BOD Chapter 41

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The Crown Prince did not come after that night.

Only the tea leaves sent through Won Tae-gam, and the ointment good for fading bruises, proved that the Crown Prince's visit to Cheongu-dang that night had not been a dream.

"What could the reason be…….."

The Crown Prince who had just arrived at Cheongu-dang had not been sharp-edged as when seen at Gyeongchun Palace.

He may have given the feeling of being somehow displeased with this situation, but to Hui-seo he had been quite tender, as always.

Did I make another mistake?

Should he not have touched his forehead? Or, in the middle of the baduk game, had he unknowingly done something to offend him?

Or had he simply grown tired of him?

Does he no longer want me?

"Mama, what did you just say?"

His heart ached just from the mere supposition.

Hui-seo — whose stomach, which had suffered badly from overeating the night before, felt stifling again — was about to let out a deep breath when a voice from right beside him barely brought him to his senses.

"Ah…."

Across from him sat the court painter, tilting his head at Hui-seo.

He had been feeling hollow after deciding, preoccupied by the Crown Prince's words, to inwardly distance himself from Jeong Hae-yeon, on whom he had been leaning — and then he had remembered the court painter's invitation to come see Yeonun's paintings.

Thinking a brief visit, just once, would be fine, he had set out — and somehow it had turned into another meeting like this.

Their tastes in painting were similar so they got along well, but more than that, he could breathe easy because the gaze that looked at Hui-seo held no mockery or pity-like emotion.

And he was such a smooth talker that after exchanging a few words, Hui-seo found himself absorbed without realizing.

Still, their meeting weighed on his conscience inwardly, so whenever they met he always kept Sae-yeong between them. Though, all told, this was only their third time.

"I was wondering why this color was used here. Rather than using dye, wouldn't deepening the shading of the ink have—"

"—suited it better, I thought."

Anyway, the worry he had been nursing until a moment ago was not something he could reveal, so Hui-seo tacked on a suitable reason to cover himself.

"Hearing your words, Mama, I see it that way too. The green dye breathed life into it, but it is a bit disappointing for expressing depth."

Fortunately, he noticed nothing particularly strange about Hui-seo and chattered on, adding his opinion. Then, growing absorbed, his words grew long. On Sae-yeong's face, sitting off to the side, boredom was already beginning to spread.

His eyes, which knew nothing at all, only sparkled.

Hui-seo, who had been watching the painter, also forced down the worry that had been rummaging through his head until a moment ago, and focused on the conversation with him.

"I'm glad to have met a close friend with whom I can have such deep conversations."

"You flatter me. Wouldn't the other painters of the Dohwa-seo make better conversation partners for you than I?"

"…Ah, haha."

At the innocent question, the painter made a caught-off-guard face, then burst out laughing.

"Hm?"

"W-well, of course Seunghwi-mama is right… ah, I mean, you're the only one who takes an interest in paintings procured from humble market stalls like these and discusses them seriously. Yes."

Are the Dohwa-seo painters haughty? Naturally — they were brought into the palace as those counted for skill within the empire, so their pride in their own skill must be great.

Hui-seo nodded with difficulty.

"But you, painter, are very interested even in marketplace paintings."

"Of course there isn't much worth salvaging, but they're not formulaic — they're free, aren't they. Sometimes the expression is bold, sometimes the colors are bold. Or they're worldly, so as I look at them, I feel as though I'm inside the painting."

In every word, what melted was sincerity and affection.

"My wish is to go not only around the empire but far to the Western Regions, roaming the marketplaces and collecting painting albums."

"Albums from the Western Regions?"

"Yes. I encounter them now and then — their painting style is completely different from ours. At times I find them truly entrancing."

"…They must be foreign things."

The painter, reading a faint interest in Hui-seo — who had been subdued throughout though he showed it not — proposed:

"Shall I show you?"

"…How?"

"There are ways."

"If you're going to secretly bring them like you did with Master Yeonun's paintings, then forget it. If you needlessly get into trouble—"

"—what would you do?"

There was no way a mere court painter could own albums crossed over from the Western Regions, so she worried he might get in trouble for secretly carrying out things he had seen in the golden palace whenever he had the chance.

With Yeonun's paintings, they had just been lucky. She couldn't rashly guarantee that luck would follow a second time.

"…Yes, yes. Your words are right, Mama. I was short-sighted."

"Hearing your explanation and imagining from it is enough for me……. Still, I'm thankful, at least, that you thought of me."

