Huinyeong shook her head.

His red lips curled slightly.

Once again, she could hear the sound of a baby crying.

On the bed where her father had died, the emperor now lay. Huinyeong was lying there too, her legs in the same position as before.

So many things had happened on this bed.

Huinyeong had become the emperor’s consort. His seed had taken root in her womb and grown into a child. Now, that child was lying on her father’s bed, babbling softly.

Sometimes, just thinking about it made her feel as though she might faint.

People said that the spirits of the dead linger where they died. Whenever she heard this, she felt like biting her tongue off.

The man she had once called Uncle gripped her chest and bit her earlobe. Using the same hands that had crushed the breath from her father’s throat, he roamed her body.

Whenever he became aroused and tried to take her, she was powerless to stop him.

Everyone who might have stood by her side was already dead.

There was no one left to argue that the imperial crown should have passed to Huinyeong’s fiancé. There was no one left who dared tell the emperor not to dishonor her.

Those who had once dared to speak such words were gone. Some had been buried, some beheaded, and many had been wiped out alongside their entire families and reduced to slavery.

And so Huinyeong remained alive.

She lived as the emperor’s consort only because he desired her.

It was his desire that had allowed her to survive.

The man who had been staring at her so intensely that her legs had trembled slowly curved his lips into a faint smile.

Suddenly, she fell backwards onto the bed.

Her chest rose and fell sharply.

After a moment, she raised her gaze again, her eyes clouded and unfocused.

“Do you miss your father?”

“……”

“Does lying in your father’s bed make you cry?”

Her breath caught in her throat.

Huinyeong stared at him, her face pale and drained. She slowly shook her head.

The emperor laughed.

Whenever Huinyeong cried, the emperor’s expression would become blank. He had never once looked at her with concern.

A sweet voice murmured in her ear.

Horribly, it overlapped with the cries of the newborn.

Huinyeong froze, as though she had seen a ghost. She stared at the emperor, pressing a trembling hand against her chest.

Perhaps he found this bothersome, because he pulled her hand away and pushed her away at once.

A sharp cry escaped Huinyeong’s lips.

He moved slowly, repeatedly pushing in and pulling back, deliberately making her body tremble.

As a result, it was Huinyeong herself who gradually became flushed and breathless.

She clutched at him, gasping for air.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”

“Does it bring you to tears that I warm my consort? Does your dead father wail every night?”

“No—no, please, Your Majesty…”

She shook her head in despair.

She could not bear to hear her father dishonored in this way. It was unbearable that the emperor had dragged her deceased father into his crude remarks.

Her broken sobs echoed through the chamber.

The man, who had been smiling faintly, lowered his head and sank his teeth into her skin.

His movements quickened.

A muffled, strained sound escaped Huinyeong’s lips.

“Ah—!”

Her breath caught.

The force with which he pressed down on her was overwhelming. He sank his teeth into the back of her neck and his movements became increasingly fierce. The heat generated by their friction stirred her senses and drew out a pleasure she did not want.

It tickled — almost unbearably so.

Huinyeong knew exactly what this feeling was.

He enjoyed watching her cry helplessly in his arms, gasping for breath as she fell apart.

He drove into her harshly.

The intensity was almost numbing. Huinyeong sobbed and trembled, raising a hand to strike her own ear.

Irritation flared within her.

For some time, she had been telling the emperor that she could hear a baby crying.

But he refused to listen.

From the moment she fell asleep until now, he had been convinced that it was nothing more than a leftover from a dream.

She bit her lip.

Her br*asts moved in time with his hips as she lay pressed tightly against his chest. Her nails lifted slightly, as if she wanted to scratch the flushed skin in front of her.

“Close your eyes.”

The man murmured the words.

Whimpering softly, Huinyeong dug her nails into his shoulders. The scratches she had left on his skin throughout the night were so severe that she felt she would have no defense if she were to be executed for them.

Sometimes, Huinyeong found herself wondering:

Was he always this relentless with his other consorts?

Did they also claw at his bare skin in the heat of the moment, pressing against his chest like this?

