Harsh Words -1
The Emperor sat alone in his chambers, staring blankly up at the moon.
"Have a cup, Your Majesty."
Sama Gyeong-hwi, now fully awake, refilled the Emperor's cup. The Emperor gazed at the moon reflected in the wine and gave the cup a gentle swirl.
"Was I... in the wrong?"
"How could there be right or wrong in an older brother's heart that only wishes the best for his sister?"
The Emperor said nothing and brought the cup to his lips.
"Heh... so Yu Ya says she can't stand the sight of me. Can't stand the sight of me..."
Regret.
What filled Yu Gyeong's chest to overflowing was pure regret. If he had known he would be hated this much, he never would have laid a finger on that man named Ho Cheon-an.
The memory of Hyeok Gi-rin's furious face and her furious shout made Yu Gyeong's chest ache all over again. She had told him not to come looking for her. Then how was he supposed to apologize? How was he supposed to make peace?
Gloom settled over the Emperor's features.
"If I had known the child would hate it so much, I never would have done something like this..."
Sama Gyeong-hwi watched his lord wallowing in self-pity and let out a silent sigh. To fall into this state of mental frailty over a simple "I really hate you, Brother!"...
Where had the usual shrewd Emperor gone? The moment his sister was involved, only a troublesome master remained.
"I have a younger sister myself. Her name is Yeon."
Yu Gyeong's listless eyes drifted toward Sama Gyeong-hwi.
"To be honest, my sister and I fought like cats and dogs. She was so damnably irritating that I smacked her more than a few times behind our parents' backs, and every single time she came at me with her nails out. We told each other things like 'Someone like you will never get married' or 'I can't stand the sight of you.' Looking back now, I wonder why we fought so hard."
The memory seemed to make Sama Gyeong-hwi's brow furrow.
"If we had been strangers, we probably would have cursed each other out and never spoken again. Yet we still faced each other without a care, mixed as usual, fought again, and helped each other too. When I think about it, I never really hated her that much. I still don't know why we fought so much."
Glug, glug.
Sama Gyeong-hwi refilled the empty cup and continued.
"And it wasn't just the two of us. Everyone is like that, they say. Someone once told me that siblings are born to fight each other. Somehow that struck a chord. Everyone brawls and scrapes like that."
"This is different... How can you put childhood petulance on the same level as what happened today? I touched her partner. Yu Ya must truly hate me now."
The more he spoke, the more depressed the Emperor became; he covered his face with both hands. Yu Ya... for Yu Ya to get that angry. What if she decided she never wanted to see him again for the rest of her life?
Watching Yu Gyeong suddenly curl up and turn into a pill bug of self-pity, Sama Gyeong-hwi wanted to throw the whole conversation out the window, but he forced himself to hold it in one more time.
"You met Princess Yu Ya again after twelve years, did you not? If it had been anyone else after twelve years, could you have greeted them so warmly or felt so tenderly toward them? It is possible only because you are blood. And the same is true for Princess Yu Ya."
"...You think so? You really think so? When Yu Ya said she hated me, that she didn't even want to look at me, that I should never come looking for her again for the rest of my life... that wasn't her true heart?"
When did she ever say "for the rest of my life"?
Sama Gyeong-hwi barely managed to swallow the words that had risen all the way to his throat and simply nodded.
"Of course, Your Majesty. If you show her sincerity, one step at a time, Princess Yu Ya's anger will ease."
"Right... I understand."
Yu Gyeong's heartache remained unchanged.
In truth, Sama Gyeong-hwi's comfort did not land particularly well. No matter how much Sama Gyeong-hwi claimed to have brawled with his own younger sister Sama Yeon, he had almost certainly never heard anything on the level of "I really hate you, Brother!" or "I never want to see you again!"
And once again, for the record: Hyeok Gi-rin had never actually said anything like "I never want to see you again!" either.
Even so, Yu Gyeong did take something away from Sama Gyeong-hwi's words.
If you make a mistake, you have to make up for it.
"When day breaks, let us go find that man Ho Cheon-an."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
And so Yu Gyeong resolved, first of all, to seek out Ho Cheon-an.
A house of mourning.
