Chapter 86

“As Your Majesty said, I live in the consort palace and have not a single consort friend.”

Seonjae quietly gazed at the face that looked like it would cry at any moment but did not. Seeing that he was telling him his true feelings, it seemed he truly had no one to talk to.

The face that looked like it was crying even though he was not, reminded the Emperor of himself at some point in the past.

“Young Master Gyo, you haven’t suffered enough yet.”

The Emperor only whispered spiteful words. They were words that revealed a chilling reality, and although they were unpleasant, Yeon-oh strangely felt relieved.

“…”

Yeon-oh suppressed his tears.

“If you are sad, then cry. Emotions only grow bigger if you keep them locked inside.”

“Before whom did Your Majesty cry?”

The man vehemently shook his head.

“Gyo Yeon-oh, where are there friends in the world? Especially in the Imperial Palace, there could be no such thing as friends. Who are you going to trust? In front of whom can you cry, and to whom can you speak?”

The Emperor murmured something completely different from what he had said when he picked a fight the day before.

“…”

Seonjae met Yeon-oh’s gaze.

“I still don’t trust what an unknown eunuch gives me. Be it words, objects, anything. Well, those I do know are just as untrustworthy.”

The man’s words echoed low, like a sincerity buried deep in an endless place. He had always looked as though he relied easily on the eunuchs who stayed by his side, so it was startling to realize he treated them with a lack of trust.

“Your Majesty.”

“Where are there good people in the Imperial Palace? There are only those who pretend to be good. People can be cruel to partners with whom they don’t need to pretend to be good. The world isn’t all as naive as you are.”

The Emperor’s advice held the stench of the repugnance underlying the Imperial Palace. The words he whispered did not sound like a provocation telling Yeon-oh not to complain because what he suffered was nothing. They simply made the man look extremely pitiful and wretched.

“I hate medicine. The first medicine I ever took was terribly bitter. How old was I? I had a fever for an unknown reason, and because I was a poor Prince with no one to look after me, the eunuch gave me medicine that was so incredibly bitter I couldn’t possibly swallow it. It was so bitter it made me gag just trying to drink it. I thought it would be better to just die than take that medicine. Yet, I swallowed it down and survived, so how much abuse must that eunuch who brought the medicine have suffered.”

Seonjae spoke, smiling as if recounting an amusing anecdote.

“Was the medicine very bitter…?”

“The late Emperor was not the kind of person who would bother himself with small details to torment his brothers. It’s just that since no one was looking after me, they probably hoped I would die from not being able to take the horribly bitter medicine, so they wouldn’t be bothered.”

The man spoke as if he understood the eunuch who brought the dreadfully bitter medicine. But Yeon-oh could not understand the idea that someone would bring such a terribly bitter medicine, hoping the sick person would die, just because they did not want to work.

“…”

Seonjae reached out and touched Yeon-oh’s rigid cheek.

“That’s why I hated medicine all the way until I moved out to the Prince’s residence. Why are you looking at me like that? Do you pity me? Offer your flattery or pity to me with a Geomungo performance instead.”

Yeon-oh could not smile back at the Emperor, who was laughing while recounting such a past. He did not dare to flatter him by saying he had gone through a hard time or that he was incredible.

“…”

Just as the man said, Yeon-oh felt he was the only one who was naive. It seemed he had a long way to go before he suffered enough.

“Why do you need friends? Young Master Gyo, don’t you know whom a consort should impress?”

Yeon-oh slowly relaxed his stiff face. Compared to the man, he was still naive and had not suffered much, but he seemed to know what to say now.

“When you come next time, please listen to the allegory.”

Seonjae’s face, which was looking at Yeon-oh, twitched. Seeing the sublime face react to the words he threw out, Yeon-oh spread a faint smile.

Seeing that smile, the man replied.

“I will come tonight.”

The Emperor, who spoke in a low voice, held Yeon-oh’s hand. As Yeon-oh looked down at the firm hand holding his wrist, he rose. When the tall man suddenly stood up from his seat, his front was blocked.

Without warning, the man pulled Yeon-oh into his embrace.

“Your Majesty?”

The man, who held Yeon-oh in his arms, bent his head and placed his lips on the pointed tip of his ear. At the warm breath and the soft feel of the lips, Yeon-oh quickly recoiled his neck.

The warm lips touched a delicate and sensitive spot. A lewd sound echoed as the lips touched and pulled away from the bare skin.

Wet breath spread out very close by.

The large hand moved at some point, loosening the knot of Yeon-oh’s outer robe, letting it hang loosely. The man’s hand burrowed into the loosened gap and touched his bare skin. Following the movements of the hand burrowing under the clothes, the gold robe bulged and shook noisily. The fingertips touching the bare skin gently moved Yeon-oh, maintaining a distance that seemed about to touch or pull away.

