The Dragon's Price
The noble young master let out a loud “Snore.” Ryun, who’d stirred up a storm in his stomach yesterday by messing around with spicy food, was still fast asleep even though the sun had climbed high overhead. He must have been truly miserable.
-Scritch scritch “Finally done.”
I was sitting beside his bed, finishing an embroidery. This time I’d stitched a dragon. It had been an absolute pain to make, but now that it was complete, it looked rather impressive.
“Ugh…” -Twitch twitch “Finally waking up?”
The bed began to stir. Soon after— -Blink —Ryun sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
“U-uh, yeah?”
“Here, drink this cold tea first. I added a bit of honey, so it should taste decent.”
After handing him the cup, I pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
-Gulp “What is this…”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Why was he staring at me like that, completely dazed? His face even looked a little red…
‘Huh?’ Wait a second— -Startle “Aaaah?!”
‘Oh no!’ I’d unconsciously used the eunuch’s secret art—Attending to One’s Superior! That damn brainwashing training again.
‘Get out of my head!’ Even though I’d killed him myself, Eop Hu-hu’s ghost still lingered in my mind. It wasn’t just this moment, either. Whenever I let my guard down, I’d find myself walking like a refined lady or following imperial etiquette while drinking tea. After ten years of that conditioning, it had become second nature. The embroidery I’d just happily finished was probably the same.
“Ugh!”
Thoroughly annoyed, I grabbed the embroidery with both hands, ready to tear it apart. But—
“W-wait! You’re not actually going to rip it, are you?”
Ryun stopped me.
“Why do you care?”
“It’s a well-made piece. It would be a shame.”
“It’s mine. I can tear it if I want.”
“Hmm… Then as long as it’s not yours anymore, it’s fine?”
“What?”
-Rustle “One tael of gold. Sell it to me.”
“Huh? Really?”
One tael of gold was ten million won… He was offering that much for this?
“Here you go!”
I quickly placed the embroidery in his hands and snatched the gold piece.
“Yahoo!”
Maybe I actually had a talent for embroidery?
“A dragon, huh…”
Ryun murmured, gazing at the embroidery as if lost in thought. Then he said,
“Yeonhwa.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t particularly like women who are too beautiful.”
“???”
What kind of random nonsense was that?
----------
Once Ryun had recovered, we left the inn together.
-Step step “So it’s because of your stepmother? That’s why you don’t like women who are too pretty?”
As we walked and talked, I learned that Ryun’s father had remarried after his wife’s death. The new wife was apparently an extraordinary beauty.
“That’s right. I can’t bring myself to like someone who tried to kill me.”
His stepmother had secretly tried to have him killed. This guy’s life was seriously twisted too.
“You never told your father?”
-Shake shake “She’s a meticulous woman. There’s no solid proof.”
“I see… Ah, then don’t tell me—”
“Yes. That’s also why I hired an escort.”
So that’s why he’d paid ten taels of gold for an escort even though we were only traveling the main roads. There was a reason after all.
“But why hire one from such a small place? If someone’s after your life, you should go somewhere more reputable.”
“As Sun Tzu’s Art of War says: appear weak when you are strong.”
“Aha, I think I get it!”
People would expect a young master from a good family to travel in grand style. So by dressing plainly and traveling with an escort like me, he could avoid notice.
-Scratch “Anyway, given the circumstances… you don’t need to worry too much just because I saw your face.”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You’re hiding your face because of your appearance, aren’t you? A beauty inevitably draws trouble just by existing.”
‘He’s completely misunderstanding on his own.’
Did he really think I’d suffered because of my looks?
“…”
Still, the fact that he was saying this at all meant he was starting to open up a little. He must have liked the eunuch-style attending-to-superiors act after all.
‘Heh heh heh.’
Returning the ten taels of gold at the start to win him over had been the right move. Thanks to that, I’d even managed to sell one embroidery for a whole tael today. If I kept currying favor like this, maybe I could even mooch off him as a permanent guest?
----------
Some time after Ryun and Yeonhwa departed, a group of men visited the inn where they had stayed.
-Bow bow “Oh my, honored guests. What brings you here…”
Their equipment gleamed, and their eyes were filled with killing intent. These were clearly no ordinary people. That was why the inn boy bowed so eagerly from the start.
