“The Soseo….” Before he knew it, the words had slipped out. The Crown Prince tilted his head. “It resembles the divine beast in the Soseo painting.” The Crown Prince’s brows rose slightly at the unexpected remark. Just as Hui-seo, flustered, wondered if he had said something wrong, the Crown Prince burst into bright laughter.
“Haha. To be likened to the divine beast—you flatter me.” The Crown Prince’s laughter was utterly unrestrained, and Hui-seo’s face burned crimson. Even knowing it was laughter of delight rather than mockery, he could not stop his ears from flushing. It was the first time he had seen the Crown Prince laugh like that.
“You like that painting a great deal, don’t you?” When Hui-seo nodded, the Crown Prince’s gaze softened. “You must like me a great deal too, then.” At that, Hui-seo’s face grew hotter still, and he could only nod.
“How honest.” The Crown Prince chuckled, then rose and approached the Soseo painting hanging on one wall of the study. Hui-seo’s gaze followed him. “They say this painting was drawn by the brush of the founding ancestor. The divine beast within it is said to be the guardian deity of our Je clan.”
“Then is it true, Your Highness, that you can command the divine beast?” Hui-seo asked, then instantly regretted it—he had asked the Crown Prince this once before. But the Crown Prince only smiled, as he had then. “I told you, I have no such talent.” When Hui-seo’s shoulders slumped, the Crown Prince added, “But they say that when the dynasty is in peril, the divine beast lends its strength to the Je clan’s blood.”
“When the dynasty is in peril….” Hui-seo echoed the words, gazing at the painting. The divine beast in the painting stared back at him with fierce eyes. For some reason, he felt as though it were looking at him alone.
“Hui-seo.” At the Crown Prince’s call, Hui-seo turned. The Crown Prince was watching him with an unreadable expression. “Do you know why I summoned you today?” Hui-seo shook his head. The Crown Prince was silent for a moment, then spoke. “I have something to tell you.”
Hui-seo’s heart pounded. The Crown Prince’s expression was more serious than he had ever seen it. “What is it, Your Highness?” The Crown Prince looked at him for a long moment, then said quietly, “Your brother has requested to take you back to Anseo.”
Hui-seo’s eyes widened. “Brother…?” The Crown Prince nodded. “Munhak has formally petitioned to escort you home. He says your grandfather’s health is failing, and that you have been in the capital long enough.” Hui-seo’s mind went blank. Go back to Anseo? Leave the capital? Leave the Crown Prince? “I… I don’t want to go.” The words burst out before he could stop them. The Crown Prince’s eyes softened. “I know.” He stepped closer, until he stood directly before Hui-seo. “That is why I called you here. To ask what you wish.”
Hui-seo looked up at him, his heart hammering against his ribs. “What I wish…?” The Crown Prince nodded. “If you wish to remain in the capital, I will refuse his petition. If you wish to return to Anseo, I will let you go.” Hui-seo stared at him, stunned. That the Crown Prince would ask his wish—that he would grant it, whatever it was—
“I want to stay.” Hui-seo’s voice trembled. “I want to stay by Your Highness’s side.” The Crown Prince gazed down at him, and slowly, a smile spread across his face. “Then stay.” He reached out and gently brushed Hui-seo’s cheek. “Stay by my side, Irang.”
Hui-seo’s breath caught. The Crown Prince’s hand was warm against his skin. “Your Highness….” The Crown Prince leaned down, his face drawing near, until Hui-seo could feel his breath. And then—
“Young master! Young master!” A sharp voice shattered the moment. Hui-seo jolted awake. He was still in the study, slumped in his chair, and Choi Sanggong was shaking his shoulder. “Young master, you must wake up. His Highness has arrived.” Hui-seo sat bolt upright, his face burning. It had been a dream. All of it—a dream.
But the warmth on his cheek lingered, and when he touched it, his fingers came away damp. He had been crying in his sleep. “Are you unwell, young master?” Choi Sanggong asked, concerned. Hui-seo shook his head quickly. “N-no. I’m fine.” But his heart was still pounding, and the dream clung to him like mist.
The lattice door slid open, and the Crown Prince entered. “I heard you were waiting,” he said, his gaze falling on Hui-seo. “Have you been well?” Hui-seo could not meet his eyes. The dream was too vivid, too real. “Y-yes, Your Highness.” The Crown Prince studied him for a moment, then smiled faintly. “You look flushed. Are you feverish?” He stepped closer and pressed the back of his hand to Hui-seo’s forehead. Hui-seo froze. The touch was just like in the dream.
“No fever,” the Crown Prince murmured, withdrawing his hand. “Good.” He settled into the seat of honor. “Shall we play a game?” Hui-seo nodded mutely, still dazed. As Choi Sanggong set the go board between them, Hui-seo tried to steady his breathing. It was only a dream. Only a dream.
But when the Crown Prince looked up at him over the board and smiled—that same gentle smile from the dream—Hui-seo’s heart lurched. “Your move, Irang.” Hui-seo picked up a stone with trembling fingers and placed it on the board.
