GMLS Ch 3

Yeo Yullyeong assigned six tutors to me. He had said to just be good enough to enter the palace, but it was all a lie. The statement that he did not enjoy empty flattery was, in itself, empty flattery. I was thoroughly educated not only in literature and martial arts, but also in etiquette and the arts of song and dance.

As I learned about the 5th Prince one by one, I incidentally learned about Yeo Yullyeong as well.

I had expected it from the scale of his house and its possessions, but he was a person of even higher station than I had thought. He was the head of the Department of State Affairs, one of the Three Departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, and was called the ‘Minister of State Affairs’ in the palace.

It took me two months to learn how high that position was. In my past life, I would have had to bow and scrape even to his house servants; he was that immense a figure.

Such a person whispered to me as if it were a secret, 

‘The current heads of the other two departments, the Chancellery and the Secretariat, are incompetent. So I end up doing almost all their work too. What do you think, aren’t I truly amazing? Don’t you feel like calling me father?’

The trust I had built for him plummeted significantly.

My literature tutor lamented that while I was bright, my progress was slow in subjects I had no interest in. I especially loathed learning the positions of high-ranking officials and the intricate relationships of the nobility, so my studies remained stagnant for weeks.

Conversely, in areas that interested me, such as the ‘Genealogy of the Imperial Family’ or anything related to the 5th Prince, even the most trivial records, I learned and mastered them much more quickly.

And the area where I showed the greatest interest was martial arts (mu). The reason was simple. It was because the sword reminded me of the 5th Prince.

Fortunately, it also suited my aptitude. The martial arts master who was my teacher went to Yeo Yullyeong on the first day of my training and earnestly pleaded that this child must be raised as a martial official. Yeo Yullyeong, waving his fan, listened silently before sending him away. Instead, he summoned Heukwol. After exchanging a few words with Heukwol, Yeo Yullyeong added Heukwol to my list of martial arts masters.

For the first year after that, I focused on restoring the vitality I had lost and building a basic physique.

In the second year, along with my physical growth, my martial arts skills also showed remarkable progress. It was around this time that my martial arts masters, aside from Heukwol, began to exclaim in admiration that I was a talent sent from the heavens.

In the third year, I could compete on equal footing with Heukwol; in the fourth year, I exchanged blows with the Captain of the Geumgun Guard, whom the Minister had invited; and in the fifth year, I was able to win the martial arts tournament hosted by the imperial court.

This was when I was twenty years old.

On the day I returned victorious, Yeo Yullyeong threw a grand feast. I asked the reason for this uncharacteristic act. He replied, genuinely delighted.

“What father would not be happy when the path to success has opened for his beloved son?”

“…”

“Why do you look at me like that? I am truly happy. The thought that the day you inherit the family is near makes me feel like I could fly.”

I regretted asking. Inheriting the family meant that not only the vast fortune but also the mountain of work and official duties would become mine.

I drank the makgeolli in regret. When I was about three bottles in, Heukwol appeared quietly and grabbed my wrist. It was a sign to stop drinking.

Two days later, someone came from the imperial palace. It was an imperial decree stating that a celebration was being held for the winner, and I was to come and pay my respects to the Emperor. I wasn’t surprised, as I had already known this would happen. I prepared immediately and entered the palace.

When I bowed before the Emperor, he bade me raise my head in a thin voice. The Emperor was an old man with a full head of white hair. His skin was all wrinkled and full of liver spots, and he was deeply ill.

He looked as though he could die at any moment, yet, being the Emperor, he drank elixirs more expensive than gold every day and so did not actually die.

“You are the son of the Minister of State Affairs, I hear.”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

“For such a powerful young warrior to be the son of a loyal subject. It is a great blessing for the nation.”

He hadn’t even shown up at the tournament grounds, yet he spoke so eloquently.

“Then, according to tradition, I should bestow upon you farmland and a position as a martial official… Is there a position you desire?”

As soon as the Emperor’s words ended, a faint stir arose from the officials lined up on both sides. I, too, was surprised and looked at the Emperor. There was no need for debate. Tell me the position you want. I wasn’t foolish enough not to understand the hidden meaning that he would grant any reasonable position.

I unconsciously rolled my eyes and looked at Yeo Yullyeong. Wearing his official hat, he looked at me with a face that feigned ignorance. …He was a deliberate offender. Still, nothing changed.

“I wish to become a guard for His Highness the 5th Prince.”

“What did you say?”

“I have admired His Highness the 5th Prince for a long time. Please grant me permission to become his guard.”

Silence fell upon the court. Even the barely audible whispers ceased. I was not unaware of the reason, but I simply waited quietly for the Emperor’s words.

How long did I wait? The Emperor’s boisterous laughter split the hall.

“Hahahaha!”

