Chapter 23: The Blossom That Fell Too Soon

Perhaps noticing the meaningful gaze, Dan I-jae immediately furrowed his brow.

Sahyeon quickly looked away and feigned ignorance.

“Please mind your own business when it comes to matters below the waist.”

Still, even Dan I-jae’s annoyed tone was pleasant to hear.

The one spouting nonsense was his own sister, so he held back his anger, but if it had been Sahyeon or another palace official, he might have already twisted their wrist.

Maybe because of that thought, the wrist Dan I-jae had grabbed earlier ached faintly.

Sahyeon lightly rubbed the wrist where the reddish mark had yet to fade.

It was around that moment that Dan I-jae withdrew his piercing gaze.

Was he actually sorry?

Sometimes he seemed soft-hearted, but then you remembered how he’d made a fuss over a single lotus blossom that morning—it made him seem like a cruel person.

Truly, he was difficult to grasp.

“In this Un-gyeong Palace, there’s nothing more entertaining than gossip about what goes on below the belt. That’s why the palace officials come running to spread the tale of who’s licking and biting whom, right?”

And meanwhile, Dan Yun was still saying outrageous things.

“I don’t know what the lady heard, but it’s entirely untrue….”

“Why would anyone lick or bite something like that?”

What, now he didn’t even see him as human?

Sahyeon clenched his molars and replied calmly.

“The very fact that I’m still speaking right now is proof that nothing happened. If someone like that had licked or bitten me, I would’ve bitten off my tongue already. Like a lizard.”

“A lizard grows its tail back, but your tongue won’t. So I hope you take good care of it.”

“Since someone like you would never lick or bite it, I suppose I can preserve it forever. Much appreciated.”

“You sound oddly sarcastic. Why, were you expecting something?”

“Sarcastic? If you’d read Sohak, you’d know people always have goodness in their hearts. But perhaps you haven’t finished Sohak yet, and that’s why you’re so suspicious.”

“If Sohak teaches such things, then it must be a book meant to raise naïve fools ripe for swindling. Do I really need to read that?”

“Do you know who the easiest people to swindle are? The uneducated. Of course, I’m not talking about you, who are so insightful.”

“Good to know I’m insightful, at least.”

“Oh dear, if you’ve studied even Dahaek, then you’d know that people always plant seeds of meaning in their words.”

Normally, Dan Yun would’ve watched this back-and-forth eagerly, enjoying how they nitpicked each other’s words.

But today, she couldn’t relax at all.

The entire time they spoke—whether it was a conversation or a quarrel—they never once looked at each other.

They only stared straight at Dan Yun standing between them.

Clearly, they were the ones fighting.

So why did she feel like she was the one being hit?

“Wait, wait. I have a question.”

Unable to bear the suffocating tension, Dan Yun cut in.

Dan I-jae looked at her with a sullen expression.

Sahyeon maintained his polite smile.

Just by the look on their faces, it seemed like Sahyeon had won.

Dan Yun hesitated at her annoying younger brother’s displeased expression, but eventually asked the question that had been bothering her since the argument began.

“What’s a lizard?”

Dan I-jae sighed and walked alone toward the garden, not even bothering to answer.

Dan Yun looked up at Sahyeon with a disappointed expression.

Unable to ignore her, Sahyeon scratched his cheek awkwardly and asked carefully,

“You’re asking about a lizard…?”

“I thought it was a snake, but then I heard its tail grows back. Is it some kind of mythical creature?”

When he realized she genuinely didn’t know what a lizard was, Sahyeon was amazed—and then sincerely explained to Dan Yun all about this ‘mysterious creature’ she’d never heard of.

“So, it’s like a snake with legs that lives in the southern continent, and if its tail gets cut off it grows back, and it has suction pads on its feet so it can walk on ceilings?”

That was Sahyeon’s best effort at explaining.

***

The rear garden of Maeyeongdang, filled entirely with plum trees.

Before coming here, Sahyeon had wondered what was the point of planting plums—just to see a few flowers in spring?

But when he reached the entrance of the garden and looked up at the branches above, he was awestruck.

Plum trees stripped bare, all their leaves gone, their twisted and straight branches tangled across the solitary path, slicing through the pale winter sky.

Sahyeon felt like he had entered a forest.

A safe forest—no fear of freezing to death or being attacked by wild beasts.

Dan Yun, pleased with Sahyeon’s reaction, quickly linked her arm with his.

Feeling awkward about walking arm-in-arm, Sahyeon tried to pull away gently, but when he saw her blushing cheeks and bright smile, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“You seem to like the garden. Good. Come again when it snows. When the branches are piled with white snow, it’s a truly breathtaking sight.”

