# Chapter 8: Prostration in Confession
Court Lady Jo, who had been observing Junggungjeon, reported yesterday’s events to the Dowager Queen.
“You say His Majesty entered Junggungjeon and had the yellow candles extinguished from early evening?”
“Y-yes, that is so.”
“Oh my, His Majesty has truly lost all decorum. How could he act so? Summon the Queen at once.”
“I hear she currently has cold symptoms.”
The Dowager Queen clicked her tongue with a furrowed brow.
“The Queen has caught a cold again?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Where is His Majesty?”
“He was at the Pyeonjeon but just departed for Junggungjeon.”
“The Queen is troubling His Majesty, who is busy with state affairs, under the excuse of illness. This will not do. I must go myself.”
The Dowager Queen went straight to Junggungjeon. Indeed, the King was having tea with the Queen in the main room.
“Your Majesty, you have arrived?”
“I was worried about the Queen, so I came.”
Upon seeing the Queen, who looked more gaunt than a few days ago, her heart was about to soften when she noticed something on the King’s neck.
“Your Majesty, what is that on your neck?”
“Ah, nothing at all.”
The King smiled faintly and adjusted the collar of his royal robe.
But the Queen’s face turned pale as paper, and the attending Senior Court Lady Jeong and the wet nurse prostrated themselves as if they had committed a great sin. Both hid their hands in their sleeves, but could not hide their trembling.
“Your Majesty, isn’t that a fingernail scratch?”
“I was removing my neck cloth this morning and accidentally…”
“Queen, explain yourself. Why is His Majesty’s neck in that condition?”
The Queen, like a criminal, bowed her head deeply and clasped her trembling hands together. The King tried to take her hand, but she prostrated herself and reported:
“I have done wrong, Your Majesty.”
Silence fell over the room, as if a stone had been placed upon them.
“You dared to scratch the royal body!”
“Please… put me to death…”
The Queen’s shoulders, prostrated, seemed about to shatter.
“Your Majesty, it was an accident. I pushed the Queen… and this happened while she was avoiding me.”
“The Queen avoiding His Majesty? How could such a thing occur?”
The Dowager Queen could not contain herself and rose from her seat. The Queen, weeping, remained prostrated, and the King followed after her.
“Your Majesty, please forgive the Queen just this once.”
“Have you forgotten the precedent of the former reign? Because of fingernail marks on the royal countenance, even the Queen who bore a Crown Prince was deposed!”
“Your Majesty…”
“The court ladies are watching. At this hour, where a king should be is the Pyeonjeon, not Junggungjeon.”
Only then did the King fall silent.
The Dowager Queen glared at the Queen as if she would kill her, then departed Junggungjeon.
*’Insolent wretch… daring to leave fingernail marks on His Majesty’s royal body!’*
If she deposed the Queen now, he would persecute the Jo family to save her. She decided to give the King time to give up the Queen.
Indeed, before an hour had passed, the Head Court Lady reported:
“Your Highness, Her Majesty the Queen has begun prostrating herself in confession in the courtyard.”
“Leave her be.”
The Dowager Queen leaned leisurely against her cushion, sipping ginseng tea, and waited for the King.
*’Now our King will finally listen to his mother.’*
Thanks to the Queen, who knew nothing of the ways of the world.
—
After finishing the Pyeonjeon meeting, when he entered the inner chamber, the Sangseon reported:
“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen is prostrating herself in confession in the courtyard of the Dowager Queen’s residence.”
“When she is already so unwell…”
He had expected this, but the weather was cold. It was harsh on the Queen, who had been ill with a cold.
It was not a situation where the Dowager Queen would stop the prostration. He hurried toward the Dowager Queen’s residence.
Following him, the Sangseon cautiously reported:
“Your Majesty, you must not confront the Dowager Queen.”
“If I leave the Queen like that, she will not endure and will collapse.”
