Volume 2
Chapter 8
Part 1
Unedited as of 8/1/23 – Parts 1 , 2, & 3 were CONDENSEd into one page
Yeon Myeong=Yeonmyung
I made a late-night spelling-chek error early on in the translation. I edited in Docs and I used FIND AND REPLACE to correct the spelling of Yeonmyung’s name and it somehow ended up as Yeon Myeong. I accidentally posted it without realizing my error. However, I was too lazy to go back and fix it so I just continued on with that incorrect spelling. I am now making an effort to re-edit and fix previous errors and this is one of them. Sorry for any confusion this may cause.
1
“My Lord, My Lord!”
The noisiest thing in Yiyang Palace was Yeonmyung. She was overflowing with joy and laughed more than anyone else.
“What is going on here?”
Huen, who was sitting next to the window as he usually did, turned his head.
“I brought you tea, My Lord. This tea is very rare and fine. Quickly, try it and see.”
It had been nearly a day since he had drunk anything but honey water, and that was only after she convinced him that it would clear away the taste of the medicinal concoction. Yeonmyung felt his stomach must be rumbling, so she brought him tea again.
“Leave it. I’ll taste it later.”
He used succinct words in lieu of having to think or move.
“No, My Lord. Can’t you please eat it now?”
Her smiling face made it difficult to refuse. Yeonmyung had walked in with a tray that was too large for her body while whimpering. After seeing that, Heun couldn’t say anything further.
Heun got up and quickly took the tray from Yeonmyung.
“Oh, My Lord!”
Yeonmyung’s eyes brightened and her cheeks warmed in a blush.
Heun put down the tray on the tea table and gave a little sigh.
“Why is there so much? And why are you handling something this big, it’s easy to tip over if a mistake is made. You’re barely back on your feet, so leave these things to others to manage.”
“Well, I begged my lady to carry this. It just so happens to be the time for me to brush your hair again, right?”
Unlike her sweet face, her hands were cautious and skillful in navigating the tea bowls. In the next few years, she would rise up and achieve official rank(長史), that is what was just in front of her. That wouldn’t make sense if she were bad at pouring tea.
“My Lord. This candy was made from wild ginseng. It was sent from the Crown Prince’s Palace.”
“From the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
“Yes.”
Yeonmyung continued on excitedly as she poured the tea.
“Well, the doctor said that His Highness, the Crown Prince, might catch a chill from shock and that ginseng would be good for it. So they hurriedly found some panax ginseng and made a ginseng candy, however, His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t want to eat it. When the doctor told him that it was very precious and very good for the body and that it would make one grow very strong and tall, the Crown Prince asked him if it would make hair would grow fast. When he was told yes, then he gave instructions to call on the Lord Guest of Yiyang Palace. He would like you to eat them with him. However, it’s not okay for a Guest without rank to eat with His Highness the Crown Prince, right? Of course, you can’t go to the Crown Prince’s Palace. So when he was told that it was against the rules of the court and shouldn’t be done, he said he wouldn’t listen. So the Crown Prince’s Palace ladies used their wits and immediately cut the ginseng candy in half and sent half of it to Yiyang Palace to eat. That’s why I rushed to bring it. You have to eat it right away so I’ll be able to tell His Highness the truth.”
“……”
Not knowing what to say, Heun swallowed his tea. Yeonmyung looked at him again and smiled.
“He said he was sorry for pulling your hair out. He did something wrong, however, His Highness said that he felt even worse for having gotten a dog in return. Isn’t the Crown Prince such a good-natured boy? The dog wasn’t given for nothing anyway. Hwa-bi is the only one who suffers. Since His Highness, the Crown Prince, is so happy and can raise them without being bitten, all she can do is lament.”
“……, cough~!”
Heun coughed a little after swallowing the tea wrong.
“Oh goodness, My Lord!”
Yeonmyung quickly got up and diligently patted Heun’s back.
“Drink more slowly. My Lord, His Highness said he would not eat it until you finished it all.”
The sugar coating was mixed with a generous amount of honey and peanut powder to make it appealing to a child’s palate, and there was enough of the hearty confection to serve as a meal.
“This……I can’t eat all of this.”
“But you must eat it until it’s all finished……this was sent by His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Just say I ate it and share it amongst yourselves.”
“Uh……My Lord, you’re not even going to taste it?”
“I have no intention of doing so.”
“Uh uh……but that’s a shame.”
Yeonmyung quickly became sullen.
“I’m sure someone from the Crown Prince’s Palace will come and ask if you ate it all. Then the answer gets difficult, um……and then,”
“Huuh~.”
A sigh of worry forYeonmyung flowed out of Heun.
“Then let it be. I’ll eat it when I get the inclination.”
“My Lord, you must eat it. Didn’t you know? My Lord, the other day the doctor said that ginseng would be very good for your health. I’m really…… I’m very nervous……oh, I’m sorry, My Lord. I don’t think I can get matsutake mushrooms again. However, you were sent panax ginseng. Doesn’t that please you? So please be sure to eat it, My Lord.”
“……Yes. I will.”
“Of course, My Lord.”
Her beaming eyes stayed fixed on him.
Heun took a bite of the confection despite his discomfort.
It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy sweets, it was just that he was uncomfortable with all the consideration. However, one couldn’t point out an obvious reason to fear the Crown Prince’s gift or avoid it.
Perhaps it was because he was 5 years old?
He was uncomfortable with the idea of lumping the younger person in with the other as though they were already the same person.
“How about the taste? Is it good?”
Heun picked up a piece of candy and gave it to Yeonmyung.
“Taste it for yourself.”
“Oh, wow……me, me too?”
“There are too many.”
“Uh, uh…….”
Yeonmyung, who hesitated and did not know what to do, took it. It was so sweet that it made her tongue ache so she poured herself some tea. Yeonmyung’s cheeks, which had been puckering, gradually blushed.
“It’s r,really……delicious! I thought it would be bitter because of the ginseng.”
“Then eat a lot.”
“You too, My Lord.”
“Alright.”
Yeonmyung laughed while patting her cheeks well with an ecstatic expression.
Somehow, he wound up eating all the sweets while sharing back and forth.
When his mouth was too sweet he drank tea, and when he was full, he had his hair brushed by Yeonmyungg who told him stories of the Palace. Then, when he was hungry again, they ate the remaining sweets.
After a while, a person really came from The Crown Prince’s Palace. It was the Crown Prince asking if he had eaten all the confections.
Yeonmyung replied with a very proud face that the Lord Guest had eaten all of it, and when he heard that the Crown Prince couldn’t hold back any longer and ate it all.
In the Palace, where rumors fly fast, this story became popular and soon reached the ears of Ja-Ryung.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2
“Does he like sweets?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I have heard it was so.”
Sudang Taegam1 quietly bent over and bowed as he replied.
This was the job that Wei-Jeong had always done.
Sudang Taegam was beside himself after Wei-Jeong’s sudden abdication. When he first heard the news, he was so distraught that he rushed to Wei-Jeong’s house.
-Oh, Wei-Jeong! What should I do? He is still young and incompetent. How can I help the Emperor all by myself? Oh, please let me know if there’s anything you haven’t told me yet, and if there’s anything you’re particularly concerned about, please let me know…….
So, at the end of his rant when he was begging for answers to the questions he wanted answered the most, about the things he should pay special attention to when dealing with the Emperor, Wei-Jeong rolled his eyes.
– Why are you asking this now, aren’t these questions premature?
Sudang Taegam asked in surprise,
– What? What do you mean, Head Palace Eunuch?
– I’m saying perform in a cursory fashion. Seeing the palace suddenly running smoothly without me, well, that is not something I want to see.
-……What, oh, yes.
That was the point when he was unceremoniously dismissed.
As he considered it carefully he realized that Wei-Jeong was having a hard time, it seemed he had other considerations on his mind, but the fact remained that Sudang Taegam still had over 5,000 eunuchs which were now his responsibility. Judging by Wei-Jeong’s behavior, it seemed that there wouldn’t be a big difference from being Sudang Tae-gam to Head Palace Eunuch, but it was all a farce.
Now Sudang-Taegam’s were darting back and forth. There was no time to sleep and no time for meals.
But, damn it!
Amid such a busy schedule he must have forgotten the small discovery that the Guest of Yiyang Palace likes sweets.
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
“Bang!”
The Emperor rose from his throne and kicked the desk. Sudang-Taegam suddenly came to his senses and opened his mouth
“M,my apologies. Emperor. Then, should I ask the Sangseongam to make some confections and send them to Yiyang Palace right away!”
“Idiot! That has already been taken.”
“……Wha,what? Yes?”
The Emperor had outright called him stupid. Sudang-Taegam felt the world spinning before his eyes again.
‘No, Emperor’, he thought. ‘I’m not a particularly stupid person, and…… No, I know this is a very important matter, but we’ll clear up this misunderstanding gradually later on…….? And it was already taken? What are you talking about?’
“O,of course……then what should I do?”
“Did you say that ginseng was sent from the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
“Yes. That’s right, Emperor.”
“Tell them to make sweets. However, leave out the ginseng!”
At this point, he couldn’t help but feel wronged.
‘No, Emperor’ he thought. ‘Didn’t I just say the same thing? You called me stupid when I said it, and now you’re saying the same thing?!’
“Tell him to make it so good he’ll faint. Make the other taste like dog shit in comparison.”
……Was that even possible?
However, even the impossible must be made possible. There was a sense of pride that the courtesy in Taewoongseong, which had always been superior to everywhere else, had been deteriorating since Wei-Jeong’s departure, and now it was showing. Sudang-Taegam could never accept the judgment of the others who assumed that he would never be able to follow up to Wei Jeong’s level.
Ugh! What he learned was only what Wei-Jeong taught him, who were they to make comparisons? They would see! He would be sure to have confections as precious as gold and as fine as jade made which would melt the Emperor’s heart.
Sudang-Taegam eyes flashed with determination.
“Yes Sir. I have received your orders, Emperor.”
Ja-Ryung clicked his tongue as he stepped away from the throne.
“Tsk. If it were Wei-Jeong, he would have never missed such a thing. Incompetent!”
“……”
His determination suddenly dimmed and plummeted. Sudang-Taegam dabbed at the corners of his eyes with the tip of his sleeve.
It was a moment he missed Wei-Jeong for the first time.
Wei-Jeong. How in the world did he manage such an Emperor?
He still had a long, long way to go, and the shadows that Wei-Jeong had cast were rooted throughout the palace and spread like a spider’s web.
And first.
Just in time for the sun to barely hang in the sky, every variety of confections was completed, there was enough to fill a cart. When Sudang-Taegam asked what to do with the confections now, Ja-Ryung replied by sending a palanquin to Yiyang Palace.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
3
The place reached by the palanquin Ja-Ryung had sent was Yeohwan-jeong, the northern back garden of Taewoongseong Fortress.
It was the only place in Taewoongseong where trees grew.
It was Gok Yeo-Heun who insisted on growing a small forest there.
His reasons were, that according to the principles of feng shui, there must be the energy of wood to achieve all five elements as a whole. It was also because, more than anything, he wanted a place left where he could breathe.
When he opened the window in his bedroom of Gangnyeong-gung Palace2, he could see the full view of Yeohwan-jeong gardens at a glance. However, a waterway was placed in the middle so that people could not come and go on their own. If you follow the road prepared by Gok Yeo-Heun, it would appear to be the closest Gangnyeong-gung Palace. Regardless of how it appeared, because of the curve in the route, it actually took the longest.
When Heun realized that the place where the palanquin was put down was Yeohwan-jeong Pavilion, he took in the scenery in front of him as if it were somewhere he’d never seen.
For a moment, he had forgotten that this place was so close by. Soon the season would change just a little bit and this place would be covered in pale pink flowers. When the night wind blew and the petals fluttered around, it seemed like it was snowing out of season.
Sometimes, just occasionally, because of that, there were times when Taewoong-seong didn’t feel like such a nightmare.
It was on one of those days.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
At night, one of the chains that usually bound his arms slipped and he stumbled out of the bedchamber. After frantically running along, dragging his broken leg, there he was. The sky was black with no stars shining, but the white petals of the flowers glowed with their own light and remained embedded in his sight.
