Royal Coup d'État - Chapter 65

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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 65
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The public was captivated by her. Standing before cameras, speaking boldly without pretense, she had become headline material with merely a single photograph. The media backed her, and even the Imperial Household could sense the shift in her standing.
Yet those closest to her—those she had trusted—offered no real help. They could not even provide peace of mind.
That truth infuriated her, and then she resigned herself to it as inevitable.
Her family was a place that lavished affection freely during peaceful times, but when power was at stake, they turned their backs with a coldness that was almost cruel.
She let out a bitter sigh and leaned against the fence. A chill that unmistakably belonged to winter now passed through her long hair. Strands scattered in the wind obscured her vision, but she made no effort to brush them away.
For a long time, she gazed at the Han River in silence.
The glow of streetlights on the bridge glimmered across the ripples.
Sometimes the water looked like a darkness so terrible it might devour her; other times it blazed with a beauty that could blind. Her eyes, fixed on the Han River’s surface, held only emptiness.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
At the familiar voice, she turned her head slowly.
A gust chose that moment to sweep across her field of vision, and she winced slightly, tucking her hair away from her eyes.
Tae-o was standing a few paces away. She had no idea when he’d arrived.
He walked toward her with both hands buried in the pockets of a thick puffer jacket—a sight both strange and achingly familiar.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I seem to have accumulated more Imperial Household connections than I intended.”
Tae-o answered calmly and took his place beside her.
“Coincidence piled upon coincidence, I suppose.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I thought you might be in low spirits, so I came by.”
She laughed softly.
She hadn’t laughed in so long—barely a flicker. Yet somehow, her lips curved upward.
Tae-o watched her for a moment, then pulled a can from his jacket pocket and extended it to her.
“Would you like some?”
“I’ve never had that kind of thing.”
“Then just hold it. It’s still warm.”
Tae-o pressed the can toward her again. She slowly raised her hand and accepted it.
From having sat in his pocket, the coffee can was warm enough to make her palm sweat—pleasantly, intensely warm.
A faint smile bloomed at the corner of her mouth. These past few months, nothing but the unexpected had unfolded; she’d been betrayed by those she trusted. There seemed to be no place for her heart to rest. Yet strangely, in Tae-o’s presence, her guardedness seemed to crumble.
When had it started? When had this man—Tae-o—become so useful, so trustworthy?
She gripped the can between both hands, and its comforting warmth soothed something deep inside her.
Perhaps because of that, without quite meaning to, her true feelings escaped through her lips before she could stop them.
“Something feels off.”
At her sudden words, Tae-o turned from his gaze at the Han River.
“What do you mean?”
He was genuinely curious.
She sighed while looking at the water for a moment. But once she’d started speaking, stopping was harder than she’d expected. This was precisely why she ought to keep such things hidden.
“I’m in an incredibly advantageous position right now.”
“…I’ve heard.”
Tae-o nodded lightly.
“People adore me, Grandmother and Deokbi both stand behind me, and even the late Crown Prince—his legacy has helped me. It feels like a true miracle.”
She fell silent. Her eyes, hollow, reflected the night cityscape.
“So why does it all feel so hollow?”
These past few days, it had felt as though a great stone had settled upon her chest, crushing it.
Videos celebrated her across YouTube as the future of the Imperial Household; the media competed to publish fresh polling data with obvious excitement.
Relatives who once dismissed her now reached out through intermediaries like Yeongpyeong Dojeong and her allies; inspectors from the Office of Inspector-General who had once looked down on her now couldn’t meet her gaze, fawning instead.
In the midst of it all, everything unfolded smoothly, and her future became crystal clear—yet no joy came.
“Even surrounded by good fortune, why can’t I feel anything but misery?”
Tae-o listened quietly to her words. His silence somehow loosened her tongue further.
“I was so bold in front of the journalists.”
……
“Going on about the Imperial Household’s future, about the duties of the royal family. I spoke with such conviction, and I was even proud of my own words.”
She turned slowly and rested her arms on the fence. As she leaned, the cold river air wrapped around her once more.
She closed her eyes briefly, savoring its sharpness, then slowly opened them again.
“But at Inwonjang—the symbol of success itself—beginning this new life didn’t bring me joy. Perhaps I’m succeeding as a member of the royal family, but as a human being, I feel only small and shabby.”
By now the can, which had been hot from his pocket, had gone lukewarm. She rubbed it between her palms, but the warmth that had fled did not easily return.
“…Good fortune doesn’t make old wounds stop hurting.”
