Chapter 40
Episode 40. Hong Seung-hwi reported Gwonga to King Sejong
“Madam, isn’t that also a type of that thing?”
Jo Jeon-eon, as if thinking the same thing, whispered to Lady Yun.
“That, what? Ah!”
“That.”
That silk pouch, which the Kwon Ga, the maid, had written something on, torn into small pieces, and hidden inside the Writing Desk in the room where the grandson slept!
This must be an extension of the suspicious Sorcery that Gwonga was practicing.
Finally, the Monster, who had the greatest possibility of giving birth to the Crown Prince’s son, would be eliminated!
“Let’s go! We must go meet Hong Seung-hwi and instigate things. If that thing escapes, Hong Seung-hwi must become the Spy within the East Palace.”
Lady Yun quickly whispered to Jo Jeon-eon and saw the Queen, who was doing something as the Monster Gwonga instructed.
“Hmph, she’s already thoroughly bewitched.”
Muttering, Lady Yun left the Queen’s Palace without a separate greeting and walked quickly to Hong Seung-hwi’s residence, located north of the East Palace wall.
Jo Jeon-eon kept pace beside her, whispering in a low voice.
“Madam, Gwonga must be eliminated this time. Seeing her today, she is no ordinary person. If we fail this time, His Majesty might become wary of you and our Lord, so you absolutely must not fail. However, in case of any eventuality, all matters related to spying on the East Palace must be pushed onto Hong Seung-hwi.”
“Yes. You are right. Isn’t that why we endured that imbecile for so long and invested so much effort? After receiving so much in wealth, Jewelry, and clothing, she still couldn’t bewitch the Crown Prince. She must repay the favor like this.”
Lady Yun did not even recall the fact that she had been giving Hong Seung-hwi, her grand-nephew, medicine to prevent pregnancy for a long time, or that because of that medicine, the born Hyunju Geum-a was intellectually deficient and sickly, and not likely to live long.
Lady Yun recalled her husband, Grand Prince Suyang, worrying that the Crown Prince’s recent actions in apprehending the Mapo ferry Dochukji group were unusual, and that His Majesty, who used to summon him every three or four days to entrust him with tasks like creating letters and publishing Buddhist scriptures, had not called for him at all.
“However, His Majesty is instead calling his sister, Princess Jeongui, to the Palace every day, and what is she doing with that maid upon whom His Highness bestowed Royal Favor? And then, after that, he calls his sister to Cheonsu Hall to discuss something else. Perhaps he intends to use that maid and Princess Jeongui instead of his brother, who is busy with state affairs, to create new letters…”
For our Lord, who cannot participate in state affairs, the reason he has been able to gather power is entirely because His Majesty has entrusted him with tasks that are difficult for eunuchs or other officials to handle.
Because His Majesty entrusted him with the task of conveying Royal Orders, like a Royal Secretary, court officials and powerful families believe that our Lord also holds the Royal Intention, and even wealthy individuals who seek great profit while avoiding the eyes of the stern King are all planning for the future with our Lady Yun’s family. If this period of not being summoned continues, that trust will waver, and the foundation of the great endeavor we are painstakingly building could shake from its roots!
Before entering Hong Seung-hwi’s pavilion, Lady Yun pushed Jo Jeon-eon, who was about to enter with her.
“You go and remove all potentially problematic things. When cutting, you must cut decisively so that there is an opportunity to plant something strong again later.”
“Yes, Madam. I will handle it as if it died on its own.”
Jo Jeon-eon turned and entered the East Palace.
“Maternal Aunt, I, how could I do such a tremendous thing? I, I cannot. I cannot.”
Hong Seung-hwi, who had burst into the pavilion and was holding the silk pouch stolen from the secret compartment within the maid Gwonga’s Writing Desk, trembled and shook her head, refusing Lady Yun’s command to go to His Majesty and report that Gwonga was endangering the Grandson with evil Sorcery.
“I, I have never properly seen His Majesty’s Visage…”
“Sigh. Then this is your chance to properly show His Majesty your worth. Remember when His Highness the Crown Prince cherished you so much that he said he wanted to elevate you as Crown Princess in place of the deceased Lady Gwon? Until then, His Majesty the King had never properly seen you, which is why he only appointed Lady Gwon, who gave birth to Lord of Pyeongchang, as Consort, isn’t it?”