Tears welled up in his eyes and he stood there for a long time staring at the flowers. This cursed place, which he now wanted to destroy, was so beautiful that it filled him with sorrow.
The wind blew the flowers, and the petals flew. It was an unbelievable sight that unfolded before his eyes, as though warm snow was falling around him. He laughed at the strangeness of it, that he was still there spending every night in Wonje’s arms, the one he hated tooth and nail, as he walked in the warmth of the snow-like pedals. And yet it was beautiful! It was so beautiful it was hateful, and it was so hateful that it was pitiable!
He didn’t know how long he was just standing like that. It wasn’t until Gok Yeo-Heun’s legs went numb that he managed to turn around. There was Wonje in the distance where the eyes could barely see.
How long had he been standing there watching?
He couldn’t tell.
Their eyes met but Wonje didn’t approach him, instead he just stood there and stared.
The petals fell like snow piling up on his shoulders. Knowing that there was no escape for him, knowing he couldn’t run away, Yeo-Heun slowly walked out of Yeohwan-jeong Pavilion3.
When Gok Yeo-Heun was nearly upon him, Emperor Wonje stretched out his arm and clasped onto him.
– You’ve been standing here a long time.
His sarcasm was met with a suspiciously calm response.
-It was good to see.
-What do you mean?
-You.
Wonje wrapped his hand around his hair. Yeo-Heun raised his head stiffly and resisted. As usual, Wonje held him forcefully.
Wonje placed his lips on his ear. Gok Yeo-Heun tilted his head away to dodge him as he always did, the small sound of Wonje’s muttering disappeared in the breeze like petals being crushed by the wind.
-…It was beautiful.
Maybe that was what he said. Gok Yeo-Heun wanted to laugh, ridiculing him, but he didn’t feel up to it, instead, he reluctantly closed his mouth and said nothing.
From that day on, Gok Yeo-Heun sometimes ran to Yeohwan-jeong when he felt like dying.
His broken steps were slow and clumsy enough for anyone who wasn’t Wonje to catch up with him, but no one chased him. While flowers bloomed and scattered, this place was a kind of sanctuary in which Wonje did not transgress upon.
However, the blooming season was too short, and while there were no blossoms, it was the same as everywhere else in Taewoongseong.
It was a sanctuary that was only granted for a few days a year.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
“Come here.”
As Heun stepped out of the palanquin, Ja-Ryung, who arrived first, beckoned him over.
Ja-Ryung was sitting on a large stool with a wide base. In front of him was a spacious table that could only be used for a banquet, and on top of it, all kinds of sweets were piled up.
The sight of all the sugary sweets made him sick to his stomach.
“It’s a nice day, I called you here because I thought it would be more inspiring to see it from outdoors.”
Why did he look so happy today?
It would be a strange sight to see the emperor sitting anywhere, however, he looked as well-suited as he did while sitting on the throne. What seemed odd was Jimok-cheon and the rest of the guards standing at attention around a tree that had yet to bloom.
“Do you like sweets? I wondered if the beauty of nature would be boring on an empty stomach.”
“……”
It had only been a couple of hours since he had sweets sent from the Crown Prince’s Palace. The reason the father chose sweets of all foods as the snack, just as the son had done, was probably not a coincidence
“Yes?”
“No……,”
Heun almost let it slip from his mouth that he didn’t like sweets at all, or any other food if it was with him, but he didn’t want it getting back to the Crown Prince.
“……I like it.”
“That’s good.”
Ja-Ryung opened his eyes wide and smiled. Fearing that he would revive last night’s vague lies, Heun quickly closed his eyes.
He said he didn’t dislike it. That was all.
Ja-Ryung continued speaking, his words hammered into Heun’s ears without giving him time to brace his emotions.
“Do you know this place? Oh, I guess this is your place as well, being you created it. Weren’t you especially fond of this place?”
Heun quietly shook his head.
“Everything in Taewoongseong belongs to His Majesty. How could I have an opinion about it?”
“You always sidestep questions like that. You can at least say that you like it.”
He seemed to have no idea the disaster Heun’s likes and dislikes had caused in Taeungseong. Heun bowed his head in relief.
“I know the words of a person who is nothing, means nothing.”
“How boring.”
This place which had not yet become a sanctuary was still familiar and beautiful nonetheless. Heun lowered his eyes lest he reveal his nostalgic expression.
“I like it. It’ll be better when it’s in bloom, but it’s not bad now.”
Ja-Ryung’s words fell like the falling flower petals in Heun’s expressionless eyes.
“Wonje seemed to especially dislike this place. I heard that after the uproar you caused, they gated the place so no one could enter. However, I don’t think he disliked it, I think it’s just the opposite. Do you know anything about that?”
So, that’s what happened.
However, then, just as now, Heun did not have even the slightest idea of what went through Wonje’s mind.
“No, I do not, Your Majesty.”
“Of course not. Whether you know something or not, you’re only good at denying you know anything. What else would I expect?”
He gestured at the empty space beside him.
“Why don’t you sit down?”
The Heun bowed his head.
“If you command it.”
“Sit down. I command you.”
“……I obey your orders.”
Heun sat next to him with an awkward posture.
Ja-Ryung reached out as though he had been waiting for this, and wrapped Heun’s hair around his fingers. The hair, which had been painstakingly combed hundreds of times with an oiled comb, wrapped around his fingers as smoothly as if it were alive.
His eyes stretched upward and he looked satiated, as though he had eaten all the candy.
“I hope it grows out quickly. Is there any medicine that could make your hair grow longer?”
Believing that he was merely talking to himself, Heun didn’t respond, however, he did wonder if it was his nature to be obsessed with hair.
“There will be flowers soon. When all the trees are in full bloom, it looks like thick clouds. You will look so good in the midst of it all with your hair hanging down all around you.”
“…… ”
He wondered if it wasn’t in fact his nature, but something inherited through his bloodline.
He suddenly had the illusion of hearing Wonje’s words which had been lost in the wind.
It was beautiful.
What exactly had he been calling beautiful?
He shook his head to shake the memories aside. Each time he shook it off, he hoped the memories would just melt away and disappear.
“I heard the story of you sparing the lives of the Crown Prince, Lady Hwa-bi, and the other courtiers. I would like to thank you for doing that.”
Ja-Ryung tugged at his hair playfully.
“You’re wrong.”
“……What?”
“I didn’t save their lives. I listened to you, so you should be thanking me for listening to you.”
“Is it not the same thing?”
“It’s different.”
The hand that had been playing with his hair moved up to his head and brushed against his skin.
Heun flinched and shuddered, however, he was bound by his offer to give him his hair so he couldn’t resist in earnest.
Ja-Ryung smirked with a look on his face that said he understood exactly why Heun’s shoulders had stiffened.
“That expression is quite a site. Would you make the same face if you were force-fed feces?”
“……”
As Heun stared at him and said nothing, the expression that had been hidden beneath Ja-Ryung’s smirk faded from his face.
“Then why the hell can’t I be content just to look at you?”
The hand that clasped onto his hair pulled him closer and he suddenly pressed their lips together.
His mouth was forced open, and his tongue was sucked out of it. The sensation of his tongue being sucked made Heun shudder. After frantically sucking on his tongue for some time like a starving man who had nothing to eat in sight, Heun pushed him with a gasping sound and Ja-Ryung finally stopped sucking his tongue.
The tongue in his mouth was still. However, it felt so foreign that it caused a very strange tingling4 sensation all over his body.
Heun pushed hard on his shoulder. At that moment, Ja-Ryung’s tongue moved again, the quiet movement created a tickling sensation inside his mouth.
It was weird.
The only word to describe it was, weird.
As he paused in bewilderment, JaRyung used his other hand to squeeze his thighs apart. As his lower body opened, he lifted him up and sat him on top of his lap, pressing their bodies together.
Ja-Ryung parted his lips slightly while still pressing them on top of Heun’s, and whispered,
“There was a Guest with pretty eyes like yours. She said it was her first time lying with a man and that she was scared. I had a hard time pushing inside of her because she was squeezing her legs shut. However, even that was short-lived. After a while, she was rocking her hips as though she had always done it.”
However, his words were far from affectionate.
“Later on she was panting saying how much she loved it. How about it, why don’t you give it a try?”
It was like his ears were burning, and he felt dirty.
Ja-Ryung bit his lower lip. When Heun lifted himself up, Ja-Ryung forced him to sit back down.
As his lips devoured Heun’s, Ja-Ryung’s hardened manhood collided between Heun’s legs and his hand invaded Heun’s groin.
Heun pushed Ja-Ryung with all his strength.
Whap!~
“D,don’t…… !”
“……Damn it.”
Heun’s teeth scratched the inside of Ja-Rung’s lips as he abruptly pushed him away.
As he looked up, blood dripped from one side of his mouth, and behind him was a mess of confections that had been pushed over.
“Your Majesty!”
Heun stared at it, dumbfounded.
It was Jimok-cheon who shouted. Ja-Ryung raised a hand to stop him from approaching.
“Was it so repulsive?”
Ja-Ryung raised his thumb and wiped the blood from his lips. His eyes were fierce. Heun squeezed his eyes shut as he considered what was going to happen now.
Once, he had said something similar to Wonje that had said before. When he’d asked him to come over and kiss him, he’d refused, saying it would be worse than eating feces.
When asked jokingly which would be worse, Gok Yeo-Heun couldn’t answer.
Wonje laughed at the absurdity of it but he could see that there was forcefulness in his eyes.
He was told to bring a leather whip and he was beaten across his back many times. The silk cloth of his garment, which is renowned for its toughness, was torn to shreds in just a few strokes.
Wonge offered to stop the lashing if he kissed him, but he chose to endure the beating through gritted teeth instead.
The beating stopped because he passed out, but his backside was reduced to rags. When he opened his eyes, his jaw hurt more than his back. He hadn’t realized that he had broken his molars.
Gok Yeo-Heun suffered for more than a month, and a huge scar on his back remained until the day he died.
A sudden clenching of his jaw caused Heun to open his closed eyes. Ja-Ryung was right in front of his nose staring directly at him.
His torn lips were red. To the point where it was painful to look at them.
“You know what’s the worst thing? That you’re treating me so rudely like this and I don’t feel the slightest bit like doing something to you. I had the idea that I would tear your back open, but……damn it! I don’t think doing something like that will make me feel any better. I must be going mad to act this soft-hearted with you. Where was all this when I sliced open Wei-Jeong’s belly and threw him out?
Ja-Ryung grabbed Heun by the collar. His body was lifted off the ground by the motion.
His breath caught in his throat. His face flushed red as his throat was choked.
“Tell me. If you’ve gone this far, I think I can take your answer. Why are you so stubborn?”
“I’m not stubborn……,”
“Because I’m of Wonge’s bloodline? Damn it, is that why you can’t see me? I could act just like Wonje if I wanted to, but I am not! Don’t you realize you’re the reason?”
“It’s……I already thanked you… ”
“Who the hell do you think you are to think that after all I’ve done, did you think that I would be satisfied with a mere thanks from you?”
Heun clutched his neck and shook his head with all his might.
“Le,let go…”
“You’ve performed sodomy with your younger brother, so why can you not do it now?”
“”I,I’ve, already……said it to you. If you want to take me……, tie me up.”
“Did your brother tie you up too? Or did you like having an illicit affair with him?”
“If you……tie my feet…… in shackles, and break one ….of my arms…….it won’t be very hard….”
“…… Damn it!”
Ja-Ryung let go of Heun.
After he was let go, Heun leaned on one arm to catch his breath. Ja-Ryung was breathing heavily too.
“Your head seems to have become slow-witted, having to lean so hard to one side or the other. You don’t seem to know that my will is the law, that won’t do. How much longer must I wait, how much longer must I make a fool of myself before you accept me?
“… …”
Heun raised his head and stared at Ja-Ryung.
The word ‘waiting’ was foreign to him. If there was anyone who had never had to wait, it would be Wonje. In fact, to say he didn’t understand the concept of ‘waiting’ was an understatement.
