Chapter 9

He did not head outside as he had said. He spurred his horse toward Sogoksan, the mountain located within the Gyo General’s Household property. However, one side path of Sogoksan led to the village, and another side path led to the next village over, so it was difficult to fully trust his claim that he wouldn’t go outside.

There were few people in the world who knew the Goksan Gyo General’s Household as well as Gyo Yeon-oh. He knew the guards placed in every necessary spot of the Gyo General’s Household better than anyone. Even if he ran into a guard, a simple charming smile and calling out the person’s name would be enough to get away.

Steward Yeom watched Yeon-oh and the horse go with a bewildered expression.

“Did the elders scold him? Discussing an important matter without the person concerned present—is that going to be alright…?”

Just as Steward Yeom worried, Yeon-oh rode his horse to the village beyond the next one. He returned to the Gyo General’s Household only after evening had passed. Just as when he left, he returned via the side path of Sogoksan, avoiding the main gate of the Gyo General’s Household.

After returning to the Gyo General’s Household, he only put the horse back in its place and wandered everywhere. He spent hours lounging on a rock in the artificial garden before the rain started, prompting him to return to his building.

Most of the relatives who had visited the Gyo General’s Household had returned to the capital. Only a few of the older elders decided to stay at the Gyo General’s Household for an extended visit.

“It will be a little quieter tomorrow.”

Yeon-oh felt relieved that those whose presence made his head ache were gone. Just as he was preparing to sleep with a light heart,

Tock!

A sound of something hitting the silk pasted on the window echoed.

Tock, Tock.

It seemed that night had fallen and a fine rain had begun. Yeon-oh, who had initially mistaken it for the sound of rain, realized that it was not the sound of raindrops splashing, but a dull thud hitting the window.

Yeon-oh gently opened the window.

Through the gap, about a handspan wide, the straight line of a man’s neck was visible. The man approached the opened door with large steps.

A pair of smiling eyes came into view through the opening as he peered outside.

“Gyo Yeon-oh?”

The tall man bent his face down to look through the slightly opened door. His sharply defined, dark eyebrows were slightly curved. This was someone who should not be here.

“Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, who should have been in the Imperial Palace, was standing outside his building late at night, in the Gyo General’s Household.

“Open the door for me.”

Woo Seonjae spoke with an easy-going smile. Yeon-oh quickly stood up and opened the door. The outer door of the courtyard, across the garden, was firmly closed, just as Yeon-oh had left it.

“How did you get here…”

The man was alone.

“Are you still awake?”

The Emperor spoke with the familiarity of a friend from next door.

Yeon-oh was completely bewildered.

The man had visited Yeon-oh’s building when he came and went from the Gyo General’s Household, but not frequently. Furthermore, the place he knew to be the front of Yeon-oh’s building was much farther out than where they were now.

Like many old estates, the Gyo General’s Household had complex pathways. It was not a place one could easily master after only a few visits. Most importantly, if the entire Gyo General’s Household knew the Emperor was visiting, the entire household would have been turned upside down, yet the outside was too quiet.

A strong scent of alcohol emanated from the man.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Yes.”

Yeon-oh let Seonjae in, unconsciously peered outside, and quickly closed the door.

Seonjae looked around the room once and sat down with confidence at the table. True to a man born to power, he immediately found and occupied the seat of honor.

“How did you come here?”

Yeon-oh first poured warm water for the Emperor, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated. The man reached for the water cup but instantly withdrew his hand.

“I don’t like hot things.”

The man, who had been smiling brightly as if he knew no worries, suddenly became serious. The expression, which was nearly severe, instantly chilled the room.

“It’s raining outside. Aren’t you cold?”

It was no time to refuse warm water. Winter would come after the autumn rain passed.

“Don’t you have ice in your room?”

He was a man with unique preferences for water. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] In this season, giving a guest lukewarm water would be considered neglect, yet the man sought cold water.

What house keeps ice in the room?

Yeon-oh thought that the Imperial Family must be so noble that they were utterly ignorant of the world.

“Ice?”

Seonjae accepted the cup of lukewarm water offered by Yeon-oh, relaxing his expressionless face. The man once again showed that bright, naive smile.

“Never mind if you don’t have any.”

In contrast to his cold refusal of the hand-warming hot water, he peacefully accepted the lukewarm water.

“Why don’t you like hot things?”

“I just don’t like hot things. Hot things are difficult to eat, and when I eat hot things, I get hot, and I feel like getting angry.”

Yeon-oh inadvertently laughed at the sight of the imposing man seriously criticizing hot things.

“Eating too many cold things will upset your stomach.”

Yeon-oh whispered in a low voice and brought a clean white cloth. He quickly wiped the rain-dampened hair, shoulders, and back of the hands of the man.

The Emperor watched Yeon-oh intently as he wiped the raindrops from him. As the bright smile faded from his face, he instantly took on a cold and distant demeanor.

If the man were not of the Imperial Family, his arrogant and ruthless aura would likely have earned him many harsh words from those around him. The way his expression drastically changed his whole image was astonishing.

After roughly wiping the moisture, Yeon-oh set the cloth aside.

“It’s been a long time since anyone scolded me about what I eat.”

Seonjae mumbled, leaning on the table. His narrowed eyes scanned Yeon-oh, who sat in front of the table. Yeon-oh realized that even when the man smiled, if his gaze was slightly too commanding, he gave the impression of looking down on everyone.

