Royal Coup d'État - Chapter 55

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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 55
“Inhale.”
Sun drew in a sharp breath. She hadn’t thought it was loud, but she saw Tae-o’s head snap toward her with sudden attention.
Fearing her alarm might show, Sun quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth. Even if she couldn’t hide the way her eyes had widened, there were things she preferred to conceal—especially the moment a weakness revealed itself.
“…….”
Whether or not he understood why, Tae-o seemed to have caught the shift in her emotions.
His bronze-tanned hand moved toward her slowly, fingers walking across the space like they were pressing piano keys, until it came to rest on the documents beneath her own hand. The two hands hovered over the same sheet of paper, separated by barely a word’s width.
It was his way of offering comfort. This time, neither of them pulled away—Tae-o didn’t withdraw, and Sun didn’t hide her hand in embarrassment.
When had I drawn this close to him?
She understood his gestures at once and found solace in them. Everything felt familiar now, comfortable.
“Self.”
At Tae-o’s low voice, Sun’s senses sharpened again.
Again.
Tae-o had called her that way once more. Many people had called her “self,” but when he did, it grated.
Hyunjoo and Inspector Kwon. That strange, particular connection had been reduced now to something common and ordinary—just another royal and a civil servant.
Was it possible for a person’s emotions to fluctuate this wildly?
The moment she thought that his presence had steadied her anxious heart, his manner began to irritate her.
“Shall we take a break?”
The question must have reached the others too, for An stopped his explanation mid-sentence and glanced toward Sun and Tae-o. There was no more loyal civil servant alive.
Sun smiled graciously and shook her head.
“It’s all right. The way this incident was orchestrated—it reminds me of something I once went through. I was just thinking about it.”
Tae-o’s fingers still lingered before her. He tapped the paper as if to assert his presence, as if it bothered him that she’d pulled away, but Sun slowly drew her hand back to her lap and held it there neatly. She kept her gaze fixed forward, deliberately avoiding his eyes.
“You experienced something like this, Hyunjoo?”
Yun, who had been participating quite actively and asking questions frequently, spoke with some surprise. As Sun hesitated over how much she should trust him—given that he’d sided with the commissioner—Tae-o spoke first.
“Isn’t it common knowledge that Hyunjoo narrowly escaped death in a serious accident when she was young?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Though that was said to be a terribly unfortunate accident……. Is there any reason to suspect something strange about it?”
Yun exclaimed in alarm, making a fuss. Sun managed a natural smile.
“Victims always tend to wonder, don’t they?”
“Besides, if there are similarities with that past incident, investigating them together makes sense. This time we’ve clearly established that the accident was staged.”
By now Tae-o had grown accustomed to taking Sun’s side. A hint of caution could be heard in his reproving tone, suggesting he didn’t entirely trust Yun either.
Sun deliberately turned toward Yun to add her words.
“The Emperor lost two sons to those two accidents. He desperately hopes this investigation goes well.”
“The Emperor?”
Yun’s eyes began to gleam. Like someone sensitive to the currents of power, the mention of the Emperor’s interest stirred his instincts.
“Moreover, this investigation was even upgraded to an official case at the Royal Court’s request, and we’ve uncovered what might otherwise have been buried as a mere accident. There will certainly be substantial reward for that.”
As Sun spoke, Yun’s face lit up more brightly than it had in some time.
Uigu Daegun wouldn’t have bothered to corrupt someone at this low level. Yun was chosen by the commissioner at Uigu Daegun’s behest, essentially a subcontractor of a subcontractor, so re-corrupting him would prove easy enough for Sun.
“How much the Emperor must have grieved losing the Crown Prince. We simply must solve this and give His Majesty justice!”
It was almost comical seeing Yun, who during his TF days had been so uncooperative he’d even omitted reports, suddenly burning with passion. But transparent people like this were actually easy to handle.
Tae-o must have thought the same, for one corner of his mouth had curled upward.
“Then I suppose it’s my turn.”
After hearing a few more of Yun’s honeyed words—enough to make her mind blur—Heejoo rose, holding the Acrylic Document Holder from before her. She naturally switched places with An and stood forward with confidence.
“Please look at page thirty.”
At Heejoo’s words, the office filled with the rustling of pages turning. Sun also flipped through the documents until she found the page Heejoo had referenced and spread it open.
