Je Hyeon-wi looked up from the memorial he had been reading at the piercing stare fixed on him.
"Is there something else you wish to say?"
At his question, the Emperor, who had been watching him with his chin in his hand, let his lips curve loosely.
"Are you not impatient, Crown Prince?"
At the mischief in his eyes, Je Hyeon-wi at once caught the Emperor's meaning.
Today was the day Woo Hui-seo received the investiture edict and entered the palace, and since he had heard the eunuch announce the hour of sa a while ago, Hui-seo would just now have entered the palace, barring anything untoward.
That Je Hyeon-wi, for love of Woo Hui-seo, had gone so far as to make him a concubine was hardly a secret in the palace.
'Father. I will take the Woo family's second son as a concubine, and the minister's daughter likewise — not as Crown Princess, but as a concubine.' What is more, the Emperor had himself taken part in it all, granting his plea — near to coercion — that he would not take Jeong Hye-eon as Crown Princess.
For a son who had never taken interest in anything to want something and ask for it was the first time in his life; it was only natural the Emperor showed uncommon interest.
In all likelihood, the Emperor believed, as the rumors had it, that Je Hyeon-wi held tender feelings for Woo Hui-seo.
"It is a private matter. How could I put it above affairs of state?"
Je Hyeon-wi said flatly.
For, to put the Emperor's imaginings to shame, there was nothing so soft as sentiment behind his taking in of Woo Hui-seo.
"I too am curious and long to see him, yet the Crown Prince himself is so cold."
At the manner, cold as ever, the Emperor clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"More to the point, judging by the memorial from the Governor of Yeonju, Jinwol's movements look suspicious — it would be well to look into it."
Rather than answer that, Je Hyeon-wi raised the memorial he had been reviewing in the Emperor's stead until moments before.
"Jinwol?"
He passed the memorial to the senior eunuch who came forward, and it soon reached the Emperor's hands.
While the Emperor perused it, Je Hyeon-wi slowly went back over what he had just read.
The memorial — reporting that Hwarim, and likewise Sohae and Bukjin, had of late markedly increased their exchanges — was in truth a matter that could be judged mere Jinwol posturing in foreign affairs, and passed over.
But it bore weighing that Hwarim was the greatest producer of fine iron, and that Sohae and Bukjin bordered the Empire.
Jinwol, Jinwol.
He rolled on his tongue the name of the small state that, in the reign of the former Emperor — famed as a conquering monarch — had lost part of its territory and willingly entered the fold as a vassal.
With the regency entrusted to the Crown Prince for reasons of health, were they dreaming of taking back lost lands through that unstable gap?
Unlike the former Emperor, the present Emperor's mild reign had already run ten years; no wonder they had forgotten the terror of those days.
"…Hmm."
The Emperor, having read the memorial through, let out a low sound.
"It is suspicious, true — but neither is it right to judge hastily. Let us first send a delegation to look into it."
The conclusion, reached after long deliberation with chin in hand, was, as ever, true to the Emperor's nature.
"Then I shall instruct the Ministry of Rites."
Suspicious movements aside, there was as yet no proof, so the decision could not be called wholly wrong — not that it could be called right, either.
"Indeed. The Crown Prince is so careful and thoughtful — this father is reassured."
The Emperor smiled with pleasure, then broke into a knowing cough. Deep weariness lay on the face of one who had spent more than two hours reviewing memorials and issuing rescripts.
"You look weary. You should retire and rest."
At Je Hyeon-wi's light gesture, the senior eunuch attending behind the Emperor withdrew to see to the bedchamber.
"The Crown Prince suffers much on my account."
Once the Emperor retired to lay his weary body down, looking through the remaining memorials would fall to the Crown Prince.
When the former Emperor passed and he himself ascended the throne, he had hoped the boy might rest at least a little — but as things stood, nothing had changed.
"It is nothing. My only fear is that your son's decisions might run counter to Father's wishes."
"………"
Whatever his heart, the Crown Prince stayed impassive throughout. Each time he beheld that face, empty of feeling's rise and fall, the Emperor ached for his son.
Born with a heaven-sent soul, he may have been promised the most honored seat of all — yet because of it, the child never knew his parents' care from the time he was a babe in arms.
'I shall, this time above all, forge my heir into the greatest Emperor of all.'
— for the former Emperor had named Je Hyeon-wi with a look that said he would never have made a frail, indecisive second son his heir, were it not for the legitimacy of the grandson's line.
Under discipline too harsh to easily imagine, the son slowly erased the five desires and seven emotions from his life.
As if to prove it, he neither smiled easily nor angered. He gave his private heart to no one, nor let himself be swayed rashly by feeling.
