqueraded as the Imperial Guard while colluding with an internal spy.
Just as Hyunwook had surmised based on what Haejoo had shared with him, that internal spy close to the Emperor turned out to be Siyoon.
There was no way Siyoon would have leaked that information to Haejoo without a motive.
Consequently, not only Siyoon but every single individual involved in this plot had been rounded up and detained.
Judging by the Emperor’s current state, the Prime Minister likely wouldn’t escape with his life.
“You seem quite relaxed. You didn’t even notice me walking in.”
“Yo-Your Majesty.”
Before he knew it, Minhyuk had entered the interrogation room, looking down at Hyunwook with cold, piercing eyes.
“Sit. You’ve been detained here. Don’t try to roll your brain and speak with absolute honesty.”
“If this is regarding the ambush, everything I have to say was already conveyed while we were in the vehicle.”
“Is that so? Well, I still have a few things left to say….”
Sarcasm laced his tone, and his eyes glinted dangerously.
Hyunwook instantly realized that Minhyuk’s current state was entirely different from before.
If he made one wrong move, he might genuinely end up dead.
A layer of tension he had never experienced before hung thick in the air.
Hyunwook finally realized just how much leniency Minhyuk had been showing him all this time.
“Kang Hyunwook, who conspired to aid the escape of the Emperor’s imperial concubine. What should I do with you? Even if it all stemmed from a misunderstanding, that is.”
“…Everything else may have been a misunderstanding, but you made one definitive promise. You said that the moment His Highness divorced you, you would let him leave.”
“Ha, right. I did. But as you just said, that meant letting him go after the divorce was finalized. It certainly didn’t mean before. Do you understand?”
“…Pardon?”
“It was a promise that only carried weight once the divorce was officially legally binding. Right now, we have merely signed the paperwork; the divorce itself hasn’t been processed yet. If a situation like this arose, he should have communicated with me instead of fleeing!”
Minhyuk’s initially calm voice steadily escalated into a roaring fury.
Hyunwook flinched at the thunderous rage, and Minhyuk, suppressing his anger as he studied Hyunwook, could tell that the man understood his words.
Biting his lip to let his anger cool for a moment, Minhyuk continued.
“Kang Hyunwook. From this moment on, you will serve as my hostage. Keeping you by my side will prove useful one way or another. Because if I have you, Haejoo will undoubtedly move. After all, I am fully aware of just how desperate the bond between you and Haejoo truly was. Having died and reunited in this life, how incredibly affectionate you two must have been, hm?”
Hyunwook couldn’t even process what he had just heard.
The entirely unexpected words felt like a sudden bolt from the blue.
They say your mind turns completely blank when you are pushed past the brink of shock; Hyunwook couldn’t formulate a single response and merely stared at Minhyuk’s face in a daze.
It was utterly mind-boggling to think exactly from where, how much, and since when the Emperor had known all of this.
“Yo-Your Majesty.”
“What, are you shocked? Right. Even to your own ears, it sounds like a story you’d only hear inside a psychiatric ward, doesn’t it, hm?”
A sneer perfectly matching his cynical tone spread across Minhyuk’s face.
Yet, his gaze remained deadly serious.
Minhyuk surmised that the truth Haejoo had promised to share with him one day was precisely this.
It was the story he had desperately wanted to hear directly from Haejoo’s own mouth.
Hyunwook’s clamped jaw and frozen posture made it obvious to anyone that he was utterly terrified.
The sight of his completely transparent consternation caused Minhyuk to let out a hollow laugh.
‘Talk about being an open book.’
Minhyuk decided to deliver one final shock to the man.
“Your father, afflicted with a genetic illness, passed away first. Next was your younger brother Seojoo, and then it was Haejoo. Finally, you died. Am I correct? Ah, you don’t need to answer.”
At Minhyuk’s words, Hyunwook froze even further, rendering him completely incapable of reacting. Minhyuk continued, entirely unbothered.
“And the Brigadier General was fully aware of all of this. To be frank, before I uncovered this truth, everything was a chaotic puzzle to me. The Grand Imperial Concubine’s personality completely flipped overnight, and the two of you shared a bond so desperate it made no sense given when you supposedly met. Even Seojoo, whom Haejoo kept calling by the name of a cat he used to raise whenever he was sick. When on earth did you two ever have time to be childhood friends? The Grand Imperial Concubine came to me when he was twelve years old.”
“…Your Majesty, that is.”
“Who would ever believe a story about being born into the world with the exact same faces and names? Right. Are the people who fled with Haejoo truly Seojoo and your father? Your father is presumably the CEO of a fairly prominent travel agency, and your brother is the grandson of the Fresh Mart founder, correct?”
Calming his hammering heart, Hyunwook carefully evaluated Minhyuk.
This was truly enough to make someone faint from shock.
Was there absolutely nothing the Emperor didn’t know?
Just how far did his knowledge extend?
“Unless everyone is collectively suffering from a mental illness, this is what you’d call memories of a past life, correct? And the current Grand Imperial Concubine is indeed the exact same Grand Imperial Concubine I’ve always known?”
Like a hunter deliberately laying a trap and tossing bait, Minhyuk probed Hyunwook.
