At Song Wongyeong’s subtle insistence, which was unlike his usual self, Mi-in Sa gave a reluctant dry cough and whispered:
“I merely said we should be careful with our conduct. What good could come from it reaching His Majesty’s ears?”
“Haha. What kind of words were you exchanging to be so startled?”
Song Wongyeong slyly lowered his voice.
“Could it be that you were discussing… producing an imperial heir?”
“Hush! If they find out in Jeongyang Hall, there will be hell to pay!”
Song Wongyeong burst into laughter at Mi-in Sa’s scolding. Though she was famous for her sensitive personality, as she now coyly glared at him while telling him to be quiet, she wasn’t spiteful in the least.
Seeing them huddled together in one spot, he had wondered if they were discussing some state secret, but…
They were just gossiping among themselves, weren’t they?
Song Wongyeong stroked his chest in relief. To Song Wongyeong, who had no desire to serve in the bed chambers, ‘Jeongyang Hall’ or ‘the Emperor’ was almost synonymous with disaster, so he couldn’t help but act hyper-sensitive.
But now that he knew it wasn’t the case, it was fine. Song Wongyeong, relieved, squared his shoulders completely and cracked a joke.
“Then I must be one of the candidates as well!”
Mi-in Sa asked back, looking dumbfounded:
“You?”
“Of course! Haha, I am even taking my Taeyeongdan faithfully.”
Song Wongyeong pretended to be shy, coyly covering his face with the sleeve of his silk robe. At his demeanor, which resembled a gigantic muscular chick, So-ui Gyeong cast her eyes down and scanned Song Wongyeong up and down.
“Ho-ho. It seems Noble Person Song has no particular need to do so…”
Chung-won Ye also burst into a giggle and covered her mouth with her fan.
“Well, yes. I suppose one can’t criticize you for trying. Though you possess a man’s body, aren’t you also His Majesty’s concubine, Noble Person Song?”
Chung-won Ye emphasized the word ‘man’, subtly giving him a snub.
If she had known that the Emperor was eavesdropping nearby, she would never have said such a thing.
“…Chief Eunuch, are those words really spoken by my concubines just now?”
Seomun Cheon, who had been concealing himself near the pavilion in the west garden, flared with anger upon hearing the concubines’ conversation.
The Chief Eunuch, at a loss, answered in a crawling voice:
“I-It seems you heard correctly, Your Majesty.”
“Ha!”
Seomun Cheon clicked his tongue and glared toward the direction where the sound had come from.
“To think that the well-bred daughters chosen and sent by my ministers are a lot that babble such rubbish!”
They had made such a fuss for him to take concubines and send their daughters and nieces, only for those maidens to be such useless husks!
He hadn’t expected much anyway since they were the bloodlines of his ministers, but even so, his disappointment was great. Among them all, the most displeasing was Song Wongyeong, who had become a laughingstock.
What is so good about hearing such words that he smiles so brainlessly?
Song Wongyeong was laughing among the concubines again today in that ridiculous guise. It was a completely different sight from when he had rescued Seomun Cheon last night.
Feeling stifled inside, Seomun Cheon thudded his own chest. Only the Chief Eunuch beside him, bewildered, stamped his feet and asked:
“Your Majesty. Will you make your move now?”
At the Chief Eunuch’s question of whether he would enter the garden, Seomun Cheon shut his mouth in displeasure. Even if he were to enter…
“Will Noble Person Song truly recognize me?”
“What if he recognizes you?”
“…If he realizes his mistake and confesses, I shall generously overlook it.”
The Chief Eunuch was flabbergasted. The world’s most strict rule-bound emperor was going to generously overlook it?
“Then what if he fails to recognize you?”
“I shall have to send him to the Cold Palace for the crime of mocking the Son of Heaven.”
At the words ‘Cold Palace’, the Chief Eunuch felt relieved. That was a place where concubines who had committed great crimes usually went. It was a fitting punishment for the crime Song Wongyeong had committed.
It seems His Majesty merely acted on a brief whim.
Just then, Seomun Cheon suddenly changed his words.
“No. Sending him all the way to the Cold Palace when he’s acting so foolishly seems a bit excessive.”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
“Still, seeing as he could not tolerate injustice, his nature doesn’t seem evil, so a few days of house arrest should make him reflect.”
Once his house arrest was lifted, summoning him to Jeongyang Hall to ask him this and that would be quite entertaining as well.
I am curious as to just what scheme he has to willingly live in such a state. It doesn’t seem like he actually wants to serve in my bed chambers, though.
A man born male, wearing a woman’s clothes and living as the Emperor’s concubine.
Seomun Cheon curled up the corners of his lips as he looked at Song Wongyeong beyond the trees in the distance.
“Let us go, Chief Eunuch.”
The Chief Eunuch hastily prepared the eunuchs. Then, a young eunuch announced the Emperor’s arrival.
“His Imperial Majesty enters!”
Along with the sound of horns, as Seomun Cheon entered the west garden, the concubines bent their waists in unison.
A few who were brazen enough even dared to glance sideways, taking Seomun Cheon in with their eyes. And every single one of them wobbled, dizzy from Seomun Cheon’s beautiful appearance.
Clad in a golden dragon robe, Seomun Cheon was truly a figure no different from an incarnation of a heavenly god.
