Royal Coup d'État - Chapter 26

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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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Chapter 26
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Two days left.
Sun gazed up at the ceiling and sighed. Hearing the sound embed itself in his ears, Tae-o glanced back at her.
Everything was so tight. Tasks that needed doing now, duties bearing down on her already. The accumulated weight of countless thoughts felt like it might split her skull. Sun carelessly wiped away the dried tracks of tears from her cheeks.
Sun touched her damp sleeve irritably as she entered the parking lot. Tap-tap-tap. She heard footsteps drawing near beside her.
“Your Highness. The vehicle is ready.”
It was Seok-chul, who had left earlier to memorize the hospital’s layout.
He appeared beside Sun as naturally as if he’d been in the parking lot all along, his assigned task complete. The car he indicated was not the Limousine they’d arrived in, but a different Sedan.
Sun nodded without offering Tae-o any particular explanation and walked toward the black Sedan.
“From here on, only Detective Tae-o and I need to go. Officially, I’m returning to Byeolgung.”
“Understood.”
A solemn exchange passed between the two of them without Tae-o’s knowledge. As they continued their whispered conversation, Tae-o’s mouth twisted. What were they doing, leaving him standing here? With his arms crossed, he watched as Seok-chul climbed into the Limousine first.
Sun waited until the Limousine door closed before turning lightly on her heel. Even the shift in her posture seemed elegant, and Tae-o found himself doubting his own eyes. What was he thinking about the Royalty like that?
Whether or not Sun knew what occupied Tae-o’s mind, she approached him. Click-click-click—the sound of her heels drew closer. Three spans, two spans. As the distance narrowed, her perfume hit his nose—a sweet fruity scent, oddly fresh despite its richness.
“Let’s go.”
Sun stopped at a distance where their breath could be clearly heard, then slipped her hand into her jacket pocket. Something jingled, and a black car key appeared in her small palm.
Sun held out the car key to Tae-o with an expressionless face. The Smart Key dangled pathetically in response.
“You can drive, can’t you?”
“Where are we going?”
Tae-o countered stubbornly. It was pointless defiance when he would follow anyway.
“Sinchon.”
In stark contrast to his sharp response, Sun answered readily. It wasn’t an explanation he could fully understand, though.
Having practically forced the key into Tae-o’s hand, Sun walked around the front bumper and stood before the passenger door. The way she tilted her head, urging him to open it quickly, emanated the refined bearing of someone well-bred and royal.
Tae-o, whose hand had somehow found its way to his waist, exhaled deeply.
Ever since getting entangled with this woman, nothing but strange things had happened. He felt pathetic, pressing the unlock button despite his roiling irritation.
Slam! Tae-o didn’t climb gracefully into the driver’s seat. He shut the door so forcefully that the Sedan rocked, and Sun’s lips rippled with the impact.
Starting the engine, shifting gears, turning the wheel—at every moment, not a trace of gentleness appeared. Tae-o was staging a protest with his own discomfort.
And if you ask whether Sun appeared at ease, the answer was no. Both of them were equally uncomfortable.
Her fingertips trembled as she entered the address into the navigation system; the way she gripped the seatbelt tightly. There wasn’t a single gesture that suggested peace of mind.
“Don’t you know how to drive?”
Tae-o’s voice cut through the silence that had settled as they both flaunted their discomfort. Still frowning, steering with one hand, he asked the question the moment traffic began to congeal.
“What would you have done if I couldn’t drive?”
“Can a police detective not know how to drive?”
At Sun’s words, Tae-o laughed dryly as if to say it was absurd.
“Do you think I’m your chauffeur? Or your secretary?”
“No. In my eyes, you look just like Detective Tae-o.”
Sun didn’t back down an inch. Whether from displeasure or not, the veins in Tae-o’s hands as they gripped the wheel became pronounced.
“I’ve never seen Royalty who can’t drive before.”
“Really? I suppose that’s true. I don’t have much occasion to drive.”
“Royals pick up imported cars the moment they turn eighteen and drive around in them. Then they’re always getting themselves involved in drunk driving hit-and-runs.”
His jaded remark made her grip on the seatbelt tighten. Sun exhaled sharply and shot back.
“Do I really seem that carefree to you? Drunk late into the night without sense enough to avoid getting behind the wheel myself? Am I really stupid enough to look like that?”
