Chapter 4: Knocking on the Emperor’s Door

As Iryeon waited, counting the frantic thumping of her own heart, the sliding doors finally opened and the court lady from before reappeared.

She immediately bowed her head to Iryeon.

“Please, enter, Head Court Lady.”

Iryeon stepped inside and walked down a long corridor lined with sliding doors until she reached a grand entrance where the Head Court Lady of the Bedchamber stood waiting.

Iryeon offered her respects and knelt before the door.

With an unimpressed expression, the Head Court Lady of the Bedchamber announced her presence to the room inside.

“Your Majesty. Head Court Lady Yang of the Empress’s Palace is here.”

“Let her in.”

The Emperor’s voice drifted out after a brief pause.

As the doors were opened, Iryeon quietly swallowed hard and pressed her joined hands to her forehead.

She was so tense that her legs, hidden beneath her voluminous skirts, shook violently; she had to walk with extreme care to keep from stumbling forward.

Keeping her body low, Iryeon entered and prostrated herself before the bed.

“I pray for your eternal fortune, Your Majesty.”

A moment later, accompanied by the rustle of fabric, the Emperor pulled back the canopy and lowered his legs from the bed.

Within Iryeon’s prostrate field of vision, only his white socks were visible.

She waited for the Emperor to acknowledge her greeting so she could proceed, but the first reaction came from deep inside the bed.

“Your… Majesty…?”

Hearing that small, sleep-heavy voice, Iryeon bit down hard on the inside of her cheek.

‘Why was the Noble Consort in the Emperor’s private sanctum?’

‘While the Empress’s Palace had been in total chaos due to his illness, had the Consort been coming and going from the Emperor’s most private quarters?’

“I finally got you to sleep; why are you awake? Sleep more.”

At the Emperor’s sweet, melodic tone, Iryeon nearly burst into tears.

It was well known that the Emperor often held the Consort until he fell asleep.

She had heard that because the Consort was an Eumin with an unstable nature, he required a constant infusion of a Yangin’s energy to maintain his pregnancy.

Thus, the Emperor visiting the Consort’s quarters every night had become a daily routine.

However, bringing him into his own private sanctum was a different matter entirely.

This was the Emperor’s secret space, a place the Empress had never even been permitted to enter.

Iryeon clamped her teeth together to stifle a groan of agony.

The Emperor wasted time coaxing the Consort back to sleep, patting him gently.

After a while, the faint sound of the Consort’s rhythmic breathing signaled he had fallen back into a deep sleep.

Iryeon, a commoner, could not smell it, but she was certain the air inside the sanctum was thick with a cloying, heavy scent.

It felt as though she could almost see the invisible.

Her vision seemed to blur, perhaps overwhelmed by the Yangin energy the Emperor was emitting to soothe his Consort.

“Did you say you brought the Empress’s final testament?”

Only after the Consort was sound asleep did the Emperor finally address Iryeon.

Iryeon swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke in a mournful tone.

“I am terrified to report this, but the Empress has been suffering from a severe fever for days…”

“Get to the point. You claimed it was urgent enough to invade my private quarters at this hour, yet your introduction is long.”

Iryeon closed her eyes tight at the Emperor’s cold, dismissive attitude.

“Even in his delirium, His Highness has been calling for Your Majesty incessantly.”

At those words, blurted out in a grief-stricken rush, the Emperor let out a scoff.

“Did the Empress tell you to say that?”

Iryeon’s face turned deathly pale.

She bowed until her forehead pressed against the floor.

“It is a grave matter, but the Empress has been burning with fever for nearly fifteen days. Even while unconscious, he calls for Your Majesty and swallows his tears; as the servant who attends him, I could not bear the state of my master and have stepped forward insolently. I beg you to have mercy and look into this.”

The Emperor remained indifferent despite her desperate tone.

“So, you are saying that without any testament or command from the Empress, you have taken it upon yourself to deceive your sovereign.”

The Emperor’s voice dropped, heavy with a dangerous weight.

“Your Majesty.”

Iryeon lifted her face, now drenched in tears.

Unable to meet the Emperor’s gaze, she stared at the area near his knees and pleaded as if her heart were bleeding.

“I will gladly accept the punishment for the crime of deceiving Your Majesty. If you command me to beat my head against the floor until I die, I shall do so. Therefore, I beg you to set aside your anger for a moment and grace the Empress’s Palace with your presence just once.”

She could not bring herself to voice her fear that the Empress might pass away.

As soon as she finished speaking, Iryeon slammed her head against the floor.

The heavy thud and Iryeon’s subsequent sobbing echoed through the private sanctum.

“How dare you cause such a disturbance in this place?”

Unable to watch any longer, the Head Court Lady of the Bedchamber stepped forward and scolded Iryeon.

Iryeon turned slightly toward her and continued to weep.

Her forehead, which had struck the hard floor, was torn, and her vision was stained red.

Her head throbbed with agonizing pain, but her own safety was not what mattered right now.

