"How's the fever, manora jaga?" asked Myung Yu. Hwa Sa softly dabbed a soft towel onto Mi Rae's body.
"She's cool down for a bit. But, still, I have to monitor her from the time being," Hwa Sa replied calmly. It's normal for Mi Rae to catch cold and fever with this cold weather. Plus, she's a baby, her immune was weak.
"Did you try licorice or chrysanthemum tea?" Myung Yu sat next to the baby. She put her hand onto Mi Rae's forehead to check her temperature.
"I did. That's why she recovers a bit. It was fiery yesterday. Now, everything is fine..."
Looking at Hwa Sa, Myung Yu's heart churn a bit. Her cousin indeed a diligent person. She never left Mi Rae's side all day, focusing on taking care of the baby rather than caring about her own health.
"Mi Rae is lucky to have you as her mother..."
"I'm the one who is lucky to know that I've been living for someone. Without Mi Rae, I don't know how am I gonna live," with a faint smile, Hwa Sa stared at the little baby princess.
As they were talking, a court maid scoot over closer and whispered something to Hwa Sa. The crown princess frowned as she turned her head at Mi Rae, looking worried.
"Can that be done later? Mi Rae isn't really well yet..."
"But, Wangbi mama insists your presence now. The tailor is not from here, who knows when will she stop by again. That's what wangbi mama told me," said thr court maid.
Hwa Sa sighed as she took a glance at Myung Yu.
"Wangbi mama asked me to go to the main palace for a bridal fitting..."
"Right now?" asked Myung Yu. Her voice was a bit upset. Like Wangbi Yu didn't aware about Mi Rae's condition, yet she still forced Hwa Sa to leave the baby alone!
"If I go, who's gonna take care of gongju agissi?" asked Hwa Sa to the court maid.
"Manora jaga, don't worry. We can take care of gongju agissi while you're gone. Besides, the physician will stop by this evening, everything is gonna be just fine. Don't worry too much about it," said the court maid.
After convincing over and over again, finally Hwa Sa gave up and left the room with the court maid. Myung Yi watched her leaving, before enter the house but in a midway, she got stopped by another court maid.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The Gold House has invited gongju as well..."
"Me? What for?" Myung Yu asked.
"You're the maid of honor, so you should be there as well," Myung Yu sighed upon hearing that. She totally forgot that she was assigned as the maid of honor. Without a second thought, she quickly left the House of Blue.
***
Hwa Sa rushing out home once the fitting ended. She had Mi Rae in her mind almost all the time, that she couldn't even being responsive at all. She went all stiff, and frequently got scolded by Wangbi Yu.
Myung Yu casually followed her from behind, not in rush as she had nothing to do this evening. Uk was out to the town to pick up some parcels and letters from the dispatch office, and only coming back tonight. So, basically the princess was waiting for him patiently.
"What happened? Why is everyone gather around like this?" Hwa Sa was shot by the sight in front of the Blue House. From far, she could heard Mi Rae was crying helplessly from the inside. Hwa Sa didn't questioning the court maids anymore. She rushed in, only to find the baby was crying and blood was everywhere around her mattress.
"Gongju agissi!!!"
Hwa Sa's scream made Myung Yu startled as she ran inside the house, to find Hwa Sa was in a state of panic and hysterical. She held the crown princess in a tight embrace while the physician was trying his best to save the poor infant.
"My baby!! Mi Rae!!!"
"Manora jaga! Calm down! Please!" Myung Yu mustered her energy to pin Hwa Sa, who already losing out her mind.
"Gongju jaga, I think you should leave the room with manora jaga..." One of the assistant of the physician came closer to beg them to leave the room.
"No!!! I won't leave the room! Gongju agissi... She needs me!"
"Manora, we will do everything to save her. But, please be patient and keep calm.."
"Manora jaga, I think we should let the physician do his work in peace.." though it's heavy hearted, Myung Yu gritted her teeth to drag Hwa Sa out of the room. The crown princess kept bawling her eyes out. It was worst until the whole Blue House could listened to her wailing voice.
"What happened here?"
The unwanted appearance made things even more worst that day.
***
The sky was dark. Grey clouds overshadowed the bright lights of the Sun. Everything was turning into grey and black.
