The Hated Male Concubine - Chapter 67

“Your Highness! I think you can wear these clothes to Her Highness Sukbi’s birthday banquet tomorrow!”

When Seoseo eventually made a fuss by clapping her hands and shouting, Ahjin next to her nodded as well. However, Hwawoon, who lowered his head and looked at himself once, shook his head quietly.

“The owner of the banquet is Her Highness Sukbi, so can I be insensitive and dress up fancily? Keep this nicely, and I’m telling you in advance that I’ll go as simple and as neat as possible tomorrow.”

“But Your Highness! Everyone is supposed to dress up as beautifully as possible for a banquet!”

“That’s right. This actually is not that flashy compared to other concubines…”

Seoseo and Ahjin muttered alternately while wearing the same sullen face at Hwawoon’s answer. The reason for this was that all the courtiers of Jeongan Palace including Ahjin and Seoseo were very happy recently. Not to mention that Yeonbin no longer harassed them as he did before, the way everyone looked at them outside Jeongan Palace had changed completely.

In the past, no one looked favorably at the courtiers of Jeongan Palace, regardless of where they went or who they met, so they were even more saddened by the hardships. However, after Yeonbin changed, or to be a little more accurate, after he started walking from the Empress Palace to Jeongan Palace every morning, the courtiers of Jeongan Palace realized that there was envy in the eyes of others who saw them.

At first, their eyes narrowed to determine whether Yeonbin had really changed, or whether it was another trick of Yeonbin or just a rumor. Their eyes began to change to a completely different gaze as the number of courtiers who experienced Hwawoon’s kindness directly increased.

Since Hwawoon changed the form of his usual clothes, more and more people had openly praised Yeonbin as if he were a beautiful gentleman, and whenever Hwawoon smiled at someone and spoke kindly, more and more people were attracted and stunned by his face and atmosphere.

It was even said that there were more people snooping along the way he took when it was time for him to go back from the morning greetings to see Yeonbin. Therefore, the people of Jeongan Palace, who had always been the subject of ridicule and sympathy, had now experienced the gaze of others who envied them little by little.

It was unnecessary to say how proud the courtiers of Jeongan Palace, who had always been walking around intimidated, walked around the whole palace with their shoulders wide open.

Ahjin and Seoseo, who were excited about blooming their beautiful master in front of everyone for the same reason, steadily walked up to Hwawoon and continued to talk, drooping their eyes.

“Your Highness, come on and wear this. Please? You have to think about the sincerity of Officer Jung who came to Jeongan Palace himself… Okay?”

“That’s right, that’s right. How disappointing would it be for the girls of the Tailoring Bureau who have embroidered this sincerely until their fingertips are worn out if these clothes rotted without you wearing them to a banquet? Okaay?”

Ahjin and Seoseo continued to talk coordinately even though they didn’t even plan it. The best thing to persuade their master was to mention the sincerity and hardship of the subordinates, and they both had already figured it out without anyone saying it.

As expected, when Hwawoon, whose eyes began to shake rapidly as soon as Officer Jung’s sincerity and the hardships of the children of the Tailoring Bureau were brought up, couldn’t say anything, Ahjin and Seoseo quickly approached Hwawoon, grabbed his arms, shook them, and acted cutely.

“Your Highness, so you have to wear this tomorrow, okay? If you wear this and stand at the banquet, the children of the Tailoring Bureau who made these clothes with all their heart will be really proud and happy.”

“If the clothes they made are revealed in His Majesty’s presence, what greater joy would there be for them than that?”

So, when Hwawoon, who couldn’t beat the two girls’ spirits, sighed once and tried to answer alright, a voice they never imagined rang out behind them.

“What are you trying to reveal in my presence?”

It was the voice of the emperor who put down the report he had been reading and walked to Jeongan Palace.

***

“Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Yihan quietly stared at the people who kneeled to greet him. He said, “raise up,” and then looked elsewhere for no reason. He was amazed and embarrassed by himself who ‘once again’ walked to Jeongan Palace without any particular reason.

