HLCOB C15

Chapter 15

Yuan Shao was taken aback.

“…What did you say?”

“Last night, it’s said Young Lord Cao set his sights on a girl favored by His Majesty.”

He had entered the palace as usual with no special thought, when people began buttonholing him with all sorts of questions; there was but one “Young Lord Cao” worthy of such talk.

It was Cao Cao, the only true friend before whom Yuan Shao could bare his heart.

“…A girl favored by His Majesty?”

Cao Cao surely fancied beauties, but he was not one without propriety. Frowning, Yuan Shao asked again.

“Three days ago—the peerless beauty who entered Luoyang. Young Lord Cao vaulted a wall to see her face.”

At his superior’s words, Yuan Shao clenched his fist before he knew it.

“Surely… you mean Lord Wang’s adopted daughter?”

“You know of it?”

With a startled face, his superior added, “This morning His Majesty sent a carriage to that residence. If that’s not an imperial summons, what could it be?”

Yuan Shao’s expression cracked like a fine line. But the moment passed in a blink; his superior did not notice the change. Yuan Shao composed his face.

“How great a beauty must she be, to set both His Majesty and Young Lord Cao so on edge?”

“……”

But an inexplicable displeasure circled Yuan Shao’s whole body. So he forced the corners of his mouth up into a smile. He had to find it quickly—the source of this displeasure. Otherwise it would show in the end. Soon one of Yuan Shao’s eyebrows twitched.

“You’re young yet, it seems. Curious about the beauty?”

Seeing Yuan Shao’s expression, the official smiled, pleased. Yuan Shao answered with studied nonchalance.

“I’m a man as well; isn’t curiosity about a beauty only natural?”

“Haha. I’m curious too, to be sure.”

Was it discomfort because Cao Cao coveted something that might have become his? Yet any bond with that adopted daughter was never certain to begin with. It was because Yuan Shao had refused the arranged match that his grandmother’s lips had formed the adopted daughter’s name at all.

So the displeasure did not spring simply from possessiveness.

“Were the Emperor and Cao Cao truly men to lose their heads over a mere beauty?”

No. Cao Cao only played the rake because he detested his family’s overweening expectations. A beauty, to him, was merely a screen to hide his true self. And to the Emperor, who could clasp the court in his hand and shake it, a beauty was merely a toy. Beauty alone could not move those two so. That meant the adopted daughter was not simply a beauty.

“…I’m late.”

She must be rather useful—for grasping the realm and seizing power. Having realized that, Cao Cao and the Emperor had moved a step earlier than Yuan Shao. That was the source of his displeasure. Yuan Shao’s face hardened.

“If I could just see her face once, I’d have no more wishes.”

His oblivious superior spoke to him. Yuan Shao forced a laugh and answered,

“They say she’ll enter the palace. There will be a chance to see her, someday, my lord.”

“Eh. If she enters the palace, it’ll be as a consort—will we ever get to see…”

But his superior’s words did not continue.

“……?”

Mouth agape, he only stared blankly over Yuan Shao’s shoulder. Frowning, Yuan Shao turned his head to follow his superior’s gaze.

“……”

In Yuan Shao’s eyes appeared a youth in pure white garments, entering the palace.

Thump—

It was a beauty from which one could not tear one’s eyes, even for a single instant.

Jaheon knew the power of his looks.

Following the eunuch, Jaheon turned his head lightly. He saw palace women and officials passing by. Among them were those who blushed at his face, and those whose steps simply stopped.

“Before entering His Majesty’s office, there is something to keep in mind, Young Master Im.”

Thus Jaheon believed he could ensnare the Emperor.

“When His Majesty questions you, listen until the end of his question, then answer.”

Yet the deeper he went into the palace, the more questions he had.

“It is best there be no falsehoods in your replies.”

It was a doubt that had smoldered since last night. How did the Emperor know his name?

“Are you… Young Master Im?”

