HLCOB C29

Chapter 29

Not everyone attended court audiences simply because they were convened.

“Is it truly so that Yirang Im will attend today?”

“It should be so.”

There were quite a few officials who pled illness to avoid appearing. Moreover, the present court was one where a single misspoken word could cost a head; thus most officials sought to avoid attendance whenever possible.

Today was different.

It was the day the notorious Im Jaheon would first attend court. And because his first entrance coincided with the matter of deposing the Empress, nearly all officials came to this audience.

“Damn it.”

And there was one man who found the atmosphere deeply unpleasant.

He Jin, who stood to be saddled with all Wang Bo’s crimes and exiled, was mortified by the fact that he would have to choose exile in front of everyone. Yet he was tied up in too many of Wang Bo’s schemes to avoid taking the blame. He Jin was sighing heavily when—

“There he is…!”

“Indeed, just as the rumors say.”

Suddenly, the surroundings grew noisy.

At the stir, He Jin looked around.

“……?”

And he found his mouth falling open of its own accord, for he beheld the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Yet that beauty wore black court robes.

“…Court robes?”

Was it not said that Im Huaseo’s beauty was not of this world? The rumor he had dismissed as nonsense proved true. He Jin had never seen anyone more beautiful than his own sister. He could only stare, a fool, at Jaheon.

“General of the Household.”

The voice was sweet as well.

“If you wish to live, denounce Wang Bo.”

A clear voice that snapped him awake fell distinctly upon He Jin’s ear. As He Jin wavered between the face and the voice, Jaheon gave a light bow and passed him.

“……?”

Only after Jaheon had gone by did He Jin come to his senses.

“Wait—if I want to live, denounce him?”

He Jin was flustered.

“Chief Attendant Wang?”

It made no sense. If he wanted to live, denounce Wang Bo? On the contrary, He Jin would die unless he took the blame for Wang Bo. Wang Bo knew all his corrupt dealings—had he not been the one to cover them?

If you choose exile, I will spare your life—at least yours.

There was no way but to trust Wang Bo. So it seemed, until He Jin, turning over Jaheon’s words, recalled the fate of the many men Wang Bo had “sent into exile.”

“Exile…?”

Had any of them survived? None. Once beyond Luoyang, Wang Bo’s enemies were all attacked by bandits and vanished, or were found as corpses.

He Jin turned pale.

“No way.”

It was only a single sentence from Jaheon. Yet precisely because it came with no explanation, He Jin turned it over and over, again and again, to understand it.

“Had Chief Attendant Wang meant to kill me?”

At that instant—

“His Majesty the Emperor!”

The Emperor arrived at the great hall.

The eunuchs, too, entered the hall following the Emperor in a black dragon robe. As Wang Bo, stationed behind the Emperor, passed without so much as a glance at He Jin, He Jin’s supposition hardened into certainty. Soon his heart was filled with betrayal.

“So Chief Attendant Wang truly had no thought to save me?”

The audience began, but He Jin could scarcely hear it. Whatever he did, he would die. He was not in his right mind.

“Your Majesty, a blue rainbow has appeared in the rear gardens. From olden times, a blue rainbow is an omen of misfortune to the state. Therefore the Empress who practiced sorcery must be deposed.”

“Indeed, Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty! Yet we must first determine whether her majesty truly practiced sorcery! It may be a slander against the Empress!”

Meanwhile, debate over the Empress’s deposition grew heated.

“This servant agrees. I heard that Lady He accused her majesty’s sorcery under jealousy, while Chief Attendant Wang accused her under treason.”

“…Hmph. Are you now driving a man into a corner?”

At the mention of the Empress’s sorcery, Wang Bo glowered at He Jin—an obvious signal to step out and take the blame.

But He Jin was in no state to catch the signal.

“Your Majesty, this servant doubts Chief Attendant Wang’s true intent! It is this servant’s judgment that Lord Wang Yun’s promotion to Censor‑in‑Chief should be advanced to conduct an inspection of Chief Attendant Wang…!”

“Indeed, Your Majesty!”

He might die. He Jin’s hands trembled as he sought power and now seemed likely to lose his head.

“If Chief Attendant Wang seeks to defame her majesty, is it not to serve his selfish ends?!”

“…By the same token, General of the Household He cannot escape suspicion either! Who in Luoyang does not know he has held banquets without cease of late? What could be the reason for such banquets?”

In the end, Wang Bo turned everything upon He Jin by words.

“If the Empress is deposed, who stands to benefit most if not General of the Household He? I too only heard of the Empress’s sorcery from the general.”

Driven by extreme terror, He Jin could endure no more.

“…Your Majesty!”

