I told Gonjo to keep watching for now. I needed details to understand how things were unfolding.
If Namakseong’s lord was hiding this guest from me, it was likely because they were aligned against me.
Someone who’d be troubled by meeting me.
Someone who wouldn’t see our encounter as beneficial.
In short, someone who’d rather not see me at all.
Who’d hate to see me?
The answer was simple.
The second prince, Yehwi, and his followers.
If it was a one-on-one fight, it’d be straightforward.
Things weren’t that simple, unfortunately. If this was their way, I’d have to accept it.
That didn’t mean the old me, from before my transmigration, wasn’t calculating.
Honestly.
I suspected Namakseong’s lord might be connected to Yehwi’s faction. I wasn’t certain, but the pieces fit.
How did Duke Mungong acquire Gaeyeohwa in the future?
She wasn’t from the capital or nearby—she was the adopted daughter of Namakseong’s lord.
Traveling from the capital to here took considerable time, didn’t it?
With the few clues I had, I could deduce it.
Why would Duke Mungong care about a mere lord’s adopted daughter?
There was no reason.
None at all.
Unless he knew of Gaeyeohwa’s foresight, there was no cause for him to place someone like her, a lord’s adopted daughter, in such a position.
That meant Duke Mungong knew of her ability before recruiting her as a strategist.
How clever.
So how did he learn of it?
There was likely a middleman. Here, it was Namakseong’s lord.
He had no particular reason to side with Duke Mungong or Yehwi’s faction.
The only ones eligible to inherit the throne were me and Yehwi.
If he didn’t side with me, he’d side with Yehwi.
I wasn’t exactly legitimate, but neither was Yehwi from birth. Still, he held the title of prince consort’s son, so legitimacy or not, it didn’t greatly affect the succession.
Plus, unlike me, his mother was alive, and his maternal family was strong.
That gave Yehwi a reason to be chosen. No wonder I felt bitter.
Anyway, I’d figured out how Gaeyeohwa ended up with Duke Mungong.
The answer came like this.
Damn crow.
Thanks to Gonjo causing the guard’s injury, I’d pieced this together.
Inviting Duke Mungong’s people to the castle while I was here was a bold move, no matter who heard it.
So, perhaps, I thought.
After I left Namakseong, Duke Mungong or his people were set to visit.
But Gonjo’s stunt had messed things up.
The schedule in the castle was thrown off.
Since I’d extended my stay, they didn’t have time to send someone to call it off.
I wondered what the lord felt when I said I’d stay longer. He groveled outwardly, but inside, he might’ve been cursing me.
“The guest is likely Duke Mungong himself, or at least one of his men, maybe even someone following my dear, illegitimate brother,” I said.
If I could drag them all to a well and toss them in, I’d feel at ease. But I couldn’t, so it was a shame.
Since I couldn’t do that, the next best thing was to disrupt their connection.
Otherwise, I’d lose Gaeyeohwa to Duke Mungong. It wasn’t a big deal—she’d join him eventually. I’d have to watch it happen.
That was reality.
I thought hard.
But my plan was simple.
Why not just stop Namakseong’s lord from meeting Duke Mungong?
I chuckled to myself.
Not so hard.
The room was already dark, with all the windows shut tight, making it doubly so. In that gloom, Gaeyeohwa sat upright, her face lit with fierce determination.
After a moment, she opened her eyes.
Her pupils trembled as if struck by shock.
She couldn’t believe what she’d seen.
Alone in her room, a stranger might’ve dismissed it as imagination. But what she saw wasn’t a mere shadow under her eyelids—it was a vivid scene.
“What is this?” she whispered.
It was an absurd vision, so shocking she let out a hollow laugh. It couldn’t happen.
But her foreseen futures were never wrong. Not once, until now.
A trembling voice escaped her parted lips.
“What kind of nonsense is this?” she muttered, her voice shaking like a whisper in a storm.
But one denial was enough. Nothing would change. If a future could be altered, it was only by sharing her vision with someone powerful enough to act. There was no other way.
Futures could be changed, but without effort, without action, nothing would shift.
To stop what she’d just seen, she needed to find someone now.
“What do I do? Was he really a wastrel?” she thought.
Her foresight showed the wastrel prince watching Namakseong burn.
She didn’t know why it burned, only saw the aftermath. She couldn’t try again—her foresight wasn’t something she could use at will. It required long rest.
That burning scene was vivid, seared into her memory, unforgettable.
His laughter wasn’t casual. The wastrel prince was roaring with madness.
Gaeyeohwa shivered, goosebumps rising. The air around her felt like it froze.
It felt awful.
Wastrel.
Wastrel prince.
She’d seen that wastrel’s mad laughter.
Not just a wastrel, but a madman?
She didn’t hate Namakseong’s lord enough to wish the city destroyed. Hating him didn’t mean she thought everyone here was bad. Even her sister, Gaerihwa, wasn’t on bad terms with her.
Gaeyeohwa had some attachment to this place. Having grown up in Namakseong, she couldn’t be free of such feelings. It was the only meaningful thing the lord, as her adoptive father, had given her.
“Madman, lunatic,” she cursed, thinking of the wastrel prince.
She’d known his courtship was a lie, yet considered following him. After seeing his mad laughter, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“No, smoke doesn’t rise from an unlit chimney,” she thought, shaking her head slowly.
So shocked, she stared into space for a moment. Then, snapping out of it, she stood, flung open the door, and rushed out.
She had to stop the wastrel prince first. Calculations could come later.
How to stop the guest, likely tied to Duke Mungong, from meeting Namakseong’s lord?
No, according to Gonjo’s words, they’d already met. To be precise, she needed to ensure they didn’t conspire further.
Better yet, make the guest never want to return to Namakseong.
Not so hard.
It was quite simple.
Think calmly, and it’s clear.
If a commotion arose, it’d work.
Long deliberation might yield ways to keep the lord busy, but also ensure the guest left Namakseong. A single big incident could solve both.
She needed a tool to cause a major incident without leaving traces.
And she had a bird for that.
A clever one that understood speech and could follow orders.
“I’m a lucky one, aren’t I?” she thought.
She’d slipped out of her room several times today.
Earlier, when meeting Gonjo, she’d seen a black shadow hovering.
“You told me to watch, so why call me back?” Gonjo asked.
In her hands were a flint and dry branches.
“It’s daytime,” she said.
“It’s warm, and people are out. A fire now would cause a stir.”
If a fire broke out, daytime was perfect for it to spread.
“It’s about that group, the guest,” she said.
Gonjo tilted his head. “Duke Mungong or Grand Prince Jean’s people?”
She nodded. “You heard?”
“Another gain,” he said.
“Who? Which side?” she asked.
“Duke Mungong,” he said.
“I was right,” she said.
“What did I do to get dragged into this?” he asked.
“The bear performs, but the master reaps the reward,” she said.
“You’re the master?” he asked.
“You’d need to be human for that,” she teased.
“You!” he squawked.
I grinned, pressing his head down. He shook it off, annoyed.
“Enough fussing. Take these and drop them somewhere far,” she said.
“Branches?” he asked.
Instead of continuing, she handed him the branches and flint, nodding.
“Over there, far off. See that building?” she said.
At the corner of the lord’s estate was a small structure, a storage for weapons, he’d said.
It was isolated, so a fire wouldn’t cause much damage, but it was visible enough to draw attention.
Perfect for today’s plan.
“Go check it first. If it’s empty, drop these in the storage. It’ll catch fire,” she said.
Having dealt with fires for years, she knew how they started. She’d seen enough to avoid mistakes.
“I don’t want to see it again,” she thought.
Gonjo nodded and flew off.
She watched the black wings fade, covering her eyes against the sun.
“Well done,” she thought.