HLCOB C28

Chapter 28

Lately, songs and laughter had not ceased each night at He Jin’s residence.

“Congratulations, General of the Household!”

It was because the eunuchs were moving to depose the Empress. At that, He Jin held banquets daily. Among the harem, the only one fit to become Empress was He Jin’s younger sister, Lady He; if she became Empress, her family would naturally receive offices to match. He Jin’s promotion was a foregone conclusion.

“If Lady He ascends as Empress, will not the general’s rank also rise?”

“Indeed! In that case, His Majesty will surely back the general!”

He Jin might even become Grand Commandant.

“Now, now—do not speak such things aloud so soon!”

Despite the flood of flattery, He Jin forced propriety; yet his joy was poorly hidden.

“All thanks to that male favorite?”

He had not expected the eunuchs to move so quickly to depose the Empress; he had thought it would take three full years. Who would have thought that merely losing the Emperor’s favor would make the eunuchs act in such haste—unmanly as ever.

“Foolish eunuchs.”

He Jin sneered, thinking of them.

“Trying to check a pretty‑faced male favorite, they only helped me.”

However exceptional Jaheon might be, his power would be a fleeting glory swept away like wind once the present Emperor died. If the Emperor died or Jaheon lost favor, once Jaheon’s political usefulness vanished, both Qingliu and Turbid‑Stream scholars would raise their heads and tear at his throat.

Such was the nature of officials in this realm.

They mouthed “gentleman” and put on airs of nobility, but before power were mere humans. If his nephew became Crown Prince, then in the end they would bow their heads not to Jaheon nor the eunuchs, but to He Jin. Suppressing his desire for power, He Jin lifted his cup—

“N‑no, sir, this cannot be!”

“My lord is, right now…!”

“Damn it, is there anyone in Luoyang who does not know your lord holds banquets day and night!”

A shout thundered from outside the residence.

“……?”

At the sound, He Jin frowned in puzzlement.

“My lord…!”

The door burst open and a servant rushed in.

“M‑my lord…! Outside right now…!”

But the words could not continue, for a furious eunuch—Wang Bo—entered, seizing the servant by the hair. With his private soldiers in tow, Wang Bo’s entrance made He Jin’s retainers drop their cups in fright.

“C‑Chief Attendant Wang—why are you here…!”

With an enraged face, Wang Bo strode toward He Jin. Passing more than a dozen of He Jin’s retainers and guests, he mounted to the head seat where He Jin sat and raised his hand—

Then struck him across the face.

Smack—!

He Jin’s cheek whipped sideways. Stunned by the pain, he lifted his head. Unlike the gaunt Zhang Rang, Wang Bo was stout; with a hard face, he growled at He Jin,

“How have you managed your household?”

“Household? Chief Attendant Wang, what is the meaning of…!”

At Wang Bo’s words, He Jin thought instantly of his concubines; but what could those cloistered in the inner quarters have done? As He Jin only gaped dumbly, Wang Bo shouted,

“Your sister—Lady He!”

“M‑my sister? Surely she has not done something wrong?!”

He Jin sprang up, startled. Wang Bo, laughing as if at a fool, pointed a finger at his nose.

“Do you mean to say you do not even know what your sister has done? Do you know whom she met yesterday?”

“Chief Attendant Wang, I…”

“Hah! It is my fault for clasping hands with such a dolt!”

Humiliated before retainers and guests, He Jin flushed red. Yet he had no guts to gainsay Wang Bo. Whether or not He Jin felt shame, Wang Bo berated him in fury.

“Your sister, upon meeting that Im Jaheon, went at once and accused the Empress before His Majesty on a charge of jealousy!”

At this, the flustered He Jin cried out,

“W‑wait! I truly know nothing of this! I will go to my sister at once and—!”

“Do you think going to her will solve it?! The matter is already in His Majesty’s ear!”

If the Empress were accused on jealousy, then her sorcery became an affair of the Emperor’s household—and the Emperor’s household affairs were beyond ministers’ reach. Wang Bo bellowed,

“At court, no one will dare utter the word ‘treason’!”

Face gone white, He Jin looked over the hall full of his guests and retainers—his close men he had meant to install in the places left by Qingliu officials entangled with the Empress.

He Jin realized it.

All his plans to form an independent faction with this opportunity had come to nothing.

Nor was that all.

“And the moment I submit a memorial to depose the Empress for treason—you accuse her on jealousy?”

When matters were to be discussed at court, one first submitted a memorial to the Emperor; thus yesterday Wang Bo had submitted a memorial accusing the Empress of treason. But today, Lady He had accused the Empress on an entirely different charge.

Then what did that make Wang Bo, who had memorialized?

A slanderous villain who framed the Empress.

“You meant to strike me from behind?”

Grim, Wang Bo asked He Jin.

“N‑not so, Chief Attendant Wang!”

He Jin protested, desperate.

Yet to any eye, He Jin had made a fool of Wang Bo. As Wang Bo’s voice grew harsher, He Jin prostrated himself before him.

“Chief Attendant Wang! I had not the slightest thought of slandering you!”

The power He Jin possessed had not been won by his strength alone; it was made in collusion with eunuch corruption. In other words, Wang Bo held He Jin by the throat. Thus He Jin, who moments before had mocked him as not a whole man, lay flat before Wang Bo, who had evidence enough to dispose of him at will.

“Tr‑truly not! I had no idea my sister would do such a thing! She has been toyed with by that wretched Im Jaheon’s tongue!”

“……”

“I will enter the palace at once tomorrow and admonish my foolish sister! Chief Attendant Wang! Pray, quell your wrath and…!”

“Enough.”

Sneering at He Jin clinging to his hem, Wang Bo said,

“Do not admonish your sister—let the man who raised her thus bear responsibility.”

At that, He Jin turned ashen.

“W‑what do you mean by that?”

“You shall be the one said to have submitted the memorial to make your sister Empress. As the Empress‑to‑be’s kin, His Majesty will spare you.”

“But, Chief Attendant, I…!”

He Jin, struck with terror, grabbed Wang Bo and cried out; but at that moment Wang Bo’s soldiers leveled swords at He Jin’s neck.

“Listen.”

Wang Bo murmured to He Jin,

“A man must do but one thing.”

Ironically, with a single accusation by Lady He, the board Wang Bo had laid was overturned. What had been a treason scheme that could have swept away a faction at court was reduced to a political squabble over deposing the Empress.

“So choose one thing as well.”

But since Wang Bo’s memorial had already reached the Emperor, there was no way to make it as if it had never been. Thus Wang Bo had, within two days, to shift the blame somehow onto someone and flee.

“Either go into exile and keep your life—or die here and now by my hand for the crime of corruption.”

That was the only way for Wang Bo to live.

It was the calm before the storm.

Because of the Empress’s sorcery affair, an unprecedented tension pervaded Luoyang; all sensed that a blood‑wind was about to sweep the city.

Jaheon, too, sensed it.

Thanks to assassins who came over the walls and the occasional poisoned food “gifts.”

“The crown cap, now.”

Clad in black court robes, Jaheon looked down into the mirror.

Reflected there was his face, hair gathered up entirely unlike usual. Over the flawless visage, the servants set a black cap. As the cap settled, Jaheon lifted his lids; beneath his long lashes, the golden eyes stood out clear.

“My lord.”

O Juk‑yeop called to Jaheon, ready.

It was no longer the form “young master,” but the title used for one who held office—“my lord.”

“It is time to enter the palace.”

Today was Jaheon’s first day attending morning court.

It was also the first day the future as he knew it would be greatly altered.