The Protagonists' Due
Hui-bin’s steps came to an abrupt halt. She, too, had caught sight of the King.
He stood facing away from us, his back turned toward the path. Caught by the mountain wind, the hem of his scarlet royal robes fluttered in soft, undulating waves.
Even though I knew we'd find him here, my heart is pounding like crazy...
I swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in my throat. What set my nerves on edge far more than the sovereign’s presence was Hui-bin’s reaction.
She did not move a single inch. Her steps, her gaze, even the very breath in her chest seemed frozen in time. Rigid and breathless, she did nothing but stare at the silhouette of the King’s back.
What could she possibly be thinking?
Unable to contain my curiosity, I glanced up at her face. The first thing I noticed was a tender smile of pure joy. Delight, profound happiness, and an eagerness so vibrant that it looked as if she might cast off her decorum and rush toward him in her stocking feet were plain to see. Yet that radiance withered away almost immediately. The corners of her lips sank, and the brilliant sparkle in her eyes dimmed into a heavy, muted ache.
A tangle of complex, nameless emotions flickered across her countenance: joy and fluttered anticipation, remorse and lingering attachment, sorrow, and deep-seated fear. She could not advance a single pace, nor did she dare utter a sound or call out his name.
It breaks my heart...
A wave of pity washed over me as I watched her twitching fingertips and the faint tremor in her parted lips. Though he stood merely paces away, she looked upon him as if he were an impossible memory across an ocean of longing.
“……”
I watched her in silence. I knew nothing of love; having never experienced romance in my previous life, there was no way I could truly grasp the depths of such desperate yearning. Being so clueless, I felt utterly helpless to counsel her, but one thing was crystal clear.
This is no place for me to intrude.
All I knew of Hui-bin’s life were a few dramatized lines recorded in history books. Of the love between Jang Hui-bin and Sukjong, a bond forged over twenty tumultuous years, I understood nothing at all.
From here on, it belongs to Hui-bin.
This was her story. A harrowing tale of passion where she was the heroine. Consequently, this reunion was hers and hers alone to claim.
I realized at once what I had to do. As I quietly took a step sideways, Hui-bin’s gaze drifted down toward me. Her lips parted as if she meant to whisper something, but I swiftly brought a finger to my lips, silently urging her to stay quiet.
“……”
No words were needed. Tiptoeing so as not to rustle a single leaf, I cautiously backed away from her side. Just then, my eyes caught a secluded pavilion nestled among plum trees in full bloom.
That’s the spot.
Moving as swiftly and quietly as a shadow, I slipped off their stage and concealed myself from view.
Perhaps sensing a subtle shift in the air, the King, who had been gazing quietly into the crystal waters of Ongnyucheon Stream, slowly turned around. The moment he caught the silhouette of a woman standing near the path, his eyes trembled ever so slightly.
Hui-bin.
It was indeed her. Though the King suffered from terrible eyesight, he could discern her silhouette in an instant. In truth, it had always been so; even had she stood much farther away, his recognition would have been just as swift. Bathed in the golden sunlight spilling over the banks of Ongnyucheon Stream, Hui-bin stood poised, graceful and upright.
“……”
The King did not speak, nor did Hui-bin break the stillness, content merely to gaze upon him in silence.
Why do you look at me with such an expression, Hui-bin?
Within her eyes, the King read layers of sorrow and regret. Her gaze seemed fraught with anguish, laced with grievance, and trembling with the bitter sting of love turned to hatred. Yet beneath all those tempestuous currents, what he recognized first was an unmistakable yearning. The King turned over the question that had gnawed at his heart for so long.
Is it truly me whom you miss?
Did she truly long for the mere man named Yi Sun? Or did she simply miss those glorious days when she held the monarch’s undivided favor? Was she merely reminiscing about that past—a time as dazzling yet fleeting as sunlight slipping through one’s fingers? He wanted to know. He longed to ask. Yet he chose silence, knowing far better than anyone else that he had been the one to orchestrate her downfall.
Decades of shared memory hung suspended between their meeting gazes: the youthful springtime that had seemed all the more breathtaking for its transience, the empty vows of an eternal devotion that had failed to withstand the court's tempests, and those feverish days when they had been intoxicated by passion for one another.
Jang Ok-jeong.
He still remembered with vivid clarity the moment he first laid eyes on her, back when she was merely a palace maid in Queen Dowager Jangnyeol's quarters. His breath had hitched; her peerless beauty had threatened to blind him. There had been a time when he made enemies of the entire world simply to keep her by his side. He had defied the Queen Mother, antagonized the bloodthirsty court ministers, cast out his rightful Queen, and ultimately turned a deaf ear to the murmurs of his subjects. He had staked everything on loving Jang Ok-jeong.
