Chapter 119: Finally Given Up

The Emperor’s face crumpled even further than before.

He appeared caught in a bind, yet he also seemed displeased.

He spoke gruffly, though his voice had softened slightly.

“That is not what I meant.”

Facing the Emperor’s contorted expression, Haeryeong retorted clearly.

“No matter who heard it, those were Your Majesty’s words.”

“Your Majesty has always been thus with me; you treat me well only when I am obedient, and you threaten me the moment I fail to please you.”

Veins throbbed in his neck, and his head, already burning with a slight fever, grew even hotter.

Perhaps that was why his vision wavered as if he were intoxicated.

The man standing before him, the pillars, and the ceiling behind him all seemed to distort and sway.

Haeryeong shook his head, crying out in a voice that sounded as though his heart were bleeding.

“If Your Majesty found me so distasteful, you should have taken my head long ago.”

“Instead of tormenting me with these threats, you should have discarded me from the start.”

A metallic rasp burst from his throat as his voice began to crack.

Without even realizing he was producing such a grating sound, Haeryeong continued to scream at the Emperor.

“What did your servant do that was so wrong?”

“You told me to live as if I did not exist, and I did; you told me to live as if I were dead, and I did that as well.”

“Yet, Your Majesty loathed me no matter what I did.”

“I do not understand how much one must hate a person to humiliate and torment them so.”

Haeryeong did not even notice that he was mixing in stories from his previous life—things the Emperor could not possibly know.

He simply spat out the accumulated sorrows and injustices of his past, shaking his head desperately.

His long hair whipped around in all directions.

His head throbbed so painfully with every movement that he didn’t even notice the ache in his shoulder.

Exhausted from his rapid outburst, Haeryeong panted and clutched at the hem of the Emperor’s dragon robe.

He gripped the robe tightly, feeling that if he let go, he would collapse onto the floor.

However, it was merely an illusion; his fingertips were trembling so violently that they kept slipping, fumbling uselessly against the silk.

“Was killing me once not enough?”

“Did you find it regrettable because my death was too swift? Is that why you decided to drain the life from me slowly this time?”

“How can you be thus? Even a beast cherishes its mate…”

Having spent the last of his energy for shouting, only a faint, completely hoarse rasp escaped his lips.

Haeryeong looked up at the Emperor, pulling at the dragon robe with his shivering arms.

“Your servant wishes to ask Your Majesty: had the person destined to be injured in the hunt been him, would Your Majesty still have watched in silence?”

The moment he heard that the Noble Consort might be involved, that was his primary curiosity.

Yet he hadn’t dared ask earlier, believing that whatever the answer, his own shame and despair would not fade in the slightest.

Furthermore, even if the Emperor had denied it, he didn’t think he could have believed him.

But none of that mattered anymore; strangely, not even tears would come.

Perhaps it was because both his body and mind were exhausted; Haeryeong, whispering in a voice that grew fainter by the second, rested his head against the Emperor’s knees and offered a hollow smile.

“Your Majesty would not have done that. Surely, you would not have.”

His eyes began to flicker shut; every time he drew a breath, it felt as though a fire were ignited within his nostrils.

Struggling to hold onto his receding consciousness, Haeryeong parted his parched lips; they stung for a moment, and he tasted a faint metallic tang of blood, just as he had in the past.

“Your servant has now given up on everything.”

His own voice sounded utterly desolate, and so he let out a faint, mocking laugh with his eyes closed.

How truly pathetic it was; that he, despite repeating his life twice, could not manage to change a single person’s heart.

Gangcheon felt a wave of bewilderment as he looked at Haeryeong, who was gasping for air with his forehead resting against his knees.

If the target had been the Noble Consort? The answer was obvious; even if it had been Sirak, Gangcheon would have acted exactly the same to flush out the mastermind.

However, he found it difficult to voice that answer; would saying such a thing to a man so full of resentment actually be of any help?

Gangcheon groaned inwardly and swallowed a sigh, knowing that the Empress he knew would surely lecture him for being subhuman if he said that.

Furthermore, he had missed his chance to speak, startled by the Empress’s bizarre claims—asking if killing him once wasn’t enough, or if he intended to drain him of blood this time.

Gangcheon only felt a sense of injustice; what had he done to deserve hearing such things?

Granted, he had intended to test him at first because of the memory loss, but had he not eventually tried his best to treat the man well?

Staring down at Haeryeong with a sullen expression, Gangcheon noticed the weight of the man’s forehead against his knees increasing and clicked his tongue.

Judging by the looks of it, he had overextended himself and lost consciousness.

He wondered if he should touch him, and for a moment, a surge of irritation swept over him.

Why did he have to walk on eggshells like this? He had only come to deliver the news that Haeryeong’s siblings had safely left the capital and to ask one single thing.

His annoyance grew as he recalled the reason for his visit.

However, he could not bring himself to say anything harsh to the injured man; knowing the Empress still harbored the memory of his past cruelty, he was hesitant to vent his frustration.

With the man always appearing so sorrowful, he couldn’t speak a single word with an easy heart.

Gangcheon gave Haeryeong’s increasingly heavy head a slight nudge with his knee; since he seemed unconscious, perhaps there was no longer a need to be so cautious.

As Gangcheon leaned down to support his back, the Empress’s body wobbled and slid backward.