Meanwhile, hot lips clung to his ear, nape, and face, making sticky sounds. Every spot the firm fingertips touched was a place Yeon-oh found difficult to endure.

At the slight touch, Yeon-oh flinched and raised his gaze. He was mortified by his violent reaction, which was like a convulsion.

Seonjae laughed at the embarrassed face and pressed his lips to it.

“Your Majesty. Tonight, you said you would come tonight…”

The man’s hand, which had traced down his waist, began to intimately touch his buttocks. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Yeon-oh whispered, pushing back gently as if to stop the hand that was trying to penetrate between his buttocks. A silent kiss descended upon the whispering lips.

Seonjae pressed and pulled away his lips from the mumbling mouth, as if pecking it. The sounds that were trying to be uttered were muffled and swallowed by the obstruction of his lips. The man’s tongue, which burrowed between the parted lips, sought out and touched the wet piece of flesh that was fumbling. Yeon-oh, who flinched a few times, put out his tongue to read the man’s flesh in return.

Only wet sounds filled the study.

The sounds of hot, soft, and moist membranes rubbing together, and the sensation of soft flesh pulling away, made his head echo strangely. His whole body beat rapidly, as if it were a heart. His chest felt so tight from the thumping heart that it ached.

Yeon-oh forgot where he was and openly put out his tongue to lick and suck the swelling piece of flesh that strongly intertwined with him, embracing the man tightly. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Seonjae lightly lifted the person who strongly held him by the neck and set him on the edge of the desk.

When he regained his senses, Yeon-oh was sitting on the Emperor’s study desk, with his clothes completely disheveled and his legs parted. He embraced the man, who stood between his open thighs, and kissed and sucked on his lips until all sensation was gone.

When their lips separated, both the man and Yeon-oh were excited and fully erect.

“I told you to go prepare for the night’s attendance.”

Seonjae whispered, stroking the heavily panting lips with his hand. Yeon-oh nodded, his cheeks flushed. The man, who watched the embarrassed face for a moment, leaned toward Yeon-oh and lightly lifted the body sitting on the desk.

As Yeon-oh instinctively reached out his hands to embrace the man’s shoulder at the touch that supported his waist and buttocks, he was carried away. While Yeon-oh, who was being carried clinging to the Emperor, hesitated in surprise, Seonjae left the study.

In the side room attached to the study, elegant bookshelves were lined up. The upper part was made only of open frames, and the lower part was supported by a majestic body. On the very top of the open structure of the bookshelves, instead of books, black-glazed bottles with uniform, beautiful patterns that Yeon-oh had never seen were displayed as decoration.

Black ceramic was precious in itself. Teacups with patterns fetched a steep price. Black-glazed bottles and bowls with patterns required even a noble to wait several seasons to acquire.

Next to the bookshelf where the Emperor set Yeon-oh down, a large black-glazed maebyeong vase with a plum blossom pattern was placed. It was rare enough to have a pattern, but this one even had a plum blossom pattern. Even at a glance, the size of the black-glazed maebyeong was significant.

“Your Majesty.”

Even though his head was numb with excitement, Yeon-oh sprang away from the bookshelf as if jumping off. He did not want to misplace his hand and knock over the black-glazed maebyeong. He did not even want to imagine it.

Seonjae burst into laughter upon seeing Yeon-oh moving as if he had been burned by the sight of the black-glazed maebyeong.

The man paid no mind to the gaze that seemed to protest why he had been brought to such a dangerous place. He backed Yeon-oh, who was acting as if he would run away, against the bookshelf, reached out his hand, and grabbed the excited part between his legs.

At the direct stimulation applied to his genitals by the large hand, Yeon-oh quickly doubled over his waist.

“Ah, Huff…!”

The erect penis rubbed against the clothes, leaving a stain on the thin fabric. Yeon-oh tried to suppress his voice, but he could not help but let out a moaning sound at the firm hand that found and touched only the spots where he was most sensitive.

The man touched Yeon-oh’s front while simultaneously reaching his hand around to his back. Yeon-oh wildly flailed his body at the man’s action of pushing his fingertips into the crease of his buttocks.

“M-Majes…”

A finger burrowed into the mouth that inhaled a gasp of surprise. With a few experiences, Yeon-oh expertly sucked the firm, long finger. As if praising this, a kiss descended upon the twitching cheek.

At other times, he would have reached out to hold onto a place to support himself, but black-glazed ceramics were placed on every bookshelf in the room. There was no single spot where he could safely put his hand.