Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Three days later, Hwaryeong dressed up more radiantly than ever. In her hands was a basket of rice dumplings rolled in every kind of coating, and she stood before Prince Hye’s residence.

Faced with the large plaque inscribed “Prince Hye’s Residence,” Hwaryeong’s heart swelled with excitement.

When she knocked, a servant of the residence peered out at her through a crack in the door. Confronted with such outstanding beauty, the servant blushed without meaning to and asked,

“What brings you here?”

Hwaryeong answered with a demure smile, like a new bride’s.

“My sister is the Princess Consort, and I have brought some rice dumplings for Her Highness.”

“Ah, you must be the Left Vice Minister’s daughter.”

The servant opened the gate without the slightest suspicion.

Stepping inside, Hwaryeong slowly took in the grounds of the residence. She had been astonished by the grandeur of the main house when she visited it, yet Prince Hye’s residence was twice as spacious and splendid.

“I shall take you to where Her Highness is.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The servant was very kind.

People in the world were always kind to Hwaryeong. It was because she was beautiful.

Hwaryeong knew this all too well, and she took genuine delight in having been born beautiful.

In her life, her half-sister Hwacheon was the only person who treated her unkindly.

Everyone adored her, and only her sister hated her, which surely meant her sister was the strange one. Until now, Hwaryeong had never doubted this.

“Where is Prince Hye?”

When Hwaryeong, who had claimed to have come to see the Princess Consort, abruptly asked about the prince’s whereabouts, the servant was briefly flustered before answering.

“He is in the study at the moment.”

“Oh, I see. I mean nothing by it, I was only curious.”

“Yes, young mistress.”

The study… Where might the study be? She had to meet Prince Hye soon and make him see her, or the plan would not proceed step by step.

Of course, she knew she could not reach the summit in a single stride, and that she had to be patient.

But since the plan was to climb to the top using Hwacheon as a stepping stone, the key was to meet Prince Hye before her half-sister caught on to the scheme.

Of course, that was a matter of heaven’s fate, not something within Hwaryeong’s power.

Even so, she was neither frightened nor greatly worried. From all she had felt in life, the world had always been on her side.

‘I wish Sister would get along with me. What on earth is she being so greedy for? It’s so strange.’

She truly believed this.

The strange one was Hwacheon. Hwacheon, who hated her, was a rare oddity. So cutting such an oddity down at the root and making the world clean was only proper.

‘They say Prince Hye is renowned for his beauty. But however beautiful a man may be, he surely can’t come within a toenail’s breadth of my looks.’

She was following the servant along the path like this when it happened.

Along with the gentle spring breeze, a man’s back caught her eye.

He wore robes the very color of the blue sky, clear and bright without a single cloud.

Sensing someone’s presence, the man slowly turned around.

At that moment, Hwaryeong’s heart skipped strangely and plunged down to her feet.

Her fingertips and toes tingled as though scalded by fire, and all the breath left her lungs at once. She felt like someone facing death.

He was clearly the form of a living, breathing person, yet as she gazed at him, her vision blurred as if in a dream rather than reality. It was a miraculous scene that only that man, that being alone, could create.

The man’s dark eyes turned toward Hwaryeong.

Then every sound in the world fell silent, and only his breath came through clearly. He was dreamlike and distant, like an illusion that could not be touched however far one reached.

Who was he? An immortal? Did a true immortal really dwell in Prince Hye’s residence?

Hwaryeong’s lovely face froze mercilessly, and she could not even part her lips.

Then the servant guiding her noticed the man and bowed deeply. Even so, Hwaryeong kept staring fixedly at the man’s face.

She knew that gaping at another person’s face was a grave breach of manners, yet she could not seem to look away.

Perhaps being stared at as if bewitched was nothing unusual for him, for the man wore an utterly unbothered expression, whether Hwaryeong stared or not.

Hwaryeong’s soul was powerfully drawn to the man before her. However hard she tried to steady herself, she could not deny it.

“Your Highness, Prince Hye. This is the Princess Consort’s sister, and she has come in person bringing rice dumplings for Her Highness.”

At the servant’s report, Hwaryeong’s eyes widened. The man was none other than the famous Prince Hye.

