The fact that the Emperor had bestowed an unprecedented amount of rewards on Sansan, who had no official position, after their first bedding was already known to everyone in the imperial palace. Having learned of it faster than anyone since they were in the same palace, and even having been in charge of organizing those rewards, Sanwol bit her lip once again in difficulty.
“…Did His Majesty say you could leave the palace?”
Though she thought it unlikely, she asked first.
“He-he said he would find me a match and send me off to marry.”
Sansan answered, recalling last night’s memories.
“…So he said you could leave the palace today, right now?”
If he had intended to send him out immediately, there was no way he would have personally bestowed gold and silver treasures for household use and even delicacies to nourish his body. The Emperor wasn’t such an affectionate and sentimental man to begin with. Sanwol asked again with certainty.
“Orabeoni. You can’t lie.”
At the rather stern tone, Sansan couldn’t answer right away and just hesitated, fiddling with his fingers. Then Sanwol firmly grabbed even those hands.
“Orabeoni.”
“…He didn’t say I could leave today.”
Sanwol released the strength from the hands holding Sansan and sighed quietly. One side of her chest felt stuffy and ached.
“Then you can’t.”
“Then wh-when can I leave? …If I do it just a few more times, can I leave?”
Gritting her teeth until her jaw bulged, Sanwol put down Sansan’s hands and stood up abruptly, turning her back. She couldn’t bear to sit facing him and do this any longer.
“Until His Majesty directly permits you to leave, Orabeoni cannot leave the palace.”
“……”
“Until then, you’ll stay here with me, like before. We can see each other every day now. Right?”
Being able to stay with Sanwol was good. That’s how it had been when he didn’t know exactly what bedding was. “Like before.” How could they live like before?
“…But His Majesty is your husband.”
“……”
“I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to, Wol-ah.”
Sansan shed thick tears without making a sound. Sanwol’s back, turned away, trembled finely. It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t agonized either, but for her older brother’s sake, for her own sake, and for the sake of the child in her belly, she thought she must teach him this time too. The duties of a concubine.
Sanwol turned back around and sat on the edge of the bed. She wrapped her hands around her older brother’s hands that were gripping the golden bed and trembling softly.
“I told you I don’t mind.”
“…Why?”
“Because that’s how concubines must be.”
“……”
“Just as all the people are His Majesty’s subjects, concubines are also His Majesty’s subjects. We have the duty to assist His Majesty at his side and bear imperial grandchildren to solidify the Ha Dynasty’s imperial authority. He is the Emperor of all people, so he cannot be only my Emperor. So I’m really okay with it even if Orabeoni continues to serve His Majesty’s bedding, even if Orabeoni uses magic to conceive His Majesty’s child. That’s precisely the virtue a concubine must possess…”
“…I don’t understand. Heuuk, Wol-ah, I don’t understand. I just want to go home. I don’t want to do things like bedding.”
Sansan just shook his head and refused to listen further. Sanwol gripped Sansan’s hands tightly again.
“Last night you shared the bed with His Majesty and received His Majesty’s dragon essence below, right?”
At the sudden question, Sansan blushed with shame. Since it wasn’t really a question expecting an answer, Sanwol continued speaking.
“Orabeoni received the Emperor’s grace. Women who receive the Emperor’s grace become the Emperor’s people for life. Men who receive the Emperor’s grace are the same. They must remain the Emperor’s people until His Majesty wishes otherwise. At least until then, they must fulfill their assigned duty. Do you understand?”
“…Duty, what does duty mean?”
“It means something you must do.”
“Then what’s my duty?”
“I told you earlier. Your duty is to assist His Majesty. To relieve his accumulated fatigue and desires. Orabeoni, in the imperial palace, if you ask the same thing several times, you’ll be beaten. So you can’t be scattered like you used to be. Especially when His Majesty is speaking, even if it’s difficult, try to concentrate. Okay?”
Did relieving accumulated fatigue and desires mean being harassed, beaten, and having one’s hole torn? Why on earth would one relieve fatigue with such things? Sansan really didn’t want to do that act, which had only been painful, frightening, and agonizing, ever again. So he couldn’t answer and just cried.
