novelraw Chapter 159 : Imperial Palace Commission
Chapter 159 : Imperial Palace Commission
Chapter 159: Imperial Palace Commission
The Emperor of the Empire.
The position of the one who ruled over all under the heavens.
Who would dare not covet that seat? Who would hesitate in taking steps toward that throne?
Charaak.
As the elegant noblewoman turned her head, her ornate accessories made a soft, resonant sound.
Her face bore the faint traces of age, but that only accentuated the Empress’s dignity.
"Ju Gachi. Raise your head."
She looked down at her second son, the Second Prince Ju Gachi, with an impassive gaze.
Though not as brilliant as her firstborn, he was still the blood she had carried for ten months and birthed herself.
Originally, he should have been granted a fiefdom by now and sent off to rule his own land. He was of age.
Yet, due to the whims of the Son of Heaven, his feet remained bound to the palace. Even at this age, he had been given nothing.
"My son, what do you think the Son of Heaven truly desires?"
Lately, the Crown Prince’s condition had taken a serious turn. And yet, the Son of Heaven seemed to have no intention of appointing a new heir.
When the Empress asked what he thought her intentions were, the Second Prince lowered his head even further.
"This unworthy one dares not presume to comprehend His Majesty's will."
It was the kind of answer that made her long for her firstborn again—weak of body, but bright and clever.
"I believe I have an idea…"
He desired it.
A culling of the weak through struggle.
Surely, after watching his firstborn suffer for six years and die in pain, the Son of Heaven had changed his mind.
Like fermenting solitude in a sealed jar, this time, he intended to draw out only the strongest.
To that end, he had gathered in one place those who should have been scattered afar, to prevent rebellion—spurring them instead into a power struggle.
And if her suspicions were correct, then the Son of Heaven was truly...
"Out of his mind."
"..."
The Second Prince swallowed hard, holding his breath at his mother's blasphemous words.
Looking down at her son with a slightly cold gaze, the Empress posed another question.
"Then what about us, bound to such a ruler...? Can we afford to remain sane?"
The imperial physicians said her firstborn, whom she had birthed with great pain, was nearing his final breath.
She had watched him groan on his sickbed for so long—she had prepared herself.
But now, to say that ability should determine succession instead of bloodline? What a cruel and heartless decree from the Son of Heaven.
"If he truly wishes to see the imperial palace consumed by a fratricidal blaze, then so be it."
To the Second Prince, his mother looked like someone holding a torch before a pile of dry hay. His voice trembled as he blurted out the question.
"What have you... done?"
The Empress didn’t answer. She merely turned her gaze in the direction of the Third Princess's Palace.
The Second Prince had done his share of interference and scheming up until now. Though most of his efforts had failed, causing nothing but disappointment.
Yet he had always stopped short of crossing that final line.
"It was something you should have done first."
In her frustration, this mother had done it in his stead.
So she answered with a gaze that barely concealed her disappointment.
A cold gaze that seemed to compare him to her brilliant firstborn, prompting the Second Prince to clench his jaw.
"What kind of mother would pass down her legacy to a child born of another woman?"
That was something she could never accept.
The position of Crown Prince, once held by the firstborn, must now be inherited by the second—no matter what.
That was the natural order, the law of the heavens, and common sense in this world.
"Follow in your brother’s footsteps and become Crown Prince."
"...I will do my best."
Looking into his mother’s eyes—eyes driven more by ambition than affection—the Second Prince bowed deeply.
"You must succeed, no matter what it takes."
"Yes."
He clenched his fist and answered firmly.
For answering that ambition was the only way he could feel even a hint of his mother's love.
Even if it meant walking a merciless path, the Second Prince steeled himself.
Something I just learned:
When shocked enough, a person can actually spring up like a coiled spring.
"N-No, I didn’t!"
At my sudden accusation, she sprang to her feet in sheer panic.
She must have jumped nearly a full three feet.
"What kind of nonsense is this...!"
All eyes in the hall turned toward the handmaiden.
Her face turned ghostly pale as she frantically tried to explain herself, causing a stir among the other palace attendants.
