Chapter 5: The Emperor’s Decision

The Imperial Physician let out a sound like a crushed frog and prostrated himself before the Emperor.

“Th-that cannot be, Your Majesty. I have been submitting a formal report every day upon visiting the Empress’s Palace…”

Iryeon stole a glance at the Emperor, but as soon as their eyes met, she immediately lowered her head.

The Emperor let out a sharp, scoffing breath and turned a sly gaze toward the Chief Eunuch, Manchul, who had accompanied him.

“Manchul. Do you know of these reports the physician speaks of?”

“I am ashamed to report, but as Your Majesty commanded, I placed them separately in your private sanctum every time…”

“And?”

The sound of Manchul stifling a quiet sigh reached Iryeon’s ears.

He must have bowed his head deeply, for his voice sounded slightly muffled as he answered the Emperor.

“I believe Your Majesty lacked the time to check the reports because the Noble Consort was constantly visiting your private quarters.”

Manchul’s words sounded like a subtle rebuke.

Sure enough, the Emperor read the intent behind them and spoke in a piercing voice.

“So, you are saying it is my fault for not looking at them. Manchul, do you dare mock me?”

The middle-aged eunuch, who was said to have served the Emperor since childhood, replied calmly despite the Emperor’s angry tone.

“I have simply stated the facts as they are, Your Majesty. I beg you to understand.”

“Hmph.”

The Emperor let out a light snort and tapped his foot.

It seemed like a familiar banter between the two, a light joke to be brushed aside, yet everyone else prostrate on the floor trembled even more.

They were terrified that the Emperor’s mood had soured.

“Physician. Explain the Empress’s symptoms.”

Fortunately, the Emperor did not seem to care much about the exchange.

However, perhaps because a heavy atmosphere had already passed, the physician’s voice wavered like a bleating goat.

“I am terrified to speak, but after the physicians of the Bureau of Medicine gathered their opinions, we have concluded that His Highness the Empress is suffering from heart-fire.”

“If you say heart-fire, do you mean a state of melancholy?”

“It can be seen as melancholy… but usually, heart-fire is more often caused by the fire of the heart. In my humble opinion, I suspect his worries over the Noble Consort were great.”

The Emperor let out a scoff as if the physician’s words were absurd.

“Ha.”

He let out a short, hollow laugh and muttered to himself.

“You mean to say he ended up in this state simply because of jealousy?”

Knowing the words weren’t directed at him, the physician still shrank back in fear and bowed even deeper.

He moved with such haste that the sound of his head hitting the floor was quite loud.

“I am ashamed, but that is likely not the only reason. I suspect the nature of an Eumin is also playing a role in the Empress’s fever. Since you have yet to share a wedding night, it is difficult to ignore the possibility that the heat from his cycles, which has not been fully discharged, has accumulated.”

“Continue.”

The sound of the physician gulping echoed quietly in the bedroom.

“Originally, an Eumin’s heat must be released through union with a Yangin; the Eumin’s nature is only neutralized when they receive a plentiful amount of the Yangin’s energy. Furthermore, the Empress is one who possesses naturally strong Eumin energy. When such an Empress spends his heat cycles alone, it is difficult to fully expel that heat, and since he has not received Your Majesty’s Yangin energy, it would have been difficult to neutralize it all.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor hummed in thought and nodded.

“The physician’s words seem to have merit. Then, if you are not ignorant of the Empress’s illness, why has the treatment been so slow?”

“Th-that is… since medicine cannot fully control the fever, we have been searching for other methods…”

“If there is another way, why have you been dawdling until now! He has been suffering for over ten days, so it is not as if you lacked time. Do the physicians of the Bureau of Medicine intend to bring shame to my face by stalling like this? If the Empress were to pass away from a mere fever, how could I ever show my face again!”

When the Emperor slammed his hand on the table beside him, the startled physician nearly jumped out of his skin, trembling violently.

“H-however, Your Majesty. To suppress such strong Eumin energy, your Yangin energy is required.”

The Emperor slammed the table again, even harder.

“Are you now telling me to violate an Empress who has lost his mind to fever? Manchul, look. Because of you, even the physician tries to mock me.”

