For a moment, Jeonghyeon lost himself while looking at the brightly smiling Doha. His wide-open eyes betrayed his feelings.
“You wouldn’t call me since coming to the palace, and now you finally do.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been so overwhelmed…”
“Drop the formal speech. Why is our youngest becoming more mature day by day? Tsk.”
The form of address was “Hyung,” and originally, they didn’t use formal speech. The beloved youngest brother position. After absorbing the information Jeonghyeon had revealed, Doha corrected his speech.
“As a proper master of the palace now, shouldn’t I observe proper etiquette?”
As Doha smiled with his eyes, Jeonghyeon’s heart melted along with it. How long had it been since he’d seen his youngest brother smile? If possible, he wished he could show their parents how their youngest looked right now.
“Doha…”
“Yes, Hyung.”
There was a youngest brother who answered when his name was called. Doha couldn’t possibly know how many times Jeonghyeon had called his name in an empty room. Tears welled up in Jeonghyeon’s eyes again.
Seeing this, Doha wiped Jeonghyeon’s tears and said, “You have no idea how lonely I’ve been since you haven’t visited often.”
Like an adorable younger brother, Doha nuzzled his head against Jeonghyeon’s shoulder. The silk clothes made a rustling sound when they touched his fair, plump cheeks. Doha said, extending his words as if regretful:
“You must visit more often. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you…”
Small hands gripped Jeonghyeon’s collar. At that cute and mischievous movement of slightly tugging his collar, Jeonghyeon’s eyes reddened.
Seeing Jeonghyeon’s face, which already seemed to have completely fallen for it, Doha prepared his final shot. He looked up at him with large, round eyes full of affection. When he blinked, Jeonghyeon’s frozen body finally moved.
Ahhhh!
Unable to hold back, Jeonghyeon stood up abruptly. Taking big strides to where Doha was sitting, he grabbed Doha’s shoulders.
“Let’s go home, little brother!”
“What? Home?”
“Yes! I need to wrap you in a dopo and escape with you!”
The effect of the eye attack was tremendous.
Hurriedly, Jeonghyeon put the dopo he was wearing over Doha’s head. Suddenly plunged into darkness, Doha reached his arms forward. Placing his own hands on Doha’s flailing ones, Jeonghyeon said:
“What do they call this again…”
“Hyung, I can’t see anything.”
“Bo, bossam? Yes, bossam!”
“Hyung…?”
Doha’s hands that had been waving in the air touched Jeonghyeon’s leg. Got it. When Doha pulled on Jeonghyeon’s leg, Jeonghyeon embraced Doha’s head, overcome by his excessive cuteness.
“Like this… I’m going to bossam you away… I’ll never give you to that man.”
With already unfocused eyes, Jeonghyeon murmured vacantly. His youngest brother had become even cuter in the time they hadn’t seen each other. If he became any cuter, the palace would explode, and then the country would explode. What then? Anyone would think Jeonghyeon had lost his mind, muttering such strange things.
“Kim Jipyung! What do you think you’re doing?”
Court Lady Kim, who had brought in refreshments, shouted as soon as she saw Jeonghyeon. She hurriedly set down the tray and separated Jeonghyeon from Doha. When she removed the dopo, Doha appeared with disheveled hair.
“Cu, cute…!”
He looked just like a long-haired puppy, making Jeonghyeon grab and hug Doha. Sensing from his trembling voice that Jeonghyeon’s brotherly love had been activated, Court Lady Kim quickly stepped between them.
“Please come to your senses. You’ll crush His Lordship.”
“Crushed…? Our Doha…?”
An image of a flattened Doha appeared in Jeonghyeon’s mind. It was a vision of his plump cheeks and fair face squished together. Even that seemed cute in its own way, making him want to squish Doha’s cheeks. Jeonghyeon reached his hand through Court Lady Kim’s side.
“Our Doha, let’s do ‘squish squish’ just once!”
