The Eunuch Who Guards the Crown Prince's Bed novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Lady's Lover

"I examined the prisoner's wound on the night of the plum garden," said the medicine woman.

Her voice was low and even.

"I found a clean cut across the left ribs, a hand long. I found the body of a man."

Min nodded as if a pupil had recited well.

"A man, whole."

"A man, whole."

A long breath went through the hall.

Seok-woo felt the captain's eyes on the back of his neck.

Hyeon's hands lay open on his knees, and he did not look around.

"Thank you," said Min. "And who ordered the entry in the register, which says otherwise?"

"My lord," said the medicine woman, "I would like to answer that in front of Her Majesty. With your permission."

Something shifted in Min's face.

It was not alarm.

It was the first small crack of puzzlement.

"Child. You were told to say what you found."

"I found this."

The woman reached into her coat and drew out a flat black wooden box with a brass catch.

Behind her, the Lady came across the floor.

She walked the length of the Hall of Inquiry in her plain blue gown with her long pale face lifted and her hands empty.

The ministers' heads turned after her.

She knelt beside the medicine woman on the Dowager's left.

"Father," she said clearly. "You taught me that a daughter owes her father obedience and the throne her honesty. I am sorry that I cannot give both."

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