Huian looked at Son Gwiin for a moment, then spoke in a voice far more solemn than before.
“It seems the honored consort has wept alone for many days, missing her mother back home, and lonely from having left her homeland at such a young age.”
At Huian’s words, Igang, unable to hide his surprise, asked Son Gwiin, “Is that true?”
When the Crown Prince asked with a stern face, Son Gwiin, thinking she was being interrogated, answered with a frightened face, “A-ah, no, it isn’t.”
“There has never been such a thing. I have never done so.”
Igang looked at Huian again. Huian said nothing more, only keeping his gaze lowered. The one fidgeting, rather, was Sang Jaein beside him. Seeing that, Igang felt he grasped the whole affair at once. After a moment’s deliberation, he nodded.
“Yes. Though the honored consort has gained a concubine’s rank and stays in the palace, she is still a child just past ten. It is the age when she would miss her parents’ arms, and I failed to consider it. If I had my way, I would let her visit her home for a while, but palace law is strict, and I cannot do so. Instead, I shall send men to her home to bring her mother here, and let them stay together in the palace for a time.”
At Igang’s words, the consort, who until then had been trembling with a frightened face, lifted her head with a start. “Tr-truly? Your Highness, do you truly mean it?”
When Igang answered with a smile, Son Gwiin could not get a word out; her lips only twitched for a long while, until at last she burst into tears right there.
While everyone around stood flustered, yet moved, at a loss what to do, the Crown Prince’s consort alone soothed Son Gwiin.
“His Highness has looked into the young consort’s circumstances and bestowed a great grace. How can you only weep? You must offer your thanks first.”
At that, Son Gwiin, still sobbing, stammered out her thanks. “Th-thank you, Your Highness. Truly, truly, your sacred grace is boundless.”
Igang could only laugh.
It was probably something Sang Jaein had let slip carelessly while talking with the Crown Prince’s consort. Given his position, the consort could hardly have said such a thing to him himself, so he had only felt pity, and when this chance came today, he had let the story slip as though for Igang to overhear. That must have been it.
…What a pity, Igang thought. In generosity of heart, and in his way of settling matters — had he become the empress, he would have been the kindest, wisest mother of the nation the world has ever seen. That he could never rise to that seat, no matter what, struck Igang anew today with pity.
It seemed he was not the only one thinking such thoughts, for on the way back to the Crown Prince’s palace, Yuyeong abruptly spoke.
“Today I was newly astonished by the character of the Crown Prince’s consort.”
When Igang looked at him, Yuyeong sighed softly.
“Have I not spoken with him several times while delivering books? I knew he was a man of deep thought and careful words and conduct, but today I learned for the first time how considerate and gentle he is.”
“What a pity.”
Igang answered briefly. Yuyeong, seeming to grasp the meaning at once, smiled with a bitter face.
“Indeed. Had he only been able to conceive, there would have been none more suited to the seat of empress.”
At Yuyeong’s words, Ichi cautiously interjected.
“Is it because he cannot bear children himself that he dotes on the honored consort so? Goodness, how he cherishes her. Watching from the side, they look like affectionate siblings.”
“By the difference in their ages, you ought to call them uncle and niece,” Igang said with a laugh, and Yuyeong went one further.
“The honored consort is so small of build that they look like father and daughter.”
Laughing that it could well be so, Igang turned to Yuyeong again.
“Come to think of it, you said the Ikhan are always born sons without exception. Is that when Ikhan mate among themselves, or is it the same when they mate with another race?”
“It is my understanding that it is the same even when mating with another race.”
At Yuyeong’s words — that whatever hatches from an Ikhan egg is always a son — Igang murmured, “I see…”
“Seeing how he dotes on the consort, I think he would like a daughter better than a son.”
“Would he not like a son either?” Yuyeong said, and Ichi chimed in, “Of course.”
“He may cherish a daughter more, but once he bore a son, he would be happier still. It would be the imperial grandson to inherit the great line, after all.”
“Right. Son or daughter, he would rejoice as long as one were born.” Igang nodded, then after a moment added briefly, “It is a pity only that he will never bear one in his life.”
An auspicious day for the wedding-night rite meant, in the end, a day when the harmony of heaven and earth’s yin and yang was well achieved — a good day for having a bright and healthy son.
Did that mean that merely by coupling and releasing seed on that day, one would unconditionally have a bright son? Then where in all the world would there be a child not bright, and why would there be couples fretting over failing to bear sons? To Huian it was not only unconvincing — it made him want to argue for argument’s sake — but there was no help for it. Had he not known it would be like this when he came this far? It was no cause for grievance, nor for raising objections.
Knowing it, yet unable to do anything about the gloom and heaviness in his heart — that was the heart of it. Thinking of doing it again, he felt worried and afraid.
“My lord, why is your honored countenance so full of worry?” asked Sang Jaein, who had come to convey the chosen date now that the second wedding-night day was fixed, looking at Huian’s rapidly darkening face.
Huian was not one to voice complaints or speak of hardship to others if he could help it, but his heart was so heavy that a sigh escaped him of its own accord.
“There is no way to put off the date, I suppose.”
“How could we put off a date Her Majesty the Empress specially commissioned the temple to choose? If it is because there are signs of your monthly cycle coming on, I could report it to the temple and have another date chosen…”
“No, it is nothing like that.”
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