Hui-seo hated thunderstorms.
Rain pouring down through the dark night, the window lattices rattling in the wind, the light flashing beyond the windows — even the raucous thunder that seemed to shake heaven and earth…
…it recalled the absence of the brother who used to soothe his terrified little brother through the deep night, and the hours he had had to endure alone.
Year after year, it always sent Hui-seo back to that rainy night — the first he had faced after sending Hui-won away.
As a child, not wanting anyone to see him like this, he would sometimes shut himself in his room, pull the blanket over his head, and wait for time to pass; but at some point he learned the knack of hiding it. No one — not even Hui-won, the quickest to notice any change in him — had ever known that Hui-seo feared the sound of thunder.
They had never known. Never once.
And yet,
"…."
Hui-seo, who had been dawdling buried in his brocade quilt, at last threw it off and went out.
Unlike a few days before, the sky was a vivid blue with fluffy white clouds drifting, and the wind brushing his cheeks had grown a little warmer in the meantime — as if the raucous spring rain had passed and full spring had come.
He pushed through the spring-soft wind, turning his steps this way and that with no direction.
He had come out meaning to think of nothing, but it was little use. His thoughts still led back to the Crown Prince.
Covering his ears had, in truth, been a trifling thing. Hadn't Hui-won done the same for little Hui-seo whenever the thunder kept him from sleep?
But paradoxically, because no one besides Hui-won had ever shown him such attention, it was special too.
"…."
"You said being a handful wasn't so bad…."
Recalling his words, Hui-seo fiddled with the ear his hand had touched. Though the Crown Prince's warmth could not possibly still linger, for some reason he felt flushed.
Feeling oddly feverish, Hui-seo — who had been tapping the ground with his toe — stopped at the cheerful voice from behind him.
"Sister-in-law."
"And…."
"…Grandfather."
Hui-seo belatedly bowed his head slightly.
"Are you feeling better now?"
His sister-in-law, Seo Seol-yeong, looked him over with a gaze full of worry.
Partly from the shock, but perhaps also because the wind and rain had been chilly, he had developed a fever the night he returned from the palace. Having spent several days recuperating in his quarters, Hui-seo nodded.
"Yes. I'm much better."
The slight fever, of course, had broken after a single night. Using it as an excuse, Hui-seo — who hadn't stirred from his room for days — with a slightly sheepish face could only straighten his clothes.
"That's a relief. My husband was very worried. Of course, I was too."
"I feel I have no face to show you, Sister-in-law, having caused you needless worry…."
It was already hard enough facing Hui-won, who looked in on him morning and evening with such concern; with his sister-in-law worried too, his conscience pricked.
"Don't say such things."
As if to say she felt kept at a distance, she showed a hurt expression.
"I want us to be close…."
"I… I mean, I want to be close with you too, Sister-in-law."
"Do you really mean that?"
Hui-seo quickly nodded. At that, as if she had never been hurt, she wiped the expression clean and smiled.
"Well then, now that you're recovered, I suppose you'll be going to see His Highness again."
"Ah."
Before he could even catch his breath, Seol-yeong mentioned the Crown Prince without hesitation.
"Seeing as he even sent fine herbs good for colds yesterday, His Highness must have been quite worried. He'll be most pleased to hear you've shaken it off and risen."
The moment the person in question was mentioned — he who had made Hui-seo cling to his excuse though he hadn't been seriously ill, and who had driven him to spring from his seat and come out today — Hui-seo lowered his gaze without realizing.
If he did not, he feared his agitation would be plain to see.
The warmth that had covered his ears, the gaze that had made even sound die away — they rose in his mind again.
"…The two of you were out for a stroll together, I see."
The moment it came to mind, his heart grew unsettled. Clenching and unclenching his fists for no reason, at a loss, Hui-seo watched the other's face. Fortunately Seol-yeong, noticing nothing strange, only looked curious.
"And you know," she said, lowering her voice — which only made him listen more closely.
"It seems Grandfather, too, worried about you, often looks in on where you're staying, Hui-seo-nim."
His gaze drifted absently to his grandfather.
Lost in deep thought, gazing vacantly at Hui-seo, he murmured someone's name like a sigh.
"Sang-hui."
That is — his mother's name; the name of the woman who had also been his grandfather's daughter.
Hui-seo clenched his fists without realizing. His nails dug into his palms.
"Isn't that right, Grandfather?"
Not having heard his murmur, Seol-yeong asked with a smiling face for his agreement.
"What nonsense you talk."
Only then composing his expression, his grandfather spoke, crinkling his lined eyes as if nothing had happened.
"Oh my, I only said what I saw and felt. Are you just embarrassed?"
Despite his response — warm one moment, utterly cold the next — Seol-yeong never shrank back, growing only more affectionate.
"Hmph."
His grandfather turned his head away.
"Sister-in-law, if it's all right, may I join the two of you on your stroll?"
Hui-seo, who had been reading their faces, stepped forward with deliberately warm familiarity.
