Rawon's head rested against the window as she saw the city pass by. She was trying her best to hold back her tears. "Do you know this?" she asked Hocheol.

Hocheol adjusted the blanket on Rawon's knees. "What?"

"I barely cried over the past few years. But the events of the past few days keep making me cry. I think I am compensating for all those years." Rawon sniffed.

"Someday, the tears would stop too. Or you might find the person who'll wipe them for you." Hocheol assured her.

Rawon turned and looked at Hocheol. "I don't want Gu Semi in my life again."

"Do you know her well? Is she really your best friend from high school?"

Rawon shook her head. "It's a long story."

"If it pains you, you don't need to tell me about it. And if you want her away from you, I'll make sure that happens. Let's just file a restraining order."

Rawon smiled through teary eyes. "Would that erase my memories?"

***

Eleven years ago, when Rawon was still in high school, she got along rather well with Gu Semi. They weren't best friends, as Semi claimed, but Rawon thought her to be better than the other nobles. Little did Rawon know about Semi's snobbish behaviour and her self-assuming self until one incident changed her view. That incident however, was no ordinary accident. It was pretty much a sabotage, something that left deep emotional scars on Rawon.

Upon entering high school, Rawon's perspective on the world had begun to change. She no longer felt proud of her lineage as she had been made to feel until then. When she saw people around her suffering as they were, she felt repulsed by her kind who were living comfortably, with not a single day of worry about putting food on the plate. As she attended parties and gatherings, she realized the vanity her kind carried. They were presumptuous, arrogant, proud, privileged, conceited, deceitful, and inconsiderate. The more she stayed in the company of nobles, the more she grew to dislike them.

Rawon joined online youth communities which discussed the difficulties they faced in light of everything being held by noble-conglomerates. They called it 'Hell Joseon'. Nothing much had changed for them even in the twenty-first century- their struggles remained, just that their intensity changed. The world was changing rapidly but the youth felt trapped in a certain vacuum, where they couldn't breathe or control the direction in which their life moved. They almost felt as if an external force was thrashing them here and there as they went through it helplessly. Being anonymous amongst the people who were actually having a hard time made her realized that she had lived a life indifferent to others' concerns. She had been obsessed with her own needs and luxuries just like everyone around her. And although she now hated her kind, she knew very well that she was one of them. To change her own circumstances, she had to break free from nobility. And thus, a resolve was made.

Rawon knew that while in high school, she was pretty much helpless. She could do something only once she was out of it. One fine day, she read a report of a detective who had caught a nobleman running a duplicate luxury item business. While the nobleman was released for insufficient evidence, the detective was no longer in the news. Rawon had pestered the other detectives at his station for three months to know his whereabouts. She feared the worst for him- a death ordered by the nobility. She knew anything was possible. Rawon had finally managed to find him after one of his ex-colleagues was fed up of her constant visits- he had been transferred to a village in the south of the country.

Rawon had to visit him no matter what. While her family was to leave on a vacation, she had feigned being sick, and had remained back home. Convincing the butler, she had embarked on her first solo trip to the village to the police officer.

While she couldn't remember much of their conversation, he had said something that had stuck with her. "All systems are corrupt, but the best thing is that they can be changed. A system changed from within has a higher chance of flourishing than a system forced to change because the latter would always cause resistance. Everything in this world is finite, so are its hierarchies. How long do you think this circus would last?"

On her way home, Rawon made a decision- she had to become a detective. She had to be an agent from within. Little did she know back then that she would no longer remain an insider, but be discarded and become an enemy of nobles. That disdain was pretty much a result of Semi.

Rawon had befriended Semi at the beginning of the final year of high school. That high school where only the top 1% of the country studied. It was littered-- as Rawon always called it-- with noblemen and industrialists' kids. A total menace. Yet, there was something different about Semi. She had her way with words, and was able to get through Rawon when nobody else succeeded. Rawon, full of ambition back then, ended up telling Semi about her dream to become a detective. Rawon was definitely collecting evidence for the first case she wished to take upon when she became a detective. She had not slipped up on that one, yet Semi somehow found out.

Right before the CSAT, a rumour spread around the school- Rawon was planning a large-scale conspiracy against the families. Rawon started receiving backlash, hate mails, and much more. It kept escalating. Buckets of water were emptied on her head, her face smeared in eggs and flour, the content in her locker sprayed with mud, but the worst of all was boys trying to force themselves on her. A teacher had arrived right on time to save Rawon, but that was useless in light of the nightmarish visions Rawon was to have for the rest of her life.

