Chapter 3

Autumn 1856, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence, Sarangchae, Hanseong

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung opened the first chapter of the Analects.

“Is it not a pleasure to learn and practice what one has learned from time to time? How far have you read?”

Without looking at the book, I recited the passage from the very beginning.

“Is it not a pleasure to learn and practice what one has learned from time to time? Is it not a joy when a friend comes from afar? Is one not a gentleman if one does not become angry even when others do not recognize him?”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s hand stopped.

“Next.”

His eyes left the book and turned toward me.

“If one governs through virtue, the people will naturally follow, just as all the stars revolve around the North Star even though it remains in its place.”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung folded his arms and gave a slight nod.

“Next.”

“If one governs the people only through laws, they will no longer know shame. But if one governs through virtue, the people will correct themselves.”

When Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung closed the book, the study fell silent.

He looked at me before slowly opening his mouth.

“Can governing through virtue actually be applied to this country right now?”

It was an unexpected question.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung was no longer simply testing my memory. He was directly asking for my thoughts.

Asking a nine-year-old about the political realities of the country was less of an examination and more of an attempt to understand me.

I paused for a moment, slowly clenching and unclenching my hands on my lap before answering.

“I don’t know. But I do know one thing: this country is not being governed through virtue.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because the people neither fear nor feel ashamed before the government.”

“How would a nine-year-old know such a thing?”

“You can tell by walking through the streets. The people don’t even turn their heads toward the government offices.”

The study fell silent again.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung stared straight at me, and I could feel something turning rapidly behind his eyes.

After a long while, he spoke quietly.

“Read the rest on your own.”

“Yes, Father.”

As I left the study, I knew this did not mean Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung had nothing more to teach me.

Rather, he had acknowledged that I was absorbing the material faster than he could teach it.

For a man who had spent twenty years grinding his teeth under the domination of the Haedong Kim clan, I did not need to ask how deeply the words the people have turned their backs on the country must have struck him.

Autumn 1856, Alley in Bukchon, Hanseong

I climbed over the wall without the servant noticing.

For a nine-year-old, climbing over a wall was surprisingly easy.

My body was light, and I landed quietly.

Thump!

The moment I dropped into the alley, I pulled my hat down and began walking.

I knew from history that Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung pretended to be a wastrel, but seeing it with my own eyes was an entirely different matter.

A parakho referred to a wastrel who squandered his wealth and wandered the streets like a hoodlum.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung had maintained this act for decades in order to avoid the eyes of the powerful Haedong Kim clan.

Appearing to be a useless member of the royal family rather than a dangerous royal was his way of surviving.

And history had already proven just how meticulous that disguise was.

A boisterous voice came from deeper inside the alley.

“Why is the wall of this tiled-roof house so shabby? Owner! Come out here!”

It was Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

His gat was crooked, and he was holding a liquor bottle as he shouted loudly in the middle of the alley. Three or four ruffians stood around him, snickering.

Yangban passing through the alley clicked their tongues and avoided Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

I wondered how many people in Joseon knew that all of this was an act.

I quietly watched from behind a wall.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s eyes were not smiling.

Although he held a liquor bottle, his lips were not wet.

He was merely pretending to drink.

Even then, his gaze swiftly swept across the entire alley.

He could identify which house each wall belonged to and who was passing by, yet his drunken movements never faltered by even an inch.

He had been doing this for twenty years.

I quietly turned away.

There was something to learn from a father like that.

Long-term calculations that looked twenty years into the future, and a disguise that never collapsed until the very end.

But today, I had confirmed something even more important with my own eyes.

The place where Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung pretended to be a wastrel was the alleys of Bukchon, and among the people coming and going nearby were individuals connected to the Haedong Kim clan.

While hiding himself, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung was simultaneously observing their movements.

I can use that method too.

Appear to be a child who knows nothing while seeing everything.

Autumn 1856, Entrance to a Market on the Outskirts of Hanseong

There were hardly any people at the market.

Normally, the markets should have been at their busiest after the autumn harvest, but this year was different.

There were so few merchants that they could be counted on one’s fingers, and the people passing by were not buying anything. They were simply coming and going.

The reason was simple.

As soon as the harvest ended, stewards of the lands owned by the Haedong Kim clan had descended upon the villages and taken most of the crops.

This year, the grain tax had been raised by twenty percent compared to previous years, leaving the farmers barely enough to survive the winter.

There was nothing left to bring to market.

The situation was no different on the lands owned by the Pungcheon Jo clan.

Even before the harvest had finished, the Pungcheon Jo clan’s stewards had appeared and calculated the year’s rent in advance.

Whether it was a bad harvest or a good harvest, the amount collected did not change.

Anything that could not be collected during a poor harvest was taken the following year with interest.

As their debts accumulated, tenant farmers eventually either abandoned the land and became wandering refugees or remained where they were and starved.

An old woman was squatting at one corner of the market.

She had nothing to sell and nothing to buy.

It seemed as though she had simply come out to watch the people.

As someone passed by her, the old woman muttered,

“Is there even a king?”

No one answered.

