Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“So that’s why you want to die.”

It was the first time I had ever laid out my story to anyone in such detail.

Having exposed the feelings I had hidden so tightly, as something shameful, I felt, paradoxically, lighter.

“But I want you to live.”

“Didn’t you make a promise with me…!”

“I am not breaking the promise.”

He paused for a moment, then went on.

“But we have shared a bed, so there may be a child of mine in your womb right now.”

“That is, that’s…!”

“Your own life aside, harming the dragon’s seed is treason.”

I was speechless. He had a point. I laid a hand on my flat lower belly and looked at him.

There might be a child. I felt nothing now, but I could not rule out the possibility entirely.

My life was mine, so I could do as I pleased with it, but a child’s life was not mine to harm. That life belonged to the child.

“So shouldn’t we wait three months? If after waiting three months there is no sign of a child, then I will kill you.”

I nodded, then a sudden suspicion struck me, and I asked,

“Then you won’t share a bed with me for those three months, will you?”

“No. I must do what is due between husband and wife. As long as you are alive, you are my wife, after all.”

My mouth fell open.

“Th-Then waiting three months is meaningless, isn’t it…! If we share a bed, I will have to wait another three months…?”

“Exactly. That is precisely it. At last we understand each other.”

He rubbed my head vigorously. I could not help feeling that I had been tricked.

Tricked, tricked again! This cunning nine-tailed fox had deceived me and eaten my liver at last.

If I had known it would come to this, why on earth had I spilled all my weaknesses so freely!

“Now that we have settled the matter nicely, let us fulfill our duties as husband and wife.”

“W-What…! No! Get away from me!”

I pushed his face away with both hands as he brought his lips close. Then his fingers tickled my waist.

“Eek!”

As I twisted my waist and screamed, Prince Hye did not miss the opening and pounced on me. The look in his eyes, gazing down lecherously with an overbearing face, was relentless.

“Um, Your Highness… It is still light outside.”

“Children are conceived even in the midst of war. What obstacle is day or night?”

Prince Hye began kissing the nape of my neck.

“Ah… You mustn’t do this…”

“Try a little more. Every time you beg me not to, to stop, my mood rises all the higher.”

How could he choose only such hateful things to say? When I pinched his forearm lightly, Prince Hye whispered solemnly.

“How dare you pinch a sovereign’s arm? Had anyone seen it, your head would have flown many times over.”

“No one is watching. It’s only the two of us, so what of it?”

He pried out my weaknesses, forced my life to be held in place, and now wouldn’t even let me pinch him. That was what made a person a scoundrel. I felt I was entitled to this much rebellion.

“Being so insolent, you deserve a scolding. You must really want one, don’t you?”

Belatedly sensing danger, I went pale.

I sent him a pleading look with my face drained white, but Prince Hye only smiled brightly and shook his head firmly. My hope was cut off.

“Hwacheon, let us work hard until you carry the dragon’s seed.”

I begged for forgiveness countless times throughout the night, but he was resolute.

That day I was thoroughly punished. So much so that I would never dare cheek him again.

* * *

Ryu Hyeok, who had stopped by the palace to handle matters concerning the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony, ran into his father-in-law by chance on his way out after finishing.

“Oh my, I pay my respects to Prince Hye.”

Yu Hanshin spoke to him with a cheerful face, as if the commotion of the other day had never happened.

Since one could not spit on a smiling face, Ryu Hyeok also put on a suitable smile and accepted the greeting.

“Lord Minister, good to see you. Have you been well?”

“Indeed, indeed.”

Before, he had thought the Left Vice Minister had a genial impression, but after hearing the whole story from Hwacheon and looking again, the man was thoroughly unpleasant. Even his splendidly grown beard looked greedy.

Was this why they said that what matters in looking at a person’s face is not the appearance itself, but the heart with which one receives the other?

Ryu Hyeok found this moment of facing Yu Hanshin uncomfortable and tried to leave quickly. But Yu Hanshin held him back with words.

“Your Highness, this time I truly wish to treat you to tea at my house. I have come by some precious tea leaves bestowed by His Majesty.”

Why did this weasel of a man keep asking him to tea? Ryu Hyeok suppressed his displeasure and replied,

“I am rather busy at the moment.”

“Ah, is that so? Then it cannot be helped. I only asked because I also had something to tell you concerning Hwacheon… that is, Princess Consort Hye.”

