Chapter 13: Peach Blossoms, Once

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

When Iryeon approached and asked, Haeryeong placed a hand on his forehead and bowed his head deeply.

In that short interval, cold sweat had seeped out, leaving his palm damp and sticky.

“The fever… it seems to be rising again. Help me prepare, for I must rest early.”

His mouth was parched, and it felt as though his tongue were tripping over itself every time he spoke.

Perhaps the fever really was rising, as his vision began to flicker and blur.

Haeryeong stood up with his eyes squeezed shut, only barely managing to steady his swaying body.

“Your Highness! I shall go fetch the Imperial Physician, so please, sit here first.”

Having moved to the bedchamber with Iryeon’s support, Haeryeong quietly stopped her as she tried to call for a court lady.

“I was merely a bit dizzy from moving too quickly. I wish to lie down and rest, so please help me change my robes.”

“But, Your Highness.”

Haeryeong offered a soft smile despite his deathly pale face and took Iryeon’s hand.

“I simply wish to rest in silence.”

Iryeon bit her lip as she clasped his cold hand in hers.

“If that is your wish, then please rest for a moment. I shall prepare your medicine.”

The thought of taking the same medicine again made him instinctively furrow his brow.

Suddenly realizing his face was contorted in a grimace, Haeryeong let out a faint smile.

“I did not know I was still such a child, complaining about my medicine.”

“If the deer antler is not to your taste, I shall ask them to brew a different medicine starting tomorrow. Please, just endure it for today.”

After removing his long robe and lying on the bed in only his sleeping tunic, Iryeon filled a tangpa with hot water and tucked it under the quilt for him.

Feeling a chill in his lower abdomen, he huddled around the warmer and curled his body, eventually drifting into sleep without even realizing it.

At the sound of a rustling presence, he forced his heavy, stuck-together eyelids open to find a warm body heat radiating from right beside him.

Inhaling the faintly spreading scent of peach blossoms, Haeryeong closed his heavy eyelids again as sleep reclaimed him.

A warmth enveloped his back, which had just shivered from a sudden chill.

At the touch of a hand wiping his damp forehead, Haeryeong let out a jagged breath and a small, pained groan.

A voice pretending to be tender drifted into his ear like a dream.

“I heard you fell asleep without even taking your medicine, and now your fever has returned. Are you satisfied with drawing my attention like this? Hmm? Answer me, Haeryeong-ah.”

Haeryeong could not even open his fever-bright eyes and huddled closer to the tangpa he was holding.

Then, as if following him, a hot breath poured over his ear once more.

“I am right here to replace this cold water bottle, yet you remain so stiff even when you are lost to pain.”

At the sound of the Emperor clicking his tongue, Haeryeong barely managed to open his eyes and turn his head.

In the darkened room, where only a single candle flickered far from the bed, a black shadow loomed.

Soon, the scent of peach blossoms grew thick.

Facing the shadow that looked down at him with eyes reflecting the candlelight, Haeryeong’s parched lips fluttered.

“What did you say…?”

The shadow leaned closer, bringing his ear near.

They were so close their faces nearly overlapped, making his scent feel even more intense.

A faint smile touched the corners of Haeryeong’s lips as he closed his eyes.

Before his consciousness was pushed back into a deep slumber, a hazy voice flowed from his slowly parted lips.

“The peach blossoms fill the entire tree with crimson buds,
They look just like my husband’s cheeks, flushed red with wine.”

****

The spring of his seventeenth year.

That spring, the weather was exceptionally warm without any of the usual frost that envied the flowers, and the peach blossoms burst their buds earlier than in most years.

Haeryeong, who had married the Emperor of Yeoran amidst a rain of king cherry blossoms, had barely seen the man’s face for nearly a month.

It had been only a year since the current Emperor, Sa Gangcheon, had ascended the throne after a great plague swept through the Imperial Palace, leaving all the resident Imperial family as guests of the afterlife.

The Emperor was at a time when he was exerting all his effort into state affairs to restore the nation’s discipline.

Following the tragic news from the Yeoran Empire, the largest empire on the continent, terrifying rumors regarding the new Emperor were rampant in the other vassal states.

The rumors claimed that Gangcheon had orchestrated the poisoning of the Imperial wells to massacre the Emperor and the rest of the Imperial family to seize the throne.

Those rumors had even reached Haeryeong’s ears back in the Kingdom of Yeonseo, so it was plain to see just how chaotic the situation in Yeoran was at the time.

Furthermore, it was said that he had beheaded the officials who rebelled against him on the very spot of his enthronement ceremony.

Because of this, when the state marriage with Yeoran was decided, Haeryeong had burst into tears while clinging to his mother’s skirts.

Having heard the terrifying rumors of an Emperor with a massive frame standing over eight cheok tall, Haeryeong had spent his nights in tears, dreading the marriage.

