Struggle Chapter 57

He finished removing his clothes, including his inner robe. Lightly dressed, he flung open the door. Nanyoung asked Sim Eung, who startled at his sudden appearance without any notice.

“Is it the scented bath as usual?”

“Ah, no. It has all been used up, and last time, did Young master not instruct us to use it no more.”

“Then put in some other scent pouches for me.”

Nanyoung listed ingredients such as orchid flowers and cedar bark. Fortunately, they were prepared.

When he went to the bath, a sweet and bittersweet scent filled the air. Nanyoung immersed his body in the water, which bore none of his uncle’s scent, and quietly submerged even his face.

Only his injured hand remained outside the tub, and he went under to the very top of his head. Holding his breath, he blinked his eyes.

His uncle had private soldiers. To the court officials’ appeals demanding that the royal relatives’ private soldiers be banned, there had been the royal relatives’ response that the court officials’ private soldiers must also be banned.

Nanyoung did not know the scale of his uncle’s private soldiers.

But one thing alone snagged at him. What Kangmu had said—that one of his uncle’s household guards had entered the Royal Guard Command.

If they were comrades, they would be quite advanced in age. Even if he entered the Royal Guard Command, he would not be a low-ranking soldier. Was there a particular reason he had suddenly transferred like that? Was that also part of his uncle’s plan?

“…Puh-ha!”

Nanyoung, having pushed himself to his limit, emerged from the water. His chest heaved. His mind raced. Faced with a tremendous secret, Nanyoung became, on the contrary, infinitely rational. Just as Lee Taerok had been more rational than ever when he first coveted Nanyoung.

“Young master. Shall I wash your hair?”

Sim Eung made his presence known outside.

“Come in.”

Nanyoung answered.

Sim Eung, entering the bath chamber, blinked his eyes at the sight of Nanyoung already thoroughly soaked.

Nanyoung tilted his head back and surrendered himself as Sim Eung washed his hair.

“…Uncle always wished for the private soldiers of the merit subjects to be disbanded, did he not?”

“Yes. He did.”

“And he greatly disliked the merit subjects.”

Could it be called merely dislike. It was beyond that. Sim Eung thought for a moment, then chose silence. Nanyoung would know what his silence meant.

“If he dislikes them, would he also dislike those who are swayed by them?”

“Young master. Why do you suddenly ask such a thing? This humble servant feels uneasy for some reason.”

Sim Eung spoke in a sulky tone. Just as Nanyoung understood what his eunuch’s silence signified, Sim Eung, too, had roughly guessed the meaning of Nanyoung’s words. That it was about his uncle.

“No. I was simply curious.”

To reassure the eunuch who had raised him from childhood and whose hair was already half-white, Nanyoung smoothed it over with a smile.

“To what extent a person dislikes things related to what they hate, that was what I was curious about. Rest easy, Sim Eung.”

But Sim Eung cannot rest easy at all.

He wishes to probe further, but Nanyoung’s lips are firmly sealed. He knows that set of the mouth. It is stubborn, and once resolved, it will not open.

Sim Eung could only hope that Nanyoung would consider his weak body and take on only as much as he could bear.

∞ ∞ ∞

Taerok is rolling a scent pouch in his hand.

The flickering oil lamp illuminates his face from side to side.

“Saon.”

From across Taerok, Saon, his face flushed bright red and trying somehow to endure his intoxication, answered, “Yes.” That voice was exceedingly rough.

Saon had injured his throat when Min Nanok had not yet left.

They had just arrived in a foreign land. It was a country with a vast, very dry climate, much blowing sand, and a red moon that rose. Just before leaving, Min Nanok had confessed everything to his father. Min Gwiong had nearly collapsed, and after that, he could not utter a peep before Taerok.

Coming to the foreign land was, in effect, giving the old man a moment to catch his breath. But it seemed Min Gwiong’s in-laws were not of the same mind. Or perhaps Min Gwiong himself had orchestrated the matter.

In that foreign land, a beggar had tried to attack Taerok, and Saon, who happened to be guarding his side, took the blow in his place. If Taerok had not grabbed Saon by the scruff of his neck and yanked him back, his throat would have been slit completely and deeply. Saon would not be here either.

