Chapter 17
Royal court dining etiquette was very strict.
First, the Royal Lady in charge of the meal presents a paper booklet called 'Chanpum Danja,' listing the day's food items.
When Hongwi reads the list and nods, a Royal Lady or Palace Lady is assigned to each dish to taste-test a small portion.
After waiting for a period of time, if there are no adverse reactions, the person who taste-tested sits beside Hongwi and places each side dish conveniently for eating.
And the other Palace Maids on duty had to lie prostrate before Hongwi during the meal.
For Yunseo, it was behavior that made no sense. From the start, everything was incomprehensible, like traveling short distances by riding uncomfortably in a swaying palanquin, accompanied by a throng of Royal Ladies, Palace Ladies, and eunuchs before and behind. So, she accepted it as it is.
Lee Hyang preferred simplicity, so she said she would have only one Royal Lady for serving and two Palace Maids to lie prostrate after the taste-testing.
Hongwi, taking after Lee Hyang, had Yunseo taste-test the evening Royal Meal, and only the assigned Lady Choi was to lie prostrate.
Yunseo sat beside Hongwi and first taste-tested the vegetables, fish, and meat dishes one bite at a time, and the soup, stew, gruel, and porridge one spoonful at a time.
Thanks to this, she enjoyed the pleasure of tasting the delicacies of the royal court.
After a period of time, Yunseo gently said,
"Baby Princess, please eat."
Then Hongwi sat up straight with a proper posture and ate rice with a silver spoon.
Her hand movements were already so elegant that Yunseo marveled at how different the descendants of royalty were.
However, she could not yet use chopsticks, so Yunseo picked up fish and vegetables with silver chopsticks and fed them to her.
As Hongwi opened her small mouth and ate, Yunseo felt like a mother bird feeding her chicks.
On the third day that Lee Hyang and Hongwi shared the evening Royal Meal, the Crown Prince's night-duty Palace Maid and Lady Choi lay prostrate together, while Yunseo and an elderly Royal Lady performed the taste-testing.
Wearing loose, milky-white ramie fabric, and a long, red robe that was not cinched at the waist, she exuded a languid atmosphere, yet her posture was so upright that Yunseo felt it was sacrilegious to keep looking at her.
Royal family etiquette dictated that no one speaks during a meal.
So, both Lee Hyang and our Hongwi ate their meals in silence.
With the Palace Ladies lying prostrate before them, it seemed more strange to speak.
After finishing the meal, Lee Hyang quietly commanded the Royal Lady who had been serving,
"Hongwi and Gwonga, you two remain. Everyone else, withdraw. Bring tea for myself and Gwonga, and bring sikhye for Hongwi."
"!"
At that, all eyes in the room turned to Yunseo at once, then quickly withdrew.
As the table was removed, the sliding doors on the east were opened for ventilation, and a neat tea and snack table was brought in. Meanwhile, Lee Hyang called Hongwi, sat her on her lap, and spoke softly.
"You've mastered the Thousand Character Classic? Your teacher praised our Hongwi a lot."
Hearing that the strict teacher Seong Sammun had praised her, Hongwi smiled bashfully and looked at Yunseo. Her eyes asked, 'I did well, didn't I?'
Yunseo, sitting by the door, was a little anxious, wondering why she was asked to stay, and just sipped her tea. The tea tasted good. It was the tea Eom Sangjeon had given her last time.
However, seeing Hongwi seeking praise, Yunseo also smiled and nodded.
Lee Hyang glanced at the scene, then stroked Hongwi's head again and asked,
"In the royal family, when you master a book, you hold a ceremony called 'Baegang' where you invite Father, Mother, Father, Teacher Seong Sammun, and the Grand Princes, and ask and answer questions about the text you learned. Your father did it, and Grandfather did it. But you're doing it so young, unlike them. What do you think? Shall we do it when you're four?"
Lee Hyang seemed undecided between her desire to boast of her son's brilliance to the world and her worry that it might be too much pressure for her young son.
"I can do it too. I've memorized it all, Father."
Hongwi, lifting herself from Lee Hyang's lap, spoke proudly.
Watching her, Yunseo felt an unexpected lump in her throat and lowered her head.
The young father and the very young son were so affectionate, but in history...
