“Prepare another bowl of rice and a set of utensils.”
The Emperor commanded. It was an unreasonable order, but no one raised any objections. And so Sansan came to share a meal at the same table as the Emperor, completely oblivious to the situation. This too was a first in the Emperor’s life, but the Emperor had no time to dwell on its significance.
He was completely distracted watching the way Sansan chewed and ate so eagerly.
“You like chicken, I see.”
The Emperor asked, observing how Sansan’s hands kept reaching for the spicy dish of chicken meat stripped from the bone, coated in starch, and stir-fried until crispy. The plump red lips glistened with the grease from the chicken dish, and even that looked lovely to him.
“I-it’s delicious, so I like it. Could we call Wol—no, Concubine Yoon Mama to eat together too? It’s so delicious that I think Mama would like it too…”
“I shall send something separate to Concubine Yoon. So you just eat your fill of this.”
To spend the first night with me in that state of purity, how difficult it must be. I should feed him plenty, the Emperor thought, smiling kindly.
“I am deeply honored.”
After that, Sansan was too busy tasting each dish one by one to pay attention to anything else. The Emperor was too busy drinking in the sight of Sansan with his eyes to pay attention to anything else.
His table manners are more proper than I expected. He doesn’t seem to be a complete fool, but seeing how he can’t hide his joy over mere food, he’s just like a child. It wasn’t behavior befitting a man who was at least twenty-five years old.
In any case, his face had more life in it than before, like a flower in full bloom. So fair and lovely.
His peach-tinted cheeks and round forehead, his pretty nose bridge and garlic-clove-shaped nose tip, his plump scarlet lips that kept moving, and his teeth as white and orderly as corn kernels. The more he looked, the more he liked everything he saw.
The Emperor kept feeling a tickle in one side of his chest. His hands tingled too. He wanted to touch. He wanted to put his hands on Sansan and caress him all over. That desire pressed heavily against his heart.
Was it because of the red sash? Sansan, who had changed into white silk robes with red sleeves standing out and a red sash, exuded a strangely alluring atmosphere unlike before. It was probably also due to the texture of the silk that draped and flowed against his body more than before.
Having feasted his eyes on Sansan to his heart’s content throughout the meal, the Emperor was in quite a good mood. The problem occurred when they sat together on the Arhat Bed to receive tea leaves for rinsing their mouths.
Yeongnyeong Palace was short-handed. One could become the master of a palace starting from the rank of concubine, but in reality it was rare for someone to become master of a palace before becoming an imperial consort. Sanwol was still only a concubine, so she didn’t have many palace servants to command, and now she even had to share them with her brother who no longer even had an official position.
The root of the problem was that one eunuch, anticipating there would be a shortage of hands to serve the Emperor, had requisitioned several court ladies from outside.
One unfamiliar court lady had her collar pulled back to the edge of her shoulders, fastened precariously loose. With her nape, collarbones, and even her cleavage fully exposed, she knelt before the Emperor, in the process of offering him chungryonggu.
Such tricks were familiar to the Emperor. If his heart was moved, he would gladly respond and bestow his grace; if not, he would ignore it.
Since he had never particularly scolded anyone for it, young court ladies never hesitated to do this whenever they got a chance to see the Emperor up close, disregarding even their superiors to find their own way forward. If it went well, they would become the Emperor’s woman; if it failed, they would just receive punishment from their superiors and be done with it.
“Why are you blushing?”
However, this time became a problem because Sansan unconsciously turned bright red. It was the first time Sansan had ever seen a woman’s bare breasts. It was merely an unavoidable physiological reaction for a late-blooming man.
But the Emperor felt as if cold water had been dumped over him, as if he’d been insulted. He didn’t know why.
“Do you like that wench?”
If he was going to blush, he should have blushed looking at him. That’s what the Emperor thought.
“N-no, I don’t!”
Sansan hastily denied it. But there was no way to hide how even his ears had turned bright red.
“Han-ho. Remove this wench at once. When her superior is with child, she dares to be immodest and lewd beyond words. From this moment, strip her of all positions and send her to Wanuiguk, carry it out immediately!”
