Yeon subtly revealed her thigh. Her smooth, pale skin was soft to the touch and almost plump with allure. She was a seductress. Without betraying a single emotion, he watched the woman trying to tempt him.

Yeon took no pleasure in their intercourse. The more pleasure she seemed to feel, the more she simply masked it with a composed expression, as if swallowing down the torment.

“Do you still not forget that man?”

Ryu thought of the man he had almost killed. He could only guess at the imprint that man had left on Yeon.

Since that day, Yeon had never once spoken his name. Her demeanour towards Ryu remained unchanged. She caressed him with gentle hands and smiled faintly, never losing her poise.

Except for that one time when she knelt and begged for the man’s life, she behaved as though he had never existed.

At times, this made Ryu fear her.

If love meant so little to Yeon, perhaps he meant nothing to her either.

“Yu Seol-yeon.”

”What answer do you wish to hear from this humble concubine?”

Her indifferent voice was icy. He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached out and grasped her voluptuous br*ast with one hand.

He pressed her hardened n*pple with his palm and slowly began to knead her full br*ast. Her n*pple stiffened quickly.

Once it was *rect, Ryu took it into his mouth and bit down gently. The soft flesh of her br*ast filled his mouth, sending a thrill through him.

Yeon let out a soft moan. Her slender fingers gently tangled in his hair.

How affectionate. So sweet. Yet, to Yeon, he still wasn’t truly a man.

Despite being the only man in the world who could possess her.

The anger simmering within him began to grow.

“Just know one thing.”

Ryu lifted his face from her br*ast and his expression turned cold.

“Whether you like it or not, I am a man to you.”

***

Such an event had occurred long ago.

A royal guard had fallen from grace and been reduced to slavery by the emperor’s wrath.

Although he was the son of a fifth-rank official and not of noble birth, he was skilled in civil and martial arts, and had been appointed as a royal guard from a young age.

With his hair tied high, his shoulders straight, and his well-defined brows above his handsome face…

If it hadn’t been for Yeon, that flawless, striking man would have lived a happy, peaceful and long life.

It was all Yeon’s fault.

If only she hadn’t fallen for him.

If only he hadn’t returned her feelings with his tender gaze.

None of it would have happened.

Since that incident, Yeon had never sought him out again.

In front of Ryu, she simply laughed and chatted as usual. When Ryu was seventeen, he quickly calmed down, thinking that she had lost interest in the man.

Even so, that man’s family could not escape the emperor’s wrath.

When Yeon heard that the entire household had been reduced to government slaves, she was devastated.

She cried every day, fearing the emperor might notice her sorrow.

At seventeen, Ryu was no different from a tyrant. At least, that was true when it came to Yeon.

On other matters, however, he was gentle and just. But if Yeon seemed indifferent to him in any way, he would erupt with fury like a child throwing a tantrum.

He had never acted that way before. The child he had once been had always been kind and gentle.

Growing up, he had been impossibly sweet and warm. It was Ryu who used to pick clover for her to braid into bracelets whenever she embroidered.

—“Where did you learn to do this?”
—“You used to make them for me when I was little, remember?”
—“You learned it from me?”
—“Well… I actually asked Eunuch Bong how to do it.”
—“So it was Master Bong who taught you.”
—“Mm. Do you like it?”

He tilted his head and smiled.

The child looked as beautiful as his mother had, beaming a grin as bright as the sun.

His smile was as soft and white as a pear blossom. There was a bright, youthful innocence about him.

He was the same little boy who had once racked his brains to tease her playfully.

Over time, his pranks became bolder and bolder, and Yeon began to worry, but she still thought they were harmless.

Even when Ryu kissed her on the lips while she slept, she told herself it was just mischief — something all boys his age did.

So she dismissed it.

It was just a childish prank.

Hadn’t he done worse when he was younger?

He used to lift the hem of her skirt while she walked, rubbing his cheek against her bare legs in jest.

And that wasn’t all. He would press his face close to hers, seemingly about to kiss her cheek, before suddenly grabbing her face and kissing her lips, as though he were a bird pecking at a stone wall.

It had become routine for him to push her over and grope her collar.

Still, Yeon believed it would all pass in time. If only that one day — that one event — hadn’t happened.

“I’m sure they did it this way in the Chunhwa scroll from the Cheon household.”

