Chapter 91: Shadows in the Court

Gangcheon was well aware that while Sirak acted meltingly sweet before him, he treated the court ladies of the Consort’s Palace like a predator hunting prey.

Even when he received reports that the Consort was acting sensitive as Gangcheon began frequenting the Empress’s Palace, Gangcheon had found even that behavior to be cute.

It was the same when the Consort hovered around the Empress’s Palace as if his tail were on fire during the times he lacked the Emperor’s attention.

Believing that his desperation stemmed from his heart belonging to him, Gangcheon had cherished even that.

He had treated him coldly for neglecting his studies, but his true feelings were quite the opposite.

However, this latest reaction was truly beyond his expectations.

Despite being told that the promise to elevate him to the position of Empress could no longer be kept, Sirak’s reaction was unexpectedly lukewarm.

[Your Majesty, your servant was too arrogant. I shall devote myself with all my heart from now on, so please reconsider just once.]

He had certainly spoken those words while shedding tears before him.

Thus, at first, Gangcheon’s sense of guilt had been unspeakably large.

Consequently, Gangcheon was also trying his best to find time to at least share a meal with the Consort.

But he could not understand why he felt this lingering sense of lukewarm indifference.

Gangcheon had assumed Sirak would be heartbroken and shed tears in solitude.

It was especially so since the Emperor was spending the heat cycle only with the Empress.

Yet, the image of Sirak being reported was quite different from his expectations.

While reports of him being confused or restless were frequent, nowhere was there a mention of him appearing heartbroken or sad.

They say you can know the depth of ten fathoms of water, but not a single fathom of a person’s heart.

Gangcheon found it difficult to admit that he had been wrong about many things regarding Sirak.

Once he reached that point, everything—including the secrets Sirak held and the lies he told—made the Consort’s recent actions appear suspicious.

It was a quite bitter feeling.

How could the human heart be this treacherous?

Until just February, everything the Consort did had been beautiful, yet how did things end up like this in just two months?

Furthermore, with his relationship with the Empress also becoming strained, his mind was a mess these days.

Even if he couldn’t think of it during the day due to busy state affairs, at night, he reached a point where he couldn’t even sleep from chewing over the recent situation.

‘Harmony in the home leads to all things prospering? My foot.’

Gangcheon watched the path taken by the now completely vanished Consort’s party and slowly turned his body.

As he walked the same path back to the side hall, sighs of unknown origin escaped him incessantly.

****

Time flowed, and it was a day two weeks before the Founding Festival.

Song-jae, a member of the Black Shadow Unit, was monitoring the Minister of Rites’ house along with three other members.

Lately, the gatekeeper of that house had been going out exceptionally often, so they had been following him in turns; today, it was Song-jae and Byeol-gyu’s turn.

Song-jae watched the man from a distance as he moved through the market stalls.

Byeol-gyu followed behind the two while remaining hidden.

After circling for a long time as if window-shopping in the marketplace, the first place the gatekeeper stopped was a writing brush shop.

There, he selected two fine-tipped brushes made of marten hair, paid for them, and headed straight to the book-lending shop next door.

Song-jae, following behind, tilted his head.

Since books were so expensive and hard to come by, commoners mostly rented them to read.

But considering that man was the gatekeeper for the Minister of Rites, it made no sense.

How many people in the Minister’s household would need to rent a book?

It would likely be the Minister himself, his children, or his grandchildren.

The idea of servants reading books… well, it wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t something that happened often.

Thus, it was a strange occurrence.

For someone in the household of the Minister of Rites, who lived in a grand ninety-nine-room mansion, to be renting books.

It reeked of something foul.

The gatekeeper took two books from a bundle and handed them to the shopkeeper.

He then left the place after receiving a few brass coins and a single book in return.

At first glance, it looked like he was returning books and borrowing a new one, but would the Minister of Rites really rent a book just to save a few coins?

There was no way.

Song-jae hesitated for a moment after the gatekeeper left the shop.

‘Is it right to follow him further? Or is it right to obtain the book he left behind?’

Ending his deliberation quickly, Song-jae sent a telepathic message to Byeol-gyu to follow the gatekeeper secretly, then turned and entered the shop.

“Excuse me.”

The merchant appeared late, having likely put the books from the gatekeeper inside the shop, and scanned Song-jae’s appearance from top to bottom.

His gaze seemed to ask why a man like him had come here.

Song-jae barely suppressed the urge to snap at him and wore a servile expression instead.

