Chapter 22: The Lotus Flower’s Curse

“That makes sense. This lotus flower might be what makes people lazy.”

Dan Ijae stopped only when he came close enough that their foreheads almost touched.

Then, right in front of Sahyeon’s face, he put the tip of his bamboo pipe to his mouth.

The deep inhale he took made his ears twitch for no reason.

Dan Ijae stared intently at Sahyeon as if observing a small animal, then exhaled a stream of pure white smoke.

The thick smoke harshly covered Sahyeon’s face.

“Cough, hack, ugh, what is this…”

He tried to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

But Dan Ijae grabbed his wrist with a firm grip and pulled it down.

Sahyeon opened his eyes, watery and annoyed, and looked at him.

No matter that he was a noble scholar, Sahyeon was a 5th-rank official.

He was not someone to treat rudely like this.

He had intended to firmly reprimand him for this.

Suddenly, his deep blue eyes, like a flood of water, swept over Sahyeon all at once.

His breath caught in his throat, and he bit his trembling lower lip.

“Why, don’t you understand well just by inhaling the smoke?”

His low voice echoed near his numb ears.

Hearing that voice that stirred irritation deep in his chest…

“Who said I wanted to breathe in what the noble scholar exhales?!”

Sahyeon ended up shouting at him.

Strangely, it was hard for him to control his emotions in front of Dan Ijae.

Still, in front of his ‘superior,’ he was a person who knew how to hide his feelings and show proper manners.

Though nominally a teacher, Dan Ijae was technically someone Sahyeon had to serve.

So he should have treated him with a smiling face, whether he blew smoke in his face or not…

Was it because he was easy to deal with?

But Sahyeon never thought of Dan Ijae as an easy person.

When they first met, he had sent someone flying with a single expressionless strike.

Even now, he was looking down at him with an unreadable expression.

“Then drink it.”

Dan Ijae roughly grabbed Sahyeon’s chin and lifted it, pushing the bamboo pipe close to his parted lips.

“I hope it’s not poisonous. I can afford to be lazy and just lie around endlessly, but Baek Munhak, you—well, can you keep the position you worked so hard to get?”

“Ugh, let go of this—”

He never really believed the nonsense about laziness poisoning people.

But imagining Dan Ijae happily watching him choke on the terrible taste of lotus flower made him think it’d be better to just bite his tongue.

Yeah, it wasn’t a bad idea.

At least if he bit his tongue, he’d feel some guilt about his actions now.

Apparently, just thinking that made his jaw tense.

Dan Ijae raised one eyebrow slightly and squeezed his chin tighter, making it impossible for him to close his mouth.

“If you hate it so much, I’ll feed it to you myself.”

Spouting nonsense as well.

“Oh, heavens!”

If someone hadn’t shouted such a reckless outburst, Sahyeon would have had no choice but to inhale the lotus flower.

And he would have ended up coughing embarrassingly in front of Dan Ijae.

Though he was grateful for the timely interruption…

“Oh dear noble scholar, I saw nothing. But you are young indeed, to be making such a fuss so early in the morning.”

Who knew what that person was thinking, making such a ruckus?

Anyone could clearly see this cursed noble scholar was bullying a poor teacher.

The palace guards standing before the pavilion were witnesses…

But why were they all pretending to cover their eyes?

“P-Please let go of this.”

Dan Ijae looked down at his own hand gripping Sahyeon’s wrist with a sullen expression.

Sahyeon lowered his voice sharply and yelled again.

“You’ll cause a misunderstanding. Let go!”

“I suppose I should clear it up. I was only catching a thief who tried to steal and smoke my lotus flower…”

“Who said I stole and smoked it? As a teacher, I was experimenting to precisely assess my student’s condition… Ow, please loosen your grip?”

“Ah, sorry. My hand just tightens when it hears lies.”

“Do you mutter ‘I’ll start studying tomorrow’ every time you arm wrestle? Then you’d win every time.”

“No, that doesn’t work well, so now I say I’ll start today.”

“Ahem, ahem!”

At the critical moment, the troublemaker—no, the uninvited guest, a strange man in palace guard uniform—cleared his throat loudly again and separated the two.

Dan Ijae finally let go of Sahyeon’s hand.

“The young master was very worried, but it’s truly a relief to see your good relationship.”

What kind of relationship could they call good after this scene…

No, more than that, why mention ‘good relationship’ between teacher and student?

Could it have a different meaning in the northern region?

“Why bring up that now?”

Fortunately, Dan Ijae drew the line first.

“Lately, all the teachers (gongsa) who have come to Un-gyeong Palace are old men, so it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a good relationship…”

Though the other party didn’t even seem to listen.