“Who would dare scold Your Majesty?”

Yeon-oh mustered the courage to reply, betting on the man’s intoxication. Seonjae pointed with his chin at Yeon-oh. When Yeon-oh chuckled involuntarily at the man’s complaining demeanor, Seonjae, watching him, also laughed lightly.

“How did you truly get here?”

“I came in without anyone knowing. The security of the Gyo General’s Household is lax.”

Yeon-oh laughed again at the Emperor’s remark.

The defenses of the Gyo General’s Household were by no means lax, but they couldn’t compare to those of the Imperial Palace. Though exaggerated, rumors claimed the Emperor was an incredible man capable of leaping over walls.

Yeon-oh spoke politely to Seonjae, who was only sipping plain water.

“I should instruct them to reinforce the guard.”

It was fascinating that the man could drink plain lukewarm water as if it were noble tea. More than the surprise his appearance brought, his drunken antics of seeking sweet and cold things were amusing, and Yeon-oh was pleased that he had sought him out in his inebriated state, as if they were friends.

“Why do you keep laughing?”

“You are only drinking plain water. Should I fetch something else?”

“Give me something sweet and cold. If there is nothing cold, then at least something sweet.”

The Emperor immediately commanded in response to Yeon-oh’s question.

“I shall follow your command.”

Yeon-oh replied with a voice tinged with stifled laughter and left the building. Although he had shared a bottle of wine with Seonjae during his visits to the Gyo General’s Household, he had never seen him drink until he was drunk.

The sight of the drunken man seeking sweet and cold things was new.

Yeon-oh visited the Gyo General’s Household’s ice storage and the head of the household’s kitchen, collecting sweet and cold items before returning to his building.

From the kitchen, he brought haeng-in-so (a cookie topped with sliced apricot kernels) and do-so-byeong (a cookie made with walnuts), and from the ice storage, he brought finely crushed ice.

“Here you are.”

Seonjae took a bite of the ordinary-looking do-so-byeong and his eyes widened slightly.

“Gwak Jin makes do-so-byeong very well.”

Yeon-oh didn’t know how it compared to the Imperial Palace chefs, but he considered Gwak Jin’s haeng-in-so and do-so-byeong to be the best. At least, they were the best in Goksan. She made the haeng-in-so and do-so-byeong, which were classified as basic cookies, much better than those made with other expensive ingredients.

“It’s delicious.”

Seonjae genuinely admired the taste. While he ate the cookies, Yeon-oh poured slightly melted cherry slush (aengdu-bingjeup) over the finely crushed ice. This was the sweet and cold item Seonjae had requested.

The man took a bite of the ice topped with cherry slush that Yeon-oh handed him and looked genuinely surprised.

“It’s delicious, isn’t it?”

The man, who was quietly watching Yeon-oh’s crinkled-eye smile, nodded calmly.

“Yes.”

Yeon-oh then gave the man a strict look.

“You can only eat this once every ten days. And you can’t eat it at all during winter.”

“Why?”

Seonjae, who had been quickly moving his spoon, instantly changed his expression. Simply by setting a limit on the ice dessert, he looked as terrifying as if his throne had been threatened.

“I don’t know either. It’s the rule of the Gyo General’s Household. Isn’t it unfair? Once every ten days, that’s too long. When I was little, they said I couldn’t eat much because I was still young, but even now that I’m older, they don’t let me eat as I please. I actually stole this from the kitchen.”

Seonjae, who had been faintly smiling while scooping the cherry slush ice with a beautiful porcelain spoon, briefly stopped his spooning at Yeon-oh’s comment about “not being allowed to eat as he pleased even when older.”

“That’s because you are still too young.”

Yeon-oh wrinkled his eyebrows at the Emperor’s calm remark.

“But I’m already twenty years old.”

“Twenty years old is just a baby.”

Yeon-oh suppressed the urge to grimace at Seonjae’s nonchalant statement. Had the man forgotten who had asked that ‘baby’ to enter his concubine ranks?

Thanks to that, the Gyo General’s Household was noisier than ever.

The man, who had finished the bowl of slush, smiled brightly at Yeon-oh.

“Thank you.”

It seemed the cherry slush had been much to his liking.

“Aren’t you having a cookie?”

“I must leave now.”

The man, who sought sweet and cold things when drunk, tried to act dignified.

“Shall I pack some cookies for you?”

“Just one of each.”

He responded honestly to Yeon-oh’s kind offer. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Yeon-oh chuckled softly and wrapped the cookies in a cotton cloth for the Emperor. The man accepted the cloth and cleared his throat politely.

“Thank you.”

“Please travel safely.”

Yeon-oh could not ask the Emperor where he was going or how he was getting there. Just as Yeon-oh wordlessly paid his respects, the Emperor also did not bother to check on the situation within the Gyo General’s Household.

“I will come again.”

Leaving a short farewell, the man left the building. He lightly grasped the wall and easily vaulted over it. Although only one person had left, the night, with its fine rain, instantly became desolate and quiet.

If it weren’t for the empty bowl left behind, Yeon-oh might have wondered if he had been dreaming while awake. Swallowing the peculiar feeling of the utterly unreal situation, Yeon-oh recalled the man’s final words and blinked.

“He will come again…?”

Yeon-oh smiled faintly, thinking the Emperor must have really liked the cherry slush.