Bab 19: The Most Infamous Concubine, Ryunjin.
Areum was delighted.
The ends of her lips curled upwards, into a sly smirk.
The mission that had been so trustingly dispatched to her would be accomplished soon enough.
Of course she could be trusted, she was Min Yun Ki's left hand.
As Areum walked into the Concubine Outhouse, located adjacent to The King's Palace, she rushed into her chamber.
The one she shared with the one who ran the rumour mill in Baekmin.
The King's least called upon, the one who received a monthly 4 coin commission to feed her family while she whiled away, bathed in the most expensive of scents, wore the most convenient silk, without being called upon by The King in months.
She wasn't distasteful to look at.
She just ran her mouth a little to much for Min Yun Ki's liking.
He didn't want anyone looking a him, with an undeclared sense of authority and Lee Yunji was just that.
She was his worst nightmare, among the concubines he reared.
He remember having The Chief who'd brought her in as a concubine, banished out of pure rage and disgust.
The girl was absolutely vain and conceited.
Hailing from rags, being brought into riches had made her arrogant.
She even took pride in not being called by Yun Ki after he wasn't able to get it up for her, as per her words and claims.
She saw him as being impotent, someone who couldn't and wouldn't deliver an heir to The Kingdom of Baekmin.
She along with the loyal Ministers had just been waiting for Min Yun Ki to be overthrown by a foreign power or grow old and die, so Baekmin could move reigns from being a Monarchy and maybe enter a justful system of Democracy.
In short, she wasn't fond of him either.
The distaste was mutual.
Lee Yunji was chamber mates with Areum.
They were rather close, they had to be in order to be civil.
Areum ranked higher amidst the other concubines but in Yunji's eyes, she was a fellow colleague.
Entering past the wooden door, she's met with Yunji laid in bed, cucumber adorning her eyelids.
She was enjoying the paid-for lifestyle.
"Ah Areum-ah, back from tending to the prune?" Yunji mocks, hearing Areum's jute sandals pad over the hardwood floor.
She scoffs.
"You know how much I dislike you calling him that, quit it. Don't be sour that you couldn't get him aroused and I could and still can." Areum replies, curtly.
Yunji seats herself against the yellow bolsters along the frame of her bed.
"Listen, I don't lack in the entertainment department and I can please just as well as you do or even better so let's not get ahead of ourselves for that inadequate excuse of a man." Yunji laughs, peeling a cucumber off of her eyes and adjusting to the light in the room.
She's met with Areum's fuming demeanour.
"Aish, I forgot. You're in love with the Man, aren't you? Sometimes I really think you're only jumping to the ideologies of love because he makes you finish. What do you see in that stone anyway?" She asks Areum, who seats herself on the foot of Yunji's bed.
Areum lets out a deep sigh and Yunji knows she's in the loop for hearing praises and songs about love from the former's mouth.
"He makes me feel special, Yunji. You know it and so do the other concubines. Mother always told me to see pleasing Yun Ki as a chore and nothing more but, the time I've spent with him and by his side makes me see good in him. I know it's somewhere inside him. He's just so hurt and trampled on, that's what's had him loose touch with the human side of his. He smiles with me, Yunji. Have you heard him laugh? Have you seen the way his cheeks perch up or the way his eyes crinkle or that endearing gummy smile that comes on display? You haven't. I don't expect you to understand my devotion towards him. I don't understand anyone to, in fact. What we share is beyond your understanding." Areum exhales, adjusting the pearl ring adorning her middle finger.
