Chapter 346: The Dowager’s Doubt
The morning sun bathed the Imperial Palace in warm light, yet inside the Dowager Empress’s private courtyard, the atmosphere was unusually solemn.
A maid finished pouring fragrant tea before quietly withdrawing.
Only two people remained.
The Dowager Empress.
And Lady Chen.
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
The silence was broken by Lady Chen.
"Your Majesty..."
"I heard Shin Gu has recovered."
The Dowager nodded slowly.
"So I heard."
"The Imperial Healer says she is no longer in danger."
Lady Chen sighed with relief.
"Fortunately, it was only because she inhaled some strange powder."
The words had barely left her lips when the Dowager’s hand froze around her teacup.
"...Powder?"
Lady Chen nodded innocently.
"That is what the Imperial Healer concluded."
The Dowager’s expression gradually changed.
Her gaze drifted toward the courtyard outside.
A memory surfaced.
Several days earlier...
An elderly monk had visited the palace.
At his request, the Emperor had secretly ordered the Imperial General to purchase a special protective powder and quietly scatter it around certain parts of the palace.
The matter had been handled with absolute secrecy.
Only four people knew.
The Emperor.
The General.
The monk.
And herself.
No minister.
No servant.
No concubine.
No one else.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the porcelain cup.
"If the healer truly believes it was powder..."
She murmured to herself.
"...then what powder?"
Lady Chen blinked.
"Your Majesty?"
The Dowager did not answer immediately.
Instead, she continued thinking.
The protective powder had been scattered discreetly.
No announcement had been made.
No records had been written.
It was impossible for ordinary palace servants to know of its existence.
Then...
Why had Shin Gu immediately claimed she had inhaled a strange powder?
Coincidence?
Or something else?
The Dowager’s brows slowly furrowed.
"It doesn’t make sense..."
Lady Chen watched her carefully.
"Is something wrong?"
The Dowager looked toward her.
"Tell me honestly."
"What do you think of Shin Gu?"
Lady Chen lowered her eyes for a moment before answering carefully.
"I have always respected her."
"But..."
She hesitated.
"Lately..."
"There have been too many strange coincidences."
The Dowager remained silent.
Lady Chen continued quietly.
"When something unusual happens..."
"She is often nowhere to be found."
"And when everything ends..."
"She reappears."
"I’m not accusing anyone."
"But..."
"It feels... strange."
The Dowager slowly nodded.
Those words matched thoughts she herself had tried to dismiss.
The strange lake incident.
The Empress’s collapse.
The mysterious attack outside the palace.
Now Shin Gu’s sudden illness.
Too many unusual events.
Too many unanswered questions.
Yet...
Something still refused to fit.
The Dowager closed her eyes briefly.
"No..."
"It cannot be that simple."
Lady Chen looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
The Dowager opened her eyes again.
"Shin Gu is a princess of a neighboring kingdom."
"She was raised with the finest education."
"She has always shown kindness."
"If she truly intended harm..."
"Why would she remain here so openly?"
Lady Chen remained quiet.
The Dowager continued thinking aloud.
"And if she were involved..."
"What could possibly be her purpose?"
Her voice became softer.
"There are too many missing pieces."
She remembered another old matter.
The noblewoman whose husband had unexpectedly disappeared years ago.
The unresolved rumors.
The punishment that had followed.
Nothing had ever been fully explained.
Now, as more strange events unfolded, old memories returned one after another.
Everything seemed connected.
Yet nothing formed a complete picture.
Lady Chen finally spoke.
"Perhaps..."
"We should simply observe."
"Without making accusations."
The Dowager nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"Suspicion without proof only creates more chaos."
She looked out toward the palace gardens.
The flowers swayed gently in the breeze.
Everything appeared peaceful.
But beneath that peace...
Questions continued to multiply.
She quietly whispered,
"Every answer only brings another mystery."
Then, after a long silence, she added,
"From now on..."
"We watch everyone."
"No exceptions."
Lady Chen bowed her head.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Neither woman noticed the maid outside the hall.
She quietly lowered her gaze after hearing only fragments of the conversation.