The eunuch who brought the imperial rescript had known that his surname was Im. If the Emperor believed the rumors in Luoyang, “Young Master Im” could not have come from the eunuch’s lips. In Luoyang, Jaheon was known as Wang Yun’s adopted daughter; he ought properly to have been thought a Wang.

Then how did they know he was an Im? And how did they know he was a “young master”? There was only one conclusion.

“Damn it.”

The Son of Heaven knew everything in advance.

He knew Wang Yun had sent Jaheon, that Jaheon sought to win imperial favor—he knew it all beforehand.

Then another question: Why did the Emperor wish to see him, knowing that? From the moment the Emperor intruded, Jaheon’s mind had no rest. He had to think without cease to grasp the Emperor’s intent.

“Also, do not gaze upon His Majesty.”

In the corridor of the audience hall lined with scarlet pillars, only the eunuch’s cautions about how to regard the Emperor and the sound of Jaheon’s footsteps resounded.

“If you offend His Majesty’s mood, I cannot vouch for your life.”

After walking, thinking for some time, the corridor that seemed endless revealed its end. Turning his head, the eunuch spoke.

“One last admonition…”

There stood a door guarded by the Imperial Guards and eunuchs.

“Refrain from asking questions.”

Though many were present, a suffocating stillness lay heavy, and after the eunuch who had brought Jaheon delivered his last admonition, he cried out,

“Your Majesty! Young Master Im has arrived…!”

From beyond the door came a low voice, split like the scrape of iron.

“Let him in.”

Then, by the guards’ hands, the great doors opened.

Thump—

At the end of an office laid with crimson silk, the Emperor reclined on a long couch to the side, idly toying with dice. His frame was gaunt, yet taller than Jaheon had imagined. More than that, Liu Hong was unlike the vague portrait the histories had sketched.

Skin so pale it seemed blue, lips red as if blood beaded there, and eyes cold enough to pierce a man. At that gaze, Jaheon bowed his head and spoke.

“This humble one, Im Jaheon, greets Your Majesty.”

They say there are two kinds of tyrants.

The first become tyrants through incompetence. The second through brilliance. It was a lesson the modern Jaheon had learned at a place called university.

And Jaheon sensed it at once.

The dark ruler of the late Han, Emperor Ling, seemed to be the latter. Even among scenarios Jaheon had envisioned, this bordered on the worst. His head swam.

“This is madness.”

Whether he knew or cared, the Emperor set the dice down on the table and spoke. Lightless eyes swept Jaheon up and down.

“Come closer.”

The low voice, rasping at the edges, had a strangely bewitching pull. At his voice, Jaheon rose and approached the Emperor.

He was a man who had met countless people to feed his sister—bandits, moneylenders, butchers, generals… Thus he had not been nervous before Cao Cao or Wang Yun. Yet before this frail‑looking Emperor, he found himself tense without knowing it. In sheer intimidation, he should have been less than a bandit. At the moment Jaheon unconsciously bit his lip—

“You’ll hurt yourself. Stop.”

The low voice rolled out. Lifting his lowered eyes, Jaheon looked up at the Emperor. The Emperor’s black eyes, tinged with blue‑green, looked quietly down upon Jaheon’s face.

“My apologies.”

Releasing his bitten lip, Jaheon replied. The Emperor’s gaze traveled his face as he spoke.

“No wonder — it’s understandable that Luoyang is full of talk about your looks.”

“…It shames me to have cluttered Your Majesty’s ears with idle trifles.”

“What is there to be ashamed of? Beauty alone is not a crime.”

Smiling at Jaheon’s words, the Emperor tossed the dice up and down.

“You said your name is Im Jaheon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

By now, most would have shown fear. Yet aside from biting his lip upon first entering, this youth’s expression had not changed. At the sight, the lightless eyes of the Emperor curved faintly.

“Then speak now.”

The Emperor wished to twist Jaheon’s expression.

“…Speak of what?”

Thus he asked.

“Why did you seek to entice the Throne?”

“……!”

A perfect checkmate.