When the hair hanging down beneath his simply styled crown fluttered in the breeze, groans of admiration broke out here and there. Every time his hair, so black it almost held a bluish sheen, fluttered, a cool and elegant fragrance wafted forth.
May His Majesty stop in front of me.
I hope he selects me!
While everyone was thinking this, Song Wongyeong alone held a different thought.
Please just keep walking…!
Song Wongyeong kept his head bowed and anxiously counted the seconds. Seomun Cheon was approaching from afar. Before long, the gold fabric of his robe began entering the edge of his vision.
He’s passing, passing… pa… Huh?
It was the moment he assumed the Emperor would naturally walk past.
The shoes visible beneath the gold robe stopped right in front of Song Wongyeong.
What… is happening?
No way? Right?
He denied it several times, but the gold in his vision did not disappear. In the middle of his bewilderment, a majestic voice rang out from above his head.
“Raise your head.”
Even at this moment, Song Wongyeong denied reality. No way. Surely the Emperor wouldn’t call for me…
“So there was also a man in my inner palace. What is your name?”
Damn it, it really is the Emperor!
He didn’t want to believe it, but the one standing before his eyes was unmistakably the Emperor.
Up close, he is truly beautiful!
No, but why on earth is a person like that targeting me?
Song Wongyeong stammered out, completely out of his mind. Just then, the eyebrows of Seomun Cheon, who was watching him, contorted strangely as if displeased.
Wait a second, by the way…
I’ve smelled this fragrance somewhere before?
However, there was no time to think. From behind the Emperor’s back, the Chief Eunuch was giving him eye signals, telling him to ‘answer quickly’. Song Wongyeong reluctantly curtsied as if pretending to be gentle and paid his respects.
“I am called Noble Person Song Wongyeong.”
Song Wongyeong turned his low voice upside down with all his might, acting coy as if flirting. Add to that the semi-transparent topaz-colored cloth wrapped around his body.
To an ordinary man, it was a sight most would turn away from, but Seomun Cheon subtly raised one corner of his mouth.
If I hadn’t seen him yesterday, I would have been tricked as well.
Seomun Cheon stared intently at Song Wongyeong’s powder-caked face. As the time the Emperor spent staring lengthened, sweat trickled down Song Wongyeong’s back.
Why is he staring like that?
Did I really do something wrong? Was my going outside the palace caught?
Just as all sorts of thoughts were filling his head, Seomun Cheon smiled as if it were nothing and spoke to him:
“You are the son of the Vice Minister of the Chancellery. You look strangely familiar.”
“Y-Yes.”
I almost bit my tongue.
Song Wongyeong gulped down his dry spit. When the Emperor asked, ‘You look familiar. Haha,’ answering with a terse ‘Yes’ was not polite.
Pulling himself together, Song Wongyeong bowed his knees gently once more and answered affably:
“Yesterday at noon, when Your Majesty came to the inner palace, this humble servant was also present at that spot. That must be why I look familiar.”
“…Is that so?”
The end of his tone rose strangely, as if asking if that was ‘truly all’.
As the exchange of questions and answers lengthened, jealous glares poured in from the concubines nearby. Song Wongyeong grew anxious.
Why is the Emperor doing this to me when he has all these pretty women?!
For now, he pretended to be shy and covered his mouth with his sleeve. Unlike his smiling eyes, his lips hidden behind the sleeve quickly pursed up as if he were about to cry.
I’d rather become a roadside pebble…!
If he followed his heart, he wanted to shout ‘It was terrible meeting you, let us never see each other again!’ and bolt from the spot.
If I did that, our clan would be wiped from the Gyeong Empire that very day…!
Of course, that clan had pushed Song Wongyeong into the imperial palace, but it was still his family. After becoming a concubine in a man’s body just to save his clan, he couldn’t let it go to ruin.
Thus, Song Wongyeong acted as coy as possible and added:
“This humble servant is foolish and does not quite understand what Your Majesty means.”
Translated, it would be ‘Aww, Wongyeong doesn’t know about things like that.’
In an instant, the Emperor’s cheek twitched as if he couldn’t stand it. Seeing that keenly, Song Wongyeong felt inwardly relieved.
It seems to have worked well. Soon the Emperor will fly into a rage!
If he had known that his trick had worked in a completely different direction, Song Wongyeong would have slumped right onto the spot. Because the Emperor was looking at Song Wongyeong and thinking like this:
How dare he act so coy in such a state…!
He definitely had some other ulterior scheme. Once convinced of that, every action of Song Wongyeong felt like a provocation.
To dare put on such an act right in front of me.
Whatever that scheme was, he wouldn’t escape easily. Seomun Cheon inwardly sneered at Song Wongyeong and asked:
“Are you taking your Taeyeongdan faithfully?”
“Yes. Is it not a precious gift bestowed by Your Majesty? To fulfill my duty of conceiving an imperial heir, I take it every time.”
Song Wongyeong smiled innocently, pretending to tuck back hair behind his ear that didn’t exist. At his coy appearance, the surrounding concubines and eunuchs bit their lips tight. Song Wongyeong’s intended effect worked perfectly.
By now, the Emperor should back off.
Now he would pass him by and show interest in other concubines soon–that was what he thought.
However, the Emperor was persistent.