Was he……someone else, or had he changed?
Looking back on his time in the Imperial prison, that might be the case. He acted impulsively without thinking of the consequences, and he didn’t really didn’t know whether he was going to survive it. However, no one died
As soon as thought it he was relieved, a languid rest came over him. It was like one less link in the chain that bound him to Wonge.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Ja-Ryung hadn’t done anything to force him.
It was he who confused his past life with his present life, like a spell cast to bind him to the memories of Wonge. Just as his brother and his brother from his previous life were similar, but ultimately were different people, so too could his heart be different, and he could face this coercion differently as well.
He could stop hating him at last.
So he could say,
“That’s not possible.”
This time, they would be different.
No longer bound, no longer fettered to each other, and no longer hating each other.
They could let go of each other. They could not start with each other. They could be nothing to each other.
Ja-Ryung furrowed his brow at the uncharacteristically strong words.
“What do you mean?”
“I hate the idea of being with you, Emperor. The truth is I hate the idea so much, that the anger I feel over the disgusting thing my younger brother forced me to do pales in comparison. I will never welcome Your Majesty as a woman would. If you have carnal desires for me, beat me, break me, and force me with drugs. That is the only way you will ever have me. If you harbor sexual desires for my body, even if you skewer my feet or lash my back, I will not welcome you for the fear of mere pain.”
Heun watched as pitch-black ripples of anger spread over Ja-Ryung’s face.
If he said he wasn’t afraid, that would be a lie.
But he couldn’t be afraid forever. There was nothing to save his body from dying.
Heun straightened his posture and sat upright on his knees. With his arms folded, he bowed his head respectfully to the intimidating man.
“As you know, I only have a short time left to live. In my past life, I died before I reached the age of twenty-six. I have nothing to fear and nothing to lose. Even if you give me a few pieces of meat while I’m still alive, I’m still very ill. I will soon be gone and my greatest fear is that for a moment I will give in to Your Majesty’s words because I cannot let go of this husk and that I will die resenting you. I have but this one goal that I wish to protect, and I suppose that is why my life, which is already waning, has not yet come to an end; so there is but this one thing I wish Your Majesty to do.”
Heun’s forehead touched the ground. He didn’t seem to be begging, but rather apologizing.
“I am sorry, Your Majesty. That’s all I have to say.”
“……You’re sorry?”
Ja-Ryung laughed like a sharp blade.
“That’s hilarious. It’s as though you……”
Ja-Ryung thought that Heun was speaking as though he were being wooed by him. As though he, the Emperor were desperately seeking him.
What kind of Emperor would bow so low to a single Guest? It was very comical indeed.
His amusement had turned to aggravation.
He could have just as easily ordered the Guest to be beheaded. His refusal to serve the Emperor was reason enough to be executed. Not just for him, but for everyone. And yet…….
In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
The fiery words that ran through his head could not escape his lips.
He bit down on his lip where Heun’s teeth marks remained. The torn flesh burst open once more and a coppery taste pooled on his tongue.
“Well, since that’s the case, I’ll do it your way. I’ll come to Yiyang Palace tonight.”
Ja-Ryung knelt down in front of Heun who was still lying in the same position and grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to lift his head.
His eyes, which had turned sharp, were now ice-cold like the dead of winter.
There would never be a time when those eyes would not be cold.
As though the idea that Ja-Ryung had warmed up since he had decided to give him his hair the other day was just an illusion. It was just Heun getting carried away.
He felt like he was alone, suffering from a fever dream that was now passing.
“Make sure every part of you is clean.”
Ja-Ryung let go of Heun, and a few stray strands of his hair tumbled down onto his shoulders.
“Ilcheon5, lead the way. We’re going to training grounds.”
Jimok-cheon led the way before Ja-Ryung, followed by a Doji-gam. The rest of them formed a formidable line on either side of him, leaving only a few men to protect Heun.
“…….”
Heun watched Ja-Ryung leave with his back turned toward him, and then he suddenly turned his head to look behind himself.
He had the illusion that Wonje was looking at him somewhere at the entrance of Yeohwan-jeong, just like back then.
Perhaps his memories had become muddled, but Wonje’s eyes didn’t seem to harbor the same madness as they always did, but rather a sort of wistfulness, as though he were guarding something very far away.
Heun let out the breath he had been holding for a while.
Now nothing would begin again.
The hallucination of Wonje faded away.
To become nothing.
……
It was not clear what he was trying to express as he faded away.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
unedited as of 8/22/23
4
“……Bullshit!”
There was an urgent hissing sound as air escaped between his teeth.¹¹
Jimok-cheon ignored it as he was preoccupied with the oncoming slashing sword.
Ja-Ryung, who had said that he was going to the training grounds drew his Imperial sword out of nowhere. If it weren’t for Jimok-cheon’s speed, he would have been decapitated before he even realized it.
“Your Majesty!”
Ka-chang!
The moment he opened his mouth, the sideways sword was aimed at his Qi Gate Acupuncture Point(期門穴). When Jimok-cheon moved back half a step and retracted his upper body. The sword didn’t withdraw, instead, it turned at a right angle and aimed for the base of his chin. This left Ja-Ryung’s upper body directly in front of Jimok-cheon’s path. Facing this man who had no regard for his personal safety, and was only looking to attack, Jimok-cheon felt his nerves twitch like a spider’s web.
“Your Majesty, I beg you!”
“Do you have the time to spare to open your mouth?”
Shhhing, chang!~
Small sparks flew from the gap between the clashing blades. Jimok-cheon swallowed his saliva when he saw a gleam shining out from Ja-Ryung’s eyes
Kaga-shiing!~
The tightly pressed blades scraped against each other with an unnerving sound as Ja-Ryung pried his wrists away to open a gap. Lowering the sword to its full length, Ja-Ryung thrust his left shoulder into the air, blocking his view and spinning the hilt.
“Your Majesty!”
Devilry!
The dragon robe covering his shoulder ripped open, revealing his hidden machinations. However, it wasn’t just his dragon robe that was cut, a split second later, red blood spilled out through the tear.
“Majesty……,”
At that moment, Ja-Ryung was poised to spill Jimok-cheon’s blood from the area of his throat that was just below his uvula.
Although it was Ja-Ryung who was bleeding, it was Jimok-cheon who stood on the brink of the Netherworld. Jimok-cheon flesh was glistening like it had been coated in oil.
“I figured it would cost my arm to cut your throat. I wasn’t too far off. Except that you slowed down at the last second and merely grazed my flesh.”
“Your Majesty!”
Jimok-cheon fell to his knees and bowed his head.
“Lord, I have wounded you. Please punish me!”
“You’re tiresome. Shut your mouth and stand up.”
“Your Majesty……,”
“I told you to drop it.”
“With respect,”
“Damn it, you and him both, why do you treat my words as though they’re insignificant? Are my words not the same as an imperial decree?”
Without another thought, Jimok-cheon bounded to his feet.
“If that’s what you think, then you should strike at your Emerpor right here and now. Even the thought of it is offensive! How dare you put your thoughts above Your Emperor.”
“Only after seeing the same old Jimok-cheon as ever, did Ja-Ryung loosen his furiously furrowed eyebrows.
“…… Damn it. Look at you.”
After spitting out an obscenity, Ja-Ryung stood still and ripped off his blood-stained sleeve. Jimok-cheon swallowed hard.
“I’ll summon a Royal Physician, Your Majesty.”
“Leave it alone. This has always been the norm between you and me.”
“It’s different now. You were the Prince of the Third Emporer then, and now you’re the Emperor of Pa.”
“What’s the difference? I’m still the same man, the same flesh and the same bones.”
Ja-Ryung wrapped his torn sleeve casually over the wound biting one end with his teeth and tying it tightly.
He had been injured many times during the time of the Third Emperor. This was a habit he’d picked up as a boy when he was inexperienced with the sword and his skills were very limited.
Jimok-cheon’s brows furrowed sullenly as he spoke.
“Are you feeling…… alright?!”
Ja-Ryung shifted his left arm and made a tsk-ing noise.
“You are so quick to open your mouth at times like these. You’re like Wei-Jeong, thinking you have a place inside my heart.”
“Your Majesty, I beg you, don’t be troubled.”
“Troubled? You think I’m troubled?”
Ja-Ryung laughed as sharply as a knife.
The only one he wanted to carve up was not Jimok-cheon, it was himself. He wanted to cut this strange confusion from his heart.
“There is nothing on this earth that I cannot have, that I will not possess. That is why I am the Emperor. Isn’t that so?”
“Yes, Emperor.”
“Then why do I feel like I’m seeing something I will never possess.”
“… … ”
Jimokcheon hesitated for a long time not knowing what to say, so he pondered for a while and finally came up with an answer.
“That’s……not true. He’s an honored Guest, and so he’s already one of His Majesty’s subjects. That’s not something you have to be concerned about.”
“I know that. But from the way he behaves, he doesn’t.”
“Your Majesty,”
“If it’s his body that enraptures you, and it is something you covet, you can just tie him down, he’s someone who could be broken with one arm. You can have him whenever you want.”
It seemed like such a self-evident thing that Ji Mok-cheon nodded as he said it.
“Yes, that’s how it is”
“Then why do I feel like it’s not the case?”
“…… What?”
“If I take him like that, I think I’ll never be able to have him…… ever.”
Jimok-cheon didn’t understand what Ja-Ryung was saying. In truth, even Ja-Ryung himself did not understand it.
If it was only lust, he would have taken his body. However, even that seemed like it wasn’t enough……
What he wanted was something more than just his body.
He was confused as to what that other thing was. He had never felt anything like this before, wanting something but not knowing what it was.
He didn’t feel this way even when he became Emperor, after having killed the sitting Emperor who had attempted to kill him first. He, of course, had no other desires than that of possessing the throne.
Once he became Emperor, everything in the world became simpler.
In a world divided into what he desired and what he didn’t, he took what he wanted and discarded what he didn’t. Until now, his life had been uncomplicated.
But now there was something he couldn’t reach no matter how hard he tried. He could reach for it, but he couldn’t catch it, and he could desire it, but he couldn’t possess it.
He couldn’t figure out what it was, and he was becoming more foolish by the day.
“I shouldn’t have criticized Wonje the way I did.”
They were both the same kind of wolfish men. Even Wonje had thought the same way he did now, but in the end, Wonje had chosen to tie him up and break him. It was only natural. As emperors, they only knew one way to get what they wanted.
Perhaps that was the right solution.
Ja-Ryung mouth twisted into a sardonic sneer.
“I suppose it was always going to end up that way.”
“That’s what Emperors do.”
Ja-Ryung slid the Hwandudaedo sword back into its sheath. The clicking sound of the blade connecting with the sheath rang out unusually bright and vivid today, like a crystalization of a foregone conclusion.
“Tell the Royal Physician to prepare the drink.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I have received your orders.”
One of the men ran off to call for the Royal Physician.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
5
Yeonmyung beamed with pride.
He’d finished taking the medicine, finished bathing, and finished having his hair combed. His wounds had already mostly healed because of all the constant medical care he’d been receiving. Some things, like his feet and his hair, would need more time. Regardless, Heun’s appearance had become decidedly better.
Yeon-Myeong spread ointment on Heun’s feet to make them soft and supple.
His feet were smaller than a man’s and somewhat awkward. As she continued to look at them, she realized that they suited him quite well. Being both a man and an honored Guest, as well as being frail, he was a constant source of worry.
It was his good fortune that the person who worried most about him was the Emperor. One word from the Emperor and all these people collectively shared his worry.
“It’s done, My Lord Guest. Sudang Taegam will be here any minute to sort out your clothes. Normally, Wei-Jeong is supposed to oversee this, but the Head Palace Eunuch is out of the palace at this time.”
By ‘arranging his garments’, she meant stripping him of all his clothes until he was completely naked, then dressing him in a black silk robe.
Yeonmyung, who knelt at Heun’s feet, lifted her head and smiled up at him.
“You should brighten up, My Lord. His Majesty has never visited a Guest so many times in a row, concubines as well. They’re all talking about how you’re going to become a consort of Gwi-in¹² rank now.”