Like a child saying “squeeze squeeze,” Jeonghyeon clenched and unclenched his hands. Doha smiled at this excessive doting. Even during his acting career, he had met many fans like Jeonghyeon.
<Oppa, don’t you smell something burning? It’s my heart burning…>
<The earth folded in half because of Kim Doha’s cuteness. Just high-fived Mr. Kim Sangdeok who lives in Alaska. Take responsibility, Kim Doha.>
<Watching the drama from the freezer because I’m afraid I’ll melt from Kim Doha’s acting.>
It was Doha’s hobby to read such doting comments. Feeling like he had met one of his fans here, Doha said to Jeonghyeon:
“By ‘squish squish,’ do you mean my cheeks?”
At Doha’s words, Jeonghyeon’s hands stopped. His words had touched something perverse in Jeonghyeon’s heart. With dazed eyes, Jeonghyeon poked his head out beside Court Lady Kim.
“Say it again. Again…”
“Squish squish?”
“Again… Again…”
“Squish squish.”
Aack, so cute! How can my brother be this adorable! Jeonghyeon stamped his feet. From now on, he should only make him say words with tense consonants. While Jeonghyeon searched for cute words with tense consonants with fire in his eyes, Court Lady Kim sighed.
“This is why His Lordship told you not to come.”
Court Lady Kim shook her head. The original Doha seemed to have been embarrassed by his brother’s behavior. And it was embarrassing enough, certainly.
That’s why it wasn’t in the script. But Doha didn’t mind the excessive doting. It was the first time he had received familial affection, so even that made him happy. Pushing the tray that Court Lady Kim had brought, Doha said to Jeonghyeon:
“Hyung, please talk while having some refreshments. I’m hungry.”
“Yes, yes! We can’t let our youngest go hungry.”
Coming to his senses, Jeonghyeon hurriedly sat at the refreshment table. Dusting off his wrinkled clothes and taking a seat, he looked neat enough that his previous doting behavior seemed unimaginable.
Although his flushed cheeks… made him look like a pervert.
The table was filled with scorched rice snacks that Doha liked. It was a snack he’d grown fond of since beginning his confinement. At first, Court Lady Park had brought it, and he’d eaten a bite or two, but it was addictive, so he often asked for scorched rice snacks.
The sugar sprinkled on top of the scorched rice looked quite tasty. Gulp, saliva went down his throat. When Doha took a bite of the scorched rice snack, a crunching sound accompanied the sugar powder scattering around his mouth.
“Our youngest still gets sugar on his face.”
Jeonghyeon said, wiping Doha’s mouth with his sleeve. He seemed mature earlier, but now he doesn’t. I wish he could stay this innocent. After removing all the sugar, Jeonghyeon picked up a honey rice cake from the side and put it in Doha’s mouth.
“Wha’ happenin’ in da royal cour’?”
Doha asked while chewing the honey rice cake. Jeonghyeon burst out laughing at the strange pronunciation caused by the chewing.
“When I left… Ah, I think the Chief State Councilor was talking about a hunting competition.”
Since he had left Jijeongjeon as soon as Hyunseo entered, he couldn’t know the details. All Jeonghyeon knew was that the Chief State Councilor had been talking to the other officials about a hunting competition.
Although holding a hunting competition was His Majesty’s prerogative, no one added a word even when the Chief State Councilor was making a fuss. The royal court already belonged to the Chief State Councilor. It was all because that bastard was so incompetent. As Jeonghyeon’s brows furrowed, Doha offered him a honey rice cake.
“Think while eating.”
Jeonghyeon, who had unwittingly put the honey rice cake in his mouth, recalled what he had heard in Jijeongjeon. He had paid attention because Doha’s name had come up.
“There’s going to be a hunting competition.”
“A hunting competition?”
Hunting competition. It was an episode that was treated quite importantly in the script. A royal event held in spring to pray for that year’s military fortune and peace.
In that hunting competition, Hyunseo would be hit by an arrow, fall from his horse, and suffer serious injuries.
