Chapter 57
57 Grand Prince Jinseong
Near the Yalu River.
The border area between Joseon and Ming China.
On that barren and desolate land, over a dozen corpses lay scattered in pools of blood.
Among them, a man barely clinging to life gasped for breath and raised his head.
A man stood before him.
In his hand, he held a broad Chinese chef's knife, a vegetable knife.
It was Dang Baek-ryong, a chef from Sichuan.
"Did the eunuch order you to do this? To take my head?"
"...S-spare me. I was just following orders."
Dang Baek-ryong's eyes were cold as he looked down at the blood-soaked man.
On his way back to Ming China.
He had suspected it all along. That Liu Jin would use the Eastern Depot, which he used like his private army, to attack him.
Having witnessed the cooking competition in Joseon and its outcome, he must have wanted to silence him.
But who was Dang Baek-ryong?
Even though he wielded a Caidao instead of a sword, the blood of the Sichuan Dang Clan flowed through his veins.
Moreover, he never neglected his training, whether it was cooking or martial arts.
"Go to the afterlife and argue with the eunuch. He'll be joining you there soon enough."
"W-wait... Keuk!"
With a final, choked gasp, the man's body went limp in an instant.
He had no intention of letting him live anyway.
They had lost more than half of their brothers in the attack, so they had to pay the price.
"S-Senior, are you going to be alright? Those were men sent by the government..."
"It was bound to happen eventually. If we didn't do this, we would have died. I'm going to disappear, so all of you scatter and find your own way to survive."
"Then... where are you planning to go, Senior...?"
Unlike the ashen faces of his assistant chefs, Dang Baek-ryong's eyes shone calmly.
No, it would be more accurate to say they were the eyes of a hunter who had found new prey.
"I still have something to do..."
Had he foreseen this from the beginning?
"I'm going back to Joseon."
* * *
"You've come a long way to get here."
"N-no, Your Majesty."
Yeonsangun seemed genuinely pleased to see Grand Prince Jinseong.
"You're starting to look like a man. When did you grow up so much?"
He even pinched and shook Grand Prince Jinseong's cheeks as if he were a child.
"You were so cute when you were little."
"Ah! B-Brother. No, Your Majesty. It hurts."
"It feels like only yesterday that you were trailing after me, sniffling and wiping your nose."
"P-please let go."
The boy whose cheeks were being pinched and who was struggling to get free was Grand Prince Jinseong, who would later take the throne after Yeonsangun was deposed.
The future 'King Jungjong'.
'He seems too harmless for that...'
At a glance, the two were clearly different in personality.
Unlike Yeonsangun, who was arrogant, unrestrained, and self-willed in everything he did, Grand Prince Jinseong had the impression of a well-bred young master raised in a greenhouse.
But even though their appearances and personalities might be different, the bond between them didn't seem shallow.
"The two of them have known each other as brothers for a long time."
As if guessing Ji-young's thoughts, Im Soong-jae, who had approached her side, whispered subtly.
"That's why His Majesty cherishes Grand Prince Jinseong so much."
Sungjae didn't elaborate further, but Ji-young, being a modern person, could roughly guess what was hidden behind those words.
Yeonsangun's 'secret of birth'.
In other words, the story of his birth mother, 'Deposed Queen Yun'.
It was said that Yeonsangun learned about Deposed Queen Yun for the first time in the first year of his reign.
He had come across an unfamiliar name while organizing the epitaphs of the late King.
After persistently questioning the Royal Secretaries, he found out.
That his birth mother had committed the crime of lese-majesty, been deposed, and given a death sentence.
Deposed Queen Yun.
A woman from a humble family, who lived in poverty with her widowed mother, weaving cloth to make a living.
But her beauty was said to be astonishingly outstanding.
So beautiful that her mere presence made the surroundings feel cool.
Yun entered the palace as a concubine of the late King, who had no children with the Royal Consort, and soon became pregnant.
'...That was Yeonsangun.'
From the day she gave birth to the firstborn son, she thought that only good things would happen to her.
But.
People said she had a mental illness.
That she envied, hated, and cursed the other concubines. That she always carried poison and shamanic dolls with her.
In the end, unable to control her anger, she went mad and scratched the King's face with her fingernails.
Whether all these stories were true or not, no one knew.
However, one thing was certain: the woman of cool beauty who gave birth to Yeonsangun was stripped of her status and cast out of the palace.
And not long after, she was given a death sentence and ended her life full of resentment.
Her tomb didn't even have a tombstone.
The royal family tried to erase the existence of the Deposed Queen itself.
As if she had never existed in the first place.
Even mentioning her name was taboo, so Yeonsangun had no choice but to grow up without knowing his birth mother.
According to records, Yeonsangun didn't eat his meal that day when he accidentally learned all these facts.
He was only nineteen years old. How shocking it must have been.
Yeonsangun later became curious about what Deposed Queen Yun looked like and asked an old courtier.
The answer he received was simple and clear.
'Look in the mirror, Your Majesty.'
Yeonsangun was the spitting image of his mother.
So, how great must have been the sense of loss he felt every time he saw his face reflected in the mirror?
But what Yeonsangun felt he had lost at that time was not only his birth mother.
'...He must have felt like he had lost even his own brother.Grand Prince Jinseong Yi Yeok, whom he had considered his own brother.
The sense of loss he felt when he learned that he was actually his half-brother must have been significant.
