Chapter 72: When Favor Shifts

Haeryeong barely suppressed that feeling and followed the leading eunuch.

The eunuch stopped in front of the innermost chamber door.

As he stepped aside, the door opened silently.

“His Majesty has instructed that you should rest comfortably.”

“I shall be waiting here, so please call for me whenever you have need.”

At Head Court Lady Hwang’s words from behind him, Haeryeong nodded and entered the Emperor’s bedroom alone.

Even though the sun had not yet set, the interior of the bedchamber, where faint light leaked through windows covered in thick paper, was incredibly dark.

The room appeared even more so due to the black-lacquered bed and matching black furniture.

It was entirely dark and gloomy, enough to intimidate him with a monochromatic feast that was completely different from the white-plastered bedroom of the Empress’s Palace.

Haeryeong scanned the interior but remained frozen where he stood.

Though the space was empty, the overwhelming pressure radiating from a room that so perfectly resembled its master made his back shiver.

‘Perhaps the Emperor’s personality is so twisted because he sleeps, rests, and eats in a place like this.’

‘What on earth does he think about in such a dark place?’

The heat in his body had risen higher than it was during the day, yet a chill ran through him.

His shoulders hunched instinctively.

Lacking the courage to even approach the bed, he spent a long time standing near the door as if nailed to the floor.

He wondered if the Emperor had brought him to his private sanctum just to subject him to a new form of torture.

It was so silent inside and out that he felt as though he were trapped in a coffin.

Haeryeong gasped for a trembling breath and finally managed to take a single step.

More time passed before the next foot moved.

After barely walking two paces, he turned his head to look around again.

Not a single piece of gold was visible in the vast room.

Even the Empress’s Palace had gold decorations here and there.

The candlesticks were also lacquered in black, and it took him a long while to even realize they were there.

Had it not been for the mother-of-pearl inlaid in the bases, he wouldn’t have even recognized them as candlesticks.

In this world of uniform black, was it a mercy that the quilt on the bed possessed some color?

Haeryeong spotted a color he could finally identify and walked toward the bed.

In the center of the quilt, made of various silks sewn together, a large dragon was embroidered in gold thread.

Five-colored clouds hung near its sinuous body and legs, and its claws—larger than Haeryeong’s thumb—clutched a fist-sized dragon ball.

He approached with the intent to perhaps lie down, but the moment he met the dragon’s fierce, staring eyes, that desire vanished completely.

Ultimately, unable to move either forward or back, he waited for the Emperor while standing like a child receiving punishment.

‘Will things be better once the master of the room arrives?’

‘The Emperor is the only person here I am at least somewhat familiar with; perhaps my trembling heart will settle once he comes.’

While he wished for the Emperor to return quickly, he also feared that he might actually feel relieved by his presence.

He was afraid of relying on the Emperor again.

He feared he would grow to hate himself for harboring such a weak heart.

The human heart was truly fickle and frail.

To think he was waiting for the Emperor’s return simply because a dark room frightened him.

“Say that again. What did the Empress do?”

Sirak glared at Court Lady Han as if fire would erupt from his eyes.

His clenched fists trembled violently within his long sleeves.

Faced with Sirak’s rage, Court Lady Han bowed her waist deep and cautiously repeated what she had just said.

“He entered the Great Hall just now. It is said he will spend this heat cycle in His Majesty’s private sanctum.”

“Does the Empress’s heat cycle not begin in the middle of the month?”

“It is… I heard it arrived earlier than usual because he received a great deal of His Majesty’s energy.”

“Ha.”

Sirak let out a short, hollow laugh.

‘That Empress b*tch is acting like a total fox.’

‘The Emperor is being played by the Empress’s wanton hip-grinding.’

‘No wonder he was acting uncharacteristically cold.’

Sirak paced frantically around the inner chamber, biting his thumbnail.

‘What am I to do about this?’

‘If that fastidious Emperor went as far as to bring him into his private sanctum, the Empress’s wantonness must have been quite effective.’

It was a crisis.

Had it not already been a month since he last received the Emperor’s energy?

He needed his heat cycle to arrive so he could seduce the Emperor, but there was no sign of it coming; what was he to do?

Recalling the Minister of Rites, who appeared daily to pressure him without a word, made his head throb.

‘That damned old man.’

‘Why is he making such a fuss about me having to receive the seed of an Emperor who is so self-centered?’

Sirak pressed a cold hand to his feverish forehead.

He couldn’t tell if his hand was cold or his forehead was boiling; his hand felt hot while his forehead felt chilled.

Pressing down on his heated eyelids to cool them, Sirak turned back to Court Lady Han, who remained standing in her place.

“Is it certain that my foster father will become the Jibusa?”

“The Imperial command was issued during the assembly, so I am told it is certain. The formal edict is expected tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Did you not say the Empress’s heat cycle has begun? His Majesty will be in his private sanctum the whole time; who is going to issue the edict?”