The passerby hurried his steps as though he had not heard her.

The sky was high, and the wind was cold.

Yet the market was completely empty.

Autumn 1856, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence, Sarangchae, Hanseong

After finishing my evening greeting, I was about to leave the study when I stopped.

“Father, I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Please take me with you when you go to pay respects on His Majesty’s birthday.”

The study fell silent.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s eyebrows rose.

“What use is such an occasion to a child your age?”

“I need to learn about the palace.”

“What would a nine-year-old do with knowledge of the palace?”

I looked directly at Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

“What I read in books and what I see with my own eyes are different. I believe that learning without ever seeing the palace firsthand is only half-complete.”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung stared at me for a while.

I could sense the words of refusal stopping inside his mouth.

“If I take you, can you remain quiet?”

“Of course.”

“You must never do anything that draws attention.”

“Understood, Father.”

“Do not stray even a single step from my side.”

“Yes.”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung looked at me for another moment before nodding.

“All right.”

I lowered my head while secretly clenching my fist.

The door leading to Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, had opened.

Autumn 1856, Huijeongdang Hall, Changdeok Palace

The royal family members who had gathered to pay respects on King Cheoljong’s birthday filled Huijeongdang Hall.

On the king’s birthday, a ceremony was held where members of the royal family and powerful relatives gathered to offer their congratulations.

I quietly followed behind Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung, my eyes constantly moving.

The courtyard in front of the main palace hall was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, but the living palace was completely different from the one I had imagined from books.

I committed the movements of the senior court ladies to memory, as well as the directions taken by the eunuchs and the route leading toward Daejojeon Hall.

Daejojeon, where Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, resided, was reached by turning north from Injeongjeon Hall.

But today, we were not going there.

We were at Huijeongdang instead.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung spoke quietly.

“Don’t look around unnecessarily.”

“Yes, Father.”

I fixed my gaze straight ahead, but continued observing my surroundings from the corners of my eyes.

When we entered Huijeongdang, several members of the royal family had already taken their seats.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s seat was toward the corner.

It was the place assigned to a royal family member who had been pushed aside by the powerful Haedong Kim clan.

Yet Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung sat there with a completely indifferent expression.

I sat neatly beside him and quietly looked forward.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, was seated in the place of honor.

Born in 1808, she was forty-eight years old this year.

Her eyes were sharp, and there was a faint trace of fatigue around her mouth.

It was the face of a woman who had survived decades of power struggles within the royal court.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, had served as regent during King Heonjong’s reign, only to have all her power stripped away by the Haedong Kim clan.

As she waited for King Cheoljong to die without an heir, there was a strong possibility that she was sharpening the blade of her vengeance.

I just need to touch that anger.

The formal greetings had ended, and the gathering was about to disperse.

At that moment, Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s gaze slowly drifted toward Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

Then she noticed me sitting beside him.

“Heungseon-gun, is that boy your eldest son?”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung lowered his head.

“Yes, Your Majesty. He is my eldest son, Jae-myeon.”

“Bring him here.”

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s eyes narrowed for an instant, but he could not disobey Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo.

I followed Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung toward her, placed both knees on the floor, and bowed deeply.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, looked down at me.

Her eyes seemed capable of seeing straight through me.

“I heard your name is Jae-myeon?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I am Yi Jae-myeon.”

“How old are you?”

“I am nine.”

“How far have you progressed in your studies?”

“I have been reading the Analects and Mencius.”

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s eyebrows rose slightly.

Several court ladies nearby began whispering softly.

It seemed difficult for them to believe that a nine-year-old was reading the Analects and Mencius.

After thinking for a moment, Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo asked me,

“What passage from the Analects has left the greatest impression on you?”

I had been waiting for this moment.

I paused briefly, deliberately pretending to think, before slowly opening my mouth.

“When the Ji family wished to perform a sacrifice at Mount Tai, Confucius asked Ran You, ‘Can you not stop him?’”

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s eyes wavered.

“It was a warning against those who do not know their own station and recklessly seek authority beyond what is rightfully theirs.”

The hall fell silent.

The way Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo looked at me changed.

Everyone present knew exactly whom the words those who do not know their station and recklessly seek authority referred to.

The Haedong Kim clan.

The very family that had ruled above the royal household for decades by using King Cheoljong as its figurehead.

The name Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo had the greatest reason to resent.

And those words had come from the mouth of a nine-year-old child.

One member of the Haedong Kim clan’s royal relatives sitting in the corner of Huijeongdang narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.

The person beside him whispered something in a low voice.

Both their gazes simultaneously shifted toward Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung pretended not to notice and continued staring straight ahead.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo slowly opened her mouth.

“You are clever.”

“I am deeply honored, Your Majesty.”

“Do you take after your father or your mother?”

“I do not know. But I wish to learn beside my father.”

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo turned toward the court lady standing beside her.

“Bring that child a tray of sweets.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I could feel Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung holding his breath beside me.

He had clearly never imagined that I would pull something like this.

I bowed deeply to Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo once more and smiled inwardly.

Done.

I’ve made my mark in Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s eyes.