Royal Coup d'État - Chapter 2

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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 2
Sangseon exhaled a deep sigh. Her whitened hair and vacant eyes wouldn’t come back into focus.
He was the uncle who cherished her more than anyone.
Family who loved his niece like a daughter, who sometimes became her anchor even more than her father.
Such a precious person—why again, why now?
In that moment, her eyes burned hot and fever crawled through her entire body. She wanted to pour out tears right then, to cry out her uncle’s name until her voice shattered. No matter how many times you endured it, separation never became familiar—it was always agony.
Sangseon cast her gaze downward and drew in a long breath.
Fresh air filled her emptied lungs. And as it did, a light slowly flickered back on in her fractured mind.
She was of the Imperial Family. Open a window and journalists would flood in; in every direction, eyes watched her.
The fact that Seok-chul had relayed this to her meant the Embargo was still in effect.
She couldn’t afford even the smallest crack. She had to judge, to act, as befitted her station.
“The press?”
“They’ve noticed the accident itself, but haven’t exposed His Highness the Crown Prince’s condition,” Seok-chul replied.
She had to sharpen her mind. Sangseon repeated to herself what she’d been trained to do her entire life.
Find the best role she could play right now and perform it flawlessly. If anything seemed even slightly off, people would discover this staggering news.
In this, Sangseon had confidence. The most beloved of the Imperial Family—that wasn’t a title granted simply for having a pretty face.
She completely wiped away the tears that had threatened to spill. She lifted the Hand Mirror and thoroughly checked that all moisture had vanished.
“First, a greeting,” she said.
At her words, Seok-chul examined her face as well. The perfect, beautiful visage of an imperial princess—no trace of sorrow.
He nodded, and Sangseon lowered the window with practiced ease.
It was a routine she’d built over years of cultivating her standing as a member of the Imperial Family. A single small slip would expose everything.
Hide it. She had to hide it.
Through the gap of the opening window, the cheers of the people watching her car filtered in. Sangseon smiled brightly as though nothing were amiss and waved lightly.
“Hyunju!”
“Here too, please look our way!”
The click of camera shutters and phones filled the air. Sangseon didn’t blink once at the clamor, only offered an elegant smile.
A perfect doll wearing the face people wanted to see. That was the truth of the Imperial Family standing at the heart of Korea.
The Black Limousine pulled away slowly, at a photographer’s pace, to give the gathered press good shots.
Once the car had cleared the crowd, Sangseon raised the window. The bright face she’d worn for the public vanished, replaced by something cold and still.
Seok-chul, who had been watching the situation in silence, spoke quietly as the window sealed shut.
“All imperial family members on official business have been ordered to return to their quarters. However, since it will take you time to reach Jincheon, you’re to enter the Imperial Palace instead.”
“Understood.”
She answered briefly and turned her head away.
As they descended from the hospital hill, she could see people on the sidewalk waving toward the tinted car.
Without lowering the window, Sangseon waved back at them in the same way.
It didn’t matter if she actually saw them. It was merely old habit, obligation.
“Hurry.”
At her word, Seok-chul nodded briefly and relayed the destination to the driver.
From Suhakwon University Hospital to Changdeokgung took roughly ten minutes.
During that time, her Mobile Phone rang incessantly. Since the news hadn’t yet reached the outside world, all the calls were from members of the Imperial Family.
—Sangseon. They’ve told you to enter Changdeokgung. I know this was a shock for you, but first look after our parents, won’t you? I can’t imagine how frightened they must be, enduring something like this at their age.
Her father, Uijeong Daegun Yeol, called first, his worry for the elder generation pouring out immediately. That was the first role assigned to her.
—My dear. You must stay calm. The Imperial Palace is a frightening place, as you know better than anyone. As soon as the Curfew Edict is lifted, I’ll come to Seoul, so you must keep silent and still.
Her mother spoke in a trembling voice.
Sangseon could see immediately what trigger this accident had become for her.
She had to repeat her assurances dozens of times so her mother wouldn’t be startled, wouldn’t grow more anxious.
By the time she barely finished that call, even a distant cousin had rung her.
After listening until her ears ached to advice she couldn’t parse as concern or worry, Sangseon stepped out of the car looking far more drained than when she’d first heard of her uncle’s death. Seok-chul, sitting in the passenger seat, turned back several times, visibly troubled by her state.
