CH 114

“Yeonbin, are you tired by any chance?”

In the meantime, Jeongbin, who was looking around with her round eyes, talked to Hwawoon, who took a step back furtively. Looking down gently at Jeongbin, Songhyun, who was a span smaller than him, Hwawoon answered.

“I’m not tired at all because it was a light walk.”

“Still, Yeonbin, you are weak, so you have to be careful in everything.”

Sukbi, Biyoung, was the one who said that. Yihan, whose feet were numb for no reason when he noticed Biyoung’s gaze examining Yeonbin for any signs of pain, spoke abruptly.

“I didn’t put Yeonbin through any hardships that would break his body.”

“… I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. I didn’t mean it like that.”

When Biyoung replied as she noticed the vague discomfort in the emperor’s voice, Yihan felt his face heating up. Of course, Yihan also knew that Sukbi did not mean that, but he didn’t know why he spoke like that for a moment. Yihan, feeling timid in front of Sukbi for the first time in his life, answered sheepishly, “I know.”

Meanwhile, Songhyun, who seemed not interested in the conversation between the emperor and Sukbi, asked Hwawoon again.

“Her Highness Sukbi and I were on the way to have a snack and chat at the pavilion of Suhwawon… Would you like to go with us if you don’t mind?”

“Ah…”

Hwawoon looked flustered as soon as he heard Songhyun’s question. He wasn’t sure if it was okay for Songhyun to only ask him when the emperor was next to them. As Hwawoon turned his eyes to the emperor without giving any answer, Songhyun finally realized that she had made a mistake, gasping, and hurriedly spoke to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, I have been discourteous. Please forgive me.”

However, Songhyun’s face as she bent to one knee and asked for forgiveness did not seem to be very afraid or worried. It was because the majestic emperor in front of her was not an emperor who would put his concubines in fear. Furthermore, Songhyun was the youngest of the concubines. After entering the palace, she had a hard time adjusting to the life of the imperial palace without her family for quite a long time, so the emperor was always soft on Songhyun because he felt sorry for her. It might be no surprise, but there was no concubine in this palace who was completely afraid of the emperor.

Yihan pressed down on his strangely uncomfortable heart and told Songhyun that it was okay, just as he had done to Sukbi a while ago. Sukbi, who was looking at Songhyun, who was standing up with an undaunted face, opened her mouth again with a smile.

“Would you like to join us as well, Your Majesty?”

“… No. I still have work to do, and I’m on my way back to Cheonggeon Hall.”

After saying that, Yihan slightly turned his head to look at Hwawoon. Even though he was sad to leave Hwawoon and go back alone, he felt uncomfortable because of what Songhyun asked Hwawoon a while ago. Yihan said.

“I think it would be good for you to stay and have a good time, Yeonbin.”

Yihan didn’t mean to do it on purpose, but he emphasized “have a good time” in a firm voice. He, as the emperor, wasn’t being cranky, or upset for no reason, nor was he thinking that it would be good if Hwawoon go back with him, but if Yeon Hwawoon “misunderstood” his intention and said that he would just go back, there was nothing he could do about it.

The burning eyes stared intently at Hwawoon. However, Hwawoon, who did not see those eyes properly because he could not dare to face the emperor’s gaze directly in the presence of others, replied in an unwavering voice.

“Then, I’ll stop taking away your time and spend a little more time here.”

“What?”

Alas, Yihan was so flabbergasted by Hwawoon’s answer, which sounded as if he did it for the emperor’s sake. Hwawoon answered so because he thought he should not take more time from the busy emperor, but Yihan didn’t know Hwawoon’s true feelings, and even if he knew, he would still find it to be absurd. Biyoung, who examined the emperor’s expression, smiled subtly. Meanwhile, Songhyun smiled brightly and held Yeonbin’s arm, and said excitedly, not caring about the emperor’s high voice.

“That’s good! I brought some snacks, so it’ll be fun!”

