Min Yun's POV
After ensuring the queen was fine in jail, I went straight to the king with the evidence I had gathered.
But my entrance was not that easy—the eunuch stopped me from entering.
"Am I banned just like the queen?" I asked in a bitter voice.
"I'm sorry, Captain Min Yun. We are just following orders," he said, which I agreed with. They wouldn't stop me without the king's order.
"But tell the king I have something important to give. I have something important to tell as well." I tried to raise my voice so the king could hear me, but there was no response at all.
"Your Highness, please let me enter. I am not here to beg or plead, but I am here to give what I have found," I shouted.
"You are raising your voice, Captain Min Yun," the eunuch said.
"But I want the king to hear me out. It's about his case."
"Let him enter." When I heard the king's voice, I secretly smiled.
"Yes, Your Highness," the eunuch replied and opened the wooden door for me.
The king was sitting on the floor, reading his book. He looked composed, as if the queen were not in jail.
"Do you know that the queen is in jail?" I asked, as if I were talking to a friend. I was not afraid to blurt out everything. In fact, after this, I would be telling him that I was quitting as Captain.
"You came here to tell me that?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
"She helped you a lot before. She even sacrificed her life for you, yet a single concern was nowhere to be found?" I asked, bitterness in my voice. Yeah, I accepted that he was mad at us, but couldn't he see the effort the queen and I were putting in? I was not afraid of him never speaking to me again. I was just hurt—like it was nothing to him that the queen was in jail. She even chose this man over me.
"If you came here to dictate what I should do, then leave." The firmness and seriousness of his voice made my blood boil. He wasn't even showing a bit of care for the queen. Didn't he know about her death sentence?
I put the bag full of evidence on the king's table. I was planning to explain to him about his father's case, but he annoyed me even more.
"You can use this to eliminate the people who are not with you. All of this evidence will bring true peace to your heart," I said, stood up, and turned my back to him. Then I stopped and looked at him once more.
"She chose you over me. She lied about herself, but she showed how genuine she was in helping you solve your case. She was always concerned about you, and I have never, ever heard of her giving up on you." After I said that, I left the king's chamber. I didn't care how he reacted to my statement. I just wanted him to realize that even though I-jun lied, she was true to her feelings for the king.
King's POV
My hands were trembling, and my heart was aching over and over again. Seeing the evidence that Min Yun gave me took me back to the time my father was alive. All this time, I believed he had an illness. But they killed him. Not only that, but Kim Man Shik was behind all of this. And he had the guts to give the queen a death sentence as punishment?
I called my head eunuch and told him to gather all the soldiers and arrest Kim Man Shik. Confused, he followed what I said. I went out of my chamber carrying the bag of evidence that Min Yun gave me.
I went with the soldiers. When we arrived, commotion erupted inside Kim Man Shik's house. The soldiers became violent toward those who tried to stop them. I didn't stop them from doing that—I wanted to be as violent as I could be.
"What is the meaning of this?" Kim Man Shik shouted when he came out of his house.
When he saw me standing there, he was dumbfounded.
"Your Highness, what are you doing here with the soldiers?" he asked.
"You killed the former king," I said directly. He was stunned by what I said, but quickly regained his composure.
"What makes you say that, Your Highness? You don't even have evidence."
I threw the bag in front of him. I let him see the evidence he had been avoiding. Just as he finished digging through the bag, his hands began trembling.
"I… I…" Kim Man Shik was at a loss for words. He was left there, stunned.
The soldiers arrested Kim Man Shik as well as the ministers who were involved in the killing of my father. I couldn't believe what I had found out. Everything happened so fast. In just a short amount of time, I learned the queen's true identity and the reason my father died.
The ministers were all put in jail—I sent them there myself. They were whining and pleading to be released, claiming they were just people who had been dragged into this. Kim Man Shik sat there silently on the floor.
I looked at one of the jail rooms where the queen was kept. She was staring at me and at the situation. She looked surprised when she saw me.
I missed her so much. I missed looking at her face and never getting tired of holding her hands. I missed her innocence. And I loved her so much.
"Just because you put us in jail doesn't mean the queen is acquitted. She will be facing death soon."
"Just as all of you will face your death soon," I mumbled.
The group of ministers growled in protest, pleading over and over again to be acquitted.
I looked at the queen once more, who was now silently staring at the other jail room. Then I left the jail because I couldn't bear seeing the woman I love suffer.
Right after the arrests, I convened a meeting with the officers to elect the new ministers for the various positions.
"Isn't it too fast, Your Highness? They haven't even been found guilty yet," said one concerned officer, worried that I might neglect the rules that had already been established.
"And who will work with me while they're in jail? I can't work alone, especially in these tough times," I said.
They all went quiet. The voting session started. New ministers were elected—new faces, and new struggles that I would be facing. But now, it was clearer to me than ever: I should be a stronger king than I was before.
****
I-jun/Teresita's POV
I couldn't sleep tonight because of the ministers who kept whining and whining about how the king suddenly arrested them. My ears felt numb, and I couldn't take it anymore. I got up, annoyed, and was about to curse them when suddenly Kim Man Shik spoke.
"What's the feeling of seeing the king but being neglected by him?" he asked.
I looked toward the jail room beside mine. Even though there was space between us, I couldn't even touch their cell.
I raised my eyebrows in response. The ministers went quiet too.
"He even let you stay here with us, knowing that we could hurt you," he added.
"I'm not afraid at all," I said firmly.
"Yeah, who would be afraid if you were just a copycat in this world?" he grinned evilly.
I glared at him angrily. The ministers started questioning Kim Man Shik about me.
"A queen who lied about being Min Yun's cousin, lied about being part of the Park clan, lied about not belonging to this world, and lied that we're just fictional characters."
"Fictional characters? What do you mean???" The whispers and questions blended, creating a commotion. I tried to close my ears against the noise that kept getting louder. I wish someone—anyone—would help me get out of here.
I closed my eyes while covering my ears with both hands. I stayed like that for minutes, sitting on the dirty cement floor. Then, suddenly, the noise stopped, and I only heard the click of a lock.
I looked at the guard, who was now opening the jail.
"Am I acquitted?" I asked happily.
He just shrugged and didn't give me an answer.
The ministers went wild again, whining to be let out too. I looked at Kim Man Shik, who was now glaring at me with anger. I smiled at him, mocking him, before leaving the jail.
Outside, I saw the king standing as if he were waiting for someone to return.
"Your Highness…" I called him softly. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to say sorry to him over and over again.