Power (1)
A beauty to topple nations.
The phrase described a countenance capable of bringing an entire kingdom to its knees, and women blessed with such beauty almost always shared one thing in common.
Whether they willed it or not, they brought misery to everyone around them—and in the end, they invariably met an unhappy fate of their own.
Daji of Shang, who indulged in every manner of wickedness until her neck met the executioner's blade, need hardly be mentioned; Xishi fell into a river and drowned, Yang Guifei hanged herself from a building, and Baosi took her own life the moment she fell into enemy hands.
Back in my old world, I used to wonder just how breathtakingly beautiful a woman had to be to drag everyone around her—herself included—down into ruin.
And now, facing Diaochan, I finally knew.
This much, I could concede without argument: a treasure beyond one's capacity to hold, it was said, became a calamity instead.
With a face that could pull the very soul out of anyone who looked upon it, she could certainly have toppled a nation—more than enough to send those around her, and herself, spiraling into ruin. That said, it was a bit of a stretch to call Diaochan's own ending an unhappy one.
Granted, she had most definitely sent the people around her—Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu—squarely to their graves.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Diaochan vanishes from the story after Lü Bu's death, her final mention being a line about Cao Cao relocating Lü Bu's wives and concubines to Xudu. Then again, Diaochan herself was a fictional creation of the novel to begin with, so the author probably felt no need to write her any further.
Though knowing Cao Cao—a man who went absolutely feral for widows and married women—I did find myself wondering whether he'd truly left Lü Bu's women alone. But then, that hardly seemed like the sort of thing the Records of the Three Kingdoms would bother writing down, did it?
Having indulged in that stray thought for a moment, I turned to Diaochan, who was holding her silence, and asked.
"So. What happened that brought you to me?"
"Well, it's..."
At my question, Diaochan let the words trail off, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face. How could every single one of her expressions be so beautiful?
In terms of raw looks alone, Diaochan was not so very different from the other beauties around me, yet she carried an aura that belonged to her alone. Call it a presence that beckoned to the opposite sex on a primal level—I couldn't quite put it into words, but there was undeniably something about her that could drain a man of his senses.
Continually reining in the corners of my mouth as they threatened to slacken, I prompted her.
"Has some big problem come up?"
"...It is a rather... ambiguous matter."
"I see."
At her answer, I tilted my head. If Diaochan, who normally handled every task with crisp, flawless efficiency, was putting it that way, then the matter truly was a strange one. I knew this well, having entrusted her with all manner of duties before.
And yet never once had I seen her stop mid-sentence and falter like this. What on earth could fluster a maidservant who seemed the very embodiment of the word perfection?
I let my puzzlement show as I spoke.
"I'll have to hear it out before I judge, then. What in the world is it?"
Diaochan continued in her graceful, composed voice.
"...My adoptive father has sent you an invitation."
"Your adoptive father... you don't mean—"
"Yes."
Diaochan looked me straight in the eye.
"He says he wishes to speak with you before long."
...
I fell silent at the news that Wang Yun had sent for me. What business could a man have with me, one who had recently withdrawn from office on grounds of his failing body?
'How would it be, welcoming the General-in-Chief as Her Majesty's consort and devoting yourself to the matter of producing an heir?'
...I could more or less guess where this was going. And small wonder—a nuclear bomb had just been dropped on the court, after all. Anyone would be burning with questions. Had our positions been reversed, I'd have been firing off one question after another myself.
Briefly calling to mind the woman whose name I still did not know, I gave my answer.
"Understood. Send word that I'll pay him a visit soon."
"Yes, my lord. Then I shall take my leave for now."
Diaochan bowed to me once more and slipped from sight. Watching that bearing of hers, without a single flaw to be found, I fell to thinking.
Wang Yun, courtesy name Zishi.
One of the most emblematic pillars supporting the Han imperial house, standing alongside the likes of Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song.
A moment ago I had treated the matter as a joke, but depending on how tomorrow's conversation went, he could just as easily become my enemy as my ally. This was not a man to be taken lightly simply because he was old and gray. The connections and reputations such men had spent a lifetime building were not things anyone could dismiss with a wave of the hand.
Handled carelessly, I too could end up like Dong Zhuo or Cao Cao, hounded by assassination threats from dawn to dusk. If I made enemies of them, I might not lose—but one thing was certain: I would be worn down for a very, very long time.
