A moment later, he widened his eyes as if he’d made a mistake and corrected himself, saying, “I greet His Highness Prince Yoon.” He’d thought perhaps Yuwon had given up since things had been quiet, but he never dreamed he would appear like this.
“…Ha.”
This was troublesome.
The Emperor, who didn’t know about the three people’s affairs at school, looked purely pleased. It seemed he’d truly invited Hwan and Huiseo out of goodwill.
He understood the sentiment. In the Imperial Family’s difficult situation, there was no reason not to look favorably upon a boy who, despite his young age, donated a large sum and chatted away saying he respected the Imperial Family, acting genially—a boy the age of his son, no, a friend of his actual son.
Though Hwan would jump at the word “friend.”
“To think you’re even in the same class. Surprisingly, there’s such a connection, so wouldn’t it be more meaningful for you to tour the palace together? That’s why I called you.”
Hwan’s face immediately crumpled upon hearing this, but the others seemed to think it was just his usual whining. Good grief, they paid no attention. He felt like he’d become the boy who cried wolf.
Hwan suspected and was wary of Yuwon’s intentions in appearing like this.
‘Is that really goodwill?’
Meeting Hwan’s gaze as he looked at him with narrowed eyes, Yuwon smiled arrogantly, lifting one corner of his mouth, just as he had in front of everyone on his first day of transfer. Watching that, he could be certain. Respect the Imperial Family? Goodwill? They were all just lip service; the reality was completely different.
This left Hwan somewhat confused.
If not, then what the hell was it? One hundred million won wasn’t an amount that moved around as a joke or to kill time.
‘Could what happened at school really lead to this?’
That too was hard to believe.
Anyway, though he couldn’t know exactly what his intentions were, he didn’t have the slightest desire to go along with what he wanted.
‘Him and me having a friendly palace tour? Not a chance. A palace bloodbath, maybe.’
He’d surely get scolded for disrupting the harmonious and pleasant atmosphere, but in this situation, there was no choice. He’d just get severely scolded. And so, it was just when Hwan opened his mouth to refuse, saying he didn’t want to.
“I…!”
“Your Majesty. Actually, there’s something I failed to mention earlier.”
Whether he’d noticed or not, Yuwon struck first.
Those words that popped out meaningfully, as if he were about to cause some trouble again, made Hwan anxious once more. In contrast, while Hwan was flustered, having suddenly lost the words he was about to spit out, his lips moving, the Emperor looked at Yuwon questioningly and asked,
“What is it?”
“Actually, when I was young, I also came and went from the palace several times.”
“When you were young? For what reason?”
When he asked this, Yuwon’s gaze passed over Hwan and reached Huiseo, who had been standing behind him all along.
His expression as he did so was still gentle and affectionate.
As if the incident of being humiliated by him at school had never happened at all. While Hwan and Huiseo, who found that even more unsettling and uncomfortable, exchanged glances, Yuwon explained to the Emperor that he too, like Huiseo, had received the Imperial Family’s gifted education as a child.
Though not for as long as Huiseo.
The Emperor seemed to simply find such a connection fascinating.
“Is that so? You had such a connection with Huiseo too?”
Since the name of Huiseo, whom he already adored, came up, he was naturally even more pleased.
Around that point, whether Yuwon thought it was enough, he finally brought out his main point. Of course, he used roundabout and euphemistic expressions for quite a while. He added a lengthy preamble saying he was grateful that His Majesty personally took care of this, and that the thought of being accompanied by His Highness the Prince was extremely humbling.
However, what he truly wanted to say was a clear “refusal.”
Not of ‘Hwan.’
“May I share childhood memories with Huiseo?”
At that innocent question, the Imperial Family people present couldn’t help but be momentarily flustered. If his words were truly fact, they could understand the feeling of gladness, but still, they couldn’t very well send back Hwan, who had already been summoned, saying “Not you.”
As a brief silence settled because of this, the Empress beside them smiled gently and spoke.
“That’s good too, but if it happens that way, you’ll part too early and Prince Yoon will feel hurt. Wouldn’t it be good for all three of you to make new memories together in the palace?”
In the current situation, this was probably the wisest compromise. It could also be called the last chance to move past this with a smile, without anyone losing face.
“Does the Empress also think it would be better to do so?”
Just as the Emperor chimed in agreement and the atmosphere that had cooled briefly due to Yuwon’s “mistake” was about to thaw again—despite the fact that there was no way he couldn’t notice such an obvious atmosphere, Yuwon didn’t bend his stubbornness and spoke a bit more clearly.
“No. I just need Huiseo.”
So naturally everyone’s faces became even colder than before.
‘After they went so far as to say that, how could he be so rude…!’
