The envoy panted roughly for breath, then opened his mouth.
“I will admit that your nation’s forces are strong, but—”
His eyes burned as if heated by fire.
“Our side is not one to be taken lightly either!”
Staggering to his feet, he immediately turned his gaze toward Wolhwa.
“Your Majesty.”
The corner of his mouth twisted.
“Your servant has committed such insolence… and yet you have nothing to say?”
“What would you have me say?”
Wolhwa laughed.
It was a cold laugh.
“You were the first to enter without even observing proper courtesy.”
Her gaze slowly swept over the envoy.
“And who was it that barged in after kicking one of my people?”
The envoy snorted.
“Are you making such a fuss over a mere eunuch?”
He lifted his chin high.
His blatant arrogance was laid bare.
“To place this envoy on the same level as such a worthless wretch is, in itself—”
“Shut your mouth.”
Wolhwa’s eyes flashed.
In that instant—
The air of the court froze.
A suffocating silence.
“To think you dare go this far even before me.”
Her voice sank low.
“It is obvious without seeing it how much you must crawl over others behind my back.”
The envoy’s expression wavered for a moment.
The Empress’s presence was no ordinary thing.
But he did not back down.
Deep within his eyes, something that would not easily break stood firm.
‘I cannot retreat here.’
Tens of thousands of soldiers waiting beyond the border.
Their existence was pushing at his back.
“In that case.”
Facing the Empress’s eyes head-on, he crooked up the corner of his mouth.
“Your Majesty means to turn your back on us.”
The envoy took another step forward.
“Even if yours is a small country on the frontier, if there is profit to be gained from it, we may gladly draw our blades.”
At that moment.
Wolhwa rose from her seat.
“Good.”
Her gaze had gone completely cold.
“If you will go so far as to say that.”
Her footsteps fell.
One step.
Then another.
Without the slightest hesitation, she descended the stairs.
“Then let us clash once. I shall gladly face you.”
The moment those words fell, the envoy’s heart sank.
It was strange.
Surely.
He had been told she was an easy ruler to handle.
But the woman before him now was nothing of the sort.
Wolhwa withdrew her attention from the flustered envoy.
Then, as if it were nothing at all, she shifted her gaze to Yunseo.
“Clean it up.”
It was just one sentence.
“Wait!”
The envoy shouted in desperation.
“Do you mean you want war?”
His eyes shook with unease.
“I am the envoy most trusted by the king! If you lay a hand on me, His Majesty’s willingness to make peace with your country will—”
“Who.”
Wolhwa tilted her head.
“Said we would make peace?”
Her eyes sharpened with a chill edge.
“We have made no such promise. Thus, one who threatens us while brandishing false pretexts—”
Wolhwa’s lips parted a beat later.
“Shall be governed by death.”
In that instant—
Flash.
Blood sprayed.
The envoy’s left arm drew an arc through the air and fell.
“Aaaaargh—!”
A scream burst out.
The entire court rocked as if overturned in an instant.
“Yuk Yunseo!”
The Duke sprang up from his seat.
His face had gone deathly pale.
“Do you know what you have just done?”
“I do.”
Yunseo calmly shook the blood from his sword.
Droplets of blood spattered across the floor.
“He insulted Her Majesty.”
He spoke with a face so indifferent that it was hard to believe what had just happened.
“Is it not mercy enough that I left him alive?”
“This is a diplomatic matter!”
The Duke’s voice exploded.
“If you leave an envoy in this state—”
“Diplomacy?”
Yunseo gave a faint laugh.
“Diplomacy is something you conduct with those who intend to negotiate.”
His gaze struck down at the envoy.
“Why should we treat a bastard who came in carrying a blade from the start as an honored guest?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Duke’s face stiffened.
“Nonsense!”
He ground his teeth.
“Her Majesty’s words were merely an angry slip of the tongue. If you are a loyal subject, should you not calm the situation?”
“I.”
Yunseo cut him off.
There was not the slightest agitation in his gaze.
“Merely followed Her Majesty’s will exactly.”
His presence pressed down upon the court.
“Do you dare dismiss words personally issued by Her Majesty as nothing more than speech swept up in anger?”
The court fell silent once more.
“Any bastard who tries to climb above Her Majesty’s head—”
The tip of his sword scraped the floor.
“Has no reason to be left alive.”
With those words, his gaze drove straight into the Duke.
“No matter who it may be.”
The Duke’s expression twisted.
This could no longer be controlled.
If he left it like this, it would be dangerous.
