The Filial Piety Root
I looked up at the sky for a brief, fleeting moment. It was clear. The sun was exceptionally bright today, and the weather was truly beautiful. Since it was now the eighth lunar month, early autumn, the ground was beginning to freeze and frost would cling to the earth for a day or two, but the weather remained warm. The village stretching out below was as peaceful as ever. Wisps of smoke rose lazily from chimneys as people prepared meals, and villagers walked about with bright, cheerful laughter. Yes. Beholding such a sight brought a deep sense of peace to my heart.
And then, I looked back down at my teacher's letter.
"I am sorry."
The very first words out of his brush were "I am sorry." To think a scholar would begin a letter in such a manner. No matter how casual the correspondence, this was absurd. It wasn't as if we were middle schoolers passing secret notes under the desk after having our phones confiscated; surely he could have managed a proper greeting? That was what I thought at first.
"I used the root."
Before I could even read the next line, a cold shiver ran down my spine, as if someone had dragged a wet tongue right along my backbone. My eyes frantically skipped to the line after next.
"But it turned out well."
"..."
Of course, perhaps realizing belatedly that he had rushed to the conclusion in a panic, my teacher had hurriedly scribbled an explanation afterward. He wanted to ensure there was no misunderstanding about where he had used the root.
Fortunately, even before I read that part, I already knew exactly where he had used it.
...But it turned out well? What?
"The Crown Princess! She is regaining consciousness! The bleeding from her lower body has suddenly stopped, and her fever is breaking!"
"T-That... That cannot be. In all the medical texts from ancient times to the present, I have never read of dangqui possessing such miraculous efficacy..."
"Is that truly... just dangqui?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
At that final question, a heavy silence fell over the courtyard. Everyone pacing outside the pavilion of Jaseondang grew still. Only then did they realize that the agonizing screams echoing from within the pavilion had finally subsided.
Everyone waited in breathless suspense.
After several agonizing hours, the doors of the pavilion finally creaked open. The female physicians and court ladies stepped out, their garments stained with blood and sweat. It was a stark testament to the ferocious battle they had waged over the past day. The male royal physicians, whose faces had hardened at the sight of their bloodied attire, along with everyone else, quickly raised their eyes.
They looked at the faces of those emerging from Jaseondang. Many were weeping, their lips trembling, and some were so utterly exhausted they were practically drooling.
And yet, every single one of them was smiling.
While the others slowly filed out of the pavilion, a single man rushed inside, completely heedless of decorum. It was the Crown Prince. As he threw open the doors to the inner chamber, the opening allowed Shin Sukju and the onlookers outside to catch a brief glimpse of the interior.
Inside... sat someone with her back held perfectly straight.
It was a fleeting moment, yet it felt as long as eternity. Her face was deathly pale, and her eyes, still devoid of strength, were only half-open. But she was alive. Her hastily thrown-on garments were disheveled, and her hair and face were damp with sweat and saliva, a state far beneath her noble station. But she was alive. Her eyes were hollow, and she looked as exhausted as if she had stayed awake for days on end. But she was alive.
Yes. The Crown Princess Consort was alive.
Watching this scene from afar, Shin Sukju felt as if his very soul had been sucked out of him. His body swayed, and the surrounding eunuchs quickly stepped forward to support him. Yet, the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a dazed, blissful smile, as if he were lost in a beautiful dream.
The moment the doors opened fully, everyone present prostrated themselves on the cold ground. Royal physicians, civil officials, court ladies, and eunuchs alike bowed their heads to the earth. Naturally, Shin Sukju followed suit. Though he was a fraction of a second slower than the rest, no one reproached him. No one had the mental capacity to care about such a minor breach of etiquette.
She had lost nearly all the blood in her body, her delirious babbling had ceased, and she had barely been drawing breath. That was the grim prognosis the royal physician had delivered to the officials and the Crown Prince just moments ago. One could not survive such a state. No such precedent existed in history.
But now, a precedent did.
Thud!
With the heavy swing of the gates, several officials and palace servants dashed outside in a frenzy. They scattered across the palace grounds and surged toward the Avenue of the Six Ministries. Already, thunderous cheers erupted from beyond the high walls. Weeping could be heard as well.
While quiet, hushed murmurs were exchanged inside the pavilion, everyone outside remained prostrated, waiting for something.
More precisely, they were waiting for someone to arrive.
Creak. The sound of heavy doors opening.
The rustle of countless approaching footsteps.