Everything was a mess. Of course, it was only for the emperor.

***

“What a deuce he was!”

Listening to the sad voice that kept pouring from earlier, Eunuch Oh shook his head furtively. The emperor kept venting out on the way back to Cheonggeon Hall.

“Even though I said he could stay! He came to Suhwawon to take a walk with me, so shouldn’t he also go back with me?”

“If so, how did you not say so to His Highness Yeonbin?”

In other words, Eunuch Oh was asking, why are you throwing a tantrum in the wrong place now? As though he were going to jump out of the palanquin, Yihan immediately turned around and looked down, frowning, at Eunuch Oh.

“I’m the emperor, so how could I tell him to come with me instead of doing that? Shouldn’t he as a concubine notice that much on his own?”

In Eunuch Oh’s eyes, he also found Yeonbin was quite tactless. At that time, Eunuch Oh and the court ladies of Jeongan Palace were a little far from them, but he could hear the exchanged words roughly. The emperor told Yeonbin to have a good time, but honestly, it was obvious that it was uttered with a different meaning. Yeonbin, who took it literally, did nothing well either.

It would be understandable if he intentionally acted tactlessly to draw the emperor’s attention or jealousy, but no matter how much he thought about it, Yeonbin wasn’t a person who would do something like that, so it was rather more frustrating. One was clumsy in everything, and the other was so tactless. There would be no other combination like them.

“Since when have they been so close to each other…”

Yihan, who had been angry for a long time, now crouched in a large palanquin, muttering in a weak voice. He had heard countless stories of the concubines who fought for the emperors’ love and took each other’s lives, but he hadn’t heard the stories of the concubines being indifferent to the emperor in front of them and having fun with each other.

It was not a bad thing obviously, but thinking that Hwawoon, who spent barely twenty minutes with him, would share snacks and laugh with them in a scenic pavilion, made him feel bitter and sad like a child. Without noticing Eunuch Oh was sighing, Yihan only thought of the beautiful face that was so mean to him.

***

“Did you get any good news?”

Seon asked as she took off the empress’s hair ornaments. Jaran, who had been in a good mood since she read a letter from her father a while ago, replied with a soft smile.

“There’s nothing good in particular. He just asked after me.”

“Oh…”

“It seems that my father still sees me as a child he raised in his arms.”

Looking at her face in the mirror, Jaran recalled the contents of the letter she read today. It had already been quite a while since their daughter became empress, but Jaran’s parents still seemed to think she was struggling to keep her place against the vicious concubines inside the palace.

That was the case this time. Rumors that the emperor’s attitude toward Yeonbin had changed, and that he even visited Jeongan palace every day, had spread widely inside and outside the palace. Therefore, Jaran’s parents wrote a letter urgently and sent it to the palace, anxious if Yeonbin would persecute their daughter at any moment. They were worried that Yeonbin, who was famous for being evil and insolent, would secretly harass their beautiful daughter.

In addition, Jaran was the empress, but she had no children yet. At least, it was fortunate that Yeonbin was unable to get pregnant because he was a man, but the fact that the empress had yet to give birth to a successor might have further amplified their anxiety.

Seon, who had let loose all the empress’s hair, said.

“Parents tend to see their children as little children, even when their children are in their seventies.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

“And there’s no harm in being careful.”

Jaran looked at Seon standing behind her through the mirror. Seon lowered her gaze and began to brush the empress’s hair, which had been loosened.

“… Yes. In the end, everyone can change easily.”

Jaran raised her hand and nodded as she tucked her fluttering hair behind her ear. Rising to power in the imperial palace was like walking a tightrope on a very high cliff. As the strong wind could make her lose balance and fall down endlessly, her parents’ worries and Seon’s suspicion were not wrong in any way.

It didn’t apply only to the empress. Although they had never talked about it in depth, Jaran was sure that the emperor also thought it was good that Yeon Juwon sent his son instead of his daughter when he let Yeon Hwawoon into the palace as a concubine.