“…I’ll assume you understand. You have to understand. For Orabeoni’s sake. And for our sake.”
Sanwol said while stroking her swollen belly. She really didn’t want to say these things either. But wouldn’t it be better than everyone dying together?
Sanwol comforted the silent Sansan, fed him rice gruel, handed the ointment she’d brought separately to Yeongchae, then returned to her rear hall. Sansan stared blankly at the path Sanwol had taken back, then just pulled the golden bed covers over himself and lay down.
Unable to sleep because his chest felt stuffy, he traced the patterns on the golden bed and thought that later when he saw His Majesty, he should ask directly how long he would be wanted.
***
“It hurts, heuuk, I-I’m scared.”
The face of the thing that had cried all last night saying only that it hurt kept flickering before him, so the Emperor couldn’t focus on state affairs all day. Thinking that while he himself had done it five times, that thing hadn’t released even once made his mood even more unpleasant.
He hadn’t meant to drive him that hard…
The Emperor felt a little regret. For him, who rarely regretted things, the feeling was very strange.
Well, not just now, but everything had been strange all along. What was so different that he’d acted like someone who’d lost his mind? Not even knowing his lower half had torn completely and become a sea of blood.
He had liked the excessively dry first sensation, and yet the inner flesh that squirmed and sucked tightly, and the way the white chest covered in cold sweat swelled greatly and sank sharply, unable to overcome the pain.
Moreover, why were all his colors so pretty? Not only those amber eyes that had caught his attention at first sight, but also the pale eyelashes, red lips, flushed eye area, coral-colored nipples, and the pink-tinged member and hole of the same color—there wasn’t a single place where the color wasn’t pretty. That’s why he kept wanting to touch and feel him.
The Emperor couldn’t stop reminiscing about Sansan, and later even became curious about what color his inner walls might be.
‘Is it because he’s deficient that he lacks tact? After I bestowed so many rewards and didn’t even scold him when he left, he should have sent word to express thanks as soon as he pulled himself together. His older brother is doing that, and Concubine Yoon is just watching? It’s unspeakably impudent.’
In the end, the Emperor dismissed the morning assembly as soon as Sinshi came. This too was unprecedented. The senior eunuch, who had barely composed his surprised heart, accompanied the Emperor leaving Geoncheonggung Palace. The destination was, as expected, Yeongnyeong Palace.
At a time still a bit early for the evening meal, when Yeongnyeong Gate opened without warning, the palace servants who had been sweeping the inner courtyard were startled and prostrated themselves.
“Long live, long live, long long live. We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”
“Long live, long live, long long live. We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”
“Long live, long live, long long live. We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”
The Emperor left only a word telling them to rise and immediately walked quickly toward Dongbaejeon. Sanwol, who had come out hearing the commotion outside, also headed toward Dongbaejeon following the Emperor’s back visible in the distance.
“We greet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. Long live, long live, long long live.”
As the Emperor’s party rushed all the way into the bedchamber, Yeongchae, who had been standing by the bedside, hurriedly paid her respects.
“Is he still sleeping?”
Seeing the golden bed of the canopy bed raised in a round bulge, the Emperor asked, and Yeongchae answered urgently.
“I humbly report that it is so, Your Majesty. This servant will wake him quickly.”
“Leave him be.”
The Emperor waved his hand roughly and strode toward the bed. When he reached out his imperial hand and lightly pulled back the golden bed covers, he saw Sansan’s face sleeping soundly with a thoroughly flushed face.
The Emperor, who unconsciously bit his lower lip, sat down heavily beside him. His condition was even worse than in the morning. Though he hadn’t struck very hard, the swelling on his cheeks hadn’t subsided at all.
“Just how did you look after your master? Did you look down on him because he’s feeble-minded? I clearly commanded you to look after him with utmost care, yet he’s still in this state.”
If he had any conscience, he couldn’t blame others, but there was no way the Emperor had such a thing. At the anger greater than expected, Yeongchae and the other court ladies and eunuchs all knelt in unison and bowed their heads. Just when it seemed an innocent person would soon be caught up in this, Concubine Yoon, who had just entered the bedchamber, came forward before the Emperor and calmly knelt to pay her respects.
