We reached the capital walls on the nineteenth day.
The snow stopped the moment we crossed the river, like the sky itself was waiting.
Word had already spread.
People lined the roads. Thousands of them.
Some threw flowers.
Some threw rocks.
Most just stared.
Because I didn't come back quiet.
I came back riding at the front of two thousand battle-hardened northern soldiers, black cloak covered in blood and snow, hair loose and wild, sword across my back.
Min-Jun rode on my left.
The general who survived the ambush rode on my right.
Behind us, twenty-three empty horses with no riders... one for each man we lost.
The palace gates opened by force.
Taehyun's loyal eunuchs had taken control while the Empress Dowager's people were still arguing.
I rode straight to the throne hall.
I didn't wait to be announced.
I kicked the doors open myself.
The entire court was there.
Ministers. Concubines. Generals.
The Empress Dowager sat behind her screen like always.
Lady Hye-Jin stood pale in the corner, the original heroine who now looked like a side character.
Everyone went dead silent when they saw me.
I walked down the center aisle covered in blood and mountain dirt.
I stopped ten steps from the dragon throne... empty because Taehyun was still north.
Then I pulled the stolen phoenix seal from my sleeve and threw it on the floor.
It rang like a bell.
"Someone tried to kill me on the road," I said. My voice carried to every corner. "Sixty men. All paid with this seal."
Gasps. Whispers.
I looked straight at the screen.
"I am tired," I said clearly. "Tired of poison. Tired of red cords. Tired of pretending I am the villain when the real snake has been hiding behind a screen for twenty years."
The Empress Dowager's voice came cold.
"How dare you..."
I cut her off.
"I dare because the emperor declared me his future empress in front of ten thousand men. I dare because I just survived your assassins. I dare because I am done kneeling."
I pulled the jade box from my sleeve... the poisoned hairpin one... and opened it.
The court screamed.
I took the hairpin out with bare fingers and held it up.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked. "Your gift, Your Majesty. One scratch and death."
Then I snapped it in half.
The poison crystal fell to the marble and hissed.
"I don't need it," I said. "I have something better."
I turned to the court.
"I have proof. Ten years of stolen army gold. Names. Dates. Every coin that paid for assassins instead of soldiers' food."
I threw the black books from the secret library on the floor. They landed with a loud thud.
Dead silence.
Then the Minister of Finance... an old man everyone thought was loyal to the Empress Dowager... stepped forward.
He knelt to me.
"Lady Seo-Hwa," he said loudly. "This humble servant has waited years to see justice."
One by one, more officials knelt.
Half the court.
The Empress Dowager stood up behind her screen so fast it fell over.
For the first time everyone saw her face.
Old. Beautiful. Furious.
"You little..."
I smiled.
It wasn't a nice smile.
"Guards," I called.
The throne hall doors opened again.
One hundred of Taehyun's personal guards marched in.
They knelt to me.
Then they stood and surrounded the Empress Dowager's people.
She looked around.
No one moved to help her.
Lady Hye-Jin started crying quietly in the corner.
I walked up the steps of the dragon throne.
I didn't sit.
I stood beside it and looked down at everyone.
"Until Emperor Taehyun returns," I said, "I speak with his voice. Anyone who disagrees can join the Empress Dowager in the Cold Palace. Tonight."
No one disagreed.
That night I moved into Taehyun's palace.
The big bed still smelled like him.
I bathed for the first time in weeks.
Then I sat at his desk and started writing orders.
Trials would begin tomorrow.
The Empress Dowager would drink poison by the end of the month.
And I...
I wore his black dragon robe to bed and cried myself to sleep.
Because I had won the capital.
But the man I loved was still hundreds of miles away fighting a war I made shorter.
And every night I prayed to whatever god brought me here:
Let him come home alive.
Let him see what his phoenix did while he was gone.
Let him still want me when the blood is washed off.
Because I was no longer the villainess.
I was the woman who took the throne while wearing his robe.
And I was never giving it back.