The ‘Jo Will Be King’ incident.

Sure, I might’ve dumped all my stats into knowledge of venomous creatures, but hey—doesn’t mean I’m not a highly educated guy.

Especially since this case had insects at the center of history. I remembered it very clearly.

“Because our insect friends were involved, after all.”

So, what was the ‘Jo Will Be King’ incident?

During the 14th year of King Jungjong’s reign in the Joseon Dynasty.

Some court officials, trying to eliminate their political rivals, wrote the phrase “Jo will become king” in honey on a leaf. Their target was Jo Gwang-jo, the head of the opposing faction. They let insects eat through the honey-coated writing, then showed the chewed leaf to the king to provoke his fury.

“Even the heavens know Jo Gwang-jo harbors treasonous intent!”

This became the spark that ignited the Literati Purge of 1519, where Jo Gwang-jo and many other high officials were executed.

What I did—showing the Emperor letters formed by centipedes—was a deliberate imitation of that trick.

Of course, I wasn’t suggesting a eunuch wanted to be king. I just wrote a warning.

But in a world where ghosts and spirits are real, I figured showing letters spelled out by centipedes would ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) hit even harder.

And sure enough, it worked beautifully.

“Seize Eunuch Heo at once!”

The Emperor gave the command solemnly to the Golden Guards stationed in front of the peony bushes and immediately began his procession.

The crowd hurried after him as they exited the garden.

They were likely headed straight to arrest Eunuch Heo and begin interrogation.

“Everything’s going smoothly. Farewell, Eunuch Heo.”

Of course, the ‘Jo Will Be King’ incident is total nonsense.

Why? Because insects that eat leaves don’t eat honey, and insects that eat honey don’t eat leaves.

A honey-eating insect chewing through a leaf to reach the honey?

That’s ridiculous.

What do you take our insect friends for, idiots? They wouldn’t gnaw through plant matter just to lick some honey. That’s not how they work.

And the reverse makes no sense either.

Leaf-eating insects—like stick insects, ladybugs, pine caterpillars, or butterfly larvae—don’t consume honey. And pine caterpillars, by the way, are the larvae of the fall webworm, a species that didn’t even exist in Joseon. They only came over with American imports after the Korean War.

So they didn’t exist in Korea back then—period.

And the rest—stick insects, ladybugs, butterfly larvae—they don’t eat honey either. So the entire premise of that old story falls apart.

If anyone had wanted to make the ‘Jo Will Be King’ incident scientifically plausible, they should’ve done something like this:

Apply a protective coating—like glue—to the leaf except for the parts where the letters were.

Let it dry.

That way, insects would only eat the unprotected letter areas, leaving behind a clear, chewed-out message. Then you rinse it in water and boom—a leaf with insect-carved letters.

“Seriously. These amateur theorists have more holes in their thinking than Swiss cheese.”

Anyway, I’d successfully moved the Emperor’s heart using centipedes. Time to disappear from the scene.

I waited for the palace maid who would escort me back to the Golden Guards.

I couldn’t be seen walking with male officers—it’d be suspicious for a palace maid to be with them.

“Guess I’ll hang out with you guys for a bit, huh? Cute little things. I still can’t believe I can play with creatures like this without worrying about venom.”

The centipedes I’d summoned earlier crawled back into the brush, and I entertained myself with them for a while.

Then came the sound of footsteps and the glow of a lantern.

The same palace maid was cautiously scanning her surroundings as she approached.

She didn’t need to be so nervous—everyone nearby was on our side—but seeing the Emperor leave to begin the interrogation must’ve rattled her.

[Yo-young master?]

She couldn't quite find me in the dark and peeked her head through the peony bush.

[Here.]

[Eek!]

She jumped and fell on her butt at the sound of my voice.

[Are you alright?]

[I-I just got startled, that’s all.]

I crawled out of the brush and looked at her with concern. She quickly adjusted her robes and blushed.

Then she spoke quickly.

[L-let’s go. We need to move fast. Once it gets any darker, we won’t be able to move freely.]

