CH 3.1

“Do I really have to meet him? Didn’t you say he is already awake?”

The Emperor stopped his steps and grumbled with a voice full of discontent to Eunuch Oh, who was following behind him. He was about to go to the residence of Concubine Yeon, who fell into the pond and came back alive from death. 

If Eunuch Oh thought about the many events that had happened between the Emperor and Concubine Yeon, it was more than understandable why the Emperor didn’t want to go to the Concubine Yeon’s residence. However, from the standpoint of a eunuch, who had been serving the emperor closest all this time, he knew the things that would happen if the Emperor didn’t visit Concubine Yeon after such a big accident would certainly be hard to bear. That was why he could only bow his head and say the following.

“This time, it was said that he was about to die, so if Your Majesty comes and comforts him, he will be greatly moved.”

“What do you mean by ‘about to die?’ If I don’t walk there, he’ll probably try to make this kind of fuss again and lure me in.”

The emperor’s words and actions were very harsh to speak of a person who just died and came back to life, but thinking back about what Concubine Yeon had done to bring the emperor to his residence, no one can blame the emperor for his harsh words. The emperor actually was not a cold-hearted person to his concubines.

“Even if that were the case, how much His Highness had missed Your Majesty that he even did to that extent? After all, you have a busy schedule in the afternoon, so you can just come and stay for a moment.”

The Emperor frowned at the eunuch’s words before turning back to glare at him. Then he exhaled a breath full of dissatisfaction and walked again. Although it was sickening to hear, the Emperor knew what Eunuch Oh had meant by repeatedly requesting him to visit Concubine Yeon. The emperor also had no intention of making this incident bigger, so he had no choice but to take another heavy step.

That damned old man, Yeon Juwon. ‘I have a son who has a beautiful face and his personality resembles his mother, calm and very gentle. Somehow he saw Your Majesty from a distance and struck with lovesickness that he would die soon. So can Your Majesty please give the empty male concubine position to my lacking son?’ I accepted it because he asked desperately, but isn’t this a downright fraud? 

It isn’t wrong to say that he has a pretty face, but his personality is calm? Caaalm? Every time the emperor remembered those words, even when he was sleeping, his anger would explode and make him about to kick the air out of frustrations.

Speaking about the father of the troublesome Concubine Yeon, as a famous loyalist, he was a figure with a great contribution for the current emperor to rise to this position. In the reign of the previous emperor, he was the one who protected the crown prince—the only one who had the qualifications to be an emperor—from all the tricks that were done by the other princes to bring the crown prince down from his position then made him safely ascend to the throne.

Was it only that? After the crown prince ascended to the throne amidst the chaos of political strife, he helped the emperor with all his heart and played a major role in helping this empire achieve its present peaceful state. He was the one who accompanied and protected the emperor by his side all along the way. And so, if there was a flaw of such a person, it was only that he tricked the emperor and entrusted his son to him.

When the emperor pressed him, saying ‘do you know what kind of things your son did as a concubine in his residence?’ he answered, ‘he is your concubine and I can’t dare to partake since it is Your Majesty’s family problem.’ Whenever the emperor thought about that old man’s face who drew a line, his breath heaved.  

He was completely tricked. He was very sure that Yeon Juwon handed over the pain in the neck to him because he couldn’t handle his son anymore. It seemed like the reason Yeon Juwon desperately rejected his favor—gold, house, everything—was to give him this kind of burden.