The Emperor laughed with a phlegm-filled throat. His hand, like a withered branch, struck the armrest. After a long while, he stopped laughing and swept his dragon robe wide.

“Yeo Yihwa, eldest son of Minister of State Affairs Yeo Yullyeong.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I appoint you as the Captain of the 5th Prince’s Guard and bestow upon you the rank of Junior 5th Grade.”

“Your grace is boundless.”

The path was made.

“Go and pass the time as the 5th Prince’s companion. Then you will naturally learn what kind of place the imperial palace is, which will be a good study for you, who are still young in years.”

They were meaningful words. They were also words I did not like.

I watched the back of the Emperor as he staggered away, supported by a court lady, before rising to my feet. In an instant, a murmur of voices surrounded me like a blade of wind. An indescribable sense of foreboding arose.

I looked at Yeo Yullyeong. Our eyes met, and he smiled from behind his fan. It was true of most of his smiles, but this one was particularly meaningful.

⊹ ࣪ 💮⊹₊

The Yeon continent was so named because its shape resembled a lotus flower. It was surrounded by sea on all sides. In this world, no other land existed besides the Yeon continent.

Thousands of years ago, a mad qilin rampaged, nearly bringing the world to ruin. The aghast Supreme Celestial descended a giant lotus flower to the mortal realm, and the land that fell within the scope of that lotus became the Yeon continent.

On this Yeon continent, there is one empire, one kingdom, and five small nations.

The Geum Empire in the east. The Jihan Kingdom in the west. And the alliance of five nations in the south. Originally a unified empire under the Geum, as time and history flowed, the Jihan Kingdom broke away to the west, and in the south, five feudal lords rose up, creating the current form.

If one were to ask if the Geum Empire had declined, that would not be the case. It had faltered greatly a few times in between, but it overcame them in one form or another and maintained its core. Thus, from the qilin disaster to the present, the Geum Empire has reigned steadfastly as a great empire with a history of five thousand years.

The land of the Jihan Kingdom was larger than the lands of the five-nation alliance combined. The territory of the Geum Empire was three times that of the Jihan Kingdom. Thus, the Geum Empire looked down on the five nations, and did not see the Jihan Kingdom as an equal nation either.

The 5th Prince’s mother was a princess from the Jihan Kingdom, but she was also a kite with its string cut. Her brothers, born of the same womb, were pushed out of the succession competition in the Jihan Kingdom and died. She, the one who remained, was thoroughly used as a tool of diplomacy.

The mother’s tragedy was naturally passed down to her child. The childhood of a bottom-ranking prince with no backing whatsoever was unhappy, and among the countless persecutions, three were the greatest.

One was losing his younger sister after getting caught in a succession battle at the age of fifteen, and another was being driven out to the military at sixteen to handle all sorts of unpleasant tasks. And the last one occurred when he turned twenty-one.

“His mother, the 2nd Imperial Concubine, and her retainers from the Jihan Kingdom were implicated in treason. They vanished like dew on the execution ground before His Highness the 5th Prince, who had received the urgent news, could return. At that time, His Highness was sweeping away the southern barbarians and defending the border with the western Jihan Kingdom. Upon returning to the imperial palace, he was immediately arrested and confined in the North Palace.”

Far from being there for his mother’s final moments, he couldn’t even collect her body. The softly added words were colder and more cruel than a late autumn frost.

“Was his status, which had only risen without a single defeat, an eyesore? Was the Emperor uneasy that a mere prince was gaining the trust of the Ministry of War? The truth is unknown. It was not important.”

My ears were ringing. The truth was not important to me either. What was important was that the tragically fallen 5th Prince had been confined, and that Yeo Yullyeong had hidden that fact from me for three years. Right up until today, the very day I was appointed as the 5th Prince’s Guard Captain.

To my anger, Yeo Yullyeong shot me a light smirk.

“Even if you had known back then, what could you have done?”

The mouth that had been spewing indignation clamped shut. He was right. What could a lone child who couldn’t even distinguish between the Four Books and Three Classics and couldn’t even push back Heukwol’s sword have done?

“What do you mean, what could I have done? I would have run to him and saved him.”

However, understanding with my head didn’t mean my anger subsided, so I retorted, seething. Yeo Yullyeong’s eyes narrowed.

I belatedly realized my mistake. After coming here, I had been thoroughly raised as his son. The one and only son of the Minister of State Affairs. The meaning of those words was not simple, nor was it light.

It wasn’t because I was exceptional at something. It was because the man before my eyes was great and of high station. Since he was the one who gave, he was also the one who could take away. I doubted he would, but not a few people were caught by that ‘what if’.

I shut my mouth and lowered my head, and Yeo Yullyeong rose from his seat, saying there was a place they had to go together.