“Why aren’t you answering your phone either?”
The Emperor and Empress, along with his older brothers—Crown Prince Kang and Second Prince Ho—were silently watching Hwan endlessly wrestling with his unresponsive phone.
Though they couldn’t bring themselves to say it out loud for the sake of appearances, it was clearly felt through their gazes that they found Hwan even more exasperating than Huiseo himself, the person in question.
Anyone watching would think Huiseo had run away or something.
Biting his nails, shaking his legs… How could he act so frivolously? It was dizzying to think what would happen if someone saw him.
However, Hwan, who knew no moderation, finally tried to summon “Director Jeong!” before him—the already busy Chief Secretary, or rather, Huiseo’s father. At that, the Emperor and Empress’s displeasure became noticeably apparent.
So in the end, the second older brother, Ho, had no choice but to step in.
His elbow poked Hwan’s side.
“Enough already. Okay?”
“…Why are you picking a fight again? What did I even do?”
It was a firm warning delivered while gritting his teeth. However, Hwan’s response was truly absurd. His innocent face immediately asking what was wrong was quite shameless. Would it kill him to just say yes and comply once?
Because of that, the nagging that followed—which couldn’t possibly sound pleasant—was entirely his own doing.
“Why are you tormenting a kid who’s studying? As if you’d study along with him.”
Even the fearless troublemaker prince was helpless when it came to talk of studying, being a student. Why bring up studying all of a sudden? Finally deflated, he glanced at the adults and replied sullenly.
“…Hyung doesn’t know anything.”
Of course, it was true that he felt hurt by Huiseo not replying even once. However, the reason Hwan was so obsessed with contacting him was because, somehow, as time passed, an inexplicable worry was raising its head.
He couldn’t help but feel something was strange.
That was because, until now, Huiseo had never ignored his contact to this degree, no matter how angry the situation. Embarrassingly, this was a fact Hwan knew better than anyone, having caused trouble day and night by Huiseo’s side.
‘But this time, seeing that he won’t even answer calls…’
Somehow he had a bad feeling that something had happened.
‘No. It can’t be. What could possibly happen inside the palace of all places?’
He tried to reassure himself like that, but the anxiety remained. So he just wanted to quickly see Huiseo’s face, confirm he was okay, and feel relieved. It definitely wasn’t because he was being pathetic.
But to others who didn’t know the situation, even Hwan’s response seemed like nothing more than childish rebellion. And so it finally reached the point where even the eldest, Kang, stepped in to add his words.
It meant the situation had gotten even worse.
He was someone who particularly didn’t approve of Hwan and Huiseo’s relationship.
“How long are you going to act like a child? You’d better not think Huiseo will keep indulging you forever.”
Though it was the same scolding aimed at Hwan, it was clearly different in nature from the conventional nagging that second brother Ho had delivered. At the sharp words, Hwan’s gaze also sharpened in turn. In an instant, the atmosphere between the two became hostile.
From Hwan’s standpoint, the words about acting like a child could be laughed off easily enough.
It was something he’d heard hundreds and thousands of times already, and he was somewhat aware that he was acting childish. However, what Kang said next—words that seemed to imply he would ultimately be abandoned by Huiseo—absolutely could not be let slide.
His chest burned unbearably as hot and cold sparks suddenly dropped into it.
It hurt. And it was miserable.
“……”
The fact that he couldn’t immediately refute it, that in truth he too feared such a thing might really happen someday—it felt like that had been exposed, making it even more so.
***
The way Hwan clenched his fists on his knees was ominous.
The first to notice this was none other than second brother Ho. That kid’s going to cause trouble again at this rate. With that thought, Ho immediately wore an awkward smile and inserted himself between the two who seemed ready to clash at any moment.
“Hyung, why would you say something like that? Lee Hwan, you relax your face too. How dare you act rudely in front of your older brother.”
He stopped Kang who had sharpened his words first while somewhat exaggeratedly cautioning Hwan.
How could mediating between these two—born second, with incompatible personalities above and below him—be a matter of just a day or two? This was the most reasonable method Ho had developed in his own way through that process.
“Lee Hwan.”
Of course, Hwan might feel wronged by this situation where he was being scolded more.
But even if not as much as Huiseo, among the imperial family members, Hwan listened to Ho’s words fairly well. As expected, Hwan turned his head away sharply without further comment. Though his feelings weren’t completely settled yet, it meant he wouldn’t go any further here.
Well, he must know that going further would be to his own disadvantage.
No matter how much of a prince he was, his opponent was his older brother—moreover, the Crown Prince. Though they’d been pretending not to notice until now, if he kept pushing and Their Majesties finally called him not “Hwan” but “Prince Yoon” sternly, there was no telling what punishment would come down.
