Sansan stiffened his waist in surprise. The Emperor, who had balanced on the horse without even holding the reins, roughly grabbed Sansan’s chin with his remaining hand and turned it backward.
“Hic!”
Without giving him any time to react, he kissed him passionately. A hot, wet tongue met and tangled with Sansan’s tongue. Between the smell of sweat, the smell of blood, and the scent of the man he had recognized, Sansan couldn’t come to his senses.
Stars seemed to burst inside his head and the blood in his entire body seemed to boil. He just trembled, holding only onto the Emperor’s hand wrapped around his waist to endure the sensation that pushed in roughly.
After some time, along with a wet sound, the entangled tongues withdrew. The Emperor’s lips touched Sansan’s dirt-covered temple and fell away.
Unbearable impatience, intense relief. And tenderness that rushed in like a tidal wave. The torrent of emotions like an irresistible force was painful for the Emperor too. All this inappropriateness was frightening.
“Let’s go to your home that you wanted to go to so badly.”
There was no middle ground. Either possess him completely, or die together—there were only these two paths. He had no intention of compromising with Sansan from the start.
No one can rule without plunder. In truth, all emperors were usurpers. He himself was likewise a usurper of ten thousand peoples. So he had no choice but to be a usurper to Sansan as well.
The Emperor put strength in his arms to pull Sansan even more into his chest and spurred his horse. His black horse lightly kicked off the ground and powerfully ran out of the mountain path.
***
The house of Jusa Yoon Yun-gyeom of the Ministry of Works was turned upside down again in less than a month.
Lee Ja-yoon and Sanwol, who had been waiting for news with anxious hearts in the house surrounded by the Imperial Guard, urgently ran out to the inner courtyard and knelt when the Imperial Guards burst in by opening the gate in the middle of the night, just like the day Yoon Yun-gyeom was taken away. Just when they thought they would be helplessly taken away, the Emperor riding a black horse entered through the open main gate.
“Orabeoni!”
And what’s more, with Sansan riding in front. At the appearance of her brother that she hadn’t even imagined, Sanwol stood up and ran without thinking, then was blocked by the Imperial Guards’ merciless spears and tumbled to the ground.
“W-Wol-ah!”
Sansan struggled on the horse. Seeing him trying somehow to approach his younger sister, the Emperor furrowed his brow.
“Stay still.”
When he spoke while squeezing his slender waist, Sansan, who had been hesitating, soon stopped struggling. Unlike what he had worried about, the house hadn’t changed much compared to when he had left. Except that Father couldn’t be seen despite it being late at night.
Sansan turned his face and looked up at the Emperor sitting behind him.
“…Your Majesty, F-Father cannot be seen.”
He asked the obvious while looking at the Emperor. These were words that even Sansan couldn’t understand. The Emperor didn’t answer. Sansan needlessly fidgeted with the Emperor’s arm wrapped around his waist. Between the torn sleeve edges, blood had already dried and stuck fast.
“Do you not know how to greet?”
The Emperor, who pulled Sansan more strongly toward himself and held him, spoke. At that, Lee Ja-yoon, who had been kneeling, and Sanwol, who had sprawled and still couldn’t fully stand up, both turned deathly pale and immediately straightened their postures. Then they bowed deeply.
“We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. May you enjoy great fortune. Long live His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, long live, long live for ten thousand years.”
“We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. May you enjoy great fortune. Long live His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, long live, long live for ten thousand years.”
The Emperor glanced indifferently at Lee Ja-yoon and Sanwol, who had their foreheads pressed to the dirt floor of the inner courtyard. Before even raising them, he first whispered in Sansan’s ear.
“Now that you’ve seen them, is it enough?”
Then without giving Sansan time to answer, he added loudly.
“Since ancient times, in our Ha Empire there has been a tradition of spending the wedding night at the bride’s house.”
“…”
“San-ah. Having learned with Yeom Yeong as your teacher all this time, what do you think Zhen is?”
Flustered by the sudden question, Sansan was bewildered for a moment, then soon answered dutifully as he had learned, as if answering Yeom Yeong’s question.
“Y-you are the master of this country, and the p-parent of ten thousand peoples who possesses grace and virtue.”
“Wrong.”
“…Th-then, this world—”
“I am the only man you have recognized, your husband.”
“…”
“To have learned so much and yet not know even the basics—when we return to the palace I’ll have to punish Yeom Yeong as well.”
Sansan’s eyes widened round like a rabbit’s.
“Listen. This night, we will spend our wedding night at your family home.”
***
- Eoronnim
At those words, Sanwol and Lee Ja-yoon forgot their manners and reflexively raised their faces. Their mouths gaped open as if their souls had left them. As for Sansan, who was practically held in his arms, he suddenly froze stiff as if he had become a stone statue.
The Emperor let out a small snort and jumped down from the horse while bending around Sansan’s waist. Ignoring his flustered “Uh, uh,” he moved his steps quickly.
