Chapter 11

The strange dizziness continued to shake Yeon-oh until he paid for the food and headed toward the frozen fruit stall the Emperor had spotted.

“I’ll have this one.”

“I thought you weren’t eating it?”

“I changed my mind.”

In the early dawn of early winter, the frozen fruit they ate while walking along the chilly road was intensely cold and sweet, making his teeth ache. The powerful shock of chewing on the sweet and cold treat accompanied Yeon-oh on his way home.

By the time they neared the Gyo General’s Household, his throat felt like it would burst from the cold.

“C-Cold…”

His lips were frozen, causing him to blurt out a brief word that should not be said in front of the Emperor.

“Are you alright?”

Yeon-oh shook his head firmly at Seonjae’s question. It was disrespectful, but it was difficult to speak properly. He felt like he would freeze to death.

A large hand layered itself over Yeon-oh’s cheek, which was stiff from the cold. As the large, lukewarm hand wrapped around and gently stroked his cheek, a soft warmth quickly rose.

Yeon-oh thought he must be slightly mad as he guided the man’s friction-warmed hand to his own frozen neck, making him wrap it around.

He felt the large hand covering his neck hesitate. Yeon-oh knew embarrassment and shame, but he was too cold to step back or hesitate.

“I’m c-cold…”

Yeon-oh stammered the words out.

The Emperor did not reply.

In the silence, Yeon-oh clearly felt his heartbeat echoing against the man’s palm wrapped around his neck. When both the man’s palm and Yeon-oh’s neck had sufficiently thawed with a tingling warmth, Yeon-oh felt his heart pounding so fiercely that his ears felt dizzy.

His head was too noisy with the sound of his heart.

“I apologize.”

“You should eat cold things carefully.”

Seonjae said, slowly withdrawing his hand, in a teasing tone. It was absolutely not the man’s place to say that.

“I will.”

Yeon-oh merely nodded.

“Be careful. But Yeon-oh, is it too much for me to want you to become my person?”

Seonjae, who had been continuing his playful admonishment, followed it up with a serious question.

“…”

His heart was pounding too hard to focus. This was immediately after he had become aware of a sensation distinctly different from the nervousness felt simply by touching another person.

“Now, I want to hear your answer to my confession.”

Woo Seonjae, standing in the cool, blue dawn, asked Yeon-oh for his reply. Yeon-oh, who had been frozen, opened his hesitant lips.

“No.”

The man looked down at Yeon-oh, his eyes slightly narrowed. Yeon-oh was still unsure of his feelings. He knew he had an unusual affection and emotion for the man, for Woo Seonjae, but he didn’t know how large or persistent that feeling would be.

He merely suspected that his state regarding Woo Seonjae was close to the feeling of liking someone. Thus, he couldn’t confess that he loved or admired him.

“I will not refuse you.”

Therefore, he complied with the Emperor’s command not to refuse.

The moment Yeon-oh gave his answer.

The man smiled brightly. It was the same innocent smile he wore when he suddenly visited late at night or early dawn after drinking. He quickly glanced around, leaned his face in, and planted a deep kiss on Yeon-oh’s neck, which was stiff from the cold air.

Yeon-oh’s eyes widened at the sensation of the hot lips touching his bare skin.

“I will send the palanquin soon.”

The Emperor’s promise barely registered with Yeon-oh. The sensation of soft, hot lips touching his neck completely overwhelmed his senses.

“The main gate, um, I will use the main gate.”

Dazed and at a loss for what to do, Yeon-oh only just managed to reply to the Emperor’s suggestion that they climb the wall to take him back to the Gyo General’s Household.

Seonjae, who was looking down at Yeon-oh with a smile, smiled even more intensely. He buried his hot lips in the opposite side of Yeon-oh’s stiff neck before pulling back.

The sweet sound echoing in his ears and the unfamiliar sensation on his bare skin sent Yeon-oh into a state of shock.

“Go inside.”

The Emperor commanded Yeon-oh, who was frozen by the overwhelming shock. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The man indicated the direction he should go toward the face that nodded in response.

Yeon-oh’s whole body thumped as if it had turned into a heart.

The situation that had troubled the Gyo General’s Household for almost a month was resolved ridiculously easily.

Yeon-oh returned home and immediately sought out the head of the household.

While his whole body was beating fiercely like a heart and the trembling continued endlessly, Yeon-oh confessed, leaning on the shocking sensation he had never experienced before:

“I do not dislike Your Majesty.”

That one sentence was enough.

“I will prepare for my entrance into the concubine ranks.”

The head of the Gyo General’s Household, Gyo Myeong-oh, spoke with a composed tone, full of respect.

******

The entrance of the Gyo General’s Household’s fourth son, Gyo Yeon-oh, into the concubine ranks was confirmed. The Imperial Family sent an old Court Lady (Nosanggung) to the Gyo General’s Household to teach the manners and laws of the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Family. After winter began, Yeon-oh was taught etiquette and rules by the Nosanggung from dawn until late at night.

The Emperor, whom he had met just before winter began, could not be seen after winter started.

