Cheol arrived at the villa long after nightfall. A small army of court ladies and maids had gathered outside of Min-jun’s suite. Visitors had come to pay their respects. Rich ones.
He heard the wailing before he managed to even round the corner. The women turned to him as he approached and bowed deeply as he passed, clearing the way for him by huddling near the walls. He’d have to ask them to leave. His conversation with Min-jun would have to be for their ears only.
The doors parted, and the image of chaos itself appeared before him. Chaos and the sound of his plans being halted. Glass bottles strewn across the floor, empty plates scattered, and five intoxicated consorts lying in odd positions and wailing, no, singing off-key. Pillows and quilts had been laid out for them. Strange decorations hung off the lacquered furniture. Crumbs of food littered every surface, along with the occasional splash of alcohol.
At least they were getting along. A bit too much based on how they held onto one another.
“Your Majesty,” one of them called. Lady Jang In-hye, from the Se Jang clan, he noted. Her family owned much of the land in Sanho Province but had recently divided it up amidst their workers in an attempt to gain favor with Cheol. It was unfortunate that they hadn’t done this decades ago, but, as long as they were motivated, he didn’t care what provided the motivation.
In any case, he should probably get along with their chosen daughter. He had enough officials angry with him at this rate.
“Lady Jang In-hye,” he greeted, steadying her as she stumbled into his arms on drunken legs. “It seems you’re all having a splendid evening.”
“We were,” Min-jun said. He cradled a bottle next to his chest as he lay flat on the floor, more intoxicated than the rest.
“Then, I’ll be cutting it off now,” said Cheol. He turned to the maids, who watched with a keen interest in their wide eyes. “Ladies, please see Consort Eui, Consort Kwi, Consort Won, and Consort Hyon.”
Without uttering a word, representatives from each consort’s entourage walked in, heads hung in shame. Cheol didn’t mind his consorts entertaining themselves, since they couldn’t partake in other distractions, but being drunk silly endangered too many people. It put at risk their reputations and their healths, a price too high for the momentary pleasure of a drunken state. He hoped it wouldn’t become a habit.
He saw Min-jun’s maids come to tend to him, muttering apologies for his actions. “Don’t. I’ll take care of him. We have something to discuss.”
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.
“But he’s drunk, sir,” one of the court ladies said.
“Yeah . . . I’m . . . drunk,” Min-jun murmured, dropping his head on the court lady’s shoulder. How scandalous.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s safe. But, please go fetch the royal physician.”
Min-jun made a strange notice in protest, waving him away, though he hadn’t gotten nearer. “I don’t need a doctor.”
Doubtful. Cheol’s expression conveyed that much with just a lift of his eyebrow. He walked closer to Min-jun. The court lady pushed the ailing Min-jun away, running off to find a doctor. Cheol took him into his arms, brushing his hair out of his face. “You’re on highly concentrated pain medication. I suppose you hadn’t even considered the consequences of that, had you?”
Min-jun lifted his arm and waved him away again. “It’s fine. I’m –” He paused, hand hovering over his mouth. Oh, please do not vomit on me. Cheol had dealt with enough drunken nights from Sun back when the man still worked in fighting rings. He never did manage to scrub the smell of vomit from those clothes. Ended up burning them.
“Can you stand?” Cheol asked once Min-jun’s nausea spell passed.
“Do I look like I can stand?” Min-jun snapped back, his syllables slow and unsteady.
“Point taken.”
Cheol wrapped an arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders. In a surprising feat of obedience, Min-jun wrapped his own arms around Cheol’s neck. Slowly, he lifted him off the ground.
“I could snap your neck right now,” Min-jun whispered into the curve of his neck.
Homicidal tendencies. As he had suspected. He’d made the right call asking Ji-won to sift through all those deceased files. “I suppose.”
“Do you think they’d catch me?”
“Probably.”
They entered the bedroom, and Cheol gently laid him down on the mattress. A single lantern burned next to it, casting a dim, orange light on the two of them. Cheol covered Min-jun with the comforter, and then took his place on the floor beside him, looking down on the young consort who seemed hell-bent on hating him.
“Well?” Min-jun prompted.
“Well, what?”
“What are you going to do?”
The document felt heavy in his sleeve. A perfect moment to make use of it had arisen. Min-jun seemed to be an honest drunk, going by his neck-snapping comment from earlier. Perhaps, he could get a few answers out of him now.
Still, taking advantage of an innocent man while he was drunk went against all he stood for. If he wanted Min-jun to come clean, he should let his hatred die out on its own. He should let Min-jun come to him on his own. His anger might only be solidified by such a betrayal of trust.
“I see you’re not hiding your injury anymore,” Cheol said, taking the veined hand. “You shouldn’t trust people so easily. They’ll only use it against you.”
“It’ll be gone soon enough,” Min-jun said. He turned onto his side, facing away from Cheol.
It took a moment for the words to sink in. “Gone?”
Min-jun hummed in affirmation. “Gone.”
“As in?”
“Not sure yet.”
He’d seen many a murder plan, even plotted a few himself, and this felt like a plan to murder.
“Do you plan to kill him?”
Min-jun let out an indignant guffaw, sitting up in bed. “I can’t tell you that. I’m drunk, not stupid.” He collapsed back against the pillow, hand over his mouth.
“You seem stupidly drunk. Is this something you do often? Sneak around with my consorts getting them drunk?”
A loud sigh escaped his pink lips. “How lovely, they are. You’re too cruel, just as I’d expected, ignoring … your own wives. They’re already … here because of you. You might as well say a few words to them. Honestly, I might … might marry them myself if you don’t.”
“We’re already married.”
“Unfortunately.”
He was certainly talkative today.
In the distance, he heard the door slam shut and the beat of frantic footsteps against the wooden floor. It would appear that the doctor had arrived.
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
Thank you ❤❤
thank you 😭
lol here’s a tissue . thank you for commenting ❤
Sad and funny at the same time.
I do enjoy the combination of comedy and sadness within stories 😌. Thank you for commenting!