FATE Chapter 8

← A Fate Tied by a Single Thread

Chapter 8

But the emperor’s reverie was broken by the old head eunuch. It was because, no sooner had he returned to his quarters after ending his wandering, the head eunuch began chattering.

“Your Majesty! Have you been out night-wandering again!”

The old head eunuch, past sixty with spots appearing one by one on his face and even his sleep gone, had become more of a nag. The emperor furrowed his brow slightly.

“I searched for a full hour! How can you be so elusive?”

“Head Eunuch Do.”

The head eunuch, rattling off nagging that one could not tell was teasing or praise, let out a rough snort. It was a cheeky attitude, as if to say “give an excuse if you have one,” but that was because he knew the emperor, who on an ordinary day would have laughed it off and answered evasively with roguish charm.

But what the old head eunuch did not know was where today’s wandering had led.

“Where have you stashed the prince of Seon?”

“…Pardon?”

“The Thousand-Li Bride, the man who will become my wife.”

“…Yeees…. That is….”

It sounded as if his head were spinning tautly. At the question, in the dead of night, about the prince forgotten cleanly for three days, cold sweat trickled down the old head eunuch’s back.

Since the prince arrived at the imperial palace, he had never once looked after him. Knowing that fact better than anyone, the head eunuch swallowed dry saliva, wondering whether he would be punished before even welcoming the prince as a wife.

“We have him housed in Nakyeong Hall.”

“Is that so…?”

It did not seem to be the answer the emperor wanted. The head eunuch, who served the emperor at his closest side, knew that best.

The head eunuch’s mind spun even more tautly. Watching the head eunuch roll his eyes in fluster, the emperor raised one corner of his mouth in a thin smile.

The head eunuch, who since his teens had catered to the whims of high personages, had an effortless knack for making one think “it would be good to start now what should have been done all along.”

“That is so, Your Majesty. In this lowly one’s humble opinion, would it not be good for Lady Bongbo to take charge of the prince’s education…?”

The secret that the emperor was welcoming a curse-bearer male consort must not become known. Originally, a senior court lady of advanced age should have taught a concubine the First Night, but currently, those who knew heaven’s will were only the emperor and a few of his closest retainers.

The emperor had no intention of spending the First Night with the prince. But someone to take charge of the prince’s education was needed, even if only in name, and the only trustworthy choice seemed to be the emperor’s nurse.

“Is that so…?”

The emperor drew out the end of his words as if it still was not the answer he wanted. The head eunuch bowed his waist even deeper, adding a lengthy explanation.

“As soon as day breaks, I shall command the lady’s entry into the palace. I shall suitably gloss over the prince’s existence to the lady.”

The emperor silently untied the sword sheath he wore. The quick-witted head eunuch realized that now was the moment he could withdraw without his master’s anger.

“Then this one shall withdraw.”

The old head eunuch bowed deeply and stepped backward. The emperor, who had been of a mind to let him go as he was, muttered a remark to himself with a tap. Bestowing interest that would not originally have existed, as if giving alms, was clearly because of the prince’s appearance, which kept drawing the eye out of pity.

“Forgetting is no crime, but not knowing what comes first is unacceptable….” At the emperor’s words, delivered in a calm, measured tone, once again pointing out the fault, the cold sweat pooled along the head eunuch’s spine trickled down. It was a rebuke to pay some attention. At once, the old head eunuch’s priorities changed.

But there was also an unfair aspect. When the prince arrived, he had not shown a hair’s breadth of interest, so what capricious wind had blown, he wondered.

“After all, he’s only a prince of a vassal state who will die in a hundred days. He won’t truly become Your Majesty’s beloved Noble Consort or anything, so what’s….” The old head eunuch grumbled inwardly, patting his bent back.

***

On the early morning of the fourth day of Heesa’s stay in the detached palace, a clamorous noise rang through the quiet detached palace.

Heesa, who had slept poorly the night before because the inside of his chest felt tight, woke at a sound like thunder and lightning.

The source of the noise was outside the gate.

It had been a quiet detached palace for several days. Heesa, frozen for a long while at the metallic sound that shrieked sharply, mustered his courage and opened the lattice door.

No sooner had Heesa poked his body out to look outside than the worn gate opened. Heesa let out a strange shriek and bounced his backside.

The visitor to the detached palace was an old eunuch. The eunuch, his face dark with spots, approached with quick steps, ignoring Heesa, who clutched his startled chest.

