When Hanuel returned with the King, the chamber was heavy with the scent of fading
incense and medicine. The silence weighed like stone, broken only by the faint cry of the
infant from his crib.
Saha lay upon her bed, her once-vibrant beauty dimmed, yet in that frail light, she still looked radiant—like a flame refusing to go out. Her eyes lifted when Younghae entered.
For a moment, her expression softened, then hardened instantly into disgust.
The King, however, was overjoyed. Weeks of locked doors and unanswered pleas melted in
that instant. He hurried to her side, kneeling beside the bed, drinking in her fading smile as
though it were a treasure.
"Saha…" he whispered, voice trembling. "At last… at last you've allowed me to see you."
Her lips twitched—not into a smile, but into a grimace.
"You're a coward, Your Majesty." Her voice, though weak, lashed like a whip. "Everything that happened….happened because of you. That day I asked you to hurry, to stabilize the court, to end this game we played. And what did you say? 'Give me more time.'"
Tears welled in her eyes, but they burned with fury.
"You lied to me. You deceived me. And yet you dare call yourself my friend. How dare you."
Younghae's throat constricted. He opened his mouth, but no words came.
"You loved me," she continued, her voice rising though her body trembled. "You said you
loved me. But why? Why! How could you use me like this?"
Her words broke into a sob, raw and sharp.
"I can't even look at you without wanting to vomit. You disgust me so much that seeing your face makes me sick. I can't even leave my son in your hands… But you know I missed those days when you still had those stupid crush on seorin so I blamed myself partially for what happened to my son…. If only I saw those signs…. If only I looked closely this wouldn't have happened at all. We won't be in this mess. Maybe this is karma? Maybe this is my punishment for caring for you as a true friend? Maybe I shouldn't have tried so hard to become a friend you can lean on."
Her voice faltered, her strength waning, but then her gaze flicked to the crib, and a sudden
flame lit her dying eyes.
"But I ask you for one thing," she whispered.
At once, Younghae's heart surged with hope. She was asking him for something. She was
still reaching for him. His lips curved into a desperate, trembling smile.
Anything," he said quickly. "Ask anything of me, and I will do it."
Her gaze pierced him like ice.
"No matter what decision my child makes in the future," she said slowly, each word dragged
from the pit of her soul, "you must never enforce your will upon him. Do not cage him, do not bind him. Even if you were a poor husband…" Her voice cracked, but she forced it out. "…at least be a good father."
Tears spilled down Younghae's cheeks. He nodded quickly, clutching her frail hand.
"I promise, Saha. I promise."
She exhaled faintly, her body trembling with the effort of speech. Her gaze softened as it
shifted toward the small letter resting beside the crib.
"Tell my father… that I loved him. And give him the letter I've written. It's there…. Maybe this is our punishment, I hope if there's a next life we should never see each other again, we will not come across each other again." She weakly
lifted her hand to point, then let it fall back onto the sheets.
"I will," Younghae swore, his voice breaking. "I'll deliver it myself."
Saha's lips curled into the faintest smile, but it was fleeting. Her chest rose once, then fell.
Her eyes, which had burned with anger moments before, dulled into stillness.
Younghae's smile froze. The hope in his eyes cracked into horror as he shook her hand
desperately.
"Saha? Saha!" His voice broke, echoing through the chamber. "No… please, no…"
But the Queen of Joseon had already slipped away, leaving behind no forgiveness, no
reconciliation—only a vow wrung from her last breath, and a husband who had lost her trust
long before her life.
And so, till her very last breath, Saha had never forgiven him.
The chamber was silent except for the King's ragged sobs.
Younghae clutched Saha's lifeless hand, shaking as though his will alone could breathe life
back into her.
"She didn't forgive me… not even at the end…" he whispered hoarsely, his tears falling onto
her cold skin. His words broke into a cry, the sound of a man stripped bare of his pride, his
crown, his very soul. "Saha! How could you leave me like this!"
Lady Hanuel, who had stood quietly at the corner of the room, could no longer bear to watch.
She stepped forward, her eyes shimmering with restrained grief, and lifted the sleeping child
from his crib. Taehyung stirred faintly in her arms, his small body radiating faint warmth, the
remnants of his unstable flame.
"Younghae," Hanuel said softly, though her voice wavered. "She entrusted him to us. That
much we must honor."
But the King did not respond. His cries echoed through the chamber, raw and broken, filling
the palace with despair. Hanuel tightened her hold on the infant and turned away, her heart
aching not only for the queen who was gone, but for the child who would grow under the
shadow of such loss.
The next days passed in a haze of mourning.
The news spread swiftly through the palace like wildfire: the queen was dead.
The court was shaken to its core. Ministers who once ridiculed her now bowed their heads in
heavy silence. The palace women wept in corners, whispering of her kindness, her laughter,
and the tragedy of her end.
But none were more stricken than her father.
When the message reached the Minister of War, he froze. The parchment slipped from his
trembling hands. His chest heaved, his breath caught—and then, with a strangled gasp, he
collapsed to the ground.
"Minister! Minister!" his attendants cried as they rushed to him. But the old man had fainted,
his heart unable to bear the blow of losing his daughter—the daughter who had once filled
his home with laughter, now gone forever.
The palace draped itself in mourning robes. Black banners fluttered in the wind, and incense
burned in every corridor. But no ceremony, no words of comfort, no royal decree could erase
the heavy truth.
Queen Saha was gone....