At twelve, Ryu was endlessly curious. Especially when it came to the female body.

And it was always Yeon he clung to. Yet he never showed any interest in the other court ladies, so Yeon assumed he would grow out of it soon enough.

But that day, Ryu was unusually persistent. Flustered, she was unable to stop him as he grabbed her wrist and tried to drag her to the bed.

Although only twelve years old, Ryu resembled his father and had an impressive physique.

Not only was he taller than Yeon, he also trained his body every day by hunting and practising martial arts. Consequently, no one could stand up to his brute force.

He dragged Yeon along and she screamed. Ryu finally laid her on the bed and climbed on top of her.

“Your Majesty!”

“Ah, this isn’t right. Yeon, touch the ground and lift your b*tt.”

“Don’t do this! A virtuous emperor would never behave like a thug.”

“Turn around quickly!”

“Your Majesty! I told you not to do this!”

Ryu, who had secretly seen the eunuch Cheon’s erotic paintings and wanted to imitate them, was suffocated.

Yeon bit her lip and looked up at him. Her young emperor was not acting like himself. She had always seen him as mischievous, but never crude.

But tonight, something had changed — he was being forceful and uncharacteristically aggressive.

Eventually, Yeon gave in, unable to defy Ryu’s will. She moved into the position he had demanded, fully aware of what it meant.

Even though she lacked experience with men, she wasn’t naïve. At twenty years old, how could she not understand?

Still, before she could feel ashamed, a deeper worry settled in. What if this shaped his view of women? What if it twisted his understanding of affection and desire?

Gritting her teeth, Yeon adjusted her posture as Ryu had asked her to. She knew that no one would come, even if she screamed. The only thing she could do was get through it quickly and end it before it got worse.

Once it was over, she would go to Yeongsu Palace without delay. She would speak to Princess Sukon and the Grand Empress Dowager. She had to tell them what Eunuch Cheon had done and how he had exposed the young emperor to obscene material far too early.

The emperor needed proper guidance, and he needed it soon.

“Haa… haa… You mustn’t do this, Your Majesty.”

“Why not?”

Half an hour had passed. Yeon looked up at him, her body trembling and her breath ragged. Ryu’s expression was calm, almost indifferent.

“Why can’t I?”

The face of the boy she once knew, now asking such a question with disarming ease, felt foreign to her.

Yeon wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve, trying to hold back the tears.

“This is something that Your Majesty should only do when you’re older. Besides, I’m your nanny.”

Ryu’s reply was soft but certain.

“But Yeon… you’re my woman.”

“Your Majesty.”

“You said you came to the palace for me. To be by my side.”

Ryu recited the words flatly. His young face was terrifyingly calm. Yeon was at a loss for words.

Although she was just a nanny, she raised him as if she were his mother, since his real mother had died.

She wanted to tell him not to behave this way, but she couldn’t find the words.

“If you act like this, the Grand Empress Dowager and Princess Sukon will be angry.”

“And why would that be?”

“Because I am Your Majesty’s—”

“A slave. You belong to me.”

She couldn’t even bring herself to say ‘Your Majesty’.

She simply stared, stunned, at the young emperor — no, at the boy she had always thought of as hers.

Her nose had stung for a while and soon tears began to trail down her cheeks.

Ryu gazed at her quietly and lifted his hand to wipe her face.

Yeon barely restrained herself from slapping his hand away.

“Yeon is mine.”

“That’s right. I am Your Majesty’s nanny. I nursed and raised you. I stayed up night after night, soothing and comforting you as you cried endlessly for your mother.”

“You didn’t even bear a child with me. I know you couldn’t produce milk.”

“Your Majesty…”

At her tearful reply, the emperor gave a crooked smile.

“How could you produce milk? When you never even bore a child?”

The smile on Ryu’s face was so bright and innocent that it sent a chill down her spine.

“I heard the milk you gave me came from Court Eunuch Bong’s daughter-in-law from the Kwon clan.”

“Your Majesty may not remember, but I was the one who gave you that milk!”

“I know.”

The young emperor bowed his head as he said it.

His soft lips touched her br*ast.

Smack—the faint sound echoed in her ears as his lips parted.

The air smelled of apricots. Like the small fruits nestling beneath their sharp green leaves. That faint, verdant scent brushed past her nose.

“But Yeon was never my mother.”

Ryu’s voice was light and clear as he said this.