Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“Your Highness…! I was wrong! Please forgive me… I beg you, forgive me…!”

Yu Hanshin threw himself flat on the floor and bowed.

“The one whose forgiveness you should be begging is not I, so what use is it to ask me? That your head still does not work this way is truly exasperating.”

“I will apologize to Hwacheon…! I will apologize properly! I promise you!”

“An apology that does not come from the heart, would my princess consort’s heart soften at the mere receiving of it? I have already seen your true nature, so begging now is meaningless. Go on as you were.”

“Your Highness, I have made a grave mistake. It is my sin…”

“Indeed. It is certainly your sin. I do not know whether Hwacheon would welcome your apology, but do not rashly approach my wife; keep still for the time being. From what I see, you have a talent for turning what would be fine if left alone into a calamity.”

Ryu Hyeok glanced at the groveling Yu Hanshin, then turned his eyes to Hwaryeong, who still sat there looking as if she did not grasp the situation.

“Dumpling girl.”

He had heard her name a few times but could not recall it well, so he called her that. What did a form of address matter? He only needed to get his words across.

“Wouldn’t you also be better off as the primary wife of a commoner household man than living as a sovereign’s secondary wife?”

“…I would rather be the tail of a dragon than the head of a chicken.”

She was a woman with ambitions far too grand for her station.

And as it happened, there were dumplings on the tea table. Ryu Hyeok found that so funny that he pointed at them and whispered lightly,

“Can you swallow these? I doubt I could.”

Leaving those words behind, he rose from his seat.

Hwaryeong, feeling some kind of shame, had somehow turned red to the ears. Her pretty eyes looked precarious, as if tears might spill at any moment.

“Dumpling girl, as for the other incident, I will apologize on her behalf. I am sorry.”

“…It was not Your Highness’s doing, so why do you apologize in her place?”

“Because my princess consort will never have occasion to apologize to you.”

Mockery was plain on Ryu Hyeok’s face.

“My princess consort bows her head to no one. I will make her so, and I will pamper her and care for her as a treasure. So content yourself with my apology.”

“…Is it all right for Your Highness himself to bow his head? Wouldn’t it be better for Your Highness to have my sister bow hers instead?”

She talked back clearly, point by point, as if she really were Hwacheon’s sister. The sight reminded him of Hwacheon.

“For a sovereign to bow his head is wrong a hundred times over compared with a consort bowing hers.”

“Well, perhaps.”

He did not bother to argue. She was not someone worth persuading.

He simply wanted to get out of this household as quickly as possible.

* * *

Returning to Prince Hye’s residence, Ryu Hyeok headed straight for Hwacheon’s chamber. He wanted to ask what she had done today, and whether she had been waiting for him.

When he flung open the door and went in, he found Hwacheon reading a book.

The moment she spotted Ryu Hyeok, she scrambled to shut the book in an exaggerated panic. It was a curiosity-provoking reaction.

As Ryu Hyeok narrowed his eyes and approached, Hwacheon hid the book altogether beneath the table.

“What book were you reading?”

“It’s nothing.”

As ever, a crisp, prim answer came back. Hwacheon ought to be grateful she had been born so adorable.

“Were you perhaps reading something racy?”

He had tossed it out as a joke, but to his surprise, Hwacheon’s face flushed hot.

Ryu Hyeok was the one taken aback by that. He had merely taken a shot in the dark, and absurdly, it seemed to have been the right answer.

“…Hwacheon, reading that sort of thing will rot your bones.”

“No! It’s not that kind of book!”

Hwacheon shrieked, but anyone could see it was a lie.

She was far too poor at lying. Yet she let falsehoods slip at every turn, which made her almost pitiable. Everything showed, so what was she trying so hard to hide?

“Let’s look at what book it is together. Pleasures should be shared.”

“N-No! Please don’t look!”

He seized what she insisted he could not have. Looking closely, it was a bedchamber manual made for the sexual education of men.

To think she had been looking at something like this. How utterly endearing.

“You already know all the methods, so why go looking for it to study? Is something lacking?”

“Nothing is lacking…!”

Hwacheon clutched tightly at the hem of his robe.

“P-Please give it back… It’s mine…”

“You must have bought it with the money I gave you, so it is mine as well.”

“That’s petty! Between husband and wife, where is there ‘your money’ and ‘my money’!”