He immediately dropped to his knees.
“Your Majesty!”
The Duke raised his voice.
“This man trusts in Your Majesty’s grace and is overstepping all bounds!”
He bowed his head deeply.
“The court does not belong to one man. Even now, you must punish him severely!”
Wolhwa moved.
Without so much as glancing at the raging Duke.
She stopped before Chancellor Jang Munyeon.
“Chancellor.”
Then she spoke lightly.
“What do you think?”
Her calm gaze rested on the chancellor.
“Do you believe Yuk Yunseo’s actions went too far?”
The eyes of the court all gathered there at once.
Jang Munyeon, who had been prostrate on the floor, slowly raised himself.
“Your Majesty.”
His voice was astonishingly composed.
“If it was an action taken to establish the dignity of a great nation—”
Jang Munyeon lifted his head and carefully raised his gaze to Wolhwa.
“It cannot be called excessive.”
In that instant.
The air of the court shifted all at once.
“Jang Munyeon!”
The Duke’s eyes flipped in an instant.
“Are you taking this situation lightly?”
Anger filled his voice.
“This is diplomacy. The other party is a foreign country!”
“Duke.”
Jang Munyeon’s eyes also changed subtly.
“Your words go too far.”
He added calmly.
“It is merely one barbarian from the frontier. If we set our minds to it, they are at a level we could erase at any time.”
“You—!”
The Duke’s face flushed red.
It was strange.
Far too strange.
Ordinarily, he would never be the sort to say such things.
‘Jang Munyeon… what on earth are you thinking?’
He quickly sent a signal with his eyes.
It was a warning.
But Jang Munyeon did not accept it.
Instead, he turned his gaze away as if he had not noticed.
Just then.
“Your Majesty.”
Yunseo stepped forward and knelt.
“Only give the order.”
With his head bowed, he continued.
“The soldiers led by General So have already completed all preparations and are standing by. They can march out at once.”
The court stirred.
No one said it aloud, but everyone had arrived at the same thought.
Was war beginning?
“Now is the opportunity.”
Yunseo’s voice did not waver.
“We can settle it in one stroke.”
“There is no need to hurry.”
Wolhwa smiled leisurely.
“We.”
A tranquil light once again settled in her eyes.
“Do not use a blade without justification.”
Yunseo’s brow moved ever so slightly.
“According to the intelligence we obtained, before the envoy entered the palace, he had already hidden assassins somewhere within it.”
Her gaze fell upon the envoy.
“If we capture every last one of them, will this envoy not be remembered as a traitor who attempted to assassinate the Emperor?”
At that moment.
“Absurd!”
Even as he bled, the envoy lifted his head.
“You mean to say we sneaked into the palace and tried to harm Your Majesty?”
His eyes rolled wildly.
“What nonsense—”
Thud.
Something fell in front of him.
It was a white packet of medicine.
The envoy’s gaze fixed upon it.
And his face froze solid.
“……”
He could not open his mouth.
As if he had been strangled.
“What is wrong?”
Wolhwa tilted her head and looked at him.
“Can you not speak?”
The corner of her mouth rose in a sneer.
“Your sovereign’s hand reaches rather far. To think he dared stretch his claws into my palace.”
Staring straight through the envoy.
“You must have planned to poison us today, then proclaim our deposition tomorrow.”
The envoy’s lips trembled.
He knew.
Everything.
Without a single exception.
And—
That he had been caught.
Completely.
All of it.
“This is—”
He barely managed to open his mouth.
“A false accusation! Someone must have—”
“Enough.”
Wolhwa cut him off at once.
“That excuse.”
A chill sneer clung to the end of her gaze.
“Will not work on me.”
“Your Majesty! Spare me!”
The envoy slammed his head to the floor.
His forehead struck hard against it.
“I know nothing of this! Surely someone must have—”
Wolhwa did not answer.
Instead, she stepped closer to him.
“Do I.”
Then she spoke softly.
“Look like a fool to you?”
The envoy’s body stiffened.
“Today.”
Her gaze descended on him as if crushing him.
“If you cannot provide an answer that convinces me—”
Wolhwa deliberately stopped speaking.
That silence tightened around the court like a noose.
“I shall raise you, along with those assassins, to a very high place.”
The envoy’s eyes shook.
“……A high place?”
He asked, his face uncomprehending.
“Did you say a high place…?”
“How stupid.”
Beside him, Yunseol coldly shook her head.
“She means she will send you up to the heavens.”
Then, as if frustrated, she added,
“By stopping your breath.”