In The Royal Palace...
Two eunuchs on each side of the court gate opened the doors wide as the king approached.
A eunuch then announced in a loud and clear voice. "Here comes his Majesty the King!"
All the ministers present steadied themselves as the king walked through the aisle in between them and ascended to his elevated throne.
"So, what did you find?" The king demanded, once he settled in his official seat. He was addressing both the head of investigations at the tribunal courts and the chief superintendent of the police force.
He and some of his top ministers were waiting for the report on the investigations concerning the princes.
Someone had dared to target not only one but two of his heirs. And whoever had such guts would pay dearly for it, not only with their own lives but also the lives of all their family members for this treasonous crime.
The chief superintendent was the one to answer him first. "Your Majesty." He gave a deep bow to the king as a sign of respect before he continued.
"The princes disguised themselves last night and went out in secret to watch how the common people celebrated the lantern festival.
Court Lady Yoon said that the princes brought the candles with them from their outing and used them for the night in the Crown Prince's Quarters.
The second prince did not go back to his palace, but she had let them be because of the festivities, only for her to go and wake them up this morning to find them in that unfortunate state.
The Crown Prince's personal guard, who had followed them in secret, also reported that the candles were given to the second prince by the Minister of Procurement's daughter." The chief supt. reported.
"Where is she? Did you take her to the prison grounds?" The king asked angrily. He had gone to check on his sons' conditions, and it doesn't look good at all.
The chief-in-command at the state tribunals answered the angry king after offering a deep bow. "Your Majesty, the young lady in question just passed away this morning. The cause of death was determined to be the poison from the same candles."
"What?!" The king exclaimed. He lost his balance and was about to fall, but his long-time best friend, the prime minister, held him up so he wouldn't.
"Don't tell me that you stopped the investigations because she died? How about how she got those candles in the first place?
Those are rare items, so you should be able to trace them back to their source. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, my King. We were able to trace them to the source. Upon further investigation, it turns out that her cousin had gifted the candles to her after the two of them had made peace due to a previous squabble.
The said cousin is in our custody at the moment, but she keeps on denying that it is not her and that she wants to speak with her parents." The chief supt. of police explained.
"Why does she want to speak with her parents? Were they the ones that made her poison my sons?"
The King started to doubt that this was not an accident as he had thought when he heard that the other girl had died.
"She says that it wasn't her and that it was her younger twin sister who sent her servant to take the candles to their cousin.
But the late girl's servant insists that this cousin is an only child. So that is why she wants her parents to bring her twin to us.
We released her servant to go with some of our men to inform the parents about their daughter's case. Your Royal Majesty."
"You should've gone and had his parents arrested too before coming here to make a report. Where is the girl now? Take me to her." Said the king as he got up from his seat.
The ministers tried to stop him. "Your majesty, she has been kept in the prison cells. It is too filthy for you to go there yourself. We can have them bring her to you instead. Please, my king."
"Fine. Go and bring her parents along with the sister and let me know immediately when they arrive. Also, arrest the parents of the dead girl as well as that servant. Their daughter was the one who gave out the candles to the princes, after all."
"Yes! Your majesty." The officers all chorused and marched out of the court. Leaving the king and his ministers to continue with their assembly.
Prime Minister Lee Beom-Seok knew that the moment he had been dreading was near.
One court official of the West faction stepped forward to address the issue. "My King, I heard that the accused is that favourite niece of the Prime Minister who has been coming into the royal palace with him.
Can he tell us then what he knows about this matter? There is no way that he didn't notice that his niece was hatching such a well-orchestrated plan, right?"
"Minister Oh, what are you implying? Are you trying to insinuate that our honourable prime minister is behind the incident?" A minister from the South faction asked back.
"Minister Choi, do not put words into Minister Oh's mouth, please." Another minister from the West faction joined in.
And that is how the rest of the court continued. The West faction tried to pin the blame on the prime minister while the South faction came to his defence.
He himself is in hot water, but he remained quiet and composed as he observed the king while they were all waiting for his family members to come before they continued with the court session.
As the head of his family, the prime minister knows that his political rivals will use this case to smear his reputation further now that his family is implicated.
This news has come as a shock to him, as he doesn't know how his niece has come into those dangerous candles. He doesn't even know that his brother has another child besides Lee Minseo.
He has to take a defensive stance for his family before his opponents use this chance to have him and his family annihilated.
But there is not much that he can do right now, as any attempt to try and defend his relatives could be used against him, making their situation rather worse.
All the power lies in the king's hands now. He will just have to wait and study the situation before he acts.
Today is going to be a very long day for the king and his cabinet. No one will be able to go home until this matter is dealt with.