* * *
At that moment, in the banquet hall.
Sitting directly below Hyunseo, in the seat designated for the Noble Consort, Seowoo leaned toward an approaching court lady.
“Planning to perform a sword dance, he must be completely insane.”
Seowoo whispered in a voice just quiet enough that Hyunseo couldn’t hear. He had just received news of Doha’s attendance at the banquet. Seeing Seowoo’s pleased expression, the excited court lady continued talking.
“There wasn’t even time to practice, they say. He only spent time on his appearance…”
Foolish man.
He should have spent that time practicing even a single step properly.
Contrary to his thoughts, Seowoo’s deer-like eyes curved beautifully into half-moons. It was a smile that seemed to brighten everything around him. A pure smile that appeared untainted by anything dirty. Seowoo could produce such clear smiles at will.
After all, it was the only useful thing his dim-witted parents had passed on to him.
When he smiled, the gazes of all the officials and envoys sitting below turned toward him.
Most of them were Yang people, so Seowoo knew what their sticky gazes meant. Ignoring those stares, he calmly poured tea from the teapot.
“I’m already well aware of Bin Mama’s skills.”
How adorable.
He seemed to think he could actually fill Seowoo’s position.
Seowoo carefully held the teacup and rose from his seat. The red silk clothes flowed down following the curves of his body. His wide pants made a sound as the silk rustled. He slowly climbed the stairs covered with a red carpet.
Toward Hyunseo, who was propping his chin up as if bored, Seowoo approached with the same smile that the officials and envoys had coveted on his face.
“Your Majesty. Are you finding the banquet boring?”
At the pleasant voice, Hyunseo looked at Seowoo.
“How could a banquet not intended for me be entertaining?”
Meeting those pitch-black eyes staring directly at him, Seowoo slightly bowed his head. His cheeks turning red just at the right moment completed his perfectly elegant and graceful appearance. Seowoo placed the teacup he was holding in front of Hyunseo, then bowed his head again.
“Allow me to offer you a cup of tea, at least.”
Hyunseo nodded with an expressionless face. As soon as his permission was given, Seowoo touched the teapot with elegant hands.
Since only the queen, the one and only, was allowed to touch the king’s tableware, everyone looked at Hyunseo with surprised eyes, but Hyunseo himself showed no interest in the tableware.
The two sitting close together looked like a well-matched couple. Hyunseo, standing over 180cm, and Seowoo had their shoulders aligned. Seowoo tilted his head as if he would soon lean on Hyunseo’s shoulder.
“I heard you injured your ankle.”
“It’s not serious enough to worry about.”
“Are there injuries that aren’t worth worrying about?”
Lowering his long eyelashes, Seowoo grasped the hem of his clothing. Then, as if unintentionally, he lifted the hem to reveal his ankle.
“Thanks to this, you can enjoy Bin Mama’s beautiful sword dance… Isn’t that fortunate?”
His ankle, which had been dyed with flower dye beforehand, was red as if it might swell at any moment. It was a suggestive color that could make one imagine certain things, but Hyunseo’s gaze didn’t fall on Seowoo.
“I regret that the sword dance was assigned to me… I heard he had been secretly practicing for a long time.”
Again, sticky gazes attached to his ankle. They were eyes full of desire, as if they wanted to release their scent right away and subjugate that Yin person in front. Among the officials, there were still those who regarded Seowoo as a lowborn and released their scent.
If it weren’t for the king’s Yin person before them, they would all have rushed to release their scent.
At Seowoo’s words, alertness returned to Hyunseo’s bored-looking eyes.
“You mean Doha?”
“Yes, Your Majesty’s foresight is remarkable.”
Only then did Hyunseo take the teacup in his hand. The heat in his palm was not due to his feelings but because of the teacup. That’s how Hyunseo organized his thoughts.
“I’ve heard his skills are excellent, so it seems I can look forward to it.”
In that brief moment, an amused expression flashed across Seowoo’s face. Of course, no one noticed his expression.
“Isn’t everything Bin Mama prepares the best?”
Despair, pain, and even that pathetic hope.
Just as Seowoo finished speaking, the official guarding the door announced:
“Bin Mama is entering…!”
* * *
Gentle music resonated throughout the banquet hall.
Besides the music, the surroundings were quiet, and everyone listened to the melody.
Step by step. Doha walked slowly through the banquet hall in time with the music. His steps gradually touched the floor from heel to inner foot.
It was the walk of the femme fatale, the courtesan Doha had acted as for five years.
Each step, the line of his moving legs, Doha’s body revealed through the transparent fabric.
All of it harmonized with the music.