In a rush of pent‑up resentment, He Jin sprang forward, prostrated himself before the throne, and cried out,

“All of it was at Chief Attendant Wang’s command!”

At He Jin’s sudden confession, the ministers murmured in alarm.

“What is this?”

“Does he say Chief Attendant Wang ordered it?”

Wang Bo was just as shocked. He thought He Jin had suddenly gone mad; the only thing he had told him was to take the blame! At this rate He Jin and Wang Bo would be treated as one body.

“…General—are you now slandering me? When did I order all of it?”

Wang Bo shouted, flashing his eyes to the officials he had bought and to other eunuchs; fortunately, unlike He Jin, they caught the signal and supported him.

“General! Do you have evidence? Are you not slandering Chief Attendant Wang without proof?”

“Quite so!”

He Jin had acted on impulse—he had no evidence ready. As he floundered without a proper answer, Wang Bo seized the chance to lay out He Jin’s crimes before the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, as the Lady’s kin, the general has reason to defame the Empress!”

Undermining the speaker’s credibility undermines the statement’s credibility; Wang Bo meant to attack He Jin and throw all blame upon him.

“Moreover, He Jin, brandishing his status as Your Majesty’s affinal kin, has seized the people’s lands. Is that all? He has practiced usury, making commoners into slaves!”

But Wang Bo did not know—

That method worked not only upon He Jin.

“…Then is Your Excellency wholly unconnected?”

Someone listening to Wang Bo asked quietly.

“……?”

It was Jaheon.

“Are you truly unconnected, Chief Attendant Wang, with the general’s crimes?”

At the question, Wang Bo snorted; in this hall, there was no one who would dare state the truth—so he believed. How many offices were in Wang Bo’s grip? He had the power to cow them. Yet when his eyes met Jaheon’s, his mouth stopped—struck by a sudden, nameless foreboding.

And at that moment—

“Your Majesty.”

From among the arrayed ministers stepped an official with hair flecked with white. At his appearance, Wang Bo felt his hair stand on end.

“This servant, Yang Biao—may I address Your Majesty?”

“Speak.”

It was Prefect of the Capital Commandery, Yang Biao.

“Your Majesty, Chief Attendant Wang Bo has likewise committed crimes identical to the general’s. Last autumn, he monopolized some seventy million units of government property and practiced usury upon the people.”

He was a Qingliu official who had obstructed Wang Bo’s accumulation of wealth at every turn.

“This confounds the Throne’s will and perverts state affairs; thus, in this place, this servant petitions Your Majesty—”

It is said that beginning is half.

“Remove General of the Household He Jin and Chief Attendant Wang Bo from office.”

When Jaheon began and Yang Biao raised the impeachments of Wang Bo and He Jin aloud, the officials who had been watching began to speak up, one by one.

“Your Majesty, this servant likewise believes Chief Attendant Wang must be impeached…!”

At first, they were few.

But their number grew. Qingliu officials, long crushed under eunuch power and unable to act, began to raise their voices.

“This servant is of the same mind!”

“Chief Attendant Wang must be severely punished, Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty! Keep far from the throng of slanderous courtiers!”

Before long, those calling for impeachment were many enough to fill the hall. At that sight, Wang Bo prostrated himself before the Emperor and cried,

“Y‑Your Majesty—this slave did, blinded by wealth, covet goods for a moment!”

Fury surged, but the number was too great for emotion; even other eunuchs, taking the temperature, did not come to Wang Bo’s aid.

So Wang Bo begged the Emperor.

“But this slave—this slave never! Sought to defame her majesty the Empress!”

No matter how the ministers called for impeachment, if the Emperor did not accept, nothing would come of it; knowing this, Wang Bo pleaded with tears in his eyes.

“Chief Attendant Wang.”

But at his plea, the Emperor smiled instead.

“Admit it. You have lost.”

“……!”

At that, Wang Bo collapsed.

It should have been the Zhuoliu, not the Qingliu, that was swept away by this affair. After this, the Qingliu should not even have been able to set foot in court.

But the future changed.

The Qingliu would remain in court, and the Zhuoliu would be washed away.

Because of one man, and one man only.

Im Jaheon.

It was all because of Im Jaheon.

“Your Majesty!”

So Wang Bo’s anger boiled over.

“Im Jaheon speaks fairly but is twisted within, a man who beguiles with a serpent’s tongue! Therefore, keep far from him, Your Majesty!”

Whether it was truth or falsehood no longer mattered. In raging spite, Wang Bo struggled against the hands of the soldiers dragging him away, and even as he was hauled out cried to the Emperor,

“One day, Im Jaheon will gnaw at the pillars of the Han house, and shake the roots of the realm!”

It was a desperate curse of an outcry.