A Tale About A: Forgotten Princess [Part 2]

Chapter 22: Accusation

The next morning, several guards bursted in to Damiwon Palace and they marched straight in to the office, where Hae Soo and I were doing some paperwork. Both of us were shocked by the behaviour of the guards as they had no respect for the Head of Damiwon Palace. 

"How rude of you to barge in to the room like that!" I reprimanded the guard but he took no regard to it as he commanded, "Arrest the lady now!" 

Two guards stomped in upon his command and hurried to capture Hae Soo as they dragged her out of the room roughly.

"Where are you taking her to?!" I stood up abruptly and tried to stop the guards as I demanded answers.

Why would they arrest Hae Soo?

The guard however, does not seem to be affected as he looked straight in to my eye and declared, "She murdered the King." 

W-what?

"What absurdity! How could I possibly kill the King?!" Hae Soo exclaimed in confusion. 

"The King had passed away this morning. The last thing he consumed was the tea you served last night. It's obvious you're the one who have poisoned the King to death!" The guard was merciless as he ended the conversation short, refuse to give chances for any explanations.

"Wait, there must have been some mistake!" I yelled after them but to no avail as they marched away to the dungeon. 

How could there be poison in the King's tea? Hae Soo and I brewed the tea together, she had been with me for the entire day. She couldn't possibly have the opportunity to put poison in to the tea even if she wanted to!

Just then, a thought came to me as I remembered us leaving the kitchen to check on the new stocks yesterday for a while.

The culprit must have used that chance to harm Hae Soo. Damn it!

Without further ado, I hurried after the guards hoping to clear Hae Soo's name from the black list. Queen Yoo and Queen Hwangbo, as well as the other princes and princess Yeon Hwa were gathered outside the King's chamber with glum faces. 

Hae Soo was brought to the outside of the King's chambers and was forced by the guards to kneel in front of Queen Yoo as she pleaded for a chance to explain.

"I did not poison the King!" Her voice was desperate and eager as she pleaded.

"There's no way that could have happened!" I cried out as I hurried my steps over to defend for Hae Soo. "Hae Soo is not the type of person to do such crime. Someone must have blamed the accusations on to Hae Soo."

"That's right, mother! There must be a mistake! Please investigate it further before assuming that Hae Soo is the murderer." Prince Wang Jung stepped out to defend as well.

"I have a witness that saw her pouring poison powder in to the King's tea pot last night. Are you saying that having a witness will not justify this matter?" Queen Yoo glared deadly at Hae Soo as she rages. 

"It is as of what Queen Yoo had said. Last night I clearly saw Hae Soo being suspicious and pouring in some powder in to the King's teapot outside his chambers before entering." The person that I had least expected eventually spoke up as she shamelessly made up a fake excuse to cause even more harm to Hae Soo.

Princess Yeon Hwa...?!

I was in disbelief and utter shock as I gave her an unbelievable look. The other princes and Queen Hwangbo were confused as well by the words of Yeon Hwa. 

What the hell is she talking about?

"Princess Yeon Hwa, how could you sprout such lies?!" Hae Soo was dumbfounded as well and she questioned in shock. However, Princess Yeon Hwa simply turned away in ignorance.