There was no point in showing what was gnawing at him to a simple person who didn’t know any better, yet even as he realized that, he couldn’t help the clenching of his jaw.
“There’s nothing to get excited about, I told you I don’t have long to live.”
“My Lord, don’t say that. The doctor said that My Lord’s circumstances continue to improve. You are still so young, why would you keep saying that?”
To others, it was something they would never understand.
Heun simply averted his weary eyes. Yeonmyung, who had been watching him, soon grew sad and bowed her head.
“……Yes, My Lord.”
Then Heun heard a voice calling out to him.
“Honored Guest Gok, please accept this gift(賚賜: an object given by a superior to a subordinate) from the Emperor.”
“Huh?!”
Yeonmyung flushed bright red again and said to Heun,
“My Lord, the Emperor has granted you a special courtesy. Please do not delay! Come, let me help you.”
Heun nodded his head as he considered his companions’ predicament.
“It’s all right.”
He walked out of the bedchamber slowly. In front of him were Ilcheon flanking Doju-gam, and a 5th-rank Court Lady(女御) holding a jade glass and bottle of alcohol on a silver tray. When Heun appeared, she knelt offering a half-bow.
“Greetings, I am sent from the palace, I am here to see you Honored Guest Gok. I present to you the honey liquor (蜜酒) that the Emperor has bestowed upon you.”
“……What kind of liquor is this?”
“M,my Lord!”
When Heun questioned her in reply, her countenance shifted uncomfortably. The Court Lady regained her poise and spoke again.
“This is a gift offered by His Majesty the Emperor.”
“So you mean that I’m meant to drink this now?”
“Yes, indeed, please drink up.”
Heun stared at the rich golden liquor as it swirled in the green cup.
At this point, he could have believed it was Wonje himself. Wonje had also plied him with illicit liquor.
Heun was all too familiar with the kind of drink.
“I won’t be accepting this.
“My Lord……,”
Yeonmyung shifted her feet behind Heun’s back. The palace woman received the words with a stern face.
“You must consume it here and now. Refusing this is the equivalent of refusing His Majesty, and everyone in this here would be committing treason, including you.”
Yeonmyung whispered behind him.
“My Lord, please take it. It’s extraordinarily special for His Majesty to favor you with this gift. It’s rarely granted to non-Royal Guests.”
“That’s ridiculous, I don’t need his Imperial favor. The Emperor has many people to pamper other than myself, so please tell him I refuse.”
Heun turned and went into his bedchamber.
“……G,good god! What?!”
The Doji-gam, having witnessed this insolence time and time again thumped his chest, the Court Lady couldn’t hide her rage, and the Ilcheon gripped their swords at their waist tightly.
The news of the Yiyang Palace Guest’s refusal to accept the Emperor’s offer of liquor soon reached Ja-Ryung and, despite his displeasure, it became a hot rumor that spread through the walls of Taewoong Palace.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
6
“‘He noticed?”
Ja-Ryung grabbed the bottle of alcohol that Heun had refused. Doji-gam jumped at the sight of JaRyung as he stepped down from the throne.
“Emperor, where are you going?”
“You don’t already know?”
“What? N,no. You’re not going to Yiyang Palace, are you……? What?”
Even as he was asking, Ja-Ryung had already gotten ahead of him. Doji-gam closed his mouth and scrambled to match Ja-Ryung’s pace.
However, he was winded.
Hah hah. No, please slow down, Emperor, he thought. No, that…… hah hah. How can you walk so fast…… My Lord, at this pace I’ll fall behind.
The Dojigam’s countenance became grim as he ran the short distance from the Ganghwa-jeon back to Yiyang Palace.
< 3 line break>
When Ja-Ryung arrived, Sudang-taegam was in the process of adjusting Heun’s clothes. When he saw that Ja-Ryung had rushed in alone without Doji-gam, he froze, wondering what he had done wrong.
-Was he running late? That was impossible! Hapgung⁶ can only be performed after sulshi⁷. No matter how wrong he gets things, he arrived at yushi⁸ to prepare the Honored Guest…….
T/N
6. Hapgung: sex between an Emperor and Empress/Consort
7 . Sulshi: 7:00 pm- 9:00 pm
8. Yushi: 5:00 pm- 7:00 pm
Ja-Ryung turned to Sudang-taegam, who was standing there wide-eyed, and said to him,
“Leave.”
“What? The Honored Guest is not yet ready.”
His voice intensified.
“Are you deaf?!”
“……Ah, Sire. I am leaving, My Emperor.”
Sudang-taegam hastily fled Yiyang Palace.
“Don’t let anyone in!”
With Ja-Ryung’s shout, the door slammed shut. Regardless of the number of people outside the closed door, at that moment, Yiyang Palace had become a completely isolated place.
Ja-Ryung approached Heun with a lumbering gait and held out the liquor bottle.
“Drink it.”
“I ……don’t want it.”
“Is it because you don’t like the drink or because you don’t like that I’m giving it to you?”
Heun didn’t answer either question. However, Ja-Ryung had become very familiar with reading his expressions now. No, it wasn’t just now, it was as if he’d been doing it for a long time.
“Do I have to bind your limbs to force you to drink this?”
” …… If you choose to force me to drink it, I won’t be able to stop you, but I won’t drink it of my own volition.”
“I don’t understand why you can accept everything else, but not this alcohol.”
The memory of the times that Wonje made him drink it was not something he wanted to talk about.
Heun turned his face away. Ja-Ryung grasped his chin and forced him to turn his head toward him.
“Answer me!”
“……If I told you that the First Emperor had given me the same drink, would you believe me?”
“…….”
Heun’s words struck a chord somewhere in Ja-Ryung, and from the look on his face, he realized that Heun already knew it was the exact same liquor that Wonje had given him.
It was an aphrodisiac(媚藥). The liquor was sweetened with honey to disguise the taste of the concoction.
“There is nothing that the First Emperor has ever given me that has ever brought me happiness.”
Heun’s eyes darkened.
They were the eyes of a man who saw through to the bottom of whatever he was looking at.
Ja-Ryung recognized the wounds in those eyes. What surged up in those eyes was a wave of self-loathing, a shame that Emperors should never feel, a resentment(怨) that Emperors should never have to feel.
When it all coalesced, it brought out an irrepressible voracious desire in him.
“Is that why you think you know so well, what kind of man I am,……?”
Pop~.
The cork on the bottle was popped off. Ja-Ryung lifted the bottle to his eye level.
He knew that if he did it this way, he would never get a second chance. However, his desire was too great, and his impatience spurred him on at every turn.
He was an Emperor, and therefore he had no need for patience. When he had something he wanted to take, he knew of no other way than to take it.
“Then you know what to expect. I will have you today! This is who I am. This is what it is to be an Emperor.”
Ja-Ryung took the bottle to his lips and poured the liquor into his mouth.
Smash~!
The bottle flew across the room and exploded into pieces, Ja-Ryung seized Heun by the back of his neck. He pressed their mouths together, and the sweet liquor, which was as warm as their body temperature, flowed down their throats.
“Ugh, don’t……!”
“……!”
Ja-Ryung remained unmoving even as Heun’s fingers clutched at his shoulders, and he continued to push the liquor into Heun’s mouth.
“Foolish.”
Ja-Ryung grabbed him by the hair and dragged him back to the bed. When Heun grabbed at his arm, Ja-Ryung seized his and twisted it without mercy.
“Ahh!”
“Alas, do not touch it. Your hair is no longer yours, it’s mine, and I can do with it as I please.”
Ja-Ryung then sat atop his lap, straddling it, trapping Heun’s body between his legs. He struggled with all his might, but Ja-Ryung quickly and effortlessly tore the thin garment from his body.
After his Simui⁹ was torn from his body, he lifted Heun’s exposed arms and pressed his wrists by his head, and then he ripped his pants off as well. Ja-Ryung’s rock-hard, solid lower body crushed him like a boulder. Every time he twisted beneath him, Heun’s skin would rub against him.
With a soft gesture, Ja-Ryung reached up a finger to playfully touch the small nub on Heun’s bare flat chest.
“I was told the drug was bitter but not deadly, even so, the sweet taste of the liquor can’t mask it. The tip of my tongue is bitter.”
The sensation of a single finger was amplified absurdly along his already reeling senses. Heun furrowed his flushed brow, and as Ja-Ryung looked at him, he let out a throaty groan.
Heun bit his lip and struggled to free himself from between the legs of the body pressing him down. As he did so, their flesh brushed against each other more frequently, and their temperatures mingled in a feverish mess.
Ja-Ryung let out an unusually throaty sound as he untied the knot of the Dragon Robe. The robe opened up at the sides to reveal a well-built upper body. His features were identical to those of Wonje.
“How the hell did your body become so ruined? This is the only place you’re still fully intact.”
His tongue grazed his nipple. Just as he said, the only places that remained unscarred were around his chest and stomach. The soft, rich-colored flesh stiffened and beaded up as his tongue repeatedly lapped at it.
“… Hmm……,”
Saliva flowed from his open mouth.
Ja-Ryung noisily suckled on both of his nipples, then tucked one arm under Ninety’s knees and pulled his legs up. As his lower body was spread open, his groin rested against Ja-Ryung’s navel.
The sensation was like thousands of little insects crawling all over him. It was both titillating and revolting at the same time. The aphrodisiac coursing through his veins was already making him light-headed.
It was the same for Ja-Ryung.
His eyes were glassy and bloodshot. Ja-Ryung pushed his erect, throbbing member against the inside of Heun’s thigh as though it would burrow into any crevices it had the opportunity to penetrate. He didn’t even attempt to suppress the vulgar sounds that emanated from his lips.
“Is it the drug, or is it just you?
He wanted to tear into him at once.
He licked his pulsating neck, his throat reverberating like a savage animal’s heaving breath. Now and then he made a slurping sound like he was feeding.
His senses went into overdrive and he struggled to dislodge himself from Ja-Ryung’s body, but he hadn’t been able to do much more than rub his arms against him.
However, every touch brought new sensations, and whenever he happened to land on an erogenous zone, a moan escaped his lips without warning.
This is what it feels like to lose one’s mind.
“Ah, no…… ah, no……,”
Ja-Ryung spread his unruly legs apart and impatiently pushed his finger into his backside.
Heun gritted his teeth and made a pained sound as his dry finger jammed into the tight opening. Ja-Ryung pulled his finger out. He couldn’t be bothered to shout for the scented oil, so he put his mouth between his legs and wet his entrance with his own saliva.
“Hah,……ha, don’t……!”
His scrawny limbs desperately tried to push away the man who had his head between his legs. Instead of breaking his arm, he reached his tongue out and gently licked the path up from his anus to his balls and his penis. He squirmed, nearly jumping out of his skin as his entire body contracted at the chilling sensation.
“Don’t!”
He bit down, unaware that he was ripping his lips apart.
“Ah, no! No!”
His limbs began to shake. His head became a quagmire. He could feel his backside was already soaked. His body already knew the feel of the large man who was about to enter him.
Because it will be the same as it had been back then.
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
– Don’t close your eyes, look.
Ja-Horyung grabbed his hair and forced him to open his eyes. When his eyes opened, what he saw in front of him was his own reflection. Wonje had placed a large cheval glass (體鏡) in front of him.
Just by looking at his flushed complexion, it was obvious that his senses were on overdrive. He was bent over on his hands and knees with his face forward and his stomach arched toward his lap. The back of his neck was covered with the black and blue marks left by Wonje’s teeth, and he could see Wonje’s legs through the gap between his 0wn legs.
“Uh~……sob-”
Gok Yeo-Heun braced himself with his forearms on the floor to steady his trembling body, but that only forced his hips to rise higher into the air. Wonje grabbed his buttocks with both hands and spread them apart thrusting deeper as though he were going to cleave him in half.
-Do you know what your body is doing right now?
Their reflections were tangled together in the mirror creating a single image.
-Your insides are clinging to me. They’re gripping onto me tight like they will never let go again.
-You see?
