TTF 06

Chapter : 06 Keeping Her by His Side and Enjoying Her Fragrance

“It’s all right, I tell you.”

There was strength in his voice, but it was filled with tenderness.

Hyeon lay down beside her. Then he lifted Yeonhwa’s head onto his arm, letting it serve as her pillow.

“You have such a wonderful fragrance.”

When Yeonhwa’s sobbing subsided, Hyeon spoke with a foolish smile.

“Pardon?”

“What meaning is there in plucking a beautiful flower and making it mine?”

Hyeon held Yeonhwa tightly in his arms and once again breathed in her natural scent.

“I’m saying that perhaps it isn’t so bad to keep you by my side and enjoy your fragrance like this.”

Yeonhwa had no way of knowing what he truly meant, so she merely blinked her eyes.

Some time later, leaving Hyeon asleep while still holding her, Yeonhwa slipped out of his arms. She had been warned that she must not fall asleep together with him in the royal bedchamber.

And when Yeonhwa lowered her head beneath the sharp gaze of the court lady waiting outside the royal bedchamber, she waited fearfully for what the woman would say.

“I shall escort you to your quarters.”

“Pardon?”

“Since you have consummated the marriage, you are now a court lady who has received His Majesty’s favor. Please speak to me informally.”

Yeonhwa stared blankly at the sudden change in the Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber’s attitude.

“Your Highness, actually…”

“Please speak informally.”

Yeonhwa hesitated, rolling her eyes from side to side before cautiously opening her mouth.

“I don’t think we actually consummated the marriage.”

“What?”

Although Yeonhwa had no experience, she knew enough to understand that they had not spent a complete night together.

“I-I did not receive His Majesty’s favor.”

The Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber let out an incredulous sigh and allowed her shoulders to slump.

“Then what in the world have you been doing all this time?”

The bewildered court lady demanded an answer from Yeonhwa.

“I… His Majesty said that it was all right…”

The Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber’s clenched fists trembled.

In the end, did this girl not work either?

She felt utterly dejected at the realization that the failure of the consummations all this time had not been because the court maids lacked beauty.

“Return to your quarters at once.”

The Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber snapped at her with an expression that showed she did not even want to think about it anymore.

When dawn came, Hyeon returned to Gangnyeongjeon.

The Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber checked the bedding and confirmed that Yeonhwa’s words were true. She was left completely devastated.

“What am I supposed to tell Her Highness the Queen Consort this time?”

If even the medicine had been useless…

The court lady’s worries about the matter of an heir grew deeper.

“Must we really bring in the Minister of Personnel’s daughter after all?!”

As the Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber had expected, the Queen Consort’s anger was immense.

Having spent the night worrying that Yeonhwa might be beautiful, the Queen Consort was frustrated by a situation in which she could neither laugh nor cry.

When she heard that the court maid who had been brought in had not even left the royal bedchamber, she desperately tried to blame it on the medicine and stayed awake throughout the night.

But hearing that the consummation had not taken place was by no means good news.

While the Queen Consort was as sorrowful as ever, the faction of the Left State Councillor was practically celebrating.

Considering how they had been suppressed by the influence of the Queen Consort’s father in the past, it was only natural.

Believing that a secure future was about to unfold before them, they eagerly counted the days until the wedding ceremony at the Minister of Personnel’s household.

Seonhwa, the daughter of Gwon Munyeol, was also gradually learning the etiquette of the palace under the instruction of a court lady sent from the palace.

“My lady, they say His Majesty the King is incredibly handsome.”

At the words of her personal maid, Seonhwa, who had been embroidering, gave a shy smile.

“How do you know that?”

“They say the rumor is spreading throughout not only the palace but Hanyang as well. How could you be the only one who doesn’t know?”

Of course, Seonhwa knew about it too.

When an edict for the selection of a queen had been issued while Hyeon was still the Crown Prince, the greatest number of candidates in history had been submitted.

It was only natural. He had been exceptionally clever, capable, and handsome from a young age, showing extraordinary promise even as a child.

With his outstanding appearance and character, and the fact that he did not keep any royal concubines, many women in common households had also developed affection for the young king.

“My lady is so beautiful as well. Just imagine how beautiful the child born between you and His Majesty, who is said to be so handsome, would be…”

“Ahem! Watch what you say. We haven’t even held the wedding ceremony yet.”

Seonhwa quietly scolded her personal maid.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

Seonhwa smiled at her maid, who answered timidly, then pushed her needle into the fabric again.

But she, too, faced the approaching wedding ceremony with her heart fluttering every day, filled with anticipation.

“There can be no more consummations, Your Highness.”

Now that the wedding ceremony with the Minister of Personnel’s daughter, who would become a royal concubine, had been arranged, bringing another court maid to Hyeon for a consummation was no longer acceptable.

The Queen Consort’s personal court lady tried to soothe her, but the Queen Consort could not let go of her lingering thoughts.

“The entire palace is buzzing because of the Minister of Personnel’s daughter. You expect me to simply sit here and watch this happen?”

“Your Highness, she has already entered the palace to prepare for the wedding ceremony. If an unnecessary rumor spreads, Your Highness will be placed in a difficult position.”

When the Queen Consort saw Seonhwa before the wedding ceremony, her feelings became extremely complicated.

It was almost as though she saw wings spreading behind Seonhwa’s back.

It was difficult to remain unmoved before her exquisite beauty—beauty so extraordinary that even Yang Guifei and Xi Shi would have been overshadowed.

If she had known things would turn out this way, it would have been better to simply send a beautiful woman from within the palace to Hyeon.

The Queen Consort clenched her fists and slowly closed her eyes. She had to come up with another plan.

And there was someone else suffering from an entirely different kind of heartache.

It was none other than Hyeon, the King of Joseon.

“Yeonhwa. Yeonhwa…”

While reading a book, Hyeon unknowingly fell into deep thought.

Hyeon felt as though the sensation of those soft lips he had held against his own still lingered inside his mouth.

“This won’t do. I should go to that girl’s quarters.”

“Pardon?”

“What are you doing? Why haven’t you made the preparations yet?”

Hyeon wanted to call for Yeonhwa, but with the wedding ceremony approaching, he found it difficult to say those words aloud.

Even though a king was said to be above all constraints, there was no way a king about to marry could seek out a court maid who had not even received his favor.

It would be disrespectful not only to the Minister of Personnel’s daughter, who was about to enter the palace as a royal concubine, but also to the Minister of Personnel himself.

But how could one stop the heart from being drawn toward someone?

That was why, on nights when no one knew, he would sometimes visit the quarters where she stayed.

Yeonhwa, who could never have dreamed that the king was looking for her, never came outside late at night.

In the end, Hyeon would not even be able to see her face, but simply seeing her shadow was enough to make him happy.

“Do not make a commotion. Just follow me.”

Hyeon spoke to the Chief Eunuch as he walked into the cold night wind.

“You’re not asleep?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Is the light bothering you?”

Yeonhwa gave Honggeum, who was worried about her, an awkward smile.

Honggeum sat up and looked at her with pity.

“Because of me, you…”

“What? No. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

At Honggeum’s barely audible voice, Yeonhwa extended both hands and waved them dismissively.

Though Yeonhwa insisted she was fine, Honggeum could tell that she was anything but.

Every night, she sighed, and there were many times when she seemed lost in thought.

She seemed to be showing the same symptoms as Gopdan, who had not received His Majesty’s favor and lived in the quarters next door.

The difference was that while Gopdan occasionally burst into tears, Yeonhwa had become completely absorbed in reading.

Honggeum knew well that whenever Yeonhwa’s mind became complicated and filled with distracting thoughts, she would particularly seek refuge in books, and it worried her.

She had already spent nearly a month doing nothing but burying herself in books and cutting down on sleep.

Even when she went to sleep late in the early morning hours, she never woke later than Honggeum, who had gone to sleep before her.

“It’s because of His Majesty, isn’t it?”

Seeing Yeonhwa become absent-minded again, Honggeum finally said the words she had been holding back.

“What? Ah, no. No, it’s not that.”

Her unusually strong denial seemed almost like a definite confirmation.

“I was just thinking about my father.”

Seeing Yeonhwa make another excuse, Honggeum gave her an awkward smile.

“Stop thinking about your late father and get some sleep. You’re already doing things you don’t even need to do because Her Highness dislikes you. You!”

At Honggeum’s words, Yeonhwa pressed her lips tightly together and lowered her head.

“She doesn’t treat the other court maids like that, but she is especially harsh toward you.”

Court Lady Lee had taken the Court Lady of the Royal Bedchamber’s anger in full and directed that anger toward Yeonhwa.

She believed that if she had not even mentioned Yeonhwa in the first place, she would never have had to suffer such humiliation.

Moreover, because Yeonhwa had not returned until deep into the dawn on the night of the consummation, Court Lady Lee had held high expectations.

But when Yeonhwa eventually returned trudging along without anything having happened, Court Lady Lee must have felt as though she had been struck hard in the back of the head.

Furthermore, unlike the court maids who had been unable to sleep and had been sent away, Yeonhwa had spent the night lying beside the king.

That alone was enough to make the envy and jealousy of the other court maids toward Yeonhwa enormous.

But none of that mattered to Yeonhwa.

—“I’m saying that perhaps it isn’t so bad to keep you by my side and enjoy your fragrance like this.”

His gentle voice, strangely enough, sank deeper into her heart as time passed.

Yeonhwa’s heart ached because she kept thinking about Hyeon’s gaze and touch.

She had been beside him for only one day, for merely a brief moment.

Yeonhwa took out the ring she had carefully kept close to her heart.

She remembered the moment when he had placed it upon her hand.

Before the lingering image of that moment had even faded, Yeonhwa had to face Hyeon once again, making the aftereffects of that encounter almost impossible to bear.

“Go to sleep first.”

Even then, Yeonhwa was conscious of Honggeum tossing and turning, so she extinguished the candle in the room.

Then she quietly stepped outside for a while.

The bright moon shone brilliantly in the night sky.

She sat on the wooden veranda, pulled her knees against her chest, and rested her head against a pillar as she enjoyed the moonlight.

The night wind was quite cold, but she did not feel cold.

She was simply lonely.

She had no idea that Hyeon was watching her, his heart feeling as though it might stop at the sight.

Yeonhwa stretched her hand toward the moonlight.

Thinking of Hyeon pressing his lips against her fingertips, Yeonhwa pulled that hand toward herself and touched her fingertips to her own lips.

She gently closed her eyes, recalling the moment when her lips had met his and remembering the sensation.

“Your Majesty!”