Royal Coup d'État - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10
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Four days had passed since the Crown Prince’s accident.
Despite the catastrophic scale of the incident, the exact details of his condition remained an open secret. Before news of his imminent death spread through the media, there were urgent matters to be settled.
While those outside the palace moved quickly to prepare for the Crown Prince’s accident, inside the palace the Royal Kinship Council was convened. The council, established ostensibly for the development of the royal house and its eternal prosperity, looked less like an institution and more like utter chaos.
People gathered in Gyeongchun Hall at Changgyeong Palace, chosen as the meeting place. This hall had rarely been used since a royal decree had sent royal family members to various parts of the Eight Provinces with the obligation to contribute to regional development. The silence that should have lingered here finally gave way to human presence—a presence that reeked of something base and repugnant.
To Sun’s eyes, bleary from a sleepless night, everything about it had begun to grate.
“Bastards.”
The way they’d flung open every partition between the main hall and the adjoining rooms, bringing in broad tables and arranging them, seemed at odds with what tradition would dictate.
Sun sat at the far end of a procession of tables—several large enough to seat six people each, pushed together in a line.
Their eyes glinted with impure intent, too busy searching for the next wielder of power to pause for mourning or grief in the face of clear tragedy. Each one was busy currying favor and shoring up their position. They were nothing but a pack of jackals.
Since when had they become this cordial? Even distant relatives, rarely seen, had shown up with bright smiles and a show of unity.
Sun watched these relatives and irritably shifted her gaze. No one paid attention to her, sitting quietly in the corner—a mere sixth in the succession order.
Sun’s large eyes darted about. This space offered a different world than the suffocating reality beyond; one had only to glance around to feel it.
The scent of aged wood. The fragrance of wind caught in the paper that lined every window. Compared to a reality perpetually haunted by the smell of blood, this place was comfort itself, intimate and serene.
Blood.
Yes. All of this ultimately stemmed from the bloodshed that had descended upon the palace anew.
Her Elder Uncle’s accident—a man more benevolent and compassionate than anyone—had awakened their sordid nature once more.
“Hah……”
Sun exhaled deeply and pressed her temples.
She hadn’t slept a moment since returning after yesterday’s meeting, and her head throbbed with pain. The attitudes she’d witnessed in that meeting, the situation itself, had constricted her breath. She was frustrated, worried that they might fail to resolve both her grandfather’s hopes and her Elder Uncle’s grievance.
“Isn’t this a bolt from the blue, plain and simple?”
“Indeed. Who would have thought such a thing could happen?”
“It’s already been four days, hasn’t it? What if His Majesty doesn’t wake up?”
“Still… the Right of Succession is clear. That should prevent major chaos.”
Their distant conversation carried a barb. The Right of Succession is clear. That, of all things, was the seed of the greatest problem. Sun’s lips twisted slightly.
Twenty-first century royalty. Some said they were hollow puppets, the dregs of an outdated era that only drained the treasury.
Yet the people of this nation fundamentally respected the Emperor and revered the Royal Family.
This was a reward for when the Emperor was an impossibly young boy, fighting in the war for independence and sacrificing one leg for life—a recognition of the previous generation of the royal house, which had poured all its vigor into welfare for the marginalized and national advancement.
But was now anything like those days?
The Emperor’s brothers, who had fought through battlefields beside him and defended the nation, were long dead and turned to dust. Their descendants, having known only warm rooms and hot rice, learned nothing of the world’s cruelty.
Unlike the previous generation, who had practiced their duties as Royal Family Members and seized their rights, the current one sat idle while drawing stipends for maintaining dignity, and had begun to rot in their greed for even the smallest personal gain.
In such times, the Crown Prince had been a new hope. He resembled his father—he was clean and honest.
If only he would succeed the aging Emperor, the Royal Family might one day be restored. But now all that hope was nothing but futile noise.
‘Look at them fawning over Prince Uigu just to curry favor.’
Since reaching adulthood and being elected to the Royal Kinship Council, then reelected under the Emperor’s influence, Sun had spent seven years in her position, legs crossed, observing the situation.
Prince Uigu hadn’t even entered yet, and they were already scrambling to ingratiate themselves—no greater sycophants existed in all the land.
Selfish wretches who vanished when the palace didn’t need them, then raised their heads only when they were wanted.
It wasn’t a new development, but it was no less revolting. This was National Mourning. Everyone seemed delighted, yes, but shouldn’t they at least hide it?
