Chapter Text
Jaemin knelt beside his former teacher and gently wiped her face with a damp cloth while she slept peacefully. He had recently spent a small fortune to get Eunbyeol her own private room so she would no longer have to share the low tables scattered in the hospital courtyard as the other patients had to do, but that small luxury did not seem to have a positive effect on her complexion.
The hands that had once taught him to wield swords for the dances were now nothing more than a bag of hanging skin and bones. The charismatic smile with two dimples that used to bend the will of hundreds of nobles became nothing more than a precious memory, and the light in her lively eyes turned into the flame of a candle threatened by the wind. At this rate, death would soon come knocking at her door.
Outside the room, Hanbin's cheerful laughter could be heard as Jeno invented games to entertain him. A few days earlier, the prince had fulfilled his promise, at the expense of his own reputation, and had arranged for the little boy to ride a horse for the first time and even allowed him to feed a docile animal taken from the royal stables themselves.
Jaemin shook off his dismayed expression before leaving Eunbyeol's room, and upon reaching the courtyard, he said with a composed attitude, “I hope that in my absence, this little one has not caused too much trouble for Your Excellency.”
Jeno looked up and shook his head while still crouching. “Hanbin is a very sweet child. I was a thousand times more difficult to care for at his age.”
The little boy got up from the floor and clumsily ran to hug Jaemin's leg. “Brother!”
Jaemin tenderly stroked the boy's head. “Hanbin-ah, how have you been behaving?”
“I've been good. Brother Jeno said that if I were a good boy, mommy would have fewer things to worry about and would get better faster,” replied the boy with a broad smile.
Jaemin glanced sideways at Jeno and then back at the boy. “He's right, mommy needs you to be a strong boy so she can concentrate on getting better. Go on, Hanbin, why don't you go and see her while she's sleeping, make sure she doesn't need anything.”
Hanbin nodded eagerly and then disappeared into the bedroom.
“Is your hand all right? I can see it's meticulously bandaged,” Jeno finally said, breaking the silence after several long seconds of just staring at the kisaeng.
“If Your Excellency insists on worrying about me, it's impossible for my heart not to react.”
Jeno sighed in surprise and stood up, shaking his hands. “Can't you answer a simple question without making some kind of insinuation?”
“It is my nature to act this way, I hope Your Excellency does not take it personally.”
“You still haven't answered my question, is your hand all right?”
Jaemin waved his hand in front of his face. “It's nothing serious, just a minor cut, but the madam of my house prefers to treat the wound this way to prevent scarring.”
Jeno nodded silently and walked over to stand beside the kisaeng. Jaemin glanced at him sideways with a subtle smile and asked, “How can I thank Your Excellency for all you have done for Hanbin?”
“I was just fulfilling my promise,” Jeno replied with a shrug. “But if you insist on paying me in some way, I seem to remember that you still owe me an answer.”
Jaemin raised an eyebrow in confusion, and a moment later his face lit up as he understood the prince's words. “That's right! I promised Your Excellency that I would explain my reasons for bringing you here the next time destiny brought us together.”
Jeno nodded, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“Well, Your Excellency kept your promise to Hanbin, so I suppose I must do the same.”
Jeno turned, leaning his shoulder against the building, and fixed his eyes on the kisaeng's profile. His whole body was attentive to his words, eager to receive the answer to all the questions that robbed him of sleep at night.
“Your Excellency already knows Eunuch Hong, and he has told you the most important part of my explanation.”
“The prophecy.”
“That’s right, I am referring to the prophecy,” Jaemin smiled sidelong and recited in a low voice each word of the dire prediction that caused the death of his clan. “Your child shall never earn the dragon's praise. From Na clan’s blood, the next king’s crown shall rise. Two of your own, by their own errors fall. Three will lose favor, cast out from it all. Four shall arise as the sign you dread. The mark of defeat, your power dead.”
“Those are just the words of a mudang, there is no guarantee that there is any truth in them.”
