Lying on the pillow, Emika could not fall asleep. She counted the tiny embroidered flowers on her bed's silk canopy wall when she heard her mother's scream echoing throughout the wall.
After sneaking out of her room and into the courtyard, Emika overheard that her father was locked up at the justice court jailhouse. He was secretly imprisonned upon the Empress Dowager's and Chancellor Pyun's order.
Her father accused of murder! Stunned, her mind suddenly scrambled to pick apart the words she had just heard. "What are you saying, Ishirō!"
Emika linked her slender fingers into her mother's trembling ones and drew her close to herself. Madame Nüying's tears couldn't be stopped and she appeared as though about to pass out at any moment.
"Brother, could you be mistaken?" Emika nervously asked, her expression somewhat incredulous: "Father is a witness and also assisting with the investigation. Why would he be locked up in jail?"
