Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Settling the Succession (1)
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My wife was pregnant.
She said it had already been two months.
I hadn’t noticed a thing because there wasn’t the slightest sign on her belly.
She did have menstrual cycles, of course, but they were pretty irregular.
My wife was pregnant.
How was I supposed to handle this?
It was a bit awkward.
Truth be told, it was contradictory to pour all my energy into her every night and then worry about her getting pregnant.
Still, which normal guy wouldn’t with a young, beautiful wife right there beside him?
I had simply given in to my desire for her youthful body.
Of course, ever since I gave up on passing things down to my own bloodline, I’d been careful about contraception whenever we were together.
But without using it perfectly, complete prevention was impossible.
What happened today was practically an accident waiting to happen.
“If it’s not a girl for the second one, this is going to be a headache.”
If by some chance the child in her belly turned out to be a boy, things would get complicated.
It would put the powerful leader’s son front and center in any power struggle.
As my direct bloodline, he’d start off with rock-solid support from my Yi Seong-jun faction.
With the backing, connections, and halo tied to my name, even a young kid could aim for the top.
Suddenly, I had a succession issue on my hands that was giving me a splitting headache.
“How’s your body feeling? You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Meanwhile, my wife looked absolutely delighted.
Her hazel eyes sparkled brighter than ever now that she had the child she’d always wanted.
What did she truly want now that she was carrying the baby?
I found myself wondering about her real thoughts.
I suggested we go listen to the orchestra.
“What’s gotten into you, Mr. Prime Minister? Making romantic suggestions like this. If only you were always this sweet.”
She was thrilled by my proposal.
“Gotta have days like this once in a while.”
Arm in arm, we headed to the grand theater.
We took our seats in the VIP box, ordered some light drinks, and during the spare time, I gently probed her.
“About our child.”
“Yes.”
“If it’s a boy, should we put him into politics?”
Her eyes widened slightly at that.
Then they curved into playful crescents.
“I don’t know.”
She dodged a direct answer.
She’d started out naive, but spending time as the spouse of a power broker had made her grow up a lot.
As the lively strains of Mozart began, I whispered in her ear.
“If you don’t know, mind if I decide?”
She looked a little flustered by that.
But Baek Ha-yeon was still Baek Ha-yeon.
She was as innocent as ever when it came to hiding her feelings.
“The baby hasn’t even been born yet. Isn’t it a bit early to be thinking about this?”
Since I’d already brought it up, I decided to lay my cards on the table honestly.
Beating around the bush with her wasn’t my style.
“I’d prefer our child stay out of politics. You know I don’t want any hereditary succession.”
She looked taken aback by my bluntness.
“Mr. Prime Minister, we don’t even know if it’s a boy yet.”
“That’s why I’m saying it now. Otherwise, you might end up more disappointed later.”
I didn’t want to leave her with any false hopes.
She hesitated before speaking up haltingly.
“Mr. Prime Minister, we can’t predict how the world will turn out. Why draw lines this early?”
As expected, she wanted my bloodline to inherit what I’d built.
That didn’t mean I thought she was being overly greedy.
It was understandable.
Hereditary succession was that seductive and tempting.
Any power holder would feel its pull at least once, and most fell into the trap.
But I had no intention of handing my throne to my own child.
Because the nation wasn’t personal property?
Because it set a bad example for future generations?
My raw, honest reason was this:
I didn’t want to ruin the empire I’d built.
I didn’t want anyone tarnishing the legacy I’d spent my life creating.
That was why I wouldn’t pass the empire to my child.
“Truth be told, I toyed with the idea until recently. What if you gave birth to my successor? I even considered it for a moment.”
She caught the negative undertone and went pale.
“But I decided it won’t work.”
I continued, looking into her hazel eyes.
“I’m the leader of Daehan before I’m your husband. As head of the Daehan Empire, what should come first? Being Baek Ha-yeon’s husband and our children’s father, or Prime Minister Yi Seong-jun? You already know the answer.”
She’d known it even before I started this conversation.
That Yi Seong-jun was the kind of man who put being the empire’s prime minister above being a father or husband.
She’d watched me up close for so long, seen how I operated.
Maybe she’d known my answer all along but let greed cloud her judgment for a bit.
Just like how I kept falling for her seductive body every time.
“So don’t hold on to any lingering hopes.”
I left her no room for doubt.
And that was the end of the conversation.
She teared up a little and left the VIP box.
Looked like she was heading to the bathroom, but she didn’t come back for a long while.
Was she still crying?
I never imagined I’d make her cry like this.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
She didn’t return to the VIP box until the performance ended.
She only came back to her seat long after the show was over.
“If I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry. But I didn’t want to lie to you.”
Her eyes were puffy; she’d clearly been crying hard.
The vibrant Baek Ha-yeon I knew was nowhere to be seen.
It felt a little strange, honestly.
I hadn’t expected her to break down like this.
In a subdued, choked voice, she said,
“I knew you’d decide something like this, Mr. Prime Minister.”
Her voice lacked its usual strength.
“But how can you stop the greed from creeping in? When you can reach out and have it all, how do you give that up? How can you not want to pass on a better future to your children?”
Her voice carried a faint quiver.
“I felt the same.”
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have agonized endlessly over making her child my heir.
Humans really were fragile creatures when it came to desire.
The reason I hadn’t succumbed to that hereditary itch like her was the perfect counterexample of the Kim family trio burned into my mind.
As long as they were there, I’d never give in to it.
“Why think that way?”
There were elites like the Lee Kuan Yew father-son duo or the Chiang father-son pair—modern political dynasties that passed down power and still led their nations well.
But counterexamples outnumbered them dozens, hundreds of times over.
“It’s because of the danger tied to the name Yi Seong-jun that I won’t consider succession. My name has become too heavy to pass on to one person.”
I couldn’t be George Washington, but I sure as hell wouldn’t become Kim Il-sung.
Hereditary rule didn’t guarantee a Kim dynasty redux, but the world had its slim chances.
The risk that my child might use the Yi Seong-jun name to birth a second Kim Korea.
I couldn’t swear my son wouldn’t turn into a Kim Jong-il.
That risk alone made succession a hard no.
I hadn’t planned to discuss this with her, but the words were out.
I had no choice but to give her the cold, hard truth I harbored.
“So I can’t allow hereditary succession.”
“Could you just... give me some time to think?”
Rather than digging in her heels, she backed off a step.
That was my wife.
She coveted power but stepped back if it meant fighting for it.
The fact that a woman like her even entertained such greed proved just how immense my power was.
Who wouldn’t crave a power that could achieve anything if you just willed it?
I acknowledged her greed.
I just wouldn’t indulge it.
“If that’ll ease your mind, sure.”
But the ripples from her pregnancy didn’t stop with her.
The people around us were already buzzing with succession talk.
“Once Young-shik’s born, he’ll be the heir. Even if it’s not this time, the First Lady’s still young.”
Talk of designating a boy as heir straightaway was reaching my ears.
Considering even my usually compliant wife was having second thoughts now that she was pregnant, reactions like this weren’t surprising.
Come to think of it, there’d been a subtle mood around us when she was pregnant with our first, Seo-eun.
Debating whether I’d go for hereditary rule or not.
Ridiculous misconceptions.
I planned to reign as prime minister for life, but I had no desire to rule the empire through bloodline forever.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
That maxim held true across time and cultures.
With the controversy already stirring, I resolved to nail down the succession issue once and for all.