Something concerning Hwacheon. Ryu Hyeok suddenly became interested.

These days his greatest interest was the Princess Consort. Anything concerning her naturally piqued his curiosity.

There was no particular great reason, only that she was entertaining. Also, because she had become his wife, he wanted to know more about her.

Since they had formed the bond of marriage anyway, he wanted to treat her well, yet she herself would not open her mouth about herself, so he knew almost nothing so far.

So when her father himself said he would tell him, it was natural that he became curious.

Ryu Hyeok hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He might be able to obtain more information about Hwacheon this time.

“Then let us go.”

The place Yu Hanshin took Ryu Hyeok to was not the main house but the small house. The very place where his concubine and her children lived.

Unaware of this, Ryu Hyeok stepped into the house without a thought. Then a lovely woman, her beauty undimmed despite her age, welcomed the two men.

Yet there was something frivolous about the woman’s bearing. Her air was quite different from the wives of other powerful families.

‘Is this woman Hwacheon’s mother?’

Just as he wondered this, puzzled, Yu Hanshin introduced the woman.

“This is my concubine, Your Highness.”

The moment he heard those words, Ryu Hyeok’s brow furrowed. Only then did he realize that this was not the Left Vice Minister’s main house.

Looking around again, it was indeed too shabby and small to be a high official’s main house. To bring his son-in-law to a concubine’s house under the pretext of serving tea. Displeasure swept over him.

“I pay my respects to Your Noble Highness, Prince Hye.”

Even the concubine’s simple greeting oozed a flippant air.

With such vulgarity so evident, Ryu Hyeok could not for the life of him understand why Yu Hanshin neglected his lawful wife and doted on his concubine.

Still, turning back now seemed discourteous, so for the moment he accepted the greeting.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Oh my, with so noble a person visiting such a humble place, I hardly know where to put myself.”

Ryu Hyeok did not reply and moved on toward where Yu Hanshin led him.

A tea table, respectable in appearance, was brought out. When the concubine withdrew and only the two men remained, Ryu Hyeok asked about the matter at hand.

“So, what is it you have to say about Hwacheon?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Say it.”

He was urging him on, wanting to leave this unpleasant occasion as soon as possible, when the door suddenly flew open.

‘Does this household fling open the door of a room with a guest in it without any warning?’

His mood was plummeting to the bottom at such rudeness, when.

The face of the one who had entered the room was familiar. Was she not the very woman Hwacheon had struck in the face with a basket?

‘The dumpling girl.’

That was precisely the extent of his impression of Hwaryeong.

Not the slightest thought of her being beautiful occurred to him. He did not even have enough interest to examine her looks closely.

“I pay my respects to Prince Hye.”

“Your Highness, this is my second daughter, Hwaryeong. Is she not very beautiful?”

Only upon hearing that did Ryu Hyeok finally look properly at Hwaryeong’s face.

It was indeed a pretty face. But it stirred no particular feeling in him.

And no wonder: when he saw his own peerless face in the mirror every day, why would he strain to marvel at another’s beauty?

No matter what beauty appeared, the title of the Empire’s foremost beauty would be his anyway.

Still, it was objectively true that she was pretty, so Ryu Hyeok answered honestly.

“Hm, so it seems.”

It was merely agreement with Yu Hanshin’s words. He added no exaggerated flourishes or embellishments.

It would have been discourteous to heap praise on his father-in-law’s concubine-born daughter’s looks, and besides, Hwaryeong’s face did not strike him as beautiful enough to startle him.

From what he had felt when they last met, Hwaryeong was a fox pretending to be a bear. Hwacheon, by contrast, was closer to a bear straining to pass as a fox.

Men, though they can tell a fox from a bear, generally let themselves fall willingly for a fox’s coquetry.

But Ryu Hyeok was different. If he took no interest in the person herself, he cared nothing whether the other was a fox or a bear.

If he had to say, he preferred bear-like people whose hearts were easy to read. And Hwacheon pretended to be a fox but was always clumsy at it.

The transparency that popped out between her clumsy performances was endearing, and it amused him. That was why he kept watching her.

As he thought of Hwacheon, a tender smile spread across his lips before he knew it.

Yu Hanshin and Hwaryeong were interpreting that smile, as they pleased, as being meant for them.