LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 13
Chapter 13
“Surely… Surely you must have heard wrong?”
“Do you think I would misunderstand something as important as your marriage arrangements? I confirmed it several times before I came here.”
It felt as if Yeoncheong’s heart was sinking into an abyss. He had thought that this time he would be able to escape his entanglement with him.
“That can’t be true. His Majesty told me clearly that talks about Seonguk are underway.
“Until formal documents are exchanged, talk of marriage proposals means little. It’s not unusual for things to change. His Majesty also mentioned that the Crown Prince himself liked you. Apparently, he expressed his desire to marry you first.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible?”
The 5th Empress raised her eyebrows.
“I may not have given birth to you with the breathtaking beauty of the 6th princess, but you’re handsome enough to captivate anyone at first sight. There’s nothing strange about that.”
Yeoncheong barely managed to keep his composure, but his hands trembled slightly where they rested on his lap. Her words, meant to comfort him, only deepened his unease. If the Crown Prince truly had such intentions, it meant that Yeoncheong was once again being dragged into a fate he desperately wanted to avoid.
The peace he had so carefully guarded was slipping through his fingers.
The 5th Empress misunderstood Yeoncheong’s words and gently stroked his face. But Yeoncheong wasn’t talking about his appearance.
He vividly remembered how cold Ji-hyuk’s gaze had been when he looked at him, how ruthlessly he had broken him. And now he was supposed to believe that Ji-hyuk had feelings for him?
‘So I was just a tool for him from the beginning. From the very beginning… Even if I hadn’t been greedy, I would have been sent to Seonguk anyway.’
When Yeoncheong heard that Ji-hyuk himself had requested the engagement, he felt as if his heart were sinking into an abyss.
He had always believed that Ji-hyuk’s suffering was somehow his fault, that he owed him something. This guilt had lingered in his heart, always weighing him down.
‘Was he planning a war from the beginning?’
Even that had been part of Ji-hyuk’s grand plan. Yeoncheong let out a soft, bitter laugh. Everything – every word, every gesture – had been a lie from the beginning. Only now did the reality begin to sink in.
“His Majesty didn’t mention what he received in exchange for the engagement… but he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.”
“He said that you have entrusted the matter of your engagement entirely to him, so there’s no need for you to worry about it.”
Her words of reassurance only deepened the bitterness in Yeoncheong’s heart.
Yeoncheong was caught by his own words, unable to deny them, his face pale as he lowered his head.
“That’s good news, isn’t it? Yeonguk is a country in the southern part of the continent, so the weather isn’t too cold. And after hearing the rumours, I did some research myself – apparently the Crown Prince is young and handsome.”
“…”
“You are lucky to be marrying such a fine person. It is a good match,” she added with a smile, unaware of the weight of her words.
For Yeoncheong, however, this engagement was nothing less than a death sentence.
‘That place. I have to go back to the place where I lost my mind, where I died?’
He had just been granted a miracle, a chance to return to the past. But while time had rewound, nothing about him had changed, leaving him powerless to change his fate.
If only he had spent less time pining for love and more time studying something useful. If only he had at least learned how the political climate of the time worked, he might have been able to do something. But having returned with nothing but his body, he found himself utterly helpless.
‘How did you manage to survive for so long with such a stupid mind, Song Yeoncheong?’
The self-deprecating thought echoed in his mind as he sat frozen, unable to muster an answer to the Empress’s blissful ignorance.
Yeoncheong held his throbbing head in his hands and lowered it in silence. The 5th Empress, mistaking his reaction for nervousness about the engagement, tried to comfort him.
“I was also worried when I had to leave my country to get married. But in the end, people are the same wherever you go. And you’re not going as a concubine, but as the main wife, right?”
“…”
“The discussions have just begun, so you’ll probably go to Seonguk next year. We’ll have to make the most of the time we have until then.”
The helplessness Yeoncheong felt was a familiar agony, one he had endured in his previous life. But now that he had been given a second chance and found himself equally powerless, the despair cut even deeper.
He didn’t know what the Emperor had gained in exchange for this engagement, but Yeoncheong was certain that there was no way to cancel it.
‘Maybe it would be better to just die.’
The extreme thought flickered through his mind for a brief moment, but he dismissed it just as quickly. He couldn’t waste the life he had been miraculously given on something like that.
‘There must be a reason why heaven sent me back to this past. Surely… surely…’
He clung desperately to the hope that there was some greater purpose to this second chance, even as despair threatened to swallow him whole.
