Min-jun awoke the next day in the King’s chambers with a note resting on a copy of the newest installment in a mystery series he’d been reading. Besides the note was a blooming rose. Its petals were a deep indigo hue that Min-jun had never seen before. It would seem that they were going to make a routine of this. Min-jun took the note and the rose and rolled onto his back. The petals were soft against his skin. Holding the note at arm’s length, he read to himself.
“My love,
Did you sleep well? The weather has turned for the worse again, but I suppose that will not keep you from going wherever you wish to. At least take an umbrella with you and don’t wander around in the rain too much. In other news, I feel as if I will have to beg for your forgiveness. I have called the royal physician to examine you. Do not scare him too much, please.’
As if on cue, one of the court ladies entered the chambers. It was the same one that had greeted him yesterday. He never asked her for her name. She kept her eyes down as she approached him. Her arms were full of turquoise silk.
“The Royal Physician has come to see you, Your Highness,” she said, as she set the robes down next to his bed.
“Turn him away.”
“I cannot do so,” she replied. “It is the King’s orders that you be seen to.”
“The King will be reasoned with later.”
The court lady frowned, unmoved. If Min-jun took his role as consort more seriously, he would’ve been offended by that gesture. “With all due respect Your Highness, not all of us have the luxury to wait for the King to be reasoned with.”
“Pardon?”
She bowed her head. “Please do as the King suggests for our sakes as well.”
“Did he tell you to say that?” Min-jun asked as the court lady rose to her feet.
“Most of us do not have to be told that it’s best to follow the King’s orders. The thought of a sword’s blade on our necks is enough to convince us.”
Heh? They’re talking about him like he’s some tyrant. Certainly, there was no denying the King could be quite frightening when he wanted to be. Cruel as the Earth that had given him his Gift. But he did not threaten innocents. He cried for them.
Min-jun relented. He didn’t want the servants to panic. “Very well, but tell him to make it quick.”
The maid walked out of the room. She did not rush the way some of the other servants tended to do. She carried herself with the grace and poise of a noble lady. Perhaps she had been, once.
Dr. Myeong-suk entered the room with a nervous look on his face, carrying his bag of medical supplies. He bowed in front of Min-jun.
“Your Highness.”
Min-jun rolled his eyes. “Get on with it already.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Dr. Myeong-suk sat down beside him on the floor. “His Majesty said that your body temperature fell dramatically last night for no apparent reason.”
Was that what this was all about? How ridiculous!
“I do not see how that could be cause for concern.”
“His Majesty values your health to the utmost degree, Your Highness. It is best to catch any complications before they get out of hand.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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What if he really was ill?
Dr. Myeong-suk continued his examination, Min-jun simply following the motions because he was too busy catastrophizing. What if he was ill? The King would be devastated . . .
“Your Highness, it seems that you are experiencing side effects from the snow peony poison,” Dr. Myeong-suk said.
“What?” He’d never heard of any side effects before. The antidote should’ve gotten rid of any little traces of the poison inside of him.
Dr. Myeong-suk packed up his tools. “It’s so rare for someone to recover from snow peony poison that no one is sure what the side effects could be. But seeing as you only recently recovered and the side effects mimic the symptoms of the poison . . . it’s likely that this is due to that.”
“Wh-what are the symptoms then?” Min-jun asked, a small tremble in his hands. He couldn’t be ill. He still had to take care of Su-jin, find out who was the true murderer of his parents, finish that novel series, and drag Hye-jin through the mud. There was so much to do still! And another thing! It wasn’t difficult to imagine how insufferable the King would be if he found out Min-jun was sick. He’d never leave Min-jun’s side!
Damn, he should be more annoyed with that last bit than he was. That foolish King was making a mess of Min-jun’s careful mind.
“Well, lowered body temperature mostly. Cold flashes. We will continue to monitor the illness and create a medicine to counter some of the symptoms. In the meantime.” The doctor curled a finger under his chin. “It seems that body contact helps improve your condition.”
“What?” Min-jun asked, raising a brow.
The doctor blinked. “Isn’t that how the King helped bring your temperature back up during last night’s cold spell?”
Min-jun’s words from the other night returned to him. “Hold me, please?”
“Well . . . that is to say . . .” Min-jun could not get the words out. What could he say, after all? It was all true. How ridiculous it sounded! He’d have to ask the King to embrace him everytime he’s cold! Well, at least he’d have a good reason to do so. It wasn’t that he wanted (though he did) to be held by him, it was that he had to. After all, there was no one else who would be allowed to embrace a consort of the King.
Outside, there were chants of the King’s title, followed by footsteps making their way toward them. The silhouette danced across the curtain. The fabric parted and the King appeared in his scarlet robes, crown abandoned somewhere.
“It seems you behaved yourself,” the King quipped. “Seeing as the doctor is not in tears.”
“I’ve never brought anyone to tears before,” Min-jun mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child.
The King asked the physician about Min-jun’s condition, and in return Dr. Myeong-suk spared no details, even going so far as to tell the King about the whole ‘physical contact’ bit. Min-jun watched in horror as the doctor recounted Min-jun’s newfound reliance on the body heat of another being. On the other hand, the King seemed all too interested in that bit.
