The Eunuch Who Guards the Crown Prince's Bed novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Kitchen Maid

The steward put the knife into Seok-woo's hand.

"The Councillor is a patient man," he said. "He understands a young person's nerves."

Seok-woo looked at the blade.

"He doesn't want it?"

"He wants you to know that a eunuch with a soldier's knife in the Crown Prince's bed is a story he could tell." The thin smile came and went. "And that a eunuch whose papers were forged by the Councillor's own clerk is a story that would hang him with you. So he will not tell it."

"Then why are you here?"

The steward took a second vial from his sleeve and set it on the table.

It was darker than the first, brown glass.

"This one is quicker," he said. "Tonight. If the tea is not poisoned by the fourth watch, someone else will do it, and the girl will be no use to anyone."

"You said forty days."

"The Councillor has changed his mind."

He went out.

Seok-woo stood in the empty chamber with the knife in one hand and the vial in the other, and the sheets still warm from the night before.

Bae Chun-sam found him an hour later, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall.

Bae did not ask what was in his hands.

He lowered himself onto the boards beside Seok-woo with a small grunt and folded his hands in his sleeves.

"I knew your father," he said.

Seok-woo did not move.

"I served in the garrison kitchens at Haeryeong for eleven years, before the palace. Before I was made what I am." Bae gazed at the paper door. "A big man, your father. He laughed with his whole chest. On feast days he dragged the cook out of bed and made him dance."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You walk like him," Bae said. "The first night, in the corridor, I had to look at the floor."

Seok-woo's heart hammered.

"You said nothing."

"I have said nothing for five years about a great many things." Bae turned his round face toward him. "You have a sister in the kitchens."

← Chapter 6 · All chapters · Chapter 8 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend