9 Blue Clues

It was a fine day when Sungho woke up. He originally intended to take a visit to the library after lunch; however, the heavens decided to abrupt his plan.

The gloomy shadow suddenly filled the clear sky at once, providing a dark and heavy shade that sheltered everyone to the bright daylight coming from the sun.

Soon as he was eating the meal personally delivered by his court lady, Chun, Sungho watched as the clouds gathered up in the sky that quickly darkened and produced thunderous sounds. It was just seconds when he started hearing the quenching of the rain outside and the earthy scent of wet ground trailing his sense of smell.

"... I guess I'll just scoot myself over the bed and read these papers."

Instead of visiting the library, Sungho found himself rummaging and fetching the writings made by Hyeon Ju for the past months from her study room. Along with the snacks he ordered Chun to bring in his chambers, Sungho started browsing through the script one after the other.

Sungho began from the first writings of the past month. As he got to the latest writings, he found that he could not see anything unusual. Maybe he brought the wrong ones, or perhaps he should have fetched everything he could.

Forthwith, he hastened his way out of the room and saw Chun standing before the sliding door, insisting to assist him on his walk to the study room.

"Then I'll be waiting here. Please call me if you need help, Your Highness," Chun instructed as she opened the door leading to his objective.

Sungho walked straight to the sole low table in the middle of the room. He took his seat on the soft cushion and lifted the chest located beneath; carried it onto the table as he cleared the surface. Moving his thumb to bolt the only lock of the chest, it produced a sharp clank, and the clip lock hung open.

As he brought the papers three inches near his face, Sungho started looking for the earliest script, but then again, he failed to do so. He could not find the first-ever writings Hyeon Ju made.

Even when he emptied the chest and browsed through the topic on the scripts, all that was written was simply repetitive. She just wrote about her routine in her two years of living at the palace and nothing more interesting.

Sungho was pretty much troubled. It would be more problematic if he could not find something that could hint him about the siblings' plan so it was necessary for him to look for some clues.

"Where are they?"

He shook the empty chest in his agitation. To his surprise, he heard sounds from inside it although he obviously emptied the contents of the wooden box.

As he opened the chest and curiously patted the inside, he felt the bottom interior was moving and most likely looking a bit elevated.

When he shook off the chest, anticipating that it might fall off if he did, he was disappointed that nothing happened. Sungho then decided just to pick up the bottom interior and the flat wood shim just easily came off.

"I figured she'll hide it somewhere," Sungho hummed to himself as he saw the small pile of scripts hidden under the flat wood shim.

The first paper he read had a short paragraph written. Although it was not the objective he was looking for, the sentences were telling the day Hyeon Ju took a step inside the palace and the night after she got married to the king.

'While I was drinking a cherry blossom tea on a dreary day, my brother entered the room and told me to sell myself to the greedy beast.' 

Sungho shifted his eyes to the last sentence written on the script and his chest tightened as he read it; his head was aching and shouting that he should stop reading the scripts written by Hyeon Ju. 

'I wish the second spring would come.'

"Second spring..." Taking out the other ones, he placed it on the table and browsed for more clues that he needed. 

'I managed to escape from my first night with the king among the help of my brother. A week from today, I shall endure the first month of the day where Du Clan has fallen, and my first summer at the palace.'

"This." Sungho was able to find the following clues and combined them. "She was drinking the tea hence it was spring. When Hyeon Ju became the concubine to the king, it was two weeks after the fall of the clan, and a week before the summer starts."

Then if he would elaborate that, the first summer was the first season she came across without her deceased clan and the first season where she was married off to the king. The spring was the indication of the season when the fallen Du Clan.

And if she had endured for the past three seasons, then her first spring was the indication of her first year living at the palace.

"… This season is the second spring," he whispered behind his breath as he brought the paper away from his face.

Sungho did not stop looking for more clues. What he had collected was just the tip of the information he needed to know. The important one was the contents of the plan that the siblings made before Hyeon Ju was married off to the king.

As his hand trailed the papers, he fell upon one conspicuous paper folded in small folds that happened to fall on his lap. Sungho immediately opened it and brought the paper near his face to read what was written.

'I fear that my second older brother sold his soul to a devil to free me from the beast. By the second spring, the day before the crowning of the first prince, we shall meet the devil who vowed to grant us the sweet vengeance we desire.'