Chapter 8

The Emperor departed the Gyo General’s Household as soon as the next dawn broke. The man did not wear a crown or the golden dragon robe. However, unlike when he arrived at the Gyo General’s Household dressed in unlustrous, plain cloth and simple accessories, he was now properly dressed.

The Emperor wore a pyeongbok (a high-status informal court robe) of deep persimmon color embroidered with silver thread, and an opaque dark-colored chipogwan (a formal hat) that concealed his up-bound hair.

The man leaving the building was, to anyone who saw him, clearly the master of the throne.

“Your Majesty, may you travel safely.”

Woo Seonjae cast a brief glance at the head of the Gyo General’s Household, who had come to see him off, and strode past. Before mounting the prepared horse, he turned toward where Yeon-oh was standing.

The man watched the place where Yeon-oh stood for a moment, then smiled faintly and mounted his horse. The horn phoenix-patterned ornament was clearly visible on Yeon-oh’s waist sash as he paid his respects to the Emperor.

The head of the Gyo General’s Household’s study, Onhyejae, was filled with books and furniture containing the history of the clan and the passage of time. Inherited from the founding ancestor, it was a fine space for contemplation.

With the windows open, a picturesque landscape unfolded; with the windows closed, it was quiet, as if one were left alone in the world.

A celadon ink dropper flew through the air of the elegant Onhyejae.

Clang!

The gift sent by the new ruler of the Damguk Kingdom a few years ago was a treasure that even the great nobles of the capital struggled in vain to acquire. Yeon-oh pretended not to see the flying ink dropper and turned his head sideways.

“Elder Brother!”

Yeon-oh’s second elder brother, Jin-oh, raised his voice at the head of the household’s violent behavior.

“Gyo Yeon-oh, you scoundrel! If something like this happened, you should have come and reported it to me immediately! What do you think that object is, that you kept it close and stood there dazed! Is that how we taught you?”

Gyo Myeong-oh’s voice echoed loudly within the spacious Onhyejae.

“I am sorry.”

Gyo Myeong-oh stood up from the desk and paced the study with rough steps.

“When His Majesty was here, did it not occur to you to inform me, the head of the household! Why did you go and wear it on your waist sash to see His Majesty off, as if it were something to be grateful for!”

Gyo Myeong-oh came right up to Yeon-oh’s face and raised his voice. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Jin-oh carefully stretched out his hand to block the space between the vein-throbbing head of the household and the youngest son.

“Elder Brother, please lower your voice.”

Jin-oh cast a worried glance toward the door, concerned that someone outside might overhear.

“I, too, think it would be better for the head of the household to lower his voice… Is it not polite to show that we use what His Majesty gave us when he is watching? Although I was distracted immediately after receiving it yesterday, if I had told Elder Brother as soon as I received this, Elder Brother would have…”

Yeon-oh subtly hid behind his second brother’s arm and quietly finished his sentence.

“What would I have done! Are you suggesting that your considerate youngest brother wisely chose to inform me only after His Majesty departed, lest I cause a huge incident!”

The head of the Gyo General’s Household, Gyo Myeong-oh’s, eyebrows twitched dangerously. Despite his menacing attitude, Yeon-oh did not shrink back.

“Was that not the case?”

His face was cautious when he spoke, but his tone was merely calm.

“It was well done to tell us today. If you had told the head of the household last night, the entire Gyo Clan might have been decapitated for disrespecting His Majesty.”

Jin-oh, who stood between the head of the household and Yeon-oh, highly praised his youngest brother. Although his voice was indifferent and unaffectionate, the hand patting Yeon-oh’s shoulder was full of warmth.

The head of the household, who found it disgusting to see Yeon-oh and Jin-oh exchanging glances and nodding, harshly shook off his robe and returned to the desk.

Sinking into the chair, he slammed the desk with a Thud!

“It cannot be.”

Yeon-oh looked worriedly at him, who was huffing and puffing with a look that would be considered reckless by the Emperor or any Imperial relative.

“A request from His Majesty is not just a simple request, is it?”