“Th-that may be so, but…”
“So, my niece. Look. You have already proven your reproductive ability by giving birth to our Geum-a so beautifully, and moreover, if His Majesty knows that you are so devoted to the Royal Family and the Grandson, won’t he give you the vacant position of Crown Princess? What if that Monster Gwonga unexpectedly becomes pregnant! Then you will never have the chance to become Crown Princess!”
“W-will that happen?”
“Of course. Weren’t you the de facto mistress of the East Palace until now? It is a natural duty and authority for the head of the Inner Palace of the East Palace to observe the movements of His Highness’s Concubines and Palace Ladies. So, do not be afraid and go report to His Majesty. If you report to His Highness the Crown Prince, he is blinded by Gwonga and will try to bury this matter. Therefore, you must report to His Majesty and earn merit.”
Having been brought into the Palace as a child and confined to a small pavilion, living only for the love of His Highness the Crown Prince, Hong Seung-hwi could only believe the words of her Maternal Aunt, Lady Yun, who had generously supported all her needs for beautiful adornments.
“Yes, Aunt. The newly arrived Concubines are also as beautiful as flowers, and Gwonga bewitching His Highness must be due to that evil Sorcery. For our Highness’s sake, I will definitely set this right!”
“Yes, earn significant merit this time and properly assist His Highness.”
“Yes, Aunt. I will go to Cheonsu Hall to see His Majesty right away.”
Hong Seung-hwi quickly adorned herself, clutched the silk pouch tightly, and went to Cheonsu Hall.
“Who requested an audience?”
King Sejong, who was reading the draft of the Book of Rites, which Princess Jeongui had calmly reorganized because the handwriting was so illegible, asked irritably at the sudden interruption.
“If it is Hong Seung-hwi from the East Palace, she should go to the Crown Prince. Why is she looking for me?”
“It is a matter of utmost importance, so she says she must report directly to Your Majesty.”
A eunuch reported cautiously from outside.
King Sejong grunted, glanced regretfully at the draft again, and reluctantly moved his feet.
King Sejong appeared on the main hall and saw Hong Seung-hwi prostrate below the steps.
“Report.”
“Your, Your, Your, in the East Palace, one maid…”
“Sigh! Don’t tremble! The maid Gwonga from the East Palace, even when threatened with death, opens her eyes wide and says whatever she wants, but you, as a Concubine. Tsk!”
“It is, it is precisely that Gwonga, Your Majesty. She is a Monster who practices wicked Sorcery.”
When the maid Gwonga’s name came from His Majesty’s lips, Hong Seung-hwi, spurred by pride, managed to articulate the words she intended to speak with all her might.
“What are you saying? Report properly.”
Hong Seung-hwi stammered, but with the sole intention of removing Gwonga from the Crown Prince’s side, she finally managed to report that Gwonga practiced wicked Sorcery, hid a silk pouch containing paper with a Curse on it in the Grandson’s room, and that after His Highness bestowed Royal Favor once, he grew weary and distant, so she sent papers with spells to entice His Highness several times a day to Bihyeon Pavilion, and also,
“And also, where she got the money from, they bought three or four large shops on Unjong Street, selling strange things. Everything is strange, so please, with your bright wisdom, illuminate this matter.”
Having spoken with all the courage she had accumulated since birth and presented the silk pouch, Hong Seung-hwi collapsed from exhaustion.
“Ha!”
Seeing her state, King Sejong once again realized how formidable Gwonga was, ordered her to be taken back to her residence, and re-entered Cheonsu Hall.
Inside the silk pouch were torn pieces of paper.
They were torn so finely that even with his increasingly dimming eyes, it was impossible to piece even a few of them together.
“Cheon-ga.”
King Sejong beckoned to the deaf and mute Royal Lady Cheon, who always stayed by his side, almost imperceptibly, and nimbly handled many tasks.
Seeing the scattered pieces of paper on the desk, the sharp-witted Royal Lady nodded and held up five fingers.