Yes—that was exactly the atmosphere hanging over Gungcheongjeon. The palace maids looked so wilted that even the side-dish greens left over from yesterday's lunch would have looked fresher sitting on my table right now.
Without the maids' cooperation, those two never could have gotten near me, so the maids must have caught hell from Hyeok Gi-rin as well.
Honestly, what crime had the maids committed? When a member of the imperial family shows up and tells you to do something, you do it.
Watching the maids who had gotten their backs broken in a fight between whales made me feel a little sorry for them, but I had my own survival to worry about, so there was nothing I could do.
In any case, while the maids drooped, I started my morning with a soup made from the freshest ingredients.
After practicing the audience protocol with the maids a few more times, free time arrived.
"Hmm."
I considered going to see Hyeok Gi-rin, then decided against it. The maids were already crushed, and she would be busy dealing with the two eunuchs' mess.
I spent a moment wondering how this whole affair was unfolding.
I had no idea where Dujak ranked among the imperial clan. But I could make a few educated guesses.
First, one thing was certain: Dujak was not of the direct imperial bloodline. The only direct descendant of that age was Emperor Yu Gyeong himself, and that was simply too absurd to consider.
Why would the Emperor pull a stunt like that?
So he had to be a collateral relative. And if he was collateral, then the moment Hyeok Gi-rin stepped in, the matter would be cleaned up neatly.
Because Hyeok Gi-rin was second in the imperial succession. She was only second because of the current Emperor Yu Gyeong; if you looked purely at the right of succession, she was first.
Hyeok Gi-rin was the child of the First Empress, while Yu Gyeong was the child of the Second Empress.
That was why Hyeok Gi-rin had gone out into the Murim in the first place. The First Empress's faction had been dominant, until the Second Empress gave birth to Yu Gyeong first and the power structure shifted. Six years later Princess Yu Ya—Hyeok Gi-rin—was born.
The previous emperor, Yu Seo, had been a frail man who struggled to produce an heir even into late age. Imperial authority had been weak, and regardless of the empresses' or their families' wishes, the ministers had split into factions and fought.
In the end, the fundamental reason Hyeok Gi-rin fled into the Murim could be traced to that weak imperial power and to Yu Seo's failure to produce an heir until so late.
At any rate, Hyeok Gi-rin's departure for the Murim had prevented the capital from splitting into two warring camps and had also allowed Yu Gyeong to ascend the throne quickly.
It could also be called the decisive event that let the current Emperor Yu Gyeong wield such formidable imperial authority.
Picture it: a weak emperor, two factions colliding as they each tried to seize the next emperor and control power. Hyeok Gi-rin's supporters lost their center when she left for the Murim and collapsed; Yu Gyeong's supporters, for their part, never managed to rack up any real credit for putting him on the throne.
To Yu Gyeong's faction, Hyeok Gi-rin's move had been a disaster as well. They had planned to accumulate merit through countless political struggles until Yu Gyeong became emperor so they could control him—only for their rival to suddenly disintegrate.
Yu Gyeong's supporters found themselves unable to put a bridle on an emperor who had risen to the throne with almost no hardship.
The faction that had backed Hyeok Gi-rin suddenly lost its core and fell apart; the forces that had backed Yu Gyeong were too weak to stop his advance.
Yu Gyeong used that vacuum to soar freely, explosively expanding the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard and successfully consolidating imperial power.
In other words, Hyeok Gi-rin was the foremost contributor who had helped the current Emperor Yu Gyeong establish his iron grip on the throne.
No wonder the two of them were so close.
I had wandered off on a tangent. Back to the point: the moment Hyeok Gi-rin cleared her throat even once, Dujak was in a position where he had to tremble.
And he had committed a crime on top of that, so even with a hundred mouths he would have nothing to say.
No matter how much of a wastrel Dujak was, at the end of the day his true self was just an ordinary person who had never learned martial arts. Power was his only weapon.
Now that Hyeok Gi-rin had stepped in, Dujak could no longer pull any more tricks on me. Even if the eunuchs and palace maids obeyed imperial commands with absolute loyalty, Hyeok Gi-rin's side outranked Dujak, so his orders would no longer carry weight.
Judging by how thoroughly wilted the maids looked, Hyeok Gi-rin had overturned everything from every direction. At that level, the bastard called Dujak could not have come out unscathed either.
