Chapter 21

Lee Hyang's Way of Facing His First Love (2) / Revised – Yoon Seo & Lee Hyang Psychology

Since it would be easier for Lee Hyang to understand if he compared fingerprints from the same hand, Yoon Seo immediately pulled his left hand instead of the right one beside her and spoke.

"Your Highness, may I borrow your hand for a moment? If we take prints of each fingertip and compare them, you'll more easily grasp what I'm trying to explain—and how important it is."

"..."

This woman really loses sight of everything else once she gets absorbed in something.

With a sigh, Lee Hyang raised his right arm into the air—the one that had been closer to Kwon Ga as they sat side by side.

If he lowered his arm, Kwon Ga's shoulder would slip right into his embrace.

But if that happened, he wouldn't be able to restrain himself. So, like a stone statue, Lee Hyang kept his arm suspended in the air and forced himself to focus only on the small mole on Kwon Ga's left earlobe.

"It's done, Your Highness. Now please sit comfortably and watch what I do."

Yoon Seo released his hand and rustled open the bundle of papers she had brought.

Lee Hyang sat back down, while she remained standing where she was, looking down at what she was about to do.

If I'm going to sprinkle powder with a brush, I'll have to lean forward… and then I might accidentally brush against our ascetic, coldly handsome Crown Prince's long legs with my hips…

Yoon Seo quickly spoke up.

"Your Highness, I'll need to move a little."

Lee Hyang only stepped aside by a single pace, as if determined to watch closely just what she was making such a fuss about.

I've only heard about this—I've never actually tried it.

Nervous, Yoon Seo loaded plenty of charcoal powder onto the tip of a weasel-hair brush and tapped it lightly over the circles—tap, tap, tap.

After covering all ten circles with enough charcoal powder, she tilted the paper sideways over a blank sheet beside it and carefully shook off the excess.

Then, within the ten circles, fine lines of fingerprints appeared in layered patterns.

…They did appear.

But they were so faint that it was impossible to clearly distinguish how each of the ten fingerprints differed.

"…Ah!"

Startled by the unexpected result, Yoon Seo faltered.

Do I need special chemicals for this? Or since it traces skin secretions, should I apply something like oil first?

"Your Highness, th-this is what fingerprints are… and they differ from person to person…"

As she stammered in embarrassment, Lee Hyang silently reached out and pulled the candle stand closer.

Then, placing a hand on her shoulder, he seated her in the chair he had been using.

"For now, sit here and wait," he ordered.

Yoon Seo settled into the chair, which had armrests and was far more comfortable to lean against, and watched Lee Hyang move.

Lee Hyang brought over two more square lamps he had been using to review materials.

Then he sat where she had been, placed the paper under the bright light, leaned forward, and began closely examining the ten fingerprints.

Yoon Seo slid her chair slightly away to keep some distance, resting against the armrest as she glanced sideways at him.

At some point, his long, dry hair had loosened and flowed lazily over his pale blue robe, softening his usual strict aura into something gently beautiful.

No wonder all the palace maids try to sneak over to the Eastern Palace just to catch a glimpse of Lee Hyang—bribing the maids here with trinkets and hairpins…

These days, after finishing state affairs and attending to the King's meals, Lee Hyang would return to Jaseondang, change into lighter clothes like this, then come to Bihyeongak and work late into the night.

They said that when he left the heated ondol room of Jaseondang and strode toward Bihyeongak with long steps, his robe fluttering, maids would hide in every corridor room just to steal a glance at that brief moment.

But even after realizing our cold, handsome Crown Prince is nice to look at but not exactly easy to approach… do they still stay this obsessed?

Then again, fangirling over celebrities is about looks—you don't get into their personal circumstances.

Thinking that, Yoon Seo smirked to herself.

Because of his exhausting workload that stretched late into every night like today, and the pressure of having to be the perfect son of King Sejong, she assumed Lee Hyang might suffer from psychogenic erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation—hence his lack of interest in women.