“Your Highness has arrived.”
Jejo Sanggung was waiting the instant Sangseon’s feet touched the ground, as if she’d known of her arrival.
Unlike the world outside the Imperial Palace, which knew nothing of the News of Death and continued its ordinary day, this place was already in a Mourning Period. No one raised their voice; the silence was almost desolate.
Sangseon’s gaze fell on the palace attendants moving about busily. Some had already changed into Mourning Clothes, others hurried between stations, but everyone’s expressions were grave.
“Where are our parents?”
“They are in Daejo Hall.”
Jejo Sanggung answered promptly, her meaning clear—she wouldn’t prevent Sangseon from going there.
“However, the Empress fainted, and physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau are attending to her.”
……
Sangseon looked up at the sky and let out a short breath.
The face of her great uncle came to mind first—the one who always adored his niece because he had only one son and found himself lonely, who always laughed warmly with genuine kindness.
She would never see that face again.
Jejo Sanggung, standing silently beside her, had already felt the heat rise to her eyes as well.
Tonight would not be an easy night for anyone within these walls. Sangseon, who had held back all this time, felt moisture gathering in her eyes.
“Sangseon.”
Noticing Sangseon’s resolve wavering, Seok-chul, standing behind her, spoke in a clipped, firm voice.
“You must steel your heart. Right now, you are the only one who can serve both Their Majesties.”
Sangseon brushed away the moisture roughly and steadied her voice. This wasn’t cruelty—it was duty. She had a role to fulfill here as well.
“I know. That’s why the Imperial Household Administration sent me here—so I could stand by both of them.”
Jejo Sanggung soon led Sangseon toward Daejo Hall. That short walk felt like an endless tunnel.
The palace attendants and eunuchs waiting in the courtyard before Daejo Hall were in disarray. Some wept, others gossiped about the news, and still others leaned in eagerly, trying to catch wind of what might emerge from within.
“Enough!”
Jejo Sanggung’s low, weighty reprimand cut through the air briefly. Though she’d kept her voice subdued so as not to reach the Emperor and Empress inside, her authority was unmistakable.
The way she glared at the attendants and eunuchs with fierce intensity was thoroughly intimidating. Not a single word of reproach needed to be spoken—in an instant, silence fell over the courtyard.
“Forgive us, Sangseon.”
Sangseon too swept her gaze slowly across the crowd. She could see the young attendants and eunuchs bowing their heads, looking chastened. Sangseon let out a short breath and shook her head.
“There will be much to attend to from this day forward. Their Majesties will have no mind for the inner palace’s affairs, so you, Jejo Sanggung, must restore order.”
“I shall bear that in mind.”
As Jejo Sanggung bowed, Sangseon moved forward once more. The scattered, disorderly crowd parted quietly, forming a clear path as if the sea itself had divided.
Sangseon entered Daejo Hall Main Chamber.
Though it was a place where the elderly dwelt and thus never bustled with activity, it had never been this silent either.
It was a space where the Emperor would sit in his mother-of-pearl chair and play Go, where the Empress would take up knitting when the mood struck—a place of quiet, simple daily life.
But now, save for the sobbing of the elderly palace women guarding the corridor, there was an almost unbearable silence.
“Please attend to the Dong Ondol.”
As Sangseon hesitated in the corridor, Jejo Sanggung spoke up.
Sangseon’s gaze drifted toward the Seo Ondol, where the Empress would be, and Jejo Sanggung answered firmly.
“The Empress is being treated by a physician. His Majesty has commanded that you attend him immediately in the Dong Ondol.”
Being summoned to the Dong Ondol, the Emperor’s private chamber, meant he had something to say to her.
Sangseon glanced once more toward the Seo Ondol, then nodded. If a physician was attending the Empress, there was nothing she could do by going there.
Sangseon’s steps carried her down the central corridor of the Main Chamber, eastward toward the Emperor’s private chamber. Before the inner sanctum of this nation’s supreme sovereign stood only one elderly maid—Sangseon—keeping watch.
Sangseon, as if she had been waiting, opened the door without a word. Without needing to announce anything, it swung open naturally.
The master of the chamber within received her with a composed yet weary expression, as if he too had known she would come.
“I was waiting for you, Sangseon.”
Those simple words from her grandfather—ordinary as they were—sounded strange today.
It was as if she had stepped into some incomprehensible whirlpool.

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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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