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Join the Server“I think I understand why His Highness the Crown Prince chose you.”
After listening to Eun-gyo’s stories for a long while, the Crown Princess spoke as if resigned.
He had never intended to win her approval regarding his relationship with the Crown Prince, so her words only made him feel more sorry for her.
Under normal circumstances, she should have been the one receiving the Crown Prince’s attention…
How had she ended up as a slighted lawful wife because of him?
She was so young and pretty.
This was exactly why he hated affairs.
Other people’s husbands should stay other people’s husbands—coveting them only made everyone miserable.
“His Highness is merely passing through a phase of idle curiosity.”
The Crown Princess looked at Eun-gyo.
He lowered his gaze and continued in a calm tone.
“The imperial court is filled with noble and elegant people like Your Highness the Crown Princess.
His Highness is simply feeling a brief curiosity toward someone like me, who cannot be seen anywhere around here—a passing wind that will soon blow by.”
To the Crown Prince, Ha Eun-gyo was just a passing wind.
A presence that could not stay, nor should stay.
Moreover, he had no personal feelings whatsoever for the Crown Prince.
“In the end, the one who will remain by His Highness’s side is no one but Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
“It feels strange to hear such words from you.”
The Crown Princess smiled wryly.
“Things have turned out this way by chance, but I have someone I love.”
He wanted to reassure the Crown Princess if possible.
If he could let her know he was not someone who would take the Crown Prince from her, perhaps her heart would be at ease.
“You mean you hold another in your heart besides His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“I humbly confess that is so.”
The Crown Princess’s face filled with astonishment.
She seemed to think similarly to the Crown Prince—that it was absurd to hold another in one’s heart while being with him.
“There is someone I have harbored feelings for alone for a very long time.”
What was he to do about feelings that had already formed before meeting the Crown Prince?
To the Crown Prince, he was not a romantic interest either.
Just a source of entertainment to indulge in pleasure.
Interest always fades with time.
“If His Highness permits, I will leave the palace immediately.
So please do not trouble yourself too much over me, Your Highness.”
No, even if he didn’t permit it, he would find a way to leave.
Once he found what he was looking for.
“…You are truly an unusual one.”
The Crown Princess murmured bitterly, gazing at Eun-gyo in silence.
He wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by “unusual,” but he knew it meant he deviated greatly from their standards, so he simply smiled.
If her ordinary happiness meant being loved by the Crown Prince, he sincerely hoped that happiness would come true—even if only after he had left.
***
On the way back from the Crown Princess’s residence to the Crown Prince’s, a eunuch hurried over and sought out Court Lady Han.
He said that the silk for the Crown Prince’s dragon robe had arrived from outside today, but there was a problem, and Court Lady Han needed to go and inspect it personally.
Court Lady Han looked at Eun-gyo, as if she had received an order never to leave his side even for a moment.
“I’ll behave and return quietly, so please don’t worry.”
He smiled as if to say there was nowhere else for him to go anyway, and Court Lady Han reluctantly entrusted him to the guards following behind.
As he watched her receding figure, the eunuch who had come to summon her turned around and bumped lightly into Eun-gyo.
“Oh my, I apologize.”
The eunuch immediately bowed his head and apologized.
“No, it’s nothing this minor…”
Eun-gyo, about to say it was fine, flinched at the small something that touched his palm.
In a brief moment when the guards weren’t watching, the eunuch pressed something into his hand, said “Excuse me,” and hurried back the way he had come.
From the feel of it, it was a folded piece of paper.
He kept his fist clenched to conceal it.
“Let’s go.”
One of the guards urged him on, and he had to start walking again.
On the way to the Crown Prince’s residence, he spotted the pavilion he had seen before.
“Would it be alright if I get some air for a moment?
I’ve been cooped up all the time and it’s stifling.”
He looked at the guards with a faint smile.
His delicate smile, as if it might scatter in the wind, made them exchange uncertain glances.
“I’m not asking to go far.
I just want to sit in that pavilion for a little while.”
He wasn’t particularly fond of cross-dressing, but it was certainly effective for charming men.
When he looked up with pleading eyes, the guards ultimately could not refuse.
The pavilion floating in the middle of the pond was connected by bridges on both sides.
Saying he just wanted to be alone for a moment, and hinting at how exhausted he was every night, made the guards’ faces flush red—well aware of his nightly affairs with the Crown Prince.
They must have imagined him in the Crown Prince’s arms.
Of course, in their imaginations, he was a delicate woman.
Since there was nowhere to go except the bridges on either side, the guards agreed to wait at the ends of the bridges, and Eun-gyo went to the pavilion alone.
An elm tree grew beside the pavilion, creating a scene like something out of an oriental painting.
If not for the inability to move freely, there was truly no greater luxury.
Now was not the time to be entranced by the scenery.
Standing with his back deliberately to the guards, he unfolded the paper he had received from the eunuch.
You will be performing the sword dance.
You must practice, so request to borrow the banquet hall.
