Chapter 10
Episode 10. Lee Hyang at Bihyeon Pavilion (2)
Unlike the blasphemous nagging, Kwon Ga, the maid, was prostrate by the door in a rather polite posture.
‘But, this smell!’
Lee Hyang wrinkled his brow, covering his nose.
“You may leave now.”
Lee Hyang first sent out the attendant eunuch.
As soon as the eunuch closed the door, Lee Hyang clicked his tongue.
“I thought you would be different from other women.”
Even wearing a scent pouch exuding musk, on this late night.
“Go and tell Madam. The mother-of-pearl box I gave was to mourn the soul of the pitiful Consort and to comfort Madam, not to have a mere maid like you dressed up and presented like this!”
Madam refers to Madam Choi of Haeryeong, the mother of Crown Princess Consort Kwon.
So, the wooden box Yunseo found in the attic meant that Lee Hyang had given it out of pity for his mother-in-law who had lost her daughter.
Ah, so that’s why the box has been passed down in our family and caused this whole mess.
“When will Jinsung (the star) shine brightly again?”
“?”
“A few days ago, Jinsung shone brightly and trembled, so Hong······.”
Yunseo, who was about to say ‘Hongwi’ out of habit, covered it with an awkward cough and continued.
“Jinsung trembled, so you felt something and rushed to see His Highness the Grandson, didn’t you? I need to know when that star will tremble brightly again.”
Although it didn’t seem very likely, and even if he did return, his body would have already been buried in the ancestral burial ground next to his parents and would be severely decomposed, Yunseo intended to experiment again with the gold ring on the day Jinsung trembled.
“Why are you asking that?”
“Because it is related to the strange incident I experienced.”
“What, strange incident?”
“This gold ring.”
Yunseo took out the gold ring she had brought in the scent pouch.
“And the elegy, ‘A kind mother leaves the world in such haste,’ that was in the peony mother-of-pearl box with it. All were shown to me by the deceased Crown Princess.”
“What, nonsense!”
Lee Hyang’s eyes immediately turned fierce, and a vein bulged on his forehead.
“I know you won’t believe what I’m about to say.”
Yunseo spoke calmly and crawled on her knees towards the Crown Prince.
“Don’t come closer. Not if you want to live.Lee Hyang warned in a fierce tone, misunderstanding that she was trying to get close to him after attracting his attention with strange noises.
“I have something to show you. After you see it, you can kill me or let me live as you please.”
Again, again!
If it were other maids, they would have bowed low, showing their cleavage, and pleaded with a coquettish voice, ‘I am so sorry,’ while gauging his mood.
But that Kwon Ga, the maid, walked over calmly, picked up a brush from the writing desk without asking, and began to write on a blank paper.
Lee Hyang, who was about to shout, ‘Drag this monster out immediately,’ peered at the paper to see what she was writing before chasing her out.
Kwon Ga, the maid, moved her brush.
The handwriting was, truly…
In the eyes of Lee Hyang, a master calligrapher with a different caliber than Grand Prince Anpyeong, appeared clumsy letters crawling like earthworms…
“···Huh, huh?”
The color drained from the Crown Prince’s face.
[Our language is different from China’s]
“You, you, what, what is this…!”
He stammered for the first time in his life.
“If you see this, will you believe that the Crown Princess gave me the gold ring?”
It was the beginning of Hunminjeongeum, which any educated Korean would memorize.
Yunseo, who had confirmed with Park Sanggung that Hangeul had not yet been announced, was confident that showing this would make Lee Hyang believe her words.
“H, how, you?”
“If I write more, will you believe me? The letters for the people that His Majesty the King and His Highness the Crown Prince are pouring their hearts into creating.”
Lee Hyang’s pupils shook violently.
Creating characters suitable for our Joseon language had been His Majesty the King’s long-cherished wish.
However, knowing that scholars who served China and sought to monopolize knowledge would vehemently oppose it, the King was proceeding with the creation of our characters in extreme secrecy with only the Crown Prince, Grand Prince Suyang, Grand Prince Anpyeong, Grand Prince Gwangpyeong, and Princess Jeongui.
They were only at the stage of deciding the syllable components and character combinations.
And yet, Kwon Ga, the maid, was skillfully demonstrating characters that were not yet complete!
Lee Hyang felt as if he had been possessed by a goblin.
Yunseo put down the brush, met the Crown Prince’s eyes, and stated without wavering.
“On the day Jinsung shone brightly and trembled, the Crown Princess appeared in my dream and showed me the future. She showed me what would happen to His Highness the Grandson and His Highness the Crown Prince, and made me promise to protect His Highness the Grandson. This gold ring is the token of that promise.”
It was a smooth, flowing explanation.
“So, if Jinsung shines and trembles brightly again, won’t she tell me something else? That is why I am asking you to tell me.”
Yunseo created this smokescreen.
However, Lee Hyang’s mind was completely muddled, and he didn’t even hear about Jinsung.
‘Is that truly possible?’
— I have sent a child to protect Hongwi!
Even if he heard the Crown Princess’s cry in his dream,
Even if he ran forty li from Jangwon in one go because of that cry,
And even if Kwon Ga, the maid, knew the secret characters that were not yet complete,
Was it true that a dead person would give a gold ring to a mere maid like her?
Lee Hyang, who was engulfed in confusion and only moved his lips several times, finally asked a question.
“···What else, did she, show, you?”
“That you, even when alone like now, would bundle yourself up and overwork day and night, develop severe boils, and suddenly die, Your Highness.”
“······!”
Lee Hyang looked at his own attire.
