CH 66

“Teacher, is there any necessary for you to go to Jeongan Palace? Even though I heard His Majesty often visits His Highness Yeonbin recently, he doesn’t spend the night with him.”

On the way back to the department office, the young student of Officer Jung couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked. Officer Jung, who walked in silence as though he was thinking about something, glanced at his student and then opened his mouth. 

“Do you think I go this far only to flatter His Highness Yeonbin?”

“You didn’t mean that? Then…”

“Tsk tsk… Listen well. See everything with your own eyes, then decide. People like us in particular, who seem to be walking on the cliff of a thousand roads in the Imperial Palace, should never get information only through the mouths of others when judging something.”

Saying that, Officer Jung recalled the image of Yeonbin that he saw a while ago. He had already heard a lot about Yeonbin’s change, but Yeonbin, whom he faced today, had a completely different atmosphere to the point where he wondered if it was right to simply express that he had changed.

When judging a concubine in the Imperial Palace, what should be considered as important as the emperor’s favoritism was the disposition possessed by that person. No matter how exceptional and favored the family was, if that concubine’s personality was weak and timid, there was a high probability that they would not be able to use all their powers properly.

On the contrary, even though they did not have much power right now, if a person was clever, ambitious, and had an eye to read the situation, they could stand up at any time, so if they were despised and neglected because they didn’t mean anything right away, it could be a big trouble later.

Therefore, the Department of the Internal Affairs, which did not have a very smooth relationship with Jeongan Palace, could not blindly ignore or believe that Yeonbin had changed. Furthermore, it became clear that even the emperor was treating Yeonbin differently now, so Officer Jung needed to see Yeonbin with his own eyes.

“This student was lacking in his learning. Then, Teacher… What did you think of His Highness Yeonbin today?”

Officer Jung’s gaze deepened once again at the question of the young eunuch. In his head, everything that he had looked at carefully since the moment he stepped into Jeongan Palace today was being organized one by one.

In the past, the courtiers, who had been very intimidated wherever they went that it was obvious that they were from Jeongan Palace, were proudly walking around inside Jeongan Palace with smiles on their faces. Ahjin, a court lady close to Yeonbin, looked at himself suspiciously as if she was trying to find out what he was up to, indicating that Jeongan Palace’s courtiers had already accepted Yeonbin’s change.

Yeonbin, who never treated the powerless eunuchs as human whenever the Department of the Internal Affairs came, greeted him with a polite attitude today, and his every word and gaze was so neat that it was far off the past Yeonbin, so he couldn’t think of it as just acting.

Officer Jung, who had been lost in thought for a while, soon opened his mouth quietly.

“… A very strong wind will blow.” 

“Pardon?”

“For the time being, you should tell me everything about Jeongan Palace and you must not deal with them with any shortages. Do you understand?” 

The young eunuch still wondered whether they should care so much about Jeongan Palace, but he couldn’t dare to complain about what his teacher was doing. It was a day when the face of the eunuch who answered while bowing down was full of questions.

***

As he read a report from the northwestern region, he suddenly recalled a face. When Yihan, flustered by the unexpected face, furrowed his forehead and looked up, Eunuch Oh, who was standing next to him, looked at the emperor with a curious look.

“Your Majesty, what’s wrong?”

“… It’s nothing.”

However, Yihan, who didn’t want to say who he just thought of, just shook his head and lowered his eyes again. The content of the report he was working on was regarding what the central government had been steadily taking interest in since last year; the public sentiment had not been shaken much even after the farm hardship period began in the northwest this year. 

Yihan focused on the report again. How the people were doing, how they were preparing for this season, and how the current situation in the area where there were signs of drought, was written in detail so that the emperor could see the situation as if he were watching it in front of his eyes.

But then suddenly someone came into his mind again. This time, it was not just a face that came to mind, but the gesture asking him to look at and take care of the people in a lower place came to mind as vividly as though he saw right in front of him. Yihan was so dumbfounded that he put down the report he was holding for a while and raised his hand to massage his forehead once.

“Is there anything bothering you, Your Majesty?” 

