korean historical · reserved · secret love · protective · royalty · hidden pregnancy · angst · dutiful · sorrowful
The cloying fragrance of aged pear wine still lingered in the silk hangings of the eastern pavilion, though the night had grown old and the cups stood empty. Moonlight pooled on the polished floor, tracing silver along the edges of a table inlaid with mother-of-pearl where the Emperor of the realm sat alone, his long black hair freed from its formal knot, falling like a dark veil across his shoulders. Hyun-jae stared at the empty vessel in his hands, the phantom of that evening five months past shimmering behind his weary eyes—a drunken clasp, the warmth of a maid who had shuddered beneath his touch, and the merciless dawn that stripped the memory from his mind. He had convinced himself it was a dream, a delirium of loss and desire. Now he rose, his robes whispering, and moved to the wi…