He could imagine it.

While the bleak Gamcheondang would look like a disaster buried in snow, at Maeyeongdang, each snowflake would look like a flower bud.

“Then shouldn’t we hold the flower viewing then?”

“Hm?”

Dan Yun widened her eyes as if to say, What are you talking about?

There’s not even a hint of a flower here, and you’re dragging out your poor little brother who should be studying?

Worried that his inner thoughts had shown, Sahyeon quickly bit his lip.

“That would be snow-flower viewing. Right now, we’re viewing the plum blossoms.”

“Plum blossoms… in this winter?”

When Sahyeon asked, Dan Yun smiled brightly again.

“There is something even our esteemed scholar doesn’t know? Wonderful. You just taught me about lizards, so now it’s my turn to show you the plum blossoms that bloom in winter.”

She raised her hand to cover his eyes.

Though he could still see clearly through her fingers, Sahyeon closed his eyes to indulge her.

As he followed her lead, the crunch of dried twigs beneath his feet and the rustling of branches in the wind tickled his ears.

And then, amid the earthy scent of damp soil, a faint floral scent crept in.

He didn’t need to open his eyes—he knew it instinctively.

He’s nearby.

“Scholar Baek, open your eyes now.”

Sahyeon slowly lifted his eyelids.

Golden flower buds bloomed gently along the dry branches.

It looked like something out of a dream.

Yellow flowers in full bloom, shaped just like plum blossoms, filled the space as if spring had arrived early by mistake.

And then the intense scent of blossoms overwhelmed him.

The faint lotus scent that had lingered at the tip of his nose vanished, overpowered by the sweet smell of plum flowers.

“There are plum blossoms… that bloom in winter?”

“Yes. They’re called nabmae (wax plum). It’s hard to find trees this strong. That’s why, when I designed the garden, I chose the sunniest spot for them.”

Sahyeon cautiously reached out and touched the petals.

In a season where even the sturdiest weeds wither and die, and camellias only survive because their petals are thick and firm—how could something this small and delicate bloom?

While admiring the blossoms in a daze, a dark shadow rippled through the branches.

Sahyeon gently pulled a nearby branch down and peered beyond.

Dan I-jae stood there, gazing up at a bud high above.

Just then, a flower petal fell onto his head.

Without thinking, Sahyeon let out a small laugh, pfft.

Dan I-jae shot him a displeased look.

Sahyeon tried his best to suppress his laughter and lightly tapped the top of his own head.

He couldn’t stop the twitch at the corner of his lips, though.

Luckily, Dan I-jae got the message and brushed the flower off his head.

Then he shrugged his shoulders once and walked toward Sahyeon.

“I didn’t mean to mock you….”

A large hand placed a wintersweet blossom on Sahyeon’s head.

Sahyeon instinctively straightened his shoulders and shook his head.

The flower fell helplessly to the ground.

“Why are you putting something that clung to the noble sir onto me?”

“I don’t like things that attach themselves without permission.”

“Do you think the flower wanted to cling on its own? It had no choice—it got stuck because of the wind.”

Sahyeon picked up the flower from the ground and, while gently unfolding the crumpled petals one by one, continued, “It bloomed with difficulty in the harsh winter, and it couldn’t even fully blossom before it fell. Don’t you think it’s pitiful? You should treat it with care.”

Then he softly placed it on Danyi-jae’s shoulder and smiled proudly.

“Oh my, it suits you so well—”

Before Sahyeon could finish his sentence, Danyi-jae harshly crumpled the flower and threw it to the ground.

Even after all that effort to flatter him, you’d think he would accept it just once.

What a damn nasty temper.

Beneath the wintersweet tree, whose branches hung most elegantly, a small floor platform had been laid out.

***

Sahyeon looked at the jar of liquor placed beside the delicately arranged tea table and sighed softly.

“Scholar Baek, are you good with alcohol?”

Ordinarily, one would wait for a palace attendant to serve, but Danyun had already picked up a gourd bottle himself and was pouring the drink.

“I apologize, but there’s still work left to do in the archives….”

“Oh come on, would one drink really stop you from working? Besides, writing always flows better after a little alcohol. Ah, you probably don’t know since it’s your first time drinking with me, Scholar Baek.”

“This isn’t just any drink. It’s a plum wine made only from the biggest and prettiest plums, carefully raised in the warm sunlight of the back garden.”

Before Sahyeon knew it, Danyun had filled a white cup with the golden plum wine and set it before him.

He couldn’t exactly refuse a drink offered by the Second Princess, so Sahyeon quietly swallowed a sigh and wrapped both hands around the cup.