I WANT TO RESIDE AT GYOTAEJEON
"We are sorry for what we did your majesty." Lord Shim apologizes shamefully.
"Forgive us your majesty." The rest of the minister chorus.
"We will come to that later, you are still definitely going to receive the punishment for that, it is inevitable." Suk-bin whispers as she waters the flowers.
"Punishemnt? But we just did as we were told by the prince to save you." Lord Kang whispers.
Suk-bin drops the bowl with water a a faces the ministers. "Let me get this straight to you all, you didn't save me but yourselves, do you think you can survive the wrath of the queen with me gone?" she smirks. "Or, do you have the plan of making one of your daughters a concubine to replace me?"
"Your majesty, please don't be like this, we shouldn't be having such arguments now, what matters is that you are now safe."
"Lord Kang, i know quite alright that you wanted your daughter to get married to my son." she picks up the bowl and continues watering the flowers. "I had my eyes on her too, but what can I do, my son has his eyes on someone else."
"As you speak, it is very obvious that you are still mad at us. What can we do to soothe your anger?"
She drops the bowl once more, faces them and smiles. "If you do what I want, I promise to overlook your mistakes and act as if nothing happened at all."
"What is it you want your majesty?" Lord Shim asks whispering.
"Gyotaejeon." She says briefly and smirks. "What do you think about it? Isn't it a wonderful place for me to stay?"
The ministers open their mouth in shock, exchanging short glances at each other and murmuring some words to themselves. Though, the ministers had proposed such to her before on countless grounds, but Suk-bin always discarded it as she referred to the queen's title as just an empty crown.
"May I ask you why you suddenly want to be queen?" Lord Shim asks again.
"We have tried proposing this to you but you always discard it." Another minister adds.
"Yes." She nods and folds her palms beneath her blouse displaying top notch elegance. "I didn't want it before, but as you all know change is the only constant thing on earth, I changed and now, I want the queen's title badly."
"We had a lot of chances then, but now, our chances are very tiny." Lord Kang whispers.
"We can use the poison case to kick her out." A tiny voice cuts in.
They follow the vibration of the voice with their eyes and before them, Ok Jung is standing.
"Ok Jung." Suk-bin calls looking worried, she was expecting her to be with the prince or back at her father's house. "What are you doing here? Did anything happen?"
"Your majesty, there is fire on the mountain."
***********
In the consort's chambers, Suk-bin sits taking her position as the eldest in the room. Ok Jung sits facing her alongside the two eldest southern ministers, Lord Kang and Shim.
"Ok Jung, tell me what is wrong, what fire is on the mountain?" Suk-bin asks worried as ever.
"How did the queen dowager die?" Ok Jung asks looking straight into the consort's eyes.
"Didn't she commit suicide? By taking poison?" She asks again.
"Do you perhaps suspect something fishy?" Lord Kang asks.
"I was walking by the queen's quarters today, and I heard something very strange."
Suk-bin lowers her head and whispers. "What did you hear?"
"One of her maids was telling the other about poison." Ok Jung replies still maintaining eye contact.
"That is no big deal." Lord Kang says trying to cut her off, he somehow finds it very difficult to accept Ok Jung, because he had the feeling that she came to steal his daughter's position. "What more do you expect when the queen was framed for the prince's predicament."
"That is not what I am talking about, we didn't even use anything close to poison for the prince, but that maid actually mention arsenic."
"Arsenic?!" lord Kang asks sounding confused .
"Isn't that what killed the queen dowager?" Lord Shim asks again.
"That was what the lady investigators reported." Suk-bin exhales sharply. "So what are you suggesting?"
"Your majesty, I am sure the queen has something to do with the queen dowager's death."
"Watch your mouth!" Lord Shim cautions.
"How sure are you?" Lord Kang asks with great interest.
"I had a conversation with her and the fear she had displayed all over her face gave her away that she is surely hiding something." The Ming princess persists.
"So what do you have in mind?" Lord Kang asks again.
"We have to reinvestigate this case." Lord Shim whispers.