“The woman who resides in the House of Earthly Balance did not think so. Apparently, there was enough truth in those words that it wasn't worth the risk of keeping any of those who carried my blood.”
“Well, assuming that prophecy is true, what is your intention?” Jeno asked curiously.
“I desire to make it come true,” Jaemin replied, locking eyes with the prince.
Jeno's heart skipped a beat when he saw the flame of determination in Jaemin's eyes, and intimidated by the possibility of getting burned, he looked away. “Those words could be considered treason. For your sake, I will pretend I did not hear them. Joseon already has an heir. Making that prophecy come true would have implications I dare not imagine.”
“If Your Excellency does not dare to imagine them, then allow me to be the one to think about them and also to remind you of the temptations they represent,” Jaemin returned his eyes to the horizon and continued speaking calmly, “Only the spirits know how much confidence we should place in their predictions, but if one thing is certain, it is that history does not lie, and few crown princes have ascended to the throne without incidents.”
Jeno swallowed nervously as cold sweat accumulated in the palms of his hands. “Why put the eunuch Hong in the House of Renewed Virtue?”
“I couldn't care less about the house, its resident is what matters.”
“Me?”
“I hope Your Excellency does not take my compliment to heart and strays from your path, but in my opinion, you have what it takes to make the prophecy come true.”
Jeno laughed with a note of sadness. “You've got the wrong person, you're placing your hopes in the worst candidate. I don't know if you're familiar with my reputation, but everyone knows that I have no ambition and no aptitude for study.”
Jaemin waved his hand dismissively at the prince's words. “Ambition can be cultivated and knowledge acquired, but a person's nature is impossible to change. And it is your nature that I seek.”
“That nature of mine that you speak of would only serve you if you desire to bring Joseon to ruin.”
Jaemin shook his head slowly, but as he was about to debate the prince's words, a heart-wrenching child's cry stopped him in his tracks. “Brother!” exclaimed little Hanbin, overcome with fear, and the kisaeng wasted no time in opening the door to the room where the infant's mother was resting.
The scene inside the room looked like something out of a battlefield. Eunbyeol was lying on her side, struggling to hold herself up, while a coughing fit shook her entire body. At some point during the attack, the tissue in her throat had given way to the disease, causing small particles of bloody saliva to escape from her mouth with each cough and find their way onto the legs of her little son, who was now crying inconsolably.
Jeno stood in the doorway, watching the scene in shock, until Hanbin's glassy eyes found him and begged for help without uttering a word. Jeno's heart trembled as he realised that for this little boy, he was one of the few people he could turn to when he felt desperate, and his feet moved faster than his brain.
The prince personally dragged a doctor from another courtyard of the hospital. An old man, with his back bent as a result of his advanced age, did his best to keep up with Jeno, but his feet could only manage a hurried walking pace. Hearing his patient's cough, the doctor hurriedly motioned for Jeno to come closer and quickly instructed him. “Tell whoever is with her to lay her on her shoulder. If she's on her back, she could choke.”
Jeno nodded and crossed the courtyard in three long strides. “Jaemin, I called the doctor, and he says she needs to lie on her side so she doesn't choke.”
A wave of relief washed over Jaemin's face when he heard that Jeno had already brought a doctor, and he immediately pushed Eunbyeol's shoulder blades to lay her on his shoulder.
“Who would say, it is Jaemin!” exclaimed the doctor as soon as he poked his nose into the room.
“Doctor Jeon,” replied Jaemin, nodding towards the old man's silhouette .
Jeon knelt with difficulty beside his patient to take her pulse at her wrist. By this time, the coughing fit had subsided, and Eunbyeol was only weakly spitting a few drops of blood onto the floor of the room. A deep wrinkle appeared between the doctor's eyebrows as he took the retired courtesan's pulse, and his lips twisted into a series of displeased grimaces.
“How is she?” asked Jaemin, his hands fidgeting on his knees.
