Doha, who had picked up a book from the bookshelf, returned to where Hyunseo was. Hearing the approaching footsteps, Hyunseo turned his gaze to the book.
‘If you’re going to look, just stare openly.’
I’ll let you off since I can see you’re making an effort. Holding the book with both hands, Doha settled at the desk placed in the center. Then, without even glancing in Hyunseo’s direction, he began reading the book.
As expected, once Doha focused on the book, Hyunseo stole glances at him. From his forehead to his wrist exposed outside his sleeve, to his ankle—there wasn’t a spot his gaze didn’t touch.
Every time his gaze brushed over his body like a snake, Doha trembled. It was clearly a gaze filled with heat.
‘His eyes are so hot, but why is there no touch, no touch at all!’
It was frustrating. Although he didn’t seem to lack desire, Hyunseo wouldn’t allow even the slightest contact. Bodies need to touch for hearts to connect, yet Hyunseo seemed unaware of this simple truth.
Huffing, Doha focused on the book again. Before, that is, before taking lead roles in historical dramas or traditional dramas, Doha had learned Chinese characters while playing a minor role writing calligraphy.
Though it was a minor role, Doha, who never took shortcuts, had diligently learned and practiced Chinese characters. He held the brush and wrote characters until he got them right. That learning now seemed to shine as the writing in the book instantly entered Doha’s mind.
* * *
Only the sound of turning pages filled the study. As Doha truly kept his mouth shut and focused only on the book, Hyunseo oddly felt bored.
‘I was alone even before Doha came, so why do I feel this way?’
Hyunseo couldn’t understand his heart, which jumped up and down hundreds of times a day. Though the heart was his, his mind already belonged to someone else and couldn’t be controlled. His gaze kept wandering to Doha, who was reading.
Every time he turned a page, shadows fell across his face. Hyunseo already knew how beautiful that face, composed of soft lines, was when smiling. The corners of his eyes and lips that curved when he smiled, and the cheeks that flushed every time he said “I love you.”
How hard he had tried to protect that.
Hyunseo, who had been standing by the window, quietly approached and sat beside Doha. He leaned on the desk with his chin propped. He looked languid, like a satiated beast.
“Do you even know what book you’re reading?”
From the looks of it, he seemed to stubbornly believe he was reading the book without understanding its content. Who do you take for a fool? With a short sigh of disbelief, Doha opened the book.
“This humble concubine is not a fool.”
“I’m willing to explain everything one by one to my fool. Tell me.”
Just as Doha was about to speak. Hyunseo’s arm suddenly came in. Surprised by the shortened distance, Doha inhaled sharply. Finding this amusing, Hyunseo pointed to the center of the book and asked.
“What is this character?”
The character Hyunseo pointed to was a basic among basics, the character for ‘wind’ (풍). Rather than pointing to a difficult character, which would have hurt his pride less, choosing an elementary school-level character pierced Doha’s heart.
“Your Majesty! Please stop teasing me!”
“Tell me. Is it really that you don’t know and can’t answer?”
Hyunseo burst into laughter at Doha’s angry reaction. Hyunseo pointed to another character. Following the ‘wind’ character was the character for ‘sun’ (일). He was laughing while pointing at that Chinese character with so few strokes. Glaring at him sullenly, Doha opened his mouth.
“It’s ‘il’ for sun. And the one before was ‘pung’ for wind. Why do you tease me like this?”
“Didn’t you just learn these?”
“How could that be! Even street children know these characters!”
Huffing, Doha closed the book he was reading. As he turned his head to the opposite direction as if he didn’t want to look, Hyunseo’s laughter followed. Why is he so quick to laugh today of all days? Doha’s lips protruded like a duck’s.
“Earlier, you seemed to be looking at the Thousand Character Text.”
Hyunseo said with a voice mixed with laughter. The second shelf from the back. The place where Doha had briefly paused was where different versions of the Thousand Character Text were arranged, so he guessed. Whether it was the correct answer, Doha looked at Hyunseo with round eyes.
“How did you know?”
Hyunseo looked at Doha, raising his languid eyes. As he leaned his face on the desk, his long hair settled on the tabletop. Like strings of an instrument, his hair was so thin that Doha unknowingly placed his hand on it.
“There’s nothing about Bin that I don’t know.”
Hyunseo whispered in a voice without playfulness. His breath reached Doha as if whispering into his ear.
“In the future, now, and in the past, it will be so.”
It was a gaze that seemed to see through something. It felt as if he was saying that he knew everything Doha was doing, that it was already happening under his control. What did he know? Feeling as if everything had been exposed, Doha froze. If he could, he would have turned his head, but escaping from the gaze once met was not easy.
“So be careful.”
“…”
“There’s nothing in this palace that I don’t know.”
With slow movements, Hyunseo grabbed Doha’s chin. Like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, Doha couldn’t take his eyes off Hyunseo. It felt as if he could never look away unless Hyunseo allowed it.
After examining Doha’s face for a long time, Hyunseo raised the corner of his mouth again. The tense air in the study also loosened at that moment. Languidly lying on the desk again, Hyunseo turned his head to the opposite side.
