Chapter : 15
Sitting on the Safflower Flowers (5)
When Yeonho was young, he disliked the vine-like flowers that grew like weeds around Byeolwon Pavilion.
“Mother, why do you leave these messy weeds alone?”
“Yeonho, even these weeds you speak of have a pretty name—they’re called safflower.”
“Well, everything has a name. Still, weeds like this are everywhere. Wouldn’t it be better to pull them out and plant pretty flowers instead?”
“They’re wildflowers that found their way into my garden. And if you dye cloth with safflower, the color comes out beautifully. There’s not a single blade of grass that’s useless—just like people, all of whom are precious.”
“You can dye fabric with this?”
“Of course. Shall I show you?”
Cloth dyed with safflower fluttered softly in the breeze, and his mother’s smile was as warm as the sunlight.
Yeonho sank into memories he had forgotten for a while.
Joyoung quietly watched him, not interrupting.
After a moment, Yeonho came back from his reverie and fiddled with the tassel knot as he asked,
“Was this really under the bed?”
“Yes. It was pushed so far in that I had to stretch my arm to barely reach it.”
“Why did you look under there?”
“Ah, th-that is, I tripped by accident and—”
“……”
Perhaps her stumbling explanation sounded suspicious.
When Yeonho said nothing, Joyoung grew anxious for no reason and quickly changed the subject.
“Um… I hesitate to say this, but isn’t it strange? That Her Ladyship took her own life… She hid something she made for her son under the bed. It doesn’t quite add up.”
In truth, Yeonho had been thinking the same thing.
His mother’s death had been too sudden, and he had been young at the time.
With no room to think deeply about the incident, he had been consumed only by fierce anger and grief.
But now that this item had been found beneath the bed, one clear possibility came to mind.
The image of his mother, the day before her son departed for the battlefield, gently touching the knotted ornament she had prepared and slipping it into a pouch.
Then someone intruded, strangled her, and as she struggled, the pouch fell and was shoved under the bed.
It was entirely possible.
“There must have been a reason why she couldn’t pass this on to you.”
Yeonho found it strange that the princess was the one comforting him.
Shouldn’t her heart be in more pain right now?
There was no trace of sorrow on the face of the woman who had fled, abandoning her status as a princess to go to Jeong Ja-in.
“You’re stronger than I expected, Princess.”
“Pardon?”
“I can’t imagine you’ve already sorted out your feelings, yet you seem to be adapting here faster than I thought.”
Joyoung realized with a jolt that she had forgotten she was pretending to be a princess. Flustered, she retorted in an unnecessarily sharp tone.
“Are you suspecting me of plotting something? Or are you mocking my feelings, as though my affection were trivial?”
“I’m saying you’re pushing yourself too hard. You don’t need to force yourself to look cheerful.”
“I’ve done no such thing. I’m simply living at ease, trusting the promise that His Lordship will send me away in three months.”
Yeonho disliked how she spoke with excitement, as though eager to leave his side.
Was Jeong Ja-in the only one she could see?
He felt oddly betrayed by the warmth of her earlier comfort.
“Whatever the case, it’s good to see. I expected you to be gloomy, but I welcome the fact that you’re freely roaming Bisansung.”
“Thank you for thinking kindly of me. Then, may I use Byeolwon Pavilion?”
“You’d stay in that shabby place for a mere three months? By the time it’s cleaned up and repaired, you won’t even last three months there.”
At present, the princess was staying in the finest quarters reserved for honored guests.
“I like the garden. Since I’ll be bored while I’m here, I’d like to tend it myself.”
In truth, Joyoung wanted to atone, even a little, for the guilt of being treated as a princess by the lord.
No—rather than atoning, it would be more accurate to say she wanted to repay the treatment she had received.
Having handled all kinds of chores and farm work at the Ha family estate, she was confident in her ability to tend a garden.
Besides, she truly liked Byeolwon Pavilion. And knowing the story of the lord and his mother weighed on her heart, she wanted to help in whatever way she could.