“Impeachment memorials against Park Gyu-seong are being submitted from the three offices. If you have Park Gyu-seong arrested by the Uigeumbu, the Dowager Queen’s anger will subside somewhat.”
“Very well.”
But upon arriving at the Dowager Queen’s courtyard and seeing the Queen, wearing only a thin white garment, kneeling prostrate on a straw mat, his stomach churned.
When he grasped the Queen’s shoulder, her body was burning with fever.
“Queen, with your body in this state, what prostration is this? Go back to Junggungjeon at once.”
“I-I cannot do that.”
Hwayeon, looking as if she would collapse at any moment, shook her head and refused the royal command. Unable to contain himself, Taegang shouted:
“What are you all doing? Escort the Queen back to Junggungjeon at once!”
At that moment, the main room door opened and the Dowager Queen stepped onto the veranda.
“Your Majesty, the Queen has a high fever. Please allow her to stop the prostration.”
“The Queen scratched His Majesty’s royal body. She is a criminal deserving of imprisonment in the royal prison and even the great blade.”
“It was my mistake. It is not the Queen’s fault.”
“Your Majesty, do you think this is something that can be covered by words!”
A murderous glint flashed in the Dowager Queen’s eyes.
His mother was a woman who repaid kindness tenfold and grudges a hundredfold—no, by taking lives. If this continued, the Queen would be deposed and ultimately receive the poison cup.
“Your Majesty, it seems the Queen has contracted a febrile illness.”
“A febrile… illness?”
“Yes, so it would be best to send the Queen immediately to a separate palace for isolation.”
It was the courtyard of the Dowager Queen’s residence, surrounded by court ladies from both the Daejeon and Dowager Queen’s residences. Even the Dowager Queen could not ignore the King’s plea.
“If it’s a febrile illness, it could be transmitted to His Majesty, so she should indeed be sent to a separate palace.”
“Your grace is boundless.”
When Taegang tried to lift the Queen in his arms, the Dowager Queen commanded in a sharp voice:
“His Majesty must not carry her. Bring a palanquin and take the Queen to the separate palace. Immediately!”
Without delay, a palanquin arrived in the courtyard, and a Senior Court Lady from the Dowager Queen’s residence carried the Queen on her back and placed her in the palanquin.
“Why are you dawdling! Depart for the separate palace at once!”
At the Dowager Queen’s fiery command, the palanquin carrying the Queen departed. The wet nurse, Senior Court Lady Jeong, and the court ladies of Junggungjeon swallowed their tears and followed the palanquin.
Hong Sangseon, standing behind, whispered:
“Your Majesty, you did well to endure.”
“Send a royal physician to the separate palace to care for the Queen.”
“It would be good to send the royal physician as well.”
“No. It would be better to send the royal physician once Her Majesty’s anger has subsided somewhat.”
If he sent the royal physician now, it might only provoke the Dowager Queen’s wrath further.
His heart felt as if it were tearing as he returned to the Pyeonjeon.
—
Hwayeon was thus cast out to the separate palace.
Upon arriving at the separate palace, she collapsed onto the cushion in the cold main room. She was so feverish that she didn’t even feel the cold, but seeing the tears of the wet nurse, Senior Court Lady Jeong, and the attending court ladies, it finally became real.
She had dragged her ailing body to the Dowager Queen’s residence, and while prostrating in confession, just before she was about to collapse, the King appeared.
*’If His Majesty had not said I had a febrile illness, I might have been deposed and forced to drink the poison cup by now.’*
The King had saved her.
But she might never see her husband again.
*’Has news of me reached my mother? She’s already suffering from heart illness—she might collapse from the shock…’*
Her pregnant sister-in-law was also a concern.
An ordinary daughter-in-law cast out from her in-law’s home would see no future, so how could a Queen cast out to a separate palace have any hope of survival?
Thinking she was at the edge of a cliff, her mind paradoxically became calm.
*’I must remain prostrate until the Dowager Queen’s anger subsides.’*
Thinking of Jo Yeong-geun and Jo Su-geun, who must be eagerly anticipating the Queen’s deposition, she did not want to give up.
She asked the wet nurse for porridge, and the wet nurse soon offered fragrant pine nut porridge.
As she was forcing down the pine nut porridge, Senior Court Lady Jeong swallowed her tears and reported:
“Your Majesty, it is said that even if you fall into a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you. Trust in His Majesty and plan for the future.”
“I shall do so. I will endure, trusting in His Majesty and in all of you.”
“Your grace is boundless.”
Soon, the royal physician came to the separate palace, examined Hwayeon’s pulse, and heated and offered the medicinal decoction she had brought. When Hwayeon could not bring herself to drink it, the physician reported:
“His Majesty is very worried. You must recover quickly and return to the palace.”
“Return… is there a way for me to go back?”
“His Majesty bade me to tell you to trust and wait.”
“Thank you. Since there are two physicians here, you may return now. You must attend to the Dowager Queen.”
“I shall see you again tomorrow.”
After the physician left, the room grew slightly warmer as a fire was lit in the furnace.
Senior Court Lady Jeong entered and comforted her:
“Your Majesty, His Majesty has sent your bed, a brazier, and even firewood to the separate palace. For His Majesty’s sake, you must recover.”
“I understand. Now withdraw and rest.”
When the court ladies gave her privacy, Hwayeon closed her eyes. Whether the physician had put sleeping agents in the decoction, sleep rushed over her.
—
Night came, and Taegang had the Sangseon offer evening greetings to the Dowager Queen in his stead, then went to Junggungjeon.
Blue moonlight descended upon the courtyard of Junggungjeon, now empty of its Queen.
He entered the main room, vacated by its mistress. Under strict orders not to touch anything, the cushion and the books on the low table remained exactly as the Queen had left them.
He sat at the low table, touched the *Classic of Filial Piety* the Queen had been reading, and opened the drawer. In the neatly organized drawer was a cookbook her mother had given her when she married into the royal family.
As he took out the cookbook, a note inside fell to the floor. Reading it, he saw it was a list of things the Queen wanted to do:
「Visit Mother’s sickbed.
Pay respects at Father’s grave.
Spring flower-picking outing.
Walk the bridge with Mother.」
Tears welled in his eyes.
The Queen’s wishes were simple. They were things any ordinary woman could do, not a woman of a noble family.
*’Trapped in the palace, she couldn’t even attend her father’s funeral, nor visit her ailing mother. For eight years…’*
He had brought a thirteen-year-old girl who wished to walk the bridge on the fifteenth of the first month into the palace and imprisoned her for eight years, tormenting her.
The Queen’s last bridge walk was when she was twelve years old.
On the thirteenth day of the first month, two days before the full moon, she had gone with her parents to walk the bridge at Hyogyeonggyo, not the crowded places like Gwangtonggyo or Supyogyo.
That autumn, Hwayeon was selected as Crown Princess, and in winter, the royal wedding took place. Even at the full moon of the first month, she could not go to Hyogyeonggyo to see the moon.
*’The day after tomorrow is the thirteenth of the first month… shall I go walk the bridge with the Queen at the separate palace this year?’*
He put the Queen’s note in his bosom and left Junggungjeon.
—
Perhaps because she had slept so much at the separate palace, Hwayeon’s slight fever had subsided and she felt much better.
The wet nurse entered and delivered a letter. Senior Court Lady Jeong had gone to the kitchen to monitor the attending physicians preparing the decoction.
“Your Majesty, among the workers moving firewood, Cha Gil-dong secretly entered and delivered this.”
Unfolding the note that Cha Gil-dong had brought, she saw her sister-in-law’s elegant handwriting. Fearing the letter might be discovered, she had omitted all titles and written concisely:
「Mother is gravely ill. She says she has words to leave behind, so please send the wet nurse.」
