"Bong-Cha-ssi, you have visitors here to see you," the butler announced as he entered the library where I was journalling. I had learned his name when I first came here but I couldn't remember it. He was below me both in status and in standing, so it didn't matter anyway.

I didn't even bother to look up from my book as I replied, "Send them in here. Also, arrange for some tea and light foods for the three of us." I heard his footsteps receding. After I finished getting down my last few thoughts, I returned my precious book to its hiding spot.

As I settled back onto the couch, my two co-conspirators walked into the room. Binna received an open invitation to the Jung palace; she often came over to give her sister space to grieve her baby.

Both women looked stunning. Where Binna had an effortless beauty to her outfit, Ma-Ri was glowing in her black summer dress. My friend always looked so glamorous, even if she was out visiting friends.

"How's your sister? Is she still not speaking to anyone?" I asked Binna as the two sat down on either side of me on the single armchairs.

She sighed and put on a brave smile that I saw through immediately. "Soon-Bok has been doing a bit better the last couple of weeks. I don't really blame her, though. I mean I would be depressed too, especially since it's only been two months since she gave birth." I found myself nodding. I would be the same way if it had been my baby that had been snatched away from me as soon as she had been born. "It didn't help that three weeks later, Ari and Yoongi's Hyeon-Ju was born. His bright blue hair was a stark reminder that Soon-Bok didn't have her little girl with her."

I smiled at the memory of the day I had met little Min Hyeon-Ju. He was adorable and lived up to the meaning of his name: virtuous and worthy jewel. Yoongi was such a doting father right from the start. When I'd returned to the Jung palace, I cried because I knew that time—and my chance to be a mother—was slipping from my fingers. That was the night I began to accept that I might not complete my assignment. Hoseok still refused to fulfil his role as a Seed Bearer, and I had not been able to drive a wedge to separate Jimin from her.

"So, I guess it must've been like another slap to her face when Jungkook and Da-Eun had their little boy with red hair?" I asked as the butler entered the room along with a maid. The two servants quickly placed their trays on the table. I dismissed them and told the butler not to let anyone bother the three of us as we were talking about 'assigned female things'.

"Actually, no. Holding Jeon Minjun helped heal Soon-Bok's heart," Binna replied with a smile as she began to pour each of us tea. "She and Seokjin have decided that once her body has recovered, they want to try again as soon as possible."

"I don't think Da-Eun and Jungkook could have chosen a better name for their son," Ma-Ri mused with a smile. "At only two weeks old, he's already showing how clever and gentle he is. And he will be as handsome as his father, if not even more so since Jungkook and Da-Eun are already both so attractive."

"Have you heard anything about Hana yet? Has she fulfilled her role?"

I shook my head at Binna's question. "Nope, like Ma-Ri and I, Hana isn't carrying her Seed Bearer's young. We all have empty wombs."

"Umm..." I turned to look at my friend. My eyes widened as she moved her hand from her thigh to her stomach.

"Ma-Ri, a-are you...?" I stuttered out in disbelief.

It was customary that Seed Bearers would make an announcement immediately following the doctor's confirmation that their assigned female had successfully fulfilled the assignment. There had not been any word from Taehyung about Ma-Ri being pregnant. Yet, the smiling nod that came from my friend confirmed the news.

"Yes, I have a baby inside me," Ma-Ri said with a beaming smile. "But Taehyung doesn't know yet."

"What do you mean he doesn't know yet?" Binna took the words from my mouth with her question.

"I was sick of Taehyung not fulfilling his role as a Seed Bearer. So, I took matters into my own hands a month ago."

My blood ran cold as I heard Ma-Ri speak. I was aware that my friend and I shared a certain moral flexibility. However, it appeared she had taken an action that I would never consider. Looking over at Binna, I saw her skin had paled as she came to the same realisation as me.

"Ma-Ri, what did you do?" our newest friend asked. Binna's voice was so quiet, yet it sounded loud amongst the silence surrounding us.

"I thought about it and decided that there would be no way that I'd be going to be going willingly to my death in 10 days. I don't want to be standing alongside Hana waiting for my head to be cut off. So, I used something that could ensure I had Taehyung's baby inside me... even if he didn't give it to me by choice."

