The Mid-Autumn Festival (3)
Time kept slipping past, even as Lü Bu and Seo Yeo busied themselves over one dish after another under Diaochan's instruction.
"Aboo…"
The two babies, who had at first blinked their eyes wide open with bright, healthy vigor, were long since fast asleep. Seeing as much, I carefully lowered the sleeping children onto a soft, plush blanket.
"Waaah…"
"There, there. Papa's right here."
At first they had fussed the very instant their backs touched the blanket, but when I gave their little bodies a gentle pat to tell them all was well, they slowly sank back into sleep.
"……"
Quite the amusing poses they'd picked out for themselves, too. Seo Hui, taking after her mother, lay in a demure, tidy posture, while Yeo Hwa had stretched her arms out into a perfect T.
Perhaps it was because their mothers were making such a cheerful racket cooking nearby—the children never once stirred, even with the sounds of household life drifting over from just a few paces away.
"Ta-da! Finally got another one finished!"
I popped a bite of the stir-fry Lü Bu held out for me and hummed in genuine admiration. "Your skills really are coming along, huh?"
"Obviously! Who do you think I am!"
It was a dish that had gathered vegetables, each demanding its own cooking time, and blended them all skillfully together in a single bowl. Not one spot scorched anywhere, the savor of the fire steeped deep into every piece—it was more than enough to wring that exclamation out of me. True to a woman who had once lived alone in the mountains, Lü Bu had always been remarkably deft with her hands.
"…My lord."
"This one's delicious too."
Seo Yeo's circumstances were not so very different from Lü Bu's.
What is it that matters most in cooking? Measurement exact to the last hair's breadth. A superb sense for just how much heat a dish requires. Knife work that cuts every ingredient to a perfectly even size…. Despite this being her first time at a cutting board, Seo Yeo accomplished every one of them flawlessly. Her precision was at a level one could rightly call that of a human weapon. I suppose you'd have to call her a woman of genius talent when it came to anything that put the body to use.
If there was one regret, it was that she lacked the creativity needed to invent new recipes…. Not that I had any plans to groom her into some culinary researcher chasing novel menu items—this much was gratitude enough. At the very least, I would never collapse from hunger somewhere because there was nothing to eat.
I went on devouring the two women's creations after that as well. Since Diaochan had brought the ingredients over in only the tiniest portions from the very start, the finished dishes never amounted to much. Nearly all of them came out bite-sized, I noticed. Was she intending to drill the lesson in properly while she had the chance? But no matter how small you make the portions, a limit is a limit.
"…I'm getting rather full, actually."
"Then we shall conclude the lesson here."
The moment I muttered that my stomach was feeling heavy, Diaochan brought the cooking class to a close.
Hearing that, I asked in a puzzled voice, "Hm? You could just call someone else in and feed them, couldn't you?"
"No."
Lü Bu answered, shaking her head at once. "I learned to cook for Jeongneung in the first place."
"……"
So she wouldn't cook for anyone else, then. Was I supposed to be flustered by that, or happy about it?
Just as the mood in the room began to turn a shade delicate, I tossed out a teasing remark. "In that case, you won't be cooking for Yeo Hwa either?"
"Wh-what kind of nonsense is that! Do I really look like such a terrible mother?!"
The words were barely out of my mouth before Lü Bu shrieked at the top of her lungs. Watching her, I turned my head with a smile.
"All right, all right—let's have dinner first, then. I'll wait for you."
"…Mm."
Lü Bu quietly fell in line when she saw where my gaze had settled—on the children sleeping soundly atop the blanket. The faces of the little ones, blissfully unaware of the world as they wandered through dreamland, looked like nothing so much as angels, whatever anyone might say.
The day after the great cooking affair had run its course, a summons from the Imperial Palace came flying at me while I was idling about as usual.
"…Her Majesty is calling for me?"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldier—clad in the heavy armor that marked him as one of the Imperial Guards and draped in a splendidly fashioned cloak—answered me with crisp deference. That getup looks impressive every time I see it. But when I considered the weight of that armor and cloak, I could hardly begin to imagine the toll it took on the man beneath it. On television, a soldier in a gas mask and full battle rig had simply looked cool; after serving my own stretch in the military, though, well…. These days all I can think is how brutal it must be.
"Understood. I'll set off at once."
"Sir!"
At my nod, the guard departed with a lithe, economical motion. Goodness. So he really can move like that wearing all that steel. Somehow the caliber of the soldiers only seemed to climb as the days went on.
"…It's gotten rather late—what could this be about, I wonder."