The physician looked up in panic, only to gasp for breath at the sight of the Emperor’s enraged face.

He immediately bowed his head again and continued to speak stumblingly.

“How could I ever harbor such an intent? Your Majesty, such words are truly undeserved.”

In a voice that still hadn’t lost its anger, the Emperor commanded the physician.

“Find a way to break the Empress’s fever immediately. If there is no improvement in the Empress’s condition tonight, I will have your head, along with the heads of every physician in the Bureau of Medicine.”

“Eek!”

The physician let out a strangled groan.

It was enough to make one worry that the elderly man might collapse on the spot.

He panted with nervous breaths and licked his lips.

“There is… there is a way. However, it is only possible if Your Majesty helps…”

Only then did the Emperor’s voice turn smooth and soft.

“Let us hear what sort of scheme you have first.”

“A method to forcibly lower the fever is to immerse the body in cold water. However, the Empress is currently weak in both mind and body, and there is a high possibility he cannot withstand the chill. Therefore, I expect he will endure it if Your Majesty provides him with Yangin energy.”

The physician continued quickly, seemingly afraid the Emperor would erupt in anger again.

“We shall fill a bathtub with lukewarm water, immerse His Highness, and gradually lower the temperature by pouring in cold water. While doing so, Your Majesty must hold His Highness and provide him with Yangin energy through a kiss.”

The Emperor tapped his fingertips on the table in silence, as if contemplating.

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of the slow, steady rhythm sent chills down the spines of the physician and the court ladies.

After a moment, the Emperor spoke with a light sigh.

“If that is the only way, we must try it. Manchul, bring in the bath.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Manchul called Iryeon and the court ladies outside the bedroom to give them instructions.

While the eunuchs accompanying the Emperor went to fetch the bath, Iryeon and the other court ladies brought ice from the icehouse and prepared both hot and cold water to fill the buckets in the bedroom.

While they moved busily, the Emperor sat in his chair and stared blankly at the Empress.

His gaze was calm, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

In truth, Emperor Sa Gangcheon wasn’t thinking much of anything.

He only felt that the gaunt face of the Empress, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, felt unfamiliar.

From the first time he saw him, Haeryeong hadn’t had a particularly small frame, and this year he had grown as tall as a green barley sprout.

He had a beautiful face because he was an Eumin, but that was all.

He had felt like a stiff person, not someone the Emperor wished to hold in his arms, so the Emperor had kept his distance.

But seeing him lying there so ill, he looked smaller than expected, which felt strange.

Then again, no matter how much an Empress grew, would he be even seven and a half cheok?

Compared to himself, who was well over eight and a half cheok, Haeryeong wasn’t that tall.

Perhaps he had looked taller simply because the Noble Consort, who was barely seven cheok and two pun, was so exceptionally small.

As he followed those thoughts, the preparations for the bath were soon finished.

While the physician poured water into the bath to adjust the temperature, the court ladies approached the bed at Manchul’s signal.

Seeing the four court ladies trying to lift Haeryeong, the Emperor rose from his chair.

“Stop. You might drop him like that.”

“But, Your Majesty. His Highness cannot move on his own right now.”

“I will do it. Since I must enter the bath with him to provide the energy anyway.”

When he raised his arms, Manchul approached and removed his dragon robe.

Wearing only a thin white sleeping robe, Gangcheon leaned over the bed and gathered the Empress’s limp body into his arms.

The Empress’s body, touched for the first time, was so hot that the heat immediately transferred to everywhere they touched.

Even though he was moved with a large jolt as the Emperor adjusted his hold, Haeryeong did not regain consciousness.

His head, shaken by the movement, fell with a thud against Gangcheon’s shoulder.

Gangcheon looked down at those pale, parched lips before walking toward the bath.

As he stepped into the bath, which was less than half-filled with water, while holding Haeryeong, he felt the lukewarm temperature.

It felt slightly higher than his own body temperature, yet the moment the water touched his lower half, Haeryeong curled up and shivered violently.

“Is it alright for him to tremble like this?”

Haeryeong’s shivering was so intense that even the Emperor’s arms, which were holding him, shook.

The physician examined the Empress’s complexion, took his pulse, and then bowed his head heavily.