“What exactly did you help with?”
Kneeling, Seowoo slowly raised his head and looked up at Doha. Doha, who had dared to drape the royal robe over his shoulders, didn’t seem inclined to take it off. That fool probably couldn’t even comprehend what that garment symbolized. Seowoo bowed his head again and spoke once more.
“Didn’t Bin Mama say he absolutely had to undress in front of the envoys?”
…What?
“I did?”
“Yes. You said there was a man you desperately wanted to show yourself to.”
Seowoo touched his forehead as if perplexed and glanced at where the envoys were seated. At his words, those in the banquet hall began to murmur. The envoys, who hadn’t expected to be mentioned, also looked uncomfortable.
Having confirmed their reactions, Seowoo smiled secretly and said,
“No matter how much you begged, I shouldn’t have agreed…”
His lips nearly curled upward, so he covered his mouth with his collar. Doha was the only one who noticed he was smiling.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
There was nothing like this in the script. Doha tried to recall the script he had memorized so diligently, but there was no such scene. Nor was there an episode with the envoys. Perhaps Seowoo’s mood had soured because of Doha’s successful sword dance.
“Noble Consort, speak properly.”
As soon as Hyunseo’s voice echoed through the banquet hall, Seowoo spoke as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“He said there was someone among the envoys he needed to meet.”
Me?
Me?
“I should have stopped him more firmly… but because my ankle ended up like this…”
Seowoo frowned as if in pain and caressed his ankle. Because of the nuance, it felt exactly as if Doha had sprained his ankle. Indeed, the difficult flower of Siyeong Palace wouldn’t have easily come to the banquet hall.
The rumors about Doha that had been circulating within the palace now worked against him. The beautiful sword dance and Doha’s slender body seemed about to be forgotten like this.
‘No…!’
Hyunseo’s eyes flashed. His expression suggested he might muzzle and imprison him immediately. Doha instantly sensed that if things continued this way, they were headed down the mad prince route. Perhaps the god of acting wasn’t Doha but Seowoo.
‘A method, I need to find a method.’
At this rate, he was going to die without a doubt.
Just as Doha was about to open his mouth, Seowoo beat him to it.
“He earnestly begged, saying it was someone precious… Please kill me!”
Seowoo prostrated himself on the floor. Simultaneously, Hyunseo’s expression hardened even more rigidly than before.
“Imprison the Flower Bin.”
“Your Majesty!”
Doha quickly called out to Hyunseo desperately. Despite the anguished voice, Hyunseo continued without even glancing in Doha’s direction.
“Do not allow even a drop of water until I give further orders.”
With a terrifying face, Hyunseo looked down. Watching this, Doha’s eyes widened. If this were the Hyunseo from the script, the sweet prince he knew, he should have listened to Doha first and believed him.
But the current Hyunseo didn’t even allow an explanation. He seemed focused solely on the fact that another man was involved as he issued all his commands. Such a character setting wasn’t that of a sweet prince…
It was the setting of a mad prince… a mad prince.
He’s supposed to be a beloved concubine… He’s supposed to be a sweet prince, writer.
As he was about to be dragged away, Doha now blamed the writer, but it was futile. Should he just give up and die? Once again, the impulse surged, but even then, he didn’t forget to look at Hyunseo with tear-filled eyes.
“We cannot imprison Bin Mama in a place meant for criminals!”
No matter how angry one might be, there were protocols in court. Court Official Park quickly knelt and reported to Hyunseo, but it only had the countereffective result of fueling the flames of anger.
“…Are you saying that looking at another man is not a crime?”
Having struck the throne, Hyunseo glared at Doha. It was a look filled with betrayal, asking how you could do this.
“How can harboring feelings for someone not be a crime!”
“Your Majesty, listen to my words!”
“Imprison all the envoys as well.”
Doha knelt before him and bowed his head, but his voice did not reach Hyunseo. Cutting off Doha’s words, Hyunseo stood up abruptly.
“The banquet ends here today.”
Without giving even a single glance until the end, Hyunseo left. Doha, being dragged away by soldiers, kept watching Hyunseo’s back as he walked out of the banquet hall.
‘Just kill me instead, you bastard.’
He’s supposed to be a beloved concubine… He’s supposed to be a beloved concubine, writer.
Being dragged away like a dog, Doha decided to completely revise his plan.
* * *
The concubine lives in prison.
The concubine flower blooms in prison.
Perhaps they should change the title of the script. While experiencing prison life that was never in his destiny, Doha thought with a comfortable mind.