"You're saying So-hwa is the poisoner...?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"She’s worked here for over two years, hasn’t she?"
The accused poisoner’s name was So-hwa. Judging by the reactions, she had earned some trust during her time here. Confusion and disbelief filled the room.
Had she turned traitor midway? Or had she been planted from the beginning for this very day?
Amidst the growing confusion, the accused rushed forward and threw herself at the Head Maid.
"Head Maid! How could I ever...! This is a setup! That new eunuch must’ve misunderstood something...!"
She’d served loyally at the Princess’s Palace for over two years. How could this be happening to her? She was desperate to plead her innocence.
Caught between me and So-hwa, the Head Maid looked clearly distressed.
Torn between the handmaiden she’d worked with for years and the new eunuch who had accused her, she didn’t know who to trust.
"Head Maid Yeoncheong! He’s the problem! He’s only been here a few days!"
She was the one who guided me when I first arrived.
She had seemed like a loyal and sharp person... but perhaps even she could waver with emotion in the end.
Well, it’s only natural for people to lean toward those they've known longer.
"Eunuch, do you have any evidence or proof...?"
She cautiously asked me on So-hwa’s behalf.
If she wanted evidence, I had none. My Heaven-Slaying Eye wasn’t something that could be explained by logic.
"Mujin, that handmaiden. I’ve been smelling a strange poison from her for a while now."
Just then, Tang Yeo-hye, whose nose was as keen as a hound’s when it came to poisons, whispered a tip to me.
"She’s probably hiding something in her clothes."
They’d searched the entire Princess’s Palace and found no trace of poison. Boldly hiding it on herself, huh?
If even a poison expert had said as much, then I had no choice but to act.
"Evidence? Yes. It’s in that handmaiden’s clothes."
All I had to do now was subdue her and pull out the physical evidence to show everyone.
With that thought, I strode toward her. But neither the Head Maid nor the handmaidens moved aside, hesitating as if they didn’t quite believe me.
As if she had expected things to unfold this way, a faint smile curled on the poisoner's lips.
"Are you sure?"
But this was ancient China.
Public opinion? The will of the people? None of that mattered. One word from Cheon Sugong of the Eastern Depot carried more weight than all of them.
"I saw it with my own eyes."
I answered Cheon Sugong, who had stepped up beside me, with the same certainty I had back in Baekyangchon.
I even gave him the same knowing expression—as if I’d clearly seen something.
"Search that handmaiden's bosom."
Apparently satisfied, Cheon Sugong gave a slight nod and ordered his subordinates to search her.
The maids stepped aside with no other choice, and the palace staff and eunuchs began closing in on her.
"You damned eunuch bastard...!"
Then her face twisted in fury, and the poisoner began revealing her true nature.
She suddenly grabbed the Head Maid Yeoncheong by the neck from behind and retreated ten steps in a flash.
That movement was far from ordinary. She had clearly learned martial arts.
This wasn’t a case of defection. She had infiltrated the palace from the start with intent.
"Good heavens."
"Was So-hwa really...?"
The Princess's Palace erupted into murmurs of shock at her sudden transformation.
"Don’t come any closer! Especially you eunuch freaks without even that between your legs!"
Her demeanor had shifted a full 180 degrees.
She glared around with murderous intent, launching crude insults and verbal attacks at the eunuchs.
"Wow, that’s a bit much."
Watching from behind, I shook my head. She really lived up to her reputation as a poison-wielding martial artist—fiery temperament and all.
"Hey, didn’t you throw out a few lines like that too?"
That was Tang Yeo-hye, nudging my arm with a grin.
"...C’mon, I didn’t mean any harm."
"That makes it worse, idiot."
What the—how did I end up being the worse one? I stared at her in disbelief.
She responded with a look that said, So what?
"Kehk, kehk!"
Meanwhile, the poisoner, now surrounded by Eastern Depot agents, pulled something from her clothes and forced it into Yeoncheong’s mouth.
Whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t good—Yeoncheong turned pale and coughed dryly, over and over.
She had placed her trust in the wrong person and was paying the price.
"It’s Ten-li Soul-Severing Powder!"
