For two weeks, things remained quiet. The King rarely visited him, but that wasn’t so different from before they had left for Wolgwang City. Even so, it was easy to revert to old habits from their trip together. Whenever Min-jun walked through the gardens, he’d look past his shoulder to see the King. And when he sat down to eat, a part of him expected to be joined by the King as well, and then to be relentlessly teased by him. But there was no one there except the maids and Mai.
How very relaxing.
Min-jun laid on his back, a book opened up above his head. When he had worked in the brothel, Mother would spend hours drilling his head with all the classics, and his birth mother only ever bought him technical books on criminal theory. It made sense, then, that when he was left to his own devices, he most often turned to mystery novels written in hangul, the language of the common people.
“Oh, come now, Jun,” he whispered to himself. “Don’t go in the room.”
He turned the page, and sure enough, Jun went into the room. Min-jun clicked his tongue at the fictional detective. Amateur. You had to pick your battles in the world of crime.
“Your Highness,” Jeong-eun said, bowing low. “Young Lady Mai is here.”
They weren’t sure what title to give the girl Min-jun had taken under his wing, but settled on ‘Agasshi’, Young Lady, as she was to be served as any noble lady would be.
Min-jun sat up, crossing his legs. His room was bright with the late morning sunlight, the windows left open to let in the crisp autumn breeze. He put the book in his hands aside. “Let her in.”
Jeong-eun bowed again and retreated. “Right away, Your Highness.”
She opened the doors, and spoke in hushed tones. A moment later, Mai stepped into the room, dressed in clothes befitting the daughter of a King: A yellow and magenta hanbok that had white flowers embroidered on the collar. Not that they’d spoken on that matter. Oh dear, if Min-jun killed the King, would that mean he caused the death of both of Mai’s adoptive fathers?
He shook his head of the thought.
“I see the King has taken to spoiling you,” Min-jun told her, eyeing the jeweled hairpin on top of her parted hair. Mai covered the pin with her hand, blushing slightly.
“I told him I didn’t need anything more.”
Min-jun laughed. “Don’t bother. Once the King’s decided on something, he’ll never let it go. How goes your embroidery?”
Mai lifted up her hands. Dozens of little pinpricks stained her fingers. “Not very well.”
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.
Min-jun inspected her hands. It reminded him of when Mother had forced him to embroider. His fingers hurt at just the thought of sitting on that cold floor, surrounded by embroidery hoops and canvases, floss sticking to his clothes. Being a commoner and a man, he’d never had to learn anything like that. Mother had to teach him everything anew. And how the flat side of her stick had stung against the palm of his hand. A warning for him to move faster. Su-jin had gotten a hang of it faster than he had.
“Qf rtbeiv kgjq sbeg tjcvr,” tf abiv Zjl. Qlat j ufraegf bo tlr tjcv, tf wbalbcfv obg bcf bo atf wjlvr yftlcv Afbcu-fec ab afcv ab tfg tjcvr. “Ccv tbk jybea sbe ajxf j ygfjx ogbw jii atfrf mgjoar. Vtjii kf ajxf j aglq ab atf ilygjgs?”
Zjl gfrafv tfg tjcvr lc tfg ijq, yecmtlcu eq atf ojyglm bo tfg rxlga. “P vbc’a kjccj ub klat sbe.”
“Young Lady!” Jeong-eun protested, appalled. “Respect your elders.”
“It’s alright, Jeong-eun.” Min-jun lifted a hand to stop her complaints. “Would you prefer if one of the servants took you?”
Mai nodded, silent after Jeong-eun’s scolding.
“Jeong-eun, ask Hae-ra to take her. After an early lunch, perhaps.”
Jeong-eun conceded, lowering her head. “We will notify the royal kitchen.”
“Thank you,” Min-jun said, as Jeong-eun walked to the door. He tilted his head at Mai, who still had her lips pursed as the maid wrapped her hands in bandage. Not enough, apparently. He arched a brow, remembering the way his father would look at him whenever Min-jun was feeling particularly stubborn.
With much reluctance, Mai finally uttered a quiet, “thank you.”
Good.
Mai’s eyes fell on the book Min-jun had placed on the lacquered table, just as the maid finished wrapping her hands. “Isn’t that a hangul novel?”
“Yes, it’s quite good.” Min-jun put his palm to the cover of the book, the paper smooth beneath his fingers. “Though I don’t agree with all their methods, and the protagonist can be rather irritating. Would you like to read it?”
Mai crossed her arms, tilting her chin up high. “Mother said we shouldn’t read such things.”
Min-jun rolled his eyes. “Oh, Mother and all her stupid rules. She’s not here now, so we can read whatever we’d like.” He brought the book closer to himself. “Not this one though. I’m still reading it.”
“Which one should I read then?”
