Chapter 6

Chapter 06

“Brother, I heard your match has been decided?”

“Yes.”

“They say it’s the legitimate eldest daughter of His Excellency the Left Vice Director.”

“Yes, I believe so.”

Ryu Hyeok spoke in a calm tone, as though discussing someone else’s affairs. Even though it concerned his own marriage, he seemed to have little interest in it.

In truth, Ryu Hyeok had little interest in the woman who would become his bride. He felt only relief that the marriage, so long postponed, had finally been settled.

Now, at last, he could receive his investiture as crown prince.

According to the laws of the Nakbyeon Empire, an unmarried prince could not be invested as crown prince. That was why Ryu Hyeok’s investiture had been put off until now.

Of course, since he knew the position would be his one day without his having to hurry, he felt no particular emotion. He merely thought that everything was proceeding smoothly and in due order, as usual.

What his bride looked like, what her temperament was, what she liked and disliked, he was not curious.

Because he wasn’t curious, he hadn’t looked into it, and because he hadn’t looked into it, he felt no anxiety.

In any case, a perfectly matched stranger did not exist in this world.

Unless blood was shared, no, even if it were shared, there was no such thing as a pair who fit together completely. Even once the bond of marriage was formed, the essence remained that of strangers, and there was no reason for that to change.

‘It is the one who harbors expectations who is foolish. So there is no need to sink into pointless worry over whether we will suit each other or not. Nor am I idle enough to feed anxiety with guesswork.’

In any case, he was in a position where he had nothing to lose. If his temperament and that of his future wife did not match, the one to be blamed was always already decided.

The one who had to adjust was not he, but the woman who would be his wife. He wasn’t naive enough not to know that this was unfair, but reality had always run that way.

That was what it meant to marry into the imperial family. Shouldn’t she show at least that much devotion and resolve?

Being wed to the blood of the dragon was not a chance given to everyone.

If she had been raised to that seat, swallowing her discomfort was the natural price. He already knew this, and so he had no need to waver.

“What a pity.”

“What is?”

“Brother, don’t you know? The Left Vice Director’s concubine-born daughter is famed throughout the capital for her beauty. They say the legitimate daughter is only so-so in looks.”

“Is that so?”

“If you’re going to take a wife, it’s better to take a beauty, isn’t it?”

“Even so, wouldn’t it be rather unseemly for a prince’s principal wife to be a concubine’s daughter?”

“Of course it would! That’s why you take the Left Vice Director’s legitimate daughter as your principal wife and the concubine-born daughter as a secondary wife. Perfect, isn’t it? How about it? It’s common enough for a gentleman to take sisters.”

“I wonder. The principal wife hasn’t even arrived yet, and I don’t care to think about a secondary one.”

Ryu Hyeok lifted the corners of his mouth in an indifferent smile.

As he casually set a black stone on the baduk board, the game was decided. Once again, without fail, it was Ryu Hyeok’s victory.

Ryu Jin made a sulky face and tidied the stones.

“Shall we play another?”

“No. Let’s just have tea. My head hurts today, so I can’t play anymore.”

“All right.”

Suddenly, Ryu Jin jumped up from his chair as if he’d had a splendid idea.

Ryu Hyeok did not lose his composure at his younger brother’s fussing, and asked gently.

“What is it?”

“Brother, let’s go and see her.”

“See whom?”

“Who else? The woman who’s going to be my sister-in-law!”

“I’d rather not go to that trouble.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that! It sounds like fun! I’m bored. Please? Please, please? We’ll just sneak a look at her face and come back.”

“What reason do I have to do such a thing for your amusement?”

Even as he said so, when Ryu Jin clung to the hem of his robe, Ryu Hyeok waved his hand as if he couldn’t win against him.

“Fine, let’s go. But if we go and she doesn’t appear, we return at once. Do you agree?”

“Huh? We have to wait until we see her face!”

“That’s tiresome. I’ll see her on the wedding day anyway. Whether sooner or on time, seeing her is the same, isn’t it? Her face won’t change much in the meantime.”

“Well, that’s true… But still! They say it’s better to be hit first. What if my sister-in-law turns out to be a terrible fright! Wouldn’t it be better to take the shock now and prepare yourself than to see her on the wedding day and fall ill from the blow?”

“What does it matter whether she’s plain or not? Besides, Father would never make me marry an ugly woman in the first place.”

Ryu Jin puffed out his cheeks with a look that said, What kind of absurd thing is that to say? The sight was rather endearing, and Ryu Hyeok smiled faintly.

His half-brother had not grown up, however old he got. That was endearing, but the world was bound to give a hard lesson to anyone who lived so naively.

