Episode 10. Yi-hyang at Bihyeon Pavilion (2)
Despite the insolent nagging, the maid from the Kwon family was lying prostrate by the doorway in a fairly respectful posture.
But this smell!
Yi-hyang wrinkled his brow and covered his nose.
"Leave now."
Yi-hyang first dismissed the eunuch who had been attending him.
The moment the eunuch closed the door, Yi-hyang clicked his tongue.
"I thought you might be different from the other women."
With a sachet dangling from her waist, releasing clouds of musk fragrance—at this late hour of the night.
"Go and tell Madam. When I bestowed that mother-of-pearl box, it was to mourn the poor Crown Princess's soul and to console Madam. I did not mean for her to dress up some court maid like this and push her in front of me!"
"Madam" referred to Lady Choi of Haeryeong, the mother of Crown Princess Kwon.
In other words, the wooden box Yoonseo had discovered in the attic had been given by Yi-hyang out of pity for his mother-in-law, who had lost her daughter.
Ah, so that box had been passed down through our family and eventually caused all this trouble.
"When will Jinseong shine brightly again?"
"…?"
"A few days ago Jinseong shone brightly and trembled, and because of that Hong—"
Yoonseo, who had almost said "Hongwi" out of habit, covered it up with an awkward cough.
"Ahem. Because the star trembled, you sensed an omen and rushed to see the little Royal Grandson, did you not? I must know when that star will shine and shake again."
It did not seem very likely, and even if she returned, her body had already been buried beside her parents in the family graveyard and was probably badly decomposed by now. Still, Yoonseo intended to conduct the experiment again with the ring on the day Jinseong trembled.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Because it is connected to a strange thing that happened to me."
"What strange thing?"
"This ring."
Yoonseo took out the gold ring she had brought inside the sachet.
"And also the funeral verse that was inside the peony mother-of-pearl box—
Jamo-giseha-chongchong. All of it was shown to me by the late Crown Princess."
"What nonsense!"
Yi-hyang's gaze instantly turned fierce, the veins on his forehead bulging.
"I know it sounds unbelievable."
Speaking calmly, Yoonseo moved toward the Crown Prince on her knees.
"Do not come closer. Unless you wish to die."
Mistaking her actions as a ploy to draw his attention with strange words and then approach him physically, Yi-hyang warned her in a murderous tone.
"I only wish to show you something. After you see it, you may kill or spare me as you please."
Again—again!
If it had been any other court maid, she would have bowed low so that her cleavage showed, pleading sweetly, "I beg your pardon," while carefully watching his mood.
But this Kwon family maid calmly walked forward, picked up the brush on the desk without even asking, and began writing on a blank sheet of paper.
Yi-hyang had been about to shout, "Drag this creature out at once!"
But he decided to at least see what she was writing before throwing her out, and glared at the paper.
The maid from the Kwon family moved the brush.
The handwriting was… honestly—
To Yi-hyang, a master calligrapher of a completely different caliber from Prince Anpyeong, the letters looked pitiful, like worms crawling across the page.
"...H-huh?"
The color drained from the Crown Prince's face.
"The language of our nation differs from that of China…"
"Y-you… this… this is… wh-what…!"
For the first time in his life, he even stammered.
"If I do this, will you believe that the Crown Princess truly gave me the ring?"
It was the opening line of Hunminjeongeum, memorized by every educated Korean.
Yoonseo had confirmed with Court Lady Park that the creation of Hangul had not yet been officially announced. She was certain that showing this would make Yi-hyang believe her words.
"H-how do you know this?"
"If I write more, will you believe me? The script that His Majesty the King and Your Highness the Crown Prince are painstakingly creating—for the sake of the people."
Yi-hyang's eyes trembled violently.
Creating a writing system suited to the language of Joseon had long been the King's greatest wish.
However, knowing that Confucian scholars—who revered China and wished to monopolize knowledge—would fiercely oppose it, the King had been developing the script in strict secrecy with only the Crown Prince, Prince Suyang, Prince Anpyeong, Prince Gwangpyeong, and Princess Jeongui.
They had only just decided the consonants and vowels and were still working out how the letters would combine.
Yet this Kwon family maid was writing characters that were not even finished yet—so fluently!
Yi-hyang felt as if he had been bewitched by a goblin.
Yoonseo set down the brush and met the Crown Prince's gaze without wavering.
"On the day when Jinseong shone brightly and trembled, the Crown Princess appeared in my dream and showed me the future. She showed me what will happen to our young prince—and to Your Highness as well. She made me promise to protect the child. This ring is the token of that promise."
The explanation flowed naturally.
"So when Jinseong shines and trembles again, will she not appear and tell me more? That is why I ask you to inform me."
Yoonseo had laid down this smokescreen.
But Yi-hyang was so bewildered that talk of Jinseong did not even register in his ears.
Is such a thing really possible?
— I have sent a child who will protect Hongwi!
Even if he had heard the Crown Princess shout those words in a dream,
Even if that cry had made him race forty ri from Janghowon in one breath,
Even if this Kwon girl somehow knew the secret script that was not yet complete—
Could a dead person truly give a ring to a mere court maid?
Engulfed in confusion, Yi-hyang moved his lips several times before barely managing to ask:
"…What else… did she show you?"
"I saw Your Highness, overworking yourself day and night, wrapped tightly in heavy clothes even when alone like now… until a large boil breaks out and you suddenly pass away."
"…!"
