The female physician’s calm voice drifted in from beyond the curtain.
“Your Majesty, please press gently but firmly around the navel with your thumb. Is there anywhere that feels hardened or knotted?”
Wei Wuyuan’s thumb pressed into the area beside Ha-hyeon’s navel.
“Ugh….”
The sensation of someone else’s fingers touching such an intimate place was far from pleasant. And that place was barely a handspan away from the one spot he absolutely had to keep hidden.
“Hardened or knotted…… It doesn’t seem so.”
“Then you may breathe easy for now. Yeong-ui, does it hurt anywhere?”
Ha-hyeon couldn’t answer the physician’s question. Even though she had received the answer she needed, Wei Wuyuan’s hand was still kneading slowly against his lower abdomen. The languid, suggestive movement of those hands made him afraid strange sounds might slip out from between his teeth. Sa Ha-hyeon shook his head to signal that nothing hurt, and Wei Wuyuan spoke on his behalf.
“She says it doesn’t hurt.”
“That is a tremendous relief. In that case, next we must check the body temperature and the flow of qi.”
The physician’s voice drifted in from beyond the curtain once more.
“Tell me what I must do.”
“To check whether any medicinal effects taken earlier have turned toxic and risen to the stomach, we must confirm the temperature at the base of the solar plexus. Your Majesty, please move your hand a little higher and place it over the solar plexus.”
Why the solar plexus, of all things!
Ha-hyeon curled into himself defensively, crossing both arms over his chest. Wei Wuyuan watched and clicked his tongue.
“After being so thoroughly entwined every single day, yet you still act this modest.”
Oh, please. When have we ever been entwined.
“Your Majesty!”
Wei Wuyuan let out a sigh as if he couldn’t win against Ha-hyeon’s stubbornness.
“Fine. If you dislike me undressing you that much, then take off your own clothes. I’ll keep my back turned.”
The sound of silk sheets rustling followed — as though he had actually turned away and lay down. There was no way to be certain he had truly turned his back, but there was little else Ha-hyeon could do.
Sa Ha-hyeon deliberated for a moment, then instead of lying on his back and removing his clothes, he chose to turn face-down and only undo the binding across his chest. If he faced the other way, pressed flush against the bed, and opened his chest covering while his back was to the Emperor — no one would be able to see his bare chest.
He carefully turned over onto his stomach and gathered both arms in front of his chest. But undoing the binding that wrapped tightly around his chest was no easy task. On top of that, he was still blindfolded — so his fingers refused to cooperate properly. To think he had once made a name for himself as an assassin, and now he had come to this. If his lord back in Seoran ever found out, he would double over laughing.
Whatever the case, he needed to end this absurd examination as quickly as possible. Ha-hyeon pressed the top of his head into the bed and raised his backside high into the air, entirely focused on undoing the chest binding. Every time his hands slipped, he felt a creeping unease at what might be happening behind him.
He finally managed to undo the binding and rearranged his disheveled clothing to cover his chest. Now he tried to turn back over — but from behind him came the sound of rough, unsteady breathing, as though someone were scrubbing their own face dry. That breathing drew closer in an instant.
“Yeong-ui.”
Wei Wuyuan’s voice, burrowing into his ear, was dangerously low and hoarse.
“…….”
“Are you trying to seduce me right now?”
Ha-hyeon’s mind went completely blank. Seduce — what? What on earth was he talking about, out of nowhere like that. But Wei Wuyuan’s hand was already sliding over the curve of Ha-hyeon’s waist and blatantly groping the raised swell of his backside.
“Hng! N, no. Seduce you? Absolutely not.”
Has this Emperor lost his mind. Carrying on like this with no shame, right in front of the physician!
Ha-hyeon reached his arm back, trying to push the Emperor away. Just then —
Smack —
Wei Wuyuan’s large palm came down sharply on one side of Ha-hyeon’s backside. The flesh shuddered with the force of the blow, the sound ringing out like a mallet striking rice. Ha-hyeon recoiled more from the act itself than from the pain and reflexively tried to push himself up, but Wei Wuyuan pressed him back down.
“Ahh — Your, Your Majesty.”
“Stay still.”
Wei Wuyuan rubbed his palm slowly over Ha-hyeon’s now-flushed backside and whispered.
“Not even knowing what kind of desire I am holding back right now…… shaking your hips and acting so coy.”
“Coy?! I was doing no such thing. How could you — ugh.”
“What do you mean, nothing. I saw it clearly with my own eyes.”
As if to say there was no use making excuses, Wei Wuyuan squeezed Ha-hyeon’s backside firmly and then let go.
“You have no fear at all.”
“I’m mortified! Please, at least send the physician away!”
Hearing Ha-hyeon’s tearful plea, the physician grew flustered and began gathering her medicine chest to stand.
“Stop. Who gave you permission to leave.”
Wei Wuyuan’s sharp command froze the physician in place.
“Your Majesty!”
“If I send the physician away, you’ll start seducing me in earnest, won’t you. You were already shaking yourself about even with the physician present — if we were left alone, who knows what shameless thing you’d try. That simply won’t do.”
“Your Majesty! What kind of absurd reasoning is that!”
“Absurd? I am protecting you. From your own licentious impulses.”
Wei Wuyuan tilted his chin toward the physician.
“Sit back down. No matter what happens, you are absolutely not to leave until the examination is complete.”
