A Crane Among Wolves

10. Daehyun

Daehyun spent the night bythe latticed hanji screen, staring at the empty courtyard. He saw someone approaching quickly, and soon Hyukjin was announced in. Female attendants prepared a small table of late-night dessert—flavored glutinous rice and two bowls of sweet sikhye drinks swirling with pieces of rice.

“You have likely not eaten,” Daehyun murmured. “Eat.”

Hyukjin picked up the drink; his hands were shaking. He set the bowl back down. “All day, I sensed that I was being watched. Did you have someone follow me?”

Daehyun frowned. “No, I did not.”

Hyukjin shook his head. “It is likely all in my mind.”

“One cannot be too sure… When you leave, I will have one of my servants accompany you—”

“Y-you must have heard the news from a few days ago,” Hyukjin interrupted, his expression growing frantic. “About Lady Seungpyeong’s death.”

“You procured kyungpo-buja for her.”

“H-how did you—?”

“Our messenger girl. I have been searching for you ever since.”

Hyukjin ran a hand over his haggard face. “I was so certain that no one would notice. It was supposed to be medicine.”

The dread in his chest beat stronger, but Daehyun kept his voice steady as he asked, “Did Court Lady Sonhui kill her?”

“No. My sister came to me to confess all. Asked me for advice on how to escape the trouble she would be in—for having procured poison. I took leave from duty, feigning illness, and have tried to arrange a way to help my sister escape. But I am kept awake at night by the thought that perhaps… encouraging her escape might lead to her death. So I am here to ask you—what should we do?”

“Tell me everything. Leave nothing out.”

“Lady Seungpyeong asked my sister to secretly procure kyungpo-buja, saying it was for Her Ladyship’s aching limbs. My sister agreed to it—”

“Did it not occur to her the perilous nature of her undertaking?” Daehyun asked, his voice flat.

“Sonhui is simpleminded, as you know; the girl believes what she is told. Gods, up until she was twelve, she believed her dead mother was a heavenly maiden because of a story I had told her long ago! So why would she have doubted Lady Seungpyeong? If the old lady wished for medicine, then of course Sonhui would deliver it to her!”

Daehyun sighed, massaging his temples. “Proceed.”

“Sonhui swore to me she did not know it would be used as poison. It was all a naive mistake. What do I do? My mind is a tangle of thoughts, and I—”

“Does she have any idea as to why Lady Seungpyeong might have wished to die?”

Hyukjin fell quiet, then covered his face with both hands. “She did. My foolish sister. She never should have entered the palace.” He pressed his fingers into his eyes, continued to curse, then took in a deep breath and composed himself. “Sonhui told me of an odd incident. After a visit from the royal physician, Lady Seungpyeong had broken into tears, pleading with a chronicler not to record a shameful incident. But the chronicler is duty-bound to record all the palace goings-on and thus refused.”

Daehyun sat straighter; his curiosity piqued. It was a chronicler’s mandate to accurately collect information for the Draft History in an objective and dispassionate manner. No one was permitted to tamper with the material, not even the king himself. Not even a murderous tyrant. Chroniclers had died in their fight to preserve recorded history, and no amount of begging could sway them. Lady Seungpyeong must have known this, yet still she had pleaded, utterly terrified of her secret being unveiled for generations to come. But what secret was so abominable that she had chosen death?

“Well?” Daehyun said, his attention trained on his friend. “What was recorded?”

“She… she had symptoms of pregnancy.”

“But she is a widow. Whose child?”

Hyukjin grew pale as his jaw locked. “The king’s.”

Daehyun could only stare, unable to form a single word. A wave of disgust swept through him. Tyranny, murder, rape. He had thought it impossible for the king to sink into further depravity.

“Since I was a child, I heard rumors—” The words caught in his throat, sharp as thistles. Daehyun took a sip of sikhye, stared into the bowl, then recomposed himself. “I heard rumors that King Yeonsan was wooing his aunt-in-law. I did not believe it then… He treated Lady Seungpyeong with lavish affection, but I thought it was because she reminded him of his own mother.” He frowned. “But to be pregnant at fifty—is it even possible?”