"Then shall we ask your sister to come too? Hongwi, don't you miss your sister?"
Princess Gyeonghye, now called the Princess of Pyeongchang, was currently being fostered at the home of the official Jo Yurye.
When her sister was mentioned, Hongwi's eyes began to sparkle with joy.
"I miss her. I miss my sister. When my sister comes, we'll go to Gyeonghoeru and play fishing together."
"At Gyeonghoeru, fishing?"
Lee Hyang asked, looking at Yunseo.
It was a reproachful gaze, questioning if she had dangerously played fishing in the deep waters of Gyeonghoeru.
As Yunseo was about to explain, Hongwi, nestled in Lee Hyang's arms, chattered like a sparrow, unable to see Lee Hyang's expression.
"Where did we go? There were so many fish, flopping around. Gwonga, the Palace Lady, said she can swim like a fish. I want to swim too."
"?"
"!"
Lee Hyang raised his dark eyebrows, asking what this meant, and Yunseo sighed, 'Oh no,' and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Gwonga, what does this mean?"
"That is..."
After eating an early dinner, Hongwi used to review the Thousand Character Classic she learned during the day.
However, Yunseo, knowing how important vigorous play is for a child's physical, mental, and emotional development, as well as lifelong health, decided to go outside to play or take a walk instead of studying.
Just the day before, she, Lady Choi, Maegeumi, and Jaseon, a young eunuch newly assigned to attend Hongwi in the East Palace, had walked past Daejojeon to Gyeonghoeru and played fishing.
The Gyeonghoeru of this era was not like the murky, dark green Gyeonghoeru of modern times, but a clear, transparent pond where the bottom was visible.
This was because water from the Bukaksan mountain stream flowed through Gyeonghoeru, past Hyangwonjeong, under Geumcheon Bridge, and out to Cheonggyecheon.
In modern times, Yunseo was a long-distance runner who ran 6km three times a week and a half marathon on weekends. From spring to autumn, she was an exercise addict who enjoyed running about 5km in a quiet village upstream of Chuncheon Dam, where her maternal grandparents lived, and then swimming slowly in a slow-moving river.
After her soul fell into Joseon, she had been depressed due to the lack of opportunities to exercise. Seeing Gyeonghoeru reminded her of the Bukhan River where she used to swim, and showing Hongwi swimming motions led to this incident.
"Isn't it dangerous?"
Lee Hyang asked in a voice chillingly calm.
"Just in case it was dangerous, Hong—"
Cough, cough.
"I tied a sash around Baby Princess's waist, and tied that sash around my waist for safety. Since Baby Princess has been so engrossed in playing fishing lately, we went because there were many fish in Gyeonghoeru."
"Not that, I mean, this thing called swimming."
'I wish you hadn't asked that.'
Yunseo was at a loss for how to explain.
She didn't know if swimming existed in Joseon, and if it did, who did it. She parted her lips, then decided to be honest.
"I learned how to play in the water when I was young, so I can swim. I can swim skillfully even in deep water, so I told Baby Princess that there's a way to play like that..."
"Don't you know that children will try anything if they hear it? What if Hongwi just jumps into the water, believing only what you say!"
As Lee Hyang sternly admonished Yunseo in a stiff tone, Hongwi subtly pulled away and looked at Lee Hyang.
"Father, are you angry?"
"...No. No, Hongwi. I am speaking to the Gwonga Palace Lady."
"Then please speak kindly, kindly."
Hongwi said to Lee Hyang, just as Yunseo had taught her.
At that time, while playing fishing in the pond behind the East Palace, Hong Seung-hwi's daughter Geuma ran over and kept trying to snatch Hongwi's fishing rod.
Annoyed, Hongwi pushed Geuma hard, and Yunseo said,
"Baby Princess, you should speak kindly. If you get angry and use your hands like that, you'll always get angry easily and become a 'hwajaeng-i' who only gets angry later."
Hongwi was now saying exactly that to Lee Hyang.
"Speak kindly? To the Gwonga Palace Lady?"
"Yes, Father, I'll become a 'hwajaeng-i'."
"...Yes, yes. You shouldn't become a 'hwajaeng-i'. Our Hongwi has grown so much."
While stroking Hongwi's head as if proud, Lee Hyang looked at Yunseo with strict eyes.
"I will be careful, Your Highness."
