Chapter 10. Yi Hyang at Bihyanggak (2)

Despite the impure chatter, Kwon Ga Na-in was kneeling at the door in a rather respectful posture.

‘But, this smell!’

Yi Hyang pinched her nose and frowned.

“Go out for now.”

Yi Hyang first dismissed the attendant eunuch.

As soon as the eunuch closed the door, Yi Hyang clicked her tongue.

“I thought you would be different from other women.”

Wearing a sachet that exuded a musky scent, and coming here in the dead of night.

“Go and tell Lady Bubuin that I sent the lacquer box to mourn the poor Princess and to comfort Lady Bubuin, not to send someone like you dressed up like this!”

Lady Bubuin refers to Choe, the mother of Crown Princess Kwon.

So, the wooden box that Yunseo found in the attic was sent out of pity for the mother-in-law who had lost her daughter.

Ah, that's why the box has been passed down in our family and caused this commotion.

“When will Jinsung shine brightly again?”

“?”

“Several days ago, Jinsung shone brightly and trembled, causing a red...”

Yunseo, about to say 'Hongwei' out of habit, covered it with an awkward cough and continued.

“Jinsung trembled, and you felt some omen and rushed to see the young prince, didn't you? I need to know when the star will shine brightly and tremble again.”

It doesn't seem very likely, and even if it does return, the body has already been buried and is likely to be severely decomposed. However, Yunseo intended to conduct another experiment with the ring on the day Jinsung trembles.

“Why are you asking this?”

“It's related to a strange event I experienced.”

“What, a strange event?”

“This ring.”

Yunseo took out the gold ring from the sachet.

“And the peony lacquer box, which contained the poem 'Cizhong Qishi Hecongcong' (慈母棄世何怱怱) until late at night. All of these were shown to me by the late Crown Princess.”

“What, nonsense!”

Yi Hyang's eyes turned fierce, and a vein popped on her forehead.

“I know it sounds unbelievable.”

Yunseo spoke calmly and approached the Crown Prince on her knees.

“Don’t come closer. Do you want to die?”

Yi Hyang, misunderstanding that Yunseo was trying to draw attention with strange talk and then approach, warned her in a menacing tone.

“I have something to show you. After you see it, you can decide whether to kill me or let me live.”

Again, again!

If it were another na-in, they would have prostrated themselves to show their cleavage, pleaded with a coquettish voice, and tried to gauge the situation.

But Kwon Ga Na-in walked calmly to the desk, picked up the brush without asking, and started writing on a blank piece of paper.

Yi Hyang, about to shout, 'Get this monster out of here,' glanced at the paper to see what was being written.

Kwon Ga Na-in moved the brush.

The writing, truly...

To Yi Hyang, a master calligrapher of a different caliber from Anping Daegun, the characters looked pitiful, like worms crawling...

“...Eh, eh?”

The Crown Prince's face turned pale.

“You, you, this, this is what...!”

For the first time in his life, he stuttered.

“Would you believe that the Crown Princess gave me this ring if I show you this?”

The beginning of the Hunminjeongeum, which any educated Korean would know by heart.

Yunseo, having confirmed with Park Sanggung that the creation of the Korean alphabet had not yet been announced, was confident that showing this would make Yi Hyang believe her.

“How, how can you...?”

“Would you believe me if I write more? The characters created by His Majesty and the Crown Prince for the people.”

Yi Hyang's eyes trembled violently.

Creating a script suitable for the Korean language was a long-held wish of His Majesty.

However, knowing that Confucian scholars, who revered China and sought to monopolize knowledge, would strongly oppose it, His Majesty had been working in secret with the Crown Prince, Suyang Daegun, Anping Daegun, Gwangpyeong Daegun, and Princess Jeongui.

They had just determined the basic letters and their combinations.

For Kwon Ga Na-in to write the unfinished secret characters so skillfully!

Yi Hyang felt as if she were bewitched.

Yunseo put down the brush and met the Crown Prince's eyes without wavering.

“On the day Jinsung shone brightly and trembled, the Crown Princess appeared in my dream and showed me the future. She showed me what would happen to our young prince and the Crown Prince, and made me promise to protect the young prince. This ring is the symbol of that promise.”

The explanation flowed naturally.

“So, if Jinsung shines brightly and trembles again, wouldn't the Crown Princess have something more to tell me? That's why I'm asking.”

Yunseo set up this smokescreen.

However, Yi Hyang was so confused that she didn't even hear about Jinsung.

‘Is it really possible?’

– I sent a child to protect Hongwei!

Even if she heard the Crown Princess shout in a dream,

Even if she ran 40 li from Janghwa-won in one go because of that shout,

And even if Kwon Ga Na-in knew the secret, unfinished characters,

Is it really true that a dead person gave a ring to a na-in like me?

Yi Hyang, confused, moved her lips several times before finally asking.

“...What else did she show you?”

“Even when you are alone, you work so hard day and night that you get a serious boil and suddenly pass away.”

“...!”

