BOD Chapter 43

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"Sae-yeong is nowhere to be seen."

It was a day when the rain had finally stopped, for a change. The air was still heavy with moisture, but the sky that had been thick with dark ink clouds had cleared to blue.

Hui-seo, who had been checking the rear garden lest the repeated rains had damaged the roots, noticed Sae-yeong's absence.

"She went to the laundry room for a moment."

"Ah."

She had said she needed to fetch the finished laundry; it seemed Sae-yeong had gone. Whenever there was an errand at the laundry room, Sae-yeong always volunteered, as a chance to see her friends.

"I see."

So lively a child by nature, she had spent all these recent days cooped up in Cheongu-dang, watching Hui-seo's mood — no wonder she felt stifled.

"Is there anything else you'd have us do?"

"Nothing in particular, so rest easy, all of you. No one is coming to visit — don't stand guard outside the door for nothing."

Having finished checking the rear garden and confirmed the flowers were unharmed, Hui-seo went back into his chambers to rest.

Whether he would actually sleep was another matter.

At any rate, having accounted for her absence, Hui-seo passed the time — trying his hand at imitating Yeon-un's painting style, which he had seen once before, reading a book, pacing idly before the go board he still hadn't put away.

"Mama, I'll bring in the midday meal."

And so the time slipped by.

"Sae-yeong still hasn't come back?"

The one who entered was not Sae-yeong.

"Yes, Mama."

It had been around nine in the morning when Hui-seo first asked after Sae-yeong — and now it was nearly one, and she still hadn't returned?

Hui-seo's expression turned grave at once.

Sae-yeong made a fuss over everything concerning Hui-seo, but of all things she was most particular about his meals. And she had never been this late on a trip to the laundry room before.

Nor was she like Hui-seo, with his poor sense of direction — she would hardly have lost her way coming and going.

"Tell her I'm looking for her — fetch her for me, will you?"

"As you command."

The palace servant who had brought the meal nodded, finding Sae-yeong's long silence strange too, and answered.

"No! Wait, just a moment. I must inform Mama first…."

Just as the servant was about to step out, a commotion came from outside.

"You can't just barge in without informing Mama—! Kyaak!"

Before he could even grasp what was happening, the one trying to stop them let out a scream.

Hui-seo rose, his spoon and chopsticks half-lifted. At the same moment, the door burst open without his permission. Through the gap came eunuchs with not a shred of expression on their faces.

"Who are— ugh…!"

Without so much as bowing to Hui-seo, they came up and pinned both his arms. Exactly like dragging him off by force.

He struggled, but they held him so firmly he couldn't break free.

Having restrained Hui-seo, others came in and ransacked his bedchamber — from the writing desk to the bed, even the go board he kept so carefully to one side.

The bedchamber he had kept so neatly tidy was a wreck in an instant.

"What is the meaning of this…!"

Flustered and stammering, Hui-seo raised his voice at the sight of his chamber being torn apart, but no one wavered.

They only dragged him outside as if he were a captured criminal.

"The Empress summons you."

Just as Hui-seo tried to resist roughly once more, the words that fell on his ear were truly cold, and sharp as thorns.

The question — why would the Empress — could not last long. For he was dragged out in utter disarray.

The servants cried out at their master being manhandled, but not one dared approach.

Among them he even saw a child whose cheek was red and swollen, as if struck for blocking the way into the chambers.

"You…!"

Hui-seo thrashed, his face contorted. The eunuchs who had tried to subdue him by force looked disconcerted when his resistance showed no sign of abating.

They handled him like a criminal, but whatever else, Hui-seo was the Crown Prince's concubine. If he were hurt in the process, it was plain as day where the sparks would fly.

Seizing the moment as they hesitated, Hui-seo barely wrenched free of their grip.

"Unhand me — I'll go on my own two feet."

Catching his ragged breath, Hui-seo glanced once over his disheveled clothes.

The eunuchs looked reluctant, but made no move to seize him again.

Before setting out, Hui-seo gave the servants a reassuring glance, looked once more over his trampled quarters, and stepped forward.

At the sight of the Crown Prince's concubine walking surrounded by eunuchs, without even a palanquin, puzzled gazes trailed after them like tails all along the way.

Pretending not to notice those gazes, Hui-seo stared straight ahead.

His heart pounded like a drum, and his fingertips went cold.

Why on earth would Yeongnyeong Palace suddenly do this? He tried to find an answer to this sudden uproar, but nothing came to mind.

"Your Majesty the Empress. Seunghwi has arrived."

Even the moment they entered Yeongnyeong Palace, his thoughts spun on.

Though no answer came from within, the door opened at once. Swallowing dryly, Hui-seo stepped inside and saw two — no, three.

