Cinderella's Fate | 🤍 seongjoong 🤍

Chapter 55

Narrator's POV

    Hongjoong stood at the wide window of his private chamber, arms crossed behind his back, jaw tight. Below, the central courtyard of the royal estate stretched out in perfect, practiced order: guards changing shifts, servants whisking documents from one hallway to another. To the unaware, it all looked normal.

But everything was falling apart.

He didn't turn when the door opened behind him.

"Your Highness," the guard said. "The report you asked for."

     Hongjoong extended his hand backward, palm open. A folder was placed into it, the seal already broken. He pulled out the documents and began to read.

     He turned slowly, eyes scanning line after line. His fingers curled tighter around the pages with every word.

Disappearance. Unauthorized access to restricted sectors. Unrecorded passage activations. And one name came to mind: Seonghwa.

"Why am I reading this now," Hongjoong asked, voice low, "and not two days ago?"

The guard shifted slightly. "Your mother ordered full silence on the matter. She said you were too emotional. Too likely to act without authorization." A pause. "That it might affect your judgment."

Hongjoong slammed the folder shut.

He moved to the centre of the room, pacing. "And the others? San. Yunho. Mingi. Where are they?"

"The last trace of them was from a restricted corridor east of the primary archive. After that, we received nothing. Captain Jongho returned, but he refuses to disclose operational details. Not until he's met with you, sir."

Hongjoong stopped, his expression darkening.

"Leave me," he ordered curtly.

The guards bowed and exited in silence.

    He hated being under virtual house arrest, hated how powerless he felt despite the title and the crown. Jongho was keeping something from him, and he needed answers. Hopefully soon, Jongho would have shown u with all the details of the ongoing investigation.

The investigation that had been going on since the night of the ball.

It was right after Seonghwa had disappeared.

    He remembered the moment clearly. Seonghwa had run off, at the sudden spotlight when the woman had pointed at him.

    He remembered the strange shoe left behind. A custom-made, crystal-blue men's heel. Large, elegant, and clearly expensive. It reminded him of an old story, something about a slipper and a search, but the memory slipped away as quickly as it had come.

    The blue crystal had caught the candlelight, shimmering like the lake where they'd once met. The image hit him hard. Those had been days of tranquillity and then, like a storm, everything changed.

    Another memory surfaced. After Seonghwa ran, just as Hongjoong had picked up the shoe and went back to the hall, Jongho had approached him in a rush. He was out of breath, pale.

"The stepmother of the fugitive," Jongho had said urgently, "she's here. She's speaking to your parents."

At first, it hadn't seemed strange. But later, thinking back. Hongjoong realized something was off. The guards who had been chasing the supposed fugitive didn't look familiar, he had not recognized any of their faces. And yet, no one else had reacted. Not his parents, not the nobles. He'd assumed it was some hidden security protocol.

The woman, who claimed she had saved Seonghwa's life, had somehow convinced his parents to let her sons, Yeosang and Wooyoung, join the royal dances. The two young men had seemed deeply uncomfortable, eyes constantly shifting, as though searching for someone.

Hongjoong had danced with them. As was expected of him. But everything about that evening had felt off. The stepmother, who had caused such a scene, had quickly fallen into quiet conversation with the king and queen, sipping wine as though nothing unusual had happened.

    When the dancing was over, Yeosang and Wooyoung had quietly slipped away. Their faces were drawn, their expressions shadowed with worry. He had caught San's eye and sent him with a signal, to comfort them and make sure that they would conduct a search of their own.

    When everything had finally calmed, and he returned to his office, Hongjoong immediately searched through the records. He had expected to find some trace of an emergency protocol, a classified security measure that might explain what had happened that night.

But there was nothing.

No official record of any guards redirected in that sector.

    And when Jongho handed him the report on the identities of the guards who had pursued the so-called fugitive, the truth hit harder than he expected: They didn't exist.

     Now, back in the present, he couldn't act, not yet. Until the nobles died down, and his parents were feeling generous to let him out.

Maybe... maybe he could go to them. Ask for forgiveness.

Not for what he had done.

But for what he still needed to do.

    All he could do was hope. Hope that the others, San, Yunho, Mingi, Jongho, were doing what he couldn't. Hope they were out there, solving the mystery.

Because if he didn't join the search soon, they might all be too late.