Semi had stood up for Rawon when everyone else was bullying her. Rawon derived a great sense of comfort and reassurance. Although the constant bullying at school was causing her immense emotional turmoil, enough to cloud all her thoughts, Rawon knew she needed adequate grades to become a detective. Weeping, and in the process wetting her textbooks, she studied. She studied hard enough.

For the last month, she kept her head down and focused on her goals. She was traumatized enough and did not want to engage in conversation with people. None. She avoided everyone at school. She had become a fearful little kid who doubted if she could ever become a detective.

Only when she heard two girls discussing about the saviour Semi had been did Rawon feel the biggest pang of betrayal. Rawon had thought of Semi as her aide, confidant, saviour, but she was after all, a product of the nobles, their saviour. Till then, Rawon had always assumed that something from her own end must have given away for everyone to know her grand plans. But it was Semi all along. All of it was Semi's doing. The word had spread in the circle of nobilities so much so that Rawon's parents were considering grounding her, but she was spared only due to the upcoming CSAT exams. Three days after her exams, in the most unsuspecting manner, Rawon took a good deal of cash from her house and left it.

For the next year, as she studied for the civil services examination, she easily lived off the money she had taken. She had no plans of returning home. She was traced numerous times, and there had been arguments that escalated with every new piece of information on her. Even in light of this all, Rawon did not waver.

She had to bring down the nobility. She started reading up on the Anti-Monarchy Group.

***

Present

For the next week, Rawon practically continued living at the police station. Every second day though, she went over to Yulhee's place on her insistence. She had unwillingly trasfeered Yoontae's case to the financial crimes division. Her team was now focused on the Anti-Monarchy Group, which meant their other cases were sidelined greatly. To this team, it was all a waste. All of them knew that they were needed somewhere else, and yet, they were stuck in this muddle. They had to eliminate a group which was a need of the times. Or as Taemin said, "The elimination targets asking us to eliminate the eliminators." While the thought gave rise to a chuckle, all of them knew that they could not go against a royal command. But Rawon wanted to, at least when it came to marrying Jin.

***

Jin was at a private equestrian club with his friends- Kwon Kyungho, the heir to the country's largest hotel chain Noble Luxe, and Oh Joongi, the heir to a private equity company Empire Capitals. Jin rode the horse in rage, rather than in a state of calm which he much desired. Once they were done with their lapses and returning to the stables, Joongi gave a look to Kyungho to prod deeper.

"Crown Prince," Kyungho began, "I heard rumours."

"What rumours?" Jin raised his eyebrow.

"That you asked Gu Semi to marry you."

Jin was taken aback. This was not the rumour he expected to be circulating. "Says who?"

Kyungho shrugged. "It was first heard at the Gu family's party the day before yesterday. I don't know who started it, but it exists."

Jin brought his horse to a halt. "Who knows about it?"

"Almost everyone." Joongi answered. "Her Majesty is meeting noblewomen today. If she confirms the news, then it would time for celebration in the country."

Jin gulped. He was in trouble. He turned his horse and headed straight in the direction of the parking lot. There was no doubt that Semi had rejected him, that too, brutally. She had no reason to spread a rumour then. Or else, Jin gave it a thought, Semi must have changed her mind about it. If that was the case, he should have been the first one to know. He would have handled it with far more grace and sensibility. Most importantly, he would have done everything in his power to not taint his own image. He could have made Rawon look like the one at fault, and then snuck in the idea of marrying Semi. Yet here he was. He realized he had gone past his car while being engrossed in his thoughts. He pulled the reins and brought the horse to a halt. He trotted it back to his car and got down.

Jin took out his phone as soon as he was in the car. He looked up for his name. Communities were already abuzz with his marriage news. While there were some positive news, most fans were angry for this supposed 'betrayal'. Comments even suggested displeasure with Semi being the future Crown Princess. Her name being there was the biggest surprise. He scrolled and tried every tactic, but could not find the source of the rumour. Tired, he tossed his phone aside.

Doksoo had been patiently observing Jin from the rearview mirror. "Did you propose to her?"

Jin looked outside the car. "I did."

"You went ahead to disobey the King's command?"

"I had no choice."

"The absence of choice is more often an illusion. You just did not choose the second path."

"What you call the second path is the first path- marrying Ju Rawon."

"Why do you dislike her?"

To this question, Jin thought he would have an answer, but he could come up with none. He had a list of reasons, but he could not bring himself to verbalize any. He merely sighed.