Chapter 7
Seon wasn’t an onion that had to be raised on love.
Ever since the accident in her childhood, she had been one of those people who had learned painfully, as she grew older, that life was not always smooth.
Still, this was ridiculous.
What had she even done?
Should she have been more polite when greeting him?
Born and raised as a member of the Imperial Family, Seon was particularly diligent about attending official engagements and met more members of the public than most other royals.
Yet this was the first time someone had ever reacted to her like this right to her face.
He’s a government official, too.
Government officials were supposed to be servants of the entire population and people who pledged their loyalty to the Emperor!
Even if he disliked the Imperial Family, shouldn’t he at least have had the decency not to show it?
Seon kept her mouth firmly shut as she followed Tae-oh, but her mind was racing.
The blatant displeasure shown by a man she had never even met before bothered her, and her heart kept pounding.
Endure it, Lee Seon. Not everyone in the country can love the Imperial Family.
Times were constantly changing.
Support for the Imperial Family had been declining every year, and there had even been surveys showing that after the Emperor, a war hero, died, it might be better to abolish the Imperial Family altogether.
So this was something Seon had to accept.
A challenge she simply had to live with.
But still…
How could someone show that much contempt directly to another person’s face?
She couldn’t control the unpleasant feeling that slowly spread throughout her body.
All Seon could do, as always, was smile gently and treat Tae-oh with a composed attitude, as though she hadn’t felt anything at all.
But that did nothing to soothe her already wounded pride.
The group arrived at the investigation conference room on the third floor.
Tae-oh skillfully pulled the access card hanging around his neck toward the black device beside the door.
There was a click as the lock disengaged, and he gestured toward Seon.
“Please go in.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Opening the door was left to Jo Jeonwi.
Tae-oh had merely unlocked it; he hadn’t gone so far as to open it for her.
Even then, his expression seemed even more twisted, as though he thought Seon had been needlessly making Seok-cheol do things for her.
Feeling inexplicably dejected, Seon reached for the doorknob.
Seok-cheol, who was holding the side of the door, gave Tae-oh a pointed look.
But if Tae-oh were the kind of person who would take a hint like that, he wouldn’t have embarrassed them in the first place.
“Hey. Whether you’re an aide or secretary, you’re not allowed in.”
“What?”
Seok-cheol, who had been about to follow Seon inside, stopped short.
“As I understand it, the Imperial Family representatives joining this TF are two people from the Office of the Inspector-General and Lady Cheongyang. Three people in total.”
“I’m Lady Cheongyang’s aide.”
“Exactly. And you, Mr. Aide, haven’t been authorized.”
Tae-oh spoke sarcastically as he deliberately positioned himself between Seon and Seok-cheol.
Seon looked back and forth between the two men in confusion before noticing the gazes coming from behind her.
They weren’t the only people here.
Seon quietly swallowed and nodded at Seok-cheol.
As a rule, she wasn’t supposed to separate from her aide except in unavoidable circumstances.
But she couldn’t stubbornly insist on it here, nor could she waste time arguing.
Perhaps understanding what she meant, Seok-cheol let out a short sigh.
Then he released the door he had been gripping tightly and bowed his head toward Seon.
“How loyal.”
As the door closed, Tae-oh walked past Seon.
The words he muttered so quietly that only she could hear were unmistakably sarcastic.
Seon felt as though she had been left alone in a dark, silent conference room.
As though she had been stripped bare and abandoned among people glaring at her like hungry jackals, waiting to watch her lose her composure.
It took Seon several seconds to swallow down her discomfort and once again paint the picture-perfect smile she always wore.
I thought I’d become quite numb to the ways of the world.
I suppose I’m still an ordinary member of the Imperial Family after all.
With a self-deprecating thought, Seon slowly turned toward the inside of the conference room.
There were six people seated inside, all watching what had just happened.
Their gazes were not friendly.
Seon smiled brightly at them as though deliberately showing them that she wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
Only then did the people who had been watching her with bated breath begin offering their greetings one by one.
Seon smiled casually, bowed her head, and waved at them.
The only person who turned his head away as though even looking at her was unpleasant was Tae-oh, sitting at the very front.
“Please take a seat, Lady Cheongyang.”
The man seated in the place of honor stood and gestured toward the seat beside him.
Seon recognized his face from the list she had checked the night before.
The Commissioner General of the National Police Agency.
Before sitting down, Seon surveyed the conference room.
Perhaps they had intended to accommodate her, because the only empty seats left were the one beside the Commissioner General and the front seat beside Tae-oh.
A spark suddenly flared in Seon’s heart.
A tiny ember had been placed in a heart that was usually so still and dry that even ripples rarely formed on its surface.
And that ember moved Seon.
