Jimin's POV

As soon as we reached the palace, Jeongguk went to serve Eunsang as his newly appointed bodyguard, Jin hyung and Yunki hyung went to greet the other council of ministers, and Taehyun, me, and Hosung hyung decided to take Donghyung to visit Soyoung. But as we were silently walking down the corridors of the queen's quarters, I felt something eerie.

"There's a supernatural presence here...I can feel their presence!" I said.

"Of course! Soyoung stays here..." Taehyun said.

"No no....there are at least 2 other supernatural beings here apart from her..." I mentioned.

"I heard that the king burnt down the queen's palace entirely killing all the consorts of his father....maybe it is haunted?" Hosung hyung gulped looking here and there.

I shrugged, "Could be..."

"Are they near us?" Hosung hyung asked.

I shook my head no.

"Alright...you go first, we will follow you!" Taehyun pushed me in front and grabbed Donghyung's right arm, "Hosung hyung, hold his left hand...we must protect the little one at any cost!" He said to hosung hyung.

Hosung hyung held Donghyung's hand as I started to lead the way.

"Why you both holding my hands?" Donghyung asked.

"So that you don't get lost!" Hosung hyung replied.

"I no child...hmph!" Donghyung pouted as the three of us giggled.

As we reached in front of Soyoung's room, I froze in my tracks.

Taehyun bumped into me and asked, "Ouch! Why did you stop?"

I pointed in front of the door and said, "Father-in-law!"

"Huh? Where?" Hosung hyung asked looking at where I was pointing

Taehyun gasped in shock, "Does that mean?!-"

That's when father-in-law's eyes met mine and he came towards me. As he came near I could see burn marks all over his body.

"You can see me?" He asked and I nodded.

I grabbed my hand and cold chills ran down my spine. "Please look after my daughter!" He said solemnly, "I never realized that I would go so soon..."

My vision became blurry as tears formed in my eyes, "How did it happen?" I asked.

"Sian burned down the entire mansion....everyone died!" He said.

"I am sorry...we were not there to protect you!" I fell to my knees and sobbed.

"Jimin..." Hosung hyung grabbed my shoulders. "Father-in-law, I hope you can hear me...." He looked here and there and continued in his unusually low voice, "We will take revenge for you...I promise!"

"Who you talking?" Donghyung asked in confusion.

Hosung hyung crouched down to hug Donghyung, "No one, my child...no one...sigh!"

Taehyun looked at the wall and said, "And I promise that we will protect Soyoung with our lives....you just..." Taehyun's voice broke as he continued, "You just rest peacefully...."

"That is all I needed to hear...I shall leave now!" Father-in-law smiled.

I clenched my fist, "HOW CAN YOU LEAVE WITHOUT HAVING YOUR REVENGE?"

"I don't want to become a vengeful spirit...I would like to reunite with my wife now...thus please bury my body in Mount Ether!" He said and vanished. "And my sons, all my blessings are always with you...." That were his last words that echoed around the corridor.

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Soyoung's POV

"THE SEO MANSION BURNED DOWN!" Iseul cried and I looked at her in disbelief.

"You're joking, right?" I frowned.

Wook knelt and said in grief, "Her words are true..."

"F-father? What happened to him?" I asked but none of them replied. "ISEUL! WOOK! FATHER IS SAFE, RIGHT?" I asked again and still they kept quiet. "Move from my way...I need to visit father right now!"

"If you must go...then don't leave like this...you're the queen...." The 3rd noble consort offered me his plain-looking cloak, "Take this..."

"His Grace is right, your majesty!" Seojun took the cloak and put it over my shoulders, "You should disguise yourself...."

I listened to them and hurriedly went out of the room followed by Wook and Iseul.

"I hope your father is safe! I will pray for him..." I heard the 3rd noble consort.

"Please return safely..." Seojun said.

As I left the room, I encountered Donghyun, Taehyun, Jimin, and Hosung in the corridor looking lost in heavy grief. As soon as they saw me, Jimin approached me and said, "Father-in-law just left..."

"Left? Where did he go?" I asked.

He hugged me in response and I was taken aback by his sudden gesture.

"He left for the heavens..." He said and my whole world felt like shattering in front of my eyes.

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3rd person POV

"Do you think the news reached the queen yet?" Eunsang asked while holding some jasmine flowers in his hand as he sat in front of the mirror.

"Probably!" Sian shrugged as he carefully braided Eunsang's long hair. "Give me the flowers!" Sian added.

Eunsang gave him the flowers and he stuck them one by one in between the braid. After he was done, he stepped back a little to admire his work, "Wow! I did a great job!"

