Chapter 13

“Y-Young Master.”

“Let’s go.”

Yeon-oh extended his hand, asking for assistance. Jeokju, who was at a loss for what to do, quickly grasped the hand seeking her help.

“However, Young Master…”

Geumgye stepped aside, trying to dissuade Yeon-oh.

“I am fine.”

“Yes.”

At Yeon-oh’s resolute words, Geumgye replied and opened the door of the building. As soon as they stepped out of the building, harsh voices immediately reached them.

“Head of the Gyo Household, please escort the bride.”

“Baekhong⁽¹⁾! That is unacceptable! We never heard of such a thing when the marriage talks were underway!”

“Chief Eunuch, isn’t something mistaken?”

The front courtyard of the Gyo General’s Household was loud with the commotion.

“It is the Empress Dowager who bestows the Baekhong upon Consort Gyo, who is entering the palace today. Bestowing Baekhong upon a concubine is the authority of the Empress Dowager, the most senior elder of the Imperial Family.”

The Chief Eunuch, holding a wooden chest containing the medicinal bottle, spoke severely.

“Head of the Gyo Household, the auspicious hour will pass if we continue this.”

Another Chief Eunuch spoke with a frantic expression.

“What good is the auspicious hour! Baekhong was not part of the agreement. Don’t you know that if we had known of this condition, we would have deliberated longer about the palace entrance?”

The master of the Gyo General’s Household, Gyo Myeong-oh, raised his voice.

“The bride is coming yonder.”

“Coming? Who… Yeon-oh, what are you doing out here!”

Yeon-oh stopped walking.

“Remove the cloth for a moment.”

He turned his head and whispered to Geumgye.

It was unprecedented for the bride’s face to be revealed outside before the groom saw it. However, Geumgye quickly lifted the red cloth at Yeon-oh’s words.

“Oh dear…”

“Young Master Gyo.”

The Chief Eunuchs looked at the revealed Yeon-oh in surprise. The Imperial palanquin set behind them was so luxurious and noble that it felt blinding just to look at it.

“Elder Brothers.”

At Yeon-oh’s call, Gyo Myeong-oh, who had been acting as if he would grab the Chief Eunuch by the collar, and Gyo Jin-oh, who had been questioning the Chief Eunuchs with a serious face, approached him.

“You scoundrel! Get back inside immediately.”

Gyo Myeong-oh tried to turn Yeon-oh back without thinking.

“Yeon-oh, it must be hard, but go inside and wait a little longer.”

In contrast, his second brother, Gyo Jin-oh, tried to speak gently out of consideration for Yeon-oh, even though he looked flustered.

“I am fine.”

Yeon-oh calmly looked at his eldest brother, whose eyes were red with fury, and his second brother, who was normally stoic and fearless but now looked pale. Seeing him grasp and console his two brothers’ hands in turn, the Chief Eunuchs muttered their displeasure.

Yeon-oh chuckled at the Chief Eunuchs’ attitude, who gave them a look of disapproval even for holding his own brothers’ hands.

A strange life awaited him: one where he could not comfortably spend time with his brothers, and where his relationships with women would be dangerous, requiring him to be unable to conceive children.

“Elder Brothers, I am prepared. So, you may stop now. If this is the will of the Imperial Family, can we truly refuse?”

Yeon-oh grasped his brothers’ hands once more. He smiled faintly, then pulled down the red cloth he had raised himself, covering his face again.

“No, Yeon-oh! You must not enter the palace without the Empress Dowager’s support! Didn’t she bestow the Baekhong!”

Gyo Myeong-oh tried to hold Yeon-oh back. The Chief Eunuchs quickly stepped in to block him as he attempted to embrace Yeon-oh.

“Head of the Gyo Household, please watch your words and actions.”

“Yeon-oh…!”

Not only Gyo Myeong-oh but Gyo Jin-oh also tried to hold Yeon-oh back. The guards who had accompanied the Chief Eunuchs surrounded him and aimed their spears at him.

Yeon-oh approached the Chief Eunuch who was strictly holding the wooden chest containing the medicinal bottle.

“Give it to me.”

The Chief Eunuch lowered his head and stretched his arm forward to show respect. Yeon-oh poured the medicine fully into the cup prepared next to the bottle. The hand setting the bottle down trembled faintly.

He did not stop and brought the cup containing the powerfully effective medicine to his lips.

“Yeon-oh!”

“No!”

Yeon-oh tilted the cup, hearing his brothers’ desperate cries. The Baekhong was intensely bitter, with a shooting pain at the end. As he set the cup down, the Chief Eunuchs uniformly paid their respects.

“We greet Consort Gyo.”

“We greet Consort Gyo.”

Yeon-oh felt no emotion at hearing this greeting. He was only relieved that, unlike the severe efficacy and bitter taste of the Baekhong, he felt no immediate side effects.

The Chief Eunuch who had paid his respects advised him to get into the palanquin.

As he climbed into the enormous, luxurious red palanquin, Yeon-oh felt a subtle dizziness gradually rising. He prayed that he could reach the Imperial Palace without any trouble.

Even if he were to collapse, he wished it would be only after arriving at the palace and completing all his duties.

“Yeon-oh! Yeon-oh! This cannot be, Yeon-oh! Empress Dowager, you cannot do this!”

“Yeon-oh! Are you alright! Yeon-oh!”

