royal blood

32 | the rose, a sign of death.

wendy stood infront of doyoung's study, a place where she had found taeyong dead. she slowly opened the door, remembering the words yuta told her — " there was a rose in the door frame ". she walked into the room, searching for any connections that could prove that doyoung and taeyong were murdered by the same person.

she looked around the study, before she caught the sight of a rose, placed carefully on doyoung's bookshelf. she walked closer to it, seeing that it was almost dead. wendy looked at the rose, before letting out a sigh. why was it a rose, out of all flowers out there ? it surely meant something, but wendy could not figure out a clue about this.

suddently, the door behind her opened. she flinched, but she quickly replaced the sudden fear with a smile, seeing taeil in the door frame. he walked closer to wendy, slowly bowing towards the princess. wendy let out a laugh, trying her best to stop him from bowing at her, a practice she had always found amusing.

to wendy, taeil was a sweet man. while he would not be the best leader out there, he certainly had a heart. this heart, however, was hidden by the words that were engraved into his mind — live to destroy. it was known that the baron was training his sons, especially his oldest one, into becoming monsters, that would be able to continue the horrors in fetin.

" my, my .. " taeil began, taking the dead rose from wendy's hand. wendy, surprised by the action, decided to wait and see what taeil was going to say about the flower. " this beautiful rose, it has gone through a lot. i could recognize this from kilometers away — they are from fetin. " taeil let out a laugh, as wendy's eyes widened. " sicheng loves to buy these. "

" baron sicheng likes to buy these ? " wendy asked, as her blood started boiling. she could have caught sicheng buying roses, that were carefully placed at the death scenes of two different men. " i need to go and talk to him about them, because i have figured out that this exact same rose was also at the ouverport villa brother died in. "

it was taeil's turn to widen his eyes. sicheng, doing such thing ? it was impossible for him to be involved in a murder. afterall, he was doyoung's friend. " brother, brother would never be able to murder a person. he is a great person, and he was one of .. doyoung's friends. " he sighed, as wendy took back the rose.

" i really need to speak to him. i do not want to accuse him, but ask him from where he got these, and if anyone suspicious has been seen buying these exact ones around the deaths. " wendy explained to taeil, who started nodding. suddently, she looked at it closely, as she let out a loud gasp, scaring taeil.

she dropped the rose, realising that it was the same rose doyoung had bought during his last day in ouverport, with the intention to bring them to sooyoung. they were from the old lady that thanked doyoung for being a great leader, and wished to receive justice for her late husband.

" taeil, these are .. brother also bought these. they are the same exact ones. " wendy looked at them, as taeil raised his eyebrow. " after the person murdered him, they put a rose in the door frame, and then went back to buy another one and murder mr. lee .. " she took the rose back up, as she shaked her head. " this killer is playing with our minds. "

" please calm down. " taeil put his hands on wendy's arms, as she nodded. " i will talk to sicheng while you are going to rest. your investigation will do nothing but hurt you and make you feel like this. " he told wendy, who shaked her head. " stop ! there are other people who are able to investigate his death, but you are not able to. "

" he is my brother, i have to fight for him and figure out the monster that did this to him ! " wendy burst into tears, " you have no idea how much i think about doyoung every single day, i can not just stop and wait for others to bring justice for him, when they are all calling him a stupid suicidal man. " she wiped off her tears, " i am doing this for his child, that has to live without its father ! "

taeil watched as wendy sat on the ground. she continued to cry, holding onto the dead rose that showed her the intention of the monster that was the killer of her brother. the monster that also took taeyong, a man who simply wanted to celebrate his late brother. why did these men deserve to die ? what had they done to be killed in such a brutal way ? why was it a game to the killer ?

wendy realised what the killer wanted — to play around with her and slowly destroy her. however, she was not going to allow this. she was going to find out who took the two men from their bright lives that were waiting for them in the near future, and she was going to show them what pain was brought once they decided to take lives.

—

sooyoung took a small bite of the orange yeri brought her from the winter festival. she could have gone, but decided to remain in the palace as she could feel her child hitting her stomach more and more. sooyoung smiled whenever she would feel the tiny soul inside of her moving around. it was a sign that her child was still holding onto the precious life sooyoung was going to give them.

she was scared to raise the child on her own, but knew she was going to receive support from wendy, yeri and the others in the palace that cared for her. she softly rubbed her stomach, looking at it. suddently, the door to her room opened, as jaehyun made his way inside.

" seulgi asked me to give this to you. " jaehyun said with a small smile, revealing another orange. " she said that there is a myth that pregnant women must eat as many oranges as they can during the winter, so their child can become succesful in the future. " he explained to sooyoung, who took the orange.

" i wonder if the queen ate oranges while she was holding doyoung. " sooyoung replied with a laugh, as jaehyun continued to smile towards her. " she was probably waiting for her son to be succesful, and she then forgot about him and let him follow a path full of pain .. " she sighed, " a path that lead to his death. "

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