There was strong suspicion but no material evidence. The less material evidence there was, the stronger and deeper the suspicion could only grow. Saon’s hatred for the merit subjects grew even greater, and Taerok… as always, his innermost thoughts were unreadable.

Just like now.

“You wish for me to ascend the throne, do you not?”

Saon, who had been sitting with half-closed eyes in a face red as a jujube, hurriedly fell to his knees. Then he bowed his waist repeatedly.

“As a lowly and humble servant, I merely wish for whatever Lord desires to be accomplished.”

“What does it mean to wish.”

“It would be the direction in which Lord is looking. Whatever lies at the end of it, I shall follow Lord.”

Taerok squeezed the scent pouch tightly. The fragrance flowed out thickly. It was clearly the same scent that emanated from his own body, yet the scent that Lee Nanyoung had left behind, though the ingredients were the same and the method would be the same, left a different fragrance. Just as he had taught him in his own way, yet the results were always different.

He poured liquor into Saon’s cup. It overflowed and soaked Saon’s hand. Drinking it, Saon became completely drunk.

“I do not know well. What I should believe in.”

“L-Lord.”

Though his body was drunk, Saon, not wishing even his mind to become drunk, barely maintained his reason. He hiccuped in the process.

“I-I have always c-considered L-Lord’s intu-ition to be the m-most accurate.”

“It is coincidence. And do not trust intuition. You are a scholar-official.”

“If one is a sch-scholar-official, one m-must believe what one s-sees.”

Saon pressed his lips firmly with the back of his hand. Even so, his hiccups did not easily stop.

“Wh-what I have seen is that L-Lord has always been r-right.”

At those confident words, Taerok gave a derisive laugh. He tossed the burst scent pouch onto the small desk.

“Do you believe that what I am doing is truly right.”

Was it a mutter to himself, or a question.

“You must not take that back later.”

What was he planning to do.

Whether it was right or wrong.

Saon called out to Taerok, who was passing him by, in a stunned voice.

“Lord…”

“Go back as you are, do not show your wife your drunken state, and sleep before you leave. I will tell them to prepare a room.”

“Wh-where are you going?”

“To confirm what it is I want to see.”

To see, and to confirm what to believe in.

There is no hesitation in Lee Taerok’s departing steps.

Whatever lies at the end of it, whatever he may end up doing at that end, those steps will surely never change.

Taerok headed for the back gate of Nanyoung’s princely residence. One servant, having just returned from the outhouse, happened to be in the servants’ courtyard. For Taerok, it was fortunate that a servant was out, as if it had been prepared.

In truth, even without such luck, it would not have mattered. He could simply scale the wall.

The gate shook roughly, and the servant who had just relieved himself nearly soiled himself anew. It was a relief he had emptied his bladder beforehand. The servant, his legs trembling uncontrollably, barely managed to approach the gate. The gate bar rattled. The servant held the bar and, shivering, asked.

“Wh-who is it?”

“I am Lee Taerok, the uncle of Grand Prince Heonui.”

If Taerok had given the Grand Prince’s title, it would have been less startling, but he spoke his own name. At suddenly hearing the Grand Prince’s name, the servant literally jumped.

Before he could even think, he opened the gate.

A strong wind blew just then. As the gate burst open, the servant struck his forehead against the heavy wooden gate. Seeing him clutching his face with a groan, Taerok passed by with a light laugh.

“Thanks to you, I have entered comfortably.”

The servant could not confirm Taerok’s appearance. Even if he had looked, he would have had no way of distinguishing whether he was truly the uncle of Grand Prince Heonui, but still, all the servant could see was Taerok’s back view.

Taerok, like Nanyoung, was wearing a white jeogori, a white outer coat, and a white inner robe. It was because they were in mourning. However, unlike Nanyoung, the white clothes did not make him appear sorrowful, but rather made him look like a goblin that had descended from the mountains in human form in the dark of night.

“I-I couldn’t have seen a ghost, could I.”

The servant muttered blankly. Seeing as his forehead hurt so much, it was not a dream, yet it felt like a dream.

The servant fled back to the servants’ quarters. As if he knew nothing of what was happening now.