The silver cup was heavier than she expected.
Jia knelt with both hands cupped beneath it, holding it up. Every eye in the banquet hall had found her. Some looked at her with pity. Some with curiosity. Some the way you'd look at something you'd scraped off your shoe.
The Queen Dowager was smiling.
"Why have you stopped? Do you not wish to be forgiven?"
Jia stared down into the cup. It wasn't poison—it couldn't be. The Queen Dowager wouldn't kill a lower-ranking court lady in front of everyone. But if it was the drug from the novel, that was a different story entirely. The kind that clouded your mind, tangled your tongue, and dragged buried feelings straight to the surface.
She had no idea what she might say if she drank it.
*I came from the modern world. The prince is going to die. This entire world is a novel.* Any of it could come spilling out.
Then Dohyun's voice cut through the hall.
"I will drink it in her place."
The room went still.
The king's expression hardened.
"Dohyun."
Dohyun rose from his seat and stepped in front of Jia. His shadow fell over her.
"She is a court lady of my household. If there is fault, it belongs to her master."
The Queen Dowager's smile dimmed slightly.
"Your Highness would defy royal law for the sake of a single lower-ranking court lady?"
"The law does not exist to grind the weak underfoot."
Not a breath stirred in the room.
Jia looked up at his back. This scene wasn't in the original novel. In the story, Dohyun had never been able to protect anyone—and no one had ever stepped forward for him. Yet here he was, standing before the king and the Queen Dowager for one insignificant court lady.
Jia's heart slammed against her ribs.
*No.*
*If he falls for me, the gate closes.*
The mirror's words drove straight through her thoughts like a needle.
Jia shot to her feet.
"I will drink it."
Dohyun turned to look at her.
"Sowol."
"It was my mistake. I'll take responsibility for it."
She made a point of not meeting his eyes. This was a choice to protect him. And at the same time, a choice to keep him from caring about her any more than he already did.
Jia raised the cup to her lips.
And drank.
It was sweet. Unbearably sweet—sweet enough to sting the tip of her tongue. The moment it slid down her throat, heat bloomed through her from the inside. The lanterns in front of her blurred and bled together.
The Queen Dowager smiled, satisfied.
"You are forgiven. You may go."
Jia tried to stand. Her legs buckled. Dohyun reached out to catch her arm, but she stepped back.
"I'm fine."
Her voice sounded wrong. Too light. Too far away.
Baek Gyeom steadied her and guided her out of the banquet hall. The moment they reached the corridor, Jia braced herself against the wall and dragged in a breath.
"Are you all right?" Baek Gyeom asked.
"I don't think so."
"I'll send for a physician."
"No. That'll make things worse."
Jia clenched her teeth. Words were tangling in her head. Dohyun. Execution grounds. Crimson moon. Convenience store. The return gate. The gate that closes if he loves her.
"Baek Gyeom."
"Yes."
"Don't let His Highness drink. Ever."
"Understood."
"And watch out for Seonwoo Ryu."
Baek Gyeom's expression shifted.
"Lord Ryu, you mean?"
"He… at the end…"
The words wouldn't come. Her body tilted sideways.
When she opened her eyes, Jia was lying in the annex of Wolyeong Palace. Her head felt like it was splitting open, and her mouth was bone dry. Dohyun was sitting beside her.
Jia startled and tried to sit up.
"Stay down."
His voice was low. She couldn't tell if he was angry or worried.
"Why are you here, Your Highness—"
"You collapsed in front of me."
"What about the banquet?"
"It's over."
"Did anything happen?"
Dohyun was quiet for a moment.
"Yes."
The color drained from Jia's face.
"What happened?"
"His Majesty stripped me of military command."
Same as the original. Even though she hadn't let anything slip under the influence of the drink, the king had moved against Dohyun anyway—like it was always going to happen, like the story was following its own current regardless of what she did. The big picture didn't change just because the details did.
Jia gripped the blanket.
"I'm sorry. I should have stopped it—"
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because I knew it was coming and I still couldn't stop it."
Dohyun looked at her steadily.
"You are not my subject. You are not my soldier."
"Even so—"
"Then why do you carry my misfortune as though it were your own failure?"
Jia had no answer.
Dohyun reached out quietly. She flinched—but all he did was lay a damp cloth across her forehead.
"The drink you took contained mind-clouding incense. It's a substance that clouds the mind."
"Did I say something strange?"
"You did."
Jia's heart stopped.
"What did I say?"
Dohyun held her gaze.
"You said you would not let me die."
That was fine. That was manageable.
Then he continued.
"And you said you had to go back."
Jia stopped breathing.
"Go back where?"
Dohyun's voice was calm—but there was a deep fracture running through it.
"Where did you come from?"
She couldn't say a word.
Dohyun spoke slowly.
"I know you have been lying to me. I have not asked until now, because I believed that your desire to keep me alive was the one true thing. That much, I trusted."
He stood.
"But if you intend to save me and then leave—that changes everything."
"Your Highness."
"I do not like being used."
Those words lodged in her chest like a splinter.
Dohyun moved toward the door. Jia reached out to stop him, but her hand caught only air.
"Starting tomorrow, your quarters will be moved."
"To where?"
He didn't look back.
"Right in front of my eyes."
The next morning, Jia was moved not to the annex of Wolyeong Palace but to the room directly beside Dohyun's own chambers. The court ladies whispered. The Queen Dowager's quarters stirred. Seonwoo Ryu said nothing at all—and smiled.
That night, the bronze mirror lit up again.
*— You have prevented the second death.* *— However, the prince's heart has been disturbed.* *— Warning: the return gate is becoming unstable.*
Jia glared at the mirror.
"He's the one whose heart moved, not me."
A new line appeared on the surface.
*— Are you certain?*
Jia said nothing.
Her heart already knew the answer.