Everyone shifted their posture, turning to prostrate themselves in the direction of the arrival.
"...Oh."
A soft, trembling sigh escaped the lips of the newly arrived figure. Though his voice sounded cracked and strained with emotion, no one dared lift their head to gaze upon the royal countenance.
The King strode past the prostrate crowd, drawing closer to the pavilion. He stepped into the chamber where the Crown Prince and Crown Princess Consort resided. A conversation began between the most noble souls in the kingdom. Sensing the raw emotion thick in their voices, Shin Sukju closed his eyes and blocked his ears. Everyone else in the courtyard did the same, granting them their privacy.
It was only in the next moment that Shin Sukju finally opened his eyes and ears once more.
"Head of the Medical Bureau."
It was a voice he had heard often enough to recognize, yet one he could never truly grow accustomed to. The King, who had stepped back outside with the Crown Prince at his side, spoke.
"What medicine did you say was administered?"
At this, No Jung-rye, the Head of the Medical Bureau, replied in a trembling voice, "We had administered Heuksinsan and Sosihotang, but the Crown Princess's condition deteriorated so rapidly that she could not swallow them... However..."
Amidst the heavy, sacred silence of the sovereign, No Jung-rye bowed his waist even deeper and continued, "...Shin Sukju, Scholar of the Hall of Worthies, offered a single root of dangqui. The moment its juices were trickled into Her Highness's mouth, her fever broke, the bleeding ceased, and her convulsions stopped."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Time seemed to grind to a halt. Even without lifting his head, Shin Sukju could feel it. Every single eye in the courtyard was fixed upon him.
And then,
"Raise your head."
So was the gaze of the King.
Shin Sukju raised his head slightly, though he naturally avoided looking directly at the royal face, keeping his eyes fixed on the sovereign's knees.
Then, the royal voice rang out once more.
"I commanded you to raise your head."
As those words pierced through Shin Sukju's entire being, his head lifted of its own accord. He dared to look directly at the King, and at the Crown Prince standing beside him.
A gaze trembling with profound confusion...
Shin Sukju knew exactly what had shaken the sovereign's holy eyes.
"Was it truly dangqui?"
There was no way a man of letters had not read a medical text or two. And the sovereign was the greatest scholar in the land—indeed, the greatest scholar who had ever lived. He could not possibly be ignorant of what ailments dangqui treated and how it functioned. At the very least, he had to know that it was not a medicine capable of snatching a dying soul back from the brink of death.
Shin Sukju, being a brilliant scholar himself, was well aware of this.
The King had to be wondering: Why did Scholar Shin suddenly bring such an ordinary herb? What on earth was this 'dangqui' that Scholar Shin possessed?
"...How could your subject dare utter a falsehood before Your Majesty? It was indeed dangqui."
And as everyone knew, Scholar Shin Sukju was the teacher of An Heon. There was only one answer.
"I personally witnessed its flower blooming at the grave of my young disciple's deceased parents, alongside the boy himself. To my eyes, it was unmistakably dangqui."
The Hyoja-geun—the Filial Piety Root.
"My disciple, Heon, entrusted it to me, pleading that I preserve it at all costs and use it only when a matter of grave importance to the state arose..."
Even in his state of terror, Shin Sukju kept his wits about him, making sure to explicitly mention his disciple's name to the King.
"...Though I am a man lacking in both learning and virtue, how could I, as his teacher, disregard my disciple's earnest plea?"
He was securing his disciple's credit.
"Though he is but a young boy, my disciple possesses the noble character of the sages of old. Thus, I engraved his words upon my heart and never forgot them. To think that only today would I finally comprehend his true intent..."
As Shin Sukju spoke to the King in a trembling voice, a sudden sound pierced the air.
The cry of a newborn baby.
The infant, who had been kept away from his parents to avoid any ritual impurity, was finally brought outside. Shin Sukju gazed at the baby's tiny hands and feet, and his glistening, damp eyes.
Only then did everyone truly realize the magnitude of what had transpired in this very hour.
The royal line... had been preserved.
Saved from a birthing chamber reeking of blood and decay.
And all of this had occurred shortly before An Heon received his teacher's letter.
"..."
"Young Master, what are you doing?"
"J-Jageun, please... step outside for a moment..."
Ah, I see. The Crown Princess Consort survived. Miraculously, she survived after consuming the Hyoja-geun I had entrusted to my teacher.
"I am sorry. You begged me to preserve it at all costs, but how could I, as a loyal subject, stand by and watch a precious member of the royal family perish?"
