The Emperor’s eyes flashed. No one could stop the Emperor when he was enraged. Even Myeong-ok was powerless to do anything about it.
Myeong-ok and all the palace servants of Mianggung Palace, the palace servants of Hondangsa, and even the palace servants in charge of managing the Imperial Garden were all dragged to Sinmyeongsa and subjected to caning. But no one could claim it was unjust.
The Emperor had personally brought someone to the palace, saying he would elevate them to Empress, and that person had disappeared from within the palace walls. How could they not be accused of serving carelessly? Still, unlike Chief Eunuch Yu and the Sinmumun Gate guards, they had kept their lives, so it was rather fortunate.
The Emperor, who had already sent the Imperial Guard to Sansan’s family home, finished dealing with palace matters and then immediately rode his horse there himself. However, when he couldn’t find even a single strand of Sansan’s hair at the family home either, he completely lost his sanity.
He immediately sealed all the gates of Hagyeong and mobilized all of Hagyeong’s military forces to search for Sansan, who must be wandering somewhere, combing through everywhere like searching for lice.
He had thought that fool would naturally go to his own home. Or else he would be caught near Sinmumun Gate, unable to find a way home. The current situation, neither one nor the other, was completely unexpected.
‘This blockhead, where on earth have you hidden yourself…? Even when I try to treat you well, you always step forward to earn yourself a beating, you adorable thing. What am I truly to do with you?’
The Emperor continued spurring his horse with strangely glittering eyes.
In the late afternoon, terrified by the cavalry that suddenly filled the streets of Hagyeong densely, the common people hurriedly locked their gates early and everyone without exception stayed indoors.
Meanwhile, at that very moment, Sansan was covered in dirt, walking aimlessly while being rained on by the subsiding rain at some unknown mountainside.
He was so cold and his whole body hurt so much he wanted to cry, but he couldn’t cry because he felt like he’d become even more scared if he did.
“Aren’t you the Young Master of Mianggung Palace?”
This entire predicament had all begun with that man. Sansan crossed his arms to wrap around his trembling shoulders, regretting and regretting again that he had accepted a ride in his carriage.
“Wol-ah… hic, I miss Wol-ah.”
Before long, the forest quickly grew dark. Sansan ultimately failed to find a path and was at a complete loss. At this rate, he would freeze to death in the forest.
After leaving through Sinmumun Gate, Sansan had been walking aimlessly through the pouring rain that fell like pillars. Actually, he didn’t even know the way home. He had truly just left without any plan whatsoever.
Of course it would have been impossible, but if he had come out through Omun Gate, the main gate, the roads would have been wide and well-paved, and there would have been many civilian carriages waiting to pick up eunuchs, so the situation would have been much better. Sansan had also initially thought he could just catch a carriage.
But unfortunately, there were originally few civilian carriages on the Sinmumun Gate side—there was a large mountain blocking the rear, and the road was also narrow compared to Omun Gate. Moreover, on a day like today when rain was pouring down heavily, there would be even fewer people who would bring out their carriages to earn just a few coins.
Sansan decided to walk until he saw an empty carriage. He walked and walked until his feet hurt. Then at some point when he raised his head, all he could see was mountains.
Only then did Sansan belatedly realize that he had misjudged something again. It was always like this. He never even measured up to ordinary.
“…Ah, it hurts.”
Wobbling, Sansan twisted his ankle and muttered while sniffling. It was because the shoes were too big. Chief Eunuch Han was about a head taller than other eunuchs. Naturally his feet were also large. In the boots that were loose and ill-fitting, Sansan had already fallen several times. Thanks to that, he looked absolutely terrible.
Sansan stopped walking, raised his head, and looked up resentfully at the sky that only poured down rain. Just then, from far behind on the path Sansan had walked, the clip-clop of hoofbeats and the rattle of turning wheels could be heard. Wondering if it was real, he turned around and indeed saw a carriage slowly approaching from a distance.
Sansan turned back around and ran frantically toward the carriage. The coachman driving the carriage while wearing a bamboo rain hat and straw rain cape tilted his head as he watched Sansan getting closer and closer.
“Hmm? What’s your affiliation?”
“…Ah, um, could you perhaps give me a ride?”
“Are you a eunuch affiliated with the Imperial Palace? I am also a eunuch belonging to a princely residence. What’s your affiliation that you’re in such a state on a rainy day like this?”
Sansan stammered and only moved his lips before suddenly pulling out one of the treasures he had from his bosom.