I felt like I had been slapped across the face. Ma-Ri had been insensitive with her offhanded comment about Hana—and by extension, me—being sentenced to death for failing to conceive. But what enraged me more was that she had implied to her drugging her Seed Bearer so she could rape him to get pregnant.

"Shit, I didn't mean it that way, Bong-Cha," she apologised, reaching over and squeezing my hand. "But hey, there's still time if you want to do the same thing as I did."

"And what is it exactly that you did?" I pretended to show interest in her plan since she was clearly insane. I would never stoop to her level by using her tactics to get Hoseok's or Jimin's child.

"My aunt gave me this special powder when she came to see me, called Devil's Breath. It helped me make my Seed Bearer compliant and I could get him to 'consent' to sex with me. Devil's Breath is good because it leaves the user disoriented and unable to move. He has no memories of what happened.

"I have some left still if you want it, Bong-Cha. You could use it on Hoseok and make sure that you conceive his baby. If you start using it now, hopefully within the next 10 days, you'll have a baby inside you."

My view of Ma-Ri had changed irrevocably hearing her gloat over how she had pulled one over her Seed Bearer. I felt like I didn't know whether to throw up hearing her suggest I drug and rape Hoseok or to cry on Taehyung's behalf because she did it to him.

"Why are you even telling us this?" Binna's voice sounded exactly how I was feeling inside: disgusted and bewildered.

Ma-Ri laughed and proclaimed cockily, "It's not like you two could do anything to me. I am the only one here who has succeeded in my assignment. Who would believe a nobody like you, Binna? Maybe they might believe Bong-Cha. Keep in mind, though, that I have proof of your nefarious plans of getting another Seed Bearer to impregnate you."

I had no idea what she meant by that. My entire world felt like it tilted off its axis when she retrieved my journal from its safe hiding place. It took me a minute to figure out how Ma-Ri knew not only the existence of the book but also where I kept it.

Closing my eyes in resignation, I realised that the carelessness had been my own. Early on in my scheming of how to get rid of the witch, Ma-Ri had visited me here and I had shown her my plans in the journal. I returned the book to the bookcase, believing she was distracted elsewhere, yet it appeared she had observed my every action.

My psychopathic, pregnant co-conspirator walked towards the fireplace. I watched her set about making a small fire in it even though it was summer.

"If you keep my secret, I'll keep yours safe, Bong-Cha. I'll make sure that no one will ever know about your schemes." She held my journal over the flames, dangling it like a carrot over a hungry donkey. "The choice is simple, my dear friend. What will it be?"

Not being able to look at the woman at the fireplace, I nodded and uttered a soft and resigned, "I'll keep your secret." I heard a whoosh before the fire began to crackle.

"Good," she said with glee. The glow from my burning journal made her look like she was engulfed in a sinister glow. "Now, let's talk about how we're going to expose the witch for who she is."

⋆⁺₊⋆ 💜 ⋆⁺₊⋆

The breakthrough we had anticipated arrived when Bong-Cha relayed information from her contact at the Park's palace. Jinae had told her of the servants' growing suspicions about the matriarch's mysterious disappearances. Bong-Cha presented the most recent telegram, revealing that Jinae had been escorted to a secluded cottage on the Park's estate. The message said that Jinae had found something astonishing. But she wouldn't share the details in the telegram.

"You know what we need to do, don't you?" I asked the other two. "We need to see for ourselves what is going on. It could be just the thing for us to expose the witch, the thing we have been looking for."

"Jinae gave me directions for how to find the cottage. She did a good job hiding them in her message so they looked like innocent communication between friends," Bong-Cha confirmed. I listened as she gave us a rundown of how we would find this cottage.

I was glad to see my friend had gotten off the high horse she'd been on earlier. I always knew that Bong-Cha had more morals than I did but she was delusional if she thought I was worse than her. Sure, I had drugged and raped my Seed Bearer to make sure that I would fulfil this assignment. Was that any different from what she had done to the witch in her plans of trying to get Jimin to herself, though? When I destroyed her journal as a way to show I would keep her secrets, it must have been the wake-up call Bong-Cha needed.

