The Chancellor’s Remonstrance

Despite the long sigh, the Emperor did not spare a glance.

He simply drummed his fingers on the table.

It appeared he was lost in thought, but Cha-ran did not hold out much hope.

“I heard Grand Tutor Son Jo-ik headed to Namju Castle at dawn with Yook Chu-myeong?”

“Yes. Did you know?”

Unable to contain himself any longer, Cha-ran had sought an audience with the Emperor at this late hour because of Son Jo-ik’s movements today. He had received a report that Son Jo-ik, whom he had been secretly monitoring, had gone to meet the Lord of Namju Castle early this morning together with Minister of War Yook Chu-myeong.

He hadn’t expected the Emperor to know as well.

“I also know that he sent a confidential message to the Lord of Namwi Castle two days ago.”

Hearing news he hadn’t known for the first time, Cha-ran pressed his forehead in dismay. This only proved that the Emperor’s eyes reached further than the High Minister’s.

“You must keep your promise with Son Jo-ik, even now.”

“I will decide who becomes my Empress. You just properly monitor Son Jo-ik’s movements.”

The Emperor never went back on his word. Knowing this better than anyone, Cha-ran could not argue further and ultimately surrendered. At least he had confirmed that the Emperor still harbored wariness toward Son Jo-ik. That had to be enough for today.

However, now that things had come to this, he felt he had to bring up another matter. He called out to the Emperor. The Emperor seemed quite fed up with Cha-ran by now.

“What is it now?”

“If Your Majesty’s will is truly such, then please at least allow Consort Ru to move his residence. Bi-eun Palace is truly an excessive measure.”

Cha-ran remembered the moment in the main hall when the Emperor had mentioned the name Bi-eun Palace. He had even wondered if such a palace truly existed in the imperial grounds. And the moment the existence of Bi-eun Palace came to mind, he vividly recalled the dizziness that had seized him.

Bi-eun Palace was a place so decrepit that it was embarrassing even to call it a palace. Cha-ran had never even approached it, deterred by the hideous vines that covered its walls. Giving such a place as a residence to a consort—no one that day had been unstartled.

The most startled person was probably Yi-seol, Cha-ran thought.

It was pitiful enough that a man had been dragged to a foreign land as a consort, but to receive a residence like that haunted house? It was a wonder Yi-seol hadn’t come crying to the Emperor to beg for a different residence. Then again, having met him briefly in Yeon and exchanged a few words, Cha-ran doubted he was the type to do so.

“What is wrong with Bi-eun Palace?”

The Emperor asked calmly, but Cha-ran believed the Emperor knew perfectly well what Bi-eun Palace looked like. Giving that palace to Yi-seol as a residence must have been deliberate. What Cha-ran could not understand was why the Emperor was treating Yi-seol so harshly.

He was a fated lover who had given the Emperor the Mandate of Heaven, yet he was made a consort, given a rank lower than First Rank, and then shoved into Bi-eun Palace. Even if the wedding night had not happened, it would not have quelled the unsettling rumors spreading through the palace.

“During the renovation of Socheong Pavilion last year, Your Majesty lashed out at the construction officials, asking why they were tearing down intact buildings and rebuilding them while leaving a monstrosity like Bi-eun Palace standing. Didn’t you even dismiss managers from the Property Office for wasting state funds?”

Cha-ran deliberately did not mention that the Emperor had been targeting the Property Office officials who were secretly reporting the palace’s financial state to Son Jo-ik and his faction.

The Emperor seemed to think for a moment, then answered with a faint sneer.

“You must have heard the Master of Construction say it back then. The timber used in Bi-eun Palace is as sturdy and high-quality as that of Taegeum Palace, so there was no urgency to rebuild it.”

“But…”

“Is it only the timber? The carvings on the pillars and the murals on the walls are said to be masterpieces. It has one of the largest grounds in the palace, complete with a pond and a rear garden. What exactly is so excessive about it in your eyes?”

“The pond is covered in moss, and the rear garden is overrun with weeds. And what use are good timber and murals when the walls are draped in unsightly vines?”

Though he would not report it to the Emperor, Bi-eun Palace was also notorious as a place where the royal governesses took young apprentice court ladies on moonlit nights to build their courage by retrieving silk ribbons tied to branches in the back garden. According to Eunuch Yoon, few succeeded, and about one in ten fainted. It was no ordinary, menacing palace.

Cha-ran was about to further detail Bi-eun Palace’s unsuitability as a residence when he was interrupted by Eunuch Yoon’s voice from outside the inner chamber.

“Your Majesty, I have prepared the herbal decoction. Shall I bring it in?”

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes.”

Cha-ran, who had just been about to speak, fell silent. The Emperor’s gaze told him there was nothing more to hear and that he should leave. If he persisted, Cha-ran suddenly thought his tongue might actually be ripped out and turned into a target for Heukyeong’s arrows.