“What do you mean, what does it matter whether she’s plain or not? Of course it matters! Only if your wife is pretty do you feel like treating her well! And you get fired up at night, too.”

“There’s nothing you won’t say in front of your brother. Where did you pick up such vulgar talk?”

“Don’t scold me. Mother keeps telling me to watch my mouth and scolding me as it is. She says, how come someone who’s already married is so immature…”

Ryu Jin had married earlier than Ryu Hyeok.

“As you know, Brother, my wife is pretty. So I’m really happy. Because my wife is pretty, I end up going along with whatever she says. I even want to take better care of her family. Her face matters this much. If my wife had been plain, I’d have treated her completely coldly, totally unlike now.”

“What does the outer shell matter? What matters is the role each person plays. A wife’s role is not to maintain her beauty. It is to govern the household affairs peacefully and educate the children well. Beautiful or ugly, people all grow equally unsightly with age. There is no such thing as eternal beauty.”

Ryu Hyeok gave Ryu Jin’s head a light rap and continued.

“And you, who say you want to treat your wife well because she’s pretty, slip in and out of the courtesan houses whenever you get the chance?”

“Ah, no, why bring that up…”

“A dog can’t shake its habits, they say. I hear you still haven’t broken your habits from your bachelor days.”

“I don’t go to the courtesan houses with lewd intentions! I go to see the arts. To hear the songs!”

“A passing dog would laugh at that.”

* * *

Ryu Hyeok and Ryu Jin, in plain attire that would not draw attention, headed to the Left Vice Director’s main house.

How long had they been loitering by the gate of the residence? However much they looked up over the wall, no one who seemed a noble family’s daughter appeared.

In Ryu Hyeok there rose a fundamental question of why on earth he was doing this nonsense.

He had been humoring his immature younger brother’s antics, but he was gradually reaching his limit.

Just as he was about to say that it was time to stop and leave, a woman came out of the main gate.

The two men pretended not to be suspicious and acted like mere passersby on the street.

Even so, Ryu Jin swiftly scanned the woman’s face, and Ryu Hyeok slowly took in her figure.

‘…Clear.’

That was Ryu Hyeok’s first impression of the woman. She looked precisely clear. If asked whether she was beautiful, he thought he might answer that she was.

People usually compare women to flowers, but she was not a flower; she was like a willow branch. A willow branch swaying quietly in the breeze, that was exactly the impression.

She was neither flashy nor especially outstanding, yet she gave off an elegant air that was hard to describe in any particular way.

That subtle air kept drawing his gaze. More than the face itself, it seemed to be the irreplaceable aura flowing from that face that made her appearance shine.

The faces of women praised as beauties, once they reach a certain level, all become much alike, with nothing distinctive about them. Ryu Hyeok did not like such faces.

To his eyes, everyone in the world already looked much the same, so if even faces lacked distinguishing features, his interest dwindled all the more.

So he preferred a face with a slightly less pretty corner to a flawlessly perfect one. One might call it a somewhat peculiar taste.

This did not mean there was any plainness in her face. But what was certain was that it was a face with character.

She looked extremely meek.

‘If there is a flaw, it would be that her spirit seems a little weak. I doubt her disposition is a harsh one.’

That was what he found disappointing.

It would be troublesome for a woman who would one day be crown princess and eventually empress to be weak in spirit. An empress, by rights, had to have a forceful side.

She needed a bold spirit that yielded to no one. That was why all the empresses acknowledged as having governed the inner court well had possessed something of the formidable woman about them.

His mother, Empress Yang, on the other hand, had no such formidable spirit. Rather, she was timid and gentle.

Because of that nature, there were no few moments when she was overwhelmed by the stronger-willed consorts.

“Miss, where are you headed?”

When the servant who had followed her out asked, the woman answered, her small lips moving.

The sight was, somehow, strangely captivating.

Her tiny lips were so red, and the color blended well with her pale face.

She did not seem to have applied any rouge; it seemed to be the natural color of her lips. It was not a hue that had been forcibly contrived.

“I am going to a temple.”

The voice that came out was a little lower than he had expected. It was a rather composed and solemn voice.

She did not speak very loudly, so a listener had to lend an ear.

“A temple?”

“Yes.”

“Why a temple?”

The woman did not answer the servant and unhurriedly stepped forward.

With that, it became clear that she was by no means an easy-tempered person. He thought it was rather a good thing.

If a person is too kind, someone is bound to look down on her. Better, then, not to be kind.

Yet she must not be openly rude either. She had to know how to skirt the line, being appropriately rude as it were, while quietly keeping her manners.