Translator: Sethy
Editor: Kim

Trigger warning: gore, mentions of brutality

The country changed three years ago.

Thinking about that time, she was so afraid that she had been worried about how to live out of the palace because she was useless. A great whirlwind of blood bathed the imperial palace and the emperor was overturned.

The eleventh prince who ascended to the throne after his father, the Emperor, was someone they never thought would ascend the throne. A prince who came from a foreign land far away from the emperor and was offered as a slave, her mother had became a concubine.

Regardless of whether it was a prince or princess, he went ahead and slaughtered the Emperor and plundered Hwangryeon (treasury). HIs absolute ruler was the people and even when hundreds of thousands died of starvation, the imperial family held banquets with alcohol and women day after day. Officials were more concerned about the flesh and blood of the people that were left behind and the number of those who became slaves during midnight could not be counted.

Mo-hee was also a destined to become a slave.

She was lucky enough to enter the palace, otherwise she would have been sold off as a slave to people outside the country/ kingdom. 

Although it was still an incomplete country, the emperor did not hesitate to open the treasury, and the empire had slowly entered a state of stability.

The result was a good thing but it was a scary memory for Mohee who saw the countless people that had been stolen that day. She thought that she would be a part of it as well.

What they are looking for outside right now is the emperor. The emperor was called a madman because he resembles his Mother from a foreign land. She knew that the expression “maniac” is still being used by those who oppose him in order to demean him.

Even Mohee who did chores at the palace has never seen the emperor’s face. She could barely see him during his coronation. 

The emperor disappeared for 15 days and played the imperial palace upside down. Even if he was a benevolent emperor to the people, it was not the case for his political opponents or those who were living in the palace. Some people say that he killed people every time they went to him, drink the blood from their necks, or pull out their intestines and hang them around their necks.

There were also rumors of dozens of corpses going out through the north gate every morning after a fortnight had passed.

At some point, during the late night of the moon, even the royals stopped walking around unless it was urgent.

It was close to bedtime, so Mohee stood up.

Mohee, who was about to take a step away, paused. She heard an unfamiliar sound of stepping on the lush grass.

No one comes close to the cold palace during the day and even more so at night, so Mohee often visited this place. There were rumors that a lot of concubines would not appear here.

“Who… Who are you?”

At Mohee’s voice, the other person stopped walking. Any soldier who was on guard would have responded back to her, asking her to identify herself.


“Who…”

Should she shout and call out to those outside?

Mohee squeezed her skirt tightly and was ready to run outside the old door. The sound of footsteps continued again. In the lush grass, she saw a person who appeared under the moonlight and she groaned inwardly.

“Ssh.”

The man lifted a slender finger and pressed it to his lips and she subconsciously nodded her head.

Just like the hair that reached to his waist had been polished, his skin was paler than the moonlight as if he did not belong to this world. Indeed, if she hadn’t realized that he was a man, she would have thought that it was one of the souls of the many concubines who died there. His pupils under his darkened lashes were strangely bright and the color could not be judged from a distance. The man’s red lips rose strangely.

Only after barely taking her eyes off the man’s face did Mohee realize who he was.

The blue uniform he was wearing belonged to the emperor’s right-hand man, Cho Woon.

When she vaguely remembered that the National Guard consisted of young eunuchs, Mohee looked back at his smooth jaw that was devoid of a bear.

“His Majesty is not here,” Mohee said in a thin voice. It was too small for him to hear but he seemed to have figured it out.

“Why are you here?”

One day, she heard a rumor that there was a very beautiful eunuch beside the emperor. It was clear that the protagonist of that rumor was the man in front of her eyes.

“You… what are you doing here?”

His voice was sweet like sugar that when placed in her mouth would taste like fine wine. It was different from the voices of ordinary eunuchs. Mohee hesitated because the cold palace was a strictly prohibited place.

“...I’ve been here a lot since I was young.”

“Since you were young? I’ve also been here since I was young and I’ve never met you.”

The corners of his lips loosened. As the steps drew closer and closer, Mohee stumbled backwards and sat down.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Cho Woon.”

Suddenly, a large hand reached out in front of Mohee. His face was darkened but he was smiling brightly.

“Mohee, my name is Mohee.”

“Mohee, that’s a very pretty name.”

It was the first time that someone said that her name was pretty. Her cheeks turned red. From a distance, she thought his hands were thin but his hands were long.

“Up close your eyes are pretty.”

She was too close to him. When Chowoon’s fingers were about to point towards her eyes, she stepped back again, stepping on her skirt. Her hands flailed into the air. A large hand gripped her waist and then she buried her face on his hard chest.