That was why, even being alone with him at such a late hour, she felt no concern.

In dramas, it's usually the department head or executive rolling up their sleeves and focusing on work that captures women's hearts… but here, it's our long-haired, abstinent Crown Prince absorbed in fingerprint research.

Watching Lee Hyang—motionless like a statue, comparing the faint prints under shifting light—Yoon Seo's eyelids gradually grew heavy.

Earlier, she had been tense all day after his stern warning to be careful with her words because the King might summon her soon.

Then she met Kwon Ga's half-sibling, ran around freely with Hongwi for an hour, and the accumulated fatigue finally began to take hold.

Just then, the sound of heavy rain starting outside urged sleep upon her like a lullaby.

Resting her chin on her hand atop the armrest, Yoon Seo began to doze.

Meanwhile, Lee Hyang was unexpectedly absorbed in the fingerprint study.

At first, he had watched out of mild curiosity—wondering what the clever Kwon Ga would surprise him with next—and also to naturally move closer and admire the fine hairs at the nape of her pale neck and her well-shaped earlobe.

But upon closer inspection, the ten fingerprints truly all had different patterns.

If each finger, and each person, truly had unique patterns—and if those patterns could be captured like this with powder—

Then this could bring revolutionary solutions to many fields!

Only after deciding to assign proper people to research it at first light did Lee Hyang finally set the paper down and turn his head.

At some point, Kwon Ga had fallen asleep, her head resting on her hand on the armrest.

Under the bright candlelight, her eyelashes cast long shadows, and soft breaths slipped through her slightly parted red lips.

When awake, she sparkled with an almost excessive liveliness.

But asleep, she was loosened into a languid calm.

It suddenly occurred to Lee Hyang that this was the first time he had properly gazed at a sleeping woman.

Then, a different kind of longing—unlike the desire stirred by Kwon Ga when she breathed heavily beneath the red sunset—began to bloom in his heart.

Someone with whom he could quietly watch each other sleeping.

Someone to whom he could confess the heavy loneliness of being Crown Prince—second only to the king, above all others.

He had known many women, yet none with whom he could share his heart.

Kwon Ga… will you become that kind of person for me?

Instead of waking her to ask, Lee Hyang removed his robe and carefully wrapped it around her.

Then he moved the two square lamps—whose brightness fell too harshly on her face—back to their original places and opened the outer window to the east.

Swaa—swaa, the long-awaited rain poured down fiercely.

"As a cherished one comes to visit, even the welcome rain arrives alongside."

Murmuring this shy confession into the ink-dark night, Lee Hyang suddenly remembered the box Kwon Ga had brought.

With quiet, tiptoed steps, he returned, opened the paper case, and took out the document inside.

It stated, in classical Chinese, that Yoon Seo of the Kwon family had borrowed 400 nyang of silver from Do Cheok-ji of Mapo Port, with an annual interest rate of 100%.

It bore a hand seal that could be claimed as belonging to the Kwon family.

The date was from two years ago—right after Hongwi was born.

At that time, I remember Kwon Ga staying constantly by Lady Lee's side, devoted entirely to caring for Hongwi without rest. When would she have had the chance to leave the palace and sign such a document?

"So this is why Kwon Ga was trying to reveal those fingertip patterns."

He felt both admiration—realizing she had been trying to prove that the debt document was false by showing her fingerprints were not on it—

And, at the same time, a fierce anger surged within him. If that villain Do Cheok-ji dared to pull such tricks even on a palace maid of the Eastern Palace, how much worse must it have been for powerless commoners?

There was far too much to do once day broke.

"Yoon Seo."

Lee Hyang gently placed his hand on Kwon Ga's shoulder and carefully shook her, though she was still fast asleep.

"Yoon Seo, let's go back to Jaseondang."

At the sound of her name and the shaking of her shoulder, Yoon Seo forced her heavy eyelids open.

Through her blurry, blinking vision, the image of a handsome man with long hair appeared like an illusion.

