Red String (Series #1) \\ Ateez ✔

framed

THIRD POV

"It was on the cup you gave to Lady in Consort"

Eunbyeol lifted her gaze, a look of disbelief tainting her dainty face.

"I-I didn't poison her!"  She exclaimed and fixated her head on the floor, determined to prove that she had nothing to do with the poisoning. "This Lady has been wrongly accused. I have nothing to do with it for I know nothing about poisons. I have been greatly wronged and I ask you, Lady Nari, to find the real culprit!"

Nari stepped forward as she fiercely eyed the trembling maiden before her, silence wafted the atmosphere as they anticipated the Concubine's next move. Eunbyeol's heart pulsated profusely as she took a step forward and whispered to her.

"Just admit you poisoned your sister under false pretences, after all, you have already poisoned her once and what's going to prove that you didn't poison her this time?"

Her slender body trembled as she suddenly felt like she was no longer going to make it out of the pavilion with her head intact, especially when the Concubine reignited the memory of the sins she had committed in the past.

Knowing that she can no longer refute the first part, she decides to fight for her innocence and that she truly has no involvement in the incident.

"Lady Nari I am greatly wronged-!"

"Hush!" Nari sternly exclaimed, making Eunbyeol flinch from her outburst. "Not only are you an insolent Young Miss, but you are also ignorant! Not only did you also slight Lady Jangmi, but you also dared you refer to me without honorifics! I might also remind you that I am the owner of the pavilion you are staining your shoes with, but why is it that only Lady Jangmi came to greet me first before coming here?"

Everyone who was involved in the tea party widened their eyes and knelt when they realized how they had slighted the Concubine even when they did not realize it. Their pleas to give them a punishment rang in the background as Nari continued to Interrogate Eunbyeol.

"I'll ask you once again, Kim Eunbyeol. If it's not you, who poisoned her?"

"I-I don't know..." She uttered as tears
started to stream from her eyes, shaking her head profusely.

"Are you suggesting that since you
didn't do it, Young Miss Hongmo poisoned her?" Nari narrowed her eyes as she squeezed her hand into fists.

At the mention of her name, Hongmo instantly stepped forward and knelt before the Concubine, nonchalance and conviction emitting through her.

She was confident she would get away easily, unlike the latter.

"This Young Miss has given the cup right after Lady Jangmi has already reacted to the poison from the first cup she digested. We have nothing to do with poison for we only want a similar thing, which is to start anew with fresh air along with Lady in Consort. And if so, please investigate and search us so we can fairly justify who are innocent and who are..." She paused before a tug of smirk etched her face whilst glancing at Eunbyeol. "Scheming on the wife of the Second Prince."

"You-!" Eunbyeol screamed in outrage, desperately trying to find possible ways how to make herself get out of the sticky situation Jangmi placed her in. "It's you who poisoned her, just admit that!"

"How noble of you, Eunbyeol." Hongmo faced her with contempt gleaming through her eyes. "Are you sure you invited Lady Jangmi here to apologize and start over, or did you invite her to poison her?"