Wonje’s hand came forward and clasped his erect penis. His eyes widened incredulously.
Wonje lifted his hand and let his fingertips slip off his erection. His glans were soaking wet and slid like a plaything in his hand.
Gok Yeo-Heun struggled forward with all his might. Wonje’s cock, which had filled his backside, slid out. At that same moment, Yeo-Heun stopped struggling forward, exhausted. No, it wasn’t because of exhaustion.
It was because his rear end was quivering endlessly.
-It’s a pity that you refuse to see this with your own eyes. You talk out of both sides of your mouth.
He was out of breath. The drugs he’d been given hadn’t obliterated his mind, instead heightened every sensation in his body. His head was fuzzy, but the throbbing between his legs was uncontrollable.
Gok Yeo-Heun propped himself up on his elbows and crawled. However, he couldn’t move more than a couple of inches before he collapsed back down onto his shaky knees. Meanwhile, Wonje’s fingers stretched and dug into his hole. They pressed and scraped inside him.
When he quivered, Wonje withdrew his finger and reinserted his erection. The sensation of his backside being split open was both foreign and familiar, his entire body contorted. Heun cried out and closed his eyes. His vision went white and he couldn’t see anything as Wonje thrust into him.
He didn’t even realize he was making a sound, but then Wonje wrapped his arms around him from behind and whispered in his ear,
-The way you chirp like this, it’s lovelier than a songbird.
Before he realized it, his legs were spread and he was taking Wonje in. It wasn’t until later that he realized he had ejaculated, and all the cries and moaning had been his own release.
He felt as though he were going mad, his mind was so far away. Gok Yeo-Heun was rubbed between his thighs until it was raw and bleeding. Still, his entrance writhed incessantly, struggling to receive Wonje even deeper.
For the first time, Wonje experienced him impatiently spreading his legs on his own.
Gok Yeo-Heun had been continuously drugged and delirious on the aphrodisiac from then on.
All of the traditional elixirs are made from opium. Only after being told repeatedly that he would become addicted and lose his mind completely if he continued to use them, did Wonje allow him to stop taking the drug.
After he stopped taking it, he couldn’t eat for a much longer period of time than when he was on the drug. He was as frail as a bird and his hands trembled.
And every time he caught himself searching for the drug, he would scratch at his thigh.
By that time, the young prodigy of Tohwa, Gok Yeo-Heun, was long gone. There wasn’t a man left, only an exhausted and ruined being, a parasite concubine in the Emperor’s bed.
Gok Yeo-Heun drank in search of a substitute for the drugged liquor, unable to hide the tremors in his hands. His body and mind were worn out, and he no longer even wished for his death anymore.
It was only when he encountered Wonje that his anger surged. Even when he was standing in the presence of Wonje, he would still casually vomit. Everything was a mess at the time, even as he wiped the vomit from the corner of his mouth with a trembling hand, he could barely remember anything about his own behavior.
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
<3-line break >
He couldn’t go through all that again.
“I’d rather…… I would rather,”
He would rather die. He would rather die than ever live like that again!
Heun pushed against him with his arms, moaning endlessly as he struggled spasmodically. Ja-Ryung pushed his arms out of his way and rolled him onto his stomach, sucking on his crotch. His fingers dug into the wet flesh. With his upper body lying prone and his legs splayed out above him, he crawled desperately.
Thud!
Heun tipped over the edge of the bed. Just as Ja-Ryung was about to grab his ankle and pull him back up, he swung his foot out and struck him. As Ja-Ryung’s head whipped around, Heun fell all the way to the floor and crawled forward on his weakened frame.
The shattered bottle brought by Ja-Ryung was there.
Heun picked up a broken piece and slashed his wrist with it without a second thought.
“What are you doing!?”
Ja-Ryung rushed over, but his wrist was already deeply cut.
Ja-Ryung snatched the shard of the bottle with his bare hand. Ja-Ryung’s hand was slashed just like Heun’s wrist. He grabbed his bleeding wrist and pressed it tightly.
Even with that slight contact, Heun shuddered and froze in place, his penis still standing half-erect. Heun’s lips twisted hysterically as he spoke.
“I,I, never want…… that again……I hate it.”
“It’s madness!”
Smack!-
After seeing that the blood had stopped flowing, Ja-Ryung slapped Heun’s cheek. It made a sharp sound as though the air was being cracked in half.
Heun’s head whipped around. The darkness in his thoughts seemed to clear slightly.
Heun slowly turned his head to look at Ja-Ryung.
His eyes were faintly bloodshot, and his entire face was ashen in color. His lips trembled softly.
Heun looked at the movements of his lips in a daze.
“Are you out of your mind!?”
“…….”
“You’re going to kill yourself over something like this, for nothing? You’re going to use the drugged liquor as an excuse, or are you using the fact that you are a man as an excuse?! Then why don’t you just use that shard to slit my throat?!”
Heun didn’t know what he was talking about, his words were simply a blur.
His wrist was numb, as though it didn’t belong to him, but instead, his cheek ached sharply.
“Don’t you know how to slit a throat?”
Ja-Ryung turned to the floor and picked up a shard of the broken bottle and placed it in Heun’s hand.
With his red eyes, he should have resembled a beast, but strangely enough, the eyes that pierced into him right at that moment belonged to a human being. They seemed hurt, just like any other human.
“Stab me.”
“…….”
“I said to stab me!”
Ja-Ryung grabbed Heun’s wrist and pushed it toward his neck. Heun, who had awakened at that moment, pried his fingers apart forcibly.
Clink!
Instead of cutting his throat, the bottle fell to the ground and shattered into even more pieces. Ja-Ryung grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look up.
“Don’t you have the guts to stab me? You said you hate me that deeply? You’re so foolish. If you can’t stab me, don’t bother saying you hate me!”
Heun didn’t know what he was talking about, so he just spoke what was in his mind.
The one reason why he was still somehow tethered to this earth.
“I do not hate…… I do not hate, Your Majesty….. I only wish to……not leave you behind with any emotions that…… would make you remember me.”
“You don’t want me to remember you?”
Not him exactly, but the man who looked just like him.
He darted his bloodshot eyes back and forth searching for an answer. The aphrodisiac he’d taken was heating his body up as well.
“You mean Wonje?”
“……Yes.”
“You mean he’s the reason you were reincarnated?”
“He is……my karma.”
“Karma? What do you mean, Wonje is your karma?”
“Foolishly……I could not let go of all the things that he had done……and so I was reborn. Karma is a heavy burden in and of itself……and that weight is too heavy to pass from Bardo to the heavenly realms of immortality. I’ve had enough…… and now wish to be light.”
“You mean you hated him so much that you were born again.”
“I want it to stop…… to die and be gone……to disappear.”
The distance between their line of sight was shrinking. Heun felt Ja-Ryung’s arms wrap around him, pulling him up.
His pale, ashen face looked strange. He looked like he was in pain.
“‘No, Your Majesty. I won’t hate you anymore.”
Heun’s body was pressed against Ja-Ryung’s. The flesh pressed against each other was hot, and he felt a tickling sensation like an insect was creeping along his spine.
The tickle extended to the inside of his hole. His lower body quivered. Goosebumps erupted on the nape of his neck, it was as though his quivering orifice was about to unleash heat of its own accord.
He felt as though he might hold Ja-Ryung’s hot body against his own. He felt as though he might open his legs and embrace him.
Even as he felt his body breaking down from withdrawal symptoms when he desperately recalled the drug, it was these sensations that were always his reward.
Those thoughts, those feelings; being swallowed up by darkness.
The empty space in his mind was filled with these delirious sensations.
Gok Yeo-Heun willingly opened his legs, letting go of his thoughts and feelings. Whatever he had experienced that could be called paradise was there. The body that held him was hot and firm, hard and sweet. It probed, pounded, and slammed into him, searching for every pleasure point.
The drug made him oblivious to the fact that those pleasures were brought by Wonje. No, the elixir made him forget the feelings that he had to suffer through because of Wonje. It made him feel, regardless of what Wonje had done.
When he sobered up from the drug and was fighting the withdrawal symptoms, he actually had to fight against the ecstasy that was brought on by that oblivion.
Heun lengthened his lips. His mouth was dry as he fought the urge to press his body against his.
“Your Majesty, let go now……,”
But his grip on him grew stronger.
Heun was holding him like he was going to fall to pieces. He knew how to push others away, but he didn’t know how to let go, so now he couldn’t help himself.
“Ha, ugh…….”
At that moment,
All his thoughts turned to white.
Heun leaned into Ja-Ryung’s heated body. Ja-Ryung eyes widened in surprise and he stared at him.
Heun eyes had completely lost focus. They were vacant now, and the effects that the liquor had brought out in him had taken over his body.
Heun pushed Ja-Ryung’s shoulders down and latched onto him, grinding his stiffened member against his lower belly. Then he adjusted his lower body and parted his legs creating a space between them for the man to penetrate him.
“Now……,”
Ja-Ryung pressed his lips against Heun’s parted mouth. As their lips pressed together, Heun wiggled his hips as he opened them. His buttocks spread wide enough for him to enter, coaxing him.
“Mmm, haaah!”
Heun pushed his tongue sloppily into Ja-Ryung’s mouth. Ja-Ryung, frustrated, didn’t move.
Heun reached down and grabbed Ja-Ryung’s erection and pulled it between his buttocks.
Despite the assertive gesture, the clamoring hole was not filled, it was merely rubbed forcefully against it.
Heun cried out in frustration as he writhed against Ja-Ryung’s pulsating member. His shaft, which was rubbed back and forth furiously, pulsated and then spewed a white turbid fluid.
“Hah, ha…….”
He pressed down on Ja-Ryung’s abdomen who was gasping for air. Heun’s fingers were sticky with his cum.
He plunged his dirty fingers into his mouth. His legs still gyrated wantonly. ‘Hurry, hurry……’, he grunted in a small voice.
When he did not respond, Heun lowered his head. His tongue, which Wonje had always said was redder than a fox’s, licked down Ja-Ryung’s abdomen toward his wet pubic hair, then grabbed his penis and tried to take it into his mouth, regardless of how dirty and bitter it was.
“Stop it.”
It was then that he stopped.
Unable to swallow it down his throat, he dripped saliva instead. His eyes were as dull as those of an imbecile. He was like a worn and tattered slut who had long been conditioned by aphrodisiacs.
Heun pursed his lips as though he didn’t understand why Ja-Ryung had stopped him.
“Why…… why?”
“…….”
That was the very question Ja-Ryung wanted to ask him.
The dose of aphrodisiac was only enough for one person, however, he’d split it between them. It was impossible for him to lose his mind in such a way. Maybe he was already addicted, or maybe……
-Wonje fed you the same thing!
He was being controlled by the memories of his addiction.
It must have been exciting when he was first given the drug. Tying him up and breaking him, having him wherever he wanted as he watched him being subdued by his own lust, watching as he burned for Wonje to ravish him.
However, after having him that way once, he would have been reluctant to take him by force again, and so Yeo-Heun would have been forced to drink the drug, which he had only intended to use once, over and over again.
By the time Wonje would have put an end to it himself, Gok Yeo-Heun would have already been in the mess that he’s in now with his addiction…….
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
-At this point, we can’t be sure when he will die.
He was broken beyond belief. The Royal Physician had said that Gok Yeo-Heun’s heart could stop beating at any moment.
-If you cherish him, …… please stop giving it to him, Your Majesty.
He dropped to his knees and begged at his feet. The sight somehow provoked Wonje.
-What do you mean by this, that you cherish my Gwi-in more than I do?
-Your Majesty!
-Don’t be impertinent. Know your place!
He couldn’t accept that anyone else cared about Yeo-Heun, or that anyone else was right. He knew that he was the one who was responsible.
It was just that he had become addicted as well, to Gok Yeo-Heun, who for the first time looked at him and begged him for it.
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
-Give it to me, give it to me…….
He said as he licked at his penis. His small lips were full like a woman’s, and whenever he took his cock in his mouth, they opened expeditiously. Gok Heun, whose face had always scowled at him, was the first to open his mouth and suck it hungrily.