They played in silence for a while, the only sound the soft click of stones. Then the Crown Prince spoke. “Hui-seo. Your brother came to see me today.” Hui-seo’s hand stilled. “Brother…?” “Munhak formally requested to take you back to Anseo.” The words from the dream echoed in his ears. Hui-seo stared at the Crown Prince, his blood turning to ice. “He says your grandfather’s health is failing.” The Crown Prince’s gaze was steady. “What do you wish to do?”
Hui-seo could not speak. The dream and reality were blurring, tangling together. “I…” His voice failed him. The Crown Prince waited patiently. “Take your time,” he said gently. “There is no hurry.”
But there was hurry—Hui-seo could feel it in the frantic beating of his heart. If he said he wanted to stay, would the Crown Prince smile that smile again? Would he reach out and touch his cheek? Would he lean down—
“Your Highness.” Hui-seo forced the words out. “May I… may I think on it?” The Crown Prince nodded. “Of course.” But his eyes held a flicker of something—disappointment?—before it vanished.
They finished the game in silence. Hui-seo lost, as always, but the Crown Prince praised his improvement. As Hui-seo rose to leave, the Crown Prince called after him. “Hui-seo.” Hui-seo turned. “Whatever you decide, know that my door is always open to you.” Hui-seo bowed deeply, his throat tight, and fled.
Outside, the rain had begun to fall. Hui-seo stood under the eaves, watching the drops patter against the stones. He did not know how long he stood there before a voice called his name. “Hui-seo!” It was his grandfather. The old man hurried toward him through the rain, his face stern. “What are you doing standing in the rain? Come along at once.” He seized Hui-seo’s wrist and pulled him under the shelter of his umbrella.
“Grandfather….” Hui-seo looked up at him, rain streaming down his face—or were they tears? His grandfather’s grip was firm, unyielding. “We’re going home, Hui-seo.” It was not a request. It was a command.
And Hui-seo, with the Crown Prince’s words still ringing in his ears—”Whatever you decide”—could only follow, his heart breaking with every step.
The brazier Hui-seo had been holding was slowly losing its shape.
“There is a pond in Anseo as well. Whenever I tried it myself, Grandfather would scold me for stirring up the mud and take me away.”
Standing in the light from beyond the windows, color returned to his face.
“At times like that, it was my brother who rowed…”
“And just then the sky flashed…”
“…”
A thunderbolt crashed down with a roar.
Before he knew it, Hui-seo dropped his cup. The tumbling cup shattered with a sharp crack.
“Ah….”
Flustered, Hui-seo reached out his hand.
“Irang.”
The Crown Prince, who had been watching even as the cup shattered, only now called out, as Hui-seo reached with his bare hand for the shards.
Hui-seo, his face mottled with fear and confusion, did not catch the words and reached for the fragments — but before his hand could touch them, a hand stopped him.
“Young master.”
Head Eunuch Won, who had been standing far off, had come up behind him at some point and restrained him.
“Step back. You’ll hurt yourself.”
Only then did Hui-seo draw his hand back. He hid his finely trembling hand within his sleeve.
“Irang.”
This time the Crown Prince’s summons reached him. Hui-seo nodded his trembling head.
“Come here.”
Perhaps he meant that Hui-seo sitting there was hindering the clearing of the shards.
After a moment’s hesitation, before the Crown Prince could beckon again, he rose. In the meantime another rumble of thunder sounded.
With the windows left open it sounded all the louder. Biting his lip hard, Hui-seo feigned calm and went to sit beside the Crown Prince.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“…No. Forgive me. My hand slipped… you must have been startled.”
Fortunately his voice did not tremble. Though a little more subdued than before, it only sounded as if he were embarrassed at having broken a cup before the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince looked at Hui-seo searchingly. Hui-seo dodged that gaze this way and that, yet at the same time could not stop meeting it.
“Won Yu-sang.”
The Crown Prince, who had been studying Hui-seo at length, at last gestured toward the head eunuch.
“What are you doing? Close and bar the windows before the rain blows in.”
Catching the Crown Prince’s meaning, at Head Eunuch Won’s order the palace attendants hastily shut every window, then withdrew walking backward.
Though the thunder was unabated, with the windows all shut the sound had grown faint.
“You really are a handful.”
“Forgive….”
The mortification of having his inner feelings seen through was brief.
“But it isn’t so bad.”
His whispered words were tinged with laughter. But Hui-seo could not hear what followed, for before he finished speaking, he reached out and covered Hui-seo’s ears.
“Your—” was all he caught….
But there was no leisure to wonder further. The warmth of the large hand covering his ears, and those abyss-like eyes holding him wholly, stole away all his senses.
“….”
Held in that warmth, gazing into those eyes, the sounds of the world were erased.
Neither the scattering sound of rain nor the raucous thunder reached him.
All he heard was the sound of a heartbeat.
***
Leave a Reply