Court Lady Han bowed, looking flustered.

“His Majesty is still attending to state affairs in the Great Hall. He will not delay a schedule that has already been set.”

Sirak bit his lip.

‘Is that so?’

Knowing the Emperor was meticulous about state affairs, he likely wouldn’t delay a predetermined task.

To be honest, Sirak had been worried that his foster father’s head might roll during this audit, so if the promotion was decided, it was a stroke of luck.

Had it been before the Emperor fell for the Empress, there would have been no need for such worry.

But because the man was suddenly distancing himself, Sirak was growing anxious in every way.

Sirak let out a deep sigh and clasped his hands beneath his chest.

The news that the proprietress of Jayangnu had been murdered on the day the Emperor visited made him even more uneasy.

The day after hearing the Emperor’s words, Sirak had sent a servant in disguise to check, only to hear that news.

‘Is it the Emperor’s doing?’

Coincidentally, it was exactly the kind of suspicion that would arise at such a moment.

Just what had the proprietress told him to make him kill her?

Unable to ask the Emperor directly, Sirak was withering away lately.

‘This is all that tactless Minister of Rites’ fault.’

‘The moment he heard the Emperor was distancing himself, he came rushing over; of course that sensitive Emperor would become suspicious.’

‘That damned old man.’

‘They say he was powerful enough to pluck a bird from the sky during the previous Emperor’s reign, but has he gone senile with age?’

‘Why would he frequency the Consort’s Palace so thoughtlessly and intentionally invite suspicion?’

A sigh escaped him involuntarily.

Sirak covered his face with his still-chilled hands.

‘Why is nothing going right?’

‘Where did the problem even start?’

‘Was the problem that I looked down on the Emperor, thinking he was just infatuated and dizzy with lust for me?’

‘Should I have at least pretended to study as he commanded?’

The reason Sirak had no interest in studying was partly because he was already literate, but mostly because he had no desire to be the Empress.

He only agreed to want an Imperial heir because of his promise to the Minister of Rites; Sirak himself cared little for a child.

They said an heir was needed to pull the Emperor down, so he agreed, but as time passed, he regretted the useless endeavor.

‘I should have just stabbed a knife into his chest while he was sleeping in my arms.’

Between the Black Shadows watching from the darkness and the fact that the Emperor was a warrior who never slept deeply, it was an impossible task.

Still, even if he failed and was caught and killed, he should have tried.

If he had done it while the Emperor was completely infatuated, he could have at least left a small mark of betrayal in the man’s heart.

‘Now that the Emperor’s heart has moved on, I cannot even do that; what am I to do?’

Sirak lifted his face from his hands and let out a massive sigh.

His chest felt stifled, and heat gathered in his eyes.

“I must rest. Everything is just too irritating.”

He dismissed Court Lady Han and entered the bedroom alone.

Just as he crossed the threshold, a quiet voice asked from behind.

“What shall we do about dinner?”

“Forget it.”

He felt Court Lady Han hesitate behind him.

“You have been skipping meals far too often lately, Your Grace. I fear for your health; would you not at least consider some porridge?”

Sirak turned around with an irritated expression and glared at the crown of Court Lady Han’s head.

“I told you it is fine, so did I not tell you to get out?”

As he replied through gritted teeth, she bowed deeply.

“I apologize. I shall withdraw now.”

Court Lady Han quietly closed the bedroom door and left.

Left alone, Sirak neurotically pulled the hairpins and ornaments from his hair and hurled them to the floor.

His disheveled hair cascaded down in a mess.

The feeling of hair touching his face was unpleasant, so he shook his head wildly.

Feeling as though he couldn’t stand to be still, he stripped off his finely tailored clothes and threw them aside as if to tear them.

He tried to remove his final robe, but a sleeve got tangled and his arm wouldn’t come free.

Sirak struggled to suppress the urge to scream curses in his soaring irritation as he flailed his arm.

After a few moments of struggling, he finally freed himself and climbed onto the bed, leaving the discarded clothes on the floor.

He squeezed his eyes shut while huddled beneath the quilt, but there was no way sleep would come in this mood.

He had to find a way.

Was there a way to drag the Emperor back to his side?

No, even if not that, was there no other path?

He wanted to kill both the Emperor and the Empress.

He felt as if this irritation would only vanish if he did so.

He wanted to slaughter those two bastards who were likely entangled in a frenzy of the heat cycle.

Only then could he finally close his eyes in peace.

‘Does he even know who I am suffering for, enduring this Imperial Palace life that doesn’t even suit my body?’

‘And yet he’s hitting it off with the Empress, whispering and engaging in wanton behavior?’

Sirak snapped his eyes open under the quilt, grinding his teeth as he bit his thumb.

‘I will not just sit here and take this.’

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