The Letter
“That… your sister… spoke rather harshly, I see.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! Even if I was in the wrong, there are things one should say and things one shouldn’t!”
I swallowed dryly as I watched Yu Gyeong pour out his passionate rant.
Emperor Yu Gyeong.
The man who had ascended the throne when imperial authority lay in the dust and dramatically restored the power of the emperor.
And that man was this person?
This man, spitting as he vented every grievance about Hyeok Gi-rin, was that Emperor Yu Gyeong?
“Heh heh…”
As I blankly watched the emperor rant on, I finally understood why Du-jak had lured me to Cheonsangru.
If the two of them talked, of course my name as a fellow guest would have come up, and from the emperor’s perspective a lowly nangin like me who dropped into gambling dens at the slightest excuse would have been thoroughly distasteful. But Hyeok Gi-rin would have spoken quite positively about gambling techniques.
Thinking about it, that made sense. How common was a gambler who actually taught sleight of hand? Gamblers as a breed were reluctant to leak even the most trivial tricks… I should have caught on from the mere fact that he had shown me the techniques.
Hyeok Gi-rin knew how to hide cards well enough, so she would have demonstrated the cookie-hiding trick or something similar.
And what would Yu Gyeong have thought while watching Hyeok Gi-rin like that? This Sichuan nangin bastard I’d like to chew up and spit out dares to stretch his demonic hand toward my little sister, the princess of the Great Huang Empire?
Oh.
Suddenly the back of my shirt began to grow damp.
“Hm? What’s wrong with you? Your complexion suddenly looks terrible.”
“Hahahaha! It’s nothing! Please continue! So what did you do for her when she was little?”
“So I, too, prepared myself to be scolded and went to my sister…”
There had been no falsehood in Du-jak’s words.
Du-jak—no, Yu Gyeong—had purely wanted me to lose. To separate Hyeok Gi-rin from gambling, or to separate me from Hyeok Gi-rin. If Yu Gyeong’s scheme had succeeded, I would have fallen for the eunuch’s temptation, climbed over the palace walls to gamble, and ended up a pathetic fool buried under massive debt.
A disgrace that would make any ordinary person lose all affection at once.
Ah.
So right now I was the one who had taught the imperial princess illicit gambling techniques, completely smashed the emperor’s plans, then toyed with the emperor a little before running straight to Hyeok Gi-rin to tattle, making her say the extremely shocking words “I hate you, Brother!” to the emperor?
In my head a fat judge shouting “Bring the dog-beheading blade!” floated into view.
Had he chosen the alias Du-jak because he wanted to chop off my wrists with a chopping blade? Nah, no way. Haha, yes—even if I was a lowlife who taught gambling tricks to his precious little sister, I was still an imperial guest and Hyeok Gi-rin’s acquaintance.
“Back then that child looked up with those big round eyes and said ‘Thank you, Brother’… No—are you all right? Sweat is pouring down like a waterfall!”
“Indeed it is. Hahahaha! Don’t worry! Sometimes my sweat glands just open up out of nowhere like this! Hahahaha!”
Wiping my forehead with my sleeve instantly soaked the cloth. The moment I wiped the sweat, more poured down! I could fake my expression, but there was nothing I could do about this cold sweat.
After wiping everything away and forcing a smile, Yu Gyeong looked at me with a suspicious expression.
His gaze was unusual—a look that seemed to wonder whether I had figured out he was the emperor. I hurriedly opened my mouth to change the subject.
“So, do you intend to reconcile with your sister?”
“Haaa… That’s what worries me. She told me not to come looking for her, so if I go carelessly I might just provoke her anger again, and honestly I don’t know what to do.”
Fortunately the emperor’s mind was currently full of nothing but thoughts of Hyeok Gi-rin, so he easily dropped the suspicious look.
“For now… yes. How about writing a letter?”
“A letter, you say?”
“Yes. Since you said your sibling bond is deep, your sister is probably also fretting over the fact that she… spoke harshly… um. Anyway, that she said severe words.”
I said this much and took a sip of tea to buy time. I was speaking off the cuff, but I needed time too.
“Yes, go on.”
“Even if your sister has already decided to forgive Du-jak-nim by now, there are words that have been spoken and face to save, aren’t there? It’s difficult to forgive so easily after getting so furiously angry.”
“Hmm…”
I recalled Hyeok Gi-rin’s attitude while drinking tea. Would she easily forgive Yu Gyeong? Honestly it was fifty-fifty. She had shown worry if Yu Gyeong didn’t come to apologize, yet inside it felt as though something was still boiling.
“So wouldn’t it be better to send a letter first?”
“A letter… a letter…”
“To show sincerity without facing each other, nothing beats a letter, does it? Also, considering the remaining hurt feelings if you simply face each other head-on, words free of emotion would be better.”
Better this way than impatiently closing the distance all at once.
Yu Gyeong thought it over carefully, then nodded and stood up.
“I understand. I’ll write a letter right away. You don’t look well either, so rest a bit.”
“Haha. I wish you luck.”
Yu Gyeong hurried off, and Sama Hwi-gyeong, who had been watching me for a moment, gave a silent bow. Come to think of it, what was this Sama Hwi-gyeong attached to the emperor’s secret outing? Admiral of the Golden Guards or of the Eastern Depot? No—just a personal guard, probably. Don’t think too deeply.