“That is right.”

It was Jin-oh who answered Yeon-oh’s question. Gyo Myeong-oh, seated in the chair, just let out groans, gripping his head with his hands. Looking at his deeply furrowed brow, Yeon-oh continued.

“Can we refuse His Majesty’s request?”

At Yeon-oh’s question, Gyo Myeong-oh clenched his fist tightly. Jin-oh, who had been watching Yeon-oh’s overflowing concern for a long time, sighed.

“We cannot.”

Gyo Myeong-oh, who had been leaning against the desk, abruptly stood up.

“We can’t! We can’t! Yes, we can’t! Still, when such a situation arises, did you not think to inform me, your Elder Brother and the head of the household, immediately! I was only away for a few days, and this happens… Youngest, you stay put right here. Second brother, guard him. I must go to the capital briefly. I need to tell Steward Yeom to send a message to our uncle in the capital… No, I am the head of the household, so I must summon the Gyo Clan here.”

The head of the household, who was about to rush out of the study, hastily turned around and came back inside. Jin-oh followed the hurried, messy movements of the quick-tempered head of the household with just his eyes.

Yeon-oh, who was watching the actions of his two brothers, parted his lips.

“However.”

The two men immediately focused their attention on the small mumbling of their much younger brother.

“What is it?”

“However?”

Yeon-oh glanced briefly at the horn phoenix-patterned ornament sitting on the head of the household’s desk.

“I am a man. Will he truly try to bring me in as a concubine?”

At the question, delivered in a light voice with a slight laugh, the head of the household’s face darkened grimly.

“Though not many, the Imperial Family of Yulje-guk has brought in several male consorts (bi) in the past. It is common for concubines to be a political relationship rather than one of affection.”

It was Jin-oh who resolved Yeon-oh’s confusion.

“Gyo Yeon-oh, what did the head of the household tell you?”

Yeon-oh could not answer his eldest brother’s question immediately. Gyo Myeong-oh was a talkative person. The words that his eldest brother, who had looked after Yeon-oh like a father, had spoken to him were countless.

“He never taught me that there were male consorts in the concubine ranks.”

After a long pause, Yeon-oh’s reply made both the eldest and second brothers frown intensely.

“Did the head of the household tell you to enter officialdom and achieve fame and glory?”

“No. He said that since the Gyo General’s Household is wealthy, I should do what I want instead of being restricted by scholarship.”

That being said, Yeon-oh had not neglected his studies. He could read quite well and write decent characters. He just didn’t consider living buried in books, like his friends who passed the civil service exam, a form of happiness.

“Did the Gyo General’s Household expect a lot from you?”

“No. But I never shirked when there was work in the household. What is it you are trying to say?”

Yeon-oh was irritated by the head of the household’s roundabout way of speaking.

“With the head of the household away, the second brother away, and the steward away, why did you become so familiar with a stranger you didn’t recognize!”

“…I didn’t know he was His Majesty. I thought he was a guest of the house, so I tried to be kind to him. What can I do when I’ve lived only traveling between Goksan and Yeongsan, and I am ignorant of news from the capital?”

Yeon-oh spoke calmly, but his voice was slightly choked up at the end.

His eldest brother, the head of the household, had passed the exam and served as an official in the capital for a time, and his second brother was currently a military official.

He was the only one among his brothers who was a wealthy countryside idler.

It was his two elder brothers who supported his life of comfortable idling as a country gentleman. So, he was not in a good mood to be scolded for failing to recognize the Emperor’s face.

“The problem is that you associated with someone you didn’t know, Yeon-oh.”

“He didn’t seem like a bad person… I apologize.”

His two brothers, who had lost their parents and their sister in the accident, tended to be overprotective of Yeon-oh. Yeon-oh, being a person who got along well with others, had largely disregarded his brothers’ worries.

He never dreamed that the guest who came to his house would be the Emperor. Even less did he imagine that the Emperor would seek to take him as a concubine.