Did they accept him even when they were pregnant with a royal child, crying in fear at the prospect of becoming pregnant again before giving birth?

She wanted to ask the consorts of the Seven Palaces — even the empress herself.

The man slowly brushed his tongue across Huinyeong’s lips.

Feeling frustrated again, she tugged at her ear once more.

“Consort.”

“Haa… ah—hng… sob… I hear the baby crying. Can’t you hear it?”

“There is no baby in this room.”

“But… but I can hear it. It sounds like it’s crying far away.”

“There is no baby in Yangmyeong Hall.”

Huinyeong froze.

She stopped tugging at her ear and stared at the man.

If the baby wasn’t in Yangmyeong Hall, then where was it?

Had he thrown it away?

Her eyes widened in shock.

However, the man remained focused only on the steady movement of his hips.

Huinyeong wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.

A faint smile touched his lips. He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss beside her ear. When she instinctively tried to lift her hand to cover it, he stopped her.

Glaring at her as if punishing her, he finally spoke.

“Do you want to see the baby?”

“……”

“Do you Ryu?”

She nodded.

Ryu was the baby wrapped in swaddling cloth. It was also the name of the strange sound that had been disturbing her for some time.

Huinyeong’s face crumpled with fear. She was terrified that the Emperor might have thrown her baby out of the window of Yangmyeong Hall.

He was a man who felt no hesitation in k*lling his own children.

He had once boiled a concubine alive in a cauldron without a second thought — a woman who had shared his bed for years. What, then, could possibly frighten him? How many of his brothers had died at his hands? How many consorts?

The man who had been tormenting her finally cl*maxed, breathing like a beast.

Huinyeong stiffened and stared at him.

As she endured the sharp, lingering sensation, a restrained groan escaped her lips. Suddenly, he pulled her into an embrace. Her head struck his cold, unyielding chest.

Their sweat-soaked bodies clung together.

Huinyeong looked up at him with weary eyes.

“The baby… the baby…”

“Are you afraid?”

“Your Majesty, I…”

“You have already given birth to my child, yet you still refer to yourself as ‘this girl’?”

Unlike before, there was no hint of irritation in his voice this time. It was still harsh, but nothing more than that.

Huinyeong stiffened and looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear. She often wavered between referring to herself as ‘this girl’ and ‘this consort’. Sometimes the Emperor had sharply pointed this out, while at other times he had acted as though it did not matter at all.

“That is… that is not what I meant…”

“There is no baby in Yangmyeong Hall.”

“Then… then where… where is he?”

With her voice trembling on the verge of tears, she asked him.

Still holding her, the Emperor continued to touch her as though he had not heard her and turned his head away.

Huinyeong stared at him blankly before softly urging him on.

“Your Majesty.”

She needed to know where the baby was.

Even if the child was not by her side, she had to know.

“And what would you do if you knew? Go find him?”

“…This consort only… only…”

“Did you not try to die with the child?”

The emperor grasped her chest and looked down at her with eyes as cold as frost.

Huinyeong stopped breathing.

“What you hear beside your ears is the cry that the prince let out when you carried him into the lotus pond at the Buyong Pavilion fifteen days ago.”

The quiet voice crushed her.

Huinyeong froze, unable to speak.

This was not a memory she had forgotten.

Hearing it spoken aloud struck her like shards of something buried deep inside.

“Or perhaps it is the cry the prince made when you ran through Yangmyeong Hall.”

The emperor traced his hand along her damp cheek.

Huinyeong remembered the moment the baby had disappeared.

When she woke up, the swaddled bundle had vanished.

The ceiling of Yangmyeong Hall spun before her eyes, and she saw her dead father’s face flash before her.

Before she could tell Court Lady Go, she rushed out of Yangmyeong Hall and ran all the way to Seonwi Gate.

She wore nothing but a thin inner robe and had not even bothered to put on her lotus shoes. She must have looked like a madwoman, but Huinyeong truly was mad.

Clutching the swaddled baby in her arms, she ran.

The pond beneath Buyong Pavilion reflected the pale moonlight.