-It’s good, good…….
Gok Heun also appeared ravenous.
He sucked it into his mouth, then he abruptly stood it up and tried to shove it into his hole which hadn’t even been prepared yet.
Ja-Ryung stretched his hole with his fingers to abate Heun’s reckless obstinance. He shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes as he writhed in his arms. As Heun’s twitching thighs exposed his sexuality, he rubbed himself against him impatiently and viciously tugged on his member.
Gok Heun’s bird-like chirping was intoxicating. As he swallowed his fingers deep into the tight hole, he didn’t stop making his chirping noises.
-I,It doesn’t matter if it tears,…… it will be fine,…… hurry up,…… haa,
It is said that flowers¹⁰which bear the most poisonous of venom¹⁰(花蛇)¹⁰, are the most gorgeous of all.
His skin was flushed, and his demeanor was haggard. His mind was no more covered than his naked body. It was like looking at a raw, debased person, who was completely exposed.
To him, it was the most vile poison in the world.
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
Yeo-Heun closed his eyes and imagined the oblivion that awaited him on the other side. He lifted his foot and stomped down on the foot of the protesting Court Physician, snatching the drug from him. The Court Physician clutched the elixir with both hands and refused to let go.
-Please, Your Majesty! Please reconsider……!
The Court Physician could not have realized what his words would mean. Ja Horyung was stung to his very core by the venomous words, it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He immediately drew his sword from his waist and slit the doctor’s throat.
Blood splattered all over him. The palace women around him trembled as they choked on their own breath. He stooped to retrieve the flask. The corpse still clutched onto it as tightly as if it were still alive, refusing to let go. He cut its hands into several pieces.
He picked up the bloodied flask and stepped into the bedchamber. And then,
He saw it!
He saw Gok Yeo-Heun rubbing himself against a Captain of the Imperial Guard.
When the drug was overdue, he whispered these words into anyone’s ear.
-Give it to me, Give it to me……please. It’s okay if it tears……hurry.
-…….
The Court Physician and the Captain of the Imperial Gaurd were not the only ones who died, Wonje slew everyone who saw Yeo-Heun that day.
Even after he had finished killing them, he was too afraid of what they saw and he gouged out their eyes just to be sure. All the while, Gok-Yeo-Heun licked at the flask he had dropped, not knowing whose, or how many corpses’ blood was on it.
He knew on that day that it was not him that he wanted, but the drug, It wasn’t Wonje whom he cried out for saying it was ‘good’. It was not him that Gok Yeo-Heun was ravenous like a wild animal for.
It was only an illusion created by the same vile drug that had poisoned both of them.
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
Ja-Ryung fell to his knees in a heap as Gok Heun gazed at him vacantly.
Gok Heun, who had the same face as Gok Yeo-Heun but was now a different man, took the vial and tried to swallow it down. With the last of his strength, Ja-Ryung snatched it away and slammed it to the ground. Heun screamed and punched him. He scratched him with his nails and ripped open his flesh.
He grabbed hold of him with both arms so hard that Heun couldn’t move. He cried so loudly that his breath caught in his throat, but all he could see in front of him was the mutilated corpses staring at him through eyeless holes.
He buried his face in Heun’s shoulder. The tears streaming down his cheeks seemed to burn his flesh.
-I will not do it …… this time around.
Gok Heun gasped and tried to push him away, and then, out of desperation, he bit his ear. The auricle gushed out a mouthful of blood.
Still, he didn’t let go. He refused to let go.
-I will not do this again.
Even if all of the sweet words he wanted Heun to say ended here.
3-row break
He hugged him and said again and again, saying “I won’t do it again“, over and over.
“I will not …….”
Ja-Ryung forcibly pulled away from Heun, whose body he was clinging to.
He didn’t know what he had just seen in his head. It could have been a hallucination produced by the drug. The fact that Wonje had forcibly fed the drug to him, and the fact that he was now intoxicated might have also given the illusion an extra degree of plausibility.
“I won’t.”
However, what he couldn’t figure out was why Wonjie’s regrets, which he had repeated dozens of times in his mind, ran down his cheeks in the form of tears as though they were his own.
Drip, drip-drip.
Tears fell onto his naked thighs.
Heun turned his head to retrace the tear’s path. Ja-Ryung’s wet eyes were at the end of the trail. Wet eyes that didn’t belong there.
“Why……, why?”
As Heun muttered, Ja-Ryung rose to his feet.
Looking at him like this, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. It seemed as though this would only cease when one of them was away from the other.
He left the tattered remains of the Dragon cloth in place and opened the door to the bedchamber. As soon as it opened, the men standing beyond bowed in unison.
“Bring the Royal Physician,”
Said Ja-Ryung to Sudang-taegam.
“Yes, Sire. Emperor……I have received your orders!”
He bent at the waist twice then raised his head and saw that Ja-Ryung’s hand was covered in blood, and his mouth fell open.
“Th,this…… what has happened?”
“Call the Royal Physician and tell him to take care of the Honored Guest.”
Bang!-
Ja-Ryung slammed the door of the bedchamber with his bloodied hand behind him once more, as though to make sure no one saw the naked figure of Heun within.
“……!”
Ja-Ryung placed his hand on the door and paused to catch his breath. The edges of the Dragon Robe fluttered as an angry gust of wind carried the scent of blood.
Dogi-gam, having come to his senses belatedly, clutched his hands behind his back, and stumbled after Ja-Ryung.
“My lord, this Doji-gam follows His Emperor……,”
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
7
Jamilheon has been turned upside down.
The Emperor’s unannounced arrival had nearly caused the palace women of Jamilheen to faint. Being surprised by the unannounced arrival was an excuse, or rather, a stand-in for the fact that the Emperor was a butcher who could beat ten men to a pulp alone.
The Emperor opened the door to the bedchamber where Lady Yeo-bi was sleeping, and before the half-asleep Yeo-bi could even say a greeting, he pulled her clothes down.
“Ah, what? Emperor, if you do this so unexpectedly…….”
Lady Yeo-bi, was so worried that the lingering odor of the late-evening-meal(晩食) of hotpot might still be lingering on her breath, that she closed her lips tightly. As for Ja-Ryung, he was irritated by Yeo-bi who was trying to coil her arms around his shoulders, and he flung them off.
“Take them off!”
Yeo-bi’s gaze fell on the knot in his pants which were already halfway undone. There was already a thick bulge that was rising up beneath the thin silk.
“Emperor…….”
Yeo-bi’s cheeks heated with excitement.
There was a reason the man had come running out of nowhere. His body was already burning and his eyes were bloodshot.
After three years in the palace, she was no longer a girl.
“Should I use my mouth?”
Lady Yeo-bi grabbed the knot with her teeth and pulled. She pulled his pants down from around his waist, and his thick, dark-red erection sprang up taut. She opened her mouth wide to take in the Emperor’s cock.
Her jaw was achingly flexed, but she didn’t slow the speed of her tongue.
It was surprisingly uncomplicated learning how to navigate the Emperor. The more diligently she worked her tongue, the more pleasure arose in him, a pleasure that compared favorably to sex. Her legs trembled with anticipation. She thought the Emperor should want to know that she was getting wet between her legs.
Wait and see. Surely today she would be the first of the Concubines to be granted his favor…….
Her forehead was pushed up and she had to let go of the Emperor’s member that she had been coveting.
“…… Emperor?”
Without a word, Ja-Ryung shoved her down onto the bed. He pulled up the fabric of her night robe and tore at the thin silk cloth that covered the area between her legs.
“Emperor!”
Feeling frightened by his silence, she thrust out her hand. Ja-Ryung snatched it up and pressed it above her head.
“Why, why are you doing this, even if I did something wrong…… argh,”
She screamed and thrashed her hips against the invasion of burning flesh that mercilessly burrowed between her legs. Ja-Ryung grabbed her slender waist and slammed his torso down on top of her.
“Ahhhh, ah!”
Tears welled up in her eyes from the pain, but she bit her tongue to keep herself under control. She groaned and whimpered, trying to block out the pain.
The dull sharp pain that shot through her lower abdomen only lasted a few moments She willed it to go away. Then she reached out and pulled back the Dragon Robe that hung loosely over his upper torso and stroked his exposed bared skin.
“Emperor, it’s because of him……that you’re so eager with this Consort today?”
“Don’t touch me!”
Her eyes widened at the sudden sensation of him pulling out of her. Ja-Ryung lifted off of her, abandoning her directly on the bed.
“Emperor, Emperor…….”
Yeo-bi stared at him in disbelief as she bit her lip. Her head was aching, and tears welled up in her eyes.
No matter how much she thought about it, she hadn’t done anything wrong! The Emperor was still aroused, and the throbbing erection sticking out of his pubic hair was still raging fiercely. If she were to remain idle like this it would mean that she was unworthy of occupying Jamilheon.
“Emperor, I am content with it as it stands, but is there anything more you want?
Yeo-bi coquettishly pushed her arms together, deepening her cleavage, and crawled across the bed toward Ja-Ryung. She took his hand and pulled it to her chest.
“Emperor…… ah!”
Ja-Ryung suddenly grabbed her by the neck. Yeo-bi hands flailed around as she was held by the throat just below her jaw, and lifted up.
Gch, Gahh, Yeo-bi’s fingernails dug into his forearm where his tendons had popped out.
“Emp, Emp, Emperor, why are …….you?!”
Her bloodshot eyes seemed to be spraying a red mist(塵霧). Her wildly throbbing veins pulsed in his hand.
He was losing his mind, too.
He said he wouldn’t do it. Never again, not like that.
It seemed that the only thing left was for Gok Heun to hate him…
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
He sat at the head of the table unable to say anything, just watching him vomit. The construction of the outer palace was being left unattended and gathering dust, but Gok Yeo-Heung didn’t care. His day began by hating him and ended by repeating it over and over again.
Watching him was suffocating, but Ja-Horyung couldn’t bear to look away.
As it was, he felt as if he’d plucked all the feathers of the bird he worked so hard to catch, only for it to fly away on skeletal wings.
So he forgot to sleep. He kept his eyes open to continue to watch him.
This vigil was something that he couldn’t command anyone else to take over. His eyes were bloodshot with each passing day and in his mind, the smell of blood was growing sharper than ever.
Gok Yeo-Heun eventually flew away, and there was no longer any reason to keep his vigil. In Gok Yeo-Heun’s absence, he took to roving among the women of the court taking turns sleeping with them.
But no matter who he held, it wasn’t Gok Yeo-Heun, and his once-sharp mind would now often lose track of the day, crushed by the darkness of the night. When he would open his eyes, he would find someone dead. He saw his own hand over the strangled and broken bodies.
His grasp was always empty now; he would never be able to hold another person. His hands would never be filled.
It wasn’t just a single sleepless night that Gok Yeo-Heun took with him when he flew away. Instead of making up for all the sleep he’d lost, he became a man who couldn’t sleep with anyone.
The most devastating moments were the mornings. The moments when he awoke and realized he was alone again. A day that began with emptiness, ended with the death of the only one who warmed him, if only for a brief time.
There were days when he purposely didn’t sleep because of the emptiness left by that death. On such a day as that, he watched himself strangle a person with his own hands while awake, and he realized one thing,
He would leave it empty…unless it was him.
He had accumulated sin for himself by punishing those who were not Gok Yeo-Heun.
He would leave it empty…until he returned.
This, therefore will be his karma for Gok Yeo-Heun. He shall never move on until he returns.
“Until you come back……,”
🕊🕊🕊🏹🕊🕊🕊
Ja-Ryung’s lips moved slightly. An unintelligible sound crept from his lips. The white dream that had swallowed up the night hadn’t ended yet.
“I will empty it…….I will not let anyone stay.”
“Emp, Emperor……!”
Lady Yeo-bi’s eyeballs bulged like an aquatic animal, and they rolled back in her head exposing only the whites of her eyes. The throbbing in her veins told her that her air supply would soon be snuffed out completely. She was going to die,
If not for the knock on her door…
“Emperor. This one is here. May I enter?”