Against her aggressive question, Tae-o’s brow actually relaxed. He shrugged and tapped the steering wheel lightly.
“Every Royal I’ve ever seen was like that. Besides, I have no idea what your habits are at night.”
“I understand how you view the Royalty, but I’d appreciate it if you could exclude me from that bundle. Unfortunately, I’m someone who needs sleep more than alcohol.”
At her measured response, Tae-o glanced sideways at Sun’s expression. Her gaze, fixed only forward, was unwavering and rigid.
What emotion flickered in those eyes? A sense of justice? A sense of duty? Honestly, Tae-o found it difficult to pin down an answer.
The passion he’d felt when he first became a detective had nearly vanished, leaving only stubbornness behind.
An investigation into a Royal—if it hadn’t been for the group that provoked him, he would have let it go long ago. For him, people like her, so unflinchingly upright, were harder to handle.
Perhaps that was why. His barbs kept coming without pause.
“I understand, Your Highness. I’ve seen no shortage of Royals, great-grandchildren of the Former Emperor, who go on and on about their integrity and righteousness while getting drunk. Ha. Great-grandchildren of the Former Emperor, no less. Doesn’t it sound ridiculous to you?”
……
“It’s the twenty-first century. This isn’t the Middle Ages. Does it even make sense to brag about having a great-grandfather who was an Emperor? And that great-grandfather should’ve been punished even if he drove drunk!”
Despite Tae-o’s relentless words, Sun kept her eyes forward.
The congested road cleared, and the tires began to pick up speed. Inside the car gliding swiftly over the black asphalt, Sun didn’t release a shred of her tension.
Even as he vented his frustrations, Tae-o found himself bothered by Sun’s continued silence. Mentioning even her great-grandfather had perhaps been too far. If he thought about it deeply, their great-grandfather was also Sun’s great-grandfather.
“I didn’t mean to insult you or the Former Emperor. I’m just… saying how it is.”
At last, Tae-o, pricked by his own words, offered a tentative excuse.
His discomfort beginning to set in, he gripped the steering wheel with both hands and stole glances at Sun whenever they hit a red light. The weight of his gaze became a burden, leaving Sun with nothing but a hollow laugh.
The moment something like a smile tugged at the corner of Seon’s mouth, Tae-o’s worry melted away.
Why did this woman’s temperament affect him so much? Even Tae-o himself was bewildered by how his own emotions had grown soft.
“I hear she even curses the Emperor when he’s not around.”
……
“Besides, I don’t know much about how my cousins live either.”
Seon’s expression as she answered seemed somehow forlorn—a face like something set apart in some distant, forgotten place. It carried both a loneliness and a kind of pain.
As they crested the rise and the destination came nearly into view, Seon’s head turned slowly. For the first time since entering the car, her gaze—which had been fixed on the road ahead—found Tae-o.
“Still, if you’re going to work with me, I’d appreciate it if you chose your words more carefully.”
“Pardon?”
Tae-o turned his head, waiting for the left turn signal as the navigation directed.
In the narrow car, their eyes met directly. In that instant, Tae-o felt as though he were being drawn into the depths of Seon’s dark, intense gaze.
“It’s true that the Royal Family isn’t perfect. There are certainly disappointing ones, as you know. But even they take pride—more than anyone—in the fact that they carry the Emperor’s blood.”
“And your point?”
“I’m telling you that I, too, am of the Royal Family. I’m the great-granddaughter of my great-grandfather the Emperor, and the granddaughter of the reigning Emperor, and I take pride in that blood more than anyone. So don’t disparage that pride by lumping it all together.”
Her words, spoken with such clarity, left Tae-o feeling like a child who had lost his way. The left turn signal had changed in front of him, but he hadn’t noticed—and it took the horn of the car behind him to snap him back.
The sedan hurried forward and took a sharp turn into the parking lot entrance of the Officetel.
Seon, who had waited in silence until then, spoke again with measured precision.
“Don’t you ever insult my great-grandfather again. Just because I’ve taken your hand doesn’t mean you’ve become someone I can treat carelessly.”
Between Seon, who had closed her mouth again, and Tae-o, who could find no reply, only the navigation remained.
You have arrived at your destination. Despite the cheerful voice, the air inside the car had grown impossibly heavy.

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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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