Hui-seo smiled slightly. He, who seemed to stare blankly at it for a moment, quickly composed his expression and cleared his throat.

"You, Mama, seem very interested in painting. We converse so well. Do you, by any chance, paint yourself?"

"Ah."

Though he glossed over it with a laugh, the painter immediately took it as affirmation.

"So you do paint yourself. If ever the chance comes, I would love to see a painting by you, Mama."

"It's far too unskilled to show anywhere, let alone before a court painter. Even His Highness…."

Hui-seo stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth.

"Yes?"

"No, it's nothing."

That there was no mounted painting hanging in the Crown Prince's bedchamber was not something to say before someone he barely knew.

Nor did he want to.

"Is that so."

Seeing Hui-seo's clearly reluctant expression, he didn't persistently pry.

"But someday I really would like to see a painting by you, Mama."

"I imagine it would be very tender."

Hui-seo's eyes, watching the painter smile slyly as he said it, widened for an instant.

"Just now…."

Just for a moment, but his smiling face felt oddly similar to the Crown Prince's.

Going over his features one by one, there was really nothing resembling the Crown Prince — nor should there be — yet strangely he felt similar.

It was a truly strange sense of déjà vu.

Have I been thinking of the Crown Prince too long?

Though he'd resolved not to think of him even for a moment, his unconscious seemed to be thinking of the Crown Prince, conjuring his afterimage.

"Mama?"

"Ah, I was thinking of something else for a moment."

At his apologetic words, the painter waved both hands — how could you say such a thing to me — and jumped back.

"…Anyway, if the chance comes later, all right. Of course, it will be very lacking."

"Though my instincts say otherwise, if you say so, Mama, then so it is. What power do I have?"

Watching his glib demeanor, the Crown Prince's afterimage vanished without a trace. The Crown Prince had never acted so lightly in any moment.

The Crown Prince kept coming to mind.

It was like a trap — once he'd stepped in, he couldn't get out at his own will.

"Come to think of it, someone is coming to my quarters at this hour, so I should get up."

Growing vacant from thinking of the Crown Prince from time to time — this was discourteous to his company. And talking had made the time stretch longer than expected, and it was true that someone was really coming to his quarters today, a few hours later.

Hui-seo rose with a suitable excuse.

"You should return to the Dohwa-seo now, painter. I fear you'll be scolded for idling."

"Ah, r-right. Heh heh…."

"And it will be hard to meet like this for a while. His Majesty's birthday is coming soon, and I have to prepare for it."

There was not a single thing for Hui-seo to do at the Emperor's birthday banquet.

Rather, on the excuse that Hyangchu was busy preparing the birthday banquet, she wasn't receiving the concubines' morning greetings, and Seollan wasn't sent either, so he was passing the idlest days of late. Preoccupied by the Crown Prince's words, he couldn't even visit Yeongha-dang, so he had nothing to do but look after Cheongu-dang's flower beds.

But it was just a suitable excuse.

However well they got along, the painter was an official of the Dohwa-seo. No matter that Sae-yeong sat between them, such meetings going on long would be an unseemly look for Hui-seo or for that man.

It was right to wrap it up neatly here.

"Ah."

From their conversation, he was quite clever. He had probably grasped that Hui-seo was roundaboutly saying not to meet anymore under this excuse.

"Um, Mama…."

As expected, having grasped Hui-seo's meaning, he soon understood and mumbled with a troubled face.

"Th-that……."

He couldn't finish and swept his hand over his face.

"Don't find it difficult; speak freely."

"…Mama, are you frightening when you're angry?"

"Yes?"

"No, I mean, if you get angry, do you never see the person again…."

Sae-yeong frowned as if to say what nonsense he was talking. Hui-seo didn't frown, but his bewilderment at the incomprehensible words was no different from Sae-yeong's.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to say…."

"…Never mind. Just an idle remark — forget it."

The strength had drained from his voice. Somehow he looked utterly dejected, as if watching Hui-seo's mood.

Why is he like a puppy about to be scolded?

Hui-seo could hardly understand.

"Then I shall see you later, Mama…."

But just before resolving that curiosity, he bid farewell with his face still sunk in worry.

Later?

He couldn't have failed to understand Hui-seo's words, so was it just a formality?

"All right."

Thinking so, Hui-seo also answered vaguely, then left Yeonhajeong first, as always.

"I knew he was an odd person, but today he seems especially odd."