Struggle Chapter 58

The layout of Nanyoung’s princely residence was similar to Taerok’s. And so, Taerok could find where Nanyoung was without difficulty.

Had he been told that he had taken only the minimum staff allotted to a Grand Prince and come out? Perhaps because of that, it was extremely quiet. It was already a dark night, so all was dark except for a few rooms in the servants’ quarters and, perhaps, the place where the guards would stay. This became more certain the closer he got to the guest quarters.

Only the main guest room was dimly lit.

Having washed late due to being lost in thought, Nanyoung was still awake with his hair not even fully dry. The bedding was spread out, but he had no desire to lie down. Even if he did, he would not have been able to fall asleep. With his ears in such a state, Nanyoung could not hear the sound of Taerok approaching.

Taerok walked without particular caution. He did not act like a man who had opened the back gate without the owner’s permission, but like a robber who had brazenly forced his way in. He removed his shoes on the stepping stone and stepped up onto the wooden floor. Instead of entering the inner main guest quarters directly, he settled at the railing that would be right above the spot where Nanyoung had been hiding in his own residence. He stood leaning his body against the railing.

He gazed quietly at Nanyoung’s shadow. He hasn’t put up his topknot. Taerok slowly rubbed his chin.

And then he called Nanyoung.

“Young master.”

Nanyoung thought he was hearing things. When he turned his head sharply toward the direction of the sound, there was only darkness. If it had been daytime, there would at least have been a shadow, but now it was the pitch-black of night.

“For eavesdropping in secret, a night like this is best.”

Yet the auditory hallucination persisted.

It was Taerok’s voice. Even the manner of speech was the same as his.

Nanyoung could not move a muscle.

“If you were going to hide and do something wicked, you should have erased even your scent before coming. Is it because you were raised too indulgently, too preciously? Is it because I never taught you how to crawl in like a little rat.”

“…Uncle?”

Nanyoung quietly called to Taerok.

He who had been so bold before Suhwan, who had openly threatened him asking if he was committing perversion with his uncle, was now utterly tense before Taerok, who had not a single threatening tone.

“You came to my house and left without seeing me, so I came in person.”

“…”

He had known because of the scent. Nanyoung bit his lip. It was something he had not even considered. The scent infused in his clothes, the scent used when washing—he had grown so accustomed to them that he had not even known such traces remained on his body.

“…Did you give me those scents keeping even that in mind?”

“That is not it. I did not know Young master would sneak into my house.”

“It was you, Uncle, who told me to come and go as I pleased without asking permission.”

“No. When crossing the main gate, you must ask permission. What I spoke of was after crossing the main gate.”

Taerok rose from the railing and approached the door. That presence alone could be felt. Nanyoung unknowingly moved toward it. Crawling on his knees, he approached and stopped only when he was close enough that if he reached out his arm, his fingertips would touch the door.

“The only one who can cross the main gate without permission is my wife.”

“…”

“I have no wife, and I am somewhat curious whether Young master covets that role.”

Nanyoung bit his lip tightly. And he glared at wherever Taerok might be beyond the door, though he could not see him.

“I also have something I am curious about. I am very curious whether Uncle covets that role, when His Majesty the King exists.”

“I believe I asked first.”

“If we are to weigh importance, is my question not the more important one?”

“Hmm…”

As Taerok drawled with an odd smile, Nanyoung clenched his fists. A grim determination to hear an answer by any means necessary settled over his trembling body.

“It is not as a nephew asking his uncle.”

“…”

“I must hear an answer as the younger brother of His Majesty the King.”

Unlike Nanyoung, Taerok could see Nanyoung beyond the door lattice. It was because his shadow was visible.

Taerok reached out his hand and tapped the door. Tap, tap. At that sound, Nanyoung flinched.

“If so?”

“Uncle…!”

Because the tone was so utterly casual, Nanyoung let out a choked, groaning voice.

“Why, how could you such…!”

“I once told you a story about monsters, did I not.”