Right.
"With a heart dedicated to selfless service to the state, I swallowed my tears and offered that precious root. By the wondrous harmony of heaven and earth, Her Highness has been restored to life."
I see. Sure.
"Since such an unprecedented, miraculous, and auspicious event has occurred, surely it is because Heaven itself was moved by human devotion? This is entirely due to your filial piety and loyalty..."
You absolute son of a bitch. Are you even human? You literally watched that dangqui grow with me! You were the one comforting me when I was crying! You... you... ah, fuck.
My blood boiled all over again as I re-read that part. I crumpled the paper in a rage, only to smooth it out with trembling hands to read the rest.
"...I am sorry. I was in the wrong. I used up your parents' keepsake without your permission, so I have no excuse even if I had ten mouths to plead my case."
"However, a small portion of it remains, and I have detailed your and your parents' contributions before the throne..."
For someone who claims to have no excuse even with ten mouths, you sure have a lot to say. Is this guy actually insane?
I was just about to load up a barrage of curses aimed at that mung bean sprout, Sukju-namul, back in Hanyang—muttering to myself that a traitor's seed should never have been taken in—when...
Hurl.
"Mother."
...Ah.
I shut my mouth instantly.
As I locked eyes with Dolbi, the creature curled its body into a ball and let out a long, low whine.
I had made a mistake. I had been so consumed by anger over the loss of my parents' keepsake that I hadn't considered the bigger picture.
In the original timeline, Hong-wi's mother had died almost immediately after giving birth to him. But now, she was alive. I hadn't even stopped to think about how he must feel.
I maintained a solemn silence out of respect for Hong-wi.
Yes. Thank goodness. I'm happy for you. Your mother is alive. Yes. That's right. That's...
"...Wait."
Hold on. Just a damn second.
What did he say just happened?
My brain, which had been oscillating between fury over my parents' lost keepsake and sentimental sympathy for Hong-wi's family drama, suddenly snapped awake.
The reality of the situation began to dawn on me, piece by piece.
Terrified by the proposal to make me a royal son-in-law, I had scrambled to gather every single manuscript I had written and distributed them through Grand Prince Anpyeong and Kim Jong-seo. Why? Because becoming a royal son-in-law would block my path to public office. Because after the death of Crown Princess Consort Kwon, Sejong and Munjong would begin heavily policing and restricting the royal relatives.
If my path to office was going to be blocked, I needed to secure the authority of a living "sage" to maintain some semblance of political influence.
So, I dropped a literal intellectual nuclear bomb on the court.
And then, my teacher went and used my parents' Hyoja-geun to save Hong-wi's mother.
Crown Princess Consort Kwon survived.
She survived, which meant... wait.
The nuclear bomb had already been dropped, and...
"Y-Young Master! We have a massive problem! Over there... they're saying it's a royal decree! People from the government office are swarming the place...!"
Then that meant I... uh...
Well, first, I ran outside as fast as my legs could carry me.
Standing there was an official who practically radiated the aura of "I just came from the palace."
As my brain completely locked up, the official spoke.
"Master An, we have traveled all this way with a royal decree to request that you receive His Majesty's sacred command."
"Ah... T-This humble student, An Heon, is..."
"Please, speak at your ease. How could you humble yourself so before mere lowborn subjects like us?"
"...Pardon?"
My mind reset once again, as if I had just been hit with a taser.
Wait, what? What did these people from the palace just say to me?
"To think a sage who possesses innate knowledge would humble himself so effortlessly..."
"Indeed, it seems not a single one of his actions deviates from the path of righteousness..."
What the hell are they whispering about? I'm only eleven years old...
"Ahem, quiet, everyone. Are you not causing discomfort to the Master?"
"..."
"..."
"At any rate, since you must now receive the sacred command, please step this way with us. You may kneel over there while we read it."
"..."
Uh, well, um...
"Having attained the state of a sage, he even foresaw the future and saved the life of a royal family member..."
"No, it is because he acted in accordance with propriety from the very beginning. His righteousness shone brightly even in the face of an unforeseen calamity."
"I-Is that so?"
"Now, please step this way. You may also instruct your servants to begin packing your bags for the journey to Hanyang."
Seeing these elderly eunuchs and high-ranking civil officials treating me with such profound reverence...
The intellectual nuclear bomb had definitely detonated with spectacular force.
And the Crown Princess Consort was alive.
...What on earth was going to happen to me now?