In love, there was literally a feast prepared.
If only the frustration of having fallen asleep right in front of Dani-jae hadn’t completely killed my appetite, I might have had a fairly decent meal.
Well, it was a good thing for the palace attendants.
When Sahyeon picked at the side dishes piece by piece and then put down the spoon, they brightened their faces and said something they didn’t really mean, “Why don’t you eat some more?”
“Oh dear, you didn’t even eat properly. You must teach Gongja for a long, long time.”
They kept telling me to leave some side dishes uneaten and serve them again.
“But from what I see, among all the people who have come as Gongja’s teachers so far, you seem to have the most potential.”
Maybe because their mood had improved, they even gave some compliments they hadn’t uttered yesterday.
Whether they meant it sincerely or just said it out of politeness, Sahyeon decided to pretend to be naïve and respond.
Maybe, just maybe, they would reveal some clue about Dani-jae.
“He fell asleep disgracefully on the very first day. How could he have any potential?”
“No, you stayed in the same room with Gongja all night.”
“Except for a few, Gongja doesn’t really like staying in the same room with others for long. That one who came as the second teacher before, didn’t he just barge in and get hit with an inkstone?”
“Oh no, no. He just threw the inkstone on the floor, but Gongja made a fuss about the ink splattering.”
“But Gongja can be a bit scary when he’s like that…”
“Shh.”
Once the words started flowing, it seemed they couldn’t control themselves, but when the palace attendants hurriedly told them to keep quiet, they bit their lips and tightly closed their mouths.
Sahyeon, too, made a motion of covering their mouth with their hand, as if promising never to reveal what they had just heard.
One of the palace attendants, exchanging looks with the others, carefully whispered while licking the tip of their tongue and wetting their lips.
“You only need to be careful about a few things. Right after Gongja smokes yeonhwacho, he usually doesn’t have seizures or get angry, so that’s a good time to approach…”
Yeonhwacho—wasn’t that something monks deliberately smoked to clear their minds by inflicting pain and producing a fragrant smoke?
Why would someone who doesn’t study do that…?
Of course, I’d heard that besides monks, some people who sell their bodies endure the pain to let the good fragrance of yeonhwacho soak in.
Since it’s rare to see monks practicing in the mountains on the streets, if you smelled yeonhwacho in public, it was mostly those kinds of people, so most avoided even having it as incense nearby.
But maybe a Gongja of a whole country could chew up and swallow such misunderstandings without care.
“You just need to avoid skin-to-skin contact.”
Skin?
Are they saying I shouldn’t get into that kind of relationship?
Sahyeon frowned involuntarily, wondering if they misunderstood because I went into the room and fell asleep.
Fortunately, another palace attendant seemed to notice Sahyeon’s displeasure and quickly interrupted to explain.
“No, really, they mean actual skin contact. It’s best to avoid even holding hands like this. If you accidentally brush against each other, it’s not a big deal, but if you do it at a bad time, you could end up taking all the blame.”
You can’t even hold hands?
Confused by the strange rules, Sahyeon tilted their head.
Yesterday…
“I did hold Gongja’s finger yesterday… but that should be fine, right?”
Of course, they expected a reply that said it was fine, but the palace attendants looked at each other with mouths half-open as if they had heard something unbelievable.
“Did you hold and then immediately let go, or…?”
“I had something to talk about regarding the importance of studying, so I held on and spoke for a while…”
“Did Gongja say anything?”
“He seemed to have a bad expression.”
“He didn’t push you away or yell?”
“To that extent…”
Is this really something to get excited about?
Sahyeon began to feel uncomfortable with the palace attendants’ gazes.
“There is hope, there is hope!”
“In our opinion, you just need to keep one thing.”
Without waiting to see who would go first, the palace attendants approached Sahyeon on their knees.
Whispering cautiously nonsense that made little sense.
***
The sound of hooves echoed beneath them.
People tied with red and blue strings on their foreheads were riding well-fed horses, galloping across a wide polo field.
The shouts of the riders playing gyeokgu and the cheers of the spectators rang loudly, and Sahyeon sighed and entered the field.
A red ball hanging precariously at the end of a long polo mallet swiftly flew past my eyes.
“Ha,” came the sound of urging horses from here and there.
Two riders rushed forward with hooves pounding, each trying to snatch the ball with their mallets.
The rider who had the ball struck it high, quickly turned his horse’s head, and swung the mallet around to catch the ball hanging in the air.
Then he passed right in front of Sahyeon again.