The physician sat back down, utterly at a loss. There was nowhere left to escape to. Wei Wuyuan’s chest pressed against Ha-hyeon’s back. He pulled Ha-hyeon in tightly, leaving not even the smallest gap between Ha-hyeon’s back and his own chest. This position — settled between the Emperor’s legs, their upper bodies overlapping — was disturbingly similar to the way Ha-hyeon had ridden in, cradled against Baek Seojin’s chest on horseback not long ago.
As though riding on horseback atop the bed, Wei Wuyuan held Ha-hyeon from behind and stretched both arms forward. His left hand closed around Ha-hyeon’s left chest.
“Ah…. Don’t.”
Wei Wuyuan tightened his grip to keep Ha-hyeon from pulling away. Then his right hand came to rest over Ha-hyeon’s solar plexus.
Hot breath pushed its way into his sensitive ear.
“Does Yeong-ui not enjoy this position. Earlier on that man’s horse…… I watched Yeong-ui’s ears flush red, and I felt it. That Yeong-ui has such a lewd body — one that loves having a man pressed close against her back like this.”
He nibbled lightly on Ha-hyeon’s reddened earlobe with his teeth.
Th, this lunatic — what is he even saying right now!
Ha-hyeon was beside himself with indignation. His ears had flushed red because he had been freezing cold — not because having Baek Seojin behind him had made him flustered. It was simply because of the bitter wind, because his ears had felt like they might fall right off from the cold! When you’re caught in a blizzard in the dead of winter, of course your ears turn red — what, did he expect them to turn blue instead?
What on earth could have happened to Wei Wuyuan while they’d been apart. That clear, guileless person — how had he become so calculating and devious.
The grip of the hand squeezing Ha-hyeon’s chest was so strong that Ha-hyeon genuinely feared his chest might burst.
Ha-hyeon only wanted to escape from this perverse situation.
“You are mistaken. I didn’t even realize my ears had turned red. And even if they had, it was simply from the cold.”
“From the cold, you say…. Physician, listen carefully. Having touched Yeong-ui’s solar plexus directly, I can feel a warmth so intense it heats my very palm.”
“That is truly a relief. Warmth at the solar plexus is evidence that the qi and blood are flowing freely without obstruction — it seems no internal injuries have been sustained.”
“Then, what should we check next.”
“I have heard that Yeong-ui suffered a fall in the carriage accident. The bones have been confirmed unbroken, however, rolling about could have left scrapes all over the body. It would be best to visually inspect for any torn skin or bruising.”
He had already been driven to the edge of his sanity from all the palpating alone — and now they were saying to pull the clothing aside entirely and examine every inch of bare skin with their own eyes.
At this rate, his clothes were going to be stripped off him entirely. Ha-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut. Even if it meant being beheaded for violating the laws of the imperial family — he had to cry out that no meant no. He was past the point of caring.
“YOUR MAJESTY!!! I AM GENUINELY, COMPLETELY HEALTHY WITHOUT A SINGLE THING WRONG!!!”
Ha-hyeon’s thunderous outcry rang through the quiet of Hyeongeuk Hall. It was a full-bodied, spirited roar drawn from deep in his gut.
At the sudden enormous noise, the physician gave a violent start and leapt clean off the floor. She wasn’t the only one startled. The grip of Wei Wuyuan’s hand — which had been firmly clasped around Ha-hyeon’s chest — also loosened.
“Yeong-ui is showing such distress and clear resistance — I cannot keep insisting any further. Very well. If you are truly that embarrassed, I will have the physician examine you directly. You are both women — there should be no issue with her seeing your bare skin.”
Ha-hyeon’s face drained of all color. No. If the physician came in and pulled back the covers now, being found out as a man would be the least of his worries — he would be socially annihilated on the spot. He had been feeling increasingly overheated for a while now, and after all the relentless stimulation and tension, things had finally taken a disastrous turn.
“Your, Your Majesty! Please don’t go!”
As Wei Wuyuan moved to get off the bed, Ha-hyeon flung himself forward desperately. He grabbed the Emperor from behind, wrapping both arms around his waist and clinging to him.
“No! Please, Your Majesty — do it yourself! Please don’t leave!”
“Yeong-ui, grabbing onto me in a situation like this. How terribly bold.”
The silk cord covering Ha-hyeon’s eyes slipped loose and fell away. Ha-hyeon blinked against the sudden rush of light. The moment his blurry vision cleared, the very first thing he saw was Wei Wuyuan’s face, staring directly at him from just inches away.
His expression was strange. Not angry, not mocking. He simply looked down at Ha-hyeon with deep, inscrutable eyes — like a predator that had seized its prey’s most carefully guarded weakness.
“You may take your leave now. With Yeong-ui’s energy looking this strong, the examination does not seem particularly urgent after all.”
At Wei Wuyuan’s dismissal, the physician bowed her head.
The sound of the heavy door closing reverberated through the chamber like a death sentence. An uneasy silence drifted through the vast expanse of Hyeongeuk Hall.
“…….”
Still clinging to Wei Wuyuan’s back, Ha-hyeon swallowed dryly. His throat was parched and burning. His heartbeat was so loud it was making his eardrums ache. This heavy, scorching thing pressing against his back — there was no way Wei Wuyuan didn’t know what it was. No — it would be stranger if he didn’t.
As Ha-hyeon quietly tried to loosen his arms and draw back, Wei Wuyuan snatched his wrist.
“Where do you think you’re running off to.”
“I’m not running.”
Wei Wuyuan slowly turned around. His gaze passed over Ha-hyeon’s face, now drained white — and landed squarely on what was brazenly rising beneath the thin inner garment at his lower body.
“With something this alarming on you.”