He had already received reports about the structure of the house from back when he had surveillance placed on Sansan. More than ten Imperial Guards led by Jin quickly followed behind him.
“Your Majesty, shouldn’t you receive treatment first…?”
It was when the Emperor, who had entered Seosangbang directly, was heading unhesitatingly toward Seochogan, Sansan’s bedchamber. Jin, who had been following closely behind, pleaded.
Though the bleeding had stopped, the injury the Emperor had sustained was not a condition that could be lightly overlooked. The Emperor set Sansan down on Sansan’s shabby bed and commanded toward the Imperial Guards.
“Examine the Noble Consort first.”
The Imperial Guards made inscrutable faces and glanced at each other. Jin spoke as their representative.
“Your Majesty, are you referring to Young Master Yoon?”
Only then did the Emperor think “Oh no” and unconsciously checked Sansan’s expression. Sansan was just frozen still with eyes wide like a rabbit. The Emperor, who inwardly swallowed a sigh, needlessly gently stroked Sansan’s frozen cheek.
“Whether this one is hurt anywhere, that comes first.”
At that moment, Sansan felt a tight, constricting pain in his chest. It throbbed, but he couldn’t tell if it was from getting hurt while falling earlier. It was strangely ticklish somewhere, and he also felt like crying for no reason. In any case, it was a strange and dizzy feeling.
Just then, Lee Ja-yoon, who had belatedly come to her senses, crossed the threshold of Seochogan leading her household servants. Sanwol, with worried eyes, also followed behind her.
“Long live, long live, long live for ten thousand years. We greet the great His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. To receive Your Majesty, who is the master of all under heaven, in such a shabby place—this humble woman knows not where to put herself. We humbly request that we may serve you in the main hall. Please consider the difficult circumstances of these lowly ones.”
The Emperor had no desire to do so. Whether the main hall or this place, both were far too inadequate for the Emperor to stay in anyway—it was six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Still, at least this Seosangbang had Sansan’s scent lingering everywhere. The Emperor let out a small snort, finding himself laughable for being instinctively drawn to Sansan’s scent as if he had become a beast.
“That’s enough, so you all wait in that chogan, and you hurry and bring in the Imperial Physician.”
The Emperor, who glanced at Lee Ja-yoon indifferently, commanded Jin. While doing so, he casually took off his clothes. The gonpo that was torn and ripped all over immediately dropped to the floor with a thud, and the Emperor’s broad upper body was revealed.
Sanwol, who had been watching Sansan anxiously with a worried face from a distance, was greatly startled and lowered her head. Her reddened ears entered the Emperor’s field of vision.
“Your Majesty. It is Do Jin-gyeom.”
Originally, when the Emperor left the Imperial Palace, several Imperial Physicians had to accompany his party. Do Jin-gyeom, who arrived a bit later due to insufficient equestrian skills and had just barely arrived, received the imperial command and immediately entered Seosangbang.
“Enough with the formalities, examine Sansan first.”
Do Jin-gyeom, who had been about to kneel and bow, quickly approached Sansan on his knees. The Emperor’s upper body, not wearing even a thread, was so terrible it was hard to look at with open eyes. Having been struck by the tiger’s large front paw, his left shoulder and back were viciously torn.
Nevertheless, the reason Do Jin-gyeom headed toward Sansan without complaint was because he was that quick-witted. Rising to the position of Imperial Physician at a young age was difficult with skill alone.
While Do Jin-gyeom raised Sansan, who had been curled up on the bed, moved his joints this way and that, and checked his pulse, Jin, who had received the water basin and clean cloth brought by Lee Ja-yoon, approached the Emperor and began emergency first aid treatment. It was treatment unimaginable to perform on the Son of Heaven, but the Emperor didn’t even grimace once.
There had been quite a few emperors who went on military campaigns throughout their lives, but the Emperor was the only one who had personally stood at the vanguard. Not every moment had been advantageous for the Empire. If victory had been such an easy matter, it would have been invasion, not war.
But he had stood at the vanguard in many moments. Even in moments of crisis where victory or defeat couldn’t be guaranteed, he never retreated. Because he had always been the first to begin the charge at the forefront, his soldiers became entranced and followed him. And that decided victory or defeat at critical moments.
When such field battles took place, the Emperor was injured countless times and became accustomed to rough treatment like now. After Jin wiped away the blood and mud moderately and poured alcohol on the wound, he firmly pressed the Emperor’s left upper arm with clean cotton cloth.
“Apart from the heart’s energy being disturbed from great shock, there are no other abnormalities, Your Majesty.”
Do Jin-gyeom prostrated himself flat toward the Emperor and reported Sansan’s condition. Then when he approached the Emperor to examine the treatment Jin had done, the Emperor, who had been drinking alcohol straight from the bottle, waved his hand once dismissively as if annoyed.
“You go out and brew medicine that would be good for calming palpitations. The rest of you all wait outside the chogan as well.”
Footnote
Chogan (차간) – (side room/chamber)