The old eunuch set a low table covered with a tablecloth down on the wooden porch. The eunuch, avoiding the gaze of Heesa, whose eyes had gone round wondering what was happening, bowed politely.

“I greet Your Highness, Prince of Seon. This one is Head Eunuch Do So-pil.” What was even more surprising was that the eunuch knew Heesa’s identity. He clearly recognized that Heesa was a man of Seon and had come here following General Kang Shin. Heesa tried to work out what this situation was with a head still groggy from sleep.

“From now on, every morning at this hour, I shall bring food and water for the day, Your Highness. It is because we must avoid others’ eyes as much as possible. Please understand.” The head eunuch continued. It was a placid tone, as if the past three days of starving him had never existed. Still dazed, Heesa merely gaped like a carp.

“Also, when it becomes early afternoon today, the lady who will educate Your Highness will come.”

“…Pardon?”

At last, a faint voice slipped between Heesa’s lips, which had been gaping. It was a feeble question, weak even to his own ears.

“Then this one shall withdraw, Your Highness.”

But the head eunuch, bowing his head, pretended not to hear Heesa’s question and bowed deeply. He vanished so quickly that Heesa had no chance to grab him. His nimble steps, as if fire had caught his tail, were enough to make one doubt he was a man of an age with spots darkening his face.

With no idea that the reason was that just last night he had been rebuked by none other than the emperor to pay some attention, Heesa came to his senses around the time the sound of chains being bound rang out again.

The first thing that caught his eye was the small table. From the low table the head eunuch had left behind, a delicious smell wafted.

Lured by the smell, Heesa came out to the porch and knelt before the table. Opening the table cover, he found warm white rice served neatly in an earthenware bowl, meat soup with oil floating on it, radish sliced and tossed with chili powder, eggs fried until crisp, savory seasoned vegetables, and sweets that looked sweet just to see, all in abundance.

“…Wow….”

The neat table made it clear just by looking that it would taste good. No, it was certain to be delicious. Moreover, the quantity was so great that even divided among morning, noon, and evening, it seemed it would remain plentiful.

“‘I’ll see to it that you can eat proper meals from tomorrow.’”

Suddenly, the voice of the man who had made Heesa’s chest burn last night came to mind. The meeting late at night with the man who had leapt over the wall was not a dream. Heesa carefully pinched his own cheek. It stung.

“Ah….”

Heesa, rubbing his flushed cheek, swallowed his saliva with a gulp. Glancing this way and that at the empty yard, where no one was about, he picked up his spoon and chopsticks and took a large spoonful of the warm rice first. Warm food eaten after a long while was ecstasy just to put in his mouth.

At the warm rice eaten after a long while, Heesa hastily moved his chopsticks. Not one dish on the table was less than excellent.

His belly swelled full. Though he ate to his heart’s content, the food on the table remained plentiful. He felt as if the food he had eaten rose to his uvula, but Heesa finished his meal only after picking up one sweet as well.

A satisfied breath escaped him. He was happy. He had not known that the mere act of eating to a full belly could feel this good. Thinking of the stranger’s beautiful face, Heesa thanked him in his heart again and again.

“‘Then you’ll learn why you came from Seon to the empire too. Jeongnam.’” After thanking him for a long while, Heesa also recalled another remark the stranger had let slip as if in jest. His gratitude lessened a little, but it welled up happily again. It was largely because he had fed him delicious food.

Perhaps because he had recalled the stranger’s words once. Heesa also retraced the words of the head eunuch, who had fled as if running away.

All he had told him was the notice that a lady who would educate Heesa would come, so there was nothing to guess at.

“…What kind of education could it be….”

Heesa pondered for a moment what this “education” might be. But the sunlight was far too warm, and a pleasant drowsiness after eating weighed his eyelids down.

Heesa moved the low table, its cover put back on, to a corner where sunlight did not reach, then went into the room. He covered himself with the blanket, whose musty smell seemed to have faded a little after sleeping under it for days.

Drowsiness from past days, unfilled by hunger, washed over him. Heesa thanked the stranger from last night in his heart again.

Repeating “thank you, thank you” in his heart again and again, Heesa, intoxicated by peace and comfort, fell fast asleep.

…Clatter!

A noise like thunder crashed down. It was so loud that Heesa, who had been sleeping soundly without even dreaming, woke at once.

Heesa now knew where that sound came from. It seemed someone had come to the detached palace.

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