Chapter 16: Quietly, He Endured

“Give me a wet towel.”

Taking the wet towel from Iryeon, Haeryeong reached out his hand toward the Emperor.

“If you act in such an undignified manner, the servants will gossip about you.”

He took the Emperor’s hand and wiped the spot he had licked, his nagging words slipping out unconsciously.

“Some things about you never change, do they?”

Seeing the man grumble quietly, Haeryeong let out a bitter smile.

‘Did he hate this side of me?’

However, it merely left him puzzled, as he had very few memories of sharing such moments with him.

Just what was it he had hated so much?

After staring at the Emperor’s face in thought for a moment, Haeryeong resolved to let it go.

What did it matter if he knew what the man disliked now?

Haeryeong let out a sharp breath and relaxed his body.

Had he not decided to stop harboring lingering attachments?

He told himself not to find meaning in the man’s words.

‘Do you not know, Haeryeong, that he is surely thinking of someone else even now?’

While sharing breakfast with him, Haeryeong realized one thing for certain.

That as long as he did not resist, the Emperor acted quite tenderly.

He had been startled when the Emperor even tried to pick up side dishes for him while he was quietly eating his porridge.

Still, he had gained a slight grasp of how he should behave moving forward.

He would simply remain quiet until the Emperor’s suspicions subsided.

If he did that, the man would eventually stop paying attention to the Empress’s Palace, just as before.

He would figure out the rest after that.

With four years remaining, surely something could be done by then.

Before returning, the Emperor gave Haeryeong one final piece of advice after finishing his pleasant breakfast.

“Regarding your memory loss… only the Imperial Physician and those currently present know of it.”

“Therefore, take care to ensure it does not leak out.”

The Emperor looked at the court ladies of the Empress’s Palace with a stern gaze before gently caressing Haeryeong’s cheek.

“Ask Head Court Lady Yang to tell you about the palace.”

“And try to avoid meeting others for now.”

“Now that the officials know you have risen from your sickbed, they may seek you out again.”

“I shall try to block them to some extent, but if anyone does come, simply kick them out.”

“I shall do so.”

A small laugh escaped Haeryeong at the mention of kicking them out.

He couldn’t help but laugh, wondering who would take responsibility if a head were to roll because of it.

The Emperor muttered some nonsense about how he looked better when he smiled, and then promptly returned to the main palace.

Although the man told him not to see him off, Haeryeong followed him to the entrance of the Empress’s Palace, where the Emperor boarded his palanquin and disappeared with a hearty laugh.

While Haeryeong envied the man’s lighthearted laughter, he also felt a deep sense of resentment.

‘You must be in high spirits. You must be enjoying this.’

For some reason, sharp words kept piling up in his heart due to his twisted emotions.

After seeing the Emperor off, Haeryeong went for a walk with Iryeon.

Even though they only strolled leisurely to the Dohwa-gak Pavilion in the rear garden, his legs soon began to tremble, likely because his body was still exhausted.

He couldn’t bring himself to climb the pavilion; instead, he stopped below it to catch his breath, finding the place desolate since it was too early for many of the trees to bloom.

“Your Highness. Let us head back now. It seems a fever flush is blooming on your face. You should return and lie down for a while.”

He had wondered why his body was shivering, and it seemed the fever was indeed returning.

Haeryeong pressed the back of his hand to his cheek, felt the heat, and nodded.

“Let us do that.”

“You should come out again once the spring frost has passed. When May comes, the peach blossoms around Dohwa-gak bloom quite magnificently.”

“Is that so? Then I shall look forward to it.”

Haeryeong had no intention of coming anywhere near here in May, but he played along with Iryeon’s words.

Upon returning to the Empress’s Palace after a quiet conversation with Iryeon, an unwelcome guest was waiting for them.

“Your Highness, it has been a long time. I was so worried because I heard your health was poor, but I am truly relieved to see you have recovered.”

Noble Consort Jeong Sirak laughed adorably, hiding his face with the wide sleeve of his fluttering, airy robe.

When Haeryeong showed no reaction, Iryeon whispered quietly from right behind him.

“It is Noble Consort Jeong.”

Haeryeong simply stared at the Consort in silence.

Regardless of his friendly demeanor, if he was meeting the Empress, he should have shown the proper etiquette.

Even if he was new to the palace now, Haeryeong recalled that his behavior hadn’t been much different right before he died.

At that time, he had simply brushed it off, thinking the man was naturally lovable and full of aegyo, but now it felt like a nagging splinter in his heart.

As Haeryeong watched him with a quiet gaze, Court Lady Han—standing behind the Consort—cautiously called out to warn him.

“Offer your bow to the Empress, Your Grace.”

“Oh, look at my head.”

The Consort covered his face with his long sleeve and let out a giggle before promptly clasping his hands and bowing his waist.