When she's with Maegeumi, there's no danger for Hongwi.
When Yunseo and Hongwi are together, Maegeumi, who is tasked with protecting Hongwi, is so swift that she possesses the powerful kinetic vision to catch bird droppings in her palm just before they fall on Hongwi's head!
However, unable to say such a thing, Yunseo bowed her head and offered an apology.
Then, Lee Hyang, who had been watching her intently, said abruptly,
"His Majesty will summon you one of these days."
"!"
King Sejong!
Yunseo bowed her head even lower, her heart trembling.
"He wants me to tell you not to speak to him as you do to me."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
"Especially, about my brothers, absolutely! Absolutely! Do not mention them!"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Tell him you learned your letters from Princess Jeongui. I have already spoken to my princess in advance."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Her back felt cold, and her palms were so sweaty they were drenched.
Only then did Yunseo clearly understand what happened when the Crown Prince was truly enraged.
"Hongwi, the Gwonga Palace Lady learned how to swim when she was young and can play in the water. But our Hongwi hasn't learned how to play in the water, so you must absolutely, absolutely not go into the water."
"Yes, Father."
"Do you promise?"
"Yes, but I want to learn too."
"......"
"I want to play like a fish."
"......"
Lee Hyang looked at Yunseo with eyes that seemed to ask, 'What are we going to do about this situation?'
"......"
They say you can't even drink scorched rice water in front of children. This was truly a difficult situation.
Teaching it wouldn't be difficult, but in 15th-century Joseon, in this strict country where Neo-Confucianism was the national ideology, where and how could swimming be taught?
But the Gyeonghoeru pond really looked so good for swimming.
She wanted to secretly go in the middle of the night and just float.
Yunseo, who had made it a habit to shake off the dark energy from her clients' stories through exercise, was now desperately craving exercise, running.
"Gwonga, the Palace Lady. I want to learn."
"...Baby Princess, when you're older. When you're much older, I'll teach you."
She hoped she would forget by then. Was it possible for a grandchild of King Sejong, who mastered the Thousand Character Classic at three, to forget anything?
"Hongwi. Father has work to do across the way. Let's eat together again next time."
Fortunately, Lee Hyang signaled for Hongwi to be taken away.
Relieved that she no longer had to tremble under Lee Hyang's cool gaze, Yunseo quickly hugged Hongwi and left the heated room.
Watching Gwonga's retreating back for a long time, Lee Hyang sighed.
He was glad that after Gwonga changed, Hongwi had become remarkably brighter, more confident, and more composed.
He was even grateful that her son was growing up healthy in body and mind, not just intelligent.
'However, Gwonga is excessively bold.'
His Majesty is a benevolent man, but he was extremely sharp in his efforts to check Suyang and Anpyeong.
He had intended to intimidate her and dampen her spirit beforehand, lest she disturb His Majesty's mood.
But seeing her retreat, dejected, only made him more troubled.
\\*
The next day at noon, after finishing the night watch, Yunseo could not go to Bansongbang, not knowing when King Sejong might summon her.
Two days prior, she had gone to Bansongbang and told Nosandae the list of items to purchase.
Perilla oil and camellia oil, and St. John's wort oil used for lighting lamps.
St. John's wort oil was an oil she thought of after reading an article stating its high oil yield, which North Korea, lacking petroleum, was promoting for use as biofuel.
And beeswax, and pig fat made by boiling pork fat vigorously and filtering it through fine cotton cloth.
For medicinal herbs, she asked for what could be obtained from lithospermum root, angelica root, sophora root, honeysuckle flower, chrysanthemum flower, angelica dahurica root, forsythia fruit, licorice root, peony root, and gardenia fruit, but specifically requested lithospermum root and angelica root.
Salt, brine, and samphire from the mudflats of Ganghwa Island.
And the most important item was a high-quality soju bottle for distilling alcohol.
The original plan was to go that day, infuse the herbs into the oils, meet Maehyang, Nosandae's adopted daughter, and return. But she couldn't go, fearing King Sejong might summon her while she was out.
Maegeumi went to Daewongak via Bansongbang to inform them of the cancellation.
However, King Sejong had not yet summoned her, and unexpectedly, Hong Seung-hwi sent a Palace Lady to summon her to his pavilion.
