Chapter 2
“The tea has gone cold.”
When Rye Hoon pointed at the teacup with his chin, Dongseok hurriedly took it away and brought him a fresh cup of hot tea.
“Anyway, it seems Your Majesty has finally come up with a clever solution.”
Rye Hoon remained silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before lifting his teacup.
“I am not sure whether it can truly be called a clever solution.”
“Allow me to say this, Your Majesty. It was the best decision you could have made.”
Unlike Dongseok, who looked delighted as though the matter concerned him personally, Rye Hoon’s expression remained indifferent as he drank his tea.
“What should we do about the ministers waiting outside?”
“I believe they said it would rain this evening…”
“That is correct, Your Majesty. Shall I tell them all to leave?”
“Leave them alone.”
“What do you mean…?”
Rye Hoon answered Dongseok, who was staring at him in confusion, with complete indifference.
“When it rains, they will leave on their own.”
“Are you truly going to leave them there?”
“My words telling them to leave would not be nearly as effective as the rain. If they get caught in the rain at this time of year, they will fall seriously ill in less than half an hour.”
Autumn in the Northern Empire was almost as bitterly cold as winter.
“Do you also intend to keep them uninformed about the imperial decree being sent to the Seoyeon Kingdom?”
“Even if I do not tell them, they will soon find out and come here making a fuss, won’t they?”
Rye Hoon replied dismissively, folding his arms.
Dongseok gave an awkward smile and bowed his head.
Seoyeon Kingdom
A heavy atmosphere hung over the inner palace.
The king rested his head against one hand, his elbow propped on a small desk. His expression was troubled and complicated.
The Three Chief Ministers stood before him, anxiously watching his face. The king’s brothers, who had been summoned late, were also waiting for him to speak while carefully observing the tense atmosphere.
Among them, only Prince Inyang looked at his elder brother with an expression of deep concern.
This gloomy meeting had been going on for five days.
“Are you telling me there is truly no solution?”
At last, the king raised his head and looked around at the people gathered before him, his face full of disappointment.
A heavy silence followed. Eventually, the Chief State Councillor had no choice but to speak.
“Your Majesty, it pains me greatly to say this, but what the Northern Empire wants is a princess. The emperor has made it clear that even a royal lady born to a concubine will not be accepted.”
There was no need to think too deeply about what he meant.
He was suggesting that they simply send a princess to the Northern Empire and put an end to the matter.
The king’s anger flared.
“How many days have you been repeating the same thing?”
“I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty.”
“Haah…”
After letting out a long sigh, the king continued.
“But surely we cannot send a princess of this kingdom to a foreign land. If you were in my position, Chief State Councillor, would you willingly send your own daughter?”
“…”
The Chief State Councillor could not answer. He turned his head away.
Seeing this, the king continued in an outraged voice.
“This matter does not concern only me or the royal family! Have you all forgotten? The Northern Empire also wants the daughters of our ministers to serve as secondary wives! And yet you still claim that there is absolutely nothing we can do?”
Rebuked by the king, everyone fell silent.
The inner palace was filled with nothing but silence.
Two days earlier, an imperial envoy had arrived carrying a decree from the emperor of the Northern Empire.
Before the envoy arrived, a letter from the Crown Prince had already reached the kingdom, informing them of the decree’s contents.
Even so, they had been unable to come up with any effective countermeasures.
They had simply received the bad news a few days earlier than everyone else.
The emperor of the Northern Empire had ordered them to send a princess to become his secondary empress.
That was not all.
He also intended to select daughters from among the ministers’ families and take them away. Those women would be assigned either to his own harem or to the households of his meritorious officials.
As if that were not enough, he had added a false show of goodwill, claiming that this arrangement was the condition for allowing the Crown Prince to return home and that the two kingdoms would become even closer through this marriage alliance.
The imperial envoy was urging them to hurry with the selection of the empress, but neither the king nor his ministers and royal relatives had been able to offer a solution.
“Your Majesty…”
At the sound of a voice attempting to ease the suffocating tension, the king turned his gaze toward Prince Inyang.
“First, I believe we should reduce the number of women being sent to the Northern Empire.”
“Reduce the number?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The main purpose of this imperial decree is to select an empress. If we include the daughters of the ministers as well, the total number of women being sent will be far too large.”
The ministers secretly looked relieved.
The king, however, asked in an anxious voice, “Then what do you propose we do?”
“As the Chief State Councillor has said, the Northern Empire wants a princess who can become its empress. As for the concubines, we could select suitable unmarried young women, grant them the title of ongju (a princess born to a concubine), and send them instead. Would that not be a reasonable way to settle the matter?”
“Prince Inyang!”
The king’s face turned bright red. He slammed his hand forcefully against the desk, startling everyone into bowing their heads.