The voices of the guards rushing towards the palace gate rang out behind her, tormenting her ears. The court ladies’ constant scolding and the eunuchs’ sharp commands mixed together to form a cacophony that churned her stomach.

Huinyeong lifted her gaze towards the Buyong Pavilion, glowing beneath the bright moon.

She remembered her father feeding her slices of Hami melon in summer when her frail health prevented her from leaving the palace.

Suddenly, her eyes burned with tears.

Would it be better to die while holding the baby?

This world was foul and clouded. What would become of the prince once she was dead?

The child’s father was a cold man.

No, he was worse than cold. He was cruel and merciless.

Despite knowing that the Seven Palaces were watching the prince, he refused to protect him.

So… so…

The sharp chill of the winter air prickled the back of her neck.

She stepped forward slowly.

She could no longer tell the difference between the dark azalea leaves trimmed into round shapes and the smooth stones carved by the mason’s hand.

The pond in winter was brutally cold.

Chunks of drifting ice brushed against her shins.

Frozen lotus leaves tangled in her skirt.

Her lips twisted.

A sob broke from her mouth.

The eunuchs and court ladies who discovered Huinyeong wore hardened expressions. Some of them had once served her father.

This had always angered her.

When he was alive, they had bowed to him without fail. They had sworn unwavering loyalty to serve the emperor.

She had believed those empty vows were genuine.

But they meant nothing.

Rage surged through her so fiercely that she wanted to bite her own tongue.

This was the world that Huinyeong lived in, filled with anger like this every single day.

Those who had once dismissed her imperial father as an empty shell now bowed before the new emperor with fervent devotion.

The time when she had been a princess seemed as though it had never existed. Now, she was seen only as the emperor’s wife.

After she had born his child, there was even less said about her.

So she moved forward through the water without hesitation.

Before long, the eunuch’s shout could no longer be heard above the noise of the water.

The cold was savage enough to make her teeth ache.

Whenever the wind blew, her long, unpinned hair scattered wildly around her.

The baby cried.

Gradually, Huinyeong’s arms began to weaken.

‘I’m sorry. For conceiving you, for bringing you into this world, all of it is my sin. So please, do not forgive this sinful mother.’

A long wail escaped her lips.

The water had risen past her navel and was reaching her chest when it happened.

A hand like an iron hook seized her and spun her around.

Its knuckles were colder than ice, brushing against her legs.

Startled, Huinyeong looked up at him in the moonlit night.

“Isn’t the baby crying?”

The voice that emerged from between his clenched teeth was colder than the wind sweeping across the pond.

Huinyeong burst into tears.

It was the baby’s father.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

Suddenly, she noticed that half of the swaddling cloth was soaked.

Was that why the baby had been crying so desperately?

The emperor pulled Huinyeong out of the pond.

Leaning half against him, she was pulled from the water.

Her teeth chattered as he pulled her along.

The man held no warmth.

Even in his arms, she could not feel the slightest trace of heat.

She wiped her wet cheeks as her teeth continued to chatter when the emperor glanced at the palace attendants.

The prince’s wet nurse stepped forward and took the baby from her arms.

Her grip was rough.

Huinyeong hurriedly tried to rise and take the baby back.

But the wet nurse, clutching the swaddled infant, pushed her aside and turned away.

Then, suddenly, a harsh rebuke rang out.

From the fading darkness, an arm reached out and grabbed her.

“You tried to kill my heir, and yet you still dare to resist?”

The arm holding her seized her flailing hand and forced it down.

Huinyeong shook her head, but at the emperor’s cold gaze, she pressed her lips shut.

“Your Majesty…”

“Be silent.”

“The baby… the baby cannot sleep without me…”

“I said be silent. You dare act like a princess after becoming my woman?”

Her sobbing stopped.

With reddened eyes, she looked at the man who had claimed her as his own.

A moment later, he lifted her into his arms.

Held against him once more, she was carried back to Yangmyeong Hall.

She never saw the baby again after that.

Not even in her dreams.

***

She looked at the red plum blossom in her hand.

Her vision was blurred.

It was a dream.

Perhaps she was about eighteen then.

Huinyeong drifted through the hazy memory.

