Chapter 19 — The Shin House And The Royal House (2)

As the particulars spilled from Yun Jinseong’s mouth, the King gave an involuntary shiver, and his son and daughter shivered with him.
A Specter Realm Gate erupting out of nowhere. The hidden hand behind an earlier incident that had thrown a part of the Capital into uproar. And above all, the uncanny birth of a kudan.

“Have you learned anything about that organization?”
“There is an item they seem to have left behind on purpose. A piece of cloth, engraved with the mark of that organization. A powerful sorcery has been laid upon it, and whoever beholds it suffers harm to the mind. I myself struggled against the Gyuki in part because of that.”
“Sorcery…”

The King let slip a low groan, turning the word over. Then the man seated to his right opened his mouth, a man who looked about Shin Hweein’s age, perhaps a touch younger.

“Your Majesty, when it is not the sorcerer himself who has come, but only a brand of his sorcery, surely it can be easily negated?”

Shin Hweein only snorted inwardly at that.
Of course, the King snorted aloud.

“Crown Prince. Do not put too much faith in a power that has merely come down to you through the blood. It is a sorcery that even Special-Grade sorcerers failed to resist.”
“But—”
“Your Majesty the King. And Lieutenant General Yun. There is something I have yet to report concerning this matter.”

Cutting in before the man revealed to be the Crown Prince could embarrass himself further, Shin Hweein submitted his report with grave courtesy.
That after the curse had struck him, he had, with another’s aid, succeeded in absolving the curse itself.
Without Lyl’s help it would have been beyond imagining, and the Indulgence was a gift received from another, so the words were not untrue.

“The curse itself? You mean to say—”
“From now on, neither that organization’s mark nor its name can do any harm. Nor will it be possible to cast the same sorcery a second time.”
“That is… that is not possible.”

It was Yun Jinseong, not the King, who reacted first.
Shin Hweein regretted that he ought to have spoken with the man before entering the palace, but there had been no helping it.
The “perfect absolution” had concluded only a short while ago. The Indulgence had gone quiet, and he had confirmed that no curse remained on the organization’s mark or its name.
In step with that, Shin Hweein’s spiritual power, which had been climbing steadily, had at last settled. He could not yet call himself First-Rank, but he could now wield power that rivaled the upper tier of Rank-Two sorcerers…

“You may be able to undo a curse laid upon yourself, but how could you reach beyond that and interfere with its caster?”
“There is no such thing as impossible. A curse, too, is a thread strung between the caster and the cursed, and if one traces it back, what is there to prevent reaching the caster? You, of all people, Lieutenant General, must know about curse-reversal.”
“If curse-reversal were so simple, why would any curse-caster still walk the earth? Unless the cursed possessed truly exceptional skill—”

There Yun Jinseong broke off, muttered wait a moment, and then, as if everything had come clear, let out a small laugh.

“I see — she…”

He might, just possibly, be laboring under a tremendous misunderstanding. But that was better than having him pry into the secret of the Indulgence, so Hweein simply decided to say nothing at all.

“I understand the circumstances. May I verify it myself first?”
“Of course.”

With the King’s leave, Yun Jinseong unfurled a simple barrier that only he and Shin Hweein could enter.
Inside it, Shin Hweein told him the organization’s name without hesitation, and showed him the mark he had drawn and kept by him.

“Originally, this is a sorcery that interferes with the cursed without cease, inflicting suffering until they forget. You, Lieutenant General, may have believed yourself safe because you overcame it once. But that is the very trap. It returns later as a far more deadly curse.”
“Indeed — astonishingly, even I had forgotten what the mark looked like until I beheld it again just now. So it was no triumph after all… And yet now I feel nothing whatsoever. It is the same when I examine my own mind. So it has truly been absolved.”
“I would wager my life on it.”
“Your life is too precious to wager on such a thing. From now on, do not stake it so lightly.”
“As you say.”

Releasing the barrier, Yun Jinseong nodded to the King across from him and reported the organization’s name, Honwondorae, along with its mark.

“And how did you come by the organization’s name?”
“It came to light in the course of the absolution.”
“In an age when every manner of gwoe and curse runs rampant, the appearance of a curse-breaker of true skill is a portent of great fortune. Hweein. I trust you and rely upon you as my curse-breaker. May I?”

The gazes of both the King and Yun Jinseong fell upon him at once.
The King’s carried expectation, Yun Jinseong’s concern, and knowing it, Shin Hweein smiled inwardly.

Had he heard a similar proposal before ever setting foot in the palace, he would have refused without a moment’s thought. But now that he had already come face to face with the King, the matter was a different one altogether.

If I cannot avoid being involved with this man, I had best at least make him owe me.

