From the neat stacks of parchment spread across his desk, Tae So could tell that his head servant, Master Hwan had managed his affairs competently during his absence. The inked reports were detailed, precise, and carefully arranged, everything as it should be. But as his eyes skimmed the headers, something struck him cold.
Not a single report bore So Ah's writing. Not even a signature. Her silence screamed louder than any rebellion.
His jaw clenched. His temples throbbed, and a vein pulsed sharply at his temple, almost to the point of rupture. She had completely ignored her duties. That cold, distant wife of his hadn't even lifted a brush to keep appearances. Tae So exhaled through his nose, slowly, before the frustration could boil over.
At least the palace hadn't sent for him. Nor had there been word from the Prime Minister. That silence, for once, was a blessing, it gave him precious time to assemble his report for the upcoming court assembly.
He dipped his brush into the inkstone and poised it over a fresh sheet of parchment. Just as the bristles hovered, a flicker of motion caught his eye - swift, deliberate, and unmistakably familiar, from the edge of the pavilion, where the sun-bleached stone met the trimmed grass.
Woong.
Finally, the only face he had been hopping to see.
The brush was set down with a soft thud. Tae So rose so quickly that the legs of his chair scraped sharply against the wooden platform. In one fluid motion, he descended the pavilion steps, his robes whispering around his ankles as he moved.
The moment his feet touched the grass, he turned, walking briskly away from the open courtyard. He didn't speak, he didn't need to. Woong, silent and sure as a shadow, fell in step behind him.
They approached the entrance of his personal study. Two guards stood on either side, stiff and vigilant.
At the sight of him, they bowed deeply.
"You are dismissed," Tae So said briskly, not breaking stride.
"Yes, Your Excellency," they chorused in unison, retreating without delay.
He didn't wait to see them go. Tae So pushed open the study doors and stepped inside, the scent of lacquered wood and ink welcoming him. Woong followed, closing the door behind them with a soft click.
"You're late," Tae So said without looking at him, moving straight to his desk. His voice was low, but sharp with reproach.
"Appologies Master, I had to pick and deliver a message to the young mistress before setting out to get Master's own," Woong replied, his voice steady but edged with fatigue.
Tae So nodded faintly, sweeping the folds of his robe aside as he sat down. "What is my beautiful daughter asking after?" he asked, not out of idle curiosity, but with the wary tone of a father who knew how dangerous even innocent questions could become in a place like the capital.
Woong straightened slightly, his voice carefully neutral, though a flicker of fatigue or perhaps caution glimmered in his eyes.
"She wishes to know... what kind of woman His Majesty finds pleasing."
He let the words hang in the air for a beat, knowing full well how delicate a matter even a simple question could become when it involved the royal family.
Tae So's brows furrowed. For a moment, silence filled the room, broken only by the crackle of a nearby window. His fingers, which had just begun to tap restlessly on the desk, went still. Of all the questions she could ask…
"Is that all?" he asked slowly, not sure whether to be relieved or more alarmed by the innocence or boldness of the inquiry.
"Yes."
Tae So eased back slightly, some of the tension slipping from his shoulders. It was a curious request - odd, yes - but at least not dangerous. Still, he would need to speak to Yoon Ji. She had no business directing such questions to the ghost informant. That man, whoever he truly was, might be righteous and incorruptible someone who couldn't be bought or swayed to betray those who sought him out but that didn't make him predictable. Yoon Ji, for all her wit and cleverness, wasn't yet in a position to send a message boldly to such a figure without risking unintended consequences.
He gestured impatiently. "Fine," he said, too quickly. Then, quieter measured, but threaded with tension "Tell me… what news of the deaf mute pipa woman?"
He didn't look directly at Woong as he asked, as though the weight of that question might crack the mask he wore. It had been a long time since he last saw her, he could still hear her music in his sleep. That brief encounter had embedded itself deep within him like a splinter: painful, inescapable, unforgettable.
He was asking because her absence had carved a space in him that nothing else had filled.
But Woong's expression darkened.
"Before that, Master... there's another issue. A serious one."
Tae So straightened, the air around him suddenly taut. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice low but sharp.
It would've been foolish - irresponsible even to admit that news of the deaf pipa woman meant more to him in that moment than anything else Woong could say. But duty demanded he wear another face, one that didn't betray how deeply he wanted to hear her name, to know she was still somewhere within reach.
"The Shadow Guards. They sent this." Woong reached into his sleeve and pulled out a scroll, tightly bound with black string. "They've terminated their contract. They now serve the Prime Minister."
The words hit like ice water.
"What?" Tae So's voice thundered as he slammed a hand on the desk, causing the ink jar to tremble. His fingers twitched against the wood as he grabbed the scroll and started to untwist the black string.
"I apologize, Master. This is my failure..."
"How did this happen?" Tae So hissed, struggling to steady his breathing. He unrolled the scroll, and at the very end, the unmistakable seal of the Shadow Guards caught his eye. His gaze swept quickly over the message, urgency tightening in his chest.
"When the Prime Minister left Jo village, he met with the Shadow Guards. A deal was struck. They defected." Woong proceed to further explain.
Tae So's hands were trembling now, and he quickly folded the scroll. He felt stripped, exposed. The Shadow Guards weren't his by right - they were mercenaries, experts in martial arts and stealth, men who could vanish into the wind. He had provided for them, paid them, relied on them. But loyalty had a price, and Song Joo had offered more.