She thought of her father, who had also been the emperor.

A short, scattered laugh.

A faint smile, as if even that small expression had caused him pain.

He would turn his gaze away from his daughter to hide his sickly face.

“The Wing Prince is a dangerous man. You must never reveal an opening before him. Keep your distance. Fear him.”

“Huinyeong, do not go near him. Do not look at him. Do not give him your heart…”

The Son of Heaven was majestic.

His authority towered above the clouds over Mount Haewang, surpassing the world illuminated by heaven and earth atop Mount Duak.

Thus, there was nothing in the world that the Son of Heaven should fear.

And yet her father had…

“Your Highness.”

The fingers holding the red plum blossom trembled slightly.

Huinyeong blinked slowly; her body felt heavy with a slight fever.

Before her stood a man so beautiful that he seemed to have been carved from jade, with gently curved lips.

His face was far from crude.

Huinyeong lifted the plum blossom, which was resting neatly in the folds of her skirt, to her chest before speaking.

‘Look at him with empty eyes. Even the faintest trace of desire is still desire. Around the Wing Prince lies a dark forest, and within that forest lurks a hunger far more cruel than the executioner’s blade. Princess, you must fear him. Have you remembered your father’s words…?’

“What a beautiful flower. They say the mountains of Dubong are covered with them.”

“I picked the most radiant one among them.”

“How remarkable that it has not yet withered.”

“It is because it wished to rest in Your Highness’s embrace.”

The Winged Prince smiled.

Huinyeong looked at him quietly, her thoughts drifting to the low mountains surrounding the imperial palace.

Court ladies were said to often go there on outings with the eunuchs. Though the slopes were gentle rather than steep, the area was filled with flowers in dazzling abundance, making it the perfect place for a peaceful stroll.

But this had nothing to do with Huinyeong.

Unfortunately, her frail body prevented her from leaving the palace. Even crossing the gates of Yeon Palace would cause her to develop a dry cough and fever. The moment she stepped beyond the palace grounds, her body would suddenly weaken, making even a summer retreat impossible.

It was absurdly delicate.

If only she had died long ago, things would have been easier for the emperor, too.

Huinyeong hated herself for continuing to breathe in this feeble body that refused to die. Whenever she stayed in the palace in summer, forcing the eunuchs and court ladies to exhaust themselves in her service, she felt even more cursed.

Why had she been born so weak?

Would she die after just three or four more years, like her mother?

She did not know.

The fate of a human life was decided by heaven.

How cruel it was.

Why was everything she wished for always out of her reach?

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“You seem troubled. Have you been worried about something lately?”

“How could that be? I am merely a girl who lives within the palace.”

She meant that there was nothing else she could be worried about. Yet, for some reason, the Wing Prince narrowed his eyes slightly in response.

After handing a neatly gathered branch of red plum blossom to a court maid, he folded his hands together.

Her father had once warned her about the darkness surrounding the Wing Prince. He said the man was violent, fierce, and utterly ruthless — more cruel and lawless than anyone else.

He told her to watch him carefully at all times.

And so Huinyeong feared the Wing Prince.

Despite her father’s instructions to observe the danger and ferocity within him, Huinyeong could not even lift her head to meet his gaze.

Whenever their gazes almost met, she felt as though a metallic taste rose from deep within her throat.

The fear in her chest tightened around her neck.

She did not know when it had begun.

Huinyeong glanced around uneasily, unable to wipe the sweat gathering on her forehead. Although she tried to appear composed, she could not hide her timidity.

“Now that I think about it, I heard you caught a cold last season. It was when this prince had left Hwanju.”

“Yes. It was when Your Highness was touring Jikryeju.”

“Are you well now? It seems there is still a trace of heat around your eyes.”

She had been absentmindedly touching the deep pink petals of the plum blossom when the man’s gentle voice entered her thoughts.

If they truly were an ordinary aunt and uncle, the question would not have aroused any suspicion.

But the Wing Prince and Huinyeong were not ordinary people.

Huinyeong knew the desire he harbored for her.

To grasp the true meaning hidden within his words, she slowly lifted her head.