“Don’t worry, Scholar Baek. No matter how much you drink, this won’t get you drunk. Isn’t that right, Ijae?”
“My lady, you do get drunk.”
“There you go again, talking nonsense. If I really wanted to, you’d end up sleeping in the pigsty tonight. Are you aware of that?”
“Why? Are you planning to cause a commotion after drinking today?”
“Even without any tricks, I can win with just alcohol.”
“You’re already slurring your words…”
“Hey, dear little brother, you’re in for it today. Be ready to wake up kissing a pig in the morning, understood?”
“Do as you please.”
Dan Ijae raised his glass with a smug expression and downed it in one gulp.
Not one to lose, Dan Yun, who clearly took pride in her drinking ability, filled her glass and drained it just as quickly.
Under her sharp gaze, Sahyeon had no choice but to bring his glass to his lips as well.
“Scholar Baek? You know you have to finish your first glass, right?”
He had only planned to wet his lips, but with that comment, he ended up draining the entire contents of the glass.
He never had good memories with alcohol.
The bitter taste, the burning sensation in his throat, the heat that rose up from deep inside, and the dizziness that followed—it was all unpleasant for Sahyeon.
But this plum wine felt different.
When he took a sip with a scrunched-up face, the sweet and sour scent that filled his mouth made him wonder if this was truly alcohol.
He thought this kind of drink might be okay, and swallowed it.
Just then, when he accepted the next glass poured by Dan Yun—
A sudden heat surged up from within him.
“Haha, ahaha! Scholar Baek, are you already drunk? Your whole face is bright red!”
Instead of replying, Sahyeon opened his mouth and exhaled a hot breath.
The heat that boiled from deep within rose up his throat and burned his tongue.
Breathing in the cold air helped a little, but—
“L-Lady, I… I don’t think I can drink any more…”
“Come on, there will be plenty of times when you’ll need to drink in the future. You should build your tolerance. Try another glass. Strangely enough, it’ll help settle your stomach and make you feel a bit tipsy and happy.”
“But still…”
“Scholar Baek, won’t you trust me?”
It was clear Dan Yun had no intention of letting Sahyeon go until he was fully drunk.
His stomach was already on the verge of flipping, and he feared what might happen if he drank more.
But he couldn’t outright refuse the noble lady, so Sahyeon took a deep breath of cold air.
Yes… if he just got completely drunk, he might not even feel the burning in his throat.
He closed his eyes tightly and prepared to drink—but suddenly, his hand felt empty.
Opening his eyes, he saw his hand now void of a cup and Dan Ijae beside him downing a drink that clearly wasn’t his.
“Ijae, you’re really doing everything today, aren’t you?”
“If someone says they can’t drink, don’t force them. It’s obvious they’ll just end up throwing up. Isn’t it a waste of good liquor?”
“That’s how people build tolerance. Even my husband improved that way. Right after our wedding, he got drunk on a single glass of union wine and passed out before we could even have our first night together. He was so cute back then. Come to think of it, he reminded me a bit of our Scholar Baek.”
One of the palace attendants from Maeyeongdang set a tea tray in front of Sahyeon.
He filled his cup with warm tea instead of liquor and sipped along with the others.
The heat that had turned his face red began to cool in the cold wind.
His churning stomach started to settle as well.
While Dan Yun chattered away excitedly, Sahyeon cast a sideways glance at Dan Ijae, who continued drinking in silence.
Was he helping him?
Or did he step in to avoid the hassle of having to deal with a drunken scholar?
Ijae did grumble a lot when Sahyeon was around, so perhaps he was afraid of him making a scene while drunk and rambling nonsense.
Or maybe… he simply helped, without expecting anything in return.
“Isn’t this so atmospheric, Scholar Baek?”
Startled by Dan Yun’s sudden question, Sahyeon quickly turned his gaze away from Ijae.
“Yes. I never imagined I’d get to see plum blossoms in this cold winter. I’m honored to have this experience thanks to you, my lady.”
“So, what are your thoughts on seeing the wintersweet blossom for the first time?”
Sahyeon lifted his gaze and took in each yellow blossom blooming above him.
“I wonder how such delicate flowers came to bloom in the heart of winter. It’s admirable that they allow us to enjoy beauty in this bleak season, but thinking of the harsh cold these small blossoms must endure makes my heart feel unsettled.”
If all she wanted was praise for the flowers, she would’ve told him to compose a poem on today’s scenery.
The fact that she asked for his thoughts meant she was curious about something deeper.
As expected, Dan Yun smiled brightly and nodded.
“You’re right. That’s what I thought, too, when I first saw these flowers. Ah, pitiful plum blossom. Why could you not wait for better times before blooming?”
