Chapter 12
For a while, Wang A-seon, who had been staring at me, somehow seemed relieved.
“I came by to see you for a moment before leaving. Have you been well?”
“Huh? Y-yes! Of course… thanks to your concern…?”
As I answered, the air in the room grew almost suffocatingly awkward. With two restless men standing in the room, it felt even more cramped.
“…Sit.”
There were only two chairs, so I had a brief scuffle with Jin Su-o over who would sit. In the end, Jin Su-o won, and I sat down.
Facing Wang A-seon, I couldn’t lift my head. Seeing him reminded me of Wang Yuhyeon, and thinking of Wang Yuhyeon brought back all the things I had lost when I fell here—my place in the national team’s evaluation, corporate sponsorship opportunities, recognition from the monk… all of it.
The longer the silence lasted, the more Wang A-seon’s hand began to tremble.
“Ahem. Hmph.”
Jin Su-o kept clearing his throat. As if on cue, we both spoke at the same time.
“W-would you like some tea—”
“You still like yakgwa, huh.”
“Yes. There’s a palace maid who makes yakgwa really well. I think it’s the best I’ve ever had…”
I trailed off, lowering my head again. I should really stop blurting out unnecessary words when I’m nervous.
“Is that so? If you say it’s that good…”
Wang A-seon hesitated, then picked up a piece of yakgwa. Even though I hadn’t made it myself, I still felt nervous.
“It’s… good.”
I saw him frown just now. There’s no way a subordinate’s yakgwa would taste bad—maybe he just doesn’t like sweet things?
“Mm.”
After taking a bite, he stared seriously, as if he couldn’t bring himself to eat more.
Jin Su-o naturally followed the tea on the table and fed the yakgwa in Wang A-seon’s hand into his mouth.
Wang A-seon frowned again after drinking the tea.
It was cold and had been sitting there since Jin Su-o brought it in, so it probably didn’t taste good.
“…Your tea-making skills haven’t changed.”
Finally, Wang A-seon couldn’t help but say it. Injustice! Even though I learned from the monk, I could brew good tea.
“I-I’ll make it again. I’ll get fresh water from the kitchen—”
“No, there’s no need since I have to leave soon.”
“I’m actually quite good at brewing, next time it’ll be even better… no, that’s not it.”
This is driving me crazy. Why do my brain and mouth refuse to cooperate today? When I was with Jin Su-o, it was fine.
But suddenly, Wang A-seon’s face brightened. He didn’t seem to care about my verbal blunder.
“When we meet again, will you serve me tea?”
“If Your Highness wishes.”
“It’s a promise.”
A promise? Well, as long as we meet, serving tea is nothing. The problem is that a concubine maid and a prince of a vassal state rarely meet.
Jin Su-o widened his eyes and looked at the back of Wang A-seon’s head, then shook his head.
“I wish we had more time today. I need to go see His Majesty.”
“Yes.”
Wang A-seon loosened his sleeve strap and pulled something out.
“Keep this.”
It wasn’t a large object. I didn’t even realize what was inside the sleeve.
“Open it.”
Following Jin Su-o’s words, I lifted the cloth to find three cylinders and an iron brush. One was unfamiliar, but the others looked familiar.
In Baeksan martial arts manuals, there was a brush technique called Pangwanpil (Judge’s Brush).
But the cylinders… what were they? For memorization?
I picked one up, and Jin Su-o added an explanation.
“It’s a sujeon (sleeve arrow).”
“Sujeon?”
I hadn’t seen that among the memorization tools.
“Like this.”
Jin Su-o aimed the sujeon at a pillar in the corner of the room and pressed something.
Snap! A thin arrow shot into the pillar.
“It’s single-shot. You have to reassemble it to reload. Here’s how.”
Jin Su-o quickly disassembled the cylinder, took out another arrow, and loaded it—still talking without pause.
“The range is about 20 jang. If we had more time, I could extend it to 30 jang. Since it has to be hidden in your sleeve while aiming, it’ll take practice.”