“Uncle! This is not the time for such talk!”

“No. It must be now. I am a monster, Young master. I believe that even if they are blood kin, if I am stronger, it is only right to devour them.”

“How… how can you. Wearing the skin of a person, you cannot do such a thing…”

“Because I am human? Because I am a loyal subject?”

Taerok asked mockingly.

Before he knew it, Nanyoung was pressed right up against the door. He pressed his forehead against the door lattice and closed his eyes in agony.

“Please… do not do this.”

Taerok bent his knees to match Nanyoung’s shadow.

“A tone as if you know that I could accomplish it if I only set my mind to it.”

“…”

“Nanyoung, you knew that your uncle does not merely go hunting.”

“…”

“Since when?”

Nanyoung answered in a voice like a dry sob.

“…I looked into the places where Uncle said he often stayed overnight. They were all places unsuitable as hunting grounds. Yet when you returned, your quiver was always empty.”

Taerok gave a small laugh. It was a smile so warm one might mistake the content of the conversation.

“Is not having the ability to do something yet not doing it as foolish as letting a sack of grain rot, Young master.”

“Is not having the ability to do something yet not doing it the humility of a scholar, Uncle.”

Taerok placed his hand on the spot corresponding to where Nanyoung was pressing his hand. It amply covered Nanyoung’s hand shadow and more.

“But you are not particularly on close terms with your brother, are you. Surely you don’t think I would harm even you. Do you wish to save him, even though you are not that intimate with your brother?”

Taerok spoke as if he could easily kill the king, and Nanyoung, too, believed that if he set his mind to it, it was possible.

And as he said, he was not on very close terms with his brother. But…

“It is not that I dislike him. That is not it…!”

But that did not mean he disliked his brother.

“The king has no interest in you, Nanyoung.”

Taerok whispered like Mara tempting the Buddha.

“It does not matter. I merely do what is right. Since doing what is right is a promise to myself… even if the other does not regard me, I wish to stop Uncle in order to keep myself. I wish Uncle would not do such a thing…”

“Then shall I not do it, Nanyoung.”

“…Do not do it. Do not do it, Uncle…”

“But Young master is too weak to stop me. What to do.”

Nanyoung quietly dropped a tear.

He thought of his kind brother. He thought of his father, who had been even kinder.

“What must I do?”

Taerok clicked his tongue. The sound, “Tsk,” was heard from beyond the door. That sound lashed across Nanyoung’s spine like a willow switch.

“Well. I am one who possesses everything except the throne, so I lack for nothing. Young master might, perhaps, remove your clothes.”

“My clothes?”

Nanyoung turned pale.

“Yes. Because that is the only thing Young master possesses that I have not had. Surely you did not speak of stopping me or not without having prepared yourself for at least that much.”

“…”

Taerok drew near. Then he wrapped his arm around Nanyoung’s waist and pulled him close. His hand narrowly grazed his buttocks.

“Besides, is it not a fine thing, as you even gain the justification of doing it for His Majesty the King?”

“Do not speak as if this is something I desire.”

“Is it not?”

Nanyoung bit his lip and glared at Taerok. Lies.

Uncle is a liar. A skilled swindler. Uncle is a worse person than the thugs of the marketplace. And you are still a coward.

Taerok looked toward the opposite room. In the room that had been dark and quiet until just moments ago, a presence stirred. Was it Sim Eung.

Taerok removed his hand from where he had been toying with Nanyoung’s hand beyond the paper door. He also rose to his feet entirely.

“I have hidden nothing from you. I did not even scold you for doing something like eavesdropping in secret. I have been sufficiently lenient, so the rest is up to you.”

“…”

“If you wish to take away what I want, you must give something greater in return. When you have made up your mind, come find me, Young master. Even if you are not my wife, I shall forgive you for not asking permission to cross the main gate. But if you intend merely to wheedle half-heartedly… it would be better to pretend you did not hear. For I do not wish to harm even you.”

And Taerok left.