Struggle Chapter 45

It was early morning, and visiting uninvited—not just any superior, but a member of the royal clan, a grand prince no less, in the place where he was staying—was by any measure a reckless act. Suhwan paced before the gate for a long while before steeling his resolve and knocking. He had already been caught kissing the grand prince and even slipping him his tongue—what worse could there be? Above all, the fact that Nanyoung had still not returned, and that he was likely not being allowed to leave this place where he must now be staying, weighed heavily on Suhwan’s mind. Even if he did harbor somewhat licentious thoughts, he was not a person of wicked nature by disposition.

Only after knocking and announcing his visit some three times did someone finally come out from within. The man who greeted Suhwan was a fellow wearing a tanggeon, seemingly of rather low status. The man had a peculiar swagger about him that was odd for someone who should be in attendance to a grand prince, and to Suhwan, who though not of the royal clan had been nobly born, it was displeasing.

“His Royal Highness the Grand Prince has commanded that no one be admitted today.”

“The grand prince whom I serve has not returned, and so I have come to inquire after his well-being. We came out to the family villa to escape the heat with His Highness, and should any mishap befall His Highness, how could I live with myself? Please, do me this consideration.”

Concealing his displeasure, Suhwan tried to gloss over the situation with his characteristic smooth talk and enter, but this fellow—whether commoner or chungin, he could not tell—continued to stand his ground.

“Ah, well then, do you think we would attend His Highness the Grand Prince carelessly? We are in the same position.”

“…Haha. The same position, you say. There should be no occasion for us to be in the same position, should there?”

The man, whose beard added to his harsh impression, turned his head sharply.

“Come now, just allow me to at least pay my respects to Grand Prince Heonui. I am asking you to put in a good word with His Highness, that is all.”

“…”

Was he standing his ground like this, trusting in the master he served? His stubbornness and insolence reached the heavens. Suhwan clenched his teeth. The words “How dare you” were on the very tip of his tongue.

Just then, the grand prince they had been incessantly speaking of appeared. Except the grand prince was a grand prince, but not the one Suhwan had been looking for.

“Who is this.”

Taerok looked as though he had been dead drunk and had only just woken up. Suhwan was rather appalled at the sight of him appearing in only his nightclothes with an outer robe thrown over. For Nanyoung, except for last night, had never once shown such a disheveled appearance before the servants. Yet even in such a disheveled state, Taerok exuded an overbearing aura into which it would not be easy to drive even the point of a needle.

“Pansu, you go back inside. I shall send this guest away myself.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The insolent fellow, whether chungin or seoja, withdrew obediently. Suhwan was still clenching his teeth. Taerok’s reply contained the determination not to let him inside, no matter what. Suhwan very nearly found himself demanding of Taerok what he had done to Grand Prince Heonui. Even knowing that he was his uncle and could discipline a nephew who had committed acts like sodomy… Yes, he had nearly reacted as if a lover had confronted a no-good bastard. When Nanyoung was not his lover, and Taerok was surely not the sort of no-good bastard who would do such a thing to his nephew.

…And yet, what was this unclean premonition?

In the meantime, Taerok had approached Suhwan. Taerok was wearing a blackish-blue cheollik—the very one Suhwan had seen the night before. Was this man also the sort who stayed up all night over his nephew’s transgression? Was he a man of flesh and blood? Suhwan’s premonition grew even more confused.

“Where are your manners? Did the Commander-General not teach his son even etiquette?”

“…I behold Grand Prince Baegan.”

“Indeed. What business brings you here from the early morning?”

The sun had long since risen to the middle of the sky, such that one could hardly call it early morning anymore. Suhwan swallowed his desire to retort with sarcasm. Not because his opponent was a grand prince, but because there was something that pressed down on him, preventing him from letting his tongue run loose.

“Grand Prince Heonui, who came to our villa to escape the heat, has not returned even by noon, and so out of worry, I have committed this discourtesy and come here.”

Over Suhwan’s politely bowed head, a short laugh—”Ha”—burst forth. The scorn was unmistakable. Having done what he had done, Suhwan could not be indignant at it.

