Chapter 03…

The King’s Face

Ji-young, with a gache piled atop her head and dressed in a dangui embroidered with phoenixes, involuntarily drew in a breath.

What…? This actually suits me pretty well.

All right. Let’s do this.

Who is the king, and who’s trying to kick me out? Hmph!

No distractions.

Right now, I need to deal with this deposition first!

The moment she took her first step, her body wobbled.

The problem was the old-fashioned shoes, which were far too low. They had no cushioning, and the toe boxes were too narrow.

“Court Lady Jo, please call a shoemaker. I have a pair of shoes I always wear when appearing in court. I can’t help it today, so… let’s just go for now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Careful, careful.

Her head was heavy, her clothes were heavy, and her heart was even heavier.

The palace maids and court ladies followed behind her, looking bewildered by her awkward, unsteady gait.

“By the way, where do I need to go to meet the king?”

“You must go to the main hall.”

“Oh, I see. Then let’s go there.”

The maids following her exchanged confused glances.

When the Queen and her entourage arrived in front of the main hall, they stopped at the entrance.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen requests an audience.”

“What? The Queen…?”

“Yes, Your Majesty…”

A brief silence followed.

“Tell her to enter.”

Ji-young entered the main hall with an awkward, unsteady gait.

Despite her stumbling steps, from the outside, she probably looked as though she were striding forward confidently.

Inside, however, she was trembling like a leaf.

She could see him in the distance.

A cool, beautiful face appeared above the dragon-embroidered royal robe.

Yet beneath those handsome features, there was something that seemed to radiate cruelty and coldness.

His impeccably defined features seemed to reflect the light, and the closer she came, the more his icy gaze swept across her heart like a thin sheet of ice.

Ah, so this is what he looks like.

The face of the man trying to depose me.

Ji-young continued walking forward, never stopping.

King Sukjong’s eyebrows twitched upward for a moment.

His surprise was plainly visible on his composed face.

“Stop there. Queen, what is the meaning of this? What brings you here?”

Instead of performing the customary bow, Ji-young spoke firmly.

Then she lifted her face and met the king’s cold gaze head-on.

“Your Majesty. I cannot accept this so-called ‘deposition.’ That is why I have come here.”

“Queen, what do you mean by that?”

“Memorials have been pouring in, and I heard that I am about to be deposed. But I cannot accept it. Deposition? Absolutely not.”

At Ji-young’s firm tone, Sukjong’s eyes narrowed.

“What…? Did you just say that you cannot accept your deposition?”

Ji-young held her head high.

A cold lawyer’s smile slowly spread across her lips.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Rather—I will get a divorce.”

In an instant, the entire main hall froze.

The court ladies, the ministers, even the usually cold-hearted Sukjong.

The king’s gaze wavered.

A queen demanding a divorce from the king? Since the founding of Joseon, nothing like this had ever happened before.

Ji-young stepped forward and continued in the confident tone she knew best.

“If I am deposed, I will be expelled from the palace, won’t I? But with a divorce—I can pursue either an uncontested divorce or a contested one. Furthermore, I am not the spouse at fault here. Therefore, my deposition is unacceptable.”

Sukjong was unable to speak for some time.

His eyes filled with shock, anger, and an emotion that was difficult to explain.

A brief silence fell.

Sukjong suddenly raised his eyes and sprang to his feet.

“What?! Did you just say divorce?!”

His voice thundered through the main hall. The court ladies and eunuchs standing on either side were so startled that they immediately threw themselves facedown onto the floor.

“Y-Your Majesty! How dare you say such a thing—!”

Ji-young didn’t even blink. Instead, she raised her chin defiantly.

“Yes, that’s right. I want a divorce from Your Majesty.”

Anger and bewilderment mingled on Sukjong’s face. In that instant, the air inside the silent hall seemed to freeze solid.

“No, Queen. Have you truly lost your mind? Get a hold of yourself!”

“No, I’m perfectly sane right now. That’s exactly why I’m saying this. Please grant me an opportunity to present my arguments in fifteen days, so I can explain why I should be divorced rather than deposed. Of course, if Your Majesty intends to depose me, you will also have to provide a valid reason.”

Sukjong’s eyes flashed.

“Good heavens… So you truly intend to go through with this?”

“Yes. I intend to exercise every right available to me. Well then, Your Majesty. Goodbye.”

Ji-young spun around, held her head high, and walked out of the main hall with firm, measured steps.

Court Lady Jo hurried after her, calling out in bewilderment, “Your Majesty…”

Sukjong, the chief eunuch, and even the court ladies who remained inside the main hall could do nothing but stare at the Queen’s retreating figure.

