All Chapters of The Return of the Emperor: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Yawning, Vaani stretched her arms above her head, her limbs aching as if she’d returned from battle. The golden afternoon sun streamed through the open window, falling across her face in soft beams, making her squint in protest.Oddly enough, she felt... cheerful. Light. Almost foolishly so.That was, until she heard a voice that made her soul shrivel.“Good afternoon, my lady!”Vaani froze mid-stretch, her smile vanishing like mist under sunlight. Her gaze snapped toward the foot of her bed—and there he was.Prince Do-won. Beaming. Standing entirely too comfortably in her private chambers.She shrieked instinctively and leapt backward, slamming her spine against the headboard. Her heart raced.Why is he here? she wondered, gaping at him. What ungodly reason brought him into my room at this hour?She scowled, muttering under her breath, “Whenever he smiles like that, it looks faker than a painted idol. Arse.”Still rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, she gave him a crooked grin. “

Zane was deep in the land of sleep when he was suddenly yanked out of his dreams by the sound of someone frantically calling, "Mr. Kang Yeonho!"Princess Vaani. Zane barely registered her presence before her eyes fell upon him, snoozing away in bed on a bright afternoon like he didn’t have a care in the world."Wake up! You lazy arse!" Vaani stormed into his bedchamber, her hand yanking the duvet off him in one swift motion, revealing his half-naked form. His abs gleamed in the sunlight coming through the windows. The princess blinked at him in momentary confusion, and he scowled."What exactly is your problem?" he grumbled, his voice hoarse from sleep, throwing her a look of pure disdain as he hid himself beneath the duvet, leaving only his annoyed face exposed. "I get you're a princess, but seriously, does that mean you get to harass every handsome young man who crosses your path in this palace?" he muttered under his breath.Vaani, clearly flustered, didn’t know whether to be annoy

Clad in a black hooded cloak over a white tunic, her chest and arms shielded by fitted guards, Vaani cut a sharp figure against the deepening green of the capital's forests. Brown trousers allowed her ease of movement, boots muffling her steps in the stirrups. Her hair was braided tightly down her back, and from her shoulder hung a quiver of arrows and the curve of her bow—a silent declaration that she had not come here unprepared.The air was cool in the forest’s densest reaches, the light fractured into dappled shards by the canopy overhead. The scent of pine resin mixed with the faint sweetness of wildflowers crushed under their horses’ hooves. Behind her, Royal Guard Kim Gguk rode in steady silence, his gaze unfocused, as though lost in some private world.“Who do you think it might be?” Vaani’s voice broke the quiet, her tone deceptively mild.The guard startled, eyes snapping to her as if she’d yanked him from a dream. “Pardon?” His brow pinched into a frown.She angled her head

The underbrush gave way beneath Vaani’s hands as she pushed forward, but what lay beyond was nothing. No footprints pressed into the damp earth, no snapped twig to betray a hurried retreat, no glint of blood to mark a wound. The forest devoured its own secrets far better than the palace ever could—no velvet drapes to slip behind, no servants whispering in corridors, no calculated noises to mask an escape. Even Min, nose sharp as truth itself, lifted his head in uncertainty. He snuffled at the air, then flicked his amber gaze toward her with a look that said more plainly than words: I don’t know.Frustration came in two strikes. First, the emptiness—how swiftly the attacker had vanished without trace. Second, the question that scratched at her thoughts like a nail against glass: who knew this place existed? Who had known to come here at this precise moment, when she was with Yeonho?She told herself she should be systematic, careful, the way she had been trained—to notice small disrupt

The forest had never felt so endless.The royal guard, Kim Gguk, shifted from one foot to the other, leaning against the horses where the princess had ordered him to stay.He tried to look calm—dutiful, obedient—but his insides had been chewing themselves raw for the better part of an hour. The shadows between the trees stretched long and crooked, like black claws reaching out from the earth. Every gust of wind cut through his clothes, nipping at his skin, but it wasn’t the cold that made his teeth chatter.It was the silence. The kind that pressed in on his ears and made him feel like something was waiting.She had been gone too long.At first, he had consoled himself. It’s fine. She’s fine. She’s Princess Vaani. She doesn’t need me. He repeated that over and over. She wasn’t like the noble ladies who fainted at the sight of dirt under their nails. He’d seen her loose arrows with a speed that made his jaw drop. She could hit a hawk in flight, probably blindfolded if she felt like sho