FATE Chapter 14

← A Fate Tied by a Single Thread

Chapter 14

But seeing him come running with a beaming smile, limping because of his beaten calves, brought the impertinent assessment to mind once again. Soon, however, the general’s attention turned to his lord.

“…Hmm…?”

The emperor let out a faint hum, as if a little surprised. It was so faint that only the general, right beside him, could hear it.

Before long, General Kang Shin noticed the emperor’s eyebrows rounding. And his dense gaze sweeping the prince from head to toe. And how that licking sort of gaze made the prince embarrassed. And how, before long, the emperor’s lips curved into a natural arc.

***

Heesa, who had been waiting only for Lord Yun to come, barely eating his meals, did not know what to do with joy.

He had spent a very long day waiting for someone whose arrival time he did not know.

“You’ve come?”

So glad was he that Heesa went out to meet him in his socks. His new socks, which he had only just put on, became covered in dirt, but Heesa did not even realize he had not worn his shoes.

The man looked a little surprised. Heesa, who had been smiling broadly without realizing it, quickly put strength into the corners of his mouth. He must have shown too plainly how glad he was.

Embarrassed, Heesa lowered his gaze. The thought crept up on him that the man might not have been as glad as he was. Had it been presumptuous of him? Just as Heesa opened his mouth to habitually say he was sorry, a large hand touched his head.

Startled, Heesa looked up at the man with round eyes. The man’s large hand, cupping the back of his head, moved slowly. After stroking him a couple of times, the hand fell away, leaving a lingering warmth.

“Where did that grubby little puppy go?”

Heesa, his wits scattered for a moment, quickly looked down at the clothes he had hastily put on. Had he really been that dirty? Thinking back, he had looked like a toad. It was no wonder he had looked filthy.

“How princely you look today, of all days.”

At the man’s playful praise, Heesa could not hide the corners of his mouth, which kept rising, and felt shy.

He was the Heesa who had straightened his clothes before the mirror, needlessly tidied his hair, straightened his clothes again, and then diligently groomed the back of his head, which somehow looked puffed up, wetting it down with water.

Shy, Heesa smiled a bashful smile and trailed along behind the man. So happy was he that he did not even notice the presence of the fearsome General Kang Shin.

Heesa took off his socks, which had become filthy as he shuffled along, and sat down carefully beside the man, who had already settled himself inside the room. The man lit a candle, from where he had gotten it Heesa did not know. Bright light filled the small room.

His view became as bright as day. The man, glancing at Heesa, raised one eyebrow. Once again, that licking sort of gaze lingered on Heesa.

“…Quite…”

From the man trailing off, Heesa guessed the rest. He also belatedly recalled the form of address he had used.

It was probably “princely,” but Heesa was a little surprised. He had only said he came from Seon; he had never told the man, who naturally spoke down to him, what his station was.

“Did you know I was a prince?”

Heesa asked in pure surprise, wondering when he had learned it, but the man seemed to interpret it differently. Making a sound like “Hm?

and seeming to think for a moment, he rose from his seat.

While Heesa looked up at him in puzzlement, the man put his hands together as if making a grand bow. It was the attitude of one about to observe the proper courtesy toward a prince. A startled Heesa jumped up. He was not a person of such a great position.

“L-Lord Yun, Lord Yun!”

Heesa, quickly rising on his sore legs, fussed about. But the man stubbornly tried to bow. He looked as if he would kneel at any moment and press his head to the ground.

“I greet Your Highness, the prince of Seon. This lowly one is a mere nobody of Won….”

“My lord! Don’t! L-Lord Yun!”

The man’s exaggeratedly servile muttering was plainly a joke to anyone watching, but Heesa, white with shock, could not take the joke as a joke. Grabbing both arms of the man, who kept bending at the waist, Heesa shook his head, saying not to do this.

“Lord Yun, please, please don’t do this…. I was wrong….”

“Your Highness the prince! Punish clearly and plainly this presumptuous, insolent subject who dared to use low speech to Your Highness!” But the more Heesa tried to stop him, the more the man bowed his head. Not content with kneeling, he pressed his forehead to the floor of the room, so that before long it had become a contest of who could bow deeper.

In the end, the man and Heesa ended up in the shape of bowing to each other. Heesa was nearly in tears. When he sensed the other person rising, Heesa cautiously lifted his head. No sooner had his tearful eyes met the man’s than the man burst into great laughter.

“It was a joke.”

The man, back to his usual voice, sat down comfortably as if nothing had happened. Heesa, who had still been bowing his head, watched his cue and straightened his bent back. The man chuckled intermittently, as if something were so funny.