...Which was exactly what worried me.
I could protest for a hundred days straight that I was a genuinely good person, but how many people would actually believe it? The high officials who backed the Han court had watched with their own eyes what happened when power grew too concentrated in a single faction, so I could understand why they reacted so keenly to my every move. One careless step, and wouldn't a second Ten Attendants—or a second Dong Zhuo—come crawling out of the woodwork? More than a few heads had already rolled thanks to men like those, so of course they would do whatever they could to check me.
One option was to lean on the Empress, who supported me without reservation, and simply refuse to speak with them at all. But that solved nothing at the root. If anything, it would only cement the worst possible impression—that I had beguiled the Empress and was twisting her around my little finger. And that was not what I wanted.
Hmmm...
How was I supposed to prove that I was a man who did precisely his duty and coveted nothing beyond it? Once I became the Gukseo, retiring from political life would be flatly impossible, so I needed to come up with a better answer...
It was shaping up to be a day of unusually heavy deliberation.
Time, as ever, marched on.
Having settled on my approach for the conversation with Wang Yun, I set out the next day without a moment's hesitation.
"You're going?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'm coming too."
The instant Lü Bu heard I was headed for Wang Yun's residence, she latched onto me just as she had last time.
"Some other strange woman might put a spell on you. Somebody's gotta keep watch."
...
By "strange woman," she meant Diaochan, didn't she.
I offered my silent condolences to Diaochan, who had apparently been demoted to "strange woman" without ever knowing it.
"Anyway, I don't like her. Acting all innocent while sneaking in little seductions here and there..."
Lü Bu didn't stop there. Something was clearly gnawing at her, and she muttered on without end. Coming from the woman who had lived and died for Diaochan's sake in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was hard to know what to make of it.
"Lü Bu. That's enough."
"O-Okay..."
Of course, I had no intention of simply standing by and watching, so I stepped in to mediate. Honestly, what would they do without me?
...
Seo Yeo, as always, wore an expression that gave nothing away about what went on behind it.
Just as I was passing through the main gate with Seo Yeo and Lü Bu in tow, a familiar voice drifted over from nearby.
"...Um, excuse me. Care for some help?"
"Hm?"
I turned toward the familiar voice. Violet hair. Violet eyes. There stood Sima Yi, waiting for me in precisely her usual fashion.
She spoke in her customary grumbling tone.
"Word is, you're off to meet that pigheaded old fossil."
"Now, now. None of that."
Putting on a deliberately stern face, I took hold of Sima Yi's surly cheek and gave it a pull.
"Owwbww... Sthop tweating me wike a chiwd! (Owwww... Please stop treating me like a child!)"
Arms folded, Sima Yi merely leveled a prickly glare at my antics.
...I'd been wondering for a while now—was Sima Yi also the type who simply didn't feel pain, like Seo Yeo or Lü Bu? It was a far cry from Zhuge Liang, who would well up with tears at even the gentlest tug.
At the sight of Sima Yi, who radiated displeasure yet never once swatted my hand away, I snorted a laugh and released her cheek.
Freed at last, Sima Yi spoke up.
"Anyway, I'm coming to help. It's not as if anyone's going to object to one more person joining the party."
"No, that's quite alright."
I said it with my smile still in place.
"What's needed right now isn't a silver tongue. It's me, exactly as I am."
"...There you go, saying strange things again."
At my answer, Sima Yi let out a big, rather adorable sigh.
"Fine. Take care, then."
"I will."
I nodded.
Then Sima Yi murmured, in a very small voice.
"Even if things don't go well, you can always just... take care of it."
...
What a terrifying thing to say.
Take care of it how, exactly?
A faint unease crept over me. Every now and then, Sima Yi showed signs of wanting to floor the accelerator without warning; I really would have to keep a close eye on her.
She's a clever girl—surely she'll manage fine. And yet I couldn't stop worrying.
...Or was it precisely because she was clever that I felt so uneasy?
"That insufferable little white-haired brat said you'd probably refuse, by the way..."
...
"And she'll just keep going on about how everything's unfolding according to her calculations, won't she? Grrr...!"
Perhaps picturing Zhuge Liang fluttering her White Feather Fan, Sima Yi grumbled on in that odd way of hers.
You two actually get along rather well, don't you?