“I heard a man wearing a bamboo hat and a woman wearing a veil stayed here.”
-Nod nod “Yes! That’s right!”
The atmosphere was so tense that one wrong word could cost him his head. The boy wiped away cold sweat as he tried to recall the details.
“What did the man’s face look like? Was it similar to the one drawn on this paper?”
-Thud The man held out a sheet of paper. On it was drawn a refined, handsome face. It was an exact match for the man who had visited the inn days earlier. However—
“W-well, that is…”
“What is it?”
“I don’t remember at all.”
Surprisingly, the boy’s memory of the man’s face was completely blank.
-Snap “How dare you lie! Shall I torture your entire family before you speak?”
“H-hiik! Please spare me! It’s because of the woman who was with him!”
“The woman with him? You mean the one wearing the veil?”
“Yes! Her beauty was so outstanding that… I didn’t even notice the face of the person traveling with her…”
“That beautiful?”
“She was practically the most beautiful woman under heaven. Hair like black silk, pale skin, eyes like rubies—”
-Whisper whisper “The most beautiful woman under heaven, huh.”
“Namgung? Bukgung? Or perhaps…”
“I don’t recall anyone like that among the attendants.”
The men murmured among themselves as they listened to the boy describe Yeonhwa’s appearance. Eventually, one of them wearing twin swords stepped forward.
“If you can’t remember his face, then what about his behavior?”
“His behavior… He asked for spicy food.”
“What?!”
The men’s eyes widened in shock at the boy’s words.
“Spicy food? Did he eat it well?”
-Shake shake “No. After a few bites he collapsed on the floor and threw up. The woman with him said he had the spice tolerance of a three-year-old.”
-Murmur murmur “The Second Prince was supposed to handle spicy food well…”
“Tch. Another dead end.”
‘The Second Prince of the Great Ming Empire—that is, the Ming Dynasty—handles spicy food well.’
In truth, this claim had never been officially verified. It was based solely on one person’s statement. The problem was that the person who made the claim was the supreme ruler of the empire—the Emperor himself. No matter how casually he’d said it over a meal, no one had the courage to ask, “Really? Mind if we verify that?”
So the rumor had simply become accepted as fact.
-Murmur murmur “Damn it, why insist on coming when it was obviously not him…”
“Have you forgotten the Empress’s strict orders? There must be no mistakes!”
“Even so, would the Second Prince really be traveling leisurely with some woman while his life is in danger?”
“Ahem…”
This was already their third failure today. Even these patient assassins were starting to feel the heat.
“We’ll continue gathering information and tracking them.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“Their destination is clearly Gangha. It would be better to search the surrounding area.”
Gangha was the provincial capital of Ho-gwang Province. If the Second Prince reached the officials there, carrying out the assassination would become much more difficult.
“Hmm… I suppose that’s our only option for now.”
----------
“Wow, this place is huge, almost as big as Yangyang.”
“This is… Hanyang. Once we cross the Yangtze, Gangha won’t be far.”
The Hanyang I knew was Seoul. Was it just the name that was the same? Either way, it was quite a large city—perfect for resting and finding lodging. Though we hadn’t really accumulated any fatigue since we’d stuck to the main roads.
-Buzz buzz
Still, something about the atmosphere felt off. It was noisy, but also tense, like blades were drawn.
-Glance “Excuse me, what’s going on? Why is everyone so worked up?”
I asked while buying a piece of candy from a street vendor. The merchant looked at me oddly.
“Huh? You don’t know what happened? Were you living in the mountains or something?”
“So what is it?”
“Well… The Second Prince has gone missing! They say his palanquin exploded during an inspection!”
What? The prince was missing? And his palanquin exploded?
“The palanquin exploded? Then isn’t he dead?”
“Apparently there’s no body.”
“Whoa…”
If there was no body… did that mean he escaped before the explosion? Either way, the prince being missing was a national emergency.
-Glance “Hey, Ryun! Did you hear? The prince is missing!”
I turned to Ryun and informed him of the national crisis. As someone from a good family, he probably had connections at the top. He must be shocked.
-Freeze
Contrary to my expectations, Ryun didn’t look particularly surprised. If anything, his expression was rather awkward…
“O-oh. I-is that so? Ahem!”