Through the large door entered a maid, restless as she peered the woman in front of her in fear. Lowering her eyes,she bowed down to the woman, shaking. Between what the maid had just done and the power of the woman in front of her, one misstep and her life would be forfeit. Said woman was reading a newspaper with a smirk on her face.
After a moment she then dropped the paper she was holding and looked at the bowing figure. "You've done your task excellently..." The maid could hear the smile in the woman's voice "You were able to throw
the young master of the underworld ducal into mayhem…" The woman took a sip from the wine glass by her side.
"Just look at this headline, 'The Young Heir of the Underworld Ducal has poisoned the love of his life! Pft-Ha ha ha
ha!'". She laughed uncontrollably. "Not only that, but it seems that the crown prince has even slapped him silly for it too," she said, still laughing and set down her glass ."Now, name your price, child", the woman purred out.
"P-Pardon?" sputtered the maid, raising her head in confusion.
"You did your job exactly as you were told," the woman said. "Not only that, you were able to entertain me, so name
your price."
The maid bowed down, her hands were pressed together, and her whole body was sweating with nervousness."I…I just want some gold to get my brother treated, that's all, madam."
"Oh, you have a sick brother, how sad!" The woman gestured her butler over, who came over with a large bag of gold coins. The woman grabbed a handful and tossed it to the ground toward the maid with a flick of her primly manicured hands, "There, with that amount you are sure to find sufficient treatment." Whether the woman was mocking her or taking pity on her, it no longer mattered to the maid.
Scrambling across the floor on her knees to pick up the coins, the maid looked up at the woman with glossy eyes, "Thank you, Your Majesty." she breathed out fervently. The woman smiled back, her crimson lips stretched wide.
The maid didn't know why, but she felt that there was something odd about that smile. But she disregarded it in favor of the gold coins in her clutches."You're excused". After bowing, the maid turned around and walked out.
The woman sneered at the door the maid exited through as she raised the glass of wine to her lips. "What a stupid girl."
---
Dokja squinted as the sun's rays brushed his face. He turned to his side, covering his face with a palm as he squinted open his eyes. The sounds of several chirping birds on the tree's branches drifted through the bedroom's open windows, a cool breeze gently caressing the golden curtains.
Dokja stretched his arms in front of him, trying his best to resist the temptation to go back to sleep. It had been five days since Lee Seolhwa had been poisoned; Dokja hadn't yet received any updates on her condition, despite the promise that Duke Lee had given him.
*Knock* *Knock*
On the other side of the door, the butler called out to him. "Young master, are you still sleeping?"
Letting out a reluctant sigh, Dokja sat up on his bed, "No, I'm already awake, you may come in." The door opened
and the butler walked to his bedside.
"Good morning Young Master, someone has sent you a letter,". Dokja quickly swiped the letter from the butler's hands once he saw that the envelope contained the Lee Ducal insignia on the seal. Opening it right away, he was shocked to see who it was from.
Dear Sir Dokja,
I'm sorry for my delayed correspondence; I only awoke yesterday and didn't have the energy to do much of anything until today. Please don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'll make sure to recover over the coming days so we can have tea once more. I also wanted to reassure you, I don't believe that you were the one that poisoned me; I believe in the
sincerity that you've put into our friendship, Sir Dokja.
Lee Seolhwa
Dokja leaned back and exhaled in relief, knowing she was awake and recovering. He would've never guessed that the heiress would refuse to blame him for the poisoning, but it only proved how kind-hearted she was.
He got up and went straight to his study table, grabbing some paper to write his response.
Dear Lee Seolhwa,
I couldn't be happier knowing that you're awake and recovering, my Lady. I wish you all the best as your body
heals, and cordially look forward to the next time we can meet. Most importantly, thank you for trusting in me, I'll
do everything I can to make sure you never second-guess your faith in me.
-Kim Dokja
Dokja sealed the letter and gave it to the butler to be sent off. When the butler left the room, Dokja got ready for his day and left his bedroom, soon running into Han Sooyoung, who was heading toward his bedroom.
"You're always hanging around here, aren't you? Don't you have your own manor to laze around at?"
"Wow bitch, no 'good morning' at all?"
"It's literally twelve noon."
"I don't see how that's my fault."
