1 ⚜️🌺 Sneaking into the Palace
The moonlight washed over the palace's roofs. When the gong rang in Jibokjae, Yi Baek remained at his desk. As the last footsteps faded, he rose, the candle guttering, and crossed to the far corner to settle among the stacks and read in the quiet. Must I always be regarded with sympathy for my eyes, and never with regard?
The front door creaked. A shadow slipped in.
Small. Not a noblewoman—a palace maid. She peered both ways, closed the door softly, and exhaled.
"Thank Heaven, it's empty. Brother still struggles to grasp half of these teachings..." she muttered. "Now, where is that book?"
Her fingertip skimmed the titles along the shelf, unaware that Baek watched. He tilted his head. A palace maid who can read? Impossible—
"Ah! One of the Four Books!" she whispered.
Startled, his foot slipped, and a volume dislodged and tumbled from the shelf.
"Oh mercy! Is there a ghost?" she cried, clutching the book.
He pressed a hand to his mouth and stayed still in the shadow. Why am I hiding in my own library? He watched her.
She leaned her skirt against the windowsill and read aloud in low, careful tones, nibbling the joint of her index finger as she followed the lines.
"While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in the state of equilibrium. When those feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called harmony," she intoned, pausing to weigh the phrase. She walked the length of the shelf as she read.
He found himself smiling without meaning to. What could a young woman be thinking so hard over such a difficult book? To read the Doctrine of the Mean is to aim for something ambitious. He watched the way her lips moved with each phrase, as if listening to a private song.
As the hours slipped by, she gently closed the book and returned it to its place. She cracked the door an inch to listen for sound, then slipped out toward the North Gate as if on her way to work.
Baek's personal bodyguard, Choi Hye-shik, lingered near the library corner and frowned at the sight of the maid. Once she'd vanished, he came back in.
"Your Majesty—"
"That palace maid can read," Baek said, intrigued. He touched the Doctrine of the Mean and chuckled softly. "She read eloquently, and it was pleasing to listen. Why didn't you bring her to me instead?"
Hye-shik stared. Is His Majesty smiling? This is the first time I have seen him since the Empress Dowager's passing.
Outside at the North Gate, the maid—pausing to hang blankets as if she had a chore—did not notice a royal figure in purple slip behind her with a quick glance. The prince moved inside the palace without a sound.
"Lady Park!" someone called from farther down the lane.
The maid spun, smiling.
"Maid Jung!" the voice replied.
She panted as she reached Lady Park Seon-in, granddaughter of the fallen Minister Park Jiyuk-han.
"Where did you go all night? Your father will find out if you don't come home!" Maid Jung scolded.
Seon-in grinned and surveyed the dark.
"Sh... I just went to read the Four Books—"
"Lady!" Maid Jung put a hand to her chest. "You're driving me crazy! Sneaking into the Forbidden Library! Do you want to ruin us all?"
Seon-in laughed and patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry. No one saw me!" Then she glanced toward the gate and froze as another maid approached. "Let's go before they think I really work here!"
They tiptoed away and then ran, slipping through palace lanes. They did not know Hye-shik had been sent to shadow her.
Once Seon-in's figure vanished beyond the gates, Hye-shik returned to report. Baek frowned.
"Is she not a palace maid?"
"I... do not know. It does not appear so. I could not get close enough to hear," Hye-shik answered.
Baek leaned back, the Doctrine of the Mean open before him, and smirked. Who could you be?
"Find out who she is. If she is no maid, learn her true name. She is bold to treat the Forbidden Library as her own."
Hye-shik bowed.
"Yes, Your Majesty." He hesitated, clenching his hand. "While I was watching her, I saw the Prince of Haeryeong enter by the North Gate."
"The North Gate? Why would he sneak in?"
"I do not know... I did not follow him. You ordered me to keep an eye on the lady—my apologies."
"That is all right. I trust him not to be reckless. Go and investigate the woman."
"At once, Your Majesty."
Seon-in hurried back to her residence to change from her palace maid attire to her humble noble lady attire. She stepped out from her room—
"Ah!" she groaned, stumbling into a wall.
"My daughter is in a rush to go somewhere..." a deep voice said.
She looked up, laughed, and rushed forward to embrace the man—her father, Park Ji-kyung.
"Father! I want to buy a book in the market."
"Tsk." He poked her nose. "You are of an age to be married. What will stop you from being unruly?"
