Struggle Chapter 15

“That man is a sly old fox, so crawling on the ground is what suits him.” Taerok sneered. But he wasn’t childish enough to say that to a child.

“Then what about monsters? Do they run, or do they walk?”

Taerok, who had stopped short for a moment, stared directly at Nanyoung.

“I don’t know. Because I’ve never seen one.”

“Really? But uncle, you said you knew what monsters looked like.”

“The truth is, neither ghosts nor monsters can enter the palace grounds. How could a place where His Majesty resides be built so that profane things could come and go as they please? So the things I have seen were not monsters, but all people.”

“…Not monsters pretending to be people?”

“I haven’t touched them, so I wouldn’t know. When you’re confused, nephew, try touching them. For now, from what I see, I suspect they walk on two feet.”

Nanyoung’s expression became quite grave. It seemed the thunder that had been roaring in his head had vanished before he knew it.

Because of the squelching mud, the hem of Taerok’s clothes and his cotton shoes became exceedingly dirty. In contrast, Nanyoung’s shoes and the hem of his clothes were all clean.

Despite having carried both a ten-year-old boy and the canopy, Taerok showed no sign of exhaustion. Once the canopy was taken down, not a single drop was falling, making the earlier downpour seem like a lie. It was almost as if the weather was taunting him.

Having removed the canopy and handed it to a palace servant, Taerok also set Nanyoung down onto the dry ground under the eaves.

“Seeing that the dark storm clouds remain, it does seem it will rain again, but not right away, so this uncle will take his leave now.”

“Ah, without coming inside?”

“Did I not say I would only stay until the rain stopped? Go on in. Saon, let’s go.”

“No…”

Then why did you come all the way here… Saon felt like crying. The lament, You, sir, may have used the canopy, but I did not, rose to the very tip of his throat, but he barely held it back.

Just as before, Taerok left Nanyoung behind without looking back. Though he would act as if he might never see him again, then turn right back around as he had earlier, making Saon think his master was truly unpredictable.

Nanyoung waited until the sight of his departing uncle completely vanished from his view, and only then did he go inside his residence.

After Taerok returned to his palace, the rain shower poured down again, and fiercely so. It was no longer a shower but a driving rain. Taerok instructed that every levee be carefully managed so that the land granted as his fief around the Grand Prince’s residence would not overflow and be swallowed by water, then opened the window and tilted his wine cup.

Once again, a sound resounded, Urrr-rrrumble BOOM, as if to shake heaven and earth, no, to shatter them. It was even ferocious. “Seeing that the sound is this ferocious, it seems it’s not a dragon ascending to heaven, but an imoogi falling.”

The grudge of an imoogi that fails to become a dragon and plummets is beyond imagination. It is vicious and incoherent. With a grudge of that magnitude, the mere scream it lets out as it falls would produce a thunderous roar like this.

Taerok silently refilled his wine cup. The clear liquor merely gave off its fragrance, as if utterly oblivious to the savage driving rain outside. Taerok’s expression was the same; one could not discern in the slightest what he was thinking.

And that night, Nanyoung, having been only slightly wet, ended up developing a fever. Just as even a little dye changes the hue of water, Nanyoung wilted from just a little rain.

∞ ∞ ∞

Nanyoung lifted his gaze to the edge of the eaves to watch the raindrops scattering delicately, as if the rain was slowly coming to a stop.

It felt absurd that it had already been two seasons since his uncle had made that invitation—which was barely an invitation—to come to his princely residence.

Yet, even though it was two seasons ago, Nanyoung still vividly remembered that day. He dared to conclude, and felt certain, that perhaps not just two seasons, but two years, or even twenty years—two years times ten—might pass, and he still would not forget that moment.

“Young master, the weather is cold.”

The eunuch cautiously addressed him.

He had received permission to go outside the palace. Normally, he would go out on horseback, but since it was still raining, he was told to go by palanquin. Thus, he rode a two-man palanquin with a canopy draped over it to block the rain.

At the announcement that the palanquin granted by the king had been prepared, Nanyoung finally moved.