Dan Ijae pressed his brows together in frustration and sighed irritably.

Sahyeon couldn’t help but sympathize with his feelings this time.

“Tell me why you came.”

“The Second Young Lady wants to go flower viewing today since the weather is nice. She’s preparing lunch as well, so you must hurry.”

It seemed the Second Young Lady Danyun was going to drag Dan Ijae away again today.

Flower viewing in the dead of winter was nonsense.

Probably just drinking plum wine and putting on a drunk look, Sahyeon thought, moving his lips.

“There’s no time, both of you prepare yourselves.”

Unexpected words came from the palace guard.

Dan Ijae looked at Sahyeon without even frowning, as if he hadn’t expected it either.

“Me too?”

Sahyeon asked in confusion.

“Yes, you were ordered to come together. There were worries about rumors that you two don’t get along well, but oh no, those thoughts were needless. You have such a good relationship…”

“Please, enough with that ‘good relationship’ already…”

The palace guard blinked as if to say, ‘I said good relationship because your relationship is good, but if you tell me not to say good relationship…’

He had a face perfect for driving people crazy.

***

Un-gyeong Palace, Maeyeongdang (Plum Blossom Hall), residence of the Second Young Lady Danyun.

Maeyeongdang was located in the warmest, sunniest southern part of Un-gyeong Palace.

From the entrance to the vast garden stretching behind the building, it was covered in all sorts of plum and radish flowers, making it the most beautiful pavilion.

Some say the name Maeyeongdang wasn’t just because of the plum trees but meant ‘the place where talented people destined to bloom flourish.’

The Second Young Lady Danyun was the king’s most favored child and presumably still was, so that wasn’t said without reason.

However, Danyun, once considered the most promising heir, supposedly became a heavy drinker to fall out of the king’s favor, all to protect her deep affection for her elder sister Dankyeong.

She even buried her talents as a top scholar in the mud.

“Has my younger sibling come?”

Right now… it feels less like ‘acting drunk’ and more like being truly addicted to alcohol.

From behind them, a half-hoarse voice mixed with the smell of alcohol wafted over.

Even without seeing the face, it was clear who it was, so Sahyeon bowed his head slightly and turned away.

The green belt flowing down over the yellow gardenia-colored robe caught his eye.

It seemed she had come dressed quite properly for ‘flower viewing’ even in this winter.

“Is this the newly arrived Jangseogam?”

The moment waiting for the reckless siblings to have a joyful reunion was short-lived.

Warm hands suddenly cupped Sahyeon’s cheeks and abruptly lifted his head.

Startled, Sahyeon found himself facing her directly.

Her cheeks and nostrils were flushed red as she smiled broadly, like a happy drunkard.

“As expected, our younger sibling has high standards. So that’s why you ignored all the handsome men and beautiful women who came before?”

Of course, nothing spoken from a drunkard’s mouth could be taken seriously.

Sahyeon quietly stepped back to escape her grasp and bowed politely.

“I am the second son of the Moon family, literary scholar Baek Sahyeon.”

“Then I should call you Baek Moonhak. I’m sorry if my lack of tact caused you any trouble. You should have said something too. Since you said nothing, I became a hindrance while you spent happy times with your teacher.”

“You mean the happy study time?”

Danyun covered her mouth with both hands in surprise.

Her flushed face seemed to redden even more—maybe because the sunlight was so strong?

“You could call it studying. It is studying, in a way. Various things…”

“Excuse me, but I meant real studying.”

She made a gesture as if she didn’t understand Sahyeon’s words at all, curling one finger into a circle and carefully passing the other finger through it.

Fortunately, before the fingers could make an awkward back-and-forth motion, Dan Ijae struck her wrist with a fan.

“If your head is too full of evil thoughts and can’t turn properly, then go to your husband or bring in another husband and take them out a bit, won’t you?”

“Well, lately as I’ve aged, my energy’s down. Watching is more fun anyway.”

Danyun pouted and snatched the fan quickly.

“Still…”

She fanned her bright red face vigorously.

“I guess I was rude enough to Baek Moonhak already. It’s probably for the best. I already thought you had caused trouble and only said good things, but our younger sibling may look fine on the outside, but has a nasty temper, is selfish thinking only of himself, and there’s nothing good about keeping close to him. Honestly, I’m not sure if he even functions properly.”

Although Sahyeon had no desire to understand her words, the moment he heard the word ‘functions,’ he couldn’t help but glance alternately between Dan Ijae’s decent appearance and her possibly malfunctioning ‘functional parts.’