She looked a little tired and dazed—probably the stress finally wearing off. She was a far cry from the sharp, confident girl who had called out loudly for the Emperor to hear earlier.

[Understood. Thank you for everything.]

[N-no, I’m just glad I could help.]

So I followed Unmirang out from the peonies, past the Emperor’s quarters, and toward the Golden Guards.

We walked along the wall for some time before turning a corner—

And suddenly, something burst out of the darkness and collided with Unmirang, knocking her down.

“Kyaa!”

I barely caught her in time.

Then came a sleazy-sounding voice from ahead.

“Oh dear, I must apologize. Are you hurt?”

As the lantern rolled on the ground, I picked it up—and the light revealed the face of the man before us.

Unmirang gasped.

“T-the Crown Prince?!”

The Crown Prince—the next Emperor.

I flinched too.

In the next instant, he rushed forward and covered Unmirang’s mouth.

“Shhh!”

“Mmph!”

He held a finger to his lips, signaling me to stay silent.

Unmirang and I both nodded quickly. The Crown Prince smiled and let her go.

[W-we greet Your Highness.]

But he waved his arm rapidly, signaling us not to say anything.

Then he crouched down with a grin and whispered.

[I snuck out to watch the interrogation. My eunuchs don’t know. I’ve been forced to read all day—I had to escape.]

Fair enough. Nobody likes studying.

Unmirang nodded, then bowed. I quickly followed.

The Crown Prince gave a quick farewell and turned to leave—

But then he stopped.

He turned around and came back toward us.

He leaned in close and stared directly at my face.

[Now that I look at you—]

‘Crap. Did he figure it out?’

My heart pounded.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

I was supposed to look convincingly like a woman, but... maybe his eyes were too sharp?

Both Unmirang and I tensed.

Then the Crown Prince asked:

[Which part of the palace are you two maids from?]

[We serve under the Supervisor of Attire in the Emperor’s quarters.]

Unmirang answered for both of us without hesitation.

Then the Crown Prince suddenly leaned in, grabbed my chin, and with a greasy grin, asked—

“Such a fair complexion. Yes, you—what is your name?”

I felt a small wave of relief that my identity hadn't been exposed, but the question that followed made a cold sweat trickle down my back.

In this dangerously tense moment, I glanced at Unmirang.

I was hoping she'd make something up for me on the spot.

But all I saw was Unmirang trembling, frozen in place.

Clearly, this was too sudden for her—she hadn’t thought this far ahead and didn’t know how to react.

“Looks like it’s up to me.”

I’d never done this before, but I softened my voice as much as I could, covered my mouth, and responded to the Crown Prince’s question.

Since I spoke softly, there was less chance I’d be found out.

“So... So-hwa-eun,” I said.

The Crown Prince smiled, then leaned in and whispered into my ear.

“I like you. I’ll ask the Emperor to send you to my chambers. Wait for me. Heh.”

He lightly stroked my cheek—thinking, apparently, that he was being charming—then turned and waved his hand coolly as he walked away.

The sensation of his fingers lingering on my cheek sent an involuntary shudder down my spine.

Next to me, Unmirang was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Yeah, I’m dumbfounded too.”

***

The next morning.

“Pffft-hahaha!”

“Kekeke!”

Laughter burst out of the Golden Guards’ underground prison, a place normally filled with the groans of tortured criminals.

And amid the ruckus, I could hear Hwa-eun’s voice in my ear.

‘So-ryong, last night the Golden Guards raided the brothel run by Eunuch Heo of the Five Venoms Clan. They arrested everyone.’

‘Yeah, I know. It was loud all night from all the interrogations.’

‘So the plan worked?’

‘Yep. Looks like I’ll be able to return soon.’

‘You did great. When you’re back, you have to tell me everything that happened inside the palace.’

‘...Yeah, alright.’

Just as I hesitated, knowing I definitely couldn’t tell her everything, laughter still echoed around me.

“Pffft—ha!”

“Kehe... ke...”