“So your solution is simply to send a princess and use her to resolve this crisis! Is that something a member of the royal family should say?”
The king’s voice trembled with anger.
“I have already endured the humiliation of surrendering to that empire and sending the heir to my throne there as a hostage. I have suffered such disgrace, and now you want me to endure yet another humiliation by sending… Cough! Cough, cough!”
The king had raised his voice so forcefully that he suddenly began coughing as though he could barely breathe.
A palace attendant hurried over to pat his back, while a senior court lady brought him a bowl of water.
After catching his breath and drinking a few sips, the king glared at Prince Inyang with a haggard expression.
He was not merely angry. He felt deeply wronged.
Sending away one of his sons had already been heartbreaking enough. Now his own younger brother was suggesting that he send away his daughter as well.
He simply could not understand how Prince Inyang could make such a suggestion.
Yet, with his brothers and ministers all present, he could not simply reject the idea by declaring that he would never send his own child away.
He had hoped that gathering everyone together would lead to a practical solution.
Instead, all the meeting had done was raise his blood pressure.
“Everyone, leave!”
Unable to endure any more, the king shouted.
The people exchanged uneasy glances, then gradually rose, paid their respects, and withdrew one by one.
Their departure only made the king feel more miserable. Despite his age, he felt as though tears might burst from his eyes at any moment.
“Your Majesty…”
The king had been holding back his tears while waiting for everyone to leave. Startled by the voice, he opened his tightly closed eyes.
Everyone else was gone.
Only Prince Inyang remained.
“I cannot bear to look at you. Leave as well.”
The king pressed one hand against his throbbing head and waved the other dismissively, ordering his younger brother to go.
But Prince Inyang did not leave. Instead, he stepped closer to the king and bowed deeply before him.
“Your Majesty, you can send a princess.”
“I told you I do not want to hear that!”
The furious king raised his voice.
Prince Inyang remained quietly bowed and continued in a calm tone.
“I, Prince Inyang, wish to make a request of Your Majesty, even though it may be considered disloyal.”
“What on earth are you trying to say now? My head is already aching so badly that I cannot bear to listen to anything more!”
“Please make my daughter your own daughter.”
The king’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“My daughter has many shortcomings because I have not been able to raise her as well as I should have. However, she would not bring shame upon us if she were sent to the Northern Empire.”
“Prince Inyang…”
At last, Prince Inyang raised his head and looked gently at his elder brother, who was both his king and his family.
“Please conceal her true identity, present my daughter as a princess, and send her to the Northern Empire.”
It was late afternoon.
Eunjeong was on her way home after going out.
From a distance, someone came running toward her palanquin.
“Oh, my goodness, Young Lady!”
Gyeongju, the household maid, reached the palanquin and called out anxiously, panting heavily.
Eunjeong opened the small window of the palanquin and looked at her in confusion.
“What is the matter?”
“Why are you so late? Someone has come from the royal palace.”
“From the palace? Why?”
“How would I know, Young Lady? Anyway, a senior court lady from the palace has been waiting for you for quite some time. Your mother told me to find you and bring you back immediately.”
Eunjeong tilted her head slightly, thinking for a moment, before telling the bearers to stop the palanquin.
Myeonghui, who was accompanying her, was puzzled. At a time like this, when the bearers should have been hurrying as fast as possible, why was the young lady asking them to stop?
But she soon understood the reason.
Eunjeong climbed out of the palanquin and began running.
“Oh, Young Lady!”
Myeonghui was horrified to see Eunjeong quickly disappearing into the distance. She hurried after her, and the palanquin bearers also rushed to keep up.
Only Gyeongju, who had already exhausted herself from running, continued walking slowly along the road.
Eunjeong ran all the way to the main gate of her home. When she arrived, she caught her breath and brushed the dust from her clothes.
Myeonghui arrived shortly afterward, her face bright red as she gasped for air.
“Hah… hah… Young Lady, if you run like that… huff…”
“Let’s go inside.”
Having quickly caught her breath, Eunjeong walked toward the gate.
When she reached the inner residence, she announced herself in a quiet voice.
“Mother, your daughter has returned.”
A short while later, Lady Min, her mother, came out of the inner room and onto the wooden veranda.
Behind her followed a senior court lady, carrying a sseugaechima, a traditional veil worn by women.
“Where have you been that you have stayed away from home for so long?”
“I apologize, Mother. I was late because I went to check on the children.”
Lady Min looked at her apologetically bowing daughter with an exasperated expression. Then, without saying anything, she turned her gaze toward the court lady.
The court lady gave Lady Min a polite greeting before stepping down into the courtyard. She then greeted Eunjeong as well.
Eunjeong returned the greeting respectfully, lowering her head.
“Her Highness, Princess Uihwa, wishes to see you.”
“Her Highness?”
“Yes. It is already rather late, so please prepare to enter the palace immediately.”
