Futile Love - Chapter 139

“It seems like you haven’t gone against my policy, as always,” said Dongyounghje, with a beaming smile. Seeing his bright smile, Taemunjang appreciated his compliment and lowered his head.

“I am honored to hear that, Your Majesty.”

“Hahaha, please feel comfortable. By the way, I hear your wife has been working very hard in the palace office.”

“All thanks to you, as you’ve asked for her help.”

Taemunjang bowed to him again. This kind of behavior might have been seen as overly polite during the previous Ohyulje days, but it had become routine from Chonghyulje’s rule. Not long after he was chosen as Taemunjang, the empress heard about Taemunjang wife’s extraordinary abilities in literature and invited her as her personal teacher.

In the early days, the lady only served as the empress’s teacher, but soon became the master of the palace office managing concubines and court ladies, so much so that any court lady who didn’t enjoy the benefits of learning from her couldn’t be qualified to work at the palace office.

Even the concubines who were not favored by the emperor asked for her tutoring.

Rumors about the lady spread to the wives of top officials, which led to a monthly social meeting at the lady’s house.

“Sooner or later I’m going to give your wife the official title of Madame Taejongmun in recognition of her excellent service.”

“Your Majesty!”

Taemunjang dared to look up at him in surprise, but Dongyoungje didn’t blame him.

He was smiling at Taemunjang gently.

The title of Madame Taejongmun was not easy to obtain even if she was Taemunjang’s wife. The highest in rank among many official titles given to top officials’ wifes, Madame Taejongmun was given to only a few women in the long history of the Mok Kingdom.

“I’m so honored and indebted to you, Your Majesty!”

Overwhelmed by Dongyoungje’s announcement, Taemunjang jumped up from his seat and bowed to him. Given his long beard, he was obviously the age of his father, but neither cared about it.

“Hahaha, I hear you love your wife so much, and I think that’s true. When I offered to give you the title of Taegongsin, you refused it, but you gladly welcomed my decision when I said I would give your wife the official title of Madame Taejongmun.”

“I’m so honored, Your Majesty.”

***

The wind was blowing hard, disturbing the leaves of the tall tree. The big tree was in the middle of the hill. Under the tree was standing a noble woman dressed in silk. At most she looked in her late 30s, but she was over 40. She was none other than Madame Taemunjong.

Unlike Chonghyulje, who had only one concubine and installed the only one successor, Dongyounghje had several wives in the four years after his inauguration as the new emperor and established four palaces like the royal family of the Mok Kingdom did before.

Madame Hwa, the master teacher of the palace women, was so busy teaching court ladies and concubines.

Today, she visited the third concubine for tutoring then stopped by the back garden of the outer palace briefly on her way back home.

She gently stroke the big tree. The hard hark of the tree was the same as before, but grew thicker and larger. She had been here a long time ago.

“Honey.”

A gentle voice came through the wind. Suddenly, Taemunjang came behind her and stroked her cheeks with a smile, Madame Taejungmun, who closed her eyes and felt the touch, folded her hands over his.

“You did a good job today for the sake of the Mok Kingdom.”

The ornamental hairpin on her wig shook with the wind and clinked. She was still beautiful even if she grew older. Looking at her, Taemunjang carefully opened his mouth.

“Chonghyolje appeared at the cabinet meeting in Daejeon today.”

She flinched at that and stiffened.

“He praised my achievements and told me he wanted to see you as you were given the official title in ten years.”

“Does he recognize your face?” She asked in a trembling voice.

Taemunjang just nodded silently.

“When it’s dark, I have to leave. If your meeting with the supreme emperor lasts longer than expected, don’t worry about me. Let me go back home first. ”

“I won’t be long there.”

“I think you will be there long,” Taemunjang responded quickly.

In no time, they looked away.

“I have got something to confess to you,” Taemunjang said.

“Honey…”

Although she tried to stop him, he didn’t care and said reluctantly. “You said you saw a flower placed on the window sill of your room every day. I didn’t place it there.”

Her eyes trembled a lot. She was soon choked with tears.

“Why…” She gripped his hand.

“Why are you trying to reveal it to me now? Why?”

“… Did you know that? ”

“I didn’t know it then. Only now”

She closed her lips then turned her eyes at him, saying, “It doesn’t matter if it was not your flower. It was you that I recalled while looking at the flower. The man that I chose was you.”

“If you wait here, he will come.”

“I don’t want to wait.”

“… It looks like he is pretty impatient.”

Looking over her shoulders, he turned bitterly. She already stiffened.

When she turned after some hesitation, the supreme emperor was already behind her.

Bowing to him, Taemunjang left the back garden of the outer palace.