Within the palace walls, rumors were already growing.
And while no one yet knew the truth—
The palace itself had become a place where trust was slowly giving way to doubt
Questions That Would Not Rest
The doors of the Dowager Empress’s chamber closed softly behind Lady Chen.
Silence settled over the room.
The servants noticed their mistress had fallen into deep thought and quietly withdrew, leaving only one trusted maid standing outside the entrance.
The Dowager Empress remained seated, her untouched tea slowly growing cold.
Her fingers lightly tapped the armrest.
Her mind refused to be still.
"...It doesn’t make sense."
She whispered the words to herself.
She replayed every strange incident from the past few months.
The Empress had nearly died.
The mysterious happenings inside the palace.
The attack outside the capital.
Now Shin Gu’s sudden illness.
Individually, each event could be explained away.
Together...
They formed a pattern.
She closed her eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Years ago.
Before her husband’s death.
There had been another scandal that shook the palace.
A nothern woman had forced herself upon the late Emperor after secretly entering his chambers.
The scandal spread like wildfire.
Soon afterward, the woman was discovered to be carrying a child.
No one knew whether the child truly belonged to the Emperor.
The court erupted into chaos.
The late Emperor had ordered a full investigation.
When the truth could not be established and political factions began using the incident against the throne, the woman was sentenced to death.
She was hanged according to the laws of the time.
The matter had been buried.
Or so everyone believed.
The Dowager slowly opened her eyes.
"...But what does that have to do with Shin Gu?"
That was the question she could not answer.
Shin Gu had arrived years later as a royal princess from a neighboring kingdom.
Educated.
Refined.
Gentle.
Everything about her background had been verified.
There had never been any obvious connection between her and that long-forgotten woman.
Yet...
Her instincts refused to let the thought go.
She stood and slowly walked toward the open window.
Outside, servants carefully swept the stone paths.
The palace looked peaceful.
Deceptively peaceful.
"If there is no connection..."
"Why does my heart keep returning to it?"
She frowned.
Could someone have manipulated old events?
Could there be people working in the shadows whose names had never appeared in the official records?
Or...
Was she simply allowing suspicion to cloud her judgment?
She disliked the feeling.
For many years she had prided herself on making decisions based on evidence rather than rumors.
Now she found herself doing exactly what she always criticized in others.
She sighed quietly.
"No."
"I cannot condemn anyone without proof."
Shin Gu might simply be an unfortunate young woman caught in circumstances beyond her control.
Or she might know more than she admitted.
Those were two very different things.
A gentle knock came at the door.
"Your Majesty?"
Her trusted maid stepped inside after receiving permission.
"The evening meal has been prepared."
The Dowager nodded absentmindedly.
"Leave it there."
The maid hesitated.
"Is something troubling Your Majesty?"
The Dowager looked toward the tray but made no move to eat.
"Tell me."
"In recent months..."
"Have you noticed anything unusual about Shin Gu?"
The maid thought carefully before answering.
"Miss Shin Gu is always respectful."
"But..."
She hesitated.
"There are times when she disappears for hours."
"When we ask where she has been, she simply says she was praying or walking in the gardens."
The Dowager’s expression remained unreadable.
"Nothing more?"
The maid shook her head.
"No, Your Majesty."
"She has never behaved disrespectfully."
"Nor have I ever seen her harm anyone."
The Dowager nodded slowly.
"Very well."
The maid bowed and quietly left.
Once alone again, the Dowager looked up at the darkening sky.
"Perhaps Lady Chen is right..."
"There are too many coincidences."
"But coincidence alone is not guilt."
She folded her hands behind her back.
"Until I know the truth..."
"I will watch."
"Everyone."
"The Empress."
"Lady Chen."
"And Shin Gu."
Her voice was calm but resolute.
"No more assumptions."
"No more prejudice."
"I will uncover the truth with my own eyes."
Outside, the palace bells echoed through the evening.
The Dowager Empress stood silently by the window.
The mystery had only grown deeper.
And for the first time in many years, she realized that the greatest danger to the palace might not be an army beyond its walls—
But secrets that had remained hidden within them for far too long.
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