chapter 49
When I clutched my empty stomach, the expressions of the adults became priceless.
“Our future daughter-in-law. Are you very hungry?”
Baeksan, looking utterly stunned, asked with all the malice drained from his face. I nodded firmly and seriously.
“Tonight’s dinner was mushroom hot pot, wasn’t it?”
The hot pot, generously filled with the village specialty mushrooms from Jangmi Village, was excellent.
But adding tofu for a cleaner taste was a slight disappointment.
Even after finishing all the ingredients in the hot pot, then adding hand-pulled dough and noodles for a second round, and finally making porridge from the remaining broth to scrape it clean—
“There wasn’t enough meat.”
I couldn’t feel the fullness that protein gives.
I think like this: temporary happiness comes from carbohydrates, but lasting satisfaction comes from protein!
Grrr!
As if my stomach agreed, it gave an appropriate response.
“Pfft. Hmm. Uh… I’m hungry too.”
Sobaeksan, trying to suppress his laughter, sided with me. But it didn’t seem like a complete lie—Sobaeksan’s stomach made a faint rumbling sound too.
Indeed, my fiancé.
It seemed even our stomachs were perfectly in sync.
“No.”
At that moment, Baeksan’s deflated voice rang out hopelessly.
“I wanted to set a mood, but the kids are too funny. I can’t do it.”
It was basically a declaration of surrender.
In the end, we apologized to the cook late at night and requested a midnight snack.
“That’s fine. We were already on standby.”
The Hyun family ran some divisions in three shifts around the clock.
The most representative ones were the security corps, the emergency unit for when someone was injured, and the kitchen that handled meals for everyone.
Since night shifts came with extra pay and more holidays, few people objected to working three shifts.
“What should I make for you?”
“Meat.”
“Decisive, I see. I’ll cook it well so it won’t feel heavy on your stomach.”
And so, the midnight snack we received was a meat stir-fry generously mixed with bean sprouts.
The cook, with excellent intuition, also served alcohol for the adults and plum tea with rice for Sobaeksan and me.
A marvelous midnight snack that satisfied both drinks and food—it was delicious.
I patted my full stomach. Now I finally felt alive.
The adults’ mood, having had alcohol and meat, softened considerably. The earlier tense atmosphere was undoubtedly due to hunger and fatigue.
“It’s been such a long time since we did something together like this.”
“Then why did you leave me alone?”
“Do you think I wanted to leave you alone?”
The relationship between His Majesty and Baeksan softened as well. Thanks to alcohol, the emperor answered honestly, which eased Baeksan’s sharpness.
His Majesty seemed concerned about his son too, while Sobaeksan, seeing his mother closely for the first time in a while, felt awkward and avoided her gaze.
I held my fiancé’s hand tightly, knowing he must feel conflicted.
His round eyes soon crinkled in a smile as he pulled me onto his lap and embraced me.
Sure enough, it was mother and son. Their faces might not resemble each other, but their behavior toward me was identical.
Returning to the main topic, I asked about the topic from earlier—the sealing of the Four Great Gates.
“Now that I think about it, we ended up talking about this important matter in front of the kids.”
Grandmother’s eyes, softened by alcohol and snacks, immediately hardened again—but the water had already been spilled. The emperor decided he would explain it himself.
“During the past war, the capital was nearly destroyed. The city you see now was rebuilt after I ascended the throne.”
The explanation made the intensity of the past war palpable.
A ruined capital.
Reconstruction.
I was born after the war ended, but the adults before me had lived through it firsthand.
“When we rebuilt the walls, we decided to seal a dangerous entity underground.”
“Who is the dangerous entity?”
The emperor’s green eyes wavered for a moment at my question.
“A fallen one.”
“Fallen?”
“I thought we only needed to replace the previous royal family who drained the people’s blood. But that wasn’t all.”
His tone was bitter. I decided not to press further.
The emperor returned to the topic of the seal.
“The sealed being is so powerful that all we could do was seal it under the city walls. Now, we continue to suppress it with the Four Great Gates as the core…”
A few months ago, an incident occurred at one of the gates—the West Gate.
As merchants entered the capital, a cow carrying goods panicked at something and ran amok.
The oil jars the cow carried broke, and a passerby, startled, dropped a fire poker. Sparks scattered on the ground.
To make matters worse, the next in line, a flour sack from the guild, burst.
Kaboom.
A small-scale dust explosion occurred.
This incident wasn’t widely publicized.
