“What makes you think you need only discharge your seed on the wedding night? That is as good as saying that, unless someone orders you, you absolutely will not perform even the duties you must. What is a marriage for? Is it not to honor the ancestral shrine above and continue the line below? Above all, the Crown Princess, as the consort of the Imperial Prince, has the duty to bear the imperial heir as soon as possible and secure this nation’s altar of state — how can you say something so lazy?” He spoke as if reproaching him, and Huian hung his head, at a loss for what to do.
“My — no, this consort was foolish and never thought of it. Forgive me.” His voice trembled, and by the look of him he truly had never even thought of it.
Did I speak too sternly? I should have spoken a little more gently — how am I to carry things forward in this mood? While Igang sat there, able to do neither this nor that, Huian hesitated a moment longer, then said in a small voice, still with his head bowed:
“If so, then to my palace… I shall escort you to my bedchamber.” Then, after hesitating a good while longer, he managed to say in a voice barely audible, “Please grant this consort only the time to finish my preparations and come.”
What Huian meant by “time to prepare” was, in the end, time to wash and come back. Come to think of it, this was no courtesan or gisaeng who would make grand preparations, as if to insert something beforehand; he was a man who had never even thought of such things, so what had Igang been expecting? Igang clicked his tongue and gave a short laugh.
How Huian took that, Igang could not tell, but he stopped dead as he was coming toward the bed. His face stiff, gazing at the floor and biting his lip, he looked as though he might turn and walk out at any moment, so Igang hurriedly rose, caught him, and led him to the bed. Though Huian followed obediently enough, even seated on the bed he could not bring himself to look Igang properly in the face. Igang wondered if his feelings were hurt, but seeing that not only his face but his neck and even his ears were all flushed red, it seemed shame and embarrassment that made him so.
A little relieved, Igang said teasingly, “Knowing it is a precious face, do show me at last,” and slowly lifted Huian’s chin with his hand.
Forced to raise his head, this time he avoided his gaze. But perhaps sensing that things could not go on in this state, Huian finally stammered out his circumstances.
“Your Highness, as you already well know, I — that is, this consort — well… does it poorly. I tell you beforehand because I am ashamed that I will disappoint you again and again… please, take that into account.” Only then did Igang understand why his consort had worn that stiff expression all along. And why, when kissed in the pavilion, he had startled and said today was not the wedding night. Knowing the reason, Igang was bewildered, and charmed, and just as much dumbfounded, and he laughed as if at his wits’ end.
“Come now, if a first-timer were good at once, that would be the stranger thing. And…” He started to say, “For a first-timer, you overflow with talent,” but swallowed the words. Judging by the Crown Princess’s present reaction, he would only take it as teasing and grow more discouraged.
“Anyway, you only have to do as I say, so don’t be so frightened.” Igang spoke soothingly. But seeing Huian still unable to un-stiffen his expression, Igang asked as if he did not understand:
“Why are you more frightened than the first time?” When he asked whether Huian had not been calmer at the first consummation, Huian murmured in a small voice, head bowed:
“Did I not make so many mistakes that time? So…”
“Mistakes? What mistakes do you mean you made?” Truly curious, Igang asked, and after hesitating, Huian said again in that barely audible voice:
“Before the consummation, Song Naegwan and Sang Jaein impressed it upon me again and again that, no matter what, I must never let Your Highness lay your own hand upon your jade stem. And yet… that day I could not do it properly, and in the end Your Highness handled it with your own hand and only barely reached release, did you not?” At the wholly unexpected words, Igang nearly burst out laughing despite himself. Was he making such a dying face over that little thing? Barely swallowing the shout that nearly escaped him, he nodded with a feignedly serious air. “Hmm, yes. Such a thing did happen the first night.”
“Then would it not do to simply not do that today?” When Igang asked what the problem could possibly be, Huian murmured weakly, still with his head bowed, “It is because I have no confidence at all that I can.”
“That is not something you know before trying. And only by doing it again and again do you grow used to it. Where is the man who is good at it from the very first?” When Igang told him not to worry so, Huian said “I understand” in a small voice. His words said he understood, but his face still looked unconvinced. Igang was just thinking he would have to keep praising him — “Well done, well done” — the whole time today, when Huian, as if belatedly remembering, lifted his head with an “Ah,” and asked in a careful tone:
“There is a medicine Sang Jaein gave me, to take before the consummation — may I take it?”
“Medicine? What medicine did you receive?”
“She said it loosens tension and lessens pain.” At the highly suspicious explanation, Igang asked to see it a moment, and Huian went to the low drawer-chest beside the bed and took a small box from a drawer.
“This is it.” Igang took the paper packet Huian had taken from the small box. Unfolding the tightly wrapped paper, a reddish powder came out, just as expected. Of course.
Igang laughed, holding the paper packet. When he had heard it came from Sang Jaein he had half suspected, but of course it was an aphrodisiac. Even as he touched the powder with his fingertip, he could not hold back his laughter. She was certainly quick about things.
This lady attendant, a former court gisaeng, knew everything there was to know in such matters, given her history. In particular, thanks to her continuing acquaintance with people she had known in her days at Juchacheongnu, she could easily procure all manner of lewd and love medicines. As a result, there was hardly a concubine of the Emperor who did not secretly call on Sang Jaein. She was, of course, the very person brought into the palace for such purposes, and thanks to that she came to know the inner court’s inner workings, including the rivalries among the concubines — but he had never dreamed she would hand such a medicine to his own consort as well.
“As I thought… should I not take it, then?” Seeing Igang keep staring at the medicine, Huian spoke first, as if an anxious thought had struck him. After thinking a moment, Igang answered, “No.”
“If it has that effect, then of course you should take it. Drink it.” Igang handed over the paper packet. Even as an aphrodisiac, judging by the color it did not seem a very strong one. They say the redder it is, the stronger its effect — the color depending on how much of the main ingredient, the dan-yak, it contains — but the medicine Huian had brought was a pale pink.
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