“Wow.”
I marveled at the speed of his hands. Jin Su-o chuckled.
“Now, I’ll show you slowly.”
He carefully demonstrated disassembling the cylinder, inserting the arrow, and loading it.
“You can use it in an emergency. If necessary, use it and discard it. I only made two, so don’t be careless. If you lose even one, report it.”
Wait, that’s not the problem. I pushed the items toward the two of them.
“In the palace, you cannot carry weapons without the king’s permission. Even the palace guards can only carry weapons if allowed.”
“But even assassins aren’t permitted to bring weapons in, right?”
Assassins, in the palace? With the guards everywhere… any assassin entering would have to be mad.
“You must not be seen with it.”
Jin Su-o said it as if it were obvious. Wang A-seon added:
“I’m not saying you must use it. Hopefully, you won’t have to.”
“Normally, with your skills, I wouldn’t worry, but I’d feel uneasy without it.”
“I-I’ll just master palm techniques properly. I’ve been practicing already.”
In Shenyang, I had learned from discarded bows, but in the palace, I couldn’t do that. So I was practicing hand techniques using the manuals Jin Su-o sent.
“If you can beat someone with a weapon bare-handed, you can discard it. Until then, keep it.”
What? If it’s bare-handed against a weapon, running away is safer! Don’t hand out dangerous things!
Wang A-seon twirled the Pangwanpil in his hands and said:
“Since you lost your memory, Su-o stayed up all night making the sujeon worried about you. He hurriedly obtained the Pangwanpil too.”
“No, Your Highness, you were the one pushing me—”
“Ah.”
“Yes, yes. I was so worried about my young junior sister that I even cut the bamboo myself.”
Even if I said that, accepting weapons in the palace… still not ideal!
“Right. I intentionally brought things that are easy to hide.”
Jin Su-o grumbled that people didn’t understand him.
“Fine, I’ll keep them. By the way, didn’t you say we had to see His Majesty?”
“Are you going to chase both me and His Highness away? This is… crazy.”
“Su-o, we really need to go now.”
Wang A-seon sided with me and pushed Jin Su-o toward the door, though he himself looked reluctant to leave. Until he stepped out, he kept looking at me with an unreadable expression.
He seemed to have a lot he wanted to say, but said nothing until he left, only offering a farewell.
What did he want to say?
And…
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
I still stared at the dangerous objects on the table. I couldn’t throw them away.
Not only because of the giver’s intentions, but if someone found them in the palace and suggested a search, it would be a serious problem.
In this era, there’s no CCTV or fingerprint analysis, but human eyes and ears are scarier than any camera.
“I definitely cannot carry this around.”
Sigh, I’ll just hide it under my pillow. Surely I won’t need it, right?
One dawn, I woke from a deep sleep. It was shortly after I had finished my breathing and energy exercises.
I thought I would never touch the weapons I received, but I noticed a faint noise from the ceiling.
Someone was definitely stepping on the roof and coming down.
Since Jin Su-o had cleared my blocked energy channels, all my senses were heightened. The so-called qi sense had developed.
That was definitely not a cat. It was clearly a person.
Still, I wondered if I needed to intervene. There were palace guards patrolling outside Cheongsangjeon, and a taegam (royal watch) stationed in front of the hall…
I looked out the window I had opened because of the heat.
No taegam. Usually, one would be dozing in front.
Instead, I saw a black figure moving.
Ah, please… don’t do this. I cursed internally.
A figure dressed like a child of the shadows, hiding in the darkness, looked suspicious from head to toe.
What should I do? Scream and call for someone?
In the meantime, the figure reached the window of Wang Seonhwa’s quarters. The window was closed, so opening it wouldn’t be easy.
But somehow… this doesn’t quite look like an assassin. The way they walk…
They seemed more like a young eunuch than a warrior. A newbie, judging by their movements. Since I often encounter eunuchs in the harem, I noticed immediately.
I glanced at my pillow. At this level, maybe…
“…it could work?”