“But, Head Court Lady… if the Empress were to pass away like this, I…”

“Silence. Mind your words. Do you not realize that acting so recklessly only brings shame upon the Empress?”

In a state where she couldn’t tell if it was blood or tears flowing down her face, Iryeon bowed to the Emperor once more.

“Your Majesty, I beg you to consider.”

The Emperor, who had been looking down at Iryeon in silence, waved his hand toward the Head Court Lady of the Bedchamber.

“Make preparations to go to the Empress’s Palace. I must see for myself just how critical his condition is to warrant such behavior.”

The Emperor gave the order to have the Imperial Physician sent to the Empress’s Palace and stepped down from the bed.

While the Emperor was being dressed by the court ladies, Iryeon kept her head bowed and swallowed tears of joy.

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”

The Emperor raised his arms for a court lady to drape his robe over him and turned toward Iryeon.

“Regardless of the Empress’s condition, your crime of deceiving the Imperial family will be dealt with separately.”

“Your mercy is overwhelming.”

“Leave us.”

Iryeon backed out of the sanctum at the Emperor’s command.

After quickly wiping her torn forehead with a white towel offered silently by a waiting court lady, she hurried back to the Empress’s Palace.

With every step, her head throbbed painfully, but her heart felt infinitely lighter.

When Iryeon arrived at the Empress’s Palace, a small commotion broke out among the court ladies watching over the Empress.

Ignoring their silent frantic energy, Iryeon knelt by the Empress’s side.

“Your Highness. His Imperial Majesty is coming to see you shortly. Please, I beg of you, try to wake up.”

The only response to Iryeon’s whisper was a pained groan.

“Mok-a. Fetch a fresh sleeping robe for His Highness.”

Iryeon’s hands moved busily; she had to make him presentable before the Emperor arrived.

All four court ladies worked together to tidy Haeryeong.

Two held his limp body upright as if embracing him, while the other two wiped away his sweat.

Seeing his body, which had become so thin in less than fifteen days that his ribs were clearly visible, Iryeon swallowed her tears once again.

She wiped Haeryeong’s body with a touch more meticulous and gentle than usual, as if this might be the last time she would ever serve him.

“Your Highness. I should have taken better care of you…”

At seventeen, the Empress—who had married the Emperor at such a young age—was so mild and virtuous that he never once raised his voice.

Furthermore, his grace and elegance, the kind that could only be cultivated through a royal upbringing since childhood, were truly admirable.

He was so kind that even when the youngest, Jongseon, accidentally spilled a teacup, he didn’t punish her; instead, he worried if she had been hurt.

Everyone in the Empress’s Palace knew how rare it was to find such a kind master in the Imperial Palace.

In a palace where it was common for servants to have their wrists severed or their backs flayed for a single small mistake, a master who even looked after his subordinates’ snacks was truly a rarity.

Except for Head Court Lady Han and a few court ladies who had transferred to the Consort’s Palace, all the servants remaining here were those who served the Empress with sincere devotion.

The loyalty of those in the Empress’s Palace was beyond words, as they were all people who had been touched by his grace or received his quiet care on countless occasions.

Iryeon let out a sigh, more worried about the future of the Empress—who had so few allies—than her own fate, which might involve execution.

‘What will become of our master? How can I ever atone for the regret of not looking after him better?’

With those thoughts, her eyes filled with tears.

“His Imperial Majesty has arrived!”

Just as Iryeon was dabbing her eyes with her sleeve, the announcement of the Emperor’s arrival came from outside.

Since they hadn’t finished dressing the Empress and his body was still partially exposed, Iryeon and the others scrambled in a frenzy.

They had just managed to fasten his robes and lay him down when the bedroom door opened right on cue.

The Emperor walked indifferently past Iryeon and the court ladies, who were kneeling in a row with their heads bowed.

He approached the bed, where the canopy had not yet been lowered, and stood there for a long time staring down at the Empress without saying a word.

“Physician.”

After a moment, the Emperor summoned the physician to take the Empress’s pulse and sat in a chair near the bed to watch the scene in silence.

When the physician finished the examination and bowed before him, the Emperor finally spoke.

“The Empress is dying like this, yet why did no one submit a formal petition?”

“Physician, speak. Why was I unaware that the Empress’s condition was this severe?”

Iryeon and the court ladies exchanged startled glances.

There was no way the Emperor didn’t know.

It was a well-known fact that the Emperor possessed the Black Shadow Unit, a group of secret protectors separate from the Imperial Guards.

They monitored everything within the palace and reported directly to the Emperor.

There was not a single servant who didn’t know this.

The Black Shadows were surely stationed somewhere in the Empress’s Palace as well, unknown to the other servants.

And yet, were they to believe that no report had been made?

Iryeon raised her head slightly to steal a glance at the Emperor, who was leaning deep into his chair.

However, from his expression, twisted into a faint, mocking smile, it was nearly impossible to tell if he was speaking the truth.