“Thank you for your consideration, but I think I’d be able to concentrate better in the front.”
Seon smiled and walked toward the front.
Tae-oh, who was seated closest to the screen at the broad table, frowned.
She came closer and closer until she sat primly across from him.
It wasn’t a comfortable seat.
The screen was too large from this distance, and the speakers were close enough that they might be noisy.
And there was Tae-oh, glaring at her as though he wanted to frighten her.
It was hardly a place worthy of being called a seat of honor.
But it was more than enough for Seon.
Sitting beside the Commissioner General, who was rumored to be one of Grand Prince Uigoo’s carefully cultivated allies, would only make it harder for her to observe him.
It was more advantageous to sit slightly apart and survey the entire room.
She didn’t need to concern herself with the unpleasantness caused by the man sitting in front of her, either.
“Ahem.”
The Commissioner General, who had offered Seon the seat beside him, cleared his throat awkwardly.
Perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to spit in the face of someone who was smiling pleasantly at him.
After repeatedly sneaking glances at Seon, he finally spoke to Tae-oh.
“Looks like everyone’s here. Let’s just briefly introduce ourselves and get started.”
At the Commissioner’s words, Tae-oh nodded indifferently.
Even the scraping sound of his chair as he dragged it back seemed loud, his entire demeanor radiating how little he wanted to be here.
“Inspector Kwon Tae-oh. I’m the team leader of the Special Investigation TF for Imperial Family Cases.”
His introduction was brief.
It almost seemed like an act of defiance, as though he saw no reason to waste time on something like this.
Seeing the Commissioner’s face gradually turn red made Seon feel a little better.
“I am Inspector Hong Mun-seong, dispatched from the Office of the Inspector-General.”
“I am Inspector Park Tae-hwa, also from the Office of the Inspector-General.”
“Sergeant Yoon Hee-jae, Traffic Investigation Division, National Police Agency.”
“Policy Advisor Choi Sang-eun, Prime Minister’s Office.”
Two government officials from the Imperial Household Department who had been dispatched from the Office of the Inspector-General, one police officer, and one official from the Prime Minister’s Office followed with their introductions.
After the Commissioner’s long-winded speech, delivered with all the self-importance of someone who liked to hear himself talk, it was finally Seon’s turn.
“I am Lady Cheongyang, Lee Seon. I am here because I was given an Imperial command, so I will ask whatever questions I deem necessary without holding back. If there is anything you’d like to ask me as well, please feel free to do so.”
“I…”
As soon as Seon finished speaking, Sergeant Yoon, sitting beside Tae-oh, cautiously raised his hand.
“Lady Cheongyang. Would it be possible to get your autograph after this… Ah!”
Tae-oh couldn’t tolerate even the laid-back question about getting an autograph.
He drove his elbow hard into Sergeant Yoon’s side.
Yoon groaned and clutched his ribs.
Seon smiled slightly before answering.
“Members of the Imperial Family aren’t allowed to sign autographs outside the Imperial Palace. There’s a possibility they could be forged.”
“Ah, ah…”
Still clutching his side, Yoon groaned softly.
Seon watched him for a moment before naturally shifting her gaze toward Tae-oh beside him.
He hadn’t bothered to hide the look of utter exasperation on his face from the moment Yoon raised his hand.
“I can take a picture with you.”
Seon said this while still looking at Tae-oh.
Tae-oh’s eyebrows twitched sharply as he looked down at the documents in front of him.
Again.
Apparently, she had somehow managed to irritate him.
“Then, when the meeting is over, please take a picture with—!”
This time, it was the Commissioner General.
Apparently, he hadn’t heard the rumors that Grand Prince Uigoo was allied with him—or that Seon was the Imperial Family member Grand Prince Uigoo hated most.
Seon lowered her gaze for a moment.
Her long, thick eyelashes completely concealed her eyes.
Having inherited her beautiful appearance from her actress mother, Seon was considered the most strikingly beautiful among the Imperial Family.
But Seon had not secured her current position merely because of her pretty face, despite what some within the Imperial Family thought.
Beyond her naturally beautiful features, she possessed resolve.
Even in a conference room crawling with Grand Prince Uigoo’s people, she had the principles to refuse to bend.
“I wish that were possible.”
Seon spoke in a gentle voice.
“But as you know, my situation isn’t exactly good right now.”
Although she stood before them with a clear, composed face, one fact remained unchanged:
She was a niece who was on the verge of losing her uncle in a major accident.
When Seon brought that fact before them in the face of their vulgar desires, the mouths of both the Commissioner General and Sergeant Yoon instantly snapped shut.
And that wasn’t all.
A fleeting smile crossed Tae-oh’s lips.
It happened so quickly that Seon might not have noticed it if she weren’t someone so sensitive to changes in people’s expressions.