At his attitude of openly excluding Hwan to his face, not only would Hwan himself feel the same, but the Emperor and Empress in particular showed expressions of great displeasure. Even without the Imperial Family name attached, as ordinary parents’ hearts, this was something that couldn’t help but be hurtful.
And so, even the palace attendants standing nearby looked at Yuwon with disapproving eyes, giving him hints, but Yuwon didn’t care at all. That was probably because, rather than being oblivious, he truly considered it irrelevant. Given the temperament of his that Hwan had observed, the latter case would definitely be correct.
His eyes were directed only at Huiseo.
***
‘What the hell is this situation?’
As a difficult situation unfolded around him, Huiseo let out a deep sigh and pressed his forehead. He wondered why that guy suddenly appeared and was acting like that. He couldn’t understand it at all.
‘Why is he so obsessed with me?’
When he was young? What memories could they share when he didn’t even remember, talking about sharing or not sharing—he couldn’t help but click his tongue in exasperation. Also, since the situation had become like this, cleaning it up was ultimately his responsibility, so Huiseo, who felt like he’d been wronged out of the blue, was naturally displeased.
That was precisely why Huiseo’s words that followed came out polite yet sharp.
Huiseo, who had been standing behind Hwan, finally stepped forward and spoke.
“As it happens, I came to convey a difficult matter.”
So everyone’s gaze naturally gathered on Huiseo.
“Regrettably, Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Yoon will be unable to obey the command due to urgent business at the Crown Prince’s Palace today. Therefore, though it falls far short, may I dare take His Highness’s place and see the guest out on his way?”
Saying this, Huiseo bowed his head even more respectfully toward the Emperor.
Huiseo’s words just now contained quite a lot of meaning.
First, he cleverly made it so that Yuwon’s cold rejection of Hwan’s company had been impossible from Hwan’s side from the start. Well, he didn’t know how believable it would be to say this now after keeping quiet until this point. But sometimes such face-saving was an important moment.
However, the even more important point in his earlier words was that what Huiseo would do from now on became “seeing out” the guest on his way, not “guiding” or “accompanying” Yuwon’s palace tour.
In other words, it was “get lost” said in the most elegant and refined manner.
Carrying that intense meaning fully, Huiseo looked at Yuwon with unfriendly eyes, but Yuwon didn’t care and merely shrugged his shoulders briefly.
In fact, strictly speaking, this was Huiseo’s audacious act.
How dare he, in front of the Emperor and Empress, the elders of the Imperial Family, when he was neither a palace attendant nor anything, arbitrarily drive out an Imperial Family guest. No matter how much that guest was a classmate who came looking for him, it was something he shouldn’t do.
At Huiseo’s presumptuous behavior, the expression of Director Jeong standing behind the Emperor—that is, none other than Huiseo’s father—turned cold and stern.
‘Where did he learn such ill-mannered behavior?’
His gaze said as much, so he would definitely be severely scolded later.
Because of that, he quickly lowered his head to avoid it, but he had no regrets. In front of a guy who was being rude while bringing him up, he absolutely couldn’t just stay still. He too was, in his own way, a graduate of being the infamous “Gyeongbokgung Troublemaker” among the palace attendants in his youth. This level of trouble was nothing.
What ended that tense standoff was the Emperor’s single remark that followed.
“That would be best.”
Unlike his father who had intended to scold Huiseo sharply, the Emperor answered like that without any particular reaction, as if defending Huiseo. Since he was someone who couldn’t not know, and shouldn’t not know, this kind of refined war of nerves, the meaning was probably as assumed.
No matter how fondly he’d looked upon a sponsor the same age as his son, he couldn’t be fonder than Huiseo, and it was also true that suspicious aspects had arisen from what had just happened.
A moment later, Director Jeong would reproach him that he shouldn’t be so soft on Huiseo, but how could he scold a child who used his own wits to try to protect Hwan and the Imperial Family’s dignity?
The Emperor pretended not to know and sided with Huiseo.
“Thank you for granting permission.”
Huiseo smiled as if satisfied.
For that reason, Huiseo took charge of Yuwon’s “seeing out.”
However, even after deciding to do so, Huiseo carefully watched the Emperor and Empress go inside, and even soothed Hwan, whose lips were sticking out in displeasure because this conclusion naturally didn’t please him, and sent him back, leaving Yuwon standing there for quite a while.
It was revenge in its own way.
During that time, since Huiseo seemed to be coaxing him more affectionately than usual, Hwan whined to his heart’s content.
“No, I mean, why did you have to step forward…!”
“The situation left no other choice.”
“Let’s send another palace attendant even now. Okay?”
“You know that won’t work.”
“…I don’t like you being with that guy though?”
By the time Hwan, with his large body, firmly grasped both of Huiseo’s hands, shook his shoulders, and showed something that might or might not be aegyo, Yuwon’s expression finally seemed to crumple.