“The absolution requires no slight a price, and no little time. But so long as those two are prepared, I shall receive your command at any time.”
“Good. Very good.”
“Your Majesty, surely a mere absolution can be performed by the authority of the Royal House—”

The Crown Prince muttered it, his face dark with displeasure at the exchange passing between the two.
He had managed, until now, to bear himself with a fair degree of maturity. But evidently he could not stand the sight of the King treating Shin Hweein with such marked familiarity.

“…!”

And then the woman fixed him with a sharp, flashing glare, and his mouth snapped shut at once.
Unlike the Crown Prince, she had until now kept her seat in perfect silence, and she was, almost certainly, the Princess.

He had been named Crown Prince, and yet could not lift a finger against his elder sister?
It was another moment of victory for the theory that brother and sister are wired to cherish one another.

“In any case — Honwon.”
“Yes. I have only just realized this myself, but this is—”
“An organization that sprang from within Aeshin.”

The King and Yun Jinseong arrived at the same conclusion, and their faces twisted in unison.
When Shin Hweein looked quietly between them, the King noticed first, and explained.

“Honwon carries several meanings, but in Aeshin it bears one particular, weighty sense. It refers to the state, before Aeshin’s founding, when the present world and the Specter Realm were tangled together as one.”

In truth, Shin Hweein had already half-guessed it.
Receiving confirmation, and wearing the same look of distaste, he asked,

“Then Honwondorae would mean—”
“That they wish to tear Aeshin down. What else could it be?”

The King let out a bitter laugh as he gave voice to so outrageous a thing.

“Why must I alone suffer so? The kings before me could shut themselves up in Changdeokgung for the whole of their reigns and nothing would come of it.”
“Your Majesty. There are many listening.”

The Princess sharpened her eyes, as if she were now about to discipline her own father as well, but the King brushed it off with a wave of his hand.

“How stands it? Among the Eight Pure-Blood Houses there is no further fault to be found. So, what then. The opposite-sex kudan? How are we to find such a thing?”
“Hweein has gathered some of the kudan’s ashes. Why not use it and commission a search from Shin Yuhyeon, the head of the Shin House?”

He had no doubt anticipated even this much.
The King sighed and let his arms and legs hang loose.

“I hate it. I hate it. That in the end I must lean on him every single time, that I despise this powerlessness in myself. Crown Prince. What do you make of me when you see this? How will you cope in the years to come?”
“It would suffice to grow my own authority. I shall become strong enough that we will not need to find the kudan, and may yet deny the creature’s prophecy.”
“Wholly wrong. Think on the answer a little longer.”
“Your Majesty—!”

Having vented his sulk on his son, the King’s mood seemed to lift somewhat. He straightened his posture and said to Yun Jinseong,

“Have Shin Yuhyeon brought before me. The sooner, the better.”

— Then I shall present myself at once.

In that instant a cool wind blew through a room that had no windows.
At the spot where the wind died, a man had appeared at some unmarked moment. The King’s face creased into a scowl.

“This is exactly why I dislike it.”
“I came only because I was summoned.”

A face that, unlike Yun Jinseong’s, gave no hint of his age, unlined. Eyes as keen as if they could see straight through the heart of a man. Lips drawn together with stubborn resolve.
His hair was long, gathered and tied behind his neck, and not one strand of it was white. It was as black as the hair of a man in his twenties.
If one were to gather ten thousand of the common folk of Aeshin and ask, all ten thousand would know the name of that man: Shin Yuhyeon.

“How—?”
“Master Shin, head of the Shin House…”
“Tch.”

Everyone in the chamber save the King and Yun Jinseong wore looks of disbelief at the sight.
For, as has been said, this place was deep within Gyeongbokgung, where even casting a sorcery was difficult without the King’s leave. And yet at the mere sound of his name spoken, he had appeared on the spot.

“I shall come in.”

He inclined his head to the King in the same brief bow Shin Hweein had given, observed the proprieties, and walked in with a long, easy stride.
But though Shin Hweein felt his father pass by his side, he did not turn his eyes upon him.
Nor did Shin Yuhyeon turn his upon Shin Hweein.

“Tell me, are your ears in my bedchamber too?”
“If You do not call, I do not hear. Be at ease.”
“I hate it all the same.”

After this banter-like exchange with Shin Yuhyeon, the King turned his gaze to Shin Hweein and said,

“You do know he is your youngest son, do you not? If you have driven him out, I shall not let it pass.”
“It is not a matter for the Royal House to meddle in. The affairs of the Shin House will be settled within the Shin House.”
“He is a precious child. If you mean to leave him so neglected, I shall take him into the Royal House myself. I look forward to seeing how long you can keep that easy face.”
“Have a try at it, and see if it goes as You wish.”