At that, Ryu Hyeok laughed heartily and returned the book.

“Fine, keep it all.”

“I would have thought so even without your pointing it out.”

He had meant to ask about her day, but seeing the book clutched to her chest, there was no longer any need. She must have been poring over it all day long.

“So, why were you reading it in the first place? Hm?”

“Don’t ask ‘hm?’ like that. Every time Your Highness does, I am very… very flustered.”

Hwacheon carefully hid the embarrassing book under the bed. She seemed afraid the servants would find it. If she was going to be so ashamed, why had she gone and gotten it?

“You were reading it to put it to use on me, weren’t you?”

Hwacheon’s eyes wavered. It was the right answer after all.

“It’s more than enough as it is, so why bother?”

“…I wasn’t sure whether you were pleased…”

To Ryu Hyeok, that was utter nonsense.

“Then what were all those displays I have shown you until now?”

“You do ask for it often, but I don’t know whether it is to obtain an heir quickly or for some other reason… And I thought that since you are coming anyway, perhaps you would like it more if I tried a little harder…”

Now that she could not run away, it was to Hwacheon’s benefit to bear an heir quickly.

With a sturdy heir behind her, her position would not waver even if concubines came flooding in.

Even if Ryu Hyeok did not name her child his successor, a child was an important presence that would sway her standing.

Even a primary wife is easily disregarded if she has no children at all. With a child, she would not have to cling to her husband alone, and her future would be secure.

Even if this frame of mind pricked her conscience a little, it could not be helped.

Hwacheon had no confidence that she could be a good mother, but she was determined to be a mother who tried.

Whether a son or a daughter, she would raise the child as a treasure without discrimination. She would not raise a daughter full of sorrow as she herself had been. Being cowed because of one’s sex was a burden that she alone was enough to bear.

She intended to raise the child without stinting, giving the very best she had to give.

“Since you are speaking of an heir, are you no longer thinking of dying?”

“…For now. I will live a while, and if it proves impossible, then I will end it.”

“Don’t say such things. I am not patient enough to leave you alone for three months.”

“Please stop with that three months business already. It’s truly indecent… He doesn’t even seem to know shame…”

Ryu Hyeok liked it when Hwacheon scolded him.

He had hardly ever been scolded by anyone in his life, yet Hwacheon rounded on him at least once a day. That was refreshing.

“Hwacheon, would you rather be the tail of a dragon or the head of a chicken? Which seems better to you?”

At the sudden question, Hwacheon scratched the back of her neck.

“Must I choose between just those two? I would like to be the head of a dragon. The tail of a dragon is a blow to one’s pride, and the head of a chicken is laughable, isn’t it? I dislike both.”

Ryu Hyeok clapped his hands together.

“A foolish question, and a wise answer.”

What on earth was a wise answer here? Hwacheon thought Ryu Hyeok was a truly strange gentleman.

“Today I went to your small house.”

Hwacheon’s cheek twitched, and in an instant a menacing aura spread around her. She looked as combative as a rabbit with its prey before its eyes.

“…What for did you go there? What business does Your Highness have in that house!”

Ryu Hyeok was now in danger of being bitten by a rabbit at any moment.

“Lord Left Vice Minister asked me again to have tea, and after some thought, since you tell me nothing about yourself, I wondered whether I might hear something from your father at least, so I followed him.”

“Why would you follow him!”

“Calm down and listen. When I followed him, he took me not to the main house but to the small house. I was greatly surprised too. I never imagined there was someone who would do such a deranged, eccentric thing.”

“And so? Did you enjoy it? If you went there, you must have met Hwaryeong too!”

“I did. I had no intention of meeting her, but she flung open the door of her own accord, came in, and would not leave. What was I to do?”

Hwacheon glared fiercely at his brazen face, which answered so nonchalantly. Her gaze was so sharp that Ryu Hyeok’s skin tingled.

“I’m sure you enjoyed yourself.”

It was plain sarcasm. No longer wanting to share the same space, Hwacheon took a thin outer garment and went outside.

Ryu Hyeok followed behind her at a leisurely pace.

“Don’t follow me! I want to be alone!”

“I want us to be together.”

“Then go to the small house and be together with Hwaryeong!”

“The dumpling girl is not this man’s wife, so why would I?”

He had even gone so far as to give her the pet name “dumpling girl.” Hwacheon’s insides churned.