The Hated Male Concubine

Hawoon slowly turned his head. While still feeling out of breath, like he was still underwater, he could see the mirror on the table through his flickering vision. Hawoon pushed back those voices that were still calling him your highness and managed to move his feet to where the table was. 

Then, right when he finally saw his face in the mirror, Hawoon saw a face that was very familiar to him there.

The only male concubine of this empire. A man who had a beauty that no one could easily follow, but a man whose natural character was frivolous and cruel. The man who had lost the Emperor’s favor from the very start. But even so, he was a concubine who begged for the Emperor’s love every day, threw his pride and everything just for chasing the Emperor ever and ever. All the court ladies feared him and avoided serving him as a master. The main character of the rumor—that every day in his residence, Jeongan Palace, the young court ladies came out crying with swollen cheeks. 

Concubine Yeon, Yeon Hwawoon. 

Hawoon—a guard of Jeongan Palace—was standing there with Yeon Hwawoon’s appearance, and Hawoon lost his consciousness just like that and there. 

***

“Haah….”

“Your Highness, why did you sigh like that? Are you still feeling under the weather…?”

The shoulder of a man who was wearing an elegant attire flinched at the ‘Your Highness’ sound.  

That’s right. Your Highness. I am someone who is called by Your Highness. All night, he had injected all those thoughts inside his head, but as expected, it was hard for him to adapt in just one day.

His mind became more disoriented when he saw the court ladies who kept bowing their heads because they were afraid. Afraid of what if their owner would treat them cruelly because he was not feeling well or in a bad mood—just like in the past. The man—in exact Hawoon who had become Hwawoon, managed to swallow back a sigh that was about to come out and said, 

“It’s not like that, so you don’t have to worry.”

The voice and tone that flowed out of his mouth were also awkward. In his life, he had never had such a beautiful voice before. 

“Just… It’s just because I feel stuffy…”

In the end, Hawoon—no—Hwawoon, who couldn’t resist, sighed again. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop sighing when he saw the situation he was in.

Like lightning in the clear sky. No matter how often things that could not be explained by words in this world could actually happen, how could something like this really happen to him? He closed his eyes last night and desperately hoped that when he woke up, everything would be a dream. But still, when he woke up from the nightmares in the morning, nothing had changed. Hwawoon was just at a loss on how to get through all of this.

“Your Highness, His Majesty said he would stop by in the afternoon…. Won’t you dress yourself up?”

Ahjin, the court lady who had been guarding his side with a timid expression since a while ago, nervously added. Ahjin couldn’t help but be awkward with the current situation. As a maid Hwawoon had brought from his house, she had seen Hwawoon for a long time—even when the current Hwawoon was Hawoon. Hwawoon lowered down his head in silence and lost in thought for a moment.

Ahjin, who was standing next to Hwawoon, carefully stole a glance at her master, who was deep in thought. His face that was pale because he had such a big accident and his eyes that closed beautifully. Even Ahjin, who was trembling in fear of her master, couldn’t take off her eyes for a moment because of her master’s outstanding beauty.

Originally, Ahjin’s master was someone who wouldn’t wear his pajamas unless it was a glamorous pajama. However, last night, for such an unknown reason, he said he hated all those fancy pajamas and asked to change them to modest ones, and made all the court ladies bewildered. 

He looked no different from when he dressed up so fancily so that he would not be defeated by any woman in the Imperial Palace, but the appearance of Concubine Yeon without make-up and wearing only one pink pajama that was too modest, made him looked like a poor fairy who fell on the shore of the lake. He looked so elegant and beautiful.

Then how about the long hair that ran down his blushing, pale white cheeks? Ahjin’s master was someone in a male concubine position and a formidable beauty, but he was famous for his ill-nature, which made all of his beauty fade away. When talking about Hwawoon’s unique characteristics, his dark hair and faint blush were the features that people pointed to.

With such a face and such an attitude, Hwawoon, who was lost in thoughts and not being violent like the usual, obviously not lacking to be called the best beauty in the world. Even Ahjin, who had been harassed by him more than anyone else, was made to keep staring at him. Although Concubine Yeon was the cruelest in the world, it was clear that he was someone whose beauty couldn’t be followed by anyone.