“It’s a nice day.”
Hyunseo closed his eyes. His breathing was quiet as if he had fallen asleep.
What does he really know?
Doha quietly observed his back. He was enveloped by a premonition that Hyunseo might know everything—that he had falsely accused Seowoo, that he had deliberately rolled down the stairs, that he kept trying to provoke him.
‘If he knows, how much, to what extent?’
Surely, Hyunseo’s reactions when Doha caused trouble had been genuine, but strangely, there was an uneasy corner in his heart. He needed to gauge whether Hyunseo really knew something or if he was just testing him.
“Your Majesty.”
“The Bin said with his own mouth that he would stay quiet.”
“…”
After making someone feel uneasy, he wouldn’t even let him speak. Doha glared at Hyunseo with a horned expression.
“You tell me not to speak, not to read—then I’ll just leave.”
He rose from the chair with the book in his hands. The sound of the chair scraping filled the study. Just as Doha, who had glanced down at Hyunseo still with his eyes closed, was about to take a step:
That large hand that had brushed his lips grabbed Doha’s wrist firmly.
“Don’t go.”
“…”
“Stay where I can reach you.”
The hand pulled Doha. Losing his balance, Doha collapsed onto Hyunseo. Two arms wrapped around Doha’s body, and even Hyunseo’s chair tilted. The entanglement of their bodies happened in an instant.
“Ah…!”
Hyunseo, who had absorbed the impact of falling to the floor with his entire body, embraced Doha. Their legs intertwined, and their bodies pressed tightly together. They could feel each other’s hearts beating through their touching chests. Doha, with his face buried in the firm chest, blushed.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?”
“…Ugh.”
“Your Majesty?”
As Doha struggled to rise, Hyunseo let out a short moan. It was because Doha’s moving body brushed against the aroused lower part that had been excited for a while. Hyunseo’s face hardened at his own thing that was gradually swelling from below.
“I think I’ll be fine if Bin just stays still.”
But Doha wasn’t one to stop at those words. Though the struggling of his legs ceased, his tightly pressed chest and waist moved intensely. With each movement of Doha’s body, Hyunseo bit his lip.
“Bin!”
Unable to endure, he called Doha’s name almost shouting. To that, Doha, raising his head as if he didn’t understand anything, murmured.
“Your Majesty, something from below keeps poking. There must be a brush holder there!”
“Stay still… ugh.”
Doha’s hand fumbled downward. The lower his hand went, the deeper Hyunseo’s moans became. Doha smiled silently, as if satisfied with the hot breath coming his way.
“But it’s…”
“…”
“Longer than a brush holder…”
“…Bin, that’s enough.”
“What is this?”
The moment Doha’s hand finally reached its target, Hyunseo abruptly stood up while still holding Doha. Of course, it wasn’t just his body that stood up.
In front of Doha, who was standing with a face that didn’t understand what was happening, Hyunseo exhaled roughly. His shoulders moved rapidly.
“Bin, right now.”
Filled with anger, Hyunseo detached Doha from his body.
“Get out of the study.”
He took Doha’s hand and led him outside the study. In the blink of an eye, Doha, who had been kicked out, stared at the firmly closed door of the study. The way he locked it so tightly with the bolt, it seemed like it wouldn’t budge even in a typhoon.
“What is this all about.”
Even after going this far, he doesn’t come over? Doha glared at the tightly closed door. Just wait. I’ll really make you regret this. After huffing for a while, Doha turned sharply. The sound of Doha’s footsteps returning to Siyeong Palace was rough.
* * *
“Your Highness!”
Court Lady Kim, who had been waiting in the courtyard of the bedchamber, rushed to Doha. Contrary to expectations, she asked worriedly upon seeing Doha’s indifferent face.
“Did His Majesty scold you?”
“I was kicked out.”
Doha pouted his lips and made a sulky expression.
“If it’s going to be like this, why did he even marry? He calls me Bin, Bin at every turn, yet doesn’t even let me touch him.”
“His Majesty does this out of care for Your Highness.”
Court Lady Kim smiled brightly at Doha, who was grumbling as if finding his true age after a long time.
‘How long has it been since Your Highness showed expression?’
Over the past few years, as Hyunseo’s visits gradually decreased, Doha’s expressions had diminished. With reduced words and emotions, Doha had become closer to an object than a person, making even Court Lady Kim hesitant to speak to him. Rather than guarding the palace like a stone statue waiting for a dead husband, it was better for him to express his annoyance like this.
“What kind of caring is that, Court Lady Kim.”
“Please don’t be too angry. Your Highness also knows His Majesty’s sincerity, don’t you?”
“Sincerity?”
“Yes, Your Highness. You should know the reason why His Majesty is acting this way.”
Was there a reason for not touching flesh to flesh? Doha recalled the scenario in his mind. In the scenario, skinship between Doha and Hyunseo was limited to kisses, pecks, and light hand contacts.
Only then did he recall what he had forgotten.
That this scenario was a public broadcast, all-ages scenario.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