The Empress, glaring at him with an icy face; Jeong Hae-yeon, wearing a somewhat troubled expression; and….

"Sae-yeong…?"

And Sae-yeong too, bowing her head in the corner where the Empress's gaze fell.

"M-mama…."

Recognizing Hui-seo's voice, Sae-yeong raised her head, on the verge of tears. Her red, swollen cheek told him well enough what had happened to her.

"It seems it wasn't the fault of the court lady the Crown Prince sent, after all. How wronged she must feel. What good is teaching, when the one being taught is so utterly lacking in virtue?"

Steeling himself against her needle-sharp hostility, Hui-seo composed his startled heart at the sight of Sae-yeong and hurriedly prostrated himself before the Empress.

"…I greet Your Majesty the Empress."

The Empress didn't even bid him rise, glaring at him with the same gaze as before.

It felt like being pierced by countless thorns.

Hui-seo racked his brain.

Had Sae-yeong perhaps made some mistake before the Empress? But though Sae-yeong was a little thoughtless and scatterbrained, she knew when to step forward and when to hold back.

"So — you've been busy with palace affairs of late?"

"I don't know what you mean…."

Hui-seo couldn't immediately grasp the Empress's intent. Busy? Surely the Empress knew his days were stagnating, pooled up in Cheongu-dang.

How must his blank, bewildered expression have looked to the Empress? Her finely shaped brows twisted irritably.

"You are utterly odious."

"Your Majesty—"

"Seunghwi, tell me. Who exactly is this intimate friend of yours?"

Ah.

Only then did Hui-seo understand where the Empress's fury came from.

"Y-Your Majesty. This Seunghwi—"

Sae-yeong, who had been trembling like an aspen in the corner, hastily spoke up. But before her words could finish, the sharp crack of a slap split the air.

"How dare you interrupt!"

Sae-yeong crumpled, her head knocked half sideways, not knowing what to do as Seollan — who had struck her cheek — lashed her with a rebuke.

At the sight, Hui-seo's face paled too.

"Were it not for your servant's reckless loose tongue, I would never have known a stain was being painted on my inner court."

"Mama. This is a misunderstanding."

"What misunderstanding? That you have been consorting with a man from outside? Or that that child dared to slander her own master with such words?"

Even if it were so, the Empress's eyes held a blue-steel blade, as though she would drive Sae-yeong out that very instant.

"He— yes, that's right. Your Majesty. But…!"

His vision flashed white.

"M-mama!"

Sae-yeong's shrill scream and the pain blooming on his cheek rose together.

"If you were in the common world, perhaps — but having entered the palace, your body belongs to the Crown Prince. The separation of inner and outer is strict; was there no one to tell you to conduct yourself with care?"

"It's been only days since the Crown Prince grew distant — and you couldn't bear it, so you sought an illicit affair with a man from outside?"

"No. Your Majesty. How could I harbor such a wicked heart?"

Hastily swallowing the metallic taste spreading in his mouth, Hui-seo hurriedly spoke. All of this felt like a storm bearing down senselessly, but instinct told him he must escape before being swept away.

"While out walking, I only happened to shelter from the rain in the same place. With His Highness — how could I dare commit a deed too fearful even to speak of…."

"I would never have the gall for such a thing."

The longer Hui-seo spoke, the more the Empress's fierce momentum subsided. Seizing the moment, Jeong Hae-yeon stepped forward.

"Mama. First calm your anger, and look into the matter carefully."

"Since, as Seunghwi says, all of this may have sprung from a misunderstanding."

Hae-yeon, soothing the Empress in a gentle tone, turned her gaze to Hui-seo and asked.

"Seunghwi."

"Yes, Mama."

"I know this must be sudden for you, Seunghwi. You must be startled too."

"…N-no, I'm not."

Though his face was deathly pale, Hui-seo shook his head. Hae-yeon sighed as though his swollen cheek pained her to look at, and asked the rest.

"Then who is this man?"

"That painter. To sort right from wrong, he should be here too, shouldn't he? Whether it was truly a single chance meeting — whether his words match your answer just now."

Hui-seo bit his lip.

There was nothing between him and that painter. He could swear it on his life.

But the problem lay in his own answer — he had carelessly understated the situation to calm the Empress's fury somehow.

"Why don't you answer?"

And another thought came to him.

Even if his answer matched the painter's, could he escape this situation?

The Empress had always disapproved of Hui-seo. Given the chance, she would have driven him out. And now the perfect opportunity lay at her feet.

Would she let it slip?

"Seunghwi!"

Then would it be right to drag an innocent man into this? It was plain as day that he too would suffer unspeakable hardship.

"…We met only by chance — how would we have exchanged names in that moment? I am sorry, but I do not know."

"Then how do you know he's a painter?"