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Chapter 70
Yeon blinked.
Yes, we are husband and wife.
So, a kiss is completely fine.
It wasn’t the first time we had done it.
“Wait, was it a kiss back then?”
A kiss felt much more ticklish than a peck. It felt like a more affectionate form of physical intimacy.
I still haven’t processed his words, “I missed you,” and now a kiss on top of that…
“Does Seojun like me?”
Maybe he does.
A peck or two is acceptable.
In that instant, Yeon, with her swollen eyes, pressed her lips to Seojun’s first.
This time, Seojun’s eyes widened.
“No, it’s fine. You may.”
Yeon smiled brightly.
In the Kangnyeong Hall, Emperor Beom and Crown Prince Byeong sat across from each other with a tea table between them.
“The National Secretary reports that everything is safe.”
Beom poured wine into Byeong’s glass as he spoke.
The wine sloshed in Byeong’s cup. Pretending not to notice, Beom put the bottle down.
“That’s truly fortunate. Will you be returning soon?”
“I’ll need to stay in Prague a bit longer. Recovery will take time.”
“The Czech government will surely want to punish the perpetrator severely. Have you conveyed your wishes, Your Majesty?”
Beom clinked his glass against Byeong’s.
As Beom downed his drink in one go, Byeong turned his head and emptied his own.
“Punishing the individual is important, but the real concern is the mastermind behind it.”
“Mastermind? I thought it was a simple robbery.”
The corners of Byeong’s mouth twitched slightly, betraying his unease.
“You’ve read the incident report, yes?”
“Yes.”
“After hearing it, did it still seem like just a robbery?”
Beom spoke in a low, chastising tone. Byeong quickly bowed his head.
“Your Majesty, while the robber’s actions are suspicious, in this day and age, a terrorist act targeting the Empire’s royal family… what kind of lunatic would do such a thing?”
“A lunatic… Yes. If it were a lunatic, such an act would make sense.”
Byeong couldn’t tell whether Beom’s words were directed at him or spoken aloud to himself.
‘Does Father know I arranged this?’
A cold sweat ran down Byeong’s spine.
“We’ve also decided to dispatch investigators from our country.”
“Ah! Is that so? Then I shall ask my father-in-law to find competent investigators.”
Byeong offered the suggestion with enthusiasm, but Beom immediately rejected it.
Beom was annoyed by the disrespect in Byeong’s tone toward his father-in-law.
“No. I cannot burden your father-in-law with this. The investigator will be recommended by the National Secretary.”
“The National Secretary…?”
“He was competent during his police days. Surely he can recommend someone trustworthy.”
“Ha ha, indeed.”
Byeong laughed awkwardly.
Watching this, Beom slammed his cup onto the table with a loud thud.
“I didn’t call you here because of the National Secretary.”
Beom tossed a stack of papers in front of Byeong.
Upon checking the printouts, Byeong clenched his fists tightly.
Beom had presented a report on public opinion demanding an investigation into Byeong, triggered by media articles and rumors originating from stock market tabloids.
[The Empire Faces Its First Scandal: Questions Arise About the Heir’s Qualifications]
[Does the Crown Prince Qualify? Public Opinion Divided]
[Crown Prince, Rumor Generator, Tarnishes the Empire’s Dignity]
[Even Still a Crown Prince? Assaults and Scandals Stir Public Outrage]
[Royal Family Rumors: Possible Replacement of Heir Sparks Speculation]
[People Disappear from the Crown Prince’s Palace, Stirring Unrest Inside and Outside the Empire]
A petition urging an investigation had already garnered over 200,000 signatures.
Byeong, who had known public opinion was bad, did not realize it was this severe. His smile collapsed.
“Your Majesty… Father, this is utterly slanderous!”
His hands trembled as he held the paper with sensational headlines.
“There are forces trying to defame me! How dare they insult the royal family? We must show the power of the Crown! I’ll sue the petitioners and make them pay the proper price!”
His eyes were bloodshot as he spoke. Beom held back his words.
