The Hated Male Concubine

“By the way… is it really fine for me to not give morning greetings to Her Majesty?” 

Hwawoon, who woke up early this morning and finished grooming, looked at his reflection that was still unfamiliar inside the hand mirror and suddenly turned his head and asked Ahjin.

Ahjin, who was fiddling with the binyeo, which she wanted to put in Hwawoon’s hair but couldn’t because he said it was too fancy, immediately answered Hwawoon’s question.

“Normally, you should give it to her. However, the empress said it’s okay not to come for the time being because of the incident last time, Your Highness.”

“Hmmm… still, I guess it’s not a good thing to skip it for too long. I’ll do the morning greetings again from tomorrow, so please get ready.” 

“… Understood, Your Highness.” 

Ahjin barely swallowed down the sigh that was about to flow out and answered. People said out of the frying pan into the fire. It seemed like she would have to experience a massive fire tomorrow. Then, Hwawoon, who was carefully examining Ahjin’s face, continued,

“Was I so profane to the empress?”

Ahjin’s mouth was tightly shut. If she were to answer no, Yeonbin’s behavior in front of the empress was beyond description, and to answer yes, she was wary of her master.

Alas, it was Hwawoon, who sighed this time.

“Would I be different in front of the empress if I was that bad in front of the emperor…”

“……”

“And my relationship with the other concubines… it must be a total disaster, right?”

Hwawoon shook his head because he felt like his headache occurred again. How could there be no one in this wide imperial palace that was close to him? If such a thing could be called a skill, then it really must be a skill.

Still, it was easy with the courtiers of Jeongan Palace. Whether they believed Yeonbin or not, there was nothing else he could do anyway. Hwawoon thought that if he showed them his changed self steadily for a long time, it would gradually get better.

However, it was different with the empress and the other concubines. He couldn’t show them his different self just like how he showed it to the kids living in the Jeongan Palace. He also couldn’t just gather them as he liked and asked them to look at him differently because he had changed.

On top of that, because of the old Hwawoon’s conduct, there was no doubt they wouldn’t treat him nicely like the emperor. He was really at a loss at how and where he should start to untie this knot.

Looking at Ahjin’s face that also turned dark because he was pondering about those frustrating things, he felt his mood got better and said,

“Huft… I deserved it, anyway. Since I caused it, I have no other choice but to just face it.”

Of course, the past events had no relation with the current Hwawoon. Still, Hwawoon thought that even if he didn’t do that, he had no choice but to bear it as the price of living inside someone else’s body.

It would surely be hard for now, but if from now on he followed the rule, served the higher-ups with respect, and treated his subordinates with mercy, he thought someday there would be a day when they would look at him differently. Hwawoon made up his mind as he looked at Ahjin whose attitude in front of him had changed, although only a bit.

Then, in a short moment, he wondered if there would be a day when the emperor would look back at him again if he did so, but excessive greed would always lead to further trouble.

Hwawoon decided not to be greedy.

***

“Why didn’t he come and ask for forgiveness?”

The emperor eventually threw the letter he was holding and raised his voice. Eunuch Oh, who was bowing next to him, turned stiff in an instant.

“Your Majesty, please calm down.”

However, Yihan, the emperor, didn’t lower his voice even for a bit.

“Doesn’t this mean he was saying he did nothing wrong, so he is holding out?” 

“Your Majesty… If by any means you’re talking about His Highness Yeonbin, he is behaving himself in Jeongan Pa-”

“Since when did he become so proficient at behaving himself?”

Yihan said that as he took back the letter he threw and then threw it again to other sides.

He thought Yeonbin really had planned all of this. He had taken out his nameplate, he mocked him in the garden although they only met by chance, he even told the news that he was visiting Sukbi’s residence last night. As the emperor, he already did all the moves to provoke him. 

However, Yeonbin didn’t make any move at all. Let alone visiting Anjeong Palace or his dinner, after returning from Suhwawon last time, it was said Yeonbin really never took a step out of Jeongan Palace.

Was it only that? Even the eunuch from Gyeongsa-bang who went to deliver the news heard a nice word from him and left Jeongan Palace safely. It was clear how shocked the emperor was when he heard that.

“Now I know what’s on his mind. I can see that instead of reflecting and behaving himself for real, he was planning to make me uneasy and thinking about him.”