“Since the prince wishes it so, I can’t help it. I’ll have to speak comfortably.” Though he felt somehow tricked, Heesa nodded meekly. The man was practically his benefactor. Whatever the man did was fine.

“How is your leg?” “F-fine, I’m fine.”

“Thanks to the decoction you gave me…. A slight fever remains, but I’m fine. It’s all, all thanks to Lord Yun….”

Heesa answered, trying to shake off the feeling of having been swindled. The man’s gaze swept the shabby room.

The small room was full of things newly added that very morning. Heesa, who had been watching the man’s every move, remembered that he ought to say thank you.

“Thank you, Lord Yun. For the new clothes…. And the mirror stand…. Ah, and the meals…. And the socks, and the wash water….”

Heesa stammered as he listed what he had received that day. The man glanced outside the room as if interested. It had all been General Kang Shin’s doing, but shamelessly and with a straight face, the man swallowed the thanks whole.

“I’m glad you liked them.”

“I like them! Very much….”

After finishing his feeble thanks, Heesa fidgeted with his clasped hands. Once again, the man’s observing gaze

swept down over Heesa.

Dressed up prettily beneath the flickering candlelight, he looked quite…. At the prickling feeling, Heesa raised his head, and the man smiled gently and reached out a hand.

“Your knot is wrong.”

“Yes? Ah…!”

Heesa, who had tied his coat strings in the Seon fashion, let out a short gasp as the man’s hand reached his robe.

Long fingers caught hold of the coat string. The man, taking the collar that had come loosely undone with both hands, muttered.

“The inside is wrong too.”

The knot of the inner jacket worn beneath the robe was also in the Seon fashion. As his clothes were suddenly undone, Heesa did not know what to do with himself and even held the breath he had been breathing.

A smooth touch pushed back Heesa’s jacket. At the tingling sensation of air touching his bare skin, goosebumps rose all over Heesa’s skin.

A small crack appeared between the brows of the man, who had held both collars open. It was because of the small coral-colored nub on his chest, which his gaze naturally reached due to the stark contrast of color.

Whether he had bitten his tongue hard, the man’s lower lip puffed up, and a small groove formed on his chin.

Heesa lowered his head, trying to see where the man’s gaze had landed. But the jacket being firmly closed came first.

The man, wetting his lower lip with his tongue, quickly tied the knot. It was a movement as if to wrap him up tightly.

Heesa gazed down at the way the man tied the knots. Before long, the man, having tied even the robe’s knot, tapped Heesa’s chest area as if to say it was done.

“This is how you must do it.”

“Ah…. Thank you.”

Heesa stared at the coat knot the man had tied for him. Deep inside his chest, something tickled and swelled.

At the unfamiliar sensation he often felt when he was with the man, Heesa took a deep breath.

“Well….”

The man seemed to draw out his words for a moment, then soon raised the corners of his mouth refreshingly and stroked Heesa’s head once more. The kind touch was nice. Heesa tried hard not to grin too broadly.

“Well, Sa-ya. Which would you like to hear first, the good news or the bad news?” His heart pounded. Heesa realized the man was about to tell him the things he had been so curious about. Trying to sit up a little straighter, Heesa answered timidly.

“Please tell me as Lord Yun wishes.”

The man laughed softly. As the stroking hand fell away, Heesa kept glancing regretfully at the large hand. On the man’s hand, with its distinct knuckles, the traces of having held both brush and sword remained intact.

“Then it would be best to tell them in order. You and I will have to see each other’s faces for the next five days.”

“Yes?”

At the sudden news of meeting the man for five days, Heesa’s eyes went round. To see Lord Yun again? Before his head could understand it again, his heart began to beat fast.

“Lord Yun, me, every day?”

“I can’t promise every day…. Probably. Don’t you like it?”

“No! I don’t dislike it! I like it, I like it!”

Heesa’s white cheeks flushed peach-colored. To see Lord Yun every day. It was too good to be true. The flushed Heesa chattered on.

“If I get to see Lord Yun every day, every day, I’ll be so happy. Truly!”

“Even though I’ve taken over the education the lady was supposed to give?” Heesa’s chattering lips closed for a moment. The book Lady Bongbo had brought contained material about love-making between men.

He had been too startled to read it in detail, but from the very first line it had been written explicitly, as if to say, this is what the contents will be. He had nearly fainted in shock after reading up to the part about how, for love-making with a man, a different method from the usual was needed….

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