TRSCSS 19

Lee Seo took out the dried darae and fell into thought. Last autumn, he had gathered a great many plump-looking wild vine fruits and dried them, but now that time had passed, looking at the dusty, shriveled fruits made him wonder if it had really been worth all the scratches he got from tree branches while greedily picking them.

“What is this?”

Eonnyeon placed one of the hard, blackened fruits—which looked nothing like food—on her palm and rolled it around.

“Isn’t it dried darae?”

“This?”

In a voice full of disbelief, Eonnyeon held the fruit up. The darae she remembered from autumn had been fresh green fruits, sweet and tart, but this thing was so hard it looked impossible to even bite into, let alone eat.

Letting out a light sigh, Lee Seo poured the dried fruits into a basin of water. The thoroughly dried fruits floated without any intention of sinking. He roughly rinsed them and scrubbed them clean.

After soaking the cleaned fruits in plum wine, he waited for them to plump up before adding honey and simmering them slowly. The miserably shriveled fruits gradually regained their original shape. Though the freshness they once had when newly ripened was long gone, their greenish color and round forms slowly returned.

Once he finished simmering the fruits, Lee Seo took out agar and began dissolving it. When the agar powder had fully melted, he adjusted the sweetness with honey and rice syrup before adding sweet bean paste and mixing it evenly.

“Young master, what are you making?”

“I’m thinking of making darae yanggeng.”

The weather was starting to grow warmer. On days like these, chilled yanggeng sold better than rice cakes. Besides, Lee Seo planned to visit Han Seojae with elegant yanggeng embedded with darae fruits and a drink made by mixing citron ginger syrup. No matter what, one could not visit another person’s house empty-handed.

As he wondered whether plums were still hanging at Han Seojae, Lee Seo frowned. He had suddenly remembered Prince Jaean. Along with the memory of the prince kissing Yoo Ji on the cheek while looking straight at him. How had his thoughts wandered there?

“Should I just not go?”

With the weather like this, the plums might already have gone soft. According to people, Ryun still spent more time at Haewolgak than Han Seojae, but regardless, Han Seojae was now Ryun’s residence, and Lee Seo had no wish to draw attention by coming and going there. Nothing good would come from becoming entangled with him.

But still.

“If your intention to give me the golden plums has not changed, may I come pick them?”

Those words he had once spoken weighed on his mind. Surely Ryun wouldn’t actually be waiting for him or forbidding anyone from touching the fruit because of that, but still, it felt like he had said something unnecessary.

“Young master, should we buy some golden plums?”

Right then, Samdeuk, diligently washing rice, casually asked. Straightening his back and glancing at the sky, he seemed to be estimating how much longer they had to make golden plum syrup.

“If we wait any longer, we won’t be able to make it this year.”

Between dealing with his older brother’s affairs and moving the shop, they had missed the proper timing to purchase golden plums.

Green plums had excellent medicinal effects, but golden plums were better in flavor and sweetness for drinks, so every year Lee Seo bought large quantities to make golden plum syrup for tea.

It was also effective for summer stomachaches, so whenever Lee Seo made it, Samdeuk would always make a little extra separately for Eonnyeon. But this year the young master had said nothing, so he cautiously brought it up.

“Would there even be any golden plums left at the market?”

“Well… this year’s weather has been unusually warm, so it’s probably already the tail end of the season. Even when I checked yesterday, most of them were already getting soft…”

Samdeuk trailed off.

“That’s true. Don’t worry. I know a place.”

After speaking, Lee Seo quickly stirred the agar mixture and added malt syrup. He poured half into a small pot, mixing milk into one half and green tea water into the other before pouring them side by side into molds and decorating them with honey-soaked darae fruits.

“Wow! Young master! They’re so pretty!”

Eonnyeon cried out in admiration. It was hard to believe that those fruits which had looked like pebbles earlier had transformed like this. And the yanggeng! She had only ever seen the red kind sold in the marketplace, so the green-and-white layered yanggeng looked astonishingly elegant to her.

Once the yanggeng had set, Lee Seo cut the first piece and placed it into Eonnyeon’s hand. Watching this, Samdeuk frowned and grumbled.

“Young master, you’ll spoil her. Giving her leftovers after selling would be more than enough.”

“No, that won’t do. Eonnyeon matters more to me than business.”

Lee Seo said with a smile, and Eonnyeon stuck her tongue out at her father before running outside.

“That girl, honestly…”

Samdeuk clicked his tongue in disapproval, but Eonnyeon had already dashed off toward the open space in front of the shop where the children were playing.

“Watch the store for me. I’m going to get some golden plums.”

“Yes, young master.”

Lee Seo packed several pieces of yanggeng and some citron ginger syrup into a small jar before setting out. The days had grown longer now, so if he walked briskly, he could return before dark.

“As it happens, some excellent honey came in, so Father told me to bring it to you, my lord.”