"They are no longer contractors," Woong continued. "They've become the Prime Minister's personal men."
It wasn't unusual for wealthy men to hire the Shadow Guards for a task - pay enough, and they'd act. But what the Prime Minister had done was different. He hadn't merely hired them; he'd claimed them. Turning the Shadow Guards into his personal entourage was more than a display of power. it was a message. To Tae So, and to every other man who had ever dealt with them, it said: I am the one in control. I can have what you cannot. Tae So knew this too well, he had once tried to buy their allegiance, and they had refused him.
Tae So closed his eyes for a heartbeat. Then opened them again, fire returning to his voice. "Tell me the rest." He said setting aside the scroll.
"The Shadow Guards," Woong said quietly, "they were the ones who spread the rumor of it coming after the goblin's death."
Tae So's brows furrowed, his gaze drifting as if trying to fit pieces of a puzzle that no longer belonged together. He looked at Woong, confusion flickering behind his eyes like a ripple on still water. "And the man who arrived in Jo Village with the command plate?"
"Not of the royal army," Woong replied. "He goes by Lin. Foreign from somewhere beyond the eastern waters. His origins are difficult to trace. I couldn't confirm if he was acting under the Prime Minister's orders… or if the royal family had sent him."
Tae So's voice lowered. "Did he kill the goblin?"
Woong shook his head. "That, I can't say for certain. But of everyone who entered the House of Stories that night, those drawn to witness the so-called 'Light of the House' only one person's presence remains unclear."
He paused, choosing his words carefully. "Some claimed to have seen them. They remembered a figure but not a face, not a name. As if the memory had been smudged, wiped clean the moment they looked away. It was strange… unsettling. No one could describe them. No one even realized they'd forgotten until they were asked."
He glanced at Tae So. "Whoever that person was, they didn't belong. Just like the man called Lin. Two strangers in a place that should have rejected them."
Tae So's mouth twitched with restrained frustration. If the Prime Minister hadn't dragged him along, he wouldn't be sitting in his study now, piecing together fragments of a mystery that shouldn't have concerned him in the first place. He had spent a small fortune chasing whispers, buying information that felt just out of reach all for something that wasn't even supposed to be his burden.
And yet, here he was. Entangled. Compelled. Caught between duty and obsession.
He hadn't asked for this, but something about the journey about what he saw, what he wasn't told had unsettled him. Now, he couldn't stop. Not until he uncovered the truth. Not until he understood why he, of all people, had been brought along in the first place. He had to unravel the mystery and determine whether their beloved nation was truly on the verge of war.
And now, without the Shadow Guards, he had no eyes or ears to hunt the pipa woman. The fact that Woong hadn't mentioned her yet meant one thing, he had nothing useful to report.
But then Woong's voice lowered. "The Prime Minister arrived at the capital with unfamiliar faces. Among them... a woman. Carried a pipa. Beautiful. According to our source, no music has been heard from the Prime Minister's residence. But... she didn't speak nor can she hear so perhaps she is deaf."
Tae So's heart stopped.
No… it couldn't be.
His pulse quickened, a rush of heat creeping up his neck the moment the thought struck him - Song Joo had the power to find her. To drag her from whatever corner she'd vanished into and bring her to the capital.
But Song Joo wouldn't risk that. Not unless he had a reason. Not unless he intended to make a spectacle of her, to punish her.
Yes. That had to be it.
She had slapped him. In front of him. A woman like her, deaf, mute, humiliating a man like Song Joo. He would never let that stand.
Tae So's jaw clenched. He rose halfway from his seat, then sat back down.
But… was it really her? He couldn't be sure. There was no proof. No confirmation. Just doubt - sharp, maddening, and crawling like fire in his chest
Still, the very idea that she might be under Song Joo's roof made his stomach knot. He had to find a way to visit the Prime Minister, he would not wait, he had to confirm the identity of the woman.
"And the others?" he asked, his voice suddenly hoarse.
"One man with striking eyes. Carried a strange-looking box. Not seen before. No record of him."
Tae So's mind flared with half-formed memories. He had seen something - someone like that before. But the image was blurred, lost in time. He couldn't place it.
"Woong," Tae So said, his voice low but urgent, "we need to go to the Prime Minister. I'll tell him I was simply passing by and thought to pay my respects - nothing more. While I'm distracting him, you must find out everything you can about that woman… and the man. I need to know where Song Joo went after he left me. He was in a hurry, and I want to know why."
Tae So rose abruptly. A knot of tension pulled tight in his chest. Before Woong could step forward, Tae So crossed the room and threw the door open himself. He didn't know what he would find, but time felt suddenly fragile. If that woman was the one… if she was here, in danger, then he had to act fast - find her, and find a way to get her out.
"But Master," Woong said quickly, "the Prime Minister has already left for his other residence."
Tae So paused, jaw tightening. That complicated things. If he showed up at the estate and they repeated what Woong just told him then he would have no choice than to leave. There was nothing odd about a Minister having more than one home. He himself have several of those in the capital.
Tae So was really grateful for Woong being resourceful and so good at his work but right at the moment he would have loved if he had kept that last piece of information to himself.
But Tae So would still go. He didn't care.
Let them think what they would. He had to go. He had to see for himself - had to confirm if the woman was there… if it was truly her.