“My mother rarely left Byeolwon Pavilion. That place is like that. It seems you wish to stay there because seeing me makes you uncomfortable.”
“You’re busy anyway, aren’t you? It would be difficult for us to see each other often regardless.”
“Which is why I’d like to make one more proposal. What use is it not seeing each other, whether for three months or three years?”
“I have always answered your summons. Until just now, you were the one saying I didn’t need to come.”
“I couldn’t very well make His Majesty’s dining table uncomfortable. Since you wish to use Byeolwon Pavilion, I’ll arrange it. In return, you must spend time with me.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that…?”
“I mean spending time together like lovers do.”
“But you and I are not lovers.”
“We are betrothed. Isn’t that a closer relationship than lovers?”
“Do you think that just because we meet often, we can become lovers in a mere three months?”
“If you think that way, then you have even less reason to refuse my proposal—if you’re confident you won’t give me your heart.”
“……”
Joyoung was captivated by his eyes as he gazed at her deeply, speaking with confidence.
She had rarely been around men, and now such a handsome man was asking for her heart—her chest fluttered.
Confident she wouldn’t give her heart? Of course not.
“Then what about you, my lord? Do you like me? Are you forcing yourself to care for me simply because I’m a princess?”
“If you weren’t Her Highness, we would never have met, so that assumption is meaningless. Still, the moment I met you, I felt relieved. Relieved that I could bring myself to care for you.”
“!”
Joyoung was left speechless.
What was one supposed to say at a moment like this?
She was confused. It sounded as though he was saying he liked her not as a princess, but as a woman. Had she heard him correctly?
“Then, except for when I must leave the fortress, I’ll spend time with you every day.”
While Joyoung was still turning his words over in her mind, the matter somehow ended with that conclusion.
“So you’re saying Aunt made this herself? Is there anyone who actually saw her make it?”
Yulbok asked indifferently, holding the knotted ornament.
Having been hurriedly summoned from his rest at home, Yulbok was relieved that it wasn’t the emergency he had feared.
Still, he couldn’t hide his sense of emptiness at having his hard-earned rest—after returning from the battlefield—interrupted by something like this.
“Since Mother was the owner of Byeolwon Pavilion, anything in it would indeed be hers. As for whether she made it herself, the maid who attended her would know.”
“So at present, nothing is certain.”
“The dyeing of this thread was definitely done by Mother. She often dyed cloth with safflower.”
“Safflower? What’s that?”
“You don’t know? The princess recognized it immediately, saying it was dyed with the safflower in the garden just by looking at the knot.”
“Perhaps she likes flowers, being a woman. Besides, Her Highness was relatively free to go in and out of the palace and even dated Jeong Ja-in… You didn’t hear that from me. Ahem. In any case, just because the dyeing material was in the garden doesn’t prove anything.”
“That’s why I intend to investigate.”
“You plan to dig up something from nearly ten years ago with no physical evidence, relying only on speculation? Don’t misunderstand me—I too feel sorrow over Aunt’s death. But Bisansung’s situation isn’t good right now. There’s already plenty of talk about postponing your marriage to the princess.”
“I’ve been thinking about where, and since when, the chaos and danger in Bisansung began.”
“Yes? Wasn’t Bisansung always like this? Politically and externally, it’s always been a region under close watch, hasn’t it?”
“That’s true. But think carefully about when the lord of Bisansung himself began to be threatened.”
“Well, that would be… when Uncle—!”
Yulbok stopped mid-sentence and widened his eyes.
Up until now, he had thought that his former uncle’s suspicious death was the beginning of the Empress setting her sights on Bisansung—but perhaps that wasn’t the case.
“My mother’s death shook both Father and me deeply. The maid who had cared for Mother most closely left the fortress afterward. Find her. There’s much I need to ask.”
What if his mother’s death, made to look like a suicide, was in fact murder?
Another surge of anger rose in Yeonho’s heart.