"Bong-Cha, you told the butler that no one was to come in here earlier," I said with a wry grin. I had the perfect plan in mind for how we could sneak out. "So, now is the perfect time for the three of us to see what your source found so startling. Binna can make it look like she is leaving, and then you and I can escape through the window. Binna, you can pick us up in the carriage you brought, okay?" The other two women nodded.

'This really is the perfect plan. Bong-Cha's not the only one who can plan and scheme like this.'

Everything went exactly how I had told the other two. A few minutes later, we were riding in the carriage towards the Park's palace. The trip was spent in silence, each of us in our heads. I didn't know about the others, but I couldn't help but wonder what we would find when we got to this cottage. I hoped that whatever it was, that it would help us.

I was lucky, I could spend the next 10 days knowing that I was carrying my Seed Bearer's baby inside me. I'd been watching Bong-Cha grow more and more despondent knowing her plan had failed. Although, I still had my personal vendetta against Park Jimin that I needed to enact. I was not close to succeeding in that yet.

I was in the middle of envisioning how good it would feel to see his world burned to the ground when I saw we'd reached our destination. It hadn't taken us very long to arrive since Hoseok's family lived closest to Jimin's.

"Jinae wrote that she wandered in the shadows yesterday morning," Bong-Cha said. After thinking about it for a moment, she pointed in the direction that we needed to go. With a pull on the reins and a flick of her wrist, Binna had the horses moving. "She then said that she went past a tree that reminded her of her favourite childhood doll, where she turned so her face was hidden from Ra's men."

"What? Are you serious?" I inquired, frustrated and puzzled by the nature of their secretive exchange. Heads would roll if this was a joke made up by a disillusioned servant. "How are we meant to find a tree that reminds her of a doll? And what has noodles got to do with this?"

"Shh." Bong-Cha dared to hush me like a parent does to a little child. I pouted my lips in annoyance, but I did as she said. "There! That tree looks a lot like the clown that Jinae loved when we were little. The canopy is exactly like its hair."

I followed her outstretched arm with my eyes, and I had to admit that the tree did remind me of a scruffy clown. I shivered at the thought since I had always hated clowns; they were evil. Bong-Cha directed Binna to manoeuvre the carriage to the right—where the sun was in the morning.

"Ra is the Egyptian Sun God. By her saying that she 'hid her face from Ra', Jinae meant that the sun was behind her." I was amazed at how clear the code was now that I understood the meaning. The duo concealed the information in clear sight, and no one would think that they were passing on directions to the other. "The cottage should be up ahead."

About two minutes later, Binna exclaimed, "There it is." Before us stood a sizable house. While it didn't compare in size or luxury to the Seed Bearer's palaces, it was certainly larger than the typical dwelling. "We should get out and walk closer," she said. "We don't want to announce we're here."

I felt the carriage slow and once it was stopped far enough away that we were hidden, Bong-Cha and I got out. The three of us crept closer, keeping our movements slow and quiet. My eyes bulged as I witnessed something I never thought I would ever see.

"What the hell?" Bong-Cha gasped as she covered her mouth to muffle her voice.

"There's not just one...?" I wondered aloud.

Overlooking a pond stood two women who appeared identical. One was standing, clearly not pregnant, while the other sat, her condition indiscernible from my vantage point. However, this detail became irrelevant as I observed Jimin approach them and embrace the one who was standing.

"Ar-are you seeing this too?" Binna asked, sounding stupid with her observation. There was no way that she was witnessing something different to Bong-Cha and me. We were all watching as Park Jimin kissed the non-pregnant woman.

My eyes bugged out as the wind carried their conversation towards us. Jimin was looking deep into the woman's eyes that he'd been kissing, and he called her Nell. A sinister smile grew as I realised what was happening. The witch had commissioned someone to make a very realistic mask of her face, and this was how she was going to try and trick everyone.

"Should we tell someone?" Binna breathed out in shock. "Perhaps it would be wise to inform the Oracle, so he is aware of what is happening beneath his nose by an assigned female."

"No," I responded firmly, an evil grin spreading across my face as I looked at my two accomplices. "I have a better plan in mind. One that will shock everyone to their core."

* And now we know the other villain! Good work to anyone who figured them out.