“Hmmm,” Min-jun hummed, resting his elbows on the table. “There’s a few older editions on the shelf behind me if you’d like to take a look. Then again, they’re quite gruesome. You might get scared.”
“I don’t mind.” She stood up to the challenge, crossing the room to the bookshelf behind Min-jun. Carefully, she pulled out one of the older books. One of Min-jun’s favorites: a group of men all trapped on the same boat. Of course, one of those men was the killer. How he’d devoured that story when he first read it as a child. He’d bought it with all his spare money. His parents had both taken turns reading it as well, wanting to see what had held their son captive for several days. His father had never seen the appeal, but his mother quickly became as much a fan as he was. She was a loud reader, always screaming at the pages. They still insisted on having him pay for all the subsequent novels in the series. Something about building good money-spending habits.
The memory tightened its grip on Min-jun’s heart, squeezing. He clenched his hands as if he were trying to keep the pieces together.
“There’s a stain,” Mai said. She turned the volume over to show him the light-colored stain on the edge of the paper.
Min-jun took the volume from her. Tea. His mother had once spilled it onto the pages. He’d been so angry with her, but then she made up some stupid joke, and he was laughing his lungs out the next moment. What had it been again?
“My mother spilled her tea over it years ago,” Min-jun said, returning the worn book to Mai. “Don’t worry, the text is still in good condition.”
Mai hugged the book to her chest. “What will you do if the King does not let you stay here?”
“Figure out another way.” They need not be detailed, for fear of alerting the servants. “I can’t disobey his orders, after all.”
Her anxiety was clearer now, as she curled in on herself. Of course, it was only natural she would be concerned. “And what about me?”
Min-jun couldn’t be sure. The King was fond of Mai, but it was just as likely he only tolerated her for Min-jun’s sake. And who knew what he’d do to Min-jun. All of the petitions simply called for his exile, but the King would likely view him as a threat. Perhaps, he’d finally draw his sword against Min-jun. The memory of the assassin’s cold and tortured body resurfaced, the stab wounds a vivid deep red. Min-jun clutched a hand to his frantic heart. He’d been fooled by the King’s gentle facade, his pretty words, his sweet caresses. Those were the hands of an evil man, and they were bloodstained. And Min-jun was completely at his mercy. Whether he lived or died, was exiled or tortured, depended on him.
“Let us not think of it for now,” Min-jun told her. “I cannot know what the King is thinking, but until further notice, let us hope for the best.”
A knock drew their attention to the doors.
“Speak,” Min-jun said. Perhaps the food was here.
“Your Highness.” Sun. That meant it was urgent. “The scholars from the Royal Academy are marching on the Throne Hall.”
“What?” Min-jun hissed. He rose from his spot behind the table abruptly and crossed the room to the doors, pushing them aside. “What do you mean?”
“They’ve staged a wailing protest.”
Must they go so far? Min-jun stood in the doorway, his hands gripping either side of the frame. One of them dropped to run through his hair. Sun stood outside the room with a blank expression on his face.
What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? How am I to convince you to keep me in the face of such adversity, Your Majesty?
But the King couldn’t give him the answers now when they were so far apart. No, even without the King’s support, Min-jun still had Mother’s teachings to guide him. He knew how to entertain, how to capture someone’s attention and keep it there, hostage.
First, he needed to calm down. He straightened, clasping his hands in front of him like a proper consort.
“How far are they?”
“Apparently, they just left.”
“I see.” Min-jun glanced back over his shoulder. Mai stood there, shock-still and clutching that book. How frightened she looked. It tugged on his heart. He didn’t want her to be so scared of anything ever again. “Let’s have lunch first. I will deal with them after.”
“Lunch first?” Jeong-eun asked, appearing behind Sun. “Are you sure, Your Highness.”
Min-jun smiled, and he hoped his cheerful mood would calm the rest of them down. “Of course. I can’t face a crowd of people trying to send me into exile on an empty stomach.” He turned to Chae-won. “Prepare my best outfits. Something delicate and gentle on the eyes. Perhaps something in blue. But not too extravagant.”
She nodded firmly, determination in her gaze.
“Jeong-eun, do you know when the food will be here?”
“It should reach us in ten minutes.”
“Good.” Now all they had to do was wait. Oh, and Min-jun really should finalize a plan of action. He’d been wondering about it often in the late hours of the night when he had nothing else to do but listen to his own thoughts. Truly, without knowing about the personalities of his opponents, he couldn’t be sure of anything. But perhaps, perhaps, if they were prideful enough, they would accept what he had in mind.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment down below. Let me know what you liked about it!
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
Thanks for commenting!
Pompous court officials causing trouble -_- Cheol start cleaning up your court already
Thank you for chapter
I’m kind of excited to see what he’s going to do. We see a lot of his vulnerable side when he’s with the king, but he sounds pretty confident now.
Min-jun undervalue himself so much 🥺🥺