“I greet Your Highness, the Empress.”

Haeryeong fell into thought for a moment.

He thought he knew why the man had sought out the Empress’s Palace.

He likely came here because the Emperor had spent last night at the Empress’s Palace.

Furthermore, the man must have been even more anxious because the Emperor had shared breakfast with the Empress as well.

Moreover, the Emperor would soon be arriving for lunch; what should he do?

He wondered if it would be better to send the man away now or to let him encounter the Emperor.

After organizing his thoughts with a composed expression, Haeryeong finally spoke after a long silence.

“Rise, Consort. I am grateful for your visit, but I am still unwell in mind and body, so I may find it difficult to spare much of my time…”

Before he could finish, Sirak approached with his large, round eyes wide open.

He asked in a voice so youthful it was hard to believe he was seven years older than Haeryeong.

“Are you still feeling poorly? In fact, I have brought some deer antler to give to Your Highness. It will be excellent for restoring your vitality if you brew it well.”

He gestured behind him, and a court lady stepped forward holding a bundle wrapped in golden silk.

Haeryeong nearly grimaced at the mention of deer antler but managed to restrain himself.

Looking at the color of the silk being handed to Iryeon, he suspected it was also a gift bestowed by the Emperor.

Haeryeong, his face finally relaxing, offered a soft smile.

“I am… grateful. For now… let us step inside. Since I have received a gift, I should at least offer you a cup of tea.”

He changed his mind and decided to let the Emperor and the Consort meet.

The better they got along, the faster he could move away from the Emperor’s line of sight.

He could endure watching them act affectionately in front of him for just a little while.

After all, it wasn’t as if this was the first time.

As he turned to go inside, Haeryeong’s gaze met Iryeon’s.

She looked at him with a desperate expression as if something displeased her, and then silently mouthed something.

“What is it?”

“It is nothing, Your Highness.”

Iryeon bowed her head, looking as though she were about to burst from frustration.

She clearly disliked that Haeryeong was involving the Consort just after he had grown closer to the Emperor.

Haeryeong entered the palace indifferently, having noticed her feelings.

They sat across from each other in a small pavilion in the inner courtyard of the Empress’s Palace, and the court ladies placed a tea tray before them along with a small brazier.

Although the open-sided pavilion did not block the wind, the heat from the nearby brazier seemed to thaw his body slightly.

Iryeon covered Haeryeong’s knees with a blanket made of bear skin and soon brought out tea and refreshments.

“It is jujube ginger tea, Your Highness. I prepared it thinking your body might have chilled during your walk.”

“Thank you.”

As Iryeon placed the teacup and refreshments before the Consort, he lightly furrowed his brow.

Sirak covered his nose with his long sleeve, his expression growing even more displeased as he even leaned back.

“What is wrong, Consort?”

“I am ashamed to say this, but I do not like ginger tea.”

No matter the reason, it was not the sort of attitude one should show before the Empress.

Haeryeong let out a sigh and commanded Iryeon.

“Serve the Consort a different tea.”

Sirak then added his own request.

“I favor the Ok-ro tea from Sangju.”

Sangju was the location of a famous tea plantation in Haeryeong’s homeland of Yeonseo.

Among those, Ok-ro tea was made by picking only the most tender tea leaves of the first harvest each year and fermenting them for a hundred days; it was a tea so rare it was presented as tribute to the Imperial Palace.

To have such an insolent attitude as to demand a rare tea presented only to the Emperor and Empress.

Still, hearing mention of his homeland for the first time in a while brought a faint smile to Haeryeong’s face.

However, Iryeon was not about to let such insolence slide.

In a stern voice she rarely used, she warned the Consort.

“Ok-ro tea is a precious tribute intended only for His Imperial Majesty and His Highness the Empress. How can you…”

Seeing the Consort’s expression harden, Haeryeong gently stopped Iryeon.

He feared that if the Emperor later found out about this, Iryeon might be severely punished.

“How difficult can it be to serve a single cup of tea?”

“While you bring the Consort’s tea, bring a cup for me as well. That should solve it, should it not?”

After a brief hesitation, Iryeon bowed her head.

“I shall do so, Your Highness.”

After she backed away, only the two of them remained in the pavilion for a moment.

Haeryeong honestly had nothing to say.

They were not people who had seen each other often, and timeline-wise, was this the third time he had met the man since he entered the palace?

Since it was a time when they had met only a handful of times, it was even more so.

What should he do?

Haeryeong quietly drank his tea to avoid showing his discomfort.

His eyes half-closed at the languid feeling of the warmth traveling slowly down his esophagus to his stomach.

A pleasant sweetness from the honey and jujubes lingered in his mouth.

With a peaceful heart that allowed him to almost forget the presence of the Consort before him, Haeryeong allowed a smile to grace his lips.

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