Hearing a roar of cheers somewhere, it seemed that rider had scored points.
It was Sahyeon’s first time watching a gyeokgu match, but they could immediately tell that rider’s skills were outstanding.
Since gyeokgu requires proficiency in both horsemanship and spear skills, anyone showing such ability must be a quite famous warrior.
Thinking this, Sahyeon looked up at the rider.
Sitting high on the horse, looking down at Sahyeon with a displeased expression…
Dani-jae?
When their eyes met, Dani-jae frowned and turned his horse’s head away.
I wondered what he was thinking, why he was so lazy about studying, but it seemed he had some confidence in himself.
Still, I’d never heard that he had established a major yet.
Well, to become a general, he’d have to read military tactics first, so maybe it’s natural.
While Sahyeon thought this, Dani-jae twirled the gyeokgu mallet with his long fingers and jumped into the center of the field.
Amid the tangle of many mallets clashing, he lightly snatched the ball.
Is he letting Gongja win?
“You idiots, can’t you do it properly? Block that guy!”
“G-Gongja-nim, be careful!”
Seeing that the man in the most splendid clothes on the opposing team was called Gongja, it seemed that was not the case.
With light movements as if one with the horse, swinging the mallet vigorously, long black hair tied with a fluttering red headband, the ball flew into the opposing team’s goal again.
The gong sounded and a wooden board with a number flipped back.
One thing was a little strange.
He was tearing through the gyeokgu field alone.
Playing with the opponent with overwhelming skill.
Why did he not look so happy?
The gong announcing the end of the match sounded repeatedly.
Among the riders still fighting over the ball, Dani-jae was the first to turn his horse.
He carelessly dropped the mallet he was holding and lightly jumped off the horse without waiting for his attendant to catch up.
As if he had no interest in the result or the match itself and was just fulfilling a duty without regret.
“Gongja…”
Sahyeon chased after Dani-jae, who was about to leave the gyeokgu field.
“Ijae!”
Having to keep quiet because another ‘Gongja’ who followed while throwing down a blue headband called him first.
“Seeing you handle those idiots who only know how to play gyeokgu after eating so easily, I understand what you’ve been up to.”
I wondered if Sahyeon felt the urge to retort that it wasn’t Dani-jae’s fault they lost, but since Dani-jae was a ‘disciple,’ maybe that was why.
Sahyeon pouted and bowed their head.
At the end of the downward gaze, they saw Dani-jae take off his red headband and drop it to the floor.
“Then next time, why don’t you send out a different rider instead of your brother? At least now…”
“I don’t think I’ll just collapse without a fight.”
“Are you saying my skills are terrible right now?”
“How could you expect a man like you, busy with official duties, to defeat those who only eat and play gyeokgu? Of course, the skills are…”
Dan Ijae laughs.
A very… irritating laugh.
“…terrible, aren’t they?”
“You bastard, really!”
“Oh dear, Yu Baekhu, please hold back! You just came to Un-gyeong Palace after a long time, why are you like this again?”
Yu Baekhu.
That is the Third Prince.
Right after he earned his military merits early, the king granted him a fief and made him Yu Baekhu, then kicked him out of Un-gyeong Palace.
Although he received the title earlier than anyone else, being expelled from Un-gyeong Palace meant he was ranked lower in the succession line than anyone else in the palace.
So, he was quite twisted inside, but since he couldn’t challenge his elders like Taejeonggong or the Second Princess, he would pick on the easiest target—the youngest.
“Th-this thick skull who hasn’t even finished his elementary studies doesn’t even know the proper etiquette to treat his elder brother. I heard the deputy king sent a disciple of Chae Gong? It’s like a pearl necklace on a pig’s neck.”
Sahyeon, who had been quietly keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t want to bother with someone who had already dropped out early from the succession race, slightly lifted his head at those words.
Dan Ijae was looking down at Yu Baekhu with a calm expression that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“Well, how long can that bookworm last? If he acts crazy again, he’ll probably run away in a panic.”
At the end of that sentence, he chuckled again.
No one knew what Dan Ijae’s smile really meant.
Maybe he thought Sahyeon was someone who would really run away?
Or maybe he found it ridiculous that Sahyeon was hiding instead of looking for his master?
“Greetings to Yu Baekhu.”
It might have been just a sneer to provoke Yu Baekhu’s anger, but Sahyeon, feeling guilty like a thief caught red-handed, stepped forward half a step and politely greeted Dan Ijae with both hands folded.
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