“I see,” the King said, eyes dipping to Min-jun’s figure. Ah, he was still in his nightclothes! Min-jun suddenly felt rather bare under the King’s intense gaze. He brought the blanket closer to him, pouting all the while. “Is there any chance the illness will progress?”
“That remains to be seen,” said Dr. Myeong-suk, though Min-jun did not doubt he felt pressured to give the King the best possible diagnosis. “I fear it might . . . well, it’s unlikely, but the cold spells might grow worse with time. Hypothermia might occur. Worst case scenario, His Highness might slip into a coma again.”
The King’s jaw tightened for a second, in anger or fear, Min-jun couldn’t tell, because the King quickly regained his composure. The doctor shrunk back at the sight, his shoulders drooping.
“Thank you, Doctor Myeong-suk. I hope for all our sakes that the medicine you’re working on will help us avoid such a fate.”
It was a veiled threat, Min-jun realized, as the doctor shakily assured the King that the medicine would surely work. Min-jun couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Threatening the doctor wouldn’t get them anywhere. It wasn’t the doctor’s fault Min-jun was like this, after all. It was Hye-jin’s.
The King sat down next to Min-jun once the doctor left with hasty apologies. What he was apologizing for, Min-jun did not know, nor did he have much time to ponder it, as the King brought him closer.
“How are you faring, my love?” the King asked, taking Min-jun’s hands in his. His thumb brushed over Min-jun’s knuckles.
“Fine,” Min-jun said. For a moment he stared at their joined hands, and then, deciding he did not like the feeling it gave him, he withdrew from the King, reaching for the basin the court lady had left behind. He’d skipped his beauty routine yesterday and now his skin felt improperly cleansed. What sort of person just used water? He glanced over his shoulder toward the King and his blemishless skin. Did he really not use anything to keep it that way? Life was truly unfair.
“You told me not to scare the poor doctor,” Min-jun started, pooling the water in his palms. “It seems you are a hypocrite, seeing how you threatened him.”
“I’m the King, people will fear me regardless of how I act. I might as well use it to my advantage it matters like these. Fear can be a powerful motivator when used correctly,” the King said. “You are an exception to the rule, my love. You do not cower in front of anyone.”
Not true. There was one person he cowered in front of.
Min-jun splashed the water onto his face, letting it drip down past his chin. As he dabbed (not rubbed) his face dry with a clean towel, the King wrapped his arms around his middle.
“What are you doing?” Min-jun asked as the King propped his chin up on Min-jun’s shoulder.
“Offering comfort.” The King’s arms tightened around Min-jun, bringing him closer. “The physician said that physical contact will help mitigate the symptoms.”
“Yes, during a cold spell.” Min-jun shrugged him off. “I’m perfectly fine right now, so there’s no need for this.”
“Hmm, cruel as ever.” The King sighed as he lay down on the bed. “I suppose this is my fault as well, considering it’s due to the snow peony poison. Do not worry, I will spare no expense in finding the right treatment –”
Min-jun watched him out of the corner of his eye all the while. Something like frustration lit up inside him. He dipped down to lay his head against the King’s chest, lying on his side with one palm smoothing the creases of the King’s robes.
“The fault does not lie with you in that case,” Min-jun mumbled, as the King ran a hand through Min-jun’s inky hair. “Hye-jin acted of her own accord, after all. Your only crime was not punishing her afterward, but even I can’t blame you for that. If someone accused the one closest to me, I would also hate to punish her.”
The King’s hand paused near the nape of Min-jun’s neck, his fingers tangling in Min-jun’s hair. “Her?”
Shit! Su-jin had been on his mind since the doctor had arrived. How could he let something like that slip out? Goodness, ever since the King had confessed, Min-jun’s guard had been completely lowered. This was what he got for trying to be nice and lightening the King’s burden. His own words being thrown back at him mercilessly!
Min-jun raised his head to look at the King. “I was simply referring to you and Hye-jin. She is the one most precious to you, after all.”
The King chuckled, tucking Min-jun’s hair behind his ear. “You lie so terribly, my love. You are the one most precious to me, and you know it all too well now. Though, I suppose Hye-jin would still know me better –”
Min-jun scoffed at that, rolling his eyes as he sat up, straddling the King’s waist. “That’s doubtful.”
There were hands on his hips now, and a King that looked at him as if Min-jun held his whole heart in the palm of his hand. “Very well, I agree.”
Min-jun tapped the King’s chin with his fingertip. “As you should.”
“But you’re still lying to me,” the King said. Min-jun couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but that inquisitive gaze nearly wrung the answers out of him. He sat up straight, and the King followed him, until Min-jun was sitting on the King’s lap. There was a ring on the King’s finger.
“A gift from your future Queen?” Min-jun asked. The ring slid off as if it were just a fraction too large. It was a bit boring with little ornamentation, though the jade was beautifully polished and bright green. “It’s ugly.”
“Avoiding the question, are we?”