“It is.”

“No one else knows of Her Ladyship’s pregnancy?”

“According to my sister, it is still a private matter.”

“Gods, I have lost all my appetite.” Daehyun folded his arm across his chest, staring down at the dessert. “You do understand, if your sister is caught for having procured kyungpo-buja, she will be executed.”

“I know. I am at my wit’s end, daegam.”

“I will find a way to protect you, I promise. Who else knows about the procured poison?”

“No one else. I—I am sure of it.”

“Your sister and all of Lady Seungpyeong’s attendants will be interrogated under torture. Is Sonhui brave enough to withstand that and stay silent?”

Hyukjin’s voice broke. “The girl may be simple, but she is braver than both of us.”

“No one will be the wiser, then, if she keeps her mouth shut. And you keep your mouth shut, too. From now on, you know nothing.”

Hyukjin sank forward, hunching over his drink. “Is there no other way? Perhaps I ought to run away with her. I would die ten thousand deaths to allow my sister to have a bright future.”

“For her to run is to admit her guilt. The king would send an entire army after her.”

“So she is trapped,” Hyukjin whispered. “The godsdamned king needs to die.”

“We are still waiting for an opportunity—” Daehyun tensed, realization dawning as he stared at his grief-ridden friend. “Wait…”

“This coup… I sometimes wonder whether it will occur at all.” Hyukjin emptied his sweet drink in one swallow, then stared at it dissatisfied, as though wishing it were soju. “All we do is talk and dream. But nothing happens.”

“Hyukjin-ah,” Daehyun’s voice rasped, “what say you to Deputy Commander Park?”

Hyukjin watched him steadily, his brows knitting with bewilderment. “He is the king’s closest aide, daegam. He holds great power over the government, and he would never turn traitor.”

“Opinions can be changed. As did Wonsik’s.”

“When we recruited him, he declined because he was worried for us both. He rebuked us for an entire day, and then he agreed to it only because I knelt and begged him,” Hyukjin said. “But the deputy commander? What does he care for our lives? If we try to recruit him, he will have us executed instead—”

“What would you do, Hyukjin-ah,” Daehyun said softly, his heart thundering, “if you learned that your sister was harassed by her nephew-in-law for years? What would you do if she then died by suicide because she was violated, resulting in a pregnancy?”

“I would kill this nephew. I would—” Hyukjin’s face drained of color, and a light shone bright in his widened eyes. “Lady Seungpyeong’s brother is Deputy Commander Park.”

“And I believe,” Daehyun said, hope straining against his voice, “the deputy commander and his clan would not suffer such an offense in silence.”

General Jeong Jungbu, 1170.Names and dates rushed through Daehyun’s thoughts as he retired to his personal chamber. He had studied coups day and night, for he knew history was the wisest teacher. General Yi Seong-gye, 1388. Prince Yi Bangwon, 1398. Prince Suyang, 1455.

In all instances, the coups had succeeded because of their golden opportunity, among other factors. And as he and Hyukjin had discussed until an hour before dawn, they had wondered if their golden opportunity had truly arrived. Perhaps the truth behind Lady Seungpyeong’s death would ignite enough anger to finally overthrow the king…

Daehyun must have fallen asleep, for he woke up with his head resting on his low-legged table. His chamber was drenched in the blue-gray of early-morning light, and there was an urgent voice outside his door.

“Daegam! Daegam!”

Daehyun straightened himself. “Come in.”

His manservant tumbled in, muddy and out of breath. “Daegam, you sent me to accompany Royal Guard Hyukjin home,” he said, his voice shaking. “And so I did. I watched until he returned to his residence, then I looked around the neighborhood to ensure that all was safe, and I was about to leave when I saw him race right out on horseback! I asked his personal servant where the master had gone off to. He looked frightened but would not say where!”

“Perhaps an urgent matter arose.” Still, an uneasy sensation stirred at the pit of his stomach. Calmly, he prepared a message. “Send this to Wonsik.”