Hwacheon’s husband, and the man who would soon be Hwaryeong’s own.

Hwaryeong could not help being overcome with emotion. If she could be at the side of so beautiful a man, what did it matter if she was only a concubine?

In truth, she had not wanted to be anyone’s concubine, but she had given in to her mother’s insistence and accepted becoming Prince Hye’s concubine.

It was a conclusion of theirs alone, with no regard for Prince Hye’s wishes, but Hwaryeong was convinced he could not possibly refuse once he saw her beauty.

She recovered her wits and hurriedly bowed with proper courtesy.

“I pay my respects to Your Highness, Prince Hye. This humble girl is Yu Hwaryeong, second daughter of the Left Vice Minister, Yu Hanshin.”

The man gazed intently at Hwaryeong for a moment, then spoke.

“Ah, my sister-in-law.”

Sister-in-law. That word grated on her ears so badly that her stomach twisted.

But it was fine. She had been lucky enough to run into Prince Hye, and he would surely be so overwhelmed by her beauty that he would be dying to take her as his wife.

Hwaryeong smiled at Prince Hye, softly narrowing her eyes.

“I came to bring Sister some rice dumplings.”

“You sisters seem to get along well.”

“Yes, of course. I often bring things I think Sister might enjoy when I come to visit her.”

It was a pure lie. Apart from today, Hwaryeong had never once brought Hwacheon any food.

But making a good impression on Prince Hye came first. Besides, even if she had brought something, Hwacheon would have thrown it all away, so she reckoned it was fair enough to count it as brought.

“How admirable.”

At the word “admirable” from the man’s lips, Hwaryeong was so pleased that her stomach tickled.

“Hwacheon is arranging flowers right now.”

How could even his voice be so sweet?

She had resolved not to cling to the position of concubine, but at the sight of that man, she burned with the desire to possess him. She wanted to make him hers by any means.

Hwaryeong took a step closer to Prince Hye and spoke in a low voice.

“Oh, then might you kindly deliver these dumplings to Sister on my behalf?”

“You’ve come all this way, so you should hand them over yourself.”

“Well… Sister is absorbed in something, and if I dared to disturb her…”

Hwaryeong trailed off. Prince Hye tilted his head at the dejected-looking Hwaryeong.

“Sister might be angry…”

“Hwacheon? She is not a girl who would get angry over something so small.”

“Ah…”

Hwaryeong let her eyes grow moist, like a woman with a story to tell. When clear tears welled up, Prince Hye’s head tilted to one side.

He studied her intently, as if analyzing the heart of the woman before him.

Mistaking that gaze for a sign that he had fallen for her, Hwaryeong put on an even more pitiful act.

“I was taught that for me, born of a lowly concubine, to dare disturb my sister, a legitimate daughter, is a crime worthy of death…”

“Who taught you that?”

“That is… I cannot say.”

By any reading, she was implying that Hwacheon had taught her so.

It was not entirely a lie, either. Hwacheon would certainly have said as much.

Hwaryeong felt no guilt whatsoever in telling such lies. She simply thought she should seize this opportunity to plant a firmly negative impression of Hwacheon in Prince Hye’s mind.

Men were generally weak to a beautiful woman’s tears, were they not?

If she teared up with such a pretty face, even Prince Hye’s heart would melt. Her own father, after all, acted as though he would pluck the stars from the sky whenever Hwaryeong sniffled.

* * *

The scent of fully blooming magnolias drifted over. It was faint compared with their vivid color. Yet that very subtlety was all the more tantalizing.

Flowers truly were wonderful, with both lovely shapes and lovely fragrances. Above all, they drew in gorgeous butterflies.

What an enchanting existence they were.

Then someone knocked at the door. My husband, Prince Hye, barged into my room without knocking, so the owner of the shadow faintly wavering outside the door had to be a servant.

“Come in.”

The moment permission was given, a servant entered and made a report.

“I pay my respects to Your Highness. I beg your pardon, but your sister has come to see you.”

Sister? I wondered for a moment whether I had one, and then the face of that rotten creature surfaced in my mind, and I frowned. Perhaps frightened by my expression, the servant stepped back half a pace.

Ah, how awful. I’d startled an innocent person.

‘Why is that creature here? What connection could we possibly have?’