It was his first time leaving the palace. Though he might not look it, Nanyoung was extremely excited. If not for his uncle, he would not have had this opportunity.

“Young master Grand Prince, if you feel unwell anywhere, you must tell me. Please, you must, absolutely inform this servant!”

The eunuch was full of worry. The Grand Prince was someone who, as a matter of course, fell ill every change of season. Nanyoung, as if a winter hat densely stuffed with otter fur was not enough, had also layered on a sable fur jacket and had a thick blanket draped over him on top of that.

He was told not to look outside, but it was hard for young Nanyoung to suppress his curiosity.

‘Next year, the Grand Prince will turn eleven. At the very earliest, some begin searching for a betrothed around then. So you must be all the more mindful of your conduct.’

It was only the day before yesterday that he had heard such words from the Queen Dowager, his grandmother, yet Nanyoung ended up acting his age of ten after all.

Outside was bustling with noise. Despite Nanyoung being bundled up embarrassingly, he saw children kicking a shuttlecock, their cheeks, ears, and noses freezing or not, with only a scarf wrapped roughly around them. As the palanquin passed by, a person who appeared to be a mother grabbed a child’s arm and yanked him back sharply. When his eyes happened to meet the child’s, Nanyoung could not resist and quietly waved his hand. The child, frozen snot running from his nose, only stared blankly.

“Young master. That place there is your uncle’s private pavilion.”

The eunuch spoke to Nanyoung, who had been watching the scenery idly drifting by. As Nanyoung turned his head, following the eunuch’s pointing finger, he saw a pavilion situated on a modest mountain terrain, with a stream flowing by, not difficult to walk up. The blue tiles laid on the octagonal roof were glistening even more, wet from the misty rain.

And then, a short distance from the pavilion, after walking a little further, they finally arrived at Taerok’s princely residence.

Originally, one leaves the palace upon marrying, but he had heard that Taerok had requested and left the palace early, before even marrying. It was possible because Taerok had never caused any trouble… the eunuch, wanting to say something nice about the uncle Nanyoung liked so much, had put it that way.

The eunuch did not know the detailed circumstances either. The common assumption might be correct—that Taerok never caused trouble and was by nature someone who enjoyed living alone. In any case, it was also true that while his elder brother ascended to the throne and gained two Grand Princes and a princess, Taerok had still not held his wedding.

“Young master Grand Prince!”

Saon, who came and went from Taerok’s house as if he were its steward, greeted him joyfully.

Since the Crown Prince had not made the journey, it was only natural that Taerok, being the elder, did not bother to come out to greet Nanyoung. Nanyoung also did not expect Taerok to be out, as a mist-like rain was still falling.

But from a blind spot that Nanyoung, who had been attached right to the palanquin and only looking ahead, could not see, a hand reached out.

“Have you grown a little?”

Taerok asked, as if speaking to himself.

In the meantime, Taerok said he had been to the border with the king’s permission. The border region was a place that always suffered from bandit gangs. When one asks, “Isn’t it dangerous?” everyone says it is indeed extremely dangerous, yet Taerok had left without a word to Nanyoung and, having returned without a word last week, sent a letter asking if he would come by the house.

“…It’s only been two months; how much could I have grown?”

“You are at an age when you are growing rapidly, so did I not tell you to eat a lot? I wonder if you, nephew, are eating your meals properly.”

At this moment alone, Nanyoung’s eunuch, taking Taerok’s side, shook his head from side to side.

Taerok looked at the eunuch who had aged alongside Nanyoung as he grew, and only now, years later, asked his name.

“Come to think of it, what was your name?”

At the question, Sim Eung bowed deeply and answered.

“It is Sim Eung.”

“I see. Sim-eung.”

“…”

Dare I say, my name is not Sim-eung but Sim Eung, sir? Unable to say this, the eunuch’s lot was truly sorrowful, this Sim Eung.

Even up to this moment, Nanyoung had still not alighted from the palanquin. Taerok hesitated for a moment, then reached his hand in deeper towards Nanyoung and lifted him right up.