They said the Cold Palace had not seen so many people in twenty years.
I made sure it saw the entire court.
On the first day of the trial I wore pure black hanbok with silver phoenixes on the hem... mourning clothes for the old empire that was dying today. My hair was up in a severe knot held by the jade pin Taehyun gave me the night he first said he loved me. No makeup except blood-red lips.
I walked in alone.
No guards. No Min-Jun.
Just me and the stack of black books.
The Empress Dowager sat on a simple wooden chair in the center of the frozen courtyard. Chains on her wrists, hair loose and gray for the first time in public. She looked smaller than I remembered.
Around her: twenty of her highest officials, all kneeling in the snow.
The court stood in a huge circle. Breath fogged in the air.
I stopped ten steps from her and opened the first book.
"Year twelve of Emperor Seongjong's reign," I read aloud. "One million nyang missing from northern army funds. Paid to the House of Golden Cranes... a brothel that does not exist."
I threw the page into a brazier. It burned bright.
"Year thirteen. Another million. This time to the Ghost Mountain Sect... assassins."
Another page. Another flame.
I went on for two hours.
Page after page.
Name after name.
Every coin that should have fed soldiers but instead bought poison, cords, and arrows.
The courtyard was silent except for fire crackling and the Empress Dowager's breathing.
When the last page burned, I closed the empty book.
"Does Your Majesty have anything to say?" I asked.
She looked up. Her eyes still sharp.
"You think you've won," she spat. "My son will never forgive you for humiliating his mother."
I smiled.
"Your son gave me these books himself," I said. "He knew this day would come. He just didn't want to be the one holding the cup."
I lifted the small jade cup the executioner brought.
Clear liquid inside. No smell.
Nightshade. The same poison she tried to give me.
She stared at it.
Then she laughed... actually laughed.
"You are more ruthless than I ever was," she said. "He will fear you one day."
I knelt so only she could hear.
"He already does," I whispered. "And he loves me for it."
I stood and offered the cup.
She took it with steady hands.
Drank it all.
Ten minutes later she was dead in the snow.
No one cried.
That night I burned her body myself.
I kept the ashes in a small black jar.
One day I would send them north to Taehyun.
A promise kept.