“While other plums bloom in spring, warmed by sunlight and babbling brooks, why did you awaken during this harsh season when the snow whitens the mountains and dew freezes into frost? To be born in a good season is a blessing, yet you must withstand the bitter winds of the first moon. How pitiful is your fate.”
Winter is not only an early season, but also a late one.
In poetry, which praises blooming flowers, winter is considered “too late.”
But Dan Yun said the flower bloomed early.
Sahyeon set down his teacup. She was right.
Dan Yun was not someone to get drunk from a few glasses.
Right now, more than anyone, she was testing Sahyeon with a razor-sharp mind.
The wintersweet that had to endure the icy winds because it bloomed too soon.
Just like Dankyeong, born too early and forced to endure the sharp blade of the king.
“But,” Dan Yun continued, “after watching the wintersweet bloom beside me all this time, I realized something. Scholar Baek, do you know how long the wintersweet stays in bloom?”
Sahyeon raised his gaze again, pretending to study the flower.
Then he gave the answer she seemed to want.
“Perhaps… no more than ten days?”
“No.”
A yellow petal fell into Dan Yun’s wine glass.
Smiling pleasantly, she drank around the petal.
“They say even spring plum blossoms don’t last ten days—hwa-mu-sip-il-hong—but wintersweet, with its deep fragrance, lasts a hundred days and greets the spring.
That’s why, Scholar Baek…”
She was making a declaration.
“I like wintersweet.”
Dankyeong would become king.
“When this garden is dyed red with spring plum blossoms, the wintersweet still holds its yellow hue.”
Even if the buds of Maeyeongdang bloom later and at a better time—
“And no plum can match its scent.”
Yes.
The king would be Dankyeong.
Dan Yun had known this from early on.
So she drowned herself in wine and buried herself in forgetfulness.
Perhaps she dragged Dan Ijae around just to keep him from entertaining dangerous thoughts.
Fearing that when the later-blooming plums burst open in the peak of spring, they might mock the wintersweet that endured the cold only to wither before its time.
Fearing they might trample it underfoot as it falls or sweep it up into the compost heap.
So Danyun was giving a word of caution to Sahyeon, who would soon be teaching Dan I-jae.
‘So he means to make him know his place.’
In other words, not to plant false hopes in Dan I-jae’s heart.
Sahyeon once again glanced at Dan I-jae.
Whether he was ignoring his sister’s words altogether or simply didn’t understand what they were saying, he was quietly drinking alone, eyes roaming over the yellow blossoms.
A sudden gust of cold wind made Sahyeon’s shoulders tremble.
He moistened his dry lips with a sip of lukewarm tea.
Then, with a faint smile on his lips, he said quietly, “When spring comes, will you invite me here again? I’d like to see the winter plum blossoms in spring as well.”
That was probably the reply Dankyeong had been longing to hear.
***
“After going through all that to flatter him, huh? Shouldn’t he now be saying, ‘Alright, little brother, head back to Gamcheondang and study properly’ and obediently send me off? But instead, he finishes off an entire jar of wine in broad daylight and still wants to drink more…”
Sahyeon grumbled as he carefully stacked the rolled-up bamboo scrolls.
He had volunteered to take over the duties of the elderly librarian who normally stayed late into the night organizing the archive.
He didn’t want anyone saying, “He hasn’t even started teaching the 8th Prince and he’s already going home early,” and besides, there was still plenty left to examine in the library.
That someone like Sahyeon, who had only just arrived in Pasa and didn’t know the lay of the land, had been appointed as Royal Archivist was a considerable privilege.
Of course, the library at Unkyeong Palace wasn’t as grand as the one at Jeonghan Palace, where the king resided, but even so, it held transcriptions of significant documents and reports from the royal court and government.
The archivist had free access even to restricted storage areas—places that required special permission for even princes and princesses to enter.
There was no better position from which to gain a deep understanding of Pasa.
“The former king truly achieved great things.”
The one who had turned Pasa into the powerful nation it was now: the late King Dansa.
Dankyeong was merely a descendant meant to prove that the bloodline of Pasa’s founder, Grand Duke Dan, had been preserved, but he was born with the so-called “Eyes of the Wolf”—a trait said to drive one mad before adulthood or curse them with the savage cruelty of a beast.
He was also the first royal heir with those eyes to ascend the throne.
Of course, perhaps because the curse of the “Eyes of the Wolf” hadn’t fully lifted, all of his accomplishments carried a streak of brutality and cold-heartedness…
“If someone like him hadn’t become king, Pasa might have faded into irrelevance a hundred years ago.”
For an era of chaos, he had the ideal qualities of a ruler.
By contrast, the current king, Danheul, prioritized governance over conquest.
“Maintaining a nation that expanded its territory this rapidly isn’t an easy task…”