They said it was the law of the Imperial Family.

Since he was set to enter the concubine ranks, he could not meet privately with the Emperor, who would be his husband. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Even within the household, he could not be in the same space as any man who was not his full brother. He was also cautioned against being alone in the same space with young women who had shed their childishness.

The Nosanggung considered Yeon-oh entering any part of the building that was not his own room a problem. She tried to completely eliminate any chance of him meeting or getting involved with others.

Two months passed, confined only to his room.

Short letters arriving infrequently from the Emperor were Yeon-oh’s sole joy. The letters, occasionally handed over by the young eunuch (Sotaegam) serving the Nosanggung, contained brief messages.

[Are you well? The etiquette and laws of the palace are difficult and demanding, but endure the hardship.]

The letters contained no polite, respectful phrases. Nevertheless, the man’s brief inquiries about his well-being made him smile. In the instruction that lacked any affection, he felt a strange sense of relief that he was still connected to the Emperor.

The rare, short letters accumulated and were neatly stored in a pretty box.

Yeon-oh wanted to write a reply to the Emperor’s letters, but he had no way to send them. The young eunuch would quickly hand over only what was to be delivered and leave during the Nosanggung’s lapse in supervision. Yeon-oh tried to approach him several times to hand over the letters he had written all night, but the boy would shake his head and refuse.

When he asked the Nosanggung if he could at least send a letter to greet the Emperor, he was severely scolded.

“How dare the person who is about to become a consort contemplate privately sending a letter to His Majesty before even receiving his official appointment! Cease such frivolous actions and thoughts!”

Ultimately, he had to listen to a sermon for almost an hour about how and what he had done wrong, and then copy the duties of a consort until his shoulders ached. He was so sad that he felt like crying, but he was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

And the next day, the Nosanggung’s etiquette lessons repeated.

Yeon-oh wrote replies he couldn’t send in his spare moments. The short letters from the Emperor and the long, unsent replies piled up. The letters sent by the Emperor were in the small, pretty box, while the long, rambling replies Yeon-oh wrote filled his largest wooden chest.

When it had been over two months since he last saw the Emperor.

Yeon-oh ran away from the etiquette lessons that had continued without a single break.

One night, he jumped over the wall of his building and escaped, just as the man had taught him. Clutched in his arms was the box containing the short, uninspired letters from the Emperor inquiring about his well-being and the long replies he had written. He climbed over several walls.

While running away from the lesson, he had the illusion that the Nosanggung‘s long scolding was echoing in his ears.

“It’s fine to skip class for a day or so, what’s the big deal.”

Yeon-oh spoke the words aloud confidently, as if someone might hear him. He hid in the most secluded place in the Gyo General’s Household, which he knew like the back of his hand, but he had nothing to do.

Unheegak (Cloud-Joy Pavilion), which was open on all sides, was beautiful and atmospheric.

He lay down there, intending to spend some relaxed time, but for some reason, he felt uneasy.

‘Should I go back?’

Yeon-oh, whose resolve momentarily weakened, quickly changed his mind. He began to read the letters he had brought. He was leisurely reading the short letters he had previously read hidden away and the replies he had secretly written, but his mind remained restless.

While looking at the short letters from the Emperor, which he had already memorized from reading them so many times.

Tap, ta-dok.

The air grew chilly, and rain began to fall.

“Is today not the day?”

The few drops of rain grew heavier, and the sound of the rain increased. He watched regretfully as the world became wet.

Flap, flutter.

A nervous sound brushed past the inattentive Yeon-oh’s ear. When he carelessly turned his gaze, papers were fluttering and flying into the air!

They were the letters he had written to the Emperor.

“Oh, oh no…!”

Yeon-oh couldn’t react properly and only twitched with panic.

[The old court lady teaching etiquette is very strict.]

[I feel like my knees are going to break.]

[Am I truly so ignorant of the rules?]

The letters, filled with tearful complaints about the unremarkable lessons, were scattering softly outside Unheegak.

“No!”

In his haste, Yeon-oh rushed out, following the flying letters. Fearing that someone might see them, he forgot about the rain and frantically picked up the letters that had flown into sight.

The rain grew heavier.

Some letters were soaked by the rain, and the ink smudged, making the contents illegible.

It was difficult to judge whether this was a misfortune or a blessing. It seemed fortunate that the embarrassing contents, which he worried others might see, were obscured, but it was heartbreaking to feel as if the feelings he intended to convey to the man were all dissolving in the rain.

An unknown sadness suddenly swept over him. The sadness in his heart inflated and swelled up large.

Yeon-oh’s hands, picking up the flying letters, visibly slowed.

Then, the world suddenly quieted. The cold rain that had been harshly striking his face abruptly stopped.

The heavy rain falling on the wet leaves remained the same.

Only the rain falling directly over Yeon-oh’s head had stopped. The cool sound of the rain hitting his ears slightly receded, and a ta-dak ta-dak sound of something hitting oiled paper rang out.

Yeon-oh’s rain-soaked face looked up at what was above his head.