The storm had swept through and passed.

And all they could do was watch her back as she walked farther and farther away, unable to utter a single word.

“Ah, that feels amazing! Absolutely amazing! Hahahaha!”

As Ji-young descended from the main hall, she let out a burst of laughter, gazing into the air as though all her frustrations had finally been released.

But her laughter soon faded.

That’s right. Why should I be deposed? I can just get a divorce.

However, the desperate voice of Court Lady Jo, who was following behind her, struck her like a hard slap across the face.

“Your Majesty, please be careful. This is in front of the main hall. We’re in the royal palace…”

The palace.

Right. This was the palace.

In modern terms, it was like the Blue House.

It was the heart of absolute power, where a mad queen who had openly declared divorce in front of the king could have her head chopped off as soon as tomorrow, and not a single person would dare to say a word about it.

This wasn’t just an ordinary home.

It was a battlefield where the king and ministers who ruled Joseon came and went, a place where political schemes and ambition were tangled together.

A place where people had to slander one another, tear each other apart, and struggle desperately, swallowing blood just to survive.

A chill suddenly spread throughout her body, raising goosebumps across her skin.

…Right. I just did something absolutely insane.

This isn’t a courtroom battle. My opponent is the king, and the cards I have—are already all gone.

It had been a crazy move, one she’d made with her life on the line.

Only now was Ji-young beginning to grasp the weight of what she’d done.

What queen in the Joseon Dynasty would dare declare a divorce? And right to the king’s face, no less!

But what was done was done.

I have to fight.

I’m Min Ji-young, the woman who boasts a 99% win rate.

Besides, she was destined to be deposed anyway.

I’ve got nothing to lose.

Deposition? What nonsense.

So what if Jang Hui-bin is stunningly beautiful? He’s going to abandon his lawful wife? Hmph!

Then, suddenly, she remembered the photos of her older sister and husband she’d left behind in the modern world.

Now that I’m gone… I hope those two aren’t having even more fun together.

Wait, what?

Am I seriously worrying about that right now?

Ha… Min Ji-young, you’re pathetic.

Anyway… Sukjong was quite a handsome man.

Ooh, those sharp features and that icy gaze…

He was totally my type, though.

Tsk!

Still, I don’t like men who abandon me!

“Let’s go, Court Lady Jo. I have a lot of work to do…”

…What?

Have I already gotten used to this?

My historical-drama way of speaking is already spot-on!

Ah, but calling her ‘Court Lady Jo-nim’ is a bit much…

I’m so used to it that I can’t seem to speak casually.

I’ll just keep calling her that for the time being. It’s up to me, isn’t it? I’m the Queen, after all.

The vague anxiety she felt about the future, combined with a thrilling sense of excitement, made her heart pound wildly.

Only then did Ji-young truly realize it.

This was the real past.

The Joseon Dynasty.

“Pardon? Goodness… But why do you keep calling me ‘Court Lady Jo-nim,’ Your Majesty?”

“Oh, well… you look so much like my mother-in-law.”

“Are you referring to Her Majesty the Queen Dowager?”

“No, no, not her… Someone else… From the future… Anyway, I don’t really know my way around here yet, so could you lead the way?”

“Yes, Your Majesty…”

Court Lady Jo felt as though the world had gone dark before her eyes.

What was she supposed to do about the Queen, who had suddenly changed into a completely different person?

Just moments ago, the Queen had been lying in bed, and now she was politely addressing her as “Court Lady Jo-nim”—

And then, in the main hall, she’d suddenly shouted the word divorce!

In all the years Court Lady Jo had lived in the palace since entering at a young age, she had never heard such an unprecedented expression.

This was no longer a minor matter.

An extraordinary incident, one that could shake the entire royal court to its foundations and for which there was no precedent anywhere in Joseon, was unfolding right here in the main hall.

Sukjong sat silently for a long time, unable to find his words.

An inexplicable ripple was quietly spreading through his heart.

“Chief Eunuch, is that woman… truly the same Queen I have always known?”

The chief eunuch could only bow his head deeply.

“Your Majesty… Please punish this servant.”

“This makes no sense! The Queen wants a divorce?!”

Sukjong’s hand came crashing down like lightning, making the table in front of him rumble loudly.

“What on earth is she plotting…? How dare she… demand a divorce!”

He clenched his teeth.

She had always been gentle and quiet.

No—she had always pushed him away, claiming that she was ill.

The more he tried to approach her, the farther away she withdrew. That was the Queen he knew.