773.
The Empress Dowager had sensed it the moment he entered. This man trusted his sword before his words. The palace was still. The flowers were in full bloom, and the surface of the pond was smooth, untouched by even the slightest breeze. People would call this garden peaceful, but for her, it had been a place that had washed away countless bloodshed over the years. He showed respect, too much so, too rigid. The Empress Dowager judged inwardly, 'Foolish.' She had risen from a palace maid to a lady-in-waiting, and from there, to the Empress. Men like this had passed her countless times. Those who held their swords too openly. Those who revealed their strength immediately. When he spoke of forgiveness, the Empress Dowager smiled to herself. To bring a Taoist monk and talk of reconciliation. This boy was still learning about the moment when 'resentment becomes politics.' He began his story, speaking of his father, his older brother, and his military duty. The Empress Dowager did not interrupt. Each of his words revealed his limitations. He said he fought. He said it was his duty. He said he became strong by chance. Chance. The Empress Dowager clicked her tongue inwardly. This boy still didn't understand that when one becomes strong, everything becomes inevitable. When he said, "I have lived without your compassion," the Empress Dowager finally looked up. Compassion. He didn't express his anger. He collected his emotions and calculated his situation. In the process, he deliberately left a mistake, a weakness, in his calculations.
"If you want to, it's not impossible," he said. In that moment, the Empress Dowager saw the endgame. Ah, here it comes. He brought out a warning. But warnings come with formality. He spoke of his strength and the conclusions he could bring, but he didn't realize that his words would immediately work against him. So, she laughed. "Then do it, but why make such a fuss after coming all the way here?" With those words, his warning turned into the hesitating threat of a man unsure of his own strength. As he backed off, the Empress Dowager stood up. It wasn't anger, it was calculation. He probably thought he had threatened her. But in her eyes, he had placed every word he spoke on the chessboard. This boy could kill me. But he said he wouldn't, and tried to explain why he wouldn't. That was his weakness. When he spoke of "eliminating future troubles, it is better to eliminate all," the Empress Dowager was sure. This boy still hadn't learned the language of politics. Politics is the skill of sparing even when you can kill, the patience to swallow even when you can speak, and the act of intimidating your opponent while hiding the trembling inside. After he left, the Empress Dowager stood in the garden for a long time. The flowers were still beautiful. Park Seongjin. This boy is scary. And still easy to handle. He has strength, but he is still learning where to use it. And with time, someone will teach him where that boundary lies. The Empress Dowager slowly sat down. And she was already planning the next move.
The Empress Dowager's strategy.
It hadn't been long since Park Seongjin left the Empress Dowager's palace. The moment the garden door closed, the atmosphere in the palace shifted. The voices fell silent, and the footsteps of dozens overlapped. Behind the columns, under the shadow of the corridor's railing. The guards, who had been standing like ornaments, hastily moved.
"Your Majesty—!"
The King of Goryeo couldn't even turn around in time. His arm was twisted behind him, and his breath was cut off. There was no choking. Instead, the joints were pressed precisely. It was a touch that knew exactly where his strength would fail.
"How dare you... do you know where this is...!"
His words were cut off as a cloth was stuffed into his mouth and his vision blurred. He was dragged beneath the railing. A breeze brushed against him, and the view below became visible. It was high. Too high.
Then, the Empress Dowager's voice was heard. "Do not harm him. He is the Emperor's guest."
The guards stopped, but their grip did not loosen. The King of Goryeo was then dragged deeper into the palace.
At that moment, Park Seongjin was passing through the corridor outside the palace. He felt a chill down his back. 'This is strange.' The presence he had been aware of earlier had vanished. The breathing of the palace, which he had felt from afar, suddenly disappeared. In that moment, a voice called out.
"Mid-ranking General!"
It was an unfamiliar voice. He turned around to find a guard from the Empress Dowager's palace bowing respectfully.
"The Empress Dowager wishes to meet with you again. She says there is something urgent to discuss."
Park Seongjin narrowed his eyes.
"I just saw her."