Gangcheon carefully gathered him into his arms and gave a quiet command toward the outside.

“Who is there? Summon the Imperial Physician at once.”

Manchul’s reply came from the wait, and the door to the inner chamber soon cracked open.

As Gangcheon turned while still holding Haeryeong, he caught a glimpse of Head Court Lady Yang bowing in the gap.

“Your servant… shall attend to His Highness, Your Majesty. Please, grant your permission.”

Gangcheon let out a small snort and walked toward the bed.

Even after he had laid Haeryeong down and looked back, the door remained open just as before.

‘In any case, I wonder who he takes after with such stubbornness.’

Gangcheon commanded Iryeon through the doorway.

“Come in and look after the Empress.”

Iryeon prostrated herself before entering cautiously.

Gangcheon stepped back as he watched her bring a basin of cold water.

Iryeon wetted a white cloth, wiped the Empress’s face, and placed it on his forehead.

Gangcheon watched them silently before addressing her.

“I believe you still owe me a debt of your life.”

He had intended to remit the debt if she successfully extracted information from the Consort’s Palace.

However, Iryeon was so much like her master that she was utterly useless in that regard.

He had merely been observing because of the Empress; the price for her crime of deceiving the Emperor still remained unpaid.

Stiffening and halting her movements, Iryeon slowly bowed to Gangcheon.

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

Looking down at the back of her head, Gangcheon whispered like a sigh.

“I shall cancel your debt, but on one condition.”

She lifted her head with eyes wide in surprise, then bowed even lower.

Gangcheon glanced at her and lowered his voice further.

“The condition is that you must never speak to the Empress of what transpired between us.”

If someone already so full of grievances against him were to find out, what would happen?

The mere thought gave him a headache; Iryeon listened in silence and then knelt to bow before Gangcheon.

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”

‘She is identical to the Empress in that regard as well.’ Gangcheon sighed and waved his hand.

“Enough with the formalities; just look after your master well.”

Gangcheon searched for a seat by the bed and ordered Manchul to bring tea.

Manchul found a chair and soon had someone bring cold tea with ice floating in it.

“A fire was indeed burning within my chest.”

As he reached out his hand, Manchul handed him the cup and let out a sigh.

“That is why I have always told you to treat him with more tenderness, Your Majesty.”

“You rascal? You look quite gleeful fanning the flames of a burning house.”

Manchul bowed his head and grumbled as if he were the one wronged.

“What use is there in adding wood to a ruin that has already burnt down? Your servant is merely saying that a marriage is different from the hierarchy in the military.”

Gangcheon clicked his tongue at the mention of a “burnt-down ruin.”

“Damned fool.”

Manchul let out a silent sigh.

Seeing him heave his shoulders so noticeably in a deliberate show made Gangcheon’s stomach turn with irritation.

Just as he opened his mouth to deliver a curse, Manchul whispered, beating him to it.

“He is a person raised with great care. Seeing his siblings this time, it was clear he grew up receiving much love.”

“How could you treat such a person the same way you treat soldiers accustomed to receiving orders?”

Gangcheon set the cup down forcefully and clicked his tongue.

“I am the Emperor, the ruler over all. Are you suggesting that I must walk on eggshells around the Empress?”

Manchul bowed his head deeply and grumbled quietly.

“Do as Your Majesty wishes. Your servant knows nothing anymore.”

Gangcheon muttered “damned fool” under his breath and finished his tea.

In the meantime, the physician entered to take Haeryeong’s pulse.

After examining Haeryeong’s injury, the physician tilted his head and asked Gangcheon cautiously.

“His pulse is erratic and the shoulder wound has torn, causing bleeding… Did something happen that might have caused His Highness the Empress to become agitated?”

Gangcheon smacked his lips.

The physician stole a glance at Gangcheon and requested warm water from Iryeon.

Without further word, he re-treated Haeryeong’s wound, binding the cloth even tighter than before to stabilize the injury.

Before leaving after finishing the treatment, the physician spoke to Iryeon.

“I shall brew some medicine as soon as I return to the Bureau; send a court lady with me.”

“I shall do so.”

After offering his farewell to Gangcheon, he hesitantly offered a warning.

“It would be troublesome if the wound tore again, so I beg… Your Majesty to consider the matter.”

‘He’s old, so he’s quick on the uptake.’

‘Did he realize the Empress is in this state because of me?’

When Gangcheon wore a look of displeasure, the physician shivered and backed away.

The physician, having returned to the Bureau, soon sent back a Cheongsimhwan and herbal medicine with the court lady.

After confirming the medicine did not contain the deer antler that Haeryeong could not stomach, Gangcheon ordered only the Cheongsimhwan to remain and dismissed the court lady.

“Will the Empress be able to swallow the pill?”

When he asked Iryeon, who was still tending to Haeryeong by the bed, she shook her head with a look of distress.

“It seems he will not awaken for some time.”

“Try dissolving it well in water and help him swallow it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Dissolving the hard pill seemed to be no easy task.

Iryeon spent considerable time mashing the pill on a silver spoon.

Because the Cheongsimhwan was large, she could not dissolve it all at once; it took quite a while even to dissolve less than a quarter of it.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Desert Island Romance

Boys LoveComedyModern Setting

Read Now →
Not interested