It was Wei-Jeong’s voice. He could hear Wei-Jeong arguing with the Imperial guard who was demanding to know why this man, who knew the laws of the palace better than anyone else, should dare to touch the door of the Imperial bedchamber.
Ja-Ryung tightened his grip on Yeo-bi. The blood in her eyes deepened.
“Just a moment, it’ll be over soon.”
“Emperor, I am opening the door.”
Bang!-
Perhaps because Wei-Jeong had won the argument, or maybe because had used force, regardless, the door to the bedchamber slammed open. Wei-Jeong had broken open the door with his own body. He rolled across the floor like a ball, then scrambled to his feet and dashed over.
He didn’t even spare him a glance.
“I told you to wait. Have you forgotten that you have already been dismissed from the palace? I have not called for you, and what business do you have to come and spoil my love affair?”
“Emperor, let go of your hand, or you will turn Lady Yeo-bi into a corpse.”
“It’s almost finished.”
“Emperor!”
Wei-Jeong hobbled over to the bed with his stomach, where his unhealed wound was, jiggling. His eyes were uncharacteristically earnest as he stared at Ja-Ryung.
“Even if you kill hundreds of concubines, it won’t bring back the one who’s already gone.”
“……what?”
Only then did Ja-Ryung turn his head, and when their eyes met, Wei-Jeong bit his lip and nodded.
The fact that he had come to the palace of his own accord after being purposely exiled meant that he was resolute. The obscure words that Wei Jeong threw out were a part of his resolve.
“After a long struggle, I have made up my mind. If you ask me your questions, I will answer them.”
“…….”
“Come with me, Emperor.”
“……damn it!”
Slide, Thud!-
Ja-Ryung loosened his grip, and Lady Yeo-bi tumbled down onto the ground in a puddle of her own urine. The blood-red handprint on her white throat still appeared to be strangling her.
Wei-Jeong turned his head and shouted outside.
“Who is out there? Come and take Lady Yeo-bi away!”
The Palace Women of Jamilheon came in and hurriedly carried away the limp body of Lady Yeo-bi.
When the orders were given to clear out the area around the bedchamber, there was no one left to overhear a word¹⁴, only Wei-Jeong and Ja-Ryung were left.
3-row break
“May I please sit down, Emperor? You’ve cut me so finely that even my bones are killing me.”
Wei-Jeong shook his head, returning to his usual composure. The dizziness in his vision had subsided a bit. The medicinal herbs had cooled his scorching body.
Ja-Ryung gently patted his back.
“Do you need help?”
“It’s all right. No need to trouble yourself.”
After a moment, Ja-Ryung gestured with his chin, and Wei-Jeong pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Yes. Now that I’m sitting down, I feel like I’m going to live. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Stop it. Being kept alive is not enough?”
“Ah, yes. I can’t help but be grateful for your kindness, Your Majesty.”
He marveled a few times at the man who had put the stitches in his stomach so efficiently. How could he have cut him open so cleanly?
Wei-Jeong beamed with satisfaction even as blood rushed to his face in a blush. Ahem, ‘this is who I am. Nothing can break the deep bond between myself and the Emperor’.
Therefore, as long as he held his wounds as he walked, he could still draw breath and live. It was equivalent to Royal Favor.
“And so I would like to repay you as well.”
Quietly, but with a distinct resolve on his face, Wei-Jeong reached into his bosom and pulled out something, the journal of a nameless Eunuch he’d found in the Royal Library one day.
Wei-Jeong took a deep breath before speaking again.
“This was exactly what I left in the Royal Library, Emperor. However, it was not in this era, but in the year of Emperor Wonje’s passing, and it was so long ago that I did not even remember anything about it until you asked for it. As you commanded, I searched for the past, and one day it all came back to me.”
“……What?”
If it were just Wei-Jeong joking about having hidden the Eunuch’s journal on the day of Wonje’s death, perhaps he would have had the heart to laugh at the absurdity of it.
But it wasn’t, and so Ja-Ryung’s expression cracked as though it had broken.
As he faced him, Wei-Jeong didn’t smile in the slightest. He now spoke of himself as the man he was when he was in the time of Wonje.
“How about this, Emperor, are your words just talk(淆亂: confused and without order)?”
“That’s because you……,”
“Yes, Sire, I’m telling you that it was I who hid this journal, and it was I who wrote it even before that. If this is all just the ramblings of an old man then I should probably shut up now. But since you already know that Gok Heun is the reincarnation of Gok Yeo-Heun, then I’m sure you know that I am not rambling either. Isn’t that right?”
He was a man who claimed himself to be a reincarnation and who was bound by the same karma.
It was maddening to try to guess what that meant. He wanted to open his head and scrub it clean of any traces of the drug that might still be lingering.
“I understand. Continue.”
Wei-Jeong nodded as though he had been preparing for this. But despite his casual demeanor, his next words were enigmatic.
“The First Emperor had made a wager with this one… or perhaps you know what that bet was.”
“A bet……?”
“You don’t seem to know. The Original Emperor ordered me to keep all the records, but I insisted that they should be destroyed. Ever since a man with the surname of Gok entered the Imperial Court, the blood in Taeungseong Palace never stopped flowing. As a result, the political situation has become a constant struggle, and the Five Great Houses have taken advantage of it to sharpen their claws. I told him to forget about him unless he wanted to suffer through endless grief, but he said he wouldn’t.”
Ja-Ryung seemed to remember who it was that Wei-Jeong wanted him to leave behind.
However, the memories of Gok Yeo-Heun seemed like scattered mice that ran throughout Taeungseong Palace.
The records were both vast and chaotic. Some of the records, for example, were written at Wonje’s behest, but in another instance, a completely different record from the same day was ordered to be destroyed by Wonje. As obsessive as Wonje was, he must have been just as fickle.
However,
“Wonje increased the number of records(書錄) of the official residence, and made me write them all down, and as soon as I could, I removed them, and it became a kind of hide-and-seek game between Wonje and me. On the day of Wonje’s death, I thought something similar, but that the game of hide-and-seek was over. That the Emperor, whom I had been struggling with, would not be able to interfere, and that I had won in the end. Do you know what Wonje said anything to me at that time?”
“……No, I don’t know.”
Wei-Jeong was talking as though it was only just yesterday. Something that had happened more than a hundred years ago, as though he had been there.
Without a question, he too was a reincarnation.
“He said, ‘If you want to do it, go ahead and try. Do what you want to do because I have hidden it well beyond your reach,’ and he was right, for there were so many little places where he had left them that there was no end to it, so I had to do something else.”
Right now he sounded just like the Head Palace Eunuch of the First Emperor
“……I wonder if that explains the unusual number of people who died.”
Wei-Jeong nodded his head.
“Nevertheless, he mixed in the fake records with the real whenever he could get his hands on them, so he is to blame for your confusion.”
“He was right to kill himself. So he wasn’t a madman…… or anything like that.”
Wei-Jeong laughed, a short, bitter laugh as though he was remembering something.
“Yes. It was a crime invented by myself to avoid giving the Five Great Houses any justification. But also, it was a charge that came about naturally. The rumors that the Honored Guest was a madman were already circulating in and around the palace.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine. The things he did while addicted to the drug, the manner in which he behaved, the way he was treated by the Emperor, and his sharp tongue must have delighted the Gossips. The more Gok Yeo-Heun lost, the more the Emperor would hide him, and that would only encourage the eager mouths of the faceless gossips.
Madman! If it had been Ja-Ryung in his place, he would have cut him down with his own hand.
After cursing Wei-Jeong, Ja-Ryung pressed his hands against his ears. All sorts of unheard sounds rushed into his ears at once, piercing them.
“Wonje said that no matter what I did, no matter how I changed things, I would definitely remember again. That was the bet between myself and Wonje, so the bet is……,” he said.
Wei-Jeong stopped talking abruptly and stared at Ja-Ryung.
When someone who was in the middle of speaking to you suddenly does something like that, tension is bound to arise. The tension consumed him faster than he could think.
Suddenly, his hands started to tremble. Ja-Ryung made a strange face, unable to believe his hands were shaking. His face was filled with disbelief. His body had never been like this before, not even when he was expelled by Emperor Sunginje, or when he had to face the twelve men sent by the Emperor alone.
Then Wei-Jeong spoke.
“The bet has been won by the Emperor.”
“……what?”
Something churned in the pit of his stomach, and his mouth went dry.
He clasped his trembling hands together trying to stop them, however, it was futile, and Wei-Jeong watched it all with eyes that were filled with pity and remorse.
“You said to me that you would turn the wheel backward. You said that you would pull it all back into place, weave it back together, and set things right. And you have done just that, Emperor.”
“…….”
Ja-Ryung heard a nagging voice in his head.
Never again. Never again.
Was it the First Emperor’s remorse? Or was it his own vow(誓願: to swear an oath)?
Was he Wonje, or was he born as himself?
In the end, was he doing the same thing that Wonje had done all along?
Heun said that his karma was so great that it could not be purified in the Bardo and so he was reborn anew, into a new incarnation. He said his only wish was to break the karma and dispel its heavyweight. So, it didn’t matter to him if his body was broken, or even if he was alive.
However, Heun was wrong! It was not Heun’s karma that made him reincarnate. It was his own karma that kept Heun from passing over to the Heavenly Realms of Immortality and dragged him back into life after his death.
“Did I…… put a spike through his foot, and did I…… have it crushed?”
“You did.”
“Did I have him bound, humiliate him in front of others, and……beat him?”
“Yes, Emperor.”
“I drugged him and turned him into a madman, and…… did I break him…… and……I made him…… I made him die because of my doing……I…….”
Ja-Ryung fumbled through the air with his hands, his trembling fingers seemed alien and undeserving.
“That’s why he hates me……so much, that’s……what you’re…….saying”
If Ja-Ryung hadn’t been the Emperor, Wei-Jeong would have taken his hand in a sympathetic embrace.
“There was something peculiarly off about your relationship from the start, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought of that whenever I looked at the two of you, Emperor.”
“…….”
Ha-Ryung stared at the journal Wei-Jeong had on his lap with an odd expression on his face.
Wei-Jeong hadn’t come here to confess his past. Nor did he come to vent his frustrations for the Emperor casting him out.
“You already know everything, so I won’t make you any excuses. I wanted the Honored Guest Gok to die and disappear before the Emperor could be tempted, I thought that it was the best way to protect the Emperor and Taewoongseong Palace”
“…….”
Ja-Ryung didn’t move, he merely turned and looked at Wei-Jeong. There was a wave of unbridled anger in his eyes. Wei-Jeong’s shoulders dropped unconsciously, and he hastily cleared his throat.
“But I already know it’s too late. You forced it yourself, and I didn’t realize that you had already won the bet. Then my Emperor cut my stomach open and poured out the contents, and my head became clear. Considering that the Honored Guest, myself, and the Emperor were all reborn in the same place, it’s easy to see what made this happen.”
He meant it when he said that his head began to clear when his stomach was split open.
If he tried to fight against the Emperor as he had before, he would only be repeating the mistakes he made in the past. He wanted to escape this miserable reincarnation.
No, he wanted to free them. The Emperor and the man from the Gok clan. He wanted to free them from their twisted, entangled bonds.
Wei-Jeong pushed himself out of his chair and knelt on the floor, clasping his hands above his head.
“So take this one back, Emperor. It is the Emperor’s prerogative to decide to end a life in Taewoongseong Palace, but if he wishes to preserve a life, then there is no one better suited to do so than I. I will henceforth guard the Honored Guest Gok in the Inner Palace with all the loyalty I owe to the Emperor himself, and I will do everything in my power to help the Emperor find a solution to this karma. I was foolish. I now understand that karma does not repeat itself arbitrarily, but rather is repeated in order to be solved.”
Ja-Ryung squeezed his brow together in a pained expression.
Not once in the, almost decade, that Wei-Jeong served in the past had he ever helped Gok Yeo-Heun. What he thought he had in his hands was merely an illusion that his heart wanted to believe.
The only thing he knew for sure, was that he had done it all wrong.