So even after Hwawoon raised his body, he still looked around and finally turned his eyes again to face Hwawoon standing in front of him. Yihan then unconsciously clenched his fists and bit his lips. It was a moment of crisis when he almost burst into exclamations. Yihan’s eyes repeatedly scanned Hwawoon from head to toe in a short time.

To be honest, it wasn’t such a glamorous outfit. The light sky blue was very light for a concubine’s outfit, and the flower-shaped decoration on the hair fixed with a binyeo could be said as fancy, but even that was nothing compared to the hair ornaments of ordinary concubines.

What was surprising was that he couldn’t take his eyes off him, nevertheless. Although it was for a moment, Yihan thought it was dazzling when he saw Hwawoon stand in front of him. The light sky-like color matched so well with his white and translucent skin, and the white embroidery, which glistened and shone every time it met the sunlight, made him think of a lake showered under the sun.

And Yeon Hwawoon’s face, which looked somewhat surprised and happy by the sudden visit of the emperor, was finer and more beautiful than the face in the memory Yihan vaguely recalled.

“I will prepare the tea…!”

Ahjin quietly stared at the Emperor, who had been staring at Hwawoon’s face for a long time without saying anything, and managed to hide the smile that tried to bloom on her face. She hurriedly said that in a small voice and dragged Seoseo out of the room, and suddenly, there was an awkward silence inside the room, where only Yihan and Hwawoon were left alone. Hwawoon was the one to open his mouth first.

“Please take your seat, Your Majesty.”

Only then did Yihan realize that he was standing blankly staring at Hwawoon. He coughed once for nothing, sat down, and said,

“What were you talking about?”

Yihan felt this situation very awkward even though he was speaking out of his own mouth because it was too trivial to be asked first as he came to Jeongan Palace without notice. Since when did Yeon Hwawoon and I start exchanging trivial questions? Since when did I visit him all of a sudden and sit and talk to each other in a normal way?

At the same time, it caused awkward and strange excitement, and while Yihan was wiggling his fingers for no reason, Hwawoon looked down at his clothes reflexively at Yihan’s question. His cheeks slightly flushed as if he was embarrassed.

“About that… the Department of Internal Affairs sent me new clothes, and I just tried them on to see if it fits my body.”

“Then why was my name mentioned?”

Hwawoon looked at Yihan with a somewhat perplexed expression at the continuous questions and then bowed his head again. He had no choice but to answer the question from the Emperor, yet he couldn’t just say every word said by the girls. So, Hwawoon kept biting his lips for no reason, and he soon opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty will attend Her Highness Sukbi’s birthday banquet tomorrow, so… the girls were recommending me to wear these clothes…”

“Ah…”

He didn’t know why his face blushed and why he felt embarrassed by those words. New clothes arrived, and the young court ladies were excited about it, so they asked him to wear them to the banquet tomorrow. He questioned why he kept fiddling with his sleeves when saying that even though it was nothing big.

Maybe it was because Ahjin and Seoseo said he looked good and beautiful right in front of him. Usually, Hwawoon didn’t even think about how he looked to others, but the two of them just talked about it a lot until now, so he couldn’t help but think about how he would look to the emperor right now.

Yihan, too, strangely felt embarrassed and awkward about Hwawoon’s story. When he brought up his clothes, Yihan had no choice but to look at Hwawoon in front of him once again. In spite of the thought he had barely shaken out a moment ago, he kept thinking about just how beautiful his face was, not the clothes he was wearing, the hair ornaments he was wearing, or anything like that.

No, strictly speaking, there was something wrong with calling it Hwawoon’s face. He had seen Yeon Hwawoon’s beautiful face for a long time, but recently, there was something at odds about Hwawoon’s look to simply say he looked beautiful because of his fine face.

He wondered how he should express it. In fact, Yihan had struggled quite a few times to find a word to express it, but he had yet to find a word to properly express the sensation he felt. If he were to find the closest word, would it be ‘atmosphere?’ However, it was the atmosphere he exuded, not his looks atmosphere. A completely different vibe from before, which he began to have one day. Some sensations that could not be described in words.

This was the reason that now made Yihan think Yeon Hwawoon is beautiful.