From Hyunwook’s perspective, it was a stroke of absolute luck that Minhyuk didn’t seem to realize they had actually transmigrated into a novel.
If the Emperor had known that truth, he would have locked them in an asylum instead of sitting here verifying the facts.
Since Minhyuk firmly believed it to be a past life, and given that the reality wasn’t significantly different, Hyunwook decided to play along with that narrative.
While the current Haejoo wasn’t technically the original Grand Imperial Concubine Minhyuk knew, explaining that would only overcomplicate things, so he chose to smooth it over.
“…The Grand Imperial Concubine you know is indeed correct. The reason his personality changed is because his memories returned at the exact moment Your Majesty noticed a difference in him.”
“What kind of memories? Those memories of a past life?”
“Yes. The memories of Cha Haejoo, who passed away from the illness Your Majesty is familiar with.”
At Hyunwook’s calm affirmation, Minhyuk let out a hollow laugh and nodded his head. He felt like an absolute fool for believing such an absurd tale so easily, yet he had no choice but to believe it.
The anomalies that had cropped up over time were numerous, and this truth clicked every single remaining doubt into place like a perfect puzzle.
There were far too many situations that simply couldn’t be explained unless a past life was an absolute reality.
‘So that’s why he kept roaming outside. Just to find his younger brother. Ha…’
Hearing the truth directly from a primary party brought an absurd laugh to his lips.
Dying and coming back to life was one thing, but how on earth did they all manage to reunite in such close proximity again?
The hollow smirk on Minhyuk’s face steadily began to vanish.
“Right. I believed it. I believed every single shred of this utterly preposterous story. I granted him my absolute trust. And yet, Cha Haejoo didn’t even bother to listen to a word I had to say before believing that? He doubted me and fled based on a single remark from some random small fry?”
Staring at Minhyuk as he suppressed his rage, his eyes bloodshot and brimming with tears, Hyunwook felt his heart turn completely to ice.
He dared not make a single reckless movement or utterance.
Moreover, Minhyuk was fully aware of the truth.
He knew that Haejoo hadn’t fled solely because of that single remark.
This was the price of the behavioral patterns Minhyuk had displayed toward Haejoo all this time.
His failure to instill trust had rebounded upon him as absolute suspicion.
Though he understood the mechanics perfectly, he couldn’t hide the profound sense of betrayal and sorrow swelling within his chest.
No matter the circumstances, how could Haejoo so easily believe that he would kidnap and confine him?
Minhyuk felt bitterly resentful toward Haejoo for viewing his character as something so utterly wretched.
‘Why on earth.…’
“Kang Hyunwook. From this exact second onward, you must live your life as my person through and through. Not a mere imitation, but completely as my man. That is the only path to keeping Seojoo—who fled alongside Haejoo—alive. Do you understand me?”
There was no way Hyunwook could fail to grasp the weight of Minhyuk’s razor-sharp words.
Minhyuk was a man capable of tracking them down this very instant if he so desired.
Knowing that reality, Hyunwook had no choice but to bow his head and nod.
“Don’t even dream of attempting to contact him secretly. The exact second you make contact, Shinseon Dairy—Seojoo’s family business—your own family, the travel agency belonging to that cruise ship owner, and even Han Heesung’s household will all face absolute ruin.”
“…I will keep that explicitly in mind, Your Majesty.”
Given that Haejoo had fled in absolute terror, Minhyuk had no intention of tracking him down immediately.
However, he had absolutely no intention of letting him go either.
One day, when Haejoo’s mind had finally found peace, Minhyuk would undoubtedly reclaim him and never let him go again.
A short while later, the Imperial Household officially announced the separation of the Emperor and the Grand Imperial Concubine.
The statement noted that due to personal circumstances, the two had decided to live apart.
Following that announcement, a post accompanied by a photograph was uploaded to the internet.
Strangely, unlike other posts concerning the Imperial Family, this specific writing remained visible on the internet for a very long time without being taken down.
[@difjeo0123 Guys, do you want to take a look at this photo? I took this solely to keep for myself.
I had absolutely no intention of leaking it anywhere. I happened to take it by chance when I went to the amusement park a while ago.
While I was taking a break on the second floor with some coffee, I saw a stunning Alpha-Omega couple facing each other and smiling in a secluded corner on the first floor while eating ice cream.
But when I looked closer, it turned out to be His Majesty and His Highness the Grand Imperial Concubine! I was truly shocked.
The way they looked at each other and smiled was so incredibly lovely that I found myself completely captivated without realizing it.
The reason people like this broke up must be because of the mess orchestrated by the Prime Minister, right?
As someone who rooted for the two of them, this entire situation feels a bit melancholy. They were so happy back then.
If they had been a regular couple who grew up in an ordinary household and met normally, they would still be together looking so beautiful and happy right now. It breaks my heart.
I really liked the Grand Imperial Concubine.
I doubt he will ever see this post, but wherever His Highness may be, I sincerely hope he is always happy.…]
In the photograph attached to the post, a stunning couple leaning against a wall stood facing one another, flashing radiant, brilliant smiles.