Still, perhaps because he was nominally a royal consort, it wasn’t like the prisons seen in historical dramas. Though it was bare ground, there was a silk blanket spread out, and the weather was cool, making it somewhat bearable. Even now, Doha was reclining on the silk blanket.
“Your Majesty, you must drink at least a drop of water.”
The soldier guarding the prison spoke in a troubled voice. Since being imprisoned, Doha hadn’t touched a drop of water, let alone food. It was already the third day of imprisonment. If Doha collapsed like this, the soldier would have his head cut off.
“Your Majesty, I beg you. I have a sick sister alone at home.”
“…”
“His Majesty asks about you every day. If I report today that you still haven’t drunk a single drop of water, this servant will die!”
Though the soldier whimpered with a pale face, Doha didn’t budge. Instead, he lay down in the opposite direction.
“His Majesty ordered me not to drink a drop of water.”
After answering in a weak voice, Doha secretly sneered. Can’t handle it if I don’t drink a single drop of water? It seemed he was receiving regular reports about Doha’s actions. Thanks to that, Doha was enduring without drinking even a drop of water.
“I’ve always been alone… so it’s fine.”
…Deliberately leaving words with a deep lingering impression.
Worrying and fretting about when he would be released wasn’t Doha’s style. Anyway, this was a game he had already won from the moment Hyunseo fell for the provocation.
‘Since I’ve confirmed he’s swayed by me.’
Doha recalled Hyunseo’s back as he walked out of the banquet hall. The cold expression, the veins protruding on his neckline, and the unhesitating steps all flickered before his eyes. His physique was remarkably superior even among Yang people. Just thinking about Hyunseo made his heart pound. As if he had truly become Doha.
“Your Majesty… Please, just one sip… I beg you, for my sake…”
Doha, who had unconsciously placed a hand on his chest, startled and removed it. What’s wrong with me? Trying to push away Hyunseo’s image, Doha thought of something else. Seowoo. When he thought of the face of the enemy who had imprisoned him, his heart began to race for a different reason.
It was a mistake. Focused solely on successfully executing the sword dance, he had postponed dealing with Seowoo. Being still in the early part of the script, he had been careless, thinking Seowoo wouldn’t hate him that much or wouldn’t reveal his true self yet.
With the success of the sword dance, Seowoo’s thoughts must have changed. Given Hyunseo’s reaction, which was more than expected, Seowoo must be grinding his teeth again. Now, he must see Doha as a complete enemy.
Doha recalled Seowoo from the script. Having rehearsed and acted out even Seowoo’s lines one by one, Doha also had a good grasp of Seowoo’s psychology. Like all villains, he had grown up in an unfortunate environment under abusive parents.
‘And under parents of very low birth at that.’
He had consistently built a public image of being weak and kind. The main reason Seowoo was chosen as the Noble Consort was because of this kind image. From the beginning, one of the conditions for Hyunseo selecting a consort was to maintain a good relationship with Doha.
‘Though now, I’m not sure who he has feelings for.’
Competing with a different image had no merit. If he had previously taken the stance of getting along well with the Noble Consort, that was now meaningless. He needed to start from a better position and have a deeper, more intimate relationship.
Doha glanced up at the window in the wall. A blue silk had been faintly visible outside the window for some time. Instinctively, Doha knew Hyunseo was spying on him from outside.
“…His Majesty hates me.”
Doha muttered in a thin voice as if he was about to die. Of course, he didn’t forget to turn his body outward so he would be more visible from outside the window.
As he slightly adjusted his angle, Doha’s fair face was illuminated by the moonlight. Having not consumed water for days, he appeared even thinner than three days ago. A sigh leaked in from outside the window, but Doha pretended not to hear and continued speaking.
“He blames me for harboring another man, so what’s the point of living?”
“Your Majesty, His Majesty’s words were spoken in anger. You know well how His Majesty feels.”
“…”
“How much His Majesty cherishes you…”
The soldier tried to console Doha, offering water into the prison. Doha, with a face of complete resignation, buried his face in his hands. As his frail body curled up, he looked even smaller and more diminutive.
“Perhaps it’s better if I just die.”
“Your Majesty!”
Thud. Simultaneously with Doha’s words, the opposite wall resounded. It was so forceful that the wall shook as if someone had crashed into it. Soon after, rapid footsteps approached Doha’s location.
The time had come. Doha secretly smiled. At the same time, he brought his hands to his parched throat. Now, look at your pitiful lover. Look at your lover who is considering death after being abandoned by you. You won’t be able to live without loving me.
Before the scent of a Yang person engulfed the prison, Doha closed his eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