It meant that it would take five days to piece them together and restore them.
“Good. Even if not perfectly, piece them together so that we can roughly understand what is written.”
Consort Cheon, who read lips, nodded confidently again.
After Consort Cheon swept the torn paper pieces back into the pouch and returned to her place, King Sejong examined the contents of what Hong Seung-hwi had reported one by one.
‘She is not a sorcerer. If one could gain so much knowledge through magic, the country would use magic.’
It is not Sorcery either.
If one could recall the contents written in the draft of the Book of Rites through Sorcery, then the Sungkyunkwan would have to be demolished and a sorcerer training institute built there.
As he read the draft of the Book of Rites, King Sejong had suspected that Gwonga actually knew much more and was deliberately revealing only a part of it.
This is because, for theory to manifest as a systematized outcome, one must study broadly in related fields and then select and arrange only those things that can be logically ordered.
He himself knew this precisely because he had learned the Chinese Four Sages and the Seven Tones theory, Sanskrit from the distant West, our own Idu, the movement of the tongue when producing sounds, the shape of the mouth and lips, and so on, and then created new characters.
“Then, what could be written on the paper that Gwonga sends to Hyangyi every day?”
It was too bold for Gwonga to be writing Love Letters.
If she had time to write such things, she would have gone directly and thrown herself at him with her beautiful body.
King Sejong, who knew many women, was certain that Gwonga was not the type of woman to send a gentle Love Letter.
“Then what is our Gwonga actually! Is she perhaps sending such novel content as this Book of Rites only to Hyangyi!”
As his thoughts reached this point, the knowledge-obsessed King Sejong became unbearably curious about the content of that paper.
However, no matter how much of a King he was, it was not appropriate for a father to ask his son, the Crown Prince, who was even acting as regent, “Father is curious, could I see the paper your woman sent?”
After seeing what was written on that paper, he would find a way!
King Sejong firmly decided to wait for five days.
\\\
After teaching the Queen basic knowledge on how to breathe and move her eyeballs to escape when completely caught in past pain, and sending soap that she could wash with pleasantly via Park Sanggung, Yunseo returned to the East Palace holding Hongwi’s hand.
The East Palace was in an uproar.
“You, what were you hiding by tearing off the top of the Seoondol Seated Person’s Writing Desk?”
As soon as they stood in the courtyard, Madam Eom approached quickly and asked.
“Lady Choi, the maid, left a suicide note confessing that she had kept a note with evil Sorcery that harms the Grandson in a silk pouch and offered it to Hong Seung-hwi. Hong Seung-hwi has already presented that pouch to His Majesty.”
“What?”
When Yunseo asked in surprise, Madam Eom rebuked Yunseo with a frightening face she had never seen before.
“If you had something like that, you should have burned it. Why?”
“But lighting fires is strictly forbidden in the Palace, and I was worried that burning it would make them more suspicious… What will His Majesty do with those torn paper pieces? They are so finely torn that they are impossible to decipher.”
“Ha! Still, you should have found a way to burn it. If anything, you should have asked me to handle it.”
“…It is absolutely not Sorcery.”
It was not Sorcery, but the content that King Sejong, the monarch of an absolute monarchy in the 15th century, might not think well of. He was a man who declared he would kill anyone who harmed his sons, so if he wanted to find fault with what Yunseo wrote, he would.
What if King Sejong saw the modern liberal democratic words like ‘Freedom,’ ‘Equality,’ ‘Conditions of life dependent on the goodwill of the powerful,’ and ‘Dignity,’ and most importantly, the content about ‘Escape’!
Ah, what else was there?
Yunseo wrinkled her nose and looked at Madam Eom with a worried expression.
“Will they be able to restore it?”
“Consort Cheon of Cheonsu Hall can do almost anything. If His Majesty ordered it, she will restore it somehow. You, it is certain it is not Sorcery, right?”
“Yes… it is not Sorcery!”
“Sigh… You, who have become cautious in everything lately, how could you miss something like this? Sigh, let’s go see His Highness and tell him the details. Follow me.”
Madam Eom dragged Yunseo to Bihyeon Pavilion.
The atmosphere was ominous.
The red sunset raged in the sky.
