Having finished his adornment, Sansan followed the waiting Chief Eunuch So and moved to the inner courtyard of Yeongnyeong Palace. He advanced to the long red carpet laid out for the investiture ceremony and stood in a kneeling posture upon it. Finally, under the scorching midday sun where even breathing was difficult, the investiture ceremony was conducted.
A palace eunuch from the Imperial Household Department who had arrived and been waiting first began to read the investiture document.
“Receiving Heaven’s will, the Emperor commands. Yoon Sansan possesses clear energy, handsome appearance, gentle disposition, and virtuous conduct, making him suitable to serve the Emperor. Thus, according to the Empress Dowager’s will, he is today invested as Wanui Jin.”
“…Your grace is boundless.”
Sansan, as he had been instructed several times, bowed deeply and lowered his head to the floor as soon as the eunuch finished speaking. Soon the eunuch approached and handed Sansan the gold tablet and gold seal.
The investiture ceremony, gold tablet, and gold seal were all ceremonies and ritual objects that could only be received starting from the rank of principal consort. Sansan received them with a face that showed absolutely no sign of joy.
“These are Wanui’s gold tablet and gold seal. Keep them well.”
Thus the investiture ceremony ended. Though the ceremony itself was not long, there was still protocol remaining afterward. Sansan moved to Bongseonjeon, gasping for breath. After completing the triple kowtow ceremony there, it was Suganggung Palace. He performed the triple kowtow ceremony again to the waiting Emperor and Empress Dowager.
Leaving behind the Emperor who seemed to be in a rare good mood, Sansan had to move yet again. This time it was his turn to pay respects to the upper palaces of Bi rank and above.
The fortunate thing was that the Empress’s position was vacant, and the position of Noble Consort was also empty. He only needed to pay respects to exactly four Bi. However, the weather was a problem. It was also a problem of the waist sash that was tightly constricting Sansan’s waist.
In the middle of summer, under the fiercely beating midday sun, wrapped head to toe in silk and in a state where even breathing was difficult, having to move for close to two shichen—Sansan eventually fainted while heading to the quarters of the last Bi he was to visit, Consort Lee.
The first investiture ceremony of a eunuch male in the empire’s history, unprecedented and unparalleled, ended thus.
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the twentieth year of Yeonghwi, Sansan became in name and reality Emperor Yeonghwi’s Wanui Jin. Thereafter, he would be promoted at a speed that even his own younger sister could not compare to.
***
6. Conception
Even after Sansan came to be called Wanui Jin, the turbulent daily life continued.
The Emperor happened to see him crying that he missed Yeon when he stopped by together to have a daytime romp, and the entire imperial palace was turned upside down. Since it was a name that had also been written in the letter before, the Emperor could no longer overlook it and insisted on summoning that slave named Yeon from the private residence, severely flogged her for the crime of seducing her master with wicked intentions, and expelled her.
After that, Sansan frequently began to feel impulses. It became increasingly difficult to suppress the something that welled up intensely from time to time. A few days after that incident, unable to bear not running out as his chest felt like it would burst and kill him, Sansan disappeared at dawn while sleeping.
The Emperor, who realized while tossing and turning in his sleep that the one who should be in his arms was absent, rode a horse through the imperial palace in his sleeping robe. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before he was caught screaming in front of Sinmumun Gate.
His sleeping robe torn here and there was practically naked, and between the legs of Sansan who was crouched down with both knees raised, his fluids were flowing profusely. Sansan was dragged back to Yeongnyeong Palace and again slapped in front of Sanwol before having to receive the Emperor.
Right after that, it seemed to quiet down for a brief moment. But recently he was vomiting so much and turning the Emperor’s insides upside down again.
The Emperor had been sharing all meals with Sansan since some time ago. Every time they ate together, eight out of ten times he would retch, so the palace servants secretly whispered about how much he must dislike it to be like that. His dignity as one above ten thousand people was becoming a joke, but such things couldn’t become something for the Emperor to care about.
Even having reached this point, what he cared about was one thing.
“What is that one doing?”
The Emperor, who had been looking at memorials, asked in a sharp voice.
“Word came that he went to Concubine Yoon’s quarters and is having tea and refreshments, Your Majesty.”
The head eunuch answered readily. The Emperor was receiving reports on Sansan’s daily schedule every shichen.
“…Did he eat something at least? Still, he eats gwapyeon, tangerines, lychees and such reasonably well, so they should be taking care of him.”