Since his clothes were a modified version of a martial dance costume, Doha’s arms and legs had knots tied around them. The knots tied at the hem of his pants and wrists to prevent injury somehow felt erotically suggestive. Each time the bewitching knots swayed, the hearts of onlookers fluttered.
Finally, everyone couldn’t take their eyes off Doha’s movements, blooming like a flower. Everyone was so focused on Doha’s movements that they dared not even breathe. Even the most noble man sitting up there couldn’t take his eyes off his swaying body.
“So that’s the flower of Siyeong Palace…”
One of the envoys, half in a trance, mumbled quietly. Since everyone around was also entranced, almost no one heard the envoy’s words. Except for the man sitting behind.
The man burst into laughter watching the entranced people. He answered the envoy’s comment.
“That’s right. Bin Mama, the hidden flower of Siyeong Palace.”
The dazed-looking envoy turned to look at him. Briefly, a man who resembled the dancer grinned.
“And my brother.”
With steps as light as flower petals, yet not appearing as if he might fly away. With composed steps, he suddenly stood before the highest place.
Two swords hidden in his garment were revealed. After adjusting the swords properly, he took another step. His steps were even faster than before.
‘I practiced this sword dance for 5 years, there’s no way I’ve forgotten it.’
The dance he practiced most while living as a courtesan was the sword dance.
The pinnacle, the dance called the most perfect.
Since it was a dance that had to make a killing sword beautiful, the position of hands, the speed of steps, all of it had to be perfect to perform it.
For 5 years, Doha practiced the sword dance without even eating properly. He practiced the sword dance at home and in the practice room, like someone whose only goal in life was to perform the sword dance perfectly. Only after such effort was he able to film the sword dance scene.
‘Considering how hard I worked then…’
Even though time had passed, his body remembered. Naturally, his body was already dancing.
When Doha gave a signal to the musicians, the previously gentle melody gained rhythm. With the quickened tempo, Doha began to move faster than before. Like a blooming flower, the swords gently sliced through the air. While moving the swords, he climbed the stairs.
Hyunseo. The one sitting at the highest place was quietly looking down at Doha. Their eyes met. Neither Doha nor Hyunseo took their eyes off each other’s faces.
‘Wow… he’s annoyingly handsome.’
Hyunseo’s face, seen up close, was more handsome than any actor Doha had ever seen. From his elegant facial lines to the broad shoulders beneath, and his firm body, there wasn’t a single flaw. Even Doha, who had become accustomed to handsome faces during his acting career, had to take a sharp breath.
‘The problem is that it’s not just his body that’s dangerous…’
His face was so impassive it seemed hard to believe this was a gaze for a lover. However, his eyes couldn’t be hidden. His gaze swept over Doha from head to toe. His eyes persistently traced Doha’s neckline exposed beyond the collar, the skin visible inside, ankles, and wrists.
A dangerous look as if he might devour him at any moment.
A siren rang loudly in Doha’s head. At times like this, he shouldn’t avoid the gaze. Once a man is pushed down, he can never rise again.
‘Let’s do this, then.’
A suggestive smile appeared at the corner of Doha’s lips. Looking straight into Hyunseo’s eyes, he slowly moved the sword. The purpose of the sword dance was clear. Seduction, it was seduction.
To survive, he had to recapture Hyunseo’s heart.
What he had been doing so far couldn’t move Hyunseo’s heart at all. He needed a move he had never made before. Something worth trying even at great risk. Doha’s Adam’s apple bobbed prominently.
It took just a moment for the sword tip to catch the hem of his garment. As he slowly applied force, the outer garment that had been concealing Doha’s beautiful body fell to the floor with a thud.
‘No matter how strong a man is, he can’t resist someone who approaches naked.’
Doha smiled seductively.
The waistband tied in the middle and the inner fabric fell in an instant. The eyes of the Yang people seated around darted busily at the sight of him in white undergarments.
“Bin.”
Hyunseo’s gaze darkened further. He called Doha with a growl. His voice mixed with the melody produced by the musicians.
Despite hearing his voice, Doha did not stop dancing.
A seductive touch reached Hyunseo’s neck. Doha slowly stroked his neckline with the back of his hand. When their eyes met, Doha slowly lowered his gaze.
Shadows fell beneath his long eyelashes. Pretending to know nothing, as he removed his hand from the neckline, a vein popped up on Hyunseo’s forehead. Having confirmed the reaction, Doha tapped the knot on his collar with the tip of his sword.
Doha smiled, a suggestive grin. Simultaneously with his smile, Hyunseo’s thunderous command fell.
“…Turn your heads away if you don’t want to die.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