Jeon tucked Eunbyeol under the blankets and gave the boy beside her a weak smile. “I'm afraid the only way to cure her is to use a full dose of bokbunja [1]-based concoction. I've tried to find alternatives to that treatment in cheaper herbs, but there are no known substitutes; the berry is our only option to save her.”
“Then use it!” Jaemin replied sharply, clenching his clothes inside his fist.
The doctor shook his head slowly. “The berry is in short supply. There isn't enough to treat her until she regains her health. With the reserves we have, we could only give her two doses at most.”
“I invested a fortune in providing the berry for all the patients in this hospital. How can there be a shortage?”
“The berries have been used on the seriously ill patients, but the supply is not sufficient, and no one else has been able to obtain it.”
Jaemin put his hand to his head, clearly annoyed. “Did you try to contact the person who agreed to sell it the first time?”
The doctor nodded sheepishly. “I tried everyone I could think of, but we've been refused unless we pay ten times the original price.”
“Ten times the price!” Jaemin exclaimed in horror. “That greed is unheard of. They want the entire population of the capital to die.”
Jeno's gaze bounced between Jaemin and the doctor until he finally dared to break his silence. “Perhaps I could try to get the bokbunja. It is commonly used in the palace to make sweets. I could find out where the supply that goes there comes from and buy it there.”
The doctor nodded slowly. “If the apothecaries and the palace are supplied by two different places, that might be our only option.”
“It's useless, Choi Siwan controls the entire business. The same berry that arrives at the apothecaries is the one delivered to the palace, but its price only rises when the bastard suspects it will be used for medicinal purposes.”
Jeno raised an eyebrow upon hearing the name of that stranger. “Luckily, no one has to know that the berry is going to be used at the hospital.”
“Explain yourself, Your Excellency, I don't understand your words.”
“My mother used to make bokbunja wine and desserts for, well, for my father,” Jeno said, choosing his words carefully. “That's the perfect excuse to search for the berry without spelling out what it will actually be used for.”
“It might work, but I'm sure it won't be an easy task. Doctors in the capital's hospitals have tried to solve the shortage using all kinds of strategies, but the nobles who control its sale are difficult to deceive.”
“They can refuse to sell it to a wandering doctor, but not to a descendant of His Majesty. Don't worry, I'll bring what's needed for her medicine.”
The doctor's eyes widened when he discovered the identity of the young master Jaemin, who had brought to his hospital. “Your Excellency! Forgive this servant for not recognising you.”
Jeno held the old doctor's arms to prevent him from bowing. “Courtesy is not necessary; I have no merit other than my blood. Doctor Jeon saves lives every day, I should be the one bowing.”
Jeon smiled, surprised by the prince's humble attitude, and insisted on bowing to him. “If you will not accept my bow for your noble blood, then accept it in honour of what you will do for my patients.”
“Time is of the essence. I will set out immediately. Await my return,” said Jeno, preparing to leave.
Jaemin stood up, washed the blood off his hands, and nodded towards the prince, ready to follow him.
“Stay here, Hanbin needs you. If you say you trust my nature, now is the perfect time to prove it. I won't come back without the berry.”
“Your Excellency, merchants are deceitful, and nobles are difficult to deal with. Let me accompany you.”
“Your presence is more helpful here. The mother and child need you.”
Jaemin glanced sideways at Hanbin, who was still trembling in confusion, and reluctantly agreed.
Before leaving, Jeno crouched down in front of little Hanbin, stroked his cheeks, and reassured him with words full of confidence. “Hanbin-ah, I promised you I would let you ride one of my horses, and I didn't lie. Now I promise you that I will bring what your mother needs to heal. Can you trust me?”
Two rivers of tears ran down the little boy's face, but he nodded fervently. And in a curious twist of fate, the two adults accompanying him were also convinced by the confidence of the prince's words.
1The bokbunja is a type of berry famous at the royal court because it can be used to prepare dessert. Nowadays, it is more famous for the wine made from it, you can see it here [return to text]