"He's married, Areum-ah. He's brought in a Consort for himself and as much as you'd hate to accept it, it's not you. It's Kim Soojin. The village lass. Someone far lower than us in ranks. He raised her to the pedestal and yet, she wouldn't sleep with him. That's how hopeless the Celebrated King is. Word on the run is, Soojin is thinking of having her ovaries removed so that she doesn't have to bear the heir to this ruined Kingdom. I best believe, she's doing the right thing. Min Yun Ki is nothing but an imp—"
"Shut your mouth, Yunji. I've had it with you showing him down. Does your faith really allow you to not give him chance? Does it deem you to turn your back on someone who is revivable? I know I'm not his lawfully wedded better half but I do make him happy. I'm just looked down upon because I'm a concubine, a mere prostitute to the King, in the Court's or Law's eyes. He would've married me, Yunji. I would've carried his child and I'd be the happiest woman to be ablate do so."
Areum interjects, clutching the bedsheets.
"— But you can't, Areum. Realise your worth and return back to reality. We're how the King passes his time and blows off some steam. Look at you, what are these purple marks that cover your body? Is this what love is, Areum?" Yunji asks, caressing Areum's blanched knuckles.
A tear runs down Areum's eyes.
"It's how he shows his love, Yunji and I have no objection to it." Areum concludes, retreating from her comforting touch.
Grabbing the teapot on the side of her bed, Yunji pours out ginger tea in a cup, handing it over to Areum.
"It's all on you, Areum. Nothing that I say can change your mind." Yunji states as a matter-of-factly.
Areum nods, sipping her tea and reflecting upon just what he saw in Soojin.
Saw in a mere lass, with no class and deemed her fit to bear the weight of the crown.
"I had a favour to ask of you, Yunji." Areum trails.
"..Would you happen to know who among us Consorts happens to be Soojin's blood relative?"
Yunji smiles a devious smile.
"You've come to the right person, Areum. I do know who she is. Don't be quite shocked, however." Yunji states, grinning as though she held all the power in the world.
"Tell me, you can trust me Yunji." Areum begs.
Yunji takes a slurp of her ginger tea, wiping the ends of her mouth before uttering the words.
"Kim Ryunjin from Gyonju." She states, laughing.
Areum's eyes widen at the name, the teacup in her grasp a little to heavy for her frail fingers.
Kim Ryunjin, the most infamous of the Concubines.
The one whose loyalty bore no value.
The one who'd been protected by the Leader of Concubines- Ah Ma herself.
Ryunjin entered the Kingdom at 18, she was reared and groomed until she turned 20 and was presented to the King as a present, after he'd beheaded the immigrants from Silkim, whom he believed were spies looking to infiltrate Baekmin.
He'd slandered and beheaded 12 men, the night he was presented with Ryunjin.
No one knows what had happened after that one night.
Min Yun Ki was out of control.
He'd grown a fatal attraction to Ryunjin and her inexperienced untouched body.
His ego sat heavier on his head than any other throne and he impregnated her the first time.
He made sure she was made barren thereafter, made sure she was sent out of The Kingdom to have the illegitimate unborn aborted.
Ah Ma, who'd looked after Min Yun Ki ever since he was a baby followed her to the outskirts.
She returned a year after, the twinkle in her eyes replaced by nothing but sheer darkness.
She lost her soul in the abortion, Ah Ma said.
Others believed she'd sold her soul to the Devil, who'd promised her to avenge what Yun Ki had done to her.
Robbed her of motherhood.
Robbed the cradle.
Word is, Yun Ki faces the backlash of all his actions because of what he did to Ryunjin.
Ryunjin is the reason Min Yun Ki would never see the face of his heir.
Ryunjin went ballistic, ruthless.
She used her body to earn howsoever she could.
She still visited the King at nights.
She just lay there, motionless staring at him with nothing but emotionless murk in her eyes and after a while, it was no longer pleasurable for Min Yun Ki.
That's why Yun Ki had stopped calling her, reducing her to the status of a maidservant, instead.
At least that's what Min Yun Ki had told Areum.
He'd be shocked to know about Ryunjin.
Areum could see the similarity between Ryunjin and Soojin.
Could that be why Soojin was brought in as a Consort?
Was that Min Yun Ki's redemption?
Areum slept with a head full of thoughts but resolute to tell her King nothing but the truth.
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