“My youngest master is looking for something, you see.”

Only then did the shop owner’s expression shift.

“What is he looking for that you speak so covertly?”

“You know, that.”

When Song-jae lowered his voice further, the other man stroked his beard and cleared his throat.

“He was asking if there was anything new… nothing hot?”

“Ahem, cough. Follow me.”

Song-jae followed the owner inside and looked around to see where the books from earlier might be.

The owner led Song-jae to the innermost bookshelf and pulled out a book that looked brand new at a glance.

“It just came out yesterday. It’s by Gye-tak, the most popular erotic artist in the capital these days.”

The opened book depicted a male Eumin nursing a fully grown man.

Below, it showed the man’s penis, clearly a Yang-in, connected to him.

The lower part of the penis was swollen to a hideous degree as if they were in a state of knotting.

“Augh, why do they look at such scandalous things? I truly cannot understand high-ranking lords. Give me this one. My master happens to be a fan of this erotic artist.”

Song-jae feigned shock as if he were seeing something unbelievable, stealing glances at the book.

While doing so, he did not stop scanning the shop.

Whether the owner had been in a hurry and failed to lock it properly, he saw a desk drawer between the inner bookshelves slightly ajar.

There were books inside, but there was no way to confirm if they were the ones from earlier.

“That will be one nyang.”

“Augh, that is expensive.”

Song-jae’s hands trembled as he paid the price.

One nyang.

It was a massive sum even for Song-jae, who received a salary from the Emperor’s funds.

Although the Captain would reimburse him later, his hands shook involuntarily at the count.

The shop owner chuckled at the sight, took the money, and placed it in a pouch pulled from his chest.

Song-jae watched him and then asked, feigning ignorance.

“I saw before I came in that you also buy back books. About how much do you pay?”

“That depends on the book, does it not? Erotic ones usually go for ten to twenty coins, but the ones used for study vary greatly from book to book.”

“I have a few volumes my master used and then threw away. If I bring them, will you give me a good price?”

“Bring them first. I have to see what they are to set a price.”

“Very well. Then, I shall return in a few days.”

Nodding, Song-jae left the shop, turned into a side alley, and used his stealth techniques to sneak back inside.

He intended to take the books when the owner stepped away, but it wasn’t as easy as he thought.

Most of all, there weren’t many customers.

Since he had no reason to leave his post, the owner spent his time idling on the wooden bench where his desk was placed.

After a significant amount of time passed, a message came from Byeol-gyu.

[I confirmed the servant returned to the Minister of Rites’ house and am now handing over to Ju and Myeong.]

Song-jae relayed what he had seen to Byeol-gyu.

He also told him to look for the book the gatekeeper had taken.

While Byeol-gyu went to deliver the information to Ju and Myeong, the shop owner finally left his seat to go to the latrine.

Song-jae hurried down from the rafters where he had been hiding and pulled the books from the desk.

Judging by the appearance, they seemed to be the books the gatekeeper had brought earlier.

Although he couldn’t read and mostly remembered characters by their shapes, Song-jae had a good eye for detail.

Keeping them himself was useless, so his priority was to deliver them to someone else.

Thus, Song-jae tucked both books into his chest and ran toward the Imperial Palace.

Running along the walls of the alleys while using his stealth, Song-jae suddenly felt a pain in his chest and stopped in his tracks.

‘What is this?’

As he lowered his gaze, he saw a small arrow buried so deep in his chest that even the arrowhead was invisible.

The skill was so fast and precise that he hadn’t even felt it coming.

Before Song-jae could even fully realize he had been hit by an arrow, he tumbled down from the roof.

Twitch.

His nerves spasmed, and his limbs twisted.

Song-jae saw a black shadow at the edge of his fading vision and clicked his tongue softly.

“Dammit…”

****

Gangcheon’s forehead pulsed with prominent veins as he received the telepathic report that a Black Shadow member had been taken down.

He happened to be receiving a report from the newly appointed Minister of Public Works that the construction of Dorim Stream had been completed.

The new Minister, Jo Seong-chi, had been a Vice-Minister and was now concurrently holding the position of Jibusa for the vacant Minister’s seat.

Since he had been walking on eggshells around the Emperor due to the recent embezzlement scandal, he hurriedly prostrated himself when Gangcheon’s aura turned murderous.

Even without looking, Gangcheon could almost see the man’s eyes darting frantically as he wondered what sin he had committed.

Gangcheon suppressed his raging energy and spoke calmly.

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