The two figures flashed vividly in Yeoncheong’s mind. He had deliberately avoided thinking about it, not wanting to get entangled again. But if this was his inevitable fate, perhaps the reason he was given a second life was unique and clear.
Even the memory of that cold, emotionless face made his head spin with fear. But if he had to return to that hell anyway…
Perhaps heaven would show mercy this time and tell him not to suffer passively. With this thought, Yeoncheong clenched his fists tightly.
—
“By the end of next winter, you will leave for Seonguk.”
As he prepared for his second engagement, Yeoncheong became aware of how hasty his previous marriage had been. The story of the 7th prince falling in love and the emperor supporting his son’s romantic endeavours had been fascinating to outsiders.
The engagement had happened at lightning speed, romanticised as a fairy tale by those who didn’t know any better. But in truth it had been nothing more than an elaborate farce.
But this time, if the arrangements weren’t extravagant, at least they were done with care and deliberation rather than reckless haste.
Yeoncheong vowed not to waste the time he had been given. This time he would prepare. This time he would fight.
“You’ve been visiting the study almost every day since your engagement,” the 5th Empress observed with a curious smile.
“I can’t afford to go there without knowing anything and end up embarrassing myself, can I?”
In this life, Yeon and Sowol had once again been chosen to accompany him to Seonguk. In the past, when he had been told that Sowol had been chosen because of her meticulous nature, he had thought it was luck. But now that he knew the truth, it was nothing short of disgusting.
“My name is Sowol. I will serve you with the utmost sincerity.”
Back then, her calm demeanour had reassured him. Yeoncheong forced a polite smile as he accepted her, just as he had before. He knew that if he tried to find a reason to dismiss her now, it would only result in someone else being assigned to watch him.
And Yeoncheong didn’t want to let Sowol go so easily. He wanted her to feel the same despair he had – to be completely abandoned by someone she trusted, in a place where she had no allies.
To make that happen, I can’t just get rid of her now.
“Why do you worry about such things? You may not have had the extensive education of other princes, but you’re cautious to a fault. At least you wouldn’t do anything shameful.”
“Still, it’s best to be well prepared.”
Yeoncheong smiled faintly as he spoke. The Fifth Empress, knowing that in a few months she might not see her son for a long time – if ever – wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
Yeoncheong felt the same. He put down the book he was reading and looked at his mother. Her face was serene, unaware of the pain and betrayal that lurked in his heart. Thinking of the mother who had probably disappeared in his past life, he felt a pang of guilt and sorrow, even though he knew there was nothing he could do at the time.
“Mother, what do you think of revenge?”
“Hmm? Why such a question all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing important. I just read a passage about revenge in a book and was curious about your thoughts.”
Yeoncheong replied, his tone light, hiding the sudden impulse that had driven the question. A part of him, deep down, seemed to crave even a superficial nod of approval for his thoughts on revenge – from someone who knew nothing of the turmoil in his heart.
“Revenge, you say… If you were a child of Hyoguk, though it no longer exists on the map, you would have grown up hearing about it.”
The 5th Empress said, her expression becoming thoughtful, as if she remembered someone who had once told her such stories.
“They used to say that revenge is like fire.”
Her voice softened as she recounted the old saying.
“…because once it’s over, nothing remains in its place?”
It was a clichéd answer and Yeoncheong’s lips curled into a bitter smile. He had looked for encouragement, but was met with the opposite.
“No, not because of that. Why should there be nothing left at the end of revenge? A revenge that leaves nothing behind is simply a failed revenge.”
She went on, her tone calm but firm.
“Revenge is like fire. Even when it’s in your hand, it’s not something you can fully control. If wielded with determination, it can cleanly burn away everything about your opponent. But the moment you allow hesitation to creep into your heart, that fire can spread to you and consume everything you have instead.”
“…”
“Some vengeance leaves nothing but ashes, and to prevent this, you must ensure that the fire never escapes your grasp. Do not look back. Concentrate only on your goal.”
Her voice was calm, filled with the weight of thought rather than simple admonition. When Yeoncheong didn’t answer for a long time, the 5th Empress broke the silence with a light laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
“You take my words so seriously, it’s embarrassing.”
She said with a smile, her attempt to dispel the heaviness between them bringing a flicker of warmth into the room.
“Oh no, it’s nothing.”
Yeoncheong replied quickly, shaking his head.
“What could you possibly have to take revenge for? Why so serious?”
The 5th Empress said with a laugh, clearly not taking the subject too deeply to heart.
However, her next words carried unexpected weