Chapter : 08 Call the Royal Physician
Temptation of Flowers
“Your Majesty, it is time for your evening meal.”
“I know. I simply wish to get some more fresh air, so follow me.”
At Hyeon’s words, the Chief Eunuch’s face stiffened.
Even if he did not know the full depth of the King’s heart, the Chief Eunuch had been by his side for more than twenty years.
There was no way he could not know whom the King missed and kept in his heart. And now that he had even held the wedding ceremony with a Noble Consort, there was nothing strange about his behavior.
The Chief Eunuch sent away the palace attendants following Hyeon as much as possible and approached his side.
“Shall I send word to the palace maid in charge of the royal bedchamber?”
At the Chief Eunuch’s quick-witted words, Hyeon gave a faint, hollow laugh.
Indeed, it would have been strange if he had not noticed.
Still, Hyeon felt strangely embarrassed at being caught acting as though he had fallen for a woman for the first time in his life.
“That is something for the Chief Eunuch to take care of.”
At Hyeon’s words, the Chief Eunuch lowered his head while suppressing the laughter that threatened to escape.
It was around the time they arrived at Yeonhwa’s quarters.
“W-What is that?”
Following Hyeon’s startled gaze, the Chief Eunuch’s eyes also widened in surprise.
Hyeon’s fingertip pointed toward the jar.
A delicate woman was holding the heavy object while kneeling.
The person being punished, who looked as though she might collapse at any moment, was certainly the girl he knew.
“Isn’t that Yeonhwa?”
Seeing Hyeon, whose face had gone pale—not quite as pale as Yeonhwa’s bloodless face—the Chief Eunuch hurriedly spoke.
“I-I will find out what happened.”
The Chief Eunuch turned around and was about to enter the quarters.
Clang!
“Yeonhwa!”
Along with the loud noise, a woman’s scream-like voice sharply pierced their ears.
Before he even had time to do anything, Hyeon, who had been standing beside the Chief Eunuch, had disappeared.
“Y-Your Majesty.”
Hyeon had already entered the quarters with long strides and was climbing the steps toward Yeonhwa.
At Hyeon’s sudden appearance, Honggeum’s eyes became wide with shock. She was so startled that she could not even think of paying her respects.
Without even having time to question her for that grave offense, Hyeon lifted Yeonhwa into his arms.
“Call the royal physician at once.”
“Pardon?”
“We are going to Gangnyeongjeon.”
At the unreasonable command, the Chief Eunuch’s head spun.
It was already astonishing that the King was calling for the royal physician because a palace maid had collapsed. But saying that he would bring her into Gangnyeongjeon was even more shocking.
Hyeon, who had always been calm and composed, seemed like a completely different person. Moreover, his stubborn determination to go to Gangnyeongjeon while carrying that palace maid in his arms did not seem likely to change.
“Your Majesty, I will prepare a palanquin, so please put her down.”
“Do not block the way for no reason. Move aside.”
Hyeon spoke in an annoyed tone.
Moreover, Yeonhwa’s body in his arms was extremely light.
Because of that, Hyeon did not care about the situation at all.
After that storm-like incident passed, the quarters became quiet.
Honggeum, who doubted her own eyes, stood there dazed as if she had seen a ghost. Then, after coming to her senses, she hurriedly walked as though possessed toward Court Lady Lee’s quarters.
“Your Ladyship! Your Ladyship~~!!!”
Court Lady Lee, who had been uneasy even while inside the room, immediately realized from Honggeum’s voice that Yeonhwa had finally caused trouble.
She opened the door and spoke to Honggeum outside.
“Did you call the physician?”
She had asked because she sensed that Yeonhwa had collapsed.
“T-That is…”
“Isn’t that girl truly stubborn?”
Court Lady Lee sighed as she looked at the anxious Honggeum and spoke again.
“Tell the Royal Medical Office to prepare medicine for that girl. And for the time being, the work in the kitchen…”
“We called the royal physician.”
At Honggeum’s words, which she had barely managed to get out, Court Lady Lee frowned in disbelief.
“What are you talking about? Did you just say the royal physician?”
Her expression seemed to say that perhaps Honggeum and her fellow court maid were taking turns trying to turn her insides upside down.
“His Majesty took the collapsed Yeonhwa to Gangnyeongjeon.”
At Honggeum’s words, Court Lady Lee’s face darkened even more.
“What does that mean? Tell me exactly what happened.”
“How is she?”
Hyeon’s heart was in a hurry as he pressed the royal physician, who had just begun checking Yeonhwa’s pulse.
She looked completely different from the day he had first seen her when they were supposed to consummate their marriage. Her face was so pale that there was hardly any color in it, and she looked as though it would not be strange if her breath stopped at any moment.
Hyeon’s heart felt as though it were being torn apart when he thought about how much Yeonhwa must have suffered while he had been unaware.
“Her qi has been greatly weakened. She was born with a weak constitution and is prone to minor illnesses.”
At the royal physician’s words, Hyeon’s eyes widened.
“Then quickly prepare some medicine to strengthen her body.”
“Th-That is…”
“What are you hesitating about?”
At the royal physician’s hesitation, Hyeon raised his voice impatiently.
“The medicinal ingredients that strengthen the body according to the patient’s constitution are ginseng and antler velvet…”
He meant that it was difficult to use such precious medicinal ingredients carelessly.
“It does not matter what it is. Bring the medicine at once.”
“B-But. I may be able to obtain the ginseng, but the antler velvet must be used for Her Majesty the Queen’s treatment for her women’s illness. It will be difficult to obtain it right now…”
At the royal physician’s words, Hyeon’s brows drew together.
Even so, he could not order them to take the Queen’s medicine away and give it to this girl.
“Isn’t antler velvet also included in the herbal medicine I receive every morning?”
“Your Majesty!”
The Chief Eunuch’s voice, saying that it was absolutely impossible, came even faster than the startled expression on the royal physician’s face.
“It is a royal command. Quickly prepare the decoction to treat this girl.”
Hyeon issued a command that was embarrassing even to receive as a royal order.
“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”
The royal physician reluctantly answered and went outside.
Even amid all the commotion around her, Yeonhwa’s eyes remained tightly closed, as though she alone were at peace.
“Everyone, leave.”
There was deep distress in Hyeon’s voice.
The Chief Eunuch turned his gaze away to order the others to leave.
“Chief Eunuch, you leave as well.”
“Pardon? You mean me as well?”
“I want to be alone.”
“I understand.”
At his command, the Chief Eunuch went outside with the palace attendants who had been serving him. However, he could not hide the worried look in his eyes for Hyeon, who had even sent away his evening meal because he was upset.
Hyeon had been thinking of excuses to look for Yeonhwa whenever he had the slightest opportunity.
Seeing Hyeon devote himself so sincerely to Yeonhwa in particular, the Chief Eunuch felt uneasy.
Without having any time to think about the Chief Eunuch’s feelings, Hyeon took Yeonhwa’s delicate hand in his.
The soft skin he had felt when he first held her hand was still the same.
In the flickering candlelight, her long eyelashes cast dark shadows.
Even when her eyes were closed, she was such a beautiful woman, but Hyeon wanted to see her sparkling eyes.
“How did you end up suffering through such hardship?”
Hyeon enclosed her hand between both of his and tried to calm his heart, which was aching painfully.
About half an hour later, the royal physician appeared carrying the decoction in both hands.
“Your Majesty, the decoction is ready.”
“Give it to me.”
The royal physician was deprived of the task that should have been performed by a female physician when Hyeon took the decoction himself.
He carefully brought the medicine gathered in a silver spoon to her lips.
Hyeon gently pressed both of Yeonhwa’s cheeks, separating her lower lip from her upper lip. Then he slowly pushed the medicine between them.
But the decoction did not go down her throat at all.
The decoction, filled with precious medicinal ingredients, simply flowed down the corner of Yeonhwa’s small mouth.
“Ah…”
A pitiful sigh-like sound escaped the royal physician’s mouth before he could stop himself.
Seeing Hyeon flinch, the royal physician tightly closed his mouth and lowered his head.
“Leave. I will give her the medicine.”
At Hyeon’s command, which had become extremely sensitive because of Yeonhwa’s condition, the royal physician stepped back.
Once he was alone with Yeonhwa again, Hyeon gave her several more spoonfuls of medicine. But every time, it failed to go down her throat.
Thinking that there was no other way, Hyeon pulled her neck toward him with his arm and raised her upper body. Then he held the decoction in his own mouth.
Once again, he opened her lips with one hand and covered her mouth with his own.
He let the decoction he had held without spilling a single drop flow into her mouth. And he did not separate his lips from hers until she swallowed it.
He was showing his stubborn nature exactly as it was.
Perhaps because of the human instinct to live, when she began to feel short of breath, Yeonhwa’s throat moved with a swallow.
Only then did Hyeon pull his mouth away from her lips, the corners of his lips curling upward.
Hyeon emptied the entire bowl of medicine using the same method before finally laying Yeonhwa back down.
He looked at Yeonhwa with a pleased expression, as though he had accomplished something great.
“Open your eyes soon. My heart is so anxious.”
Hyeon once again revealed his feelings as he tightly held her hand.
“Are you certain?”
Court Lady Lee, who had gone to see the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber, explained what had just happened with a pale face.
But the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber looked as though she could hardly believe it.
Hyeon had firmly warned everyone around Gangnyeongjeon so that nothing that happened there would leak out. Because of that, unless she entered Gangnyeongjeon herself, the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber had no way of confirming it.
Moreover, the King had given an order today that no one was to disturb his sleep.
Because of that, the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber could not go to Gangnyeongjeon.
If what Court Lady Lee said was true, it seemed certain that Yeonhwa would soon receive the King’s favor.
“When I tried every possible method, nothing happened. So why, of all times…”
The Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber spoke irritably in an extremely tense voice. Then she organized the situation in her mind once more.
“Even the Noble Consort refused him…”
After even the attempt to consummate the marriage with Yeonhwa had failed, the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber had placed her last hope in the Noble Consort.
She had been about to arrange another night for them while comforting the Noble Consort, who was upset because she had failed to consummate the marriage on the day of the wedding ceremony.
The Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber had thought that the reason the consummation had failed was because the Noble Consort was exhausted from the wedding ceremony. But now that she thought about it, she realized that this entire situation had begun with Yeonhwa.
It had been strange from the beginning that the King went to sleep beside her without even granting her the King’s favor.
She felt like a fool for not realizing what was in his heart.
As she kept thinking about it, one thought leading to another, even the Court Lady in charge of the royal bedchamber felt wronged.