They were laughing like their lungs were about to collapse.

Was this some new form of torture—laughing someone to death?

You might think so, because the sound was coming from the Golden Guards’ prison, and prolonged laughter does turn to pain.

But that wasn’t it.

It was only this morning that I finally met General Maeng, his son, and Eunuch Wi Chung-heon again—since they’d been busy all night interrogating the prisoners.

When they asked if anything had happened on the way back last night, Unmirang reported the encounter with the Crown Prince.

And the three of them immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter.

It wasn’t just that I looked good in women’s clothing—what had them rolling was the fact that I’d managed to seduce the Crown Prince.

“The Crown Prince has a notoriously picky eye for women, but you made him fall for you at first sight. Incredible, young master. Pfft!”

“Does this mean the next Empress is decided? Hahaha!”

“Enough, all three of you. We almost got caught!”

“Sorry. But seducing the Crown Prince? Come on, how could we not laugh?”

“Hehehe... if there were a way for you to stay a woman, you really could become the next Empress.”

“Right. Just laugh it off and put me back where you found me.”

These were high-ranking men, and even I could barely keep a straight face through their jokes. Once their laughter finally died down, I got to the important part.

I hadn’t been able to ask until now because they kept cracking up.

“Now that you’ve calmed down, could you please tell me how everything turned out?”

“Ah, of course. You must be curious.”

At my question, General Maeng’s son wiped tears from his eyes and began explaining.

“First off, Eunuch Heo confessed that he’s a member of the Five Venoms Clan. They approached him and said they could restore his ability to have children if he helped them.”

“Children? But eunuchs...”

Eunuchs are, well, snipped. They don’t have the parts for that.

I looked skeptical, and Eunuch Wi picked up the explanation.

“There are two kinds of eunuchs. Some became that way due to injury when they were young. Others were fully castrated by professional cutters. Eunuch Heo is the former.”

“So they tried to ‘activate’ something through poison cultivation?”

“Exactly. He wasn’t originally one of them, but Baek Mi-in used face-changing martial arts. That was part of Heo’s plan.”

“Face-changing?”

I asked because I feared she might have died unjustly, but the answer was that she’d used an art called face transformation.

It’s a technique for altering one’s appearance.

Come to think of it, the spy planted near the Murim Alliance leader used the same trick. Probably the same method here.

But the next explanation veered slightly from what I expected.

It wasn’t the Five Venoms Clan that came up with the plan—it was Eunuch Heo himself.

“He wasn’t acting under their orders. He just wanted to climb higher and orchestrated it on his own. But when the Emperor found out he’d imitated the Empress Dowager’s face, he was furious. He ordered Heo to be executed by dismemberment and skinning. He said Baek Mi-in’s face should be flayed as well.”

“Holy shit. No kidding.”

Dismemberment and skinning—brutal punishments.

My expression froze at the severity of it, and then I heard the final decree from the Emperor.

“He also declared that the Five Venoms Clan would be treated the same as the Blood Cult. From now on, if anyone is confirmed to belong to them, they’re to be executed on the spot.”

Since the clan leader of the Blood Cult had died, it was clear the Five Venoms Clan had known their top figure had been captured by us.

Other branches might already be preparing for retaliation, so I decided it was time to share what I knew with both the Office of Open Intelligence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Just then, I heard Hwa-eun’s urgent voice again in my head.

‘So-ryong, Moji and Soji are stirring!’

‘W-what!?’

I jumped to my feet and told the elders,

“I need to go—urgently. Something’s happening with my babies. I do have important things to report, but I’ll send them to you separately.”

“Huh? Alright, go ahead. We’ve wrapped things up here. You two, escort the young master to the dock.”

“Yes, sir!”

As I dashed off with the guards, I heard the elders shouting behind me—but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Right now, it felt like Moji and Soji were about to metamorphose.

I couldn’t focus on anything else.

“Hey, even if it’s urgent, your clothes—”

“So-ryong, you rascal! Your clothes—”

“What are you even talking about?”