Fortunately, no one was injured, and the explosion was small enough to be quickly managed.
However, it was clear that the seal on the gate had weakened.
The emperor ensured the people involved were strictly warned, realizing that public knowledge of the danger would be harmful. He didn’t think Baeksan would notice.
“I entered the capital through the West Gate.”
But Baeksan, recognized as the greatest sorcerer of all time, immediately sensed the problem with the gate’s seal. He expected his lover to call him in, but when she didn’t, he sulked.
“How long to reseal it?”
“About three years,” came the reply.
Longer than expected.
Yet even this estimate had been reduced by assigning a high-level sorcerer in the capital. Apparently, an ordinary sorcerer couldn’t even do a temporary fix. I raised my hand and asked,
“What if Baeksan does it?”
“Ah, my clever future daughter-in-law. You’ve pinpointed the core.”
Baeksan, leisurely sipping his drink, smiled.
“If I do it alone, it’ll be done in ten months.”
“Impressive!”
It was truly Baeksan. But the lord of Homekdo couldn’t be absent for ten months, so Sobaeksan would accompany him.
Even a tiger would grow thin, but together, father and son could manage it.
“Why me…”
Sobaeksan, hearing this for the first time, was stunned. Baeksan reacted as if it were no problem.
“You became a high-level sorcerer this time. You’re going to the palace anyway.”
The news surprised everyone.
Sobaeksan was now thirteen, soon turning fourteen—a remarkable achievement.
“Excellent. Truly remarkable.”
His Majesty praised him, eyes sparkling like jewels. Sobaeksan stiffened and buried his face near my crown.
“No, I’ve heard that Your Majesty’s achievements are similar.”
“Your brother may control lightning, but his sorcery is still intermediate.”
“Even so…”
“More importantly…”
A rare playful expression appeared on His Majesty’s face as he spoke to Sobaeksan.
“Does my son prefer his fiancée over his mother?”
The old saying “the couple resembles each other” flickered in my mind.
His Majesty’s playful teasing ended only after Sobaeksan nestled into my arms.
“You’ve grown well, my son.”
“…Yes.”
“I’ve always thought of you.”
“So have I.”
The long-delayed reunion finally brought bright smiles to their faces.
I thought we’d chat longer, but Sobaeksan quickly returned to me. His Majesty watched us fondly.
After a while, the discussion became more serious.
The summary: the Four Great Gates’ seal has weakened, and Baeksan’s involvement is crucial. Since the lord can’t be away long, Sobaeksan will accompany him to help temporarily fix it.
“So please understand.”
Though he said “understand,” the tone was more of a command.
“You’ll know when you’re in front of His Majesty.”
Grandmother said nothing more and withdrew, seemingly soothing her frustration with alcohol.
His Majesty looked grateful yet apologetic toward Baeksan and Sobaeksan, but as an emperor, he quickly set aside personal feelings and promised to issue a decree.
“My dear, I’m sorry you’ll find it hard to meet your partner for a while.”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
I waved my hands at the emperor’s apology.
“If I want, I’ll go to the capital to see him.”
Since Sobaeksan was always the one visiting, I often felt guilty. Now I declared I would go to him, which made His Majesty’s expression subtle. He leaned to Baeksan and whispered:
“Did you want me to do that too?”
“If I said no, it would be a lie. We are us, the kids are the kids.”
“Good.”
His Majesty patted Baeksan’s head, and Sobaeksan hugged me tighter.
“I’ll be really happy if you visit.”
“I will, definitely.”
“My brave and wonderful fiancée.”
“Hehe, you can praise me more.”
“I truly like you…”
Grandmother, witnessing the two couples’ affection, muttered succinctly:
“Damn it.”
And poured the drink straight from the bottle, adding that she missed grandfather today.
The adults, unwilling to waste the opportunity, spent some time discussing important state matters. Sobaeksan and I occupied ourselves with hand games, tuning out most of the conversation.
As the night deepened, the meeting ended. His Majesty remembered another piece of information regarding Haetae.
“Haetae doesn’t appear every generation, so they record information in their own way.”
“How?”
“In books.”
Though I had read various books, none seemed authored by Haetae. Otherwise, I would have recognized it.
Seeing my puzzled expression, His Majesty explained that the Haetae cleverly left marks in books for future generations to recognize.
“Look for the camellia flower.”
“Camellia…”
A new goal awakened determination in me, and I clenched my fists tightly.
