GMLS Ch 4

Yeo Yullyeong led me to the marketplace. After walking for some time, he stopped at a place where a group of ruffians was gathered.

Don’t tell me he’s going to throw me into that pack of ruffians. Even if I were thrown in with both hands tied, that lot wouldn’t even be a proper post-meal workout. As I narrowed my eyes, Yeo Yullyeong gestured towards the ruffians with his chin.

“Look closely.”

As he said, I looked closely. They were beating someone to death. It was a young boy, still of a tender age. Behind him, a girl of similar age was held by strong arms, screaming at them to please stop, her voice like a shriek.

But there was no way those ruffians would listen to such pleas. Finding the girl’s tear-choked voice quite pitiful, I took a step towards the group.

“You scoundrels!”

The sound was jarring. I frowned and turned my head to see Yeo Yullyeong, who had let out a roar with a stern expression.

“What are you doing in broad daylight? Stop at once and get lost!”

The group of ruffians looked our way, hesitated, and then fled. Watching the girl cradle the boy, Yeo Yullyeong asked.

“Why do you think those ruffians ignored the girl’s words but listened to mine?”

He asked something so obvious that I couldn’t answer right away. While I was wondering if there was some kind of trap, Yeo Yullyeong gave the answer.

“Because even if the content is the same, the words of the powerless are mere barking, while the words of the powerful are a solemn command.”

In that moment, I recalled the father who had dragged me like livestock. The words I had tried to say back then were flimsy and powerless. What about now? As if giving an answer to that question, Yeo Yullyeong pointed at me with his fan.

“You were about to get into a brawl with those ruffians. That would have been a meaningless act. They would have retreated even if you had just shouted.”

I looked down at myself. Black leather shoes, silk clothes embroidered with gold. No matter how you looked at it, I was the precious child of a noble house.

“Those who have power do not need to move their bodies. It is the way of the world that the weaker must follow the words of the strong. And the place where this law applies more strongly than anywhere else is the imperial palace.”

Only then could I understand what he was trying to say. Yeo Yullyeong’s fan waved slowly.

“He was a prince who had fewer than five people to bow his head to in this entire country. Such a person was made to wander the battlefields like a dog and then was confined. You must engrave that fact in your mind.”

“I will save him.”

“You have not understood my words. His Majesty can destroy a castle or two with a single word. Can you, with your single body, save a castle or two?”

His eyes narrowed as he glared at me. It felt as if a cold wind was blowing in my chest.

“I am not unaware of the grace you received from your 5th Prince. However, do not dare to harbor other thoughts. There is no one in this country who can save him.”

“But you don’t know if I can at least save his heart.”

As I retorted stubbornly, Yeo Yullyeong burst out laughing.

“You speak such naive things. Bloodlines truly cannot be denied.”

“Are you trying to say that I am of low birth?”

“It means you are untainted by filth. It’s a compliment.”

His laughter ceasing, Yeo Yullyeong tapped my shoulder with his fan. It was just a fan, but it felt as if a thousand catties had been placed on me.

“Yes. A strong bond is not easily forgotten. I left you be because I knew you would not be satisfied until you had seen him once. Therefore, when you enter the palace, remain quiet. Act like a thoughtless young master who purposely sought out an idle post.”

As if he had no more business with me, Yeo Yullyeong turned away. I stood there, rooted to the spot.

Heukwol, who had come up behind me, nudged me gently. When I turned to look, he hesitated and held out his hand. In his open palm lay a sweet candy. If it had been anyone else, I might not have liked it, but I didn’t mind being treated like a child by Heukwol. It was because I knew he genuinely cared for me.

I bent down and snatched the candy from his palm with my mouth. His palm flinched but did not retreat.

“Thank you.”

The sweetness spread on my tongue. My mood did not improve in the slightest.

⊹ ࣪ 💮⊹₊

March 15th. It was my first day entering the palace. As soon as I passed through the main gate, I headed straight north.

The palace where the 5th Prince was confined was in a corner of the north. The Cold Palace, called the tomb of concubines, was not far from there. It was a small palace that didn’t get much sunlight and was inconvenient to access. The place where he stayed represented his position in the imperial palace.

He was not dethroned. It was because the accusations from that time were never proven true, but neither did they end with him being cleared of suspicion. The Emperor ordered no investigation regarding him. The 5th Prince was thus embalmed in the North Palace for three years.

I passed through a semicircular passage between mossy and partially crumbled walls and entered the courtyard.

I was used to gazes gathering on me.

Thanks to having eaten well, learned well, and grown well at Yeo Yullyeong’s house for the past five years, I had become a man who could be said to lack nothing wherever I went. My martial arts were among the best in the entire Geumguk nation. I also had a fair knowledge of literature. Above all, I was the only son of the Minister of State Affairs, who was called ‘below one man, above ten thousand’.