She took his hand and rested her head against it.
"Brother wants to learn, too. I want to help him."
Ji-kyung was quiet for a moment.
"Seon-ah. Your grandfather thought what he did was right—and it led him to exile. Being correct does not grant the license to speak without measure."
She slowly loosened her grip.
"I know... but better to bend the body than the principle."
He kissed her forehead.
"Home before the gong."
"Will do." Father, I will make sure Brother will have a future.
She hopped out with Maid Jung, twinkling with her little bag of coins.
Hye-shik found her in the crowd afterward, following her to the bookstore's front. Seon-in gave a few coins to Maid Jung.
"Go find something... wait for me at the place," Seon-in said.
"My Lady," Maid Jung smiled, blushing. "Thank you..."
She skipped away, leaving Seon-in alone. Seon-in entered the bookstore, looking both sides as Hye-shik slid in slowly—
"Why are you following me?" Seon-in questioned abruptly.
Hye-shik jolted, his eyes widening.
"Wh-what?"
"You followed me from the end of the market to here... why?" she pressed.
Hye-shik blinked, conflicted.
"I... I wasn't—"
Seon-in held her hands on her hips.
"Really? Anyone in the crowd can tell that every time I made a stop to look at hairpins, you stopped, too. Without a lover to purchase it for, pray tell, what else might you withhold—or take?"
Hye-shik's tongue caught. Did she just catch me following her? I've never seen anyone this sharp.
"Do I look like I don't have a lover?" he retaliated.
Seon-in clicked her tongue as she stepped back.
"No... you look like you're too busy to even bother to glance at a lady. Plus, no lady would want a stern, scary face like yours," she snapped.
Hye-shik froze, a new, unfamiliar heat rising in him.
A hand patted Hye-shik's shoulder. Seon-in and Hye-shik flinched and turned. A nobleman—Baek in his disguise with his gat and mesh veil covering his face—glanced at Seon-in.
Seon-in gasped, covering her mouth. Was he doing an errand for a noble? Was I wrong?
"What took you so long to get that book for me? Did you get lost in the street again?" Baek lied.
Hye-shik stiffened, lowering his head.
"No... I found it, Young Master," he added. Hye-shik pulled out a book nearby.
Baek grabbed it and nodded. Seon-in offered a small, awkward bow.
"My apologies... I've been a bit rash," she whispered. I'd better run! She turned away—
Baek moved a step quicker and seized her wrist before the thought had fully formed. When she stumbled, he slid an arm around her waist to steady her. The mesh veil grazed her cheek. Her breath caught — not from the contact, but from a half-glimpsed detail beneath the veil, pale and still, like eyes that had forgotten how to reflect light. She blinked. Gone.
Seon-in's eyes widened. She pushed him away and clutched at her chest.
"What are you doing? I... apologized. Do you intend impropriety in broad daylight?" she questioned.
Hye-shik widened his eyes in shock. This woman dares besmirch His Majesty's honor?! He drew forward—
Baek raised a hand, halting him. Then Baek bowed his head with a faint smile.
"I beg your pardon for any rudeness on my part. Yet I must ask why you would presume to speak against my servant in such a manner."
Seon-in choked on the retort she'd readied. Might he let me go... or am I already trapped? She averted her eyes awkwardly and, without looking, grabbed a book.
"I... believed this was proper for what he wished to study!"
Baek and Hye-shik's gazes fell on the text. Hye-shik went very still. Baek, however, smirked inwardly, suppressing a laugh. So this was the "study" she considered proper. How boldly ignorant—and how dangerously amusing.
A book of filth—the most scandalous sort. Meant for eyes that shouldn't see it.
Seon-in frowned, wondering why Baek dared to laugh at her seriousness. He raised an eyebrow with a sly smirk underneath his veil.
"My servant would never touch an improper book like that," Baek declared, pointing at her hand.
She furrowed her brows, tilting her head. She slowly glanced at the book, mortified. She gasped sharply, dropping the book. Oh, Heaven! What am I touching?
Just as the book landed on the surface, the page opened with an indecent scene where the lady lowered her body and raised her hip for the man behind her.
"Ah!" Seon-in screamed, flushing and turning away with her hands covering her eyes. Her heart thundered.
Baek flushed, looking away instantly with a grin. Hye-shik shook his head in disappointment as he wielded his sword and closed the book with his eyes closed.