"Something has happened since then."
"What happened?"
The guard hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, "The King of Goryeo... is temporarily staying in the palace."
The air froze. Park Seongjin stopped in his tracks. He paused to choose his words carefully before speaking.
"He is staying? Is he being detained?"
"Yes, under the protection of the Empress Dowager."
Protection. The word hung in his ears. Park Seongjin slowly inhaled. Instead of anger, his mind cooled. 'She's playing her moves.' It wasn't an assassination. It wasn't a direct suppression of power. She had taken hold of the king. Park Seongjin nodded.
"Show me the way."
Inside the Empress Dowager's palace, the King of Goryeo was sitting in a small room behind the railing. The door was closed, and guards surrounded it. The Empress Dowager was looking down at him. There was no urgency. Her face already showed the victory.
"You must be surprised," she said.
The King of Goryeo gritted his teeth. "Is this the way of your Empire?"
"Rituals are kept when one has the power to do so."
The Empress Dowager slowly approached. "Your Majesty, you are such a good king. That is why the sword at your side is so sharp."
After a while, footsteps were heard. The door opened, and Park Seongjin entered. He scanned the room at a glance. The king was not bound, but the freedom he had was limited. The guards were strategically placed. The angles of the exits. Everything was accounted for. The Empress Dowager smiled.
"It seems we meet again."
Park Seongjin bowed his head. "Your Majesty."
"Now, I believe we can finally have a conversation, can we not?"
Park Seongjin's gaze lingered on the King of Goryeo for a moment. The King did not speak. That silence was enough.
The Empress Dowager spoke.
"You must choose."
"Choose what?"
"Whether you will take the king and leave, or... stay here."
The air became taut. There was certainty in the Empress Dowager's eyes. This time, there was no way to escape.
"This is no longer a matter to be solved with a sword, Mid-ranking General."
Park Seongjin remained silent. However, his silence was different now. What he had been trying to protect was the very thing that bound him for the first time.
His body froze first. The feeling of being unable to move came a moment later, after the realization that his limbs were bound. The sensation of the ropes around his wrists and the cold of the pillar behind him became intertwined, and only then did he admit that he had been caught. 'This method...' He tried to steady his breath, but it didn't go as planned. As a king, he had been threatened countless times, but this direct hostage situation was the first. When the blade came close to his neck, what came to mind wasn't pride or anger. It was calculation. 'How much does Park Seongjin, the Mid-ranking General, know at this moment?' His face flashed before his eyes. The boy who always stood at the front in battle. Much younger than him, spoke little, and always brought results. 'That boy... he is not fighting for the king.' That truth became clear now. Loyalty and gratitude meant nothing. He moved according to his own principles. The king's life or death was only within those boundaries. 'Then what am I?' The name of the king. The weight of that name now, at this moment, where does it lie? The Empress Dowager's face appeared. From palace maid to lady-in-waiting, to Empress. A person who had stepped on far more political changes and blood than he ever had. 'One hostage... should be enough for her.' She would not kill the king. Not yet, anyway. A living king was more valuable. If that's the case, what about Park Seongjin? 'Will he save me?' No, more precisely, would he bind himself in my place? The thought made his heart sink. It wasn't the answer he wanted. 'I must not be bound.' This wasn't the decision of a king, but of a human being. 'If that boy is bound, Goryeo loses him.' He had seen it many times. Every time Park Seongjin took a step back, how much blood had been spilled in his place. 'For the sake of one king...' He clenched his teeth. His hands shook. Not in anger, but in self-blame. 'I've become a burden.' The name of the king was heavier than a sword today. The Empress Dowager's voice came from afar. The sounds of their conversation. The sharp air. He simply listened. Every word, every breath, his entire being was tuned to it. 'Please...' A thought like a prayer crossed his mind. 'Please, let this boy not turn back for a king like me.' In that moment, the king became aware, for the first time, that he was not sitting on a throne but carrying a burden. And he realized that the person who might be the least free in this room wasn't him, but Park Seongjin, who was being forced to make a choice outside.