Haeryeong was so afraid of him that he could not even sleep properly while waiting in the Imperial Palace leading up to the wedding day.

While he suppressed his desire to run away, the day of the wedding finally arrived.

Haeryeong, who could barely lift his head due to the weight of the ceremonial hairpiece and crown, was slightly surprised to find the Emperor’s face was not as hideous as the rumors suggested.

That day, he was so busy stealing glances at the Emperor—who maintained a hardened, masculine, and sharp expression—that he didn’t even know how the ceremony passed.

His heart raced, startled by the man’s great height and build, but he was so tense he couldn’t even identify what that emotion was.

During the final step of the ceremony, as they shared the matrimonial cup, the faint scent of peach blossoms drifting on a light breeze allowed Haeryeong to let go of his fears, even if only a little.

‘If he possesses such a warm and sweet scent, perhaps he is not as terrifying as the rumors say.’

Since the man had become his partner whether he liked it or not, thinking this way brought him peace of mind.

Though a month had passed while he waited alone for the man who never appeared in the wedding chamber, it was not that difficult because he had heard much of the Emperor’s busy schedule.

However, since they were bound by the unique bond of husband and wife, there were times when he felt curious and longed for him.

That day was precisely such a day.

A day when a banquet was being held in the rear garden of the Imperial Palace.

Haeryeong had climbed the Dohwa-gak Pavilion, a place he didn’t usually visit, to look toward the Hongryeon-gak Pavilion on the opposite side of the pond.

From the Dohwa-gak, which he visited with Iryeon—who was then a mere court lady—and Court Lady Han—who had now moved to the Consort’s Palace—he could see the banquet unfolding in the distance.

It was a day when the peach trees surrounding the pavilion were in full, early bloom.

Every time a gentle breeze brushed through his long hair, the air vibrated with the scent of peach blossoms.

Inhaling the same scent from when they had shared their matrimonial cup, Haeryeong leaned against the pavilion railing and watched the figure of his husband in the distance.

The red dragon robe he wore was striking enough to be seen at a glance, but his great height also made him instantly recognizable.

When the sound of hearty laughter mixed with the distant, ethereal playing of a seven-stringed zither reached him, Haeryeong wondered what was so enjoyable and found himself smiling unconsciously.

“Court Lady Han. The weather is fine, so I wish to brew some flower tea. Please bring some tea.”

When he gave the command in his still-young, slightly high-pitched voice, she looked displeased and tried to dissuade him with an air of disapproval.

“Your Highness. Spying on His Majesty’s banquet like this is against court etiquette. Please return to the Empress’s Palace.”

Even at those words, which could have been offensive, Haeryeong simply offered a soft smile.

“Everyone in this palace who would care about etiquette is over there; who is left to question me?”

“However, if His Imperial Majesty finds out, he may erupt in rage.”

“If that happens, then that shall be the day I finally behold His Majesty’s face properly.”

Haeryeong replied without even looking at Court Lady Han, his gaze still fixed across the pond.

‘Then that will be the day I finally meet my husband.’

Thinking so made his heart flutter, and a flush bloomed on his still-youthful cheeks.

While Court Lady Han quietly withdrew to prepare the tea, Haeryeong gazed blankly at the Emperor, who appeared as small as a fingernail.

Whenever the wind blew, the drooping peach blossoms blurred his vision, making the Emperor appear and disappear repeatedly behind the fluttering pink petals.

He was so delighted to see even a tiny glimpse of the man’s profile that dimples formed in his cheeks.

Then, a sudden, strong gust of wind sent pink petals swirling through his vision.

Haeryeong instinctively reached out toward a branch before him.

Gently rubbing a soft petal, Haeryeong suddenly spoke.

“The whole tree is covered in red peach blossom buds.
One flower has bloomed first, radiant and graceful.
I reach out my hand to pluck the flower from the branch,
And hold it in both my palms to admire it.
With a smile, I pluck the petals one by one with my slender fingers,
And find they resemble my husband’s cheeks, flushed red with wine.”

The poem flowed out of him naturally.

Closing his eyes, he imagined standing face-to-face with the man who carried the scent of those buds; on that day, even though he was alone, he did not feel lonely.

It was a day filled with the fragrance of flowers, a first love as fresh and tender as a soft petal.

****

Gangcheon froze for a moment as he listened to the poem that suddenly flowed from the Empress’s lips.

Hearing the mention of peach blossoms, he wondered if it was a poem directed at him, but he was so startled by the shy content—something he couldn’t believe had come from those lips—that his hand, which had been pulling the other closer, stopped in its tracks.

‘What is this?’

A subtle, unpleasant emotion flared up momentarily before quietly vanishing as the man shifted in his sleep.

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