Yi Hyang checked her appearance.

She was still wearing the same clothes she had put on at dawn to pay respects.

She always dressed neatly, but suddenly the layers of clothes felt heavy and suffocating.

“...And?”

“If the Crown Prince passes away early and the young prince ascends the throne, the dukes will covet the royal power and plot rebellion.”

“Insolent!”

Yi Hyang, who was starting to be convinced, suddenly turned fierce.

“Brothers are close. How dare you!”

Ha! Your Highness, the Crown Prince!

“Didn’t you see what happened in the royal family during the reign of the previous king? Most of the history of royal families, ancient and modern, is stained with the blood of brothers and fathers.”

“Enough!!”

Yi Hyang slammed the desk. The inkstone wobbled, spilling ink on the desk.

But Yunseo did not back down. She couldn't.

It's my future! For the sake of the despicable act committed by your wife and the life of our Hongwei!

“Will the future that is coming be erased just because you don’t speak of it?”

Yunseo was not one to beat around the bush.

When she decided to ask about the ring and when she decided to bathe the Crown Prince to hear his private words, she resolved to use all her knowledge to change history.

“You!”

Yi Hyang, who had been shouting, clamped her mouth shut and rubbed her face.

Kwon Ga Na-in's words had touched the deep-seated anxiety she had been suppressing.

Her talented brothers, and the still young Hongwei.

If something happened to her, what would become of Hongwei and our Joseon?

Joseon had been established for only fifty years,

King Taejong had laid the foundation with much blood,

And Abamama had created a splendid culture to make a proper country.

But if she died early and a power struggle ensued!

All the brilliant achievements and talents created by Taejong and her father might disappear.

“Yeon Sangjeon, come in!”

After a long silence, Yi Hyang suddenly shouted.

“Yes, Your Highness. I am here.”

The door opened, and Eom, the eunuch who had been waiting anxiously outside, entered.

“Go to Gyeongnyeongjeon now and tell the chief eunuch to request a private audience with His Majesty tomorrow morning.”

Eom, who had been standing at the door, looked at Kwon Ga Na-in in surprise.

Surprisingly, Kwon Ga was standing by the desk, even holding a brush.

‘To allow her to write characters, she must have impressed him greatly.’

Eom, misunderstanding that the Crown Prince would request a concubine rank for Kwon Ga Na-in, tried to dissuade him.

“...Your Highness, the rank can be granted slowly.”

Yi Hyang, irritated by the absurd misunderstanding, snapped.

“That’s not it.”

“...Yes, yes. I will leave now.”

Despite the denial, Eom, thinking he should quickly share this good news with the other concubines, hurriedly left.

‘A rank. Eom is really biased.’

His cognitive bias, which distorts reality to fit his desires, makes it difficult for him to have a broad perspective for Hongwei. So, he clings to the idea of using concubines.

“I have one more thing to say.”

“Take off that sachet first and sit far away.”

Yi Hyang roughly pushed Yunseo away.

The musk scent from the sachet was affecting Yi Hyang.

Her eyes kept drifting to Kwon Ga Na-in's body.

The slender neck, the full chest and slim waist under the jacket, all vividly outlined, and the physical desire, long forgotten amidst excessive work and the expectations of her father and the old ministers, began to rise.

“My head has been hurting all this time, so it’s good.”

Yunseo, unaware that musk and aphrodisiacs affect men more strongly than women, walked calmly to the door.

“...!!”

Yi Hyang's gaze, which had started to boil, swept over the swaying buttocks and the firm legs beneath the skirt.

Yunseo, unaware of the intense gaze, calmly opened the door, removed the sachet from her jacket, held the ring in her hand, and placed it outside.

“Cough.”

As Yunseo turned, Yi Hyang quickly lowered her head.

It was the first time in her twenty-nine years of noble life that she experienced such confusion.

Yunseo returned to the desk and knelt respectfully.

Yi Hyang nodded, indicating that she could speak.

“The young prince should be moved to the Donggung.”

Yunseo revealed her true purpose for coming to the Donggung today.

“...Lady Yang is not taking care of our Hongwei...?”

Is she not taking good care of him?

Yi Hyang's mind, which had been focused on her child, suddenly became clear.

“No. It’s not that Lady Yang is not taking good care of the young prince.”

Lady Yang should remain as Hongwei's person.

So, Yunseo did not want to create an environment where Lady Yang and the new concubine would have a fierce verbal confrontation.

“If the young prince stays in a specific concubine's quarters, it will cause unnecessary jealousy and resentment.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“If the young prince is under Lady Yang’s care, other concubines who cannot take care of the young prince will envy and resent Lady Yang. This resentment will eventually turn into hostility towards the young prince. When people cannot have what they want, they often take comfort in blaming or belittling the object of their desire, Your Highness.”

When a person feels alienated from a desired object, they tend to resent and hate it, even if the object has done nothing wrong. Like the grapes in Aesop's fable.

“...Is that so?”

Yi Hyang raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

She