“Hooo…”
I stuffed cookies into my mouth and gulped down the cold tea. Once sugar was supplied to the brain that had been spinning at tremendous speed and the moisture lost to cold sweat was replenished, my head finally started working again.
For now… yes.
I had to reconcile Yu Gyeong and Hyeok Gi-rin as quickly as possible. If by any chance this incident completely ruined their relationship? Yu Gyeong would kill me. Definitely.
The fortunate thing was that I was in the position of advisor to both. Hyeok Gi-rin had no one else to meet in this imperial palace, so she could only consult me, and for Yu Gyeong… well, Yu Gyeong was probably similar.
Since the meeting with Hyeok Gi-rin would be secret, he wouldn’t tell anyone he had fought with his sister unless it was someone he truly trusted. Palace maids and eunuchs were in no position to offer opinions to the emperor, so people he could freely consult with—excluding me, the party involved in the incident—were probably really few.
I should observe both their reactions and somehow restore the sibling relationship.
Yes, that was what I was originally going to do, wasn’t it? Since I had already decided to step up for Hyeok Gi-rin’s sake, this was actually for the better.
I just had to do more desperately what I was going to do lightly, right?
Somehow I felt like crying, but…
For now, let’s sound out Hyeok Gi-rin’s heart after she sees the letter.
Right after dinner, Hyeok Gi-rin summoned me, saying it was time for tea and sweets.
“This morning I told you about fighting with my brother. And today a letter from my brother arrived, of all things.”
“Oh my. Is that so. What did it say?”
“Overall he apologizes for the fight with me and says he is reflecting.”
Hyeok Gi-rin’s expression looked quite uncomfortable. She had received an apology, yet it felt as though something had not been fully resolved.
“Is there something bothering you?”
“I don’t know how to put it… I received an apology, but… the aftertaste isn’t clean.”
“Heh heh. I see.”
I also drank a cup of tea and organized my thoughts. Until now I had thought Hyeok Gi-rin and Yu Gyeong had fought over Du-jak’s punishment. But actually Du-jak was Yu Gyeong.
Then the entire incident went in a completely different direction. Hyeok Gi-rin had heard every detail of her brother’s rampaging disgrace through my mouth, so of course she would be embarrassed and angry at her brother for doing such a thing to a fellow companion.
It was natural for Hyeok Gi-rin to be angry at Yu Gyeong.
But what bothered me was Yu Gyeong’s attitude. Unlike the posture of reflecting and admitting his fault, there had seemed to be quite a bit of feeling wronged…
Yet it was awkward to ask about this.
Anyway, it had been a situation in which Hyeok Gi-rin had every right to get angry, so questioning whether she had made some mistake while getting angry in that situation felt a bit… After all, she had stepped up for my sake.
So what I chose was persuasion.
“But it’s not that you don’t want to reconcile with your brother, right?”
“That’s true, but.”
Hyeok Gi-rin let out a long sigh.
“I feel like it will just be a repeat of this. I don’t know how to express this feeling right now…”
What Hyeok Gi-rin wanted was a fundamental solution to the problem.
“Just vent like yesterday. After all, I don’t know Hyeok Gi-rin Great Hero’s family or who her brother is, do I.”
Actually I knew everything, but. If Hyeok Gi-rin dropped clues, I could hold onto those clues and match them with the ones that came out of Yu Gyeong’s stories.
“My brother… still seems to think of me as a baby.”
After thinking long and hard, Hyeok Gi-rin opened her mouth like that.
“I understand. The last time my brother saw me was when I was a child. After that, because of life at the Jeomchang Sect, we were apart for a long time. But I am also the Great Disciple of the Jeomchang Sect and a Super-Peak martial artist.”
“You want your brother to acknowledge that you have become independent.”
“That’s right! No… maybe not. Honestly it’s complicated.”
Hyeok Gi-rin looked at me with sad eyes for a moment. Well, life as Hyeok Gi-rin would not be easy—hiding her princess identity and living as a cross-dressing woman.
“I hope my brother respects my decisions… but strangely, I myself have not reached any conclusion either. Is it too shameless of me to wish for my brother to support me blindly while I myself still don’t know what to do?”
It was a difficult problem—one that could not be answered just by gathering clues one by one like twenty questions.
But even if I could not solve the problem, I could at least give advice.
“Then please send a reply.”
“…A reply, you say.”
“Yes. Your brother also mustered courage to send a letter, didn’t he. So Hyeok Gi-rin Great Hero, please write a letter containing your own heart. A letter can be rewritten once, twice, ten times, can’t it.”
Hyeok Gi-rin sank into thought. Enough time passed for even the tea in the pot to cool, and then she nodded.
“Yes… I will do so.”
“Heh heh. Then please organize your thoughts once. I shall take my leave now.”
“…Thank you.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. Ho Nangin. For many things, really.”
Hyeok Gi-rin was blushing—whether from embarrassment at offering thanks or from having laid bare every sibling dirty secret. At that innocent look I also smiled and cupped my fist in salute.
“I hope there will be a good result.”
“…Yes. I will try my best.”
Looking at Hyeok Gi-rin’s resolute eyes, I let out a sigh of relief.
Yes—since they had originally been affectionate siblings, reconciliation should be easy.
With my worries lightened a little, I lay down on the bed and waited for tomorrow.