Having finished speaking, Seoyeon lowered her eyes demurely. Her cheeks were flushed red, making her look every bit the shy young maiden overwhelmed with affection. Yet the gaze Ryun directed at her was cold.

“Minister Yeongsang sent me honey?”

I wonder if there’s poison in it. Though he did not say it aloud, Ryun’s eyes were full of distrust as he looked at the honey.

However, Seoyeon, seeing Ryun up close for the first time after only observing him from afar, had no attention left for anything else. His face, striking even from a distance, was even more dazzling up close.

His smooth forehead, thick beautifully shaped brows, straight nose, and red elegant lips made it impossible to look away. And his voice? It was incomparable to the rough, hoarse voice of her older brother Choi Sihwan, steeped in drink and tobacco. Her judgment truly had been correct.

Satisfied, Seoyeon spoke.

“It is rock honey gathered by mountain hunters, and they say it has aged for at least ten years. I do not know if you are aware, but the older honey is, the finer it becomes.”

In truth, as Ryun had guessed, this was not a gift from Choi Chiseong at all. Seoyeon had secretly stolen it herself from the family storehouse. The entire world knew how much Chief State Councillor Choi Chiseong despised Prince Jaean Ryun, so there was no chance he would suddenly send gifts.

That was precisely why Seoyeon had grown frustrated. Her father kept saying, “Today the palanquin, tomorrow I’ll look into it,” but she had long realized he had no intention whatsoever of helping.

At the same time, as an unmarried noble lady, she could hardly loiter around the walls of Haewolgak where Ryun stayed. So when she heard he had moved to Han Seojae, she stole the precious honey her father treasured and hurried there herself. After all, how could the daughter of the Chief State Councillor ignore the relocation of a royal prince?

It was a laughable excuse.

The woman’s gaze started at his face and swept down his entire body. Once was not enough; pretending modesty, she lowered her eyes only to repeatedly glance at him sideways.

“The daughter of Choi Chiseong…”

Annoyed by her gaze, Ryun opened the peony-painted fan and covered half his face as he sank into thought.

Not bad. Considering the old councillor was constantly seeking chances to eliminate him, this seemed like a rather useful weakness to obtain.

He had long heard rumors that the old councillor doted excessively on his daughter. Most likely, Choi Chiseong intended to marry her into some suitably manageable noble family. Or perhaps even make her a royal concubine.

Among his choices, there certainly wouldn’t be some insignificant prince born to the late king’s secondary consort.

“Please convey my thanks to Minister Yeongsang for the gift.”

“I am merely glad it pleases you. Though… I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“I hear you are twenty-four this year, my lord. Well past the age for marriage. If there is no one you hold dear…”

“Miss.”

Ryun interrupted her with a smile. His half-curved eyes turned toward her. How could anyone not become enchanted by such a face? Seoyeon’s expression turned dreamy.

“Have you not heard the rumors about me?”

At his words, Seoyeon smiled lightly.

“You mean the gisaeng named Yoo Ji? I do not particularly mind. Just look at my father—though it is not spoken of openly, he has many concubines, and my brother boasts of having many women as well. At the very least, you are not such a man, are you?”

Still, she truly wondered why he was deliberately telling her this.

“I am curious why you would mention such a thing to me. Surely… you do not find me unsuitable?”

Of course he found her unsuitable. The mere fact that Choi Chiseong’s daughter had come looking for him was enough.

Her abrupt manner of bringing up marriage like a business transaction, and the confidence with which she assumed a powerless royal like him would have no choice but to accept her proposal—every part of it displeased him.

Ryun lowered his eyes coldly.

“How could the treasured daughter of the Chief State Councillor be compared to a mere courtesan?”

Unable to see the chill in his expression, Seoyeon nodded in agreement. Of course. Such a woman could not compare to her. But then what was the issue? She had already planted people around him and thoroughly investigated every rumor in the marketplace, yet nothing else problematic had surfaced.

“I already have a fiancée.”

At Ryun’s words, Seoyeon’s face filled with shock.

“But, my lord, I have never heard such a thing.”

Even her father and brother, who had subtly pressured her to give up on Prince Jaean, had never once mentioned this.

Seoyeon’s protest only widened Ryun’s smile. As though recalling his fiancée, he rested the folded fan against his cheek and continued thoughtfully.

“She was the granddaughter of a retainer dearly cherished by the late king. When we were children, I only glimpsed her from afar once as she came to the palace holding her grandfather’s hand.”

Ryun lifted his gaze to Seoyeon.

“A promise is still a promise. Though circumstances have kept us apart, how could a man’s vow be taken lightly? I shall wait for her no matter how long it takes.”

His wistful eyes turned toward the sky, as though longing for a beloved he had not seen in many years.

Seoyeon’s mouth fell open. Realizing how unbecoming she must look, she quickly shut it again, but she still could not gather her thoughts.