As Eunsang turned around to look at the braid in the mirror, Sian asked, "What do you think? Do you like it?"

"I love it..." Eunsang blushed.

"Right?" Sian smirked and knelt in front of Eunsang, crossing his arms on Eunsang's lap he asked, "So now what do I get for such a good work?"

Eunsang the vermillion paste from the many cosmetics on the table on the right side of him and put the paste on his lips before kissing Sian's right cheek, "You'll get a mark!"

Sian looked at the mirror and giggled, "That's a very prominent red mark!"

"At least it will wash off, unlike the marks you have given me!" Eunsang pouted.

Sian kissed his pout and replied, "I will not wash it off!"

"You should! Otherwise, what will the courtiers think when you will go to the court?!" Eunsang took out his handkerchief and was about to wipe the mark when Sian grabbed his arm.

"Bold of you to assume that there will be any official work today..." Sian smirked, "The kingdom's most influential businessmen and a former courtier died today, Eun...they were all very loyal and thus, as a very generous king, I am hereby declaring state mourning...nobody declared state mourning when my father died but I'll let all the consorts mourn for their fathers peacefully because I know how it feels to lose a father" He got up and walked towards the window, "Let the people mourn and let me take us to take a break!" He grabbed the cup of his jasmine tea and watched Jin, Namjun, Jeongguk, and Yunki through his room's window as they hastily went from the imperial garden towards the royal gate.

Eunsang came and joined him to watch over the knights, "They seem to be in a hurry..." He giggled.

"Of course...after all their father-in-law passed away!" Sian laughed.

Eunsang chuckled and grabbed some sweets to eat.

.....................

At Seo mansion,

The fire was put out and there were only smoke and ashes left. The mansion was completely in ruins....nothing was left. All the corpses were already put into their respective coffins and the coffin bearers were taking them to the graveyard except lord Seo's corpse.

Soyoung sat in front of lord Seo's corpse and looked at the lifeless burned body with tears in her eyes. She was in so much shock that she didn't speak a single word since Jimin gave her the news. Jimin held her in his arms to support her and comfort her. The memories of the past, when Jeongguk was made to think that his mother died, flooded Jeongguk's mind. Jeongguk wanted to console Soyoung but he kept quiet and watched her as he sat close to her.

Iseul and Wook were crying in front of the corpse and Master Lee took Donghyung with him to save him from the traumatic experience. Jin sat beside Soyoung and said, "My love, don't be like this...let your emotions out...don't bottle them up like this. We are here for you...I am here for you..."

Soyoung held Jin's arms and asked, "Do you think you read his mind? I want to know his last moments...."

Jin put his hand on Lord Seo's temple and closed his eyes to see if he could read his mind.

"Sian has a knack for burning things down..." Yunki clenched his fists.

"I want to burn down his palace..." Taehyun said.

"We should not do anything hastily..." Namjun said while clenching his jaw, "We will plan this vengeance and will execute it properly!" 

"We should take the coffin to Mount Ether now!" Hosung said.

"Shall we?" Jimin asked Soyoung.

"Father...." Soyoung held his hand and sobbed finally, "I-I didn't listen t-to you till the v-ery end and I-I-I always g-ave you stress....I-I am sorry that I-I-I couldn't b-be there f-for y-you...." She paused to swallow a lump in her throat, "...b-but I hope y-you can rest w-well now..." She paused as she felt something in her father's hand. She forcefully opened his fist and saw that he was holding her mother's handkerchief. She broke down completely but Jimin had her back. He embraced her and stroked her back. As her chin was resting on Jimin's shoulder, Jeongguk took his handkerchief out to wipe her tears. As Jimin broke the hug, Hosung held her hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance and Taehyun patted her head to calm her down. Yunki cupped her face and wiped her tears with his fingers, "Your happiness is my happiness and your grief is my grief....I hope sharing your grief with us can lessen your pain..." Namjun caressed her back slowly and said, "Seeing you cry like this breaks my heart more....but Lord Seo will always be alive in our memories, my dearest."

How could she not calm down when such handsome men were consoling her...she regained herself and vowed, "Choi Sian...I will not let you breathe in peace...." She clenched her fists hard as her nails dug into her skin, "It is going to be an eye or an eye now...I have lost the battle but I shall win the war!"

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A/N

Alrighty y'all....here's a good news to compensate for this sad chapter!

So since it is pride month...on this auspicious moment, I wanna announce that there's gonna be a prequel of The Queen's Harem focusing on EunSian.

The prequel has been published....visit my profile to read it.

🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

P.s., Queen's Harem is gonna be a trilogy....which means that there will be a sequel to it as well.