In this situation, Yeon-oh did not utter the foolish words that the man was remarkably handsome and sparked his curiosity, or that the man had been kind to him. No matter how ignorant Yeon-oh was of worldly affairs, saying such things would make his family think he was completely bewitched by the man.

“Elder Brother, we cannot refuse His Majesty’s request.”

Jin-oh, who soothed the gloomy Yeon-oh, formally addressed the head of the household, who was still trying to deny reality.

At Gyo Myeong-oh’s violent gesture, several ink slabs and teacups, worthy of being heirlooms in any family, flew into the wall. For several days afterward, not only the head of the household’s study, Onhyejae, but other breakable objects throughout the property, met their end one after another.

******

The Gyo Clan members residing in the capital gathered at the Goksan Gyo General’s Household. The relatives gathered inside the head of the household’s study, Onhyejae, kept their opinions largely to themselves.

Only the head of the household, Gyo Myeong-oh, and some of the clan elders strongly opposed the matter.

“The Gyo Clan has traditionally been wary of its members becoming Imperial consorts. It is closer to avoiding marriage with the Imperial Family altogether. Do we not all know that the position of an Empress’s or Consort’s clan is a difficult one?”

Gyo Myeong-oh nodded silently at the words of a distant relative, who was known to be one of the most stubborn among the clan.

“However, Uncle. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] How can you not see that this is an unavoidable force? His Majesty has expressed his favor for Yeon-oh.”

Yeon-oh’s third uncle, who could be considered the leader of the Gyo Clan in the capital, looked around at the elders with a frustrated expression.

“He even received a token from His Majesty, did he not? Yeon-oh, is this not a joyous occasion? You will be doing a great service for the Gyo Clan.”

Yeon-oh merely bowed his head slightly at his fourth uncle’s affectionate words but did not reply. Both his third uncle and fourth uncle were smiling amicably. However, unlike his third uncle, who was such a friendly person that he laughed easily at everything, his fourth uncle had an unknowable character.

Crucially, his fourth uncle had a late-born daughter from a concubine. That child was very young, not much younger than Yeon-oh. The fourth uncle’s ambition would not hesitate to push his late-born daughter to be the Emperor’s concubine, but he was likely a man who had calculated that Yeon-oh entering the concubine ranks for the family was not a bad deal, given his own daughter was still too young.

“Great service?”

The head of the household rapped the armrest of his chair and muttered in a gloomy voice.

“Mm.”

Yeon-oh cleared his throat, seeing that the head of the household looked ready to throw something else he could get his hands on.

“Elder Brother.”

Jin-oh, who had lost the seats near the head of the household to the clan elders, worriedly watched Gyo Myeong-oh from the edge of the room.

The head of the household looked as if he wanted to break up the meeting immediately and grab his uncles by the neck. Yeon-oh surveyed the surroundings and stood up from his seat.

“Yeon-oh?”

Everyone in the room turned their attention to Yeon-oh.

“I do not know whether I will be able to perform a great service for the family. I understand that many esteemed elders of the family have gone through trouble to come here because of me. I do not know what the future holds, but I will not forget that I am a person of the Gyo General’s Household. I will withdraw now.”

Yeon-oh left Onhyejae without asking for separate permission from the head of the household.

“Yeon-oh, where are you going…”

“Hahaha.”

“These young people are so impatient; they walk so fast.”

“I hear the honey coming from Baekha lately is quite good, have you heard?”

The sight of the elders gathered around, exchanging pleasantries for a long time and then offering opinions on someone else’s trouble, seemed utterly meaningless.

This was likely because the matter was not their own.

It was better to walk outside than to watch the suffocating situation. Yeon-oh felt much relieved just by escaping the stuffy study.

“Young Master?”

Steward Yeom recognized Yeon-oh and rushed over. Yeon-oh went into the stable and untied the reins tied to a post.

“I’m going out for a moment.”

“Going out? But all the family elders are here. Young Master?”

Yeon-oh led the horse outside and immediately mounted it.

“I won’t go outside the property.”

“Youngest Young Master!”

At the steward’s frantic call, Yeon-oh reached back and waved his hand.

“I’ll be back!”