“Are you planning to fight against the citizens? Against 200,000 people?”
“They are not worthy of being called citizens. Perhaps traitors! Those who disrespect the royal family are not true Koreans!”
Byeong raised his voice. Beom pressed his lips tightly together. Listening to him gave Beom a headache and made his chest tight.
Which era was Byeong living in?
In the Korean Empire, the royal family was a symbolic entity.
They received many privileges but were not omnipotent rulers.
And they should not have been. Beom had taught from a young age that duty outweighed rights as emperor.
When teaching Byeong, he stressed putting the people first, as stated in Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution.
Yet despite this teaching, Byeong saw the citizens as subjects to be commanded, and the emperor as a figure towering above all.
It was an extremely dangerous mindset. If widely known, it could threaten the very existence of the royal family.
Beom had believed Byeong could change, but all hope was shattered.
“Why are you so different?”
Beom looked at Byeong with a mix of disappointment and disbelief.
“What do you mean?”
Byeong narrowed his eyes, instinctively realizing who he was being compared to.
But he wanted to deny it.
‘Please… don’t say that name. Don’t speak of that child, Father.’
He hoped desperately.
But just as a son disappointed his father, the father ignored the son’s plea.
“While the princess was working abroad for the nation, even giving up her honeymoon, what were you doing here?”
Beom’s feigned calm broke.
“Buying off reporters to stop fake news, threatening the citizens! Your brother is no better than your sister!”
He shouted until his face turned red.
“How far will you continue to disappoint me?”
Beom slammed the tea table roughly. The wine glasses clattered.
Wine from the overturned bottle soaked Byeong’s sleeves.
Byeong twisted his mouth in response.
“Did you ever… have any expectations of me?”
“What?”
“Every day it was Yeon, Yeon, Yeon! Our Yeon! Yeonhwa, our beautiful Yeonhwa!”
Byeong imitated the tender expression Beom had once shown. Then he quickly glared at him with a cold face.
“You did that every day. Yeonhwa is your beautiful child, I am the unworthy one! Was it not decided from the start?”
Beom swallowed hard. He had never thought that way, not once.
Of course, he acknowledged treating the two differently, but it wasn’t about affection.
Byeong was the crown prince and Yeon the princess; their responsibilities differed. That’s why he treated them differently.
If anything, the child Beom did not expect much from was Yeon.
Every night, he hoped Byeong would improve, that he would grow into a capable emperor.
But Byeong consistently disappointed him.
And yet, Beom had even covered for him, forgiving actions that should never have been overlooked, expecting him to improve.
“Did you think I did this to be blamed by you?! Did you think I covered for you so you could resent me?”
Byeong’s eyebrows twitched.
‘I thought he didn’t know, but he knew all along?’
What others called corruption, assault, and threats, Beom had reported as the rightful use of authority.
And now, he threw a public opinion report at him to test him?
Not only distrust, but a test as well.
Just as Beom was disappointed in his son, Byeong’s expectations of his father shattered completely.
Byeong exhaled hollowly.
“What if you didn’t cover for me? I had no choice. If not me, there’s no one else to succeed you.”
“You… you little brat…!”
A vein bulged on Beom’s temple. He clenched his teeth so tightly his cheeks trembled.
“Since you’ve covered for me, pretend you don’t know the rest. If you have nothing more to say, I’ll leave.”
Byeong brushed the wine from his clothes and stood. His attitude was brazen.
“You… you may not stand there!”
Beom’s gaze shook violently as he called for him to stop.
Byeong didn’t look back.
But when he faced the Kangnyeong Hall doors, he had to turn on his own.
Thud. The sound of a large body hitting the floor.
The emperor of the Korean Empire, Beom, sounded like a great mountain collapsing.
“Your Majesty? Father!”
Byeong, startled, turned and nearly called the eunuch but hesitated.
He looked down at Beom, who had collapsed pale as death, and squeezed his eyes shut.
After several anxious sighs, he finally spoke:
“…Eunuch Jo! Eunuch Jo, get a doctor!”