At the furious voice seething with anger and the thunderbolt-like command, the kneeling court lady’s face instantly turned deathly pale as tears dripped down. But without even a moment to cry and beg, she was dragged away by the approaching eunuchs.
Having witnessed the entire series of events while sitting beside the Emperor, Sansan froze. An innocent person had been dragged away because of him. He didn’t know what Wanuiguk was, but judging from the court lady’s expression, he could sense it was a terrible place.
Trembling at his fingertips, he recalled the gesture his younger sister had made earlier, and with clumsy movements knelt on both knees on the floor and pressed his head to the ground.
“Y-Your Majesty. I was wrong. Please forgive that court lady, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t send her to Wanuiguk—send her straight to the Cold Palace!”
At that, the court lady being dragged away screamed and wailed. Sansan vaguely realized that the court lady was receiving an even greater punishment because of him, and tears poured down his face.
“So you are a man after all, though you didn’t seem it.”
“…Please forgive her, Your Majesty.”
“Do you want to try it with a woman?”
Sansan didn’t know what “try it” meant, but he just shook his head rapidly, saying no. Tears scattered left and right following his movements.
“Let your gaze be stolen by a woman one more time. Then I shall punish Concubine Yoon as well.”
Sansan shook his head whimpering like someone having a fit.
“I-I won’t. Never, never again will I look.”
The Emperor looked down at the crying Sansan with a cold expression. The kind demeanor from earlier was nowhere to be found—his gaze was properly sharp. As the silence lengthened, Sansan, terrified that he might really punish Sanwol, clasped his hands together and begged desperately.
“I-I’ve committed a crime deserving death. Please forgive me.”
Not even knowing why this was a crime deserving death, Sansan begged pitifully. The Emperor only opened his mouth quite some time after that.
“…I shall take pity on you and find you a good match when you leave the palace. So until then, you must devote all your heat and sincerity to serving me. Do you understand?”
“I-I will keep it in mind.”
“If you understand, then stop. I don’t want to see you crying over such a wench.”
Sansan nodded repeatedly while roughly wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. The sniffling sounds gradually decreased. Sansan had been beaten many times for continuing to cry, so when told to stop, he somehow managed to stop well.
When the sniffling sounds had completely disappeared, the Emperor commanded.
“Someone. Take this one and have him bathed.”
***
Sansan was led by a eunuch named Lee from the Hondangsa to the opposite side room. He saw a bathtub that had been prepared in advance. Hot steam was rising from the lacquered wooden tub. Court ladies busily set up a folding screen around the bathtub.
“Young Master, you must undress and get in.”
Sansan, who had already bathed once and changed clothes earlier, didn’t understand why he had to wash again, but without complaint he untied his sash. If he didn’t undress, Yeongchae might try to help him undress again like last time.
Having become naked, Sansan felt embarrassed by his nudity and with movements as quick as a flying squirrel, splash—got into the bathtub.
“Shall I add the sachet and flower petals?”
Yeongchae asked Eunuch Lee. Eunuch Lee shook his head.
“The Chief Eunuch said not to use such things for the male favorite. The Son of Heaven mustn’t become too absorbed in male pleasures, must he? Don’t use scented oils either.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Soon Yeongchae and two other court ladies approached Sansan, who was huddled up inside the bathtub. They began washing Sansan with practiced hands. Even though he was a man without testicles, a man was still a man—but they didn’t care in the slightest.
Sansan, thoroughly dejected from incurring the Emperor’s anger, just endured the pain and let the court ladies handle his body. Women’s hands touched him everywhere. Feeling like he would die of embarrassment, Sansan just kept his face lowered the entire time.
After being thoroughly washed for quite a long time, his fingernails and toenails were trimmed short. Then an unscented, odorless oil was applied all over his body. And then,
“Wh-why there!”
While standing still as the oil was being applied, Sansan jumped up like he’d been struck by lightning. The court lady’s finger that had been entering his hole slipped right out.
Footnote:
Chungryonggu (충용구) – Tea leaves and tea water used for rinsing mouth
Sachet (향낭) – Scented pouch
Hondangsa (혼당사) – Bathing department
Wanuiguk (완의국) – Laundry department in the palace for eunuchs and court ladies; lowest position