It contained a table with dates, deposit amounts, and depositor names laid out in neat rows. As Sun traced through them with her finger, her expression grew steadily colder.
There were far too many familiar names.
“This is a summary table of deposits made to an account under the name of the deceased Kim’s wife.”
“Haah…….”
At her explanation, Sun rested her elbow on the desk and pressed her forehead with her hand. It was far worse than she had imagined.
“Did you recognize the names, Hyunjoo?”
“Yes.”
Sun answered Heejoo’s question with difficulty. Her voice came out hoarse, scraping like metal against metal.
“It’s also the list I gave to Inspector Kwon.”
“Exactly. That’s why the investigation moved quickly.”
As the question turned to Tae-o, he answered rapidly.
He leaned back against the steel chair and waved the paper bearing the deposit records. The creaking sound from the old chair somehow only deepened the gravity of the situation.
“These names are leverage.”
Sun murmured the words barely aloud.
“They are the children of royalty but not royal themselves……I understood that much. But why would you call them leverage?”
An asked plainly, expressing his confusion.
Sun exhaled deeply once more, etching the names written on the paper into her memory.
Lee Sol-jae. Lee Ha-yun. Lee Ga-on. Lee Yun-o….
These different names belonged to children born as royal blood but forbidden from ever becoming royalty, just as An had said. And they were the names of children—still not even of legal age, fresh and young.
A perfect instrument: they could evade legal consequence while simultaneously controlling their royal parents or grandparents. These children, without doubt, were exactly that.
‘Truly worthy of the Second Prince,’ Sun thought bitterly.
Sun let out a hollow laugh.
Few people ever stepped into Uigu Daegun’s world and parted on good terms. They either served him faithfully for a lifetime or were discarded with cruelty. The names listed here were surely nothing more than Uigu Daegun’s own failsafe—contingencies prepared for the day he would need to cast them aside. Just as he had kept the illegitimate child hidden for over two decades.
“These children are minors. So the ones who actually used these accounts would have been their royal parents or grandparents.”
“Ah….”
“By splitting it like this—sending two million won here, five million there—they could use as many names as possible while avoiding suspicion. For whoever orchestrated this, it would have been the perfect way to cut loose ends.”
Sun had never imagined capturing Uigu Daegun would be easy. The connections he’d built within the Royal Court and the political-business circles over the years were his shield.
But she hadn’t anticipated that even an investigation would be this deliberately obstructed. This was far worse than anything Sun had foreseen.
The detectives exchanged glances, watching Sun sigh repeatedly.
Heejoo, who had been gauging the mood, carefully posed a question to Sun.
“Then, do you have any thoughts on who the mastermind might be?”
It was the most critical question—one that would determine how the investigation proceeded.
Sun set down the file folder she’d been holding and arranged the pen neatly beside it. She slowly pushed her chair back, tapped her shoes against the ground, and rose quietly from her seat.
“The Royal Court considers Uigu Daegun the most likely suspect.”
Tae-o and the other detectives’ expressions hardened gradually. Even Yun wore a similar look, lost in thought at the mention of that name.
“Can you be certain of that?”
Tae-o asked pointedly.
“Uigu Daegun is the most likely heir to the throne. Unless something extraordinary happens, he’ll soon become Crown Prince. Accusing such a person of murder—you could end up being treated as a niece blinded by ambition for power, falsely accusing her uncle.”
Tae-o’s objection was not without merit. Public opinion manipulation wouldn’t be particularly difficult for Uigu Daegun. Just as he’d orchestrated the illegitimate child incident, it wouldn’t be hard for him to cast Sun into the abyss.
But Sun had no intention of accepting defeat quietly. She couldn’t keep weeping over the bleeding and dying any longer. She would have to face this head-on and break through—by her own means.
“Uigu Daegun must be involved in the accident with Uiyoung Daegun as well.”
Sun laid down the card she’d been holding close for so long.
She had never spoken of that face to anyone, yet she remembered it with perfect clarity. The man she had barely glimpsed with one blood-soaked eye, cradled in her sister’s arms while she wept—she could never forget him.
Sun’s gaze swept across the detectives in turn. A traitor might be hiding among them, their faces tense.
But if this was the price of being an empress—she would hide nothing more.
“I saw him that day. Uigu Daegun.”
Now it was Sun’s turn to fight with everything she had.

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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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