However, the gazes gathered now were different from the ones I usually received. The palace servants looking at me were all drenched in anxiety.

Flustered, they hastily bowed. Their hands were full of all sorts of tools like rags and brooms. I could roughly guess the situation.

As expected, the 5th Prince’s palace was exceedingly shabby. Grass grew on the broken tile roof, and the nameplate was tilted. If I bowed my head, I could see a fine layer of settled dust, and if I raised my head, cobwebs hung everywhere met my eyes.

The old and dirty interior revealed the traces of long neglect. I had known from the reports I had heard, but seeing it in person, I was more dumbfounded than angry. Though he was confined, he was still of precious, noble imperial blood.

The anger that had momentarily subsided began to creep back. I strode forward, swallowing my anger.

Now that I have come, this lax behavior is over. I will overhaul everything. I will summon those involved and reprimand them sternly, and I will ensure that he receives the treatment he rightfully deserves.

Organizing in my head the things I had to do, I searched for the 5th Prince’s quarters.

His room was in a remote part of the already chilly North Palace. There was no sign of life, only a desolation one might feel in a graveyard. At the doorway, the breakfast table, already eaten, had been placed outside the room.

My brow twitched, but I held it in. There would be no end to it if I started to nitpick. These were things that had to be changed step by step from now on.

I stood before the door and took a deep breath. I had prepared myself enough. The wait had also been long enough.

Still, there was no way to hide my trembling heart. I remembered his warm eyes, which had looked at me as if I were the most lovable thing in the world as he offered me a sweet. That image, which had slowly faded with each passing day over the last five years, became as clear as if it were yesterday.

“Your Highness the 5th Prince. I, Shin Yeo Yihwa, have been appointed as the Captain of the 5th Prince’s Guard.”

It was quiet inside. The imperial decree should have arrived from the main palace before me, which was strange.

“Your Highness?”

There was no answer even when I called again. Was there some kind of problem? No. The breakfast table was out, so he must have gone for an afternoon nap.

Even as I thought that, the reason I couldn’t just say, ‘I will return later,’ was because the unbelievable stories of his life in the North Palace flashed through my mind.

“Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness.”

I carefully opened the door. The first thing that hit me was the strong smell of alcohol. I frowned, then my heart sank as I discovered the prince standing right in front of me.

His hair, always neat with a topknot pin and hero’s scarf, was let down, reaching his waist. That was the biggest change; he had not changed much otherwise. He seemed a bit taller, his build a bit better, but that was all. No, were his cheeks a bit gaunt? His under-eyes were hollow too.

Still, it was unmistakably him. It was my lord.

The one who had changed was me. The head I had to crane my neck to look up at now only required a slight tilt. My body, which had been nothing but skin and bones from malnutrition, now had flesh and muscle. Seeing him again as such a full-fledged young man, my heart felt drenched in emotion.

However, I was the only one moved by the reunion. The 5th Prince said nothing. His pitch-black, indifferent eyes were on me. It was a gaze imbued with a natural grace and dignity that I could not describe.

I hurriedly prostrated myself.

“I behold the great blessing of this nation. I am the one who, as of today, has become Your Highness’s Guard Captain—”

Ssk- Tak.

…Tak?

“…Your Highness?”

I raised my head. For a moment, I couldn’t grasp what had just happened. The paper screen door was firmly closed, as if it had never been opened.

⊹ ࣪ 💮⊹₊

The 5th Prince never showed his face to me again after that. I stood idly outside the door, my heart burning with impatience as I tried to sense his presence.

The strong smell of alcohol I had caught for a moment was not an illusion. He was always soaked in alcohol. Day and night, he did not let the bottle leave his hand. He drank at the table, he drank on the bed, and he drank while pacing around the room.

Suddenly, I remembered smelling a sharp, clean scent from his embrace five years ago. At the time, I didn’t think about it because I was just so happy, but now that I thought about it, that was also the smell of alcohol.

‘But he never drank a single drop in front of me.’

It was strange, but there was no way to know the inside story right away.

The 5th Prince’s favorite drinking spot was the windowsill of the lattice window located opposite the door. I would surreptitiously watch the 5th Prince, through his presence alone, as he sat languidly in the afternoon, gazing at the inner courtyard, which was almost a forest, for hours on end.

It had been ten days of this. I thought that things could not go on like this. I snatched the breakfast table from the hands of the palace servant who was bringing it.

“I will deliver it.”

I gave a gentle smile to the surprised servant, whose tray had been abruptly taken. Leaving her dumbfounded, I opened the paper screen door. The 5th Prince’s eyebrows shot up when he saw me.

“I greet His Highness the 5th Prince.”

I bowed politely. He had an expression of utter weariness.