It was only two short sentences, but he instantly knew who had sent it.
It was King Seongrim.
Was he trying to give him an opportunity to move?
The note didn’t say what would happen after he borrowed the banquet hall to practice the sword dance.
Still, he trusted King Seongrim.
Once he got to the banquet hall, he would take care of the rest.
He tore the paper into small pieces and scattered them into the pond.
The wet paper sank—from a distance, it looked like flower petals scattered by the wind.
Sensing a presence, he turned to see the guards bowing their heads before the Crown Prince.
“Why did you stop here?”
The Crown Prince stepped onto the pavilion and stood beside Eun-gyo.
“I thought it was beautiful the first time I saw it.
I wanted to see it up close for a moment.”
“I see.”
He expected the Crown Prince to tell him to return quickly, or to leave first himself, but instead he stood silently by Eun-gyo’s side.
A breeze made the elm branches sway with a swoosh.
Looking down, even the water where he had scattered the torn paper rippled gently.
The pieces of paper were swallowed and disappeared into the waves.
“Eun-gyo.”
At the low call, he turned his head to find the Crown Prince’s gaze upon him.
He was a man without a single flaw, handsome no matter when you looked at him.
Though Eun-gyo was also called good-looking, with his delicate and refined features, the atmosphere was entirely different.
The Crown Prince had a great physique and sharp, defined features.
His eyes were intense, radiating charisma just by looking at them.
He was a man who possessed all the ‘manliness’ that Eun-gyo lacked.
“Trust no one in the palace.”
It was a warning he hadn’t needed to give when Eun-gyo stayed only in the Crown Prince’s residence.
Wondering if perhaps his visit to the Crown Princess today had bothered him, Eun-gyo silently met his gaze.
“The Crown Princess is a young girl.
She has no ill intent, but bear in mind that her innocence may return as a blade.”
The Crown Princess he had met earlier was indeed a young girl, as the Crown Prince said, and she had shown herself to be easily open to Eun-gyo.
She was naive enough that the position of Crown Princess seemed burdensome to her.
It was hard to accept that she herself could become a blade.
But this was the imperial court.
Even in dramas, there were countless cases of people being swept into unwanted affairs.
Perhaps that was what the Crown Prince was warning him about.
He nodded obediently, then flinched, expecting a scolding for his rudeness—but instead, the Crown Prince reached out and cupped his cheek.
“If possible, for a long time…”
He started to say something, then stopped and closed his mouth.
His unwavering eyes still looked at him, but his lips were firmly shut.
The hand that had touched his cheek withdrew.
His gaze also shifted away.
“Trust no one in this palace—not even me.”
Leaving those cryptic words behind, he turned away first.
As Eun-gyo watched him walk off in the opposite direction from the Crown Prince’s residence, a guard approached and suggested it was time to return.
Having no reason to linger, Eun-gyo agreed and followed the guard.
Trust no one in the palace.
Not even the Crown Prince himself.
What had that meant?
He couldn’t understand why he had included himself in that warning—it felt like more than just a simple caution against others.
How could a mere commoner like himself fathom the thoughts of His Highness the Crown Prince?
When no answer came, he stopped pondering.
Whatever happened, things would work out somehow.
They always had, and always would.
***
After leaving Eun-gyo behind, Lee Kang walked for a long while before stopping.
When he halted, all the attendants following him stopped and waited.
He looked down at his own hand, which had cupped Eun-gyo’s cheek, and let out a wry laugh.
What had he been about to say, Lee Kang?
Whenever he was alone with Eun-gyo, the surroundings were so quiet that he found himself doing unintentional things.
Without the constant noise intruding from somewhere, he seemed to speak one more word just to fill that silence.
If possible, I want to keep him by my side for a long time.
I want to extend that silence, which is only possible when I’m with Eun-gyo, even for just a little longer.
It was a pure desire, untainted by any other interest.
That very fact was unfamiliar to Lee Kang.
It was neither the scheming for survival nor the negotiations or compromises to reach the throne—it was simply something he wished for from his heart.
But Ha Eun-gyo was not from Sinhye Kingdom.
He was someone whose origin was entirely unknown.
He could not keep such a person by his side forever.
Ha Eun-gyo was merely the “woman” he had chosen to keep watch over what desires the woman seated as Crown Princess might harbor, and he had kept him around because King Seongrim had stepped forward to protect him, making him wonder what their relationship was.
He had no intention of letting him go.
As long as he needed him, Ha Eun-gyo had to stay by his side.
A confinement based on ‘necessity,’ nothing more.
That should have been all…
So why was he holding him every night?
Why did he feel regret as the time they spent together passed?
Was he simply indulging in pleasure, or was he harboring Ha Eun-gyo in some other sense?
Either way, it could not possibly benefit Ha Eun-gyo.
That was why he had said not to trust him.
He was someone who could, at any moment, whenever necessary, point a sword at Eun-gyo and sever that slender neck.
Ha Eun-gyo must never forget that.
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