Seeing the poor girl's wet and puffy eyes jolted the king out of whatever trance-like state that he was in.
He then remembered the purpose for which they were here, and of course it isn't about him feeding his eyes on the nice aesthetics of the young girl.
Cough. Cough.
The prime minister coughed as if to clear his throat, but it was just an attempt to get back the king's attention on the actual reason why they were here in the first place.
"Um..." The King paused due to the awkwardness, but it was only for a brief moment before he continued as he left Minsu's side and went to Lady Youngmi's servant's side instead. "Tell me everything. What did you say happened to your miss? How come she died?"
Minsoo let out a deep sigh. He tried to stop himself from crying once the King move away from his side.
He felt too uncomfortable in the ropes but was very glad that the king moved.
Youngmi's servant took in deep breaths before speaking.
"Your Majesty. Yesterday, around the hours of the hen (05:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m.), I saw Okeon, the servant of Lady Minseo, giving a present to miss Youngmi before we left for the lantern festival celebration in the market square to meet with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the second prince. Lady..."
The servant narrated to the king all that had happened the previous night as she was returning from an errand.
The king then moved to Okeon's side and asked. "Is what she said true? Were you the one that gave the candles out as she has just explained?"
Okeon was very panicky as her fear was on the rise. She couldn't even find the appropriate words to use without offending the king, and so she only nodded nervously in response.
"Speak out loud. How dare you just nod at the king?" The chief-in-command shouted at her.
"I...um... yes, your Majesty. I... I gave the candles to the late Lady Youngmi."
Minsu tried to turn his head back from where he was sitting once he heard Okeon's voice, but he couldn't due to the binding of the ropes.
He wanted to go to her side and tell her to take him away from this place. But that didn't seem possible.
"You are only a servant; I doubt that you can afford to gift out such rare items. So tell me, who sent you?" The king inquired.
His stern gaze was fixed on the girl.
"I was sent by... I..." Okeon was finding it very difficult to utter the lie that she had been instructed to. She turned to look at her young master from the back as tears filled her eyes.
The king fisted his fingers in anger but tried to restrain himself as he asked. "Would you speak now, or do you want me to force it out of your mouth myself?"
"I... I... I was sent by the young miss, Lady Minsu (she referred to Minsu as a lady), to give the candles to the late Lady Youngmi. She said to tell her that it was a gift for her as it was a festive period."
Hearing his name did draw Minsu's attention, alright, but he still couldn't follow what they were talking about.
"Are you really sure about what you just said? Because I was told that you are the sister's servant, so how come she was the one that sent you and not your mistress?" The king enquired.
"My King, I also do serve the young Lady Lee Minsu too sometimes and not just her older sister. It is indeed she that sent me to her late cousin's place yesterday." Okeon explained each lie made her feel sick to her stomach, but there wasn't anything else that she could do.
"Are you not the one that sent her?" The king directed his question to Minseo.
Despite her anxiousness, Minseo steeled herself as she replied to the king.
"No, your Majesty. I was not the one that sent my maid to Lady Youngmi yesterday. I was a bit under the weather yesterday so I kept to myself yesterday and did not even talk to my servant all throughout the day.
"What of you two? Is that true? Did your daughter really do that? And how could she have come into such a dangerous thing by herself?" The king threw the question at Minsu's parents.
His father was the first to speak. "Yes, my King. It is indeed true that our younger daughter was the one that sent our servant with those candles. As for how she came across them, it was through me.
I am a merchant, and I got those candles from the guild that supplies me with imported merchandise.
My shop has a mice infestation problem, and so I asked for something to help with that.
I was told that these candles are from overseas and would kill them all once I burnt them after closing shop.
My younger daughter saw it and then asked me about it a few days ago when she visited the shop because, to her, they were beautiful and smelt nice. I went ahead and explained to him about the dangers, but I didn't know that she would take them and gift them out to anyone."
"And you?" He directed it to the "girl's" mother.
Her answer was nothing contradictory to what both her daughter and her husband had said.
The king then moved to Minsu's side. "Do you have anything to say for yourself? Like, did you know that those candles were poisonous? What was your intention for gifting them out to your own family member?"
Minsu's disoriented look at him was all that he needed to understand what was going on.
It was very obvious to him that this "girl" is the sacrificial lamb to save her family's asses. They're pinning the incident on the poor child who seems to have still not been able to grasp what was going on.
All the while, the ministers watch on.
Prime Minister Lee Beom-Seok could tell from the king's expression that he seemed to be soft towards his nephew.
He decided to take advantage of that. He therefore moved and prostrated in reverence to the king as he exclaimed. "Your Majesty!"
Everyone watched in silence. Minsoo turned to look at him in confusion, like he has been since he was brought here.
The prime minister remained on the ground as he pleaded but in a very clear voice. "My king, as you can see, my niece is a little bit not right in the head.
I believe that she must have given the candle out only because of their nice look and sweet scent. You know how young girls are. I doubt that she had any intention of harming her cousin. So please temper justice with mercy, my king."
His colleagues from the same faction joined him on the ground as they too prostrated before the king and pleaded.
Minister Choi was the one to speak first. "Your Majesty. From all the accounts given, it's evident that the girl never intended to harm the princes in any manner. Nowhere has anyone stated that she said to give any candles to the princes."
Another one from the south faction added. "Yes, Jeon-ha. Even the fact that Lady Youngmi herself used it too is proof enough that she too didn't know that the candles were dangerous."
"And as for the death of the other girl, I believe that that should be a family matter. We should leave it to the Lees to settle it among themselves, my king." Another added.
"Your Majesty!!!" All the ministers of the West faction equally went on their knees as they called unto the king too.
They did not want this opportunity to get rid of their main enemy, the prime minister, to slip by. If this case ends up as a treasonous one, so will he too be affected. And they need him gone, forever.
Minister Oh was the first to speak among them. "My king! We cannot brush this off like it is just some childish prank gone wrong, Jeon-ha. No. This is an attack on our crown prince, the future ruler of this kingdom after you, Jeon-ha.
Right now, both of our princes are in critical condition. This act of causing harm is treasonous before the laws of our land. Let's not be deceived by the mere fact that the girl who gave them to the princes has died. What if she herself was only a pawn in all this?
I believe that the mastermind already knew of her closeness to the princes and knew that she would definitely give some of the candles to them and thus used her to get rid of them.
It is no secret to anyone in the palace that the two princes were very close to the young miss. I am very sure that the criminal knew about this too."
The king was confused about what to do. Both sides of the argument do make sense.
"Hmmm." He sighed in resignation.
"Um, take them all back inside. We'll need to discuss this in court first and then bring the final ruling.
In the meantime, release the dead girl's parents and let them go. Leave her servant behind. She is the main witness in all of this." He said to the chief in command.
"Yes, your Majesty."
Just then, a court lady appeared with news from Crown Prince's Palace. The King's personal guard was the one to see her as she wasn't allowed to see the proceedings been carried out on the interrogation grounds.
The guard in turn moved closer to the king and whispered into his ear. "My King. The princes are awake, please."
"Really? Good timing. Let's go there immediately." The king said and left for the Eastern Palace.
His ministers got wind of the news and also followed suit.
Prime minister Lee wanted to stay behind to have a word with his brothers but his colleagues shook their heads to signal to him that that was not advisable. Especially at this critical moment. So he too left and joined the others at Donggung.