Sun’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
‘If Uncle really did have a hand in my father’s accident, it must be revealed.’
The palace was now divided into three factions: those loyal to the Emperor, those watching quietly from the sidelines, and those following Prince Uigu, the second son.
‘If it comes to pass that Prince Uigu becomes Crown Prince, I’ll return the Jade Edict I received at my conferment and leave this country.’
Sun clenched her teeth at the thought. In her view, the palace hardly had any Royal Family Members worthy of the name anymore. So a decision had to be made. If ‘that’ person became Crown Prince and eventually Emperor, the Royal Family of this nation would fall to ruin.
The palace ultimately existed by the acknowledgment of the people.
The people of this nation, the Korean people, had always been thus. If matters deteriorated to a point they could not accept, they would rise up, fists clenched, and cast us from this Ancient Palace.
Despite the Emperor’s steady popularity and Sun’s active external engagement, the palace’s approval rating had declined year after year. When it fell below fifty percent, hadn’t they convened the Emergency Countermeasures Council?
Sun had attended that meeting and engaged in passionate debate, but she believed that if ‘that’ person became Emperor, it would be better to perish. Yes. A royal house that earned neither the people’s respect nor their recognition had no reason to exist.
Swish—
While Sun was lost in thought, the sound of fabric brushing against something reached her ears. When she looked up, she saw a face she didn’t care for.
“You seem quite sorrowful. Your expression isn’t good.”
Sun identified who had spoken to her, and all the warmth drained from her eyes. The light in her pupils went cold.
She had no desire to engage in further conversation. The person who had approached her was a mudskipper who had no business being here—not even a council member, yet she attended as she pleased.
“Girls are naturally emotional, after all. Your eyes are bloodshot from holding back tears—it pains my heart to see it.”
As if. Sun’s eyes were bloodshot because she hadn’t slept in days.
It was evidence of exhaustion piled up from running herself ragged alone while Prince Sunheung spoke with such presumption and the other council members parroted back whatever pleased Prince Uigu, constantly shirking their duties.
“And you, Uncle—you’re saying you’re not sorrowful?”
Sun pushed her anger down below her chest and answered calmly.
They always overlooked it. Always dismissing her as a young girl, suffering the consequences yet never learning. In words, no one in this room could match her.
“When the Crown Prince has suffered such a grave accident, are you truly saying you’re not sorrowful, Uncle?”
“No, what are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I grieve? The Crown Prince was truly a good man.”
The man had just made his words sound absurdly sorrowful, even dabbing at his dry eyes for effect. Sun observed every gesture without sentiment and spoke in a tone stripped of emotion.
“How sentimental. Are you going through middle age?”
“What did you say?”
As Prince Sunheung flushed with anger, Sun didn’t spare him so much as a glance. She returned his words with the bare minimum of engagement—that was the extent of her consideration.
“How dare you speak to your elder that way!”
“Elder?”
Sun let the word trail off and smiled thinly.
Prince Sunheung’s voice rang so loudly that all attention had turned his way. Sun had never welcomed their relatives’ interest, but now seemed an opportune moment to remind them of certain facts. She spoke deliberately, ensuring everyone within earshot would hear.
“This is the Royal Palace. Strictly speaking, it is a hierarchical society.”
“So… what of it?”
“Your father is a Prince’s son, and as a Senior First Rank; I am a Grand Prince’s daughter, also Senior First Rank. Our ranks are the same, but… ah, wait. I haven’t calculated beyond the tenth in the Succession Order. Which rank are you, exactly?”
Sun had struck Prince Sunheung’s most sensitive nerve. His face drained of color, turning ashen. She had found his weakness—his trigger—his place in the Succession Order: nineteenth.
“If you’re finished talking, perhaps you’d return to the gallery? This is where the Council members sit.”
Sun looked up at Prince Sunheung with deliberate courtesy. His face twisted with fury as he drew sharp, ragged breaths.
People like him were remarkably easy to handle. Those who lacked the discipline to conceal their desire, who wore their ambition as openly as commoners—they would crumble the moment Sun turned her hand. They were nothing.
The conversation from that elevator kept circling through Sun’s mind.
It might be the last way to stop Prince Uigu. If only Gwon Tae-oh would cooperate. Everything that followed would depend on Sun’s courage.
That was it. All of this came down to how far Sun was willing to go.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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