“As it happens, Concubine Yoon has prepared an abundance of snacks that suit Wanui Jin’s palate and is looking after him, they say, Your Majesty.”
Answering thus, the head eunuch inwardly swallowed his bitterness. He always tried not to have any personal feelings about those around the Emperor while serving him closely. That way he could feel at ease in his heart no matter what situation arose.
But he couldn’t help but think this was too much. No matter that they were full siblings, was Concubine Yoon, who was approaching her full term and had childbirth right before her, in a position to be taking care of someone who was essentially a rival wife?
“Day after day he grows thin and can’t eat at all, so I’m worried and can’t focus on work at all. This is serious.”
When the image of Sansan, who had even vomited up the chicken porridge he so loved, came to mind, the Emperor furrowed his brow deeply. Soon came a sigh deep enough to sink the earth.
“I should have an imperial physician examine him. Surely something must be wrong with him.”
If he was that worried, having him receive less attendance in bed and letting him rest for a few days was also one method. The head eunuch thought so, but didn’t have the courage to voice it aloud.
Even when first learning the arts of the bedchamber, the Emperor had never been this immersed in carnal pleasures, but when doing it with Sansan, he was just like a complete madman. It seemed difficult for him to exercise restraint.
“Shall I have an imperial physician stand by tonight?”
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed more like a disease of the heart than the body, but the head eunuch just politely asked, pretending not to know.
“Yes. I must have him take his pulse once.”
The Emperor recalled Sansan’s thin, bruised wrists. Though he didn’t press that hard, it was always like that. His thighs had also lost much flesh, so bones clashed every time, making it hurt more. He clicked his tongue, saying this way there was no pleasure in holding him either.
The Emperor continued for quite some time after that being unable to concentrate on the memorials at all, occupied with thoughts of Sansan.
***
Sanwol glanced sideways at her older brother who was quietly doing needlework with a satin scarf wrapped around his neck. Their awkwardness with each other was brief—the two siblings were spending time as before, as if they had forgotten that day. In the afternoons, Sansan would come over to the rear hall where Sanwol was and play until the Emperor came.
He would gently touch the belly protruding over Sanwol’s clothes and sometimes doze off, or they would share snacks and tea to pass the time. These days they mainly did needlework together.
Sansan was rather good at needlework. It was one of the educational methods Sanwol had devised for her older brother, who from childhood couldn’t suppress his impulses and couldn’t focus well on one thing. She thought it would be effective in cultivating concentration since he’d be pricked by the needle if he didn’t focus, and his behavior had indeed been greatly corrected.
Recently, when he again couldn’t suppress his impulses as in childhood and repeatedly provoked the Emperor’s anger, Sanwol, after much deliberation, began having Sansan do needlework. Though he still got pricked occasionally, it wasn’t that severe. Shallow wounds from being pricked by the needle here and there were nothing. The truly severe things were something else.
Sanwol glanced at the hickeys embroidered densely up to her older brother’s neck and the bruises on his wrists and ankles, feeling complicated. Her heart ached, and on the other hand, she felt sorrowful.
Once, when he was sitting in such an awkward, uncomfortable posture, she had asked.
“…Does His Majesty still hurt you?”
“…Yeah.”
“How does he do it? Does he hit you?”
“…It keeps getting bigger inside, so it keeps tearing. When it heals, it tears again, and when it heals again, it tears again. …I wish night wouldn’t come.”
Logically, there was no way the jade stem could grow larger during penetration, so Sanwol dismissed it as Sansan’s characteristic childlike expression and let it pass. However, her heart was troubled.
“I told you not to refuse. If you do what he wants, he’ll hurt you less. Okay? Otherwise your body will be completely ruined, orabeoni. Only you lose when you’re in pain.”
“…Yeah, I will.”
Though he generally listened well to Sanwol’s words, when it came to bedding matters, it was always just lip service. Even so, there was no way to do more than that, so Sanwol had forced herself to swallow the words she wanted to say.
After looking once more at her older brother’s nape that she had covered with the scarf, Sanwol put down her needlework for a moment and pushed the bowl containing gwapyeon a little closer toward her older brother.
“Eat while you work. It’s gwapyeon made from honeydew melon.”
“……”
“Try it, it’ll be delicious.”
Unable to resist his younger sister’s repeated urging any longer, Sansan picked up a gwapyeon and put it in his mouth. Since the day was hot, it had been specially set even colder, so it melted smoothly in his mouth like ice. Still, gwapyeon and fruit were somewhat less nauseating, so Sansan repeatedly picked up several more pieces and ate them.
