The Hated Male Concubine

The situations of the court ladies weren’t that different, either.
Because Yeon-bin’s wickedness was so severe, the experienced court ladies that attended him always had it bad, and they were kicked to other places.
As he gained wide notoriety, the other experienced court ladies always begged the Department of Internal Affairs to not send them to Jeongan Palace. 

As a result, the court ladies sent to Jeongan Palace naturally were the young court ladies who had no experience yet or could not make a request.

But Yeon-bin, their masters, who didn’t even care when the situation had become like this and kept venting his anger at his subordinates following his mood, suddenly gathered them today and said, ‘I am very bothered by the fact that I’ve been treating you badly.’ He even promised that such a thing wouldn’t happen in the future. 

Of course, the courtiers did not fully believe those words, and they had no choice but to doubt the hidden intentions behind those.

Ahjin, who was facing the fiercely burning eyes as though telling her to say everything she knew right away, sighed and said.

“That… I also don’t know….”

“What do you mean you don’t know?! His Highness tends to tell you everything, right?”

“That’s right.
At least you know His Highness the best, so don’t you feel anything else?”

Now, the other court ladies pestered Ahjin, as if they were trying to eat her.
Usually, they were children who listened to Ahjin well, but perhaps because they were afraid, wondering how Yeon-bin would torture them all this morning, they couldn’t care less. 

Annoyed, Ahjin shouted out.

“I said I really don’t know either! Do you guys know that His Highness apologized to me last time?”

Screeches, surprised voices, were heard after Ahjin’s question.
It was a natural reaction, since Ahjin who heard that herself still couldn’t believe it.
Ahjin then continued,

“He said he lost his memory, and his thoughts have changed since he came back from death.
How can I believe that?”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

“Yeah, tell me about it!”

Listening to the voices of the girls, Ahjin closed her mouth for a moment and looked at her master’s bedroom.
Right this morning, Ahjin went through so many unbelievable things in that bedroom.

Yeon-bin wasn’t a morning person, so waking him up was not an ordinary trouble.
When Yeon-bin was forced to wake up, which led to his mood going bad, he was five times more difficult to handle than usual.
The indignity that Ahjin had to face from being insulted by her master in that condition to the struggle to make him do the morning greeting was surely beyond imagination. 

But how was it this morning? When Ahjin went to wake him up, her master surprised her because he was already up.
He almost made Ahjin fainted by laughing and asking, ‘did you sleep well?’ when he saw her coming in.
Ahjin now really lost at what to think about her master.

Ahjin barely managed to control her complicated feelings, heaved a sigh, and soon opened her mouth.

“Anyway, what can we do even if we know what His Highness has in mind? Just do your job as usual, and be extra careful not to get in his eyes.”

In the end, Ahjin’s words meant that Yeon-bin’s words still couldn’t be believed, so they should take care of themselves before they got scolded even more.
The kids’ faces turned sullen upon hearing that.
They were worrying if their lives in Jeongan Palace, which were already hard enough, would get even harder.

Even Ahjin didn’t have any confidence to comfort them.
There was nothing else she could do except waving her hands and sending all the girls back to their works.

Ahjin, who was alone now, turned her head once again and looked at the room where Yeon-bin was sitting alone.
A question that had disturbed Ahjin’s head since last night crept up once again.

If what her master said was sincere, if he really was a different person after experiencing death, then, could she forget all the pain of the past and serve him sincerely?

Ahjin quickly shook her head.
Those thoughts were premature and too far. 

***

“Your Majesty, are you looking for something?”

Yihan turned his head around instead of climbing the kiln.
When Eunuch Oh asked as he followed him to look around, Yihan asked with a slight frown on his forehead.

“Has Yeon-bin not come yet?”

Only then did Eunuch Oh notice the odd feeling that the emperor was feeling now.

Yeon-bin’s nameplate was taken out.
This might be like a bolt out of the blue for any concubine of the imperial palace, but no one will regard this as badly as Yeon-bin.