"Did I blame you?" Dokja smirked at her, and she just chuckled in return. Over the past few days, Dokja couldn't help but notice Han Sooyoung had been significantly easier on him. Of course she would never stop teasing him for useless things, but perhaps she saw something in him that night when he came home from visiting Lee Seolhwa.
Sometimes she'd give out random book recommendations for him to read or ask him about the novels he'd read so far. Her excuse was that it was for inspiration for her own novels, though that didn't explain the random lemon candies that she'd sometimes leave by his bedside. His other family members were also insistent on giving him their attention, more or less with the same subtlety as Han Sooyoung.
More than ever Persephone was insistent on getting him to eat better, baking pastries for him and making sure that he finished all his meals. If she saw him getting down on himself, she'd offer to take a stroll through the garden with him, saying it was good to stretch his legs.
On the more clumsy side were Kim Namwoon and Hades, who gave stiff words of comfort and awkward pats on the
back as they happened to pass by Dokja around the house. Though they weren't quite as tactful as Persephone, their actions warmed Dokja's heart nonetheless. Even Jung Heewon had started hanging around him more often, challenging him to spar with their swords.
" If you're so insistent on going out without me by your side, at least be able to defend yourself so bastards like the prince can't hurt you!" was what she had said. Dokja had finally relented and asked her to train him a little in swordsmanship. She was appalled to see how much his fighting skills had degraded, since the Underworld heir had
been known to be able to keep up with the crown prince himself.
To that Dokja laughed it off, saying it was just
because he was always holed up in his room reading, but then pleaded with her to not tell anyone else. She reluctantly agreed, and thus started training him properly. His attention going back to the present, the mood around them turned serious as Dokja straightened himself up. "Did you find anything?"
Han Sooyoung's soft eyes turned steely as she glanced at him. "Well, despite her meager pay, she recently spent a fortune on medical treatment out of nowhere. Probably got bought out by someone."
"A noble?" He kept his voice low.
Sooyoung went deep into thought, "Probably, though that doesn't exactly narrow the list of suspects. A lot of them would probably benefit by having Seolhwa killed off, considering she's the only heir with inheritance rights to the Lee Ducal as of now."
Dokja was confused. At this point, he had no idea where the story was heading. In the novel it was Yoo Sangah, the crown prince's cousin, who had been the one to be poisoned, not Lee Seolhwa. 'Kim Dokja' had been the one to hire assassins to kill her previously, but obviously that wasn't the case this time around. He shook his head..
"Back to the maid, do we know anything else about her?"
Sooyoung looked outside at the window, a shadow cast across her face. "Nothing." Dokja's eye twitched.
"What? But h–"
"She's dead."
Dokja felt as though cold water had been poured over him. He was waiting for her to say just kidding but knew it wouldn't come. "Last night her body was found floating in the river," she continued, holding up the snippet of a newspaper article.
Suicide Bridge
A dead body has been found floating in the river of the Deus Ex Machina: The Bridge of Two's. Authorities have concluded the woman committed suicide, having found no physical wounds on her person.
Han Sooyoung sighed. "Asking around, the maids and servant said the girl was acting strange for the past few days. There's a pretty good chance she's the one that did it, but-"
"They silenced her ..." She hummed in agreement. She was about to say something else but shut her mouth when she saw something over his shoulder. When he looked back, he saw the butler from earlier approaching them and stood up straighter.
"Was my letter able to be dispatched?" The butler bowed down, nodding.
"Yes, Young Master"
"What letter?" Sooyoung asked, frowning.
"From Lady Seolhwa, she sent me a letter saying that she was recovering." Han Sooyoung's eyebrow lifted.
"After all that happened, she still trusts you? " Dokja just shrugged and looked back at the butler.
"Then, is there something else you need?"
"Yes, the duke sent me to summon you to his office, Young Master "he stated. Beside him Sooyoung tensed up as Dokja shot her a confused look.
"What does my father need me for?"
"I'm sorry, Young Master, it's not my place to inform you of that". When he turned to look at Han Sooyoung, she avoided his glance for some reason.
The butler turned his back to him, "Please follow me, Young master,". Han Sooyoung still wouldn't meet his eyes as he walked away to follow the butler.
Does she know something that I don't?