Try as she might not to show it, here — not where she had lived all her life — everything must feel strange and difficult. Careful as ever, he saw no reason to show any friction and make her uncomfortable.
Seol-yeong was as good as he had hoped — perhaps even better than he had hoped.
He wished for her to live happily with his brother, and it was utterly sincere.
"If it's you, Hui-seo-nim, you're most welcome."
Pretending, fortunately, to have noticed nothing, she gestured toward his grandfather.
"…Will you be all right?"
Unable to withstand her meaningful gaze, he asked Hui-seo.
It sounded like concern, but to gauge his grandfather's true feelings, it was closer to distrust. It had not been long since the new member joined the family; no doubt he found it unseemly for a brother-in-law to go drooping about.
"Yes. If only to show you both that I've recovered, I must join the stroll."
Hui-seo, pretending not to notice his intention, acted all the more affectionately.
"…Very well."
His grandfather, still looking at him with disapproval, seeing Hui-seo act unlike his usual self, moved his lips as if to speak, then merely tossed out a rough word and clamped his mouth shut.
"Shall we go, then?"
Seol-yeong urged them on with a smile.
His grandfather, who had been steeped in silence, took the first step, and Hui-seo followed.
The time spent with the two of them stretched longer than expected. While they walked, more medicinal herbs arrived from the palace, and with the time coming to receive the attendant who brought them, they somehow ended up sharing a meal as well.
Quite apart from being on good terms with the royal family, theirs was not a relationship free of reserve.
With his grandfather also there, he had inwardly grown weary and meant to slip away, but Seol-yeong insisted that, things being as they were, they share conversation together, and so even that came to nothing.
In the end, lingering over tea and chatting of this and that, before he knew it it was time for Hui-won to leave office.
Hui-won, returning, showed a momentarily surprised expression at finding the three of them together, but soon wiped it away with a smile.
"You really are better now, I see."
Before Hui-seo could feel the prick of conscience watching him lightly ruffle his hair, his grandfather — saying he should rest now — rose, and thanks to him Hui-seo too could return to his quarters. With all her attention now fixed on Hui-won, Seol-yeong no longer tried to detain him either.
Only once inside his room did Hui-seo breathe easy; gazing with drowsy eyes at the sunset spreading red beyond the lattice, brush in hand, at some point he dozed off without realizing.
"Young master, a letter for you."
What woke the dozing Hui-seo was an unfamiliar man's voice calling him, tapping at the door.
"…A letter?"
Still half-asleep, repeating the words, Hui-seo forced open his heavily drooping eyes and looked around.
Surely just moments ago the room had been all red as rouge with the seeping sunset. Yet now it had grown dark, with only the lamp glowing dimly.
He had only closed his eyes in sleep and opened them, yet time had leapt forward.
Blinking dazedly, Hui-seo belatedly recalled the call about the letter and raised his voice toward outside.
"Yes, come in."
He had answered first, but then — had there really been a letter?
No — more than that, the voice was unfamiliar.
Even counting those his sister-in-law had brought with her, there were not even ten servants, and he knew every one of their faces — which made it all the stranger.
Had he heard it in his sleep? His question would be answered once he saw the person, so he waited for the door to open, but—
All was quiet.
"Hm?"
Perhaps he hadn't heard.
"You may come in…."
Rising to rouse his still-muzzy mind, Hui-seo opened the door and lost his words.
As if the voice that had knocked were now a hallucination, there was not even a shadow in the passing wind. Only the sound of wind brushing through the trees reached him.
He couldn't have misheard. Tilting his head, Hui-seo stepped over the threshold, then halted at the strange sensation under his foot and lowered his gaze.
It was a letter.
And one with no sender written on it.
Countless questions rose — who had sent it, who had delivered it, whether he might open it — but he answered them by clutching the letter. After looking around once more, Hui-seo opened the sealed letter.
"Now what…."
Hui-seo muttered, clutching the letter tight. Neither recipient nor sender was written, but the fluid yet sharp handwriting was unchanged.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the written characters had not changed.
Moving his lips, Hui-seo snapped fully awake and set down his brush.
It was already dark, but his quarters — by Hui-won's arrangement — stood in a quiet, unfrequented spot, so he met no one on his way out.
At length reaching the main gate, Hui-seo looked around, then quietly pulled the door handle. The creak of the hinges sounded unnaturally loud, making him flinch — and then he heard the sound of someone stifling a small laugh.
"Anyone seeing this would take me for a delinquent sneaking out to meet a village girl in secret."
Turning toward the sound, his eyes met someone leaning against the wall.
"Hello, you."
It was the Crown Prince.
He had sometimes glimpsed the Crown Prince's handwriting while spending time together. So recognizing the letter's handwriting as the Crown Prince's had not been difficult.
"Y-Your Highness…!"
Though he had guessed, facing him in the flesh was another matter, and Hui-seo could not hide his discomfiture.
"Shh, quietly."
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