“I-I’m on an errand… Could you please give me a ride? I’m so cold…”
While he was pleading desperately, the firmly closed carriage window suddenly opened with a clack.
“What’s the matter?”
“There’s a eunuch wandering the rainy road disheveled, and he seems rather suspicious, Your Highness.”
At the coachman’s words, the man inside the carriage tilted his head at an angle and cast his gaze out the window. His gaze immediately reached Sansan, who stood there looking wretched.
The man with delicate features that gave a strangely irritable impression and Sansan’s unstable gaze tangled in midair for a moment. Sansan swallowed once nervously and pleaded again.
“C-could you please give me a ride?”
“…Hmm, it seems we’ve met before.”
The man stroked his chin with strangely sparkling eyes.
“Pardon?”
“Aren’t you the Young Master of Mianggung Palace?”
***
“Why would the Young Master of Mianggung Palace have stolen and worn a mere eunuch’s clothes?”
“I-I’m really not the Young Master of Mianggung Palace.”
The persistent interrogation continued even inside the carriage. He wondered how on earth the man knew—it was the first time he’d seen him, yet he questioned with such certainty.
At the gaze that seemed to know him, Sansan also tried to recall his memories, but no matter how much he looked, it was an unfamiliar face. Sansan couldn’t even say where he wanted to go and just kept denying it repeatedly.
“You’re truly not that Young Master of Mianggung Palace?”
“Y-yes, I’m really n-not.”
It was already the fifth denial. Sansan knew too that secretly stealing and wearing someone else’s clothes was a grave crime. He had no choice but to insist he wasn’t. But then,
“Then I have no reason to give a ride to someone I don’t even know. Get out immediately.”
Sansan, who had been sitting awkwardly on the carriage seat, felt his heart sink and unconsciously shrank back.
“…What if I were the Mianggung Palace Y-Young Master?”
“If you’re the Young Master of Mianggung Palace, you’re Abahmama’s guest, so naturally I should escort you back to the palace.”
The man looked at Sansan and grinned teasingly.
“What will it be? Are you the Young Master, or not?”
Sansan looked down at his bulging lower belly. The clothes that had become drenched and sagged revealed the complete outline of the treasures hidden inside. He recalled in his mind the image of his mother and Sanwol, who would have nothing to eat and would only be starving.
“I-I’m not. I’m not the Young Master. I’m a eunuch who came out on an errand.”
It had been difficult to get out. He didn’t know when he could come out again. He had to go back even if it meant giving away the treasures. That stubborn resolve made Sansan stand up from the carriage seat.
“…I’ll just get off here. Thank you for giving me a ride.”
The man burst out laughing with a snort and shrugged his broad shoulders once.
“Suit yourself.”
Soon the carriage stopped with a rattle. Sansan stepped out of the carriage with a self-abandoning feeling. Just then, the man added indifferently.
“Ah, when the sun sets, tigers might come out, so it would be good to be careful. There have already been more than five eunuchs eaten.”
The carriage door closed mercilessly. Hahaha. Laughter flowed out of the carriage as if he couldn’t contain his amusement. That was the last. The carriage, which had deliberately headed toward the mountain, disappeared leisurely, leaving Sansan alone in the forest.
And now was that time. Perhaps because it was in the mountains, the sun set even faster. The darkness that descended upon the mountains was truly extraordinary. It was really pitch black with nothing properly visible. He had clearly been descending downward, but somehow the more he walked, the more he felt like he was being pulled deeper inside.
The rain was subsiding, but the earth that had already soaked up water everywhere had become sticky and persistently grabbed at Sansan’s ill-fitting boots with every step.
After falling and getting up, then falling and getting up again countless times, Sansan himself had become like a lump of dirt. The treasures he had brought along were also dropped one by one each time he fell, so now there weren’t many left.
Occasionally only the sound of Sansan sniffling, the intermittent hooting of an owl going hoo, hooo, and Sansan’s unstable breathing echoed through the deserted, silent mountains. He had completely lost his way.
He shouldn’t have gotten in the carriage. He shouldn’t have secretly slipped out of the palace. He should have just kept waiting for His Majesty until he would meet him.
Since everything he did turned out like this, that’s why both Father and Mother had always scolded him whenever they saw him. Someone like me shouldn’t try to do anything… It was when he was blaming himself endlessly like that.
Grrrowl.
A sound came from behind. Sansan flinched in surprise, stopped sniffling, and turned around. Even in the darkness, vividly glowing yellow eyes were sharply staring at Sansan.
It was a great tiger.
“T-tiger…!”