For example, something like a “Huiseo Ban for 3 Days.”
Ridiculous just hearing the name, but it was the worst punishment Hwan had ever received. One day felt like a thousand years of suffering. If he received it again, he might faint on the spot, never mind lasting three days. Yet despite that, Hwan stretched out his back as if trying to show bravado and sprawled on the sofa.
Watching Hwan like that, the deepest sigh escaped through Crown Prince Kang’s lips.
‘That kid…’
He hadn’t said those harsh words because he hated Hwan either.
It was just that from his standpoint, having grown up since childhood as an imperial family member down to his bones, as the Crown Prince, he simply couldn’t sincerely understand Hwan acting so childishly and throwing tantrums like that. That was precisely what Second Prince Ho had meant by calling the two incompatible.
Even now, Kang seemed unable to relax unless he pointed things out, when he could have just overlooked it and moved on appropriately like others.
“Your posture.”
“…But no one’s even watching.”
Hwan retorted as if dumbfounded.
In fact, his words weren’t entirely wrong either. It was after the ceremony had ended and all the invited guests and reporters had receded like the tide. There were the eyes of palace servants, but they’d been watching for more than just a day or two. Even if he relaxed a bit to rest, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.
However, Kang’s attitude remained resolutely firm.
“This concerns the imperial family’s dignity. What does it matter whether someone’s watching or not?”
‘…Are you reading from a morality textbook?’
Hwan barely swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
Even being “by the book” needed moderation to look good.
In Hwan’s view, Kang was simply, in crude terms, a “stick in the mud.” Without his expression changing once, he said infuriating things so well. It might have been a bit better if he were just picking a fight. But knowing it came entirely from his sincere heart made it truly exasperating.
‘It’s not like anyone appreciates it anyway.’
Thinking it was foolish behavior, Hwan couldn’t help but sneer.
“I’m sure you know best.”
Far from correcting his posture, he was being even more sarcastic, so only Ho, caught in the middle, fretted anxiously lest a fight break out. In the process, Ho too naturally came to think of Huiseo.
In fact, if only Huiseo had been there, things would never have reached this point in the first place.
‘This kid would definitely have been busy acting cute and charming in front of him.’
Ho also entirely agreed with Kang’s words that Hwan shouldn’t depend on Huiseo like this. After all, he couldn’t act like a child forever.
However, when Huiseo wasn’t actually present, situations became this messy, so he couldn’t quite bring himself to separate the two. All the imperial elders probably felt the same way.
Lee Hwan, and Jeong Huiseo.
What a pair they were, impossible to know what to do with them.
***
The only way to calm the unpredictable, angry Hwan was ultimately to let him loose as he pleased. So he could find Huiseo like a magnet on his own.
“You may go now.”
As soon as permission was granted, Hwan predictably ran off without looking back toward Gyeonghoeru on the west side of Geunjeongjeon. In fact, to be a bit more precise, where he headed was the direction of the “Gwollaegaksa” established in front of Gyeonghoeru.
Gwollaegaksa referred to various government offices installed within the palace. During the Joseon period, places like Saganwon, Seungjeongwon, Hongmungwan, and Yemungwan were diversely located here, but through the flow of history and devastating circumstances, they all crumbled away.
By the time efforts were made to rebuild them, the imperial family had already lost its power.
Since most major functions had been transferred to the assembly, those numerous offices also disappeared accordingly. Even the places barely remaining for the preservation of the imperial family became a mess overnight, arbitrarily becoming “departments” one moment and “offices” the next—chaotic and jumbled according to whatever outsiders called them.
For that reason, in modern times, dormitory buildings for “palace servants”—a term that had evolved to refer to both men and women working in the palace—were built in those suddenly idle spaces. It was ostensibly to allow those who previously commuted from outside the palace to “freely reside within the palace.”
The excuse of “for the palace servants’ convenience” sounded quite plausible.
However, in reality, everyone knew it was meant to gradually isolate them, just like the situation where only Gyeongbokgung Palace was permitted to the imperial family.
Going back to the point, Huiseo also resided in those dormitory buildings.
Though he wasn’t yet an official palace servant.
By the rules, it was impossible. However, as seen in the previous situation, controlling Hwan without Huiseo was no easy task, so it could be said to be an exceptional case they had no choice but to allow despite knowing it was against the rules.
Saying it this way made it sound like a great favor, but in fact, it was an open secret that this place was the last line of defense barely maintained by coaxing and appeasing Hwan, who had even thrown a fit wanting to install Huiseo in his own quarters.
So it went without saying how often he frequented this building.
‘He’s here again.’
In fact, even this sentiment was a luxury.