Her brain, still sunk in deep sleep, was not yet ready to function properly.

"…Our Bogum… is more… handsome… than Your Highness…"

"!"

Kwon Yoon Seo dared to let another man's name slip from those lovely lips—then peacefully sank back into sleep!

How much time had passed?

Yoon Seo opened her eyes to pain tightening across her entire body.

"!"

Startled by the unfamiliar sight of piles of books, memorials, and reports, she quickly sat up. The blanket—embroidered beautifully with red silk and intricate patterns—slipped off, revealing beneath it a sky-blue robe carefully wrapped up to her neck.

She was inside Bihyeongak.

Yoon Seo had fallen asleep leaning against the chair Lee Hyang usually used.

Looking toward the eastern window, it was still deep night.

Hongwi! What if our Hongwi woke up and looked for me?

She searched for the paper box containing the fake debt document, but it was nowhere to be found on the desk.

It seemed Lee Hyang had taken it.

Deciding to return to the western ondol room of Jaseondang for now, Yoon Seo neatly folded the blanket and placed it beside the desk. She also removed the robe Lee Hyang had wrapped around her, folded it properly, and placed it on top of the blanket before stepping out onto the wooden floor hall.

A young eunuch, who usually attended to the Crown Prince at night, stood by the door.

"What time is it now? Has the dawn bell rung?"

"The Hour of the Ox has just passed."

"Ah, that's a relief. I'll be going back now."

As Yoon Seo was about to step down from the wooden hall, the eunuch held out an oil-paper umbrella.

"Take this with you. His Highness ordered that it be prepared for you to use when you wake."

"Ah, His Highness has already gone to the heated room?"

"He returned about half a shijin ago."

"I see. Then, take care."

As Yoon Seo accepted the umbrella and put on the shoes she had left by the stepping stone, the eunuch asked,

"Who is Bogum?"

"…Pardon?"

"His Highness asked for a blanket earlier and covered you with it. Then, as he left, he ordered all the eunuchs and guards to search thoroughly and find someone named Bogum. Isn't it someone you know?"

"…I don't know anyone like that."

The only Bogum I know is the handsome actor Park Bo-gum… and there's no way a 21st-century actor would be in a 15th-century palace.

Thinking that nonchalantly, Yoon Seo walked along the rain-soaked path with soft splashing steps and returned to the western ondol room.

Completely unaware that Lee Hyang—shaken by hearing another man's name from the lips of the woman he had only just begun to hold in his heart—had glared at her for half a shijin, barely restraining himself before leaving in anger after only covering her with a blanket.

A new day dawned once again.

After сменing shifts with the day attendants and sleeping for two shijin in Head Court Lady Eom's quarters, Yoon Seo went to see her.

"They say His Majesty may summon me soon—do you think it will be today?"

"An audience with His Majesty must be confirmed at least a day in advance, but no notice has come yet. So it won't be today."

"Ah, that's a relief. I'll go to Bansongbang to warm medicinal herbs in oil and return."

"Hm, if you go in and out of the palace too often without being a designated court lady, it could invite unnecessary gossip. Go dressed as a eunuch."

When eunuchs go outside, they wear robes and hats like ordinary men.

It was inconvenient to ride a horse in a fluttering skirt, so this worked out well.

"It seems His Highness is trying to find a way to make those 'fingerprints' you mentioned appear clearly. This afternoon, he ordered craftsmen from various fields in the palace to be summoned to the office in Bihyeongak."

As Yoon Seo hurried off to change into men's clothing and head to Bansongbang with Maegeum, Head Court Lady Eom added,

"They say King Munjong was as wise a ruler as King Sejong—truly, Lee Hyang takes every matter seriously."

Feeling a renewed sense of respect, Yoon Seo prepared to go soak the herbs in oil for making ointment—but Head Court Lady Eom suddenly said something odd.

"By the way, do you know someone named Bogum? Our Crown Prince, who rarely shows anger, looked quite displeased and ordered that the entire palace be searched at once to find this person."