Chapter 11: A Dream of War

‘Is that why Prince Wu plotted treason?’

Wei Shiyoung fell into deep thought.

When he had experienced the prophetic dream, he thought Prince Wu would never instigate a rebellion, but it seemed to have stemmed from these circumstances.

Presumably, Prince Wu’s standing would steadily diminish over the next half year.

‘How fickle and ironic.’

Who could have known that Prince Wu, who had swaggered about as though the Crown Prince’s seat was already his, would end up like this?

Although it was the way of the world that the moon waned once full, Wei Shiyoung found it hard to believe that Prince Wu was on the decline.

That held true even though he had caught a glimpse of the Prince Wu estate’s future through a prophetic dream.

Even though it had become a place completely unrelated to him now, he felt somewhat unsettled.

Was it because he had not yet forgotten Prince Wu’s torment?

Or was it that while his body was at Mount Taeseong far from Prince Wu’s residence, his mind had not yet escaped that place?

Wei Shiyoung vigorously shook his head as if to cast off the unpleasant memories.

In doing so, droplets of blood clinging to his hair pattered to the ground.

***

Wei Shiyoung dragged his exhausted body back to Prince Jin’s residence.

As he wandered through the unfamiliar manor searching for his room, everyone who crossed his path recoiled in horror.

For stumbling about drenched in blood, he looked neither like a prince’s consort nor like a beater.

At best, Wei Shiyoung looked like a butcher; in truth, he resembled a dazed, defeated soldier.

“Master Shiyoung!”

Yeonji, coming out to greet Wei Shiyoung, let out a shriek and collapsed to the floor.

Shiyoung quickly stepped forward to comfort her, but that only made Yeonji swoon with even greater fright.

“B-Blood… blood… there is blood…”

“It is all right.”

“It is not even my blood.”

“I-I am terrified of blood!”

Scrambling to her feet, Yeonji turned away, saying she would prepare bathwater.

Watching her back vanish as if fleeing for her life, Wei Shiyoung let out a sigh.

Though it had already been three years since taking Yeonji as his personal servant, he had never known she feared blood so intensely.

“Excuse me, may I ask something?”

Wei Shiyoung stopped a passing servant and spoke.

The servant was also startled upon seeing Wei Shiyoung, but recalling that he was, nominally, a consort or concubine, he responded with deference.

“Yes, please speak.”

“Is there a place where I might wash myself?”

“Shall I prepare bathwater for you?”

“No, my personal servant will attend to that.”

“Before that, I wish to rinse off the blood.”

Saying he wanted to rinse off the blood was not incorrect, but having spoken it aloud, it sounded rather gruesome.

Wei Shiyoung shrugged his shoulders.

“Ah… There is a bathhouse.”

“Not somewhere so grand.”

Wei Shiyoung declined flatly.

The only person in this manor with the status to use the bathhouse would be Prince Jin, and Shiyoung was not brazen enough to soak his body there.

“It would be great if I could just have cold water poured over my back; is there any drawn water available?”

“Pardon?”

“How could an esteemed consort wash with poured water in the open?”

“I am not a consort.”

“Still… how could a noble Yin wash himself out in the open like a laborer?”

“Enough.”

“In this place, I am not even treated as a Yin.”

The servant wore a dubious expression.

Being an ordinary person, he had no way of discerning whether Wei Shiyoung was genuinely a Yin or not.

“If you insist, please follow me this way.”

Wei Shiyoung followed the servant.

Following his lead, they happened to pass by the quarters area.

Shiyoung was pleased to have learned the layout along the way.

Passing the wall beside the servants’ quarters, a well came into view.

No wonder he had spotted a small pond on the way here; it seemed a watercourse flowed around the estate.

The servants drawing water with buckets glanced sideways at Wei Shiyoung.

Not a single person was ignorant of the circumstances that had brought Wei Shiyoung to Prince Jin’s residence.

The fact that Prince Jin did not welcome Wei Shiyoung was equally well-known.

“This looks like drinking water; is it all right for me to use it?”

“Yes, please feel free to use it.”

“We also wash ourselves simply here.”

Paying no mind to the curious stares, Wei Shiyoung approached the well.

Normally, he would have drawn the water himself, but dried boar blood was caked on his hands.

Lest he soil the bucket with foul blood, he spoke to the servant.

“Pour some water over me, please.”

“Oh heavens, I cannot do that.”

“How could someone as lowly as myself dare…”

“I cannot go wandering around smeared head to toe in blood, can I?”

“Do not worry.”

“No one will reprimand you.”

It was too gentle to be a command, yet too authoritative to be brushed aside as a mere request.

In the end, the servant drew water and poured it over Wei Shiyoung.

When his already thin summer robes became soaked with water, the contours of Wei Shiyoung’s bare flesh showed through.

Water dripped down along firm muscles that had not dulled despite three years of neglected training.

Realizing that his waist was surprisingly slender compared to his broad build, the servant inexplicably swallowed dryly, then shook his head in a hurry.

Whatever his status, that man was their master’s Yin.

Merely staring at his wet, bare form was an offense.

“Ah, that is cold.”

“Ah, feels wonderful.”

