Chapter 4

Autumn 1856, On the Way Home from Changdeok Palace

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung did not say a word the entire way out of Changdeok Palace.

He remained silent inside the palanquin as well, and even after we entered the gate of the residence, he said nothing.

I quietly endured the silence.

There was no need to rush him.

Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung was probably replaying everything that had happened today in his head, trying to determine whether I had brought up that passage from the Analects directly targeting the Haedong Kim clan before Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, on impulse or whether I had prepared it in advance.

As we entered the courtyard of the residence, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung stopped.

He turned toward me.

His eyes had changed.

They no longer held wariness or surprise.

They were the eyes of a man who had made a decision.

“What you said before Her Majesty today. Had you planned it beforehand?”

“Yes, Father.”

“When?”

“Since I recovered from the fever.”

“Weren’t you afraid to bring up that passage in such a place?”

“I was afraid.”

“And yet you did it?”

“It was something that needed to be said.”

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

I could feel the final calculation taking place behind his eyes.

Without saying anything, he turned and walked into the study.

His silence was the answer.

He had decided to include me in his calculations once again.

Now I had to delve deeper into Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo.

The next time I entered the palace, I had to take another step forward.

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

After closing the door to my room, I sat down and organized what had happened today.

The direction I had established at Huijeongdang last time had gone through the first stage as planned.

But planting a seed and making it sprout were two completely different things.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo remembering me and trusting me were entirely different matters.

Likewise, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung including me in his calculations again and actually choosing me were two separate things.

To move Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, I needed her trust.

Trust could not be built through a single encounter.

It had to be accumulated little by little over several years.

To move Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung, I had to prove my usefulness.

Father was a practical man. He was someone who moved according to calculations rather than emotions.

Therefore, I had to demonstrate through my actions that his eldest son was more advantageous than his second son.

The Haedong Kim clan would come last.

If I touched them right now, there would be a backlash.

A nine-year-old could not confront the Haedong Kim clan head-on.

I needed to find their weakness, wait until that weakness surfaced, and then strike through the hand of Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo.

Seven years until 1863.

The order was important.

If I rush, I die.

I’ll proceed one step at a time.

I called for my servant, Gaksim, and had her sit down.

Gaksim widened her eyes and knelt.

“I told you to sit.”

Gaksim awkwardly sat down on the floor.

I looked straight at her.

“From now on, there’s something you need to do.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Every day, tell me who comes and goes from this residence, which family they belong to, and when they came and left.”

“Th-that…”

“Can you do it or not?”

Gaksim kept her mouth shut for a moment before lowering her head.

“I will do it, young master.”

“The same goes for rumors circulating outside. Bring me everything you hear.”

“Yes.”

“And don’t tell anyone about this. Not even His Excellency.”

Gaksim raised her head and looked at me.

Something flickered in her eyes.

It seemed that Gaksim had already sensed that this young master was not an ordinary child.

“I understand, young master.”

Gaksim left the room.

From now on, I would begin to see the movements taking place within the residence.

Spring 1857, Servants’ Quarters, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence, Hanseong

During the winter, the information Gaksim brought me accumulated little by little.

Which family’s servants had visited the residence.

Who Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung had sent letters to.

What rumors were circulating around the residence.

There was nothing immediately useful yet.

An information network did not produce results from the beginning.

It became useful only after information accumulated and connections began to emerge.

Around the beginning of spring, Gaksim came to me with a report.

“Young master, a court lady from Daejojeon in Changdeok Palace came to see His Excellency this afternoon. She entered through the back gate and stayed in the study for about an hour without anyone knowing before leaving.”

I looked up.

“Which quarters is she from?”

“She said she was a court lady from Daejojeon.”

Daejojeon was Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s residence.

Queen Sinjeong had sent someone to Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

And she had done so secretly.

It meant that Queen Sinjeong was also considering using Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung in preparation for King Cheoljong’s death.

I needed to establish contact with that court lady.

I had Gaksim find out when the court lady from Daejojeon would visit the residence again.

Three days later.

Three days later, I waited near the back gate.

When I saw the court lady from Daejojeon leave the study and head toward the back gate, I quietly approached her.

“Court Lady.”

The court lady stopped and turned around.

A look of confusion crossed her face when she saw a young child.

“What brings you here, young master…?”

“I have something to tell Her Majesty.”

The court lady narrowed her eyes.

“Young master, I cannot…”

“You were at Huijeongdang, weren’t you? During the greeting ceremony for His Majesty’s birthday.”

The court lady fell silent.

Her eyes once again scanned the child before her.

She remembered the scene at Huijeongdang when a nine-year-old child had used a passage from the Analects to target the Haedong Kim clan.