Starting over would make no difference. Whether it took a decade or only a month, Heun still took his manhood in his mouth with the same look on his face as he had when he had lapped the blood-soaked vial. Rest assured, he would be no more than the bastard who whined about ‘how he would never do it again’.
“There’s no way, how can I start over again……?”
“You’ve already seen the connections, haven’t you?”
“No, I can’t. Not……I,”
Ja-Ryung closed his eyes.
I have ruined it. I destroyed it, yet again.
Wei-Jeong spoke the words that Ja-Ryung couldn’t bring himself to utter.
“It isn’t too late, Your Majesty.”
“I……,” he said.
“If it was already too late, then why would Honorable Guest Gok still be alive? I believe something else, and I know the Emperor does, too,..…that things are not what they were before.”
“…….”
“Honored Guest Gok will see that too. It’s not too late, Emperor.”
Wei-Jeong bowed his head and held out the journal he’d written in with both hands.
“You’ve changed everything, Emperor, and you’ve figured out the essence of the story with just one line……that Wonje had waited all night to find his corpse. I do not doubt that it is because you care about the Honored Guest Gok. How can a man so perceptive not see what is obvious even to my eyes? Please, give him time.”
“…….”
Ja-Ryung continued to hold his trembling hand without responding, but Wei-Jeong thought it would be different this time.
It will be different. It can be different.
Wonje had never received anything at all, but Ja-Ryung had gotten his hair, and that could be the first step.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
8
It was early in the morning. Yeon Meong rubbed her puffy exhausted eyelids again and again as she left the bedchamber where Heun lay. Heun had only just managed to fall asleep.
In reality, he hadn’t fallen asleep so much as he seemed to have passed out.
Fatigue wasn’t the only thing causing her glassy eyes to become bloodshot. She had been crying constantly as she watched Heun vomit and shake throughout the night. It was impossible to comprehend how much pain this person suffered.
To make matters worse, he kept trying to cut himself, and the entire staff assigned to the Yiyang Palace had to work overtime to restrain him.
However, it was to no avail, and a gaping wound was gouged into his thigh. The Royal Physician let out a strangled scream at the sight of the gushing blood, whereupon Heun let out a loud gasping breath and then collapsed into unconsciousness.
Yeonmyung, who had been watching the spectacle, looked up at the bright blue sky with a gloomy face.
Whatever it was that caused him so much pain, she didn’t know.
He said his days were drawing to a close, but being that the Emperor had taken such good care of him that she believed he had nothing to fear, however, things had turned out differently than she had expected.
Come to think of it, he had been weary of drinking the alcohol as well, that precious gift.
The Emperor didn’t punish him for it, instead, he took him to his room and ordered the Royal Physician to take care of him. The others in Yiyang Palace were beginning to realize that the relationship between them was not quite as simple as an Emperor and his Guest.
They couldn’t understand it. Who else could have the Emperor’s undivided devotion?
Even after searching through all of the Yukwon, including the late Empress lying dead in her tomb, there had only been Heun. Even still, Heun hated the Emperor. It was not something a Palace Woman could understand.
Perhaps he was afraid of the other concubines, however, if the Emperor visited him every day, then he shouldn’t be afraid.
Yeonmyung dropped her gaze from the sky to the ground. Her shoulders were stiff with fatigue.
She always thought that it was wonderful to have a master at Yiyang Palace, however, her master said it would only make her workload harder. Back then she had wondered what he was talking about. She had just been naive then. My Lord! Now she understood how much work it could be.
She was only sixteen years old, and now her eyes were strained, her shoulders were stiff, and her knees were aching. Oh, and she couldn’t get any sleep. Today it was getting worse and worse. She could barely see anything.
Yeonmyung blinked trying to focus her eyes, but it was in vain. Someone was standing at the door of the bedchamber.
It was a long, silken black robe, embroidered with gold and silver threads only on the borders, both dignified and splendid. Perhaps it was because the man wearing the silk robe had a very well-built figure that could be seen at a glance.
She thought who could this handsome man in the Imperial Palace be? Here the only men were either the officers with broad shoulders or the Imperial Guards who were always well-armed and terrifying. For some reason, his clothes were not tied neatly and his hair was loose and untidy, but he was so handsome that when she looked him over, even on a second appraisal there wasn’t even a single flaw.
Aha, so this was indeed a dream. When she entered the palace at the age of twelve, she was told that she would never be pleasing to the eye of a man, yet it was so tragic that the gods of the heavens had given her this dream!
Isn’t that what they say about the Palace Women? That the Palace Women, who work hard and live a life of poverty just to never receive a man’s blessing and die a virgin, were pitiable?
That’s right, but now she has received that blessing! Oh, and he is beautiful! He’s like a tonic for weary eyes.
But why were his eyes so sunken? Maybe it was just her dream, or perhaps he hadn’t slept well either. And though it didn’t detract from him, she wondered why he looked so sad.
Yeonmyung stuck out her bottom lip and made a sound a mewling sound like a small animal. She wanted to reach over and stroke his hair.
Come to think of it, she was the one who brushes her Lord’s hair. If he came over here, she could give him a good brushing too, just like she did with her own Lord.
“It’s been brushed. How is the Guest?”
“……?”
Yeonmyung’s eyes widened at the suddenness of his words.
“……What? Are you talking to me……?”
It’s all so strange. Why was he asking for the Lord’s particulars?
With a short jerk of his chin, he indicated that he was addressing her. It felt too overwhelming for her to speak, but the glimmer in his eyes made her feel relieved and she nodded shyly.
“Please don’t speak too loudly. He’s been up all night vomiting, and he’s only now barely fallen asleep. Although we asked him to sleep now that the doctor had finished removing the drug, he still persisted…………oh, really. When I look at my Lord, I can’t help but cry because I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I don’t understand the relationship he has with the Emperor. I thought that he let the Honored Guest in and gave him the drink because he liked him, but I guess he’s not like that. He refused the liquor that the Emperor gave him and…… I heard that it was because of the liquor that he kept throwing up.”
“……So it’s like that?”
“To a severe degree.”
As she continued to talk she somehow felt more relaxed, so she couldn’t help but keep talking.
“As he continued to go on like that, those of us watching from the sidelines were hurting as well, but it was My Lord who was suffering the most. After that, when he had nothing left to throw up, he harmed himself even more…… alas, truly. He wouldn’t let us touch him even when he was gushing blood, so all the court physician could do was to pace around and…… last night wasn’t a night, it was a living hell!”
“…….”
He bit down on his beautiful lip. She looked at him pitifully, she also wanted to cry.
“Now that he had finally fallen asleep, the Royal Physician rushed over to treat him. His hands were shaking, and he said that if the Emperor were to see him like this, he would be in trouble once again. It was such a pitiful scene……of course, the person I pitied the most was My Lord Guest. Although my pity is in vain because I can’t do anything for him except brush his hair……eh”.
Yeonmyung wiped her tears with her sleeve. He looked at her for a moment and then turned his head to stare at the closed door of the bedchamber.
For a moment she felt something strange.
……Huh?
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
Why was he looking at my Lord’s bedchamber door? That must be my Lord’s……, that is, my Lord’s……? Huh?
Yeon-Myeong’s mouth dropped open.
“Ma,Maj…….”
Oh, God! It was all in vain!
Okay, then this person is……, oh no, she opened her eyes wide, and realized she was a dead woman! Oh God! The Gods didn’t bless her, she just strained her eyes. She would be executed now.
Yeonmyung gasped and quickly fell to the ground and prostrated herself.
“Ah, ah …… I,I am in the presence of the Emperor!”
Ja-Ryung ignored her and spoke.
“Be quiet. It was not easy for him to fall asleep.”
“What……? Ah, yes! Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Quiet, I said!”
“……!”
The Emperor’s voice was quieter than hers as he gave the order.
Before she could say “Yes, Your Majesty!” she covered her mouth. She felt like slapping herself on the cheek.
Even though she was still so young she failed to recognize the Emperor because her eyes were in this condition. Oh no, now what was she supposed to do?!
She could still see the Emperor’s face as he made the Chugukjang¹⁵ reek of blood. She was so frightened by what happened that day not so long ago, that even at the age of sixteen she wet her bed in her sleep.
That was the first time she had ever seen the Emperor up close. All she could remember was the chill she felt at seeing him. His eyes, nose, and mouth, nothing about him seemed human. She could have sworn that he looked nothing like the Emperor in front of her now.
Why? How could he be so different?
Even in the midst of her fear and panic, Yeonmyung had that thought,
He really was completely…….
Then she realized,
It’s because his countenance had changed.
The Emperor who ordered boiling oil to be poured on her while she was still alive could not be the same Emperor who was now standing in front of the bedchamber, mute and simply staring at it.
Then Yeonmyung remembered that the Emperor who ordered her head cut off with a voice as sharp as the clear-blue blade of a scythe, had finally rescinded his order when Heun asked him to, in exchange it for his hair.
So he must be the same person. That’s right. That’s how it was.
When she raised her head and saw the Emperor, the Emperor still had the same bearing.
When she looked up and saw the Emperor, he still had the same demeanor. If he were a statue instead of a man, she could believe it.
Now that she thought about it, how long had he been standing there?
The dark circles under his eyes suddenly made sense. The Emperor must have been standing here for a very long time, deprived of sleep, without thinking.
“Be quiet! Don’t utter a sound or even move around……. let him sleep as long as he can.”
The Emperor, whose gaze was fixed on the door, must have heard Yeonmyung moving around and said something in response. Yeonmyung nodded vehemently and strove to keep from making a sound.
The Emperor lifted his hand.
The Emperor let out a long breath. Even that sound was so hushed it was barely audible.
“Don’t tell him I was here.”
The Emperor turned his back. His muffled footsteps carried him away.
“Ah, that……,”
The small sound almost escaped Yeon Meong’s mouth.
He was asleep now, and it was unlikely that he would wake up anytime soon.
So The Emperor could probably watch him for a while before leaving. So why would he …… just leave?
The world was full of mysteries. She didn’t understand the Emperor, and she didn’t understand the Heun. With so many things unknown, Yeonmyung felt pained in her heart.
It was too frustrating. How could they be like that?
She didn’t realize that there was a vast chasm that stood between them, and she didn’t understand just how deep and dark it was.
However, she thought that the shadows cast by the Emperor’s back as he walked into the early morning sun seemed longer and denser than the fog of time.
Like the accumulation of regrets over the course of a hundred years.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
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All parenthesis inside a sentence and the continents contained within them were placed by the author and are NOT translator notes. All translator notes are denoted by a T/N.
Some Idioms or proverbs used throughout this story which may too be foreign and/or require too many footnotes were replaced by literal translations to make the story easier to read.
🦶🎶 Footnotes
- (T/N: Remember: Wei-Jeong aka Head Palace Eunuch -, and Sudang Taegam aka Wei-Jeong’s second in command, are both titles) ↩︎
- Emperors Palace/Quartes ↩︎
- Remember: Yeohwan-jeong, northern back gardens of Taewoongseong Fortress Forest, adjacent to the Emperor’s quarters. ↩︎
- Itchy, tingling, burning, etc. ↩︎
- Remember: Jimok-cheon is the name of his personal guard who is called by the title Ilcheon, and he is the head of the Ikcheonwi, Imperial security to the Emperor himself. ↩︎
⁶ Hapgung: sex between an Emperor and Empress/Consort. ↩
⁷ Sulshi: 7:00 pm- 9:00 pm ↩
⁸ Yushi: 5:00 pm- 7:00 pm ↩
⁹ Simui (深衣) is a type of hanbok. It originates before the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 256 BC) of ancient China, and it is presumed to have been introduced to the Korean Peninsula before the middle of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), but the exact age is unknown. ↩
¹⁰ Literally: flower snake or a venomous flower 화사가(花蛇) ↩
¹¹ (T/N: tsk-ing?) ↩
¹² Gwi-in – (Noble Person) Consort rank, just below Empress ↩
Foolish Translations 
OMG you are back 😭😭😭 i love u and thanxxxx
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Thank You for the new chapter (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡
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You’re welcome (❁´◡`❁)
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Thank you so much for the update!
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You’re welcome (❁´◡`❁)
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