Seemingly oblivious to the anxious hearts of the servants suddenly forced into committing a faux pas, Wei Shiyoung straightened his bent back.

As he shook his head vigorously, water droplets sprayed from his hair.

“Thank you for your trouble.”

Leaving behind the servant with a flabbergasted expression, Wei Shiyoung headed toward his quarters.

Though water had only been splashed over him a few times, the dried blood on his skin had mostly washed away.

This should be enough to keep Yeonji, with her fear of blood, from fainting in fright.

***

In the late afternoon, as the sky flushed crimson, Wei Shiyoung lay down to rest.

It was somewhat early to retire for the night, but after such an eventful day, he was utterly exhausted.

Becoming a beater without understanding the full situation, sprinting here and there on command, nearly getting gored by a wild boar… Even after returning to Prince Jin’s manor, he had been unable to rest easily.

It was all because of Yeonji, who kept her lips tightly clamped as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

It would have been better if she had grumbled or complained, but Yeonji simply remained dejected in heavy silence.

Having seen the scrapes covering his whole body from tumbling down the slope, her reaction was understandable.

Prince Jin might issue a command like today’s again, and Shiyoung’s circumstance required unconditional obedience.

Knowing that all too well, Yeonji had been unable to bring herself to say, ‘You must not do such dangerous things.’

“Phew…”

His body was exhausted enough to pass out, yet with his head brimming with worries, sleep eluded him.

Restlessly tossing and turning, Wei Shiyoung recalled his first encounter with Yeonji.

It was the day Wei Shiyoung had first arrived in the capital.

As he was carried in an ornate bridal sedan toward the imperial palace, a child caught his eye through the swaying bamboo blinds.

The sight of a filthy, barefoot child grasping at passersby and begging seemed so out of place against the splendor of the capital.

What tragedy had befallen such a young child?

Moved by compassion, Wei Shiyoung had stopped the carriage and listened to the child’s plea.

The story was that her father had passed away, but having no money, she could not hold a burial.

Those sent to escort Wei Shiyoung had whispered that it was a cunning trick often used by beggar children.

Yet Wei Shiyoung had felt only pity for the child.

If her story was true, how agonizing it must be, and even if it were a lie, how desperate must she have been to resort to this?

‘I hope this helps you send your father to his rest peacefully.’

Wei Shiyoung had handed the child silver coins.

The child, politely receiving the silver coins with both hands, stared intently at them, then bowed deeply at the waist without even uttering a word of thanks.

He thought their connection had ended there, but a month later, a child knocked upon the front gates of Prince Wu’s estate.

Still gaunt but looking rather tidy, the child had pleaded, ‘Please allow me to repay your grace by your side.’

That very child was Yeonji.

Yeonji was clever and capable beyond her years, and she was fiercely devoted to Wei Shiyoung.

To Wei Shiyoung, who was mistreated by Prince Wu in an unfamiliar place, Yeonji was his sole ally and comfort.

‘Yeonji must be so anxious… yet I cannot tell her about the prophetic dreams…’

‘I should not cause her worry… but worrying…’

His tossing and turning gradually slowed until, at some point, it ceased entirely.

His worries also drifted off somewhere into oblivion.

In Wei Shiyoung’s world, where both Yeonji and his worries had faded, a sudden downpour began to fall.

“Why is it suddenly raining…?”

Wei Shiyoung looked around.

Perhaps because the sky was completely shrouded in gloomy, churning rain clouds, the world appeared hazy.

It felt as though he had stepped right into a painting rendered solely in black ink.

A rather fierce pelt of rain struck Wei Shiyoung’s head and shoulders.

Yet he felt no stinging sensation on his skin.

Rather, as if his sense of pain had been dulled, tactile sensation was barely perceptible.

‘It is a dream.’

Even amidst the haze, Wei Shiyoung realized it.

The fact that he was dreaming and that perhaps he was about to catch a glimpse of events to unfold in the future.

Where could this be, then?

Looking around once more, he saw armed soldiers.

Come to think of it, Wei Shiyoung was also fully armed.

For a fleeting moment, he wondered if it was not a prophetic dream, but a dream returning him to three years ago.

Yet this was a location Wei Shiyoung did not recognize.

A mountain with trees sparsely felled—that was all Shiyoung could observe.

From that alone, pinpointing the location was impossible.

“We withdraw for now.”

At the voice that suddenly spoke, Wei Shiyoung jolted in surprise.

They said it was darkest under the lamp, but it seemed it was dark right behind his back.

For he had not even realized Prince Jin was standing within arm’s reach.

Glancing subtly over his shoulder, he saw Prince Jin mounted atop a black steed, clad in full armor.

A piercing gaze brimming with profound displeasure impaled him like a spear.

Wei Shiyoung pulled his head in like a turtle and gauged Prince Jin’s mood.

‘Surely I am not in danger of dying again, am I?’

To find the answer, asking directly was the fastest and most accurate way.

In reality, he would never have dared open his mouth, but this was inside a dream.

Wei Shiyoung gingerly looked up at Prince Jin and asked.

“Your Highness, why does your temper seem so displeased?”

At that brazenly innocent question, more than a hundred soldiers were struck into silent astonishment.

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