Leaving behind the anguished cries of his two brothers and the hushed weeping of the Gyo General’s Household family members, the palanquin carrying Yeon-oh departed.

*******

Traveling from Goksan to the capital by palanquin was not easy. Whether it was a side effect of drinking the Baekhong or the motion of the palanquin, dizziness gradually overwhelmed Yeon-oh.

The capital city gates were grand and imposing.

The splendid bridal palanquin, having entered the city, was escorted by the capital’s defense forces. The long procession, with Imperial Palace guards already positioned at the front and back of the palanquin, now added the capital’s defense forces, protecting the bridal palanquin.

This seemed to draw people’s attention. A large crowd followed the procession from the city gate entrance.

“Look there! The palanquin is really big and beautiful.”

“They say it’s the palanquin of the Noble Consort (Gwi-bi-mama).”

“Noble Consort? Is the Noble Consort inside that palanquin?”

While there were innocent and benevolent whispers, there were also sharp remarks.

“Heavens, a male concubine?”

“Tsk. How disgraceful!”

“Watch your words. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] I heard he is the high-status Young Master of the Gyo General’s Household.”

Yeon-oh forcibly suppressed his flickering vision and churning stomach. He maintained his consciousness until they entered the capital, but as the palanquin headed toward the center of the grand avenue, he was closing his heavy eyelids for longer and longer periods. The Imperial Palace that came into view through his heavily opened eyes was taller and more imposing than the city gates.

When the palanquin stopped in front of Daehwamun, the first gate of the impossibly tall Imperial Palace.

“Hoo…”

Yeon-oh unconsciously let out a long sigh.

No matter how prominent the estate of a great noble was, it was incomparable to the Imperial Palace.

He felt an illusion that the endless, high walls of the Imperial Palace and the gigantic Daehwamun that allowed entrance into those walls were swallowing him whole.

The palanquin, having entered Daehwamun, continued inward for a long time. Traveling along the well-maintained, wide, and long road, it finally arrived in front of the Imperial Gardens (Hu-won). A Chief Eunuch announced to the palanquin, which was set down in front of the garden entrance:

“We have arrived.”

The inside of the palanquin was silent.

“…”

The Chief Eunuch, puzzled by the strangely quiet reaction from the palanquin, signaled to Yeon-oh’s maidservants. Jeokju and Geumgye exchanged worried glances and moved closer to the palanquin.

“Young Master.”

Yeon-oh did not answer Jeokju’s cautious call. Geumgye bypassed the flustered Jeokju, lifted the thick curtain of the palanquin, and peered inside.

“Young Master. Young Master…!”

Geumgye cried out when she found Yeon-oh unconscious, sitting up inside the palanquin.

“Lower your voice.”

The Chief Eunuch who had forced the Baekhong on Yeon-oh sternly cautioned her. Geumgye glared at the praying mantis-like Chief Eunuch with fierce eyes and pulled out a small medicine container from her bosom.

A man’s hand, with protruding knuckles, grabbed Geumgye’s hand. It was the praying mantis-like Chief Eunuch again.

“This is the Imperial Palace. How dare you bring private household medicine in here?”

“Let go! The Court Lady who came to teach at the Gyo General’s Household already checked and permitted this medicine. When a person has collapsed, is there a difference between Imperial Palace medicine and private household medicine?”

Geumgye spoke, trying her best to suppress her temper. She crushed the prepared pill and pushed it between Yeon-oh’s lips.

Yeon-oh came to his senses with a cool, sharp taste in his mouth. A heavy, throbbing sound in the back of his head made it impossible to open his eyes immediately. A soft breeze wafted over his face, presumably because the curtain had been opened.

“Consort has collapsed, call for an Imperial Physician!”

“During the wedding procedure, we cannot call for anyone not permitted by the palace law.”

“Grandpa Gong!”

Geumgye’s voice brushed past his ears, which were ringing with dizziness. He felt strange hearing her voice, which was acting like family for him, when he had thought they would manage somehow despite not being close friends when he heard they would enter the palace together.

“Oh, how presumptuous. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] This is the Imperial Palace. Lower your voice.”

Just as he had heard, the Imperial Palace Chief Eunuch was an utterly stubborn person.

“Grandpa Gong, please. Not even an Imperial Physician is fine. Anyone who can see a patient is fine, please let them look after our Young Master. Won’t it be troublesome for Grandpa Gong if the time is delayed?”

Jeokju pleaded with the Chief Eunuch in a tearful voice.

“Wait.”

The Chief Eunuch resolutely refused the plea.

“What if Consort is seriously harmed because of this…!”

“The reason we are waiting now is out of consideration, because the Consort is in the middle of a wedding and is a noble person from a distant place. Do you think the Imperial Palace is a place that houses sick people?”

The Chief Eunuch was consistently firm with Geumgye’s plea for help.

“What if he is harmed and wakes up late because of this…”

Jeokju whispered, her voice tinged with sobs.

“He will have to return to his home.”

“What did you say? But the Young Master took the medicine before departing, and he is in the middle of the wedding now.”

“It is the law that one who is to be the Emperor’s person must maintain their chastity to the end.”

The Chief Eunuch’s words carried a hidden meaning. If Yeon-oh failed to complete the wedding procedure and returned home, he would have to take his own life to maintain his chastity for the Emperor.