Liu Bei, who had been faithfully attending to my bugok duties nearby, murmured in her gentle, refined voice. Given the timing, I had a fair idea of why the summons had come. After a moment's thought, I explained to the puzzled Liu Bei.
"Probably on account of the rite. I mentioned before why the Mid-Autumn Festival became a nationwide occasion, didn't I? The sovereigns of antiquity offered rites when they beheld the round moon, and the common folk who watched them offered their own in turn—that is how it grew into a festival observed across the whole realm. And what were they praying for, exactly? Nothing special at all. Simply begging Heaven to keep the good things coming. Since that was all a rite was for to begin with, people naturally came to feel there was no call for the mournful air of a farewell to the departed—and in time the Mid-Autumn Festival became a holiday of abundance and rest, an occasion for everyone to enjoy alike."
…Though the trouble, I suppose, is that all of that only came about after the Tang dynasty rose.
"Let's get ready first, then."
Having sorted out my thoughts, I set my feet in motion. I was, after all, the Emperor's Gukseo—the husband of a reigning queen. A state occasion at which the Emperor herself offered the rite was not something I could be absent from. And even setting the Gukseo title aside, I held the office of General-in-Chief of Han, so short of some truly unavoidable circumstance, I attended every rite without fail. The summons had come so late in the day for a simple reason: the rite had to be offered while gazing upon the full moon.
I turned my head toward the Peach Sisters. "Assemble every soldier except the watch rotation."
"……"
"Looks like we'll all be turning in a little late tonight."
"As you command."
A night inspection, out of nowhere. How would the soldiers take it—the very men who were only now laughing and joking because the day's duties had just wrapped up? What would they do, indeed. They'd spit out every curse word in the book and go grab their gear. I should give the officers a heads-up to start tomorrow's duties a little late.
On the way to the Imperial Palace, I was met by a woman waiting in a pose I knew well by now.
Xun Yu—Wenruo. Like her kinswoman Xun You, seven degrees removed, she wore her brown hair neatly combed into place, and she greeted me with a soft smile.
"You've arrived."
"I'm not too late, am I?"
"There is still time to spare; there is no need for concern."
Having answered the question I had thrown out just in case, Xun Yu continued without pause. "And…."
"Hm?"
"Her Majesty wishes to speak with the General-in-Chief."
"…I see."
We had only just met this morning—what more could she have to talk about? Though she has said before that she could gaze at me all day without ever tiring, so perhaps she simply summons me whenever the chance presents itself.
I asked Xun Yu in an even voice. "Shall I go to her as usual, then?"
"Yes."
With that answer, I walked on without a moment's hesitation. The instant I showed myself within the palace grounds, the Imperial Guards standing watch parted to open a path in perfect unison. Then the man who appeared to be their deputy called out with a bark:
"No irregularities on watch!"
"Uh… right."
Their discipline has been unnaturally sharp of late. They were the elite unit that represented the central army, so I suppose it was only to be expected…. Did somebody chew them out over sloppy conduct or something?
"……"
"Mmh…."
Seo Yeo and Lü Bu simply escorted me in silence close at hand, showing no particular reaction. Leaving the two of them stationed directly before the audience chamber, I stepped inside—and a familiar face greeted me with a smile.
"Hwahyeon. It has been an age."
"…Your Majesty, did we not meet only this morning?"
"Oh, hush. To Us, even those hours felt an eternity."
Putting on a show of sternness, the Empress came toward me with quick little steps.
"The reason We called for you…. You must have some inkling by now."
"Yes. Is it not on account of the rite?"
"Perceptive as ever."
The Empress reached out with a familiar gesture and pulled me into a tight embrace. Naturally startled by this, I opened my mouth.
"…Your Majesty?"
"Shh."
With her face buried against my chest, she posed her question. "A rite that could easily be let pass, what with the realm in such turmoil—does it not intrigue you, why We insist on holding it?"
"……"
I honestly hadn't wondered. Rites are ordinarily offered in prayer for good fortune—wouldn't it be something along those lines?
"The rite of the Mid-Autumn Festival is a prayer of gratitude for the autumn harvest, offered up to Heaven."
"……"
"But when one offers the rite to the full moon itself, the meaning becomes something else entirely."
Having said that much, the Empress rose up on tiptoe and whispered into my ear.
"The flourishing of one's descendants."
Her voice was more bewitching than it had ever been. "They say that when the full moon rises, women pray to Heaven for a child."
"…Your Majesty."
"Is it not high time this realm was shown its heir?"
How very proactive of her. At the sight of the Empress's smiling face, I found myself thinking that this night was going to run very, very long.