Episode 8: 

Impress The King With Your Wits

He woke up next to the King the following day, and the shade from the trees kept the sun out. The King was still sound asleep, his breathing even, his body tense. Min-jun raised himself on his elbows to peer down at his sleeping companion. If they had suspected Min-jun to be colluding with an enemy, then they should’ve killed him off in his sleep. Instead, they left him with a slumbering King. A test? To see if he would take advantage of the situation. Who would be stupid enough to commit murder so close to possible witnesses? 

His hand rose of its own accord, edging along the curve of the King’s neck, his fingers searching for a pulse. There. Human after all. 

The King grabbed onto his wrist, his grip tight, his expression chilling, as if he couldn’t see Min-jun, not really. For a moment, Min-jun could’ve sworn the man intended to kill him then and there. 

As expected of someone as cruel as the King! Min-jun didn’t want to die just yet, though.

“Your Majesty?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. 

The King’s expression shifted to recognition, his lips parting, eyes widening. “Ah.” He released his wrist. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

Min-jun sat up on their shared mattress, bowing his head. “I apologize for touching you without permission.”

“There’s no need to be so formal,” the King murmured, lying on his back, his hand reaching out to gently brush through the ends of Min-jun’s hair. “Did you sleep well?”

No, I fantasized about killing you for most of the night.

Outside, he could hear the clanging of pots. Ji-won must’ve woken up. “Yes. It’s quite comfortable here.” 

“I spent a large part of my childhood in this place,” he said, “so it’s close to my heart.” The King put a finger to his own lips. “Keep it our secret, will you?” 

“Of course.” Min-jun had no use in a tiny cottage from the King’s childhood, nor any of his secrets for that manner. Emotional intimacy was far more dangerous than the physical kind, in his experience. 

“Breakfast!” Ji-won yelled from the kitchen. “Eat or be eaten!”

“That’s … an interesting turn of phrase,” Min-jun said, standing. He was feeling hungry already, and after such a large dinner too. His thoughts must be taking up more of his energy than expected.

The King sighed. “Ji-won read up on the Law of Nature at eight years old and has never forgotten it since. He’s quite grim beneath all that cheerfulness.” 

“I see.” So, they all wore masks. What of the others? Was Sun secretly a ray of sunshine beneath that rough exterior? 

Apparently so, though only in the presence of Ji-won. The two advisors had taken it upon themselves to prepare the breakfast, and now Sun was carefully following Ji-won’s instructions on the proper way to season soybean paste stew. Min-jun stood behind the King, wondering if he should be worried about the food here too. He decided it was unnecessary, since they were making food for the entire group. It would be more likely for Min-jun’s plates or chopsticks to be spiked than the food itself.

“Ah,” Ji-won said, a smile glowing on his face, “you’re here. Sit down. We’ll serve breakfast soon. Sun, can you fetch Hye-jin for me?” 

The man nodded, as he finished drowning the vegetables in salt. Those didn’t seem like the healthy doses Ji-won had suggested he use. Min-jun had been in so much dismay at the poor seasoning of the dishes that he almost missed the look on the King’s face as he scrutinized him, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle. 

“Is something wrong?” Min-jun asked. 

The King grinned. “No, of course not. I was just lost in thought.” He tipped his head to the side. “Do you have any theories as to who attacked you?” Another interrogation. Well, he supposed a consort would need to have the mind for such things. 

“Considering the number of positions for becoming your consort, it’s likely that a noble family from the Dal Province sent them. I don’t know which ones were chosen, but it can be assumed from the numbers of their forces that they were not a fallen noble but not particularly influential either.” 

Ji-won placed two bowls of soup in front of them, but the King’s attention remained with Min-jun, who was ravenous but too polite to start eating now. “What makes you say that?”

“In my experience, more powerful families tend to finish off their victims in more covert ways. By ambushing me like this, they also left plenty of people for you to interrogate. Our most powerful clans might be the most prideful but they also have the most to lose in a scandal. They’re too busy sabotaging each other to care about a common man becoming a consort. What’s the worst that can happen really? Even if I end up seducing you, I’ll never become your Queen. The attack must’ve been ordered by someone who is desperate for the position of a consort and is not worried about the potential backlash they might experience from killing me.”

The King was grinning again, though now the wideness and the glint in his eyes made it maniacal. “You really do think like a detective. A fascinating deduction,” he said. “But even then, you can’t get the true answer with only a small fragment of the facts.”

How rude. Min-jun didn’t like having his skills tested and judged on a whim like this. It reminded him of the various government-owned investigative departments that turned him down after giving him impossible scenarios to deal with. 

And his soup was probably getting cold. He didn’t like this King. He didn’t like him much at all. How long would he have to wait to run a sword through his chest?

“The men who attacked you were serving under several families.” Several. Why had he assumed it would only be one? Certainly, all the nobles he’d ever known had hated one another, but alliances were common, even if they were woefully temporary. “The Hwang-og Ni clan, Yeosin Gim clan, and Chowon Ji Clan. They had entered a pact. We discovered it several days prior to your arrival and took precautions.”   

Those bastards. “I’ve worked with them before. They’re all from neighboring cities.”

“There was a rumor going around that there would only be a few consorts chosen from each Province. They figured if you conveniently vanished, their daughters would replace you. Which is why you should be wary of them from now one.” 

He almost wanted to laugh. Wary of them. He’d work his way up the social ladder and make them pay for such misdeeds. The King had already spent more time with him than anyone else. He was in the lead, and he had never been one to let injustices slide by.

“You should eat. It’ll get cold.” 

. End of Chapter .