Given how completely unhinged his behavior had been, there was still a chance he might charge in without caring about fire or water... but with all his hands and feet cut off by this incident, he would not be able to cause any major trouble.
"Master Ho Cheon-an. Great Hero Hyeok Gi-rin requests that you join her for tea."
"Ah, understood. I'll go at once."
I had just been letting my imagination run wild about how the Dujak matter had been handled, so the timing was perfect.
Hyeok Gi-rin's complexion did not look good. With a mudskipper stirring up the water inside the imperial palace, a bright face would have been stranger.
"I cannot go into detail, but the matter has been resolved satisfactorily."
"Thank you. Great Hero Hyeok Gi-rin must have gone to a great deal of trouble. How am I ever to repay this kindness..."
"It is nothing. The culprit has been... thoroughly chastised."
Whatever thought crossed Hyeok Gi-rin's mind, her face flushed red. The way she bit her lip and trembled made me startle.
To think that gentle, mild-mannered Hyeok Gi-rin could display such intense emotion. An incident so severe that merely replaying it in her mind set her feelings ablaze.
I could not help wondering what had happened overnight.
That mudskipper Dujak must have been a wastrel beyond imagination.
"Hahaha. Well, if it ended well, that is enough."
At those words, however, Hyeok Gi-rin's expression darkened.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Haa... it is nothing."
Her face bothered me greatly. It was true that I had been dragged into imperial affairs. Hyeok Gi-rin handling the matter could be called a member of the imperial family cleaning up an imperial problem, yet it was also true that she had granted my request.
The worry clouding her face was probably because of yesterday.
"Why not unburden yourself a little?"
"Unburden... myself?"
"Yes. Even just venting lightens the load. If there are sensitive details, you need not mention those parts."
"...I see."
Hyeok Gi-rin hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth.
"Regarding yesterday's matter... I quarreled quite badly with my older brother."
"I see."
So that Dujak fellow had been someone fairly important? It seemed she had clashed with the Emperor over how to deal with him.
Hyeok Gi-rin's face flushed again. Something must have happened yesterday; she kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. I chose not to point out her odd behavior and simply waited for her to calm down.
"Mmm... misunderstanding... marriage... haa..."
After muttering to herself for quite a while, Hyeok Gi-rin finally managed to compose herself and continued.
"Yes. That part was a decision I made myself. In the end, what truly weighs on me is... that I hurled harsh words at my older brother."
"I see. So that is what is troubling you."
I nodded along and simply accepted everything she said. Honestly, I wondered if this even counted as a real worry. Given Hyeok Gi-rin's personality, no matter how angry she got, she would never have said anything truly unspeakable.
What on earth had she said to the Emperor to leave her this devastated?
"What sort of things did you say...?"
"I... I shouted at my older brother, asking what he even knew about me."
A classic opening line for any argument. I offered her light comfort.
"Haha, something on that level your older brother would have taken as nothing more than cute sulking. A day has already passed; he has probably forgotten all about it."
"Th-that is not true... I shouted that I really hated the likes of him."
Truthfully, I knew very little about the emotional texture of sibling relationships. You need to have siblings to understand that. Still, living long enough, you inevitably witness how brothers and sisters treat each other. The friends I played with as a child and their little sisters... I remembered exchanges so fierce that communication seemed impossible without insults about each other's dogs, comparisons of intelligence and faces to seafood, or references to the last line of the two-times table.
For a sibling fight, wasn't that level actually pretty cute?
"Haha, if it was only that much, wouldn't your older brother understand?"
Hyeok Gi-rin fidgeted, then finally squeezed her eyes shut tight. Seeing her like that, I steeled myself. Her attitude was so unusual that she really must have let fly some extraordinary abuse.
I might startle or, without meaning to, scold her and wound her further.
"I told my older brother not to come looking for me for the time being. What if... what if he really never comes to see me again...?"
Ah.
So that was it. She had told her older brother she couldn't stand the sight of him and not to come looking for her. And not even forever—just for the time being.
Looking at Hyeok Gi-rin's face, steeped in guilt, I let out a soft chuckle.
What a close pair of siblings they were.