There were very few who visited the back garden. Only two, Chonghyolje and Madame Taejongmun were standing, facing each other in the vast back garden.

After discovering him there, she could not even breathe properly.

Bowing to her slightly, the supreme emperor approached her carefully.

His face was still white and cold, and his black eyes shone vividly, belying his age.

“As you assumed the post of Madame Taejongmun after ten years, I would like to congratulate you.”

“…I’m so honored.”

Gasping for breath, she was stiff with her head lowered her head.”How many children do you have?”

“I have one daughter, the eldest, a son and another daughter, the youngest.”

“So, you have one son and two daughters, right?”

While barely answering with a trembling voice, she nodded carefully.

As he stroked his chin, he suddenly spoke as if something came to his mind, “I think you have another son, who now assumes the highest position in the Mok Kingdom.”

At that moment, she raised her head and dared to look at him in the face.

His eyes still looked cold. On the contrary, her eyes were welled with tears gradually.

They were looking at each other silently, but it was Chonghyolje who broke the silence first.

“When I heard that Taemunjang’s last name, who was Dongyoungje’s teacher, was Yu, I just let it go in one ear and out the other.”

Although she flinched, she could not avoid his sharp gaze.

“Even when I heard that Taemunjang’s wife became the master teacher of the palace office, I didn’t pay any attention. When I heard that a civil service official without any political connection raised his family as an influential one and became Taemunjang, when I heard that his wife was so excellent in writing compositions that she came to be the master teacher of the palace office, I didn’t give any serious thought to it. In the meantime, I heard that Taemunjang’s name was Uljin of the Yu family, and his wife’s name was Woorum of the Hwa family.”

Taemunjang was Uljin Yu, and his wife Taejongmun was Woorum Hwa.

They were none other than Prince Ruhae and Crown Princess Kyosul who had disappeared from the Imperial Palace.

Although twenty years had passed, her face was still the same except for the wrinkles on her face.

Her face was still young, and she was still beautiful. And she was easily moved to tears like before. In the end, tears welled in her eyes dropped on the ground, and he wiped her tears with his big hands. His hands were still warm.

“When I first saw you, you were so young.”

“I didn’t know anything at that age…”

He shook his head at her crying voice.

“No, I met you well before you came here. You may not remember it, but I clearly do.”

Her eyes popped up in surprise.

‘Did I meet him before?’

She couldn’t recall any memory of having met him before the wedding day.

“Back then you were a thirteen-yaer-old girl, and we didn’t know each other’s social status. Yes, you were so young. That’s why you didn’t know my heart.”

“… when I was 13 years old?”

“At that time, you came to me smiling like a flower. You wore a shabby indigo jersey like a court lady. When I stiffened, looking at you, you pulled me away to play with you. You made me miss you then disappeared in tears. When I met you seven years later, you forgot me and loved another guy.”

His slow voice was not cold at all. It was a warm and soft voice she had never heard before. Chonghyoje, or Bipaan whose hair became grey, began to tell Woorm everything.

Finally, he confessed his warm and romantic feelings about her for the first time.

“Just like you were so young when I first met you, I was too young to free myself from the fetters of succeeding the throne. I wasn’t confident because I was worried that you, who feared me, would be hurt because of me. So, I was obsessed with thinking that I would let you go to make you happy. Would you forgive me for having treated you so coldly in the past?”

He was speaking with a trembling voice, after all. Woorum, who was crying unconsciously, quickly looked at his face. She found a gentle smile on her face for the first time. With a wrinkled face and grey hair, he was looking down at her with a soft smile like never before.

“Will you forgive my love of you when I was young?”

With a gentle smile, he wiped away her tears quietly.

The sun was setting, reddening the sky. The shadows of the two stood silently in the back garden of the outer palace.

***

It was an immature love.

As he was young, his love was immature.

As he was young, he couldn’t love her as he wished.

As time passed, he wanted to see, meet and have her in his arms, but he could not since he was immature. He thought he should not do so back then.

So, he cried. He was heartbroken. So, he let her go.

There was one boy.

He missed a girl who melted his frozen heart, but when he met her, he couldn’t hug her because he was worried he would hurt her, so he let her go without showing her his true feelings.

There was another boy.

He forgot everything when he was smitten by the fragrance of her tears, and finally he could make her his woman by persistently hanging on her, but he gave up everything.

There was a girl.

She was born in a harmonious family and loved dearly.

As she was too easily moved to tears, she didn’t know what to do so often.

She stirred a boy’s mind, but she left him without appreciating his love, and loved another boy.

Here was the immature love of these foolish children.

It was love which was warm, cozy, sweet but so sad, pathetic and bitter.

It was their immature love.