Eunuch Oh asked with a more concerned face this time. Yihan answered that question inside, ‘It’s uncomfortable, I’m so uncomfortable that I’m going crazy.’ He did so while only scowling at the air. 

It’s Yeon Hwawoon again. It’s him again. It was Yeon Hwawoon that was bothering him by constantly lingering in front of his eyes all the time.

He thought he had solved everything that bothered his heart. Yihan no longer tried to prove that Yeon Hwawoon had not changed, did not try to doubt it, and even fully acknowledged that Yeon Hwawoon had changed and even announced it to the person concerned. Nevertheless, he really had no idea why Yeon Hwawoon kept coming to mind. 

“Why…”

Yihan talked with a very displeased face. He was so frustrated that he wanted to ask someone, but he didn’t know what to call this feeling and what to ask. Annoying, bothersome, troubling, and displeasing. All of those words expressed Yihan’s feelings in a similar way, but he didn’t think they were the right words. 

“Why is he still…” 

So, it was something more finite than those words. A certain feeling softer than displeasing and annoying. A little more tender, a little more affectionate, a little more intimate. That kind of feeling.

Like, longing. 

“…!”

When he thought of it that far, his face burned up without him knowing. In an instant, his heart was pounding and his palms were sweaty. He felt ridiculous for associating the name of Yeon Hwawoon with the word ‘longing.’ But what was even more absurd was that as soon as he thought of the word, he felt satisfied as if the piece that had been misaligned was fixed.

Longing? I miss Yeon Hwawoon? The reason I am so distracted right now that I couldn’t focus at all is simply that I wanted to see Yeon Hwawoon? Impossible. This is absurd.

Yihan was a person who had never missed anyone in his life.

“No, no. That can’t be true.”

“Your Majesty…?”

With a curious look, Eunuch Oh looked at the emperor, who suddenly became serious himself, looked confused by himself, blushed by himself, and now was talking alone again. However, Yihan did not care about Eunuch Oh’s gaze and was shaking his head and controlling himself. 

I must be mistaken. He seemed to have mistaken other emotions for it because he never longed for someone before. Him longing for Yeon Hwawoon could never happen. To put it bluntly, Yihan could bring Yeon Hwawoon right in front of him if he wanted it right away, so why would he want to see such a person?

Yihan murmured several times that it was impossible, and tried to focus on the writing on the report he had put back in his hand. Yihan thought what he needed to see now was how the people lived, not Yeon Hwawoon, who looked at him with a lovely face, and then he corrected his thoughts again.

He took out the word ‘lovely.’ Anyway, he didn’t want to see someone named Yeon Hwawoon at all. 

***

“Woah…”

As if possessed by something, Seoseo opened her mouth and exclaimed with a dazed look. Ahjin, who was next to Seoseo, was not opening her mouth like her, but she also wore a touched gaze while clasping her hands tightly. Seoseo, who couldn’t hold back, opened her mouth with her eyes twinkling like starlight.

“Your Highness, it really suits you!”

“… You don’t need to say that.” 

When Hwawoon lowered his gaze slightly as if embarrassed with Seoseo’s compliment, Seoseo, who was melted even more because of that expression, let out her voice higher. 

“It really is! I’m telling the truth! You’re so beautiful that you’re shining, Your Highness!”

Hwawoon’s face blushed because of Seoseo’s words. 

The cause of this was the new clothes from the Department of Internal Affairs. Hwawoon only told her to accept those, but Seoseo, who held and quietly looked at the clothes which were pale and did not stand out at a glance, began to pester him to try the clothes to check if they fitted him. 

Even Ahjin, who usually would blame Seoseo for being mannerless, also attacked him with shining eyes, so Hwawoon, who couldn’t disregard them, wore the new clothes and stood before the two girls. 

The embroidery made of shiny white thread reflected the sunlight coming through the window as the embroidered outerwear created from the soft sky-blue fine fabric covered the pants appropriately. Although the shape was perfectly neat, colorful embroidery stood out every time he moved, so Ahjin and Seoseo couldn’t help but be excited about the clothes that were perfect for their master.