Min-jun threw the King’s ring across the room, putting on the act of a jilted wife. It rolled in circles for a moment and then clattered to a stop. “It’s rude to wear another woman’s gifts while you’re with your lover, you know.”
“Min-jun.”
So pushy. The King usually wasn’t like this. Why did he want to know so much? The King always seemed to have a reason for what he did. What did he see in Min-jun’s relationship with Su-jin that made him so curious? What good would telling him about Su-jin do? What harm would it do?
Min-jun pursed his lips as if to keep the words at bay a moment longer. And then, they all spilled out.
“Her name is Su-jin.” Min-jun could not face the King as he said those words. It felt like a sacrilege to be saying them at all. The Min-jun from just a few months ago would’ve never dreamed of confessing this to the King. He never would’ve imagined that the King was his first love. “She’s my oldest friend.”
“Is she –”
Min-jun shook his head, his heart skipping a beat at the very thought. He did not know what he would do if Su-jin passed away. Death seemed too easy of an escape for the likes of him. “She’s alive.”
“And you’ve never even brought her up?” the King said, a keen interest on his handsome face. “You should introduce us, my love.”
“She lives far from here.” Min-jun rubbed the inside of his thumb, nervously. It felt cathartic, however, to finally tell the King, who listened so attentively and with such a loving gaze. Min-jun wanted to tell him everything. Slow down. “And she’s too frail to travel.”
“Is she ill?”
Min-jun drew in a shaky breath, remembering years of watching Su-jin’s illness get worse and worse. He’d watched as she was confined to her home, and as she coughed up red clots of blood into her napkin. Recently, fainting spells and seizures had also become more frequent. Her life was supported by the fraying lifeline that Mother provided them. A lifeline that was entirely dependent on how well Min-jun did what he was told. Including this mission.
But could the King change all of that?
Even if he were the killer of Min-jun’s parents, which Min-jun wanted to believe he wasn’t, the King still remained, at the end of the day, a powerful man who loved Min-jun passionately. He would let Su-jin stay at the Palace. He’d keep her safe and have all the best physicians tend to her and give her every luxury Min-jun never could. In return, he would only ask for Min-jun to stay by his side. A fair exchange, certainly. And Min-jun knew the two of them would get along. The King’s laidback attitude with Su-jin’s kindness . . . they’d become fast friends. Maybe even bond over their shared love of gardening.
And all Min-jun would have to do? Not even love the King, but simply to be near him as his consort. The King would never ask more of him than Min-jun was willing to give.
And isn’t that what you’d always wanted? Su-jin’s happiness secured . . . so what was he waiting for? Tell him. Tell him. Let him help you fight this monster. She forced you to endure all those nights in the brothel, she pitted you against your first love, she ruined everything. What has she given you in return? A broken heart? You can mend it together. No one ever slays a beast alone.
Fool. What makes you think the King will help? Mother has eyes everywhere. She might even be looking at you right now. There is only one way to free yourself. This one last act. Kill him.
“I can’t,” he hissed. He had that same feeling in his chest now. Like someone was sitting on his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. His hands clutched his head, nails biting into his scalp.
“Min-jun, love,” the King’s voice somehow managed to break through his panic.
“I can’t,” he repeated, as the King caressed his cheek. “I don’t know what to do.”
And instead of pushing him, demanding he give him answers, asking why he’d suddenly become so terrified, the King kisses him on the forehead. “I’m sorry, my love. I should’ve known the subject might be a painful one to talk about. Let us leave this discussion for another time. You go and get ready, and I’ll ask Head Eunuch Choi to fetch our breakfast.”
Min-jun nodded, unable to speak still, as he buried his face in his hands.
Little did he know, His Majesty was carefully keeping his fury just below the surface.
A/N: I got carried away with this chapter lolol. I hope you enjoy a bit of a longer update. If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment down below! Thank you for reading!
Loving the longer update! It must be what I was waiting up for lol . Poor Min-jun – it looks like he’s spoiled with a life he didn’t earn when really he’s suffering torment he did nothing to deserve 😢. It’s encouraging that Cheol got him to talk about Su-jin. He’s probably right to be afraid revealing his ties to Mother. The King has the power to stop anyone in his kingdom, but they’d have to find her first. And Cheol thinks of her like an aunt, doesn’t he?
I’m glad you liked the longer update! Min-jun loves a life of luxury but his past will always follow him wherever he goes unfortunately. Mother really does have eyes everywhere and Min-jun’s been taught to be aware of that fact. thanks for commenting!
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️♥️
thanks for commenting!!!
Poor Min-Jun. Mother needs prolonged torture for all the pain she’s put Min-Jun through.
Hopefully Cheol’s fury is directed at Mother. More communication errors are not needed.
I’m glad everyone is seething with rage knowing what Mother did to our boy. Don’t worry, Cheol’s anger is entirely directed at Mother (though he doesn’t know it yet). thanks for commenting!
We need to kill them. How dare they make my min-jun suffer so much.
Min-jun needs to be wrapped up in a warm blanket with his favorite foods and mystery novels, while the rest of the cast goes out to hunt Mother.