The Gentle Couple

Hoseok's Past

After a nap, Yn thought about the emperor's motives.

'Taehyung, I'm not certain the emperor poisoned me,' Yn said.

'Why?' Taehyung asked.

'I don't know what the emperor's motives to poison me are,' Yn said.

Taehyung's head and heart were muddled earlier. Yn's logic reminded him that he forgot to think about his father's motives for poisoning Yn.

Taehyung and Yn's eyes shone at each other.

'Yn, do you think it's that person too?' Taehyung asked.

Yn nodded her head. 'Perhaps that person used Princess Kang Hua in hope of using her to kill me. Besides, Princess Kang Hua didn't need to wait, she could have poisoned me the moment I arrived in the imperial city.'

'In the past Hoseok and I had the same thought as you,' Taehyung said. 'Then we thought perhaps she wanted you to die outside the Yang Manor to deflect suspicions... but looking at the past now, perhaps that assumption is wrong.'

Yn's chest hurt while remembering how viciously Princess Kang Hua stabbed her and she wondered if Princess Kang Hua was still alive.

'That's right,' Yn said. 'If Princess Kang Hua wanted to kill me, she would have killed me at the Yang Manor.'

'Earlier like you,' Taehyung said. 'I thought it was imperial father. But now I think it's that person, she has a motive to kill you.'

An image of the kind Consort Mu appeared in Yn's head and she sighed. 'Glancing at her, she seems like a kind person.'

'Yn, do you remember what I told you about Consort Chen?' Taehyung asked.

Yn remembered Taehyung confided in her about how Consort Chen was poisoned by Fu Gui and she nodded her head.

'At that time I suspected there was something wrong about the fragrance of the incense sticks,' Taehyung said. 'So I hid them but later they disappeared. Thinking about it now, I think she found out I hid them and sent someone to retrieve the incense sticks. I think Consort Mu knows that I know the incense sticks were poisoned.'

'That's why I think she wants borrow a dagger to kill me,' Yn said.

'She and seventh brother used Yoo mi's fake pregnancy to oppose the empress and the crown prince,' Taehyung said. 'They would do anything to eliminate anyone who poses a threat to them big or small.'

'Taehyung, what should we do now?' Yn asked.

Taehyung laid his hands on Yn's stomach. 'I need to ask someone to be certain who poisoned you. After I've confirmed it then I can plan what to do next.'

'Who do you need to ask?' Yn asked.

'The empress,' Taehyung said.

'The empress?' Yn asked. 'If the empress denies it then it's possible Consort Mu is the culprit. But if the empress did it, would she admit it to you?'

'I have a way to make the empress tell me the truth,' Taehyung said.

'Taehyung, are you hiding anything else in your stomach?' Yn asked.

Taehyung held Yn's hands and put them below his stomach. 'Inside your husband's stomach isn't hiding anything. But your husband is hiding something here.'

Yn's face flushed red. She pulled his hand to her mouth and bit hard. 'Even if you're about to die, you wouldn't know how to be serious.'

Yn didn't think Consort Mu would be so cruel only to ensure Taehyung didn't have a son. She was worried if other people found out she was pregnant then something bad could happen to their child.