In the morning, the entire capital is buzzing with gists of what happened in the palace the night before, especially the capital. Every single person were in groups discussing what happened in the palace the night before.
"Both Suk-bin and the queen dowager are being investigated now." One of the palace maids whispers to her mate.
"I think the king his majesty is not going to go take it easy on the guilty party." Another palace maid whispers.
"It's the lady investigators!!!!!" A maid announces as she runs by and all other palace maids quickly withdraws from their groups and pretend to be doing something, run away to their duty posts or just stand and bow to the lady investigators.
The three seniors of the office of investigations and some of the juniors with Jung Guem walks with their eyes burning red. What? Their idol was attacked last night? They would never take it lightly. They want to even have the opportunity to investigate them.
They continue to walk until they got to the king's chambers. The palace maid changes their topic of discussion to something else.
"Why are they looking so angry?" One palace maid asks her friends.
"Can't you tell? Suk-bin her majesty was attacked last night. They won't take it easy with anyone guilty." Another palace maid replies.
As courtesy demands, when the lady investigators got to the king's chambers, they all bowed to the chief eunuch, Jawon.
"Please, announce us to the king, we will like to have a word with him." Lady Yu whispers.
"Alright, hold on." He replies and walks in to inform the king. He didn't to ask why they wish to see the king, because he already knows about that. They are here to say something about what happened last night to Suk-bin. "Your majesty, the lady investigators are here to see you." Jawon reports.
"What? They are here already?" The king asks the head eunuch.
"Yes your majesty."
"What do I do now? The lady investigators are surely here to protest, they want to investigate the queen dowager." The king shakes his head. "I can't allow that happen, I will not allow anyone investigate my mother."
"What do you plan to do your majesty?" Jawon asks.
"I won't lie to you, I don't know what to do. Will I punish my own mother with death?" The king asks too.
"But as it is, you still have to do something. If you leave your mother alone this time again, it will cause nothing but uproar."
The king closes his eyes in frustration. "What do you suggest I do now?"
"How do you want your advice? As a king or as the young boy I raised?" Jawon asks as his formal tone changes to informal.
"As the young boy you raised." The king answers.
"Have your mom retire to the temple and give up her crown." Jawon says bluntly.
"At least, I can keep her alive." The king says and stands. "Let's go see the lady investigators."
The lady investigators bow as they see the king. They gave their bows with dignity as they have been always trained to.
"You can raise your heads!" The king orders.
The ladies raise their heads and faces the king. "Your majesty." Lady Yu calls.
"Are you here because of what happened yesterday?" The king asks.
"Yes your majesty." Lady Yu answers. "We have to investigate this case seriously, everyone found guilty must be punished accordingly."
"I already have that in control Lady Yu, don't worry. No guilty person will be left unpunished. I promise you that."
"Your majesty, we will love you to give us your word." Lady Yu persists.
The king sighs heavily. "What do you want?"
"We want to work hand in hand with the tribunal to investigate the case!"
Exactly what he is trying to avoid has poped up again. The father of the nation doesn't want anyone to investigate his mom. No matter how bad she is, she is still his one and only mother. So he decides to beat that off and just tell them what he had decided to do. "I have decided on what to do already, all evidence is pointing to the queen dowager and the prime minister. So I will have them both punished accordingly."
"How do you intend to punish them your majesty?" Lady Yu asks again.
"I will exile the prime minister and have the queen dowager strip off her title and seal then retire to the temple." He stops and continues. "I will have her shave her head too and always pray for forgiveness of sins for the rest of her life."
The lady investigators were shocked but happy, finally the queen dowager will be punished for all the terrible things she had done.
"Your grace is immeasurable your majesty." Lady Yu says loudly with happiness and bows.
"Your grace is immeasurable your majesty." The rest of the lady investigators choruses with a bow.
The way people despises his mom saddens him a lot, sometimes he wonders why the people loves him. If they were to judge him by his mom's terrible actions, they would have plotted treason against him. "Is my mom that bad?" He asks himself then faces Jawon. "Send for the Royal secretary."
"Yes, your majesty." Jawon replies with a bow.
The king walks in his chambers sluggishly. He imagines how life would be without his mom around him, he sincerely loves his mom that he had constantly ignored all her terrible acts, but this one, can never be ignored.
He sits on the chair and touches his neck in gently search for something, after a while he searches for it hardly, but can't find it. "Where is my necklace?" He tries to remember if he had dropped it somewhere but still can't recollect anything. "Where on earth could it be?" He stands and looks beneath the table and chair and still can't find it. "Did I drop it last night on my way to see Suk-bin?"