He was still wearing the same clothes he had put on that morning to pay his respects.
He had always dressed so neatly, yet the layers of clothes suddenly felt heavy and suffocating.
“···And?”
“That because you died so early and the young His Highness the Grandson ascended the throne, the Grand Princes would covet the throne and commit treason…”
“How dare you!”
Lee Hyang, who had been somewhat persuaded, immediately became fierce.
“The bond between brothers is deep. How dare you!”
Ha! Your Highness, His Highness the Crown Prince!
“Didn’t you see how the royal family’s bonds were during the previous King’s reign? That most of the history of royal families, past and present, is stained with the blood of brothers and sons,…”
“Enough!!”
Lee Hyang slammed the writing desk. The inkstone rattled, splashing ink onto the desk.
But Yunseo did not yield. She could not yield.
It was her future! It was because of this dog-like act committed by your wife, and it was about the life of our Hongwi!
“Does the future that awaits disappear just because you don’t speak of it?”
Yunseo was not one to beat around the bush.
She had decided when he asked about the gold ring, and when she bathed him to hear the Crown Prince’s confessions.
To use all the knowledge she possessed to change history.
“You!”
Lee Hyang, who had been shouting, shut his mouth tightly and rubbed his face vigorously.
The maid Kwon Ga’s words had struck a deep, suppressed anxiety within him.
With his exceptionally talented brothers, and Hongwi being so young.
If something were to happen to him, what would become of Hongwi, and what would become of Joseon?
Joseon had only been established for fifty years.
King Taejong had laid the foundation with much bloodshed,
And Father had created a proper nation with brilliant culture and civilization.
But if he were to die early and power struggles ensued!
All the brilliant achievements and talents created by King Taejong and his father might vanish.
“Eom Sangjeon, come here!”
After a long silence, Lee Hyang suddenly shouted towards the outside.
“Yes, Your Highness. I am here.”
The door opened, and Eom Naegwan, who had been waiting anxiously outside, entered.
“Go to the Grand Audience Hall now and tell the Grand Audience Hall eunuch to request an audience with Father tomorrow morning.”
Eom Naegwan, who stood bowing by the door, looked at Kwon Ga, the maid, with surprised eyes.
Surprisingly, Kwon Ga was standing by the desk, holding a brush.
‘To allow her to write, he must be quite pleased.Eom Naegwan, misunderstanding that the Crown Prince would request a concubine rank for Kwon Ga, the maid, tried to dissuade him.
“···Your Highness, the rank can be bestowed slowly.”
Lee Hyang bristled at the absurd misunderstanding.
“That is not the case.”
“···Yes, yes. I shall withdraw.”
Even though he said it wasn’t, Eom Sangjeon seemed to fly off to deliver the good news to Noble Lady Yang.
‘Rank? Eom Naegwan has a severe cognitive bias.’
If he has such severe cognitive bias that distorts reality to his own desires, it will be difficult for him to have a broad vision for our Hongwi. Therefore, he would cling to a low-level concubine.
“There is one more thing I wish to say.”
“Take off that scent pouch first, and sit far away over there.”
Lee Hyang roughly pushed Yunseo away.
The musk scent from the pouch was affecting Lee Hyang’s body.
His gaze kept drifting to Kwon Ga, the maid’s body.
The slender, long neckline, the shapely breasts and slender waistline within the neatly falling Jeogori from shoulder to hip were vividly drawn, and the carnal desires he had lived with, almost forgotten due to excessive work and the pressure of his father and the old officials’ expectations, began to stir.
“My head has been aching too since a while ago, so this is good.”
Yunseo, unaware that the scent of musk or aphrodisiacs affects men more strongly than women, walked towards the door nonchalantly.
“······!!”
Lee Hyang’s gaze, which had begun to boil, swept over her swaying hips beneath her skirt, and the legs that must have been perfectly straight and firm beneath them.
Yunseo, unaware of Lee Hyang’s lingering gaze, calmly opened the door, removed the scent pouch attached to her Jeogori collar, and holding only the gold ring, placed it outside the door.
“Ahem.”
When Yunseo turned around, Lee Hyang quickly lowered his head.
It was the first time in his twenty-nine years of noble life that he had experienced such confusion.
Yunseo returned to the desk and knelt politely.
Lee Hyang nodded as if to say, ‘If you have anything else to say, go ahead.’
“His Highness the Grandson should reside in the East Palace.”
Yunseo revealed the true purpose of her visit to the East Palace today.
“···Noble Lady Yang, our Hongwi…?”
Will she not be able to care for him properly?
Lee Hyang’s mind suddenly became sharp regarding his child’s affairs.
“No. It is not because Noble Lady Yang cannot care for His Highness the Grandson properly.”
Noble Lady Yang must remain as Hongwi’s person.
That is why Yunseo did not mention the environment where Noble Lady Yang had a fierce argument with Consort Shin.
“If His Highness the Grandson stays in a specific concubine’s residence, he will receive unwarranted jealousy, envy, and resentment.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“If His Highness the Grandson is cared for by Noble Lady Yang, other concubines who cannot care for His Highness the Grandson will become envious and jealous of Noble Lady Yang. And that resentment will eventually escalate into animosity towards His Highness the Grandson. Humans, when they cannot have what they desire, find solace by blaming, hating, or demeaning the object of their desire rather than their own shortcomings, Your Highness.”
When one feels the alienation of being ignored by the object of their desire, they come to resent and hate that object, even if it has done nothing wrong. Like the sour grapes in Aesop’s fable.
“···Is that so?”
Lee Hyang raised his eyebrows as if intrigued.
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