After that day, Dohyun stopped calling her Sowol.
"Jia."
Every time her name left his lips, something in her chest sank in a way she couldn't explain. It was the most ordinary name in the world back home. Her shift manager called it out across the convenience store. Her friends texted it without a second thought. Her mom said it over the phone like it was nothing.
But when Dohyun said it, it was different.
It sounded like proof that she actually existed in this world.
And at the same time, it sounded like the return gate clicking shut, one degree at a time.
The bronze mirror flared more often now. None of the messages were good.
— Return gate stability: 62%. — Emotional entanglement with the Prince: increasing. — Deviation from original plot: 41%.
Jia pressed her hands over her face in front of the mirror.
"Is this a game? Why are there stats?"
The mirror didn't answer. It was a cruel, unhelpful system that only spoke when it wanted to ruin her day.
Wolyeong Palace was under house arrest. Dohyun couldn't leave the grounds, and all outside communication had been restricted. Seonwoo was being held under the pretense of an investigation. The Silver Prince, Doyun, was playing the victim and collecting sympathy from the court.
The worst part was that Baek Gyeom couldn't move freely either.
"Your Highness. If we stay like this, the treason frame-up will solidify."
Baek Gyeom's voice was low and tight.
Dohyun answered quietly.
"Frame-up?"
Jia flinched. She'd used a modern word without thinking.
"I mean… the structure they're using to pin a false charge on you."
Dohyun gave a short nod.
"Strange phrasing. But the meaning is precise."
Jia cleared her throat to cover her embarrassment.
They went over what was supposed to happen next in the original story. After the hunting incident, treason documents would be discovered in Dohyun's study—letters allegedly exchanged with northern military commanders, a plot to depose the king. The red seal would be the damning piece of evidence.
The problem was that the study had already been sealed off. All it would take was one royal order to search Wolyeong Palace, and it would be over.
"We need to find the documents first."
Jia said.
"In the original story, they were hidden behind the bookshelf in the study. Or—in the dream, anyway."
Dohyun went straight to the study wall. Baek Gyeom shoved the bookshelf aside, and Head Court Lady Maehwa held up a candle. Jia dug through her memory. The scene where Dohyun was arrested. Guards smashing through the shelves, pulling out a bundle of letters tied with a red cord.
"It should be here…"
But there was nothing.
The space behind the shelf was empty.
Baek Gyeom spoke quietly.
"Perhaps they haven't planted it yet?"
Dohyun shook his head.
"No. They've already moved it somewhere else."
The era when knowing the original story was enough to stay ahead was ending. Their enemies had figured out that Jia knew the plot, and they'd started shifting the pieces—different locations, different timing.
Then Head Court Lady Maehwa spoke, her voice soft and careful.
"Your Highness. There may be an informant inside Wolyeong Palace."
Silence fell over the room.
Someone inside the palace was selling Dohyun out.
Jia suddenly found herself looking at everyone around her like they were strangers. The court lady bringing water. The palace eunuch sweeping the courtyard. The attendant tending the medicine pot. Any one of them could be the enemy.
That night, Jia couldn't sleep. She slipped outside her quarters. Thin moonlight lay across the courtyard of Wolyeong Palace. Near the well, she caught the shadow of a figure.
A lower-ranking palace eunuch was tucking something into the gap between two stones.
Jia held her breath. After the eunuch disappeared, she ran over and lifted the stone. A small envelope. Inside it was a letter stamped with a red seal.
Treason documents.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
She'd found them.
Jia tucked the letter inside her jacket and turned to go.
A hand shot out from behind her and covered her mouth.
"Shh."
Seonwoo Ryu.
Jia struggled, but he pulled her back into the shadows behind the well.
"Make a sound and we're both dead."
"My lord, why are you here—"
"Confinement is only a problem if you let it confine you."
He said it like a joke, but his face was pale. The wound on his wrist had gone a deeper red.
"Don't bring that letter to His Highness."
"Why not? It's evidence."
"Because you found it too easily."
Jia's hand went still.
Seonwoo kept his voice low.
"It's bait. If His Highness is caught with it, it's over. And don't burn it either—they'll have made sure the seal survives in the ash."
Jia stared at him.
"Why are you helping me? You're supposed to betray him."
Something darkened in Seonwoo's eyes.
"In that future—why did I betray him?"
"You testified that he was after the throne."
Seonwoo was quiet for a long moment. Then he laughed, very softly.
"I see. So that's where it ends up."
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer. Instead he reached for the letter. Jia stepped back.
"I don't trust you."
"You don't have to. But you still have to choose. Bring it to His Highness and die together, or hand it to me and find another way."
Footsteps in the distance. A search party.
Seonwoo's voice dropped.
"We're out of time."
Jia gripped the letter. Bringing it to Dohyun was dangerous. Giving it to Seonwoo might be worse. But if she was caught with it, Dohyun was finished.
She threw the letter to Seonwoo.
"If you betray him, I will make your life miserable."
For the first time, Seonwoo smiled like he meant it.
"Sowol—no, Lady Jia. That threat is surprisingly frightening."
He vanished into the dark.
Moments later the search party swept in. Jia stood by the well looking like she had no idea what was happening. The search captain patted down her jacket anyway. Nothing.
Then Dohyun appeared.
"Do not lay hands on my court lady."
The captain stepped back.
Dohyun brought her back to her room. The moment the door closed, he asked:
"What did you hide?"
Jia looked at him.
"Something that would have hurt you."
"Who did you give it to?"
"Lord Ryu."
Dohyun's expression went rigid.
"You trusted him?"
"No."
"Then why."
Jia smiled, tired.
"Because I trusted you."
He looked at her like he didn't understand.
"I figured that if I got it wrong, you'd set it right. If I try to handle everything alone, it only gets more tangled."
Something shifted in Dohyun's eyes.
He moved toward her, slowly. Jia told herself to step back. Her feet didn't listen.
He looked at the bruise on her wrist. The mark left by the rope during the interrogation.
His voice came out low.
"I don't like seeing you hurt."
Jia stopped breathing.
"Your Highness."
"Is this what you called emotional entanglement?"
He glanced toward the bronze mirror and smiled, but it was a bitter thing.
"Then I suppose it makes sense that the gate is closing."
Jia had nothing to say.
The more he called her name, the closer he came.
The closer he came, the farther away home felt.