It was dead silence; no laughing, no bustling, no screaming. Nothing. It felt like time has stopped right on the spot. Like living in a vacumm with no air pressure.
When this happened after a dreadful chaos, it felt more and more sinister.
Only a silence sob could be heard from a foyer, right in front of the House of Gold, where all the royal members reside. A cry from a mother whom the daughter was stripped away from her.
"Jeonha mama, wangbi mama.... Please forgive me!" Hwa Sa wailed as she was on her knees, begging for forgiveness.
"Jeonha mama! Please! I am innocent! I know, I did neglecting gongju agissi, but please don't take her away from me! Please!"
Whoever passed by could only look. No one dared to come closer, as this was a punishment that no one should meddle in between.
Inside the House of Gold, Wang Yu and Wangbi Yi were having a moment at the main hall. Everyone from the House of Blue gathered as they too on their knees, shivering in fear. No one dared to lift their heads up, nor looking at the angry king who sat on his throne in silence.
"Eunuch, what's the news from the physician?" asked Wang Yu.
"According to him, gongju agissi was fed with some tea contained some kind of poison which couldn't be detected with the naked eyes, unless if the tea was tested with some indicator, jeonha mama..." the old man calmly whispered to Wang Yu.
The king glared at the ocean on his subjects who were still in front of him.
"Gongju agissi was left for only a few moments, and she was already got poisoned! How can all of you let this happened to her!" Wang Yu confronted the Blue House's personnel, with a stern and anger in his voice.
"Jeonha, forgive us for the careless–"
"The Blue House can't never fit to be a shelter for gongju agissi! Hwa Sa couldn't even handle her personnel and cause this unfortunate event to happen! She puts gongju agissi in danger! How can we let someone like her to be a Sejabin!?" Wangbi Yu took her chance to voice out and pointing out mistakes shamelessly.
"Wangbi mama, I believe this is just an accident. I acknowledge the capability of manora jaga to look after gongju. She never neglects her duty and gongju agissi is always happy around her–"
"Maybe, she intend to kill her!"
The whole hall of the Gold House shook by the accusation. Even Wang Yu himself frowned in disbelief.
"Wangbi mama, that's a harsh accusation! Pointing out some crime with a baseless motive and proof is a crime itself!" Wang Yu sternly reminded the queen. But, she ignored the warning, totally shut herself off after rising a doubt among the people inside the hall.
"Jeonha, that's a false accusation! As far as we know manora jaga, gongju agissi is her world. She won't harm the baby with no reason!" One of the eldest court maid upstand the accusation in full hearted.
"People can change. Have you ever heard about a mother who killed her own child because she couldn't take the pressure of taking care the kid?" Wangbi Yu threw a fact that slightly drew some doubts in everyone's mind.
"Hwa Sa is the one who prepares the food and medicine to gongju agissi. She got access on her in total. Maybe she is indeed wasn't that sincere to take care of gongju agissi! She just wanna use the baby as an excuse to show off how a good mother she will be. The wedding is approaching soon, and she couldn't handle the stress anymore... So..."
"Until the further investigation, we can't conclude such a baseless accusation, wangbi mama..." the prime minister bowed down while trying to refute the claim made by Wangbi Yu. He was among the person who felt the needs of investigation on this matter. Besides, for him, Hwa Sa didn't lack of any as a mother for the baby.
"How dare you to accuse me for wrongly pointing out the mistake to Hwa Sa?!"
"I believe in justice, wangbi mama. And..." the old man shifted his eyes to Wang Yu. "I think, jeonha mama also feel the same..."
Wang Yu sighed, sitting on his throne felt like a thousand needles piercing him by now. When it comes to this kind of dispute, no one would want to walk in his shoes. Even he felt like throwing these shoes out of the window.
"You might be right. The justice can't never served without the truth. But, until we get the permit from jeoha mama to investigate manora jaga, gongju agissi will be take care by the Gold House personnel," said Wang Yu.
The secretary noted down the diction on the scroll and Wang Yu slowly placed his sigil on the parchment. His heart felt heavy, but there's nothing he could do to satisfy everyone.
Let the Heaven decide then...