Some called such coldness the makings of an emperor; the Empress, though he was the son of her own womb, found his heart unknowable and privately found him difficult. And the Emperor, like the Empress, found his son difficult — and pitiable.
As the heir who would one day take the throne, he was beyond compare — but as a person, his son seemed unhappy by exactly that measure.
In that light, Woo Hui-won's younger brother was something like a hope to the Emperor.
Was he not the first thing the Crown Prince had ever wanted in his life?
The boy had been coming to the palace often of late and growing close, and the Emperor had taken an interest. He only prayed the child might stir some ripple, however small, in the Crown Prince's heart.
"Father?"
It was the Crown Prince's voice that roused him from his reverie, gazing as he was at his son's impassive face.
"I was lost in thought a moment. What were we saying… Ah, yes — you said you were worried. You always manage admirably — what should your father worry about? A groundless fear."
"I will be sure to repay your trust."
Rather than ask what those other thoughts were, the Crown Prince closed the conversation plainly.
"Your chambers are prepared, Your Majesty."
Just then the senior eunuch announced from outside that he had seen to the rooms where the Emperor would take his nap.
"Then let us retire. Your son will see you to your chambers, Father."
Bidding the remaining memorials be sent to Gyeongchun Palace, Je Hyeon-wi at once escorted the Emperor.
The offices lay fairly near the bedchambers, so the escort did not take long.
Along the way the Emperor said a good deal — that the newly entered concubines had only the Crown Prince to rely on, so he must treat them kindly; that he knew a person's heart could not be forced, yet he must still strive to treat them as equals.
Je Hyeon-wi, adding nothing, quietly heard out the chatter, then bowed with all courtesy before the bedchambers and withdrew.
"The two concubines went to pay their respects at Yeongnyeonggung an hour ago."
As he left Geonwongung, Won Yu-sang came up and told him what had passed in the palace while he had been in the offices.
"To Yeongnyeonggung for respects…"
He could well imagine the Empress's face as she received Woo Hui-seo, who had helped spoil her plans.
Humble though his house, he was one the Crown Prince himself had wished to bring into the palace. Yet she had granted his appointment by mere word of mouth and given him the most out-of-the-way residence — it would be harder not to guess her meaning.
Cheongu-dang, of all places.
Even granting the residence was set far off for the distinction of the sexes, was that place not too much? Hushed up though it was, surely the Empress knew it was where a concubine who had lost favor and been confined under the former Emperor spent her last years.
It was mockery and contempt aimed at Woo Hui-seo.
"I wonder what fault she'll find next."
He clicked his tongue lightly and went on.
"Irang will have a hard time of it."
Though Hui-seo had received the appointment of Seunghwi, Je Hyeon-wi still called him Irang — and thought of his elder brother, Woo Hui-won.
"His teacher's insides must be churning."
Woo Hui-won showed nothing, but his heart must have been in turmoil. As if to prove it, he had often been lost in thought these past few days, unable to focus, his attention forever scattering.
Now that Woo Hui-seo had entered the deep palace, where his face could not easily be seen, Hui-won would have only the palace rumors by which to judge his brother's welfare.
At times reassured, at times fretting, at times sleepless with worry — in the end he would simply miss him.
Woo Hui-won would go on with his days while, because of his younger brother, slowly withering without even knowing it.
"Won Yu-sang."
Je Hyeon-wi, his lips curling, called Won Yu-sang.
"You — inform the Gyeongsabang."
At the mention of the office that managed the consorts' night duty, Won Yu-sang bowed his head.
"Tonight I go to Cheongu-dang."
At the voice — in which no trace of a lover's flutter at seeking his beloved could be heard — a flicker of puzzlement crossed Won Yu-sang's eyes, but he swiftly schooled it.
"As you command."
A faint but unmistakable worry for Woo Hui-seo crossed Won Yu-sang's face.
Today the two concubines had entered the palace, and of the two, Jeong Hye-eon was the Empress's own choice. Had he weighed the Empress's feelings, or wished Woo Hui-seo peace in his life as a concubine, he would sooner have taken neither — or spent the night at Yeonghadang. That would have been the kinder thing for Woo Hui-seo.
No matter how the Crown Prince favored Woo Hui-seo, he was still only a concubine, and the Empress was the head of this Inner Court.
Beyond Je Hyeon-wi's eyes, Woo Hui-seo would suffer. Won Yu-sang's thoughts had likely reached the same place.
For Won Yu-sang — ill-natured, and caring for nothing but serving his master — to show worry for someone.
The novelty of the unexpected sight lasted only a moment. Recalling the work ahead, Je Hyeon-wi mounted the palanquin.
Thoughts of Woo Hui-seo were soon wiped away.
***
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