She would also have noticed the change in Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo’s eyes at that moment.

“I know what Her Majesty most wants to hear.”

The court lady stared at me for a long while.

She was no longer looking at me as a nine-year-old child.

She was looking at something she could not understand.

“The day the Haedong Kim clan’s political dominance ends is not far away. And I also know who will bring about that end. Whether Her Majesty wishes to hear that or not is for you to decide, Court Lady.”

The court lady was about to refuse once more, but stopped.

Then she slowly lowered her head.

“I will convey your words.”

The court lady passed through the back gate.

I watched her retreating figure and exhaled.

The second route to Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo, is open.

Several days later, Gaksim came to see me.

“Young master, I cautiously asked the court lady from Daejojeon about it.”

“What did she say?”

“She said Her Majesty remained silent for quite some time after hearing your words. Then Her Majesty told the court lady to have you brought to her separately the next time you came to pay your respects.”

“Find out the date of the next greeting ceremony. And until the day before it, gather every rumor circulating in the court these days concerning the Haedong Kim clan.”

“Yes, young master. May I ask why?”

“Because I need to prepare what I will say before Her Majesty.”

Gaksim lowered her head and left the room.

Queen Sinjeong, Lady Jo was going to summon me herself.

The fact that she wanted to meet the eldest son separately without going through Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung meant that she had begun to see Yi Jae-myeon as a person separate from Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung.

That was exactly what I wanted.

Summer 1858, Servants’ Quarters, Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung’s Residence, Hanseong

I gathered five household servants in one corner of the servants’ quarters.

They were people Gaksim had personally selected over the past six months.

Her judgment had been accurate.

I closed the door and looked at the servants.

“Starting today, I’m going to teach you two things.”

The servants exchanged nervous glances.

“Western language and Japanese.”

Their eyes widened.

One of them cautiously opened his mouth.

“Y-young master. How could we possibly learn the language of the Western barbarians…?”

“It isn’t a barbarian language. It’s a language Joseon will absolutely need to know in the future.”

“What would we use such a language for?”

“You’ll know when the time comes. For now, just memorize it.”

The servant closed his mouth.

Within the memories of my thirty-two-year-old modern self, I still remembered English and Japanese.

They were languages I had used for decades, from my school days through my working life.

And the tongue of this nine-year-old body still remembered all of their pronunciations.

More than twenty years from now, American and Japanese diplomatic missions would be established in Joseon.

Japan would set foot in Joseon first through the Treaty of Ganghwa in 1876, followed by the United States through the Joseon–United States Treaty of 1882.

Inside those diplomatic missions, Americans and Japanese would exchange important words without hesitation.

They would assume things like:

Would a Joseon servant understand English?

Would he understand Japanese?

That was where I needed to plant my eyes and ears.

The servants lowered their heads.

Language was different from a sword.

The moment a sword was revealed, the opponent became wary.

But with language, all I had to do was keep my possession of it hidden.

When the diplomatic missions were established more than twenty years from now, the Joseon court would lack people who knew foreign languages and would therefore depend on interpreters.

And depending on which side those interpreters favored, the meaning of the words could change.

But it would be different if a servant understood.

A servant would not attract attention.

Standing beside his master, pouring tea and cleaning up the room, he could hear everything.

The five people memorizing the alphabet in this servants’ quarters today had the potential to become Joseon’s greatest information network twenty years from now.

No one knew that.

And no one could know.

I started with English.

“A, B, C, D, E, F, G…”

The servants awkwardly repeated after me.

“A, B, C…”

Their pronunciation was terrible.

That was only natural.

They simply needed repetition.

The human tongue would eventually become accustomed to it.

After teaching them the alphabet, I moved on to basic words.

“Water—water. Fire—fire. King—king. Power—power.”

Next came Japanese.

“A, I, U, E, O. Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko…”

The servants repeated after me again.

They learned this slightly faster.

The pronunciation structure was similar to Joseon’s language.

After an hour, I looked at each of the servants one by one.

“Whatever you learned here today, never mention it outside.”

The servants lowered their heads.

“I said never. Don’t tell His Excellency. Don’t tell your parents or siblings, either. What happens inside these servants’ quarters must never leave these servants’ quarters. Understand?”

“Yes, young master.”

“If this information gets out, you don’t need me to tell you what will happen to you, do you?”

The servants’ expressions stiffened.

They lowered their heads even further.

“That will never happen, young master.”

I nodded and looked at Gaksim.

“You need to memorize the most. You’ll be using it more than anyone else in the future.”

Gaksim’s eyes widened before she deeply lowered her head.

“I understand, young master.”