“Did it never occur to you that I might have judged that sending my nephew to that place was more dangerous than him not returning by noon?”

“…”

“There are ears listening, so I shall not speak separately of what happened last night. But you know what you did. I have not heard any rumor that the Commander-General’s son is a halfwit.”

“Your Highness. Could the events of last night not be buried as a mischievous mistake made by goblins?”

“I do not believe in goblins, nor do I believe in mischievous happenings. But what I believe in even less than those is the phrase ‘a man’s mistake.'”

“…”

“A mistake is…”

Taerok murmured, trailing off, then tapped Suhwan’s shoulder. It was a mere push with his fingertips, yet it was enough to make him stagger. Flustered, Suhwan stared at Taerok.

“…something like this. Lightly tapping a shoulder, at most. Yet even this, I do not consider a mistake but intention—so how could the parts that touched my nephew be called a mistake.”

“…Then if you would only tell me whether Grand Prince Heonui is in good health, I shall not forget the kindness. Grand Prince Heonui’s constitution has always been frail by nature.”

“That, too, I know better than others, being his uncle. If his uncle says he is fine, surely he is fine. Had my nephew’s condition been poor, I would already have sent someone to the Royal Medical Office—yet as you see, all is exceedingly quiet, so you may return without worry.”

“…”

“From now on, I shall take charge of Grand Prince Heonui’s summer retreat, so see to it that the grand prince’s luggage and the attendants who accompanied him are sent here.”

“But, Your Highness…!”

“Sim Suhwan.”

Taerok’s arm pressed heavily—thud—against the solid oak gate.

“Even if the master you serve is a different grand prince, you must not forget that I, too, am a grand prince.”

He merely said this, in a voice neither agitated nor overbearing.

Suhwan, too, was a young man of no small age. Yet in this moment, that single sentence alone instantly reduced him to a mere green youth. Though Lee Taerok was not as old or seasoned as Suhwan’s father, he possessed the power to make his opponent feel like the weaker party.

“…I apologize.”

In the end, Suhwan withdrew. From the very beginning, the outcome of this contest had been decided. At first he thought it was due to the difference in status, but having measured himself against him directly, he understood. This was not a contest he could engage in as man against man.

Taerok turned away even before Suhwan’s bow was finished. Biting his lip, Suhwan watched only the hem of the cheollik fluttering as he turned, when suddenly he discovered something and his eyes flew wide open.

At the edge of the blackish-blue cheollik, there was a faint white stain. But the stain was very small, and he had seen it only for an instant, so Suhwan could not confirm what he had seen.

Only, the unease that remained in his mind was that the stain grew a little larger.

The moment Taerok turned away, he cast off the existence of Suhwan. He was an annoyance, but not one he needed to bother with. There was no need to indulge a childish brat and grant him even a sense of gravity.

He passed through the four-sided gate and then the inner middle gate. Once he entered the inner sarangchae, the world beyond the walls grew even more distant, leaving only silence. Taerok took off his cheollik, left it in the main hall, and threw open the four-panel sliding door. In the largest room of the inner sarangchae, Nanyoung lay.

“Your Highness.”

The reason he employed people regardless of their origins was that each possessed various small talents, and not just one but several at once. The man prostrating himself flat before him now was originally a game driver, but when he showed a talent for fletching arrows, Taerok put him in charge of his arrows, and then when he learned that he also knew how to treat those with broken bones, sprains, or bruises, he brought him along even on this summer retreat—a man named Daeseok, originally without even a hopae identity tag.

Taerok nodded his head at Daeseok and took his seat on a cushion.

“How is he.”

“His wrist is greatly swollen. It is not broken, but there seems to be a fracture, or the flesh inside is badly shocked.”

He had expected as much, seeing it swollen so ominously, but hearing it directly left him even more dumbfounded.

“I didn’t even grasp it that hard.”

Taerok’s tone lacked certainty. Because before he had kissed Nanyoung last night, he too had not been in his right mind.

“You must not measure the strength of a grand prince against that of other men.”

Daeseok grinned as he reported.