Tae-o spoke in a quiet voice.
She had no words for his wordless comfort.
Tae-o was a curious person. He seemed to have no talent for consolation, yet whenever she was with him, she found comfort.
If she’d told anyone else, they would likely have suggested talking to her father, or keeping her distance from Seohyun—offered some more rational solution that might shift the circumstances. Seohyun usually preferred logical judgments, after all.
But today, his words about simply accepting her emotions as they were had soothed her more. When I’m struggling, I’m struggling; when I’m hurting, I’m hurting. That short, simple statement had somehow lodged itself deep in her chest.
Seohyun smiled softly.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? My first meeting with you wasn’t particularly pleasant.”
“…I’m coming to agree that first impressions aren’t everything.”
Tae-o answered awkwardly, and Seohyun gave him a light bow.
“Your bluntness has always been helpful to me.”
“I’m honored you’d say so.”
Tae-o removed his hat and bowed formally, playing at propriety.
When had the two of them started joking like this?
Laughter rippled between Seohyun and Tae-o. The cold wind cut at them both, but neither seemed to mind.
“Would you like to hear something that Hyunju might enjoy?”
Tae-o stretched and looked at Seohyun.
His hair had grown slightly longer since they last met, and the dark circles under his eyes had deepened, but he’d clearly made an effort with his appearance—he looked neat and put-together.
“The Attacker’s statement remains unchanged. The Imperial Household is a privileged institution that deceives the people and must disappear, and he targeted Uijeong Daegun, the Emperor’s youngest son, as an example of that. It’s all the same narrative.”
At the heavy subject Tae-o raised, Seohyun’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
One side of the media had trumpeted Seohyun’s rise, while the other side ran sensational coverage of an Imperial abolition activist’s terrorism.
For Seohyun, it was a headache. This had to be Uijeong Daegun’s doing, surely. But with the suspect’s claims sounding plausible and no corroborating evidence coming to light, all her insistence on being assigned to the investigation team was beginning to feel like wasted effort.
“But it’s not to say it isn’t suspicious. There were so many imperial relatives present—the fact that he targeted Uijeong Daegun specifically. The way he waited for the moment they dispersed toward the parking lot. His knowledge of the security schedule during departure hours.”
Tae-o’s voice dropped low.
“The funeral site location was made public, but the procedures after arrival were conducted in strict confidentiality. To precisely map out a parking lot under those circumstances and time the assault so carefully? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Information leaked from inside the Imperial Household.”
Seohyun spoke with certainty, and Tae-o nodded.
“Mobile phone forensics came back. He is indeed an Imperial abolition activist—didn’t miss a single day viewing videos and articles criticizing the Imperial Household, actively participated in online communities, and repeatedly brought up Imperial judgment theory in his posts.”
“Then…”
Though Seohyun’s anticipation was evident, Tae-o continued the conversation at his measured pace. His calm helped her keep her excitement in check, grounded in reason.
“He is an Imperial abolition activist, but there appears to be someone behind him, instigating. Official Royal Household Administration confidential documents were found on his phone. He seems to have acted on what he saw in those documents. And apparently there was a financial backer involved.”
“A backer?”
If someone who already harbored resentment toward the Imperial Household had been handed money and information both. An ordinary person wouldn’t bet their life on a gamble just because they’d gained the means, but if what he’d been saying online—about judging the Imperial Household—had been genuine…
Seohyun’s round eyes met Tae-o’s. The silence between them was so complete that their breathing seemed to echo.
Seohyun cleared her throat carefully and posed the question with deliberate hesitance.
“Confidential documents are graded. In my original position, I could only access Class 3 Classified Documents, and the higher one’s rank, the higher one’s position in the Imperial Household, the higher the grade one can access.”
“They were Class 1 Classified Documents.”
Tae-o answered firmly.
At that, Seohyun began counting on her fingers carefully.
Few people could access Class 1 Classified Documents even within the Imperial Household. The Emperor and Empress, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. If not them, then the State Affairs Minister, the Vice Minister, or the clerical staff who drafted the document itself.
But the State Affairs Minister came from the Emperor’s personal attendant background, and the Vice Minister belonged to the Empress’s family clan. If it wasn’t one of these two with secure backing…
“We’ve confirmed that the clerical worker who drafted that document had multiple meetings recently with Uijeong Daegun’s Palace Aide.”
“So this time…”
“It appears we’ve finally obtained evidence conclusively linking Uijeong Daegun to the crime.”
Tae-o spoke with confidence.
The long, protracted struggle was finally beginning to show its tail.

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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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