The poisoner lifted the empty vial and shouted.
"I put it in yesterday’s meal too! You’re all poisoned! The dose was weak, so the symptoms haven’t appeared yet, but soon you’ll all be coughing blood and dying!"
Another time-delayed poison, huh?
She must’ve laced the meals to use the threat as a last resort when cornered—poisoning the palace staff to block escape routes and buy leverage.
Upon hearing this, the palace servants’ faces turned ashen.
"This is the only antidote!"
Holding the vial threateningly, she warned that she would smash it if anyone took another step forward.
"Without this, you’ll all be dead in three days, bleeding out! Is that what you want?!"
The Eastern Depot agents might still charge in, poisoned or not.
But the ordinary handmaidens and attendants weren’t like that—they trembled and begged her not to do it.
Most of all, Princess Peach Blossom, who had been observing everything from a distance, wore a dark expression.
She deeply cherished her people. The poisoner knew that well, and that was why she played this card.
"Until I leave the Princess's Palace, no one is to follow me!"
But nothing good ever came from negotiating with terrorists.
"Noona, do you know how to neutralize this Ten-li Soul-Severing Powder?"
I asked the handmaiden beside me just in case—and she nodded, saying she did.
"Of course I do. Who do you think I am?"
Raised on poisons since childhood, a master of toxic arts.
She was of the Poison Bloodline of the Tang Clan of Sichuan.
The poisoner probably never imagined the Tang Clan’s heir would be here.
"But we need to confirm if it’s really that poison."
She knew how to make the antidote, but needed certainty—the poisoner could be lying.
Hearing that, I began striding forward.
"You bastard...!"
The poisoner, recognizing my face, looked like she might burst with rage. She trembled all over, spitting curses at me.
"If it weren’t for you, just you! I would’ve finished everything perfectly and disappeared without a trace!"
She glared at me with murderous fury, stepping back, declaring I had ruined everything.
"Who are you?! How did you see through my disguise?!"
"You got caught because your skills weren’t good enough."
"Don’t give me that crap—!"
She screamed, saying she had never once slipped up in her two years undercover, that this made no sense.
"Sloppy work leads to getting caught. That poison’s fake too, isn’t it? Smells like sewage you scooped up behind the outhouse."
"Hah, then why don’t you see for yourself?!"
She suddenly flung the remaining poison from the vial at me.
I didn’t dodge. I stood still.
"Ha! It works on skin too, so you’re done for!"
As the vivid green liquid splashed over me, she burst into maniacal laughter.
"Noona, is this really that poison?"
I ignored her reaction and asked Tang Yeo-hye.
She sniffed it, dabbed a bit, tasted it, and circulated her poison arts.
"Yup, it’s real."
The moment she confirmed it, I used Whirlwind Steps.
Papak—!
I zipped across the ground, no longer the ordinary eunuch they’d thought I was, and the poisoner’s eyes widened in panic.
"W-What are you?!"
She threw more poison and even used palm techniques, but I blocked them all and drove a precise kick into her waist.
Thwack!
"Keugh!"
Her back arched like a shrimp, and she flew three jang before crashing to the floor.
Dust rose thick around her. Everyone stared at me—the ‘new eunuch’—in shock.
"Wh-what... are you...?"
"Just a passing troubleshooter."
I whispered so only she could hear, then swung my fist.
Pow!
The poisoner slumped forward, face filled with bitter resentment.
The assassin who had attempted to murder the princess—was captured alive.
The Imperial Palace’s medical wing lacked for nothing.
After the incident, Tang Yeo-hye skillfully prepared the antidote for Ten-li Soul-Severing Powder, saving many of the Princess’s Palace staff from disaster.
It was a rare poison from Venom Valley, and I felt truly fortunate to have brought her here.
After resolving the situation, we finally stood before Princess Peach Blossom and the commissioner of the request, Cheon Sugong.
It was then that the princess, now fully aware of the truth, looked at me with astonishment.
"So that’s why your voice sounded familiar…"
She touched my face, then began cautiously peeling off the human-skin mask, as if to rediscover the boy from her past.