Yi-hyang looked down at himself.
He was still dressed exactly as he had been when he came at dawn to inquire after someone's health.
He had always dressed this neatly, yet suddenly the layers of clothing he wore felt heavy and suffocating.
"…And?"
"When Your Highness dies so early and the young prince ascends the throne, the royal princes grow greedy for the throne and commit treason—"
"How dare you!"
Yi-hyang, who had begun to be persuaded, suddenly turned frightening.
"My brothers share deep affection with one another. And you dare—!"
Ha! Your Highness, Crown Prince!
"Have you not seen what royal brotherhood is like during the reign of the previous king? Half of the histories of royal and imperial families throughout time are stained with the blood of brothers and fathers and sons—"
"Enough!!"
Yi-hyang slammed the desk. The inkstone jolted, splashing ink across the surface.
But Yoonseo did not yield. She could not yield.
Because it's my future! Because this damned thing your wife did involves Hongwi's life too!
"If I stay silent, will that future simply disappear?"
Yoonseo was not the type to circle around her goal.
She had already made up her mind when she insisted on asking about the ring—and when she bathed the Crown Prince while attending him.
She would use every piece of knowledge she had to change history.
"You!"
Yi-hyang shouted, then clamped his mouth shut and rubbed his face roughly.
The Kwon maid's words had struck the anxiety he had buried deep within his heart.
His brothers were too capable, and Hongwi was still far too young.
If something were to happen to me, what would become of our Hongwi… and of Joseon?
It had only been fifty years since Joseon was founded.
King Taejong had laid its foundations with rivers of blood,
and his father had created splendid culture and institutions, finally shaping the nation into something worthy of being called a country.
But if he died early and a struggle for power erupted—
all the brilliant achievements and talented people built by Taejong and his father might vanish.
"Chief Eunuch Eom, enter!"
After a long silence, Yi-hyang suddenly shouted toward the door.
"Yes, Your Highness. I am here."
The door opened, and Eunuch Eom—who had been waiting anxiously outside—entered.
"Go to Gangnyeongjeon immediately and inform the palace eunuch that I request a private audience with His Majesty tomorrow morning."
Eunuch Eom, who had bowed near the doorway, glanced at the Kwon maid in surprise.
Astonishingly, she was standing beside the desk, even holding a brush.
So he even allowed her to write? She must have pleased him greatly.
Mistaking the situation entirely, Eom Jachi assumed the Crown Prince would ask the King to grant the Kwon maid the rank of a concubine.
He cautiously tried to dissuade him.
"…Your Highness, there is no need to grant her a rank so quickly."
Yi-hyang flared up at the ridiculous misunderstanding.
"That is not the case."
"…Y-yes, Your Highness. I take my leave."
Even though the Crown Prince denied it, Chief Eunuch Eom hurried away as if flying, thinking he must quickly deliver the happy news to Lady Yang as well.
Granting her rank? Eunuch Eom really suffers from confirmation bias.
If one distorts reality to fit one's desires, it becomes difficult to maintain the broader perspective needed for Hongwi's sake. That must be why he was so fixated on petty schemes like installing a mere concubine.
"I have one more thing to say."
"First remove that sachet and sit far away from me."
Yi-hyang roughly shoved Yoonseo back.
The musk inside the sachet was already affecting him.
His gaze kept drifting toward the Kwon maid.
Her slender neck, the sharp line from shoulders to waist, the full breasts and narrow waist outlined beneath her jacket—
the physical desire he had long forgotten under the crushing burden of work and expectations from his father and senior officials began to raise its head.
"My head has been hurting since earlier too, so that works out well."
Yoonseo, unaware that the scent of musk or aphrodisiacs affects men far more strongly than women, walked calmly to the door.
"…!"
Yi-hyang's heated gaze followed the sway of her hips beneath her skirt—and the firm, long legs surely hidden beneath.
Unaware of his lingering stare, Yoonseo casually opened the door, removed the sachet attached to her collar, kept only the ring in her hand, and placed the sachet outside.
"Ahem."
When Yoonseo turned around, Yi-hyang quickly lowered his head.
It was the first such confusion he had ever experienced in his twenty-nine years of noble life.
Yoonseo returned near the desk and knelt politely.
Yi-hyang tilted his head slightly, as if telling her to continue if she had more to say.
"The Royal Grandson must be brought to reside in the Eastern Palace."
Yoonseo finally revealed the true reason she had come to the Eastern Palace today.
"…Is Lady Yang… treating our Hongwi poorly?"
His mind snapped alert at the mention of his child.
"No. It is not because Lady Yang cares for the child poorly."
Lady Yang had to remain Hongwi's person.
So Yoonseo deliberately did not mention the fierce verbal fights between Lady Yang and Lady Shin.
"If the Royal Grandson stays in the residence of a specific concubine, it will invite unnecessary jealousy, envy, and resentment."
"I do not quite understand what you mean."
"If the Royal Grandson receives care from Lady Yang, the other concubines who cannot care for him will become jealous of her. And that resentment will eventually grow into hostility toward the child himself. Humans, when they cannot obtain what they desire, tend to comfort themselves not by admitting their own shortcomings but by resenting, hating, or belittling the object they desire, Your Highness."
When someone feels the pain of being ignored by the person they wish to be favored by, they may resent or hate that person—even if that person did nothing wrong. Like the fox and the sour grapes in Aesop's fable.
"…Is that so?"
Yi-hyang raised his eyebrows with interest.