‘I was framed as the culprit.’
Doha, whose image had already been tarnished within the palace due to the banquet incident, would be the first to be suspected of attempted assassination. To make matters worse, when the arrow lodged in the horse was identified as belonging to his family, all suspicions would fall on Doha.
That was the beginning of his downfall.
Doha looked at Jeonghyeon. Though it wasn’t specified in detail, there seemed to have been a line about all the family members being expelled because of that incident.
What a great opportunity this is, I can’t just let it go.
Jeonghyeon put a honey rice cake into Doha’s mouth as he looked serious. It was a pink honey rice cake. As Doha chewed the sweet honey rice cake lost in thought, Jeonghyeon added:
“Don’t worry. This time, you’ll be participating too.”
At those words, Doha’s head snapped up. Participate? Participate! There was nothing like that in the script. In the script, Doha’s role was merely to drink tea at the hunting grounds and then be horrified upon seeing the injured Hyunseo being carried in. Misinterpreting Doha’s expression, Jeonghyeon smiled.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to show off our youngest’s archery skills.”
Archery… Archery.
Doha blankly murmured “archery.” The only things he knew were unarmed combat and swordsmanship; he was terrible at archery. He recalled the Jumong script he had received before. He had thrown it away as soon as he saw the title, saying, “How old is this Jumong?”
His future looked bleak, as they said he was good at archery. He couldn’t say now that he couldn’t shoot well, nor could he pretend to have amnesia. As Doha’s face darkened, Jeonghyeon patted his shoulder.
“This brother will gift you an excellent bow if our youngest wins first place. Don’t worry too much.”
Without knowing his concerns, Jeonghyeon put another honey rice cake in his mouth. As he chewed, the honey inside spread throughout his mouth. Doha bit his lip at the sweetness that numbed his tongue.
What was the writer thinking?!
Screaming internally where no one could hear, Doha swallowed the honey rice cake. The excited Jeonghyeon only left Siyeong Palace after promising to make arrows for him as well.
* * *
The day passed without him noticing, worried about the hunting competition. When he came to his senses, darkness had already fallen outside the window.
“Haa.”
Doha’s sigh deepened. Archery. The word wouldn’t leave his mind. It was questionable whether he could catch up to the original Doha’s skill level even if he started learning archery now, and there was no suitable person to teach him.
The only people Doha had befriended here were Court Lady Park, Court Lady Kim, and Hyunseo.
‘Come to think of it, Hyunseo hasn’t been visiting.’
Hyunseo, who used to visit Siyeong Palace at every meal time, hadn’t come today either. It had been since he visited Noble Consort’s palace. Was it really going according to the script? Recalling Eunsung’s words, Doha thought of Hyunseo.
“Don’t say such unlucky things.”
Doha slapped both his cheeks to snap out of it. Only by going to the last episode would he know whether the script would change or not. He couldn’t die like this. Reassuring himself again, Doha got up from his seat.
“If he won’t come, I’ll go to him.”
With determined strides, he walked to the door. Without hesitation, Doha flung open the door of his bedchamber.
“Court Lady Kim!”
A large body appeared outside the door. Thinking that Court Lady Kim would be waiting as usual, Doha ended up bumping his head against Dojin’s broad back.
“Ouch.”
Sitting on the floor, Doha rubbed his forehead where he had bumped it and looked outside. Dojin was looking down at Doha with a composed expression.
“Are you alright?”
It was a completely different attitude from yesterday. Though he didn’t know what had changed his mind, the possessiveness and desire that had been in his eyes were gone.
‘Interesting.’
Yesterday he was so greedy, but today he was a different person. As Doha was examining his solid body, an idea to solve this problem came to his mind.
“Ungeom!”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Like a predator cornering its prey, Doha stuck out his tongue. His red tongue slowly licked his lips and went back in. Only then did confusion appear on Dojin’s face.
“Ungeom, teach me archery!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
