**Chapter 2: Dropping the Dragon Hairpin**
He needed to tear off the Queen’s garment strings and tie her hands, if nothing else. But her beautiful, ripe body only fueled Taegang’s lust.
*Rip. Tear.*
The sound of thin silk being torn and the Queen’s stifled, scream-like moans filled his ears.
He could not defile the Queen of a nation like this. He tried hard to suppress himself, but he could not control the surging lust within him.
Someone needed to stop him, but he had sent away all the supervising court ladies. Chief Court Lady Hong did not seem to be outside the door either.
There was no one to witness the bedchamber. The very act of sending everyone away for the sake of the shy Queen had backfired.
The Queen’s beautiful body seared itself into his eyes.
“Q-Queen… leave. Run away.”
But his hands, which had turned into claws, gripped the Queen’s waist and tore at her underskirts.
The Queen bit down on her torn garment strings, swallowing her screams.
Taegang, with hands as brutal as a demon from hell, cornered and ravaged the Queen.
Endless desire turned him into a beast. He was a hunter chasing prey, then a rampaging beast, then a cruel conqueror. He had to stop, but he could not.
The darkness covered his carnal desires like a thick curtain. The Queen’s pained moans were swallowed up, and only tears remained on her delicate face.
It was only when she bit his left shoulder that he came to his senses. Taegang finally released his grip on the Queen.
The Queen had retreated to a corner, covering her mouth and sobbing. He tried to wrap her in a sleeping robe, but she recoiled in disgust and turned away.
With his head spinning, he lay down on the royal bed and clasped his hands behind his back, as if tying them himself.
His beautiful Queen would never forgive him.
Taegang tried to apologize to the Queen. But, exhausted, he fell asleep as if fainting.
—
While the King’s ragged breathing could be heard, Chief Court Lady Hong, waiting outside the bedchamber, tried to clear his throat several times but held back.
If something happened to the King, the Queen would call for him. But only the Queen’s stifled moans could be heard.
The King was unusually rough tonight. Perhaps he was so eager because it was the long-awaited consummation.
Though the King had a hasty temper, he had always shown great patience and consideration toward the Queen.
Tonight, the King had dismissed the old court ladies on night duty, blocked the door with a peony screen, and untied the Queen’s garment strings.
The King’s breathing seemed rougher than usual, and Hong approached the door, but then remembered the King’s bright countenance over the past few days and stepped back.
*‘Isn’t he overdoing it?’*
After a time of rough and rapid breathing, the King and Queen’s bedchamber finally fell silent. Soon, the King’s weary breathing could be heard, and Hong was about to turn away with relief when he caught an unusual sound. It was a low sound, like sobbing.
*‘Surely Her Majesty the Queen…?’*
But even if that were the case, he could not enter the King and Queen’s bedchamber without a summons.
Fortunately, the crying soon ceased.
As Chief Court Lady Hong stepped back from the door, the unseen inner palace guards appeared and surrounded the bedchamber. He let out a long sigh and left the chamber.
“Senior Court Lady Jeong, Their Majesties have retired for the night. Stay well away from the bedchamber until the morning drum sounds.”
“Chief Court Lady, where are you going?”
“Where would I go? It’s the night of Their Majesties’ consummation. I’m just going to take a look around.”
Chief Court Lady Hong stood at the edge of the courtyard, gazing up at the night sky, and sighed.
The King’s rough breathing and the Queen’s sobs were strange, no matter how he thought about it. The King enjoyed drinking, but he had never overindulged on consummation nights with the Queen.
*‘The King only drank three cups of wedding wine after arriving at the Queen’s residence. There’s no way the wedding wine I sampled could have been strange…?’*
The *Gyedangju* served as the wedding wine had been sealed with mulberry paper over the bottle’s mouth.
He had meticulously checked, opened it, sampled a cup, and then handed it to the Head Matron. It was certainly not poison.
The Queen Dowager’s palace would not have orchestrated such a thing.
*‘Surely not Senior Court Lady Pyo…?’*
Chief Court Lady Hong shook his head, gritting his teeth as he looked at the blue silk lanterns and torches illuminating the bedchamber’s courtyard.
It was a long, long night. The faces of Senior Court Lady Jeong and the nanny, standing before the stone steps and staring at the darkened main room, were filled with tension.
*‘This will be the longest night of Her Majesty the Queen’s life.’*
—
Huddled behind a two-panel folding screen, Hwayeon wept silently. She barely covered her naked body with her underskirt, torn asunder like her heart.
Her husband, who had ruthlessly crushed her and then fallen asleep, breathed like a wild beast.
The Queen’s chamber, adorned with the peony screen and the most beautiful things, had become a beast’s lair.
The King had ravaged her like a starving tiger. He was the husband she trusted and relied upon the most. And that husband had cruelly fallen upon her.
Even when the King had commanded her to leave the room several times, she had not fled, worried for him. She could never have imagined he would transform into such a beast.
In a single night, Hwayeon’s world had crumbled. The fragments of her collapsed world fell and piled upon her curled body, piercing and crushing her.
She stifled her sobs with her hand, and later covered her ears as well, praying that the morning drum would not sound.
How could she face the court ladies with her bruised body?
What if the sleeping King woke and tried to ravage her again? As the Queen of a nation, she could not run out of the main room, covering her naked body with a torn sleeping robe. She wished she could simply disappear.
Had any court lady glimpsed the moment the King devoured his Queen like a beast? Could Chief Court Lady Hong have opened the door and come in? Even her own nanny, who had nursed her, would not dare, so a court lady certainly could not.
Whether they knew or not, how could she stand before the court ladies with her body bruised like this?