The fact that he tried so hard to be affectionate might have been because of that.
The boy whom he had once regarded as a true blood relative and with whom he had shared his innermost feelings.
He was almost the only person with whom Yeonsangun could share his feelings.
"Come and sit down. I have prepared some amazing food. You've been interested in cooking since you were young, haven't you?"
"That's true, but... what is this smell?"
Perhaps his gourmet tendencies came from his paternal genes.
Grand Prince Jinseong sniffed and looked around from side to side, just like his half-brother.
Ji-young slowly approached and opened the lid of the tray placed on the table.
A savory aroma spread around in an instant.
It is a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, jujubes, chestnuts, astragalus, and ginseng, coated with soy milk butter on the surface, and cooked in a specially made convection oven."
Of course, she had not forgotten to prepare a sauce to go with it.
"And this is a seasoning made by grinding mustard seeds and mixing them with salt, pepper, and vinegar."
It was an application of the 'Dijon mustard' manufacturing method, a specialty sauce from the Burgundy region of France.
So, today's menu was.
[Samgye Rotisserie Chicken using an Air Fryer and Joseon-style Dijon Mustard Sauce]
Grand Prince Jinseong's eyes widened at the sight of it, which he had never seen before.
"How can there be such a dish in the world...!"
"Come on, try it."
Yeonsangun generously tore off a chicken leg and handed it to him.
Grand Prince Jinseong took the steaming, moistly roasted chicken leg, dipped it lightly in the mustard sauce, and took a bite.
He had barely chewed a few times when a low moan escaped his lips.
"Keu-oh-oh?"
The unique flavor of the mustard sauce, which combined a light acidity with a pungent, tingling taste.
Along with that, the taste of the golden-brown, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside chicken filled his mouth.
The savory taste of butter, the Maillard reaction that had properly occurred on the golden-brown skin, and the evenly moistly cooked flesh due to the convection heat.
The thrilling sensation of that instinctive dimension felt through the central nervous system.
"Oh, Your Majesty. It's, it's delicious!"
It must have been one of the most outstanding tastes he had experienced in his short life.
Yeonsangun also tore off the other leg and took a big bite.
Soon, a satisfied smile spread across his face as well.
"Indeed, the crispy, tender, and savory taste is the best in the world!"
The brothers Yeonsangun and Grand Prince Jinseong ate everything, even the contents of the chicken's belly, without leaving a single bite.
"Whew, that's a relief. They're eating so well... I was worried because Grand Prince Jinseong's complexion didn't look good, but he'll definitely feel better soon."
Chef Jeon laughed heartily and nodded at Jang-geum's sigh of relief.
"Since the two of them ate the chicken dish along with the ginseng inside, root and all, they'll surely be flying around this afternoon."
At those words, Ji-young also gave a light smile.
But why did she have a strangely ominous feeling?
'It must be my imagination.'
Ji-young shook her head, trying to shake off the feeling.
* * *
"Kkiryat!"
Two fine horses galloped, kicking up dust.
- Dudu-du
Ahead of them, a wild boar ran for its life, desperately fleeing.
Its body already had a couple of arrows stuck in it.
The military drill, which had been going on for two hours already, was in full swing.
"I will catch that one!Riding the horse in front was Yeonsangun, dressed in a splendid military uniform.
Perhaps it was because of the adrenaline pumping from the excitement of the hunt.
His sweaty face was filled with a smile of intoxication.
Yeonsangun gracefully drew back the bowstring.
"Now, watch closely!"
- Ping
The arrow, which flew like lightning, struck the ground next to the wild boar, kicking up dust.
"Tsk, it's still too far. I need to get closer."
Yeonsangun spurred his horse on even more fiercely, increasing his speed.
Grand Prince Jinseong was following closely behind, matching that speed.
But his face was ashen.
"Y-Your Majesty. Please go on ahead. I... I can't go any further."
"What are you talking about! We can catch it if we just go a little further!"
"..."
Grand Prince Jinseong's complexion became even paler, but Yeonsangun noticed that the wild boar's movements were rapidly slowing down.
"Now's the time!"
Yeonsangun didn't miss the opportunity and quickly took out an arrow from his quiver, placed it on the bowstring, and drew it back.
He stared intently, aimed calmly, and released the bowstring, scattering a sharp, resonant sound.
- Ping
And like being sucked in, the arrow accurately pierced the wild boar's neck.
- Puk
[Kku-eo-eok]
As the arrow pierced deep into the neck of the wild boar, which had been running wildly, a final, agonizing scream echoed, and its heavy body fell to the ground with a cloud of dust.
- Kung
Only then did Yeonsangun smile triumphantly and slow down the speed of his galloping horse.
"Khahahat, did you see that? My skills."
Yeonsangun turned his head with a smug look on his face.
It was a good opportunity to show off his excellent hunting skills to Grand Prince Jinseong to his heart's content.
But what came into Yeonsangun's eyes was not the admiring gaze he had expected.
Instead, he only saw his brother, with unfocused eyes and a deathly pale face, barely clinging to his horse.
Only then, worried, did Yeonsangun rush over and ask how he was.
"Huh? Yeok. What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"
"..."
But Grand Prince Jinseong remained silent, only sweating profusely with a pale face.
And the next moment.
- Thud
The sight of Grand Prince Jinseong, losing consciousness and falling from his horse like a puppet with its strings cut, came into view.