Words were exchanged that could in no way be believed to be passing between a king and his subject. And through all of it, Shin Hweein did not turn his head toward them.
Instead he tightened the hand clenched on his own knee, and quietly closed his eyes.
He did not wish to let slip even a sliver of what he felt.
Not before that man, of all people, who now sat in the same chamber as he.

— Young master, I’m here.

It was then that Geum Moa’s voice reached him.
After a long hesitation, Shin Hweein managed at last to answer.

— Won’t he hear?
— Young master, have you still not realized? The likes of Shin Yuhyeon cannot interfere with my arts.
— …Is that so.

Strangely enough, those words eased Shin Hweein’s heart a little.
His father was a man he had only ever regarded as the sky itself.
Whatever he said, all of Aeshin believed it would come to pass.
But hearing Geum Moa’s voice declare, boldly, that she stood above him, his father no longer felt to him the absolute presence he had always seemed.
And so the sky that had pressed close and stifling above his head was drawn back, and he felt that he could breathe more easily.

— Could we share a drink tonight?
— A request I have been waiting for with all my heart — but tonight, I cannot. Tonight will run very long, on other business.
— …I see. Now that you mention it, of course it will.

A wry smile on his lips, Shin Hweein raised his head and spoke to the King, who all this while had been picking quarrels with Shin Yuhyeon.

“I shall give You the kudan’s ashes.”
“You should. Hand it to me directly.”

He had thought perhaps he ought to give it to Yun Jinseong, but Yun Jinseong was turning his face away, as if unwilling to be drawn into the contest of qi between the King and Shin Yuhyeon.
Now convinced that all three elders present in the room were figures rather poorly suited as models for any young man, Shin Hweein sighed inwardly and drew from his subspace storage a vial holding the kudan’s ashes.

“That one, too, working sorcery so casually…”

The Crown Prince ground his teeth again as he muttered it, and met Shin Hweein’s eyes.
He had begun to lift his gaze, as if determined not to lose a staring contest, but upon meeting the Princess’s wide-glaring eyes from across the room he straightened his posture once more. Instead the Princess inclined her head toward Shin Hweein, as if to apologize for the rudeness.

“Indeed — there is something children share with one another after all.”

The King appeared to take pleasure in it, but to Shin Hweein’s eye it did not look as though he would ever be on particularly good terms with them.
Setting aside the Crown Prince’s open hostility, the Princess too had carried hostility toward him from the very moment he had merely inclined his head to the King in greeting. She was only restraining it now to keep the Crown Prince from running wild.
She thought she was hiding it, by her own lights. But unhappily for her, Shin Hweein had been sensitive to the feelings of others long before his spirit-eye had ever properly opened, so her effort was wasted.

“This is it.”
“Hm.”

The King received the vial of ashes, seemed to examine it, and at once passed it on to Shin Yuhyeon.

“Can you uncover it at once?”
“Had we obtained an intact corpse there would have been no trouble, but as it stands—”
“Get to the point.”
“It will take an hour.”
“As always. Insolent.”

At the King’s sigh, Shin Yuhyeon answered calmly, shaking the vial of ashes.

“That, too, is the proper bearing of a sorcerer.”
“Is that a teaching of the Shin House? You sound exactly like your son.”
“…It is something one is born with.”

Shin Yuhyeon closed his mouth for a moment, seeming to consider, then said,

“I shall borrow a quiet space within Manchunjeon. Yun Jinseong, I shall need your spiritual power, since you were present at the time.”
“Let it be so.”
“And… Shin Hweein.”

His name called, Shin Hweein quietly turned his head and looked at him.
Meeting his son’s eyes at last, Shin Yuhyeon said nothing for a moment, perhaps because he was only now seeing his face properly.
At the sight, the King let out a low chuckle.
It was only when the people around them too began to sense something amiss that, at last, he opened his mouth.
His voice, however, reached Shin Hweein alone.

— Summon Old Aengseol.

It was a mind-speech of a somewhat different character from Geum Moa’s.
Shin Hweein nearly answered with the mind-speech Geum Moa had taught him, then thought better of it. He closed his eyes for a moment and chewed over the spiritual power he had just felt from him.
Then, with the mind-speech he had only this moment acquired, he answered.

— Any member of the Shin House could surely call her. You, of all people, most of all.
— It must be you who calls her. Because you are her master.

There Shin Yuhyeon stopped. He hesitated, then added,

— Did you learn mind-speech from her?
— From you.

For the first time, the faintest of smiles touched Shin Hweein’s lips as he answered.

— I have just learned it, from you. The first sorcery I have ever learned from you.
— I see.

Shin Yuhyeon rose from his seat.
Gesturing for Shin Hweein and Yun Jinseong to follow, he opened the door and walked out, murmuring low under his breath,

“He really is my son after all.”