There was only one choice for a Queen who had suffered such an ordeal.
As the sleeping King’s breathing grew louder, Hwayeon slowly rose from her seat and approached the wardrobe.
Inside, hidden for just such an emergency, was a poison she had concealed. It was the essence of poisonous mushrooms, which she had hidden with the resolve to take her own life before being dishonored by the enemy in case of war.
After becoming the Crown Princess, she had secretly procured it through the herbalist Cha Gil-dong.
Cha Gil-dong had been a servant of her household. He had earned his freedom and that of his elderly mother by saving Hwayeon’s own mother, who was near death, with medicinal herbs. Her father had even provided them with a thatched house in Pil-dong and a small stall selling *saengchijeon* (pan-fried stuffed pancakes) to make a living.
“Crown Princess, this is a potent poison that does not discolor silver. Just one sip of this will allow you to depart this life without pain. There is no antidote, so you must be very, very careful.”
She fumbled through the drawer and indeed found the hidden pouch. With trembling hands, Hwayeon took out the vial and uncorked it.
One sip was all it took.
*‘My nanny will see my lifeless, bruised body… Chorong and the court ladies will see it. My mother, my brothers, my sister-in-law will all find out…’*
Her pregnant sister-in-law would surely collapse from the shock if she learned of this. She had been so overjoyed at the news of her first pregnancy in six years of marriage.
Hwayeon clutched the vial tightly and swallowed her tears.
Even if she died, she must die after the bruises on her body had faded. With the dignity befitting a Queen.
In the end, she placed the vial of potent poison back into its pouch and hid it at the bottom of the drawer.
Hwayeon wiped her tears and rose from her seat.
*‘In fifteen days… no, ten days, the bruises will fade.’*
She felt her most throbbing arms and legs. Even by the light of the blue silk lantern placed outside the door, she could see the bruises on her thighs and wrists.
Holding the wall, she moved her trembling legs to the cosmetic cabinet in the inner room, took out a silk sleeping robe, and changed into it. Even as she dressed, her entire body ached and throbbed, forcing her to grit her teeth.
She tried to comb her tangled hair with her fingers, braid it, and put in a hairpin. But the hairpin was nowhere to be seen.
Looking around, the Queen’s dragon hairpin lay fallen beside the King’s pillow. Discarded on the bare floor, not on the pillow or the bed, its state felt like her own, and tears welled up again.
Cautiously, she approached the King’s bedside and picked up the dragon hairpin. Her waist felt like it would break, but she barely endured.
When the King’s breath touched her cheek, she flinched, her shoulders hunching in surprise. Her painstakingly braided hair came undone.
Again, she moved her aching arms to braid her hair and tried to insert the hairpin, but her hands trembled, and she dropped it.
*Thud.*
The sound of the dragon hairpin hitting the floor sounded like thunder.
In that moment, the King’s eyes opened. The sleeping tiger had awoken. Hwayeon froze, unable even to breathe.
She tried to flee, but her body would not obey. Her throat felt blocked, and she stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at the King.
“My Queen…?”
On any other day, he would have already commanded the personal court lady with a gentle voice to bring honeyed water. But at the sight of her, so different from usual, the King slowly threw back the covers and rose.
Had he moved quickly, she might have screamed.
“Ah, my head is throbbing…”
In that moment, Hwayeon felt as if released from a spell; she lowered her arms. All strength drained from her body, and she collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Taegang saw her exposed arms and legs.
“What happened to your wrists?”
The King approached, but she could not move.
Seeing the bruises on her thighs, visible through her sleeping robe, he stopped breathing.
“Last night… what on earth happened…?”
As Taegang reached out with trembling hands to grasp Hwayeon’s shoulder, she could not bear it and fiercely pushed him away. Her nails scratched the King’s neck in the process.
Two red lines were drawn on his royal body. It was a crime of treason punishable by the extermination of her entire clan.
The King rose from his seat.
His strong, royal body, which had always filled her with anticipation and excitement, now looked monstrous. She covered her face with both hands.
Surveying the ruined room, he shook his head in disbelief and let out a sigh.
“You should… rest. I will return.”
Wearing only undergarments and a robe, the King left the room.
Upon seeing the nail marks on the King’s neck, Senior Court Lady Yun turned pale and prostrated herself on the spot.
“I will go to my study. No need for fuss, just send in the Chief Court Lady.”
Hwayeon hid herself in the royal bed before her nanny entered the room. The King’s scent made her dizzy and nauseous.
The nanny came in, patted her blanket, and asked,
“Your Majesty, did you sleep well on your wedding night?”
“Nanny, clear the room quickly before the court ladies arrive.”
“Pardon?”
“Hurry… we need to clear away the torn clothes.”
The nanny looked around the room in shock, then swayed where she sat.
“What on earth happened…?”
Footsteps could be heard crossing the wooden floor. The nanny hurriedly gathered the torn sleeping robes and undergarments, bundled them up, and stuffed them into the wardrobe.
Soon, the main door opened and Chorong entered with a bright face.
“Your Majesty, shall I bring you some honeyed water?”
“No, it’s alright.”
“Shall I serve your breakfast porridge?”
“No. I wish to rest.”
Chorong, believing the King and Queen’s consummation had gone smoothly, withdrew with a smile.
The nanny, swallowing tears, whispered,
“Did His Majesty drink too much medicinal wine?”
“I don’t know… I don’t know…”
“At times like this… you must simply rest. After a good, sound sleep and a warm bath, everything will be alright.”
“We must not let any other court ladies into the inner chamber.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will take care of everything else. For the bruises, rubbing them with a raw egg will help.”
“A raw egg…”
Hwayeon wished she could crawl into an eggshell and hide.