...And in the end, that love had collapsed.
Was that Hui-bin’s crime?
Though he turned the question over in his mind, he could find no certain answer. He was the sovereign. The political faction riding on her coattails had grown more audacious by the day. Swollen with hubris, they acted as though the royal radiance belonged to them alone. Striking down such insolence had been his undeniable duty as a monarch. He had not cast her aside because his heart had wandered to another; his affection had lingered in the very same place for a very long time. It was simply that the vine of love had grown far too wild, and before its suffocating poison could devour him whole, he had been forced to sever its stem.
“Hah...”
A faint sigh escaped his lips. Even in the heavy quiet, he did not look away. He could not, driven by an ache to know whether, beneath the remorse and resentment in her eyes, there still lingered a shred of genuine devotion for him alone.
...Your Majesty.
Hui-bin had no idea what words to offer. She had dreamed of this encounter for so long, yet standing face-to-face with the sovereign emptied her mind entirely. Propriety demanded that she offer a formal greeting, but her body and tongue were frozen stiff. No, that was not the true reason she could not stir.
She was terrified that if she moved, it would all vanish. She feared that the embers of a love already reduced to ash, the royal heart that had once belonged to her alone, would scatter to the wind, leaving her never to look upon him again.
I was twenty-one when I met that man.
The instant she beheld the young monarch shining like the midday sun, she had felt it in her bones that their fates were intertwined. Everything about him had captivated her: his daring spirit, his fierce valor, and the unyielding strength that feared nothing under heaven. She had loved the boundless power he wielded as well; the knowledge that the most powerful man in the kingdom hungered for her affection was an intoxicating delight sweeter than any aphrodisiac.
How foolish I was back then...
She had never imagined that his pledge of eternal love could ever waver. Yet the very daring that once bewitched her turned into a blade that severed her political allies. The royal authority that once granted her every whim dragged her kin down into the abyss. And the heart of the man who swore he yearned only for her had wandered freely into the quarters of other women.
Even so, she loved him still. The heart that once held that departed man was stained with bruised, blackened grief. Yet she could not bring herself to stop loving him. Even if longing, resentment, jealousy, and bitter regret tore her apart day after day, he remained her entire world. Jang Ok-jeong could only ever be whole when she possessed his love.
...Your Majesty.
Tears welled in her eyes. She wanted to despise him; she felt as though she might finally breathe if only she could hate him with all her might. Yet in spite of everything, she missed him beyond all reason. He was so close that she could touch him with a few strides. But she could neither reach out, nor embrace him, nor press her lips to his. Their romance was finished. He had discarded her.
“……”
Through her shimmering, tear-blurred vision, the red dragon robe warped like the dying embers of an old blaze. A futile affection, flaring up in an instant only to burn itself out...
It was then that the King moved. He walked toward her with slow, measured, yet utterly resolute strides. The clear murmuring of Ongnyucheon Stream mingled with the damp air cloaked in faint river mist, and the rustle of his silk robes resounded distinctly through the tranquil clearing.
Before she knew it, the King stood right before her. His lips parted.
“Ok-jeong.”
“……”
He had called her Ok-jeong. It was a name that had gone unspoken between them for far too long.
“Your Majesty...”
A solitary tear spilled from Hui-bin’s brimming eyes and cascaded down her cheek. A cold sovereign, an extraordinary monarch, a ruthless ruler devoid of blood or tears. Though his fingertips twitched faintly in an effort to maintain royal restraint, the King ultimately surrendered. Reaching out, he drew Hui-bin firmly into his embrace. It was an unyielding chest, held tight by powerful arms.
“...It has been so long,” he whispered, his voice trembling with years of suppressed emotion, “since I last called you by name. Ok-jeong.”
Just then, a gentle breeze swept through the grove. Carried on the wind, the delicate petals of the plum blossoms drifted down in a soft, pale pink shower, swirling gracefully around the reunited lovers.
“Huff...! Pant...! Pfffttt...!”
Dizziness threatened to overtake me. The world was spinning before my eyes, but I refused to abandon this monumental undertaking.
“Puff! Pfffttt...!”
Scooping up double handfuls of plum petals from the thick carpet covering the pavilion floor, I puffed out my cheeks and blew with all the lung power my toddler body could muster. Most of the petals simply fluttered uselessly back down to the wooden planks. Fortunately, however, a few stubborn handfuls caught the passing breeze and drifted perfectly toward the King and Hui-bin.
There stood Hui-bin, held tightly in Sukjong’s embrace, encircled by a romantic shower of swirling blossom petals.
Heheh...!
It was a legendary tableau of historical romance, brought to life by two leads and their dedicated odd-wheel extra.