He had momentarily forgotten, but the Emperor had been perpetually irritable lately. The herbal decoction Eunuch Yoon brought was for soothing his headaches before sleep. The Emperor rarely took medicine for such minor ailments since his ascension. According to Eunuch Yoon, he seemed unable to sleep these days. There was often the sound of him tossing and turning before dawn.

“Is there anything else you wish to say?”

The blatantly dismissive Emperor now turned to face Cha-ran. He leaned his elbow on the armrest and rested his head on his hand, causing his ebony hair to cascade down. Watching in silence, it was an unrealistically mesmerizing sight, but his inner thoughts were utterly inscrutable.

Finally, with a long sigh, Cha-ran stepped back, but he did not easily turn away.

“Before I take my leave, I wish to say one more thing.”

“Say it quickly and get lost.”

“Consort Ru was brought in because he is Your Majesty’s fated lover who shared the Mandate of Heaven with you—an agreement between you and Son Jo-ik. Please fulfill your duty as the Son of Heaven.”

“……You must be eager to give up your High Minister seat over that Consort Ru.”

“I apologize.”

“Your leniency ends here. Leave now.”

Seeing the Emperor’s expression turn frosty in an instant, Cha-ran bowed deeply. He did not want to give up his seat over the consort, but he believed he had said what needed to be said. No matter how displeasing, a fated lover paired by Heaven must fulfill mutual duties to complete Heaven’s work.

Not only had the wedding night not occurred, but the Emperor had not even once crossed Bi-eun Palace’s threshold. It was clear how indifferent the Emperor was to the consort. But knowing that even his neck might be on the line for those words, Cha-ran left before further provoking the Emperor’s ire.

****

As soon as Cha-ran left, Eunuch Yoon brought in the herbal decoction.

This was already the decoction he had been taking for days, but it had no effect. He still woke up before dawn and tossed and turned. To the royal physician who asked why, he claimed his headache was too severe to sleep, but he did not mention that the cause was dreams. Thus, no medicine would cure his sleeplessness.

After finishing the decoction, he ordered Eunuch Yoon to clear away all the memorials piled on the table and was left alone in the inner chamber. Unless summoned or unless the Emperor was in danger, Heukyeong behind the wall would not even breathe a sound.

The Emperor felt it was a pity he had let High Minister Bi Cha-ran off so lightly after that insolent remark. Now that he had climbed high enough, he dared to say such things to the Emperor’s face. Maybe he should actually set him up as an arrow target, but Cha-ran would not be frightened by that. It was not because the Emperor was his longtime friend, but because Cha-ran had always been that way. He feared only one thing in the whole world.

Cha-ran was good at pointing out and questioning things that everyone wondered about but did not dare ask the Emperor directly. He seemed to believe it was his duty as High Minister, and while the Emperor found it annoying, he was not greatly angered. Cha-ran had risen this far by knowing when to attack and when to retreat.

The Emperor could not understand why a man with no other talents had overstepped so much today. He took a sip of the tea Eunuch Yoon had brought in.

“This is tea brewed with leaves sent from Yeon. I prepared it because it has a fine aroma and is said to aid sleep.”

The aged Eunuch Yoon never directly mentioned Yi-seol to the Emperor. If Cha-ran stood at the Emperor’s right side with his silver tongue, Eunuch Yoon guarded his back with silence and loyalty. Unless the Emperor asked, he never uttered a single word about Yi-seol.

The unfamiliar aroma was not unpleasant, but the aftertaste was sour, making it a tea he was not inclined to drink twice. Much like Yi-seol.

One day at the beginning of summer, the Emperor received the Mandate of Heaven. It happened early in the morning after a strange dream. Even upon seeing the name etched like silver thread on the inside of his wrist, the Emperor was not shaken. He only thought it had become a nuisance.

When he examined the personal documents of those with that name through the Celestial and Terrestrial Bureaus, he did not rage upon learning that the one viable candidate was a man like himself and a royal of Yeon. He merely nodded, thinking he had gained a moderately useful pawn.

His memory of the day he first met Yi-seol was hazy. He only remembered thinking the ashen hair was peculiar and that the furtive glances directed at him were unpleasant. Even though Yi-seol had shown composure when spoken to, the Emperor could have given him generous treatment—but he had no desire to, then or now.

On the day the decree was issued, when he saw Yi-seol again in the main hall, all his distinctive hair was hidden, completely erasing the image the Emperor had retained. There was no reason for that unremarkable appearance to spark his interest.

The imperial palace was full of peerless beauties, all of them the Emperor’s possessions. Aside from his fair and smooth skin, Yi-seol seemed inferior to those women in every way. Plain looks, weighed down by ornaments not particularly splendid by Geum standards, were not to the Emperor’s taste.

It was not because of his far-from-likable looks that the Emperor bestowed the rank of Consort and Bi-eun Palace on Yi-seol. That was merely one reason among many, not the whole. After all, he had brought Yi-seol as a tool to check Son Jo-ik, not to embrace him.

If his appearance had been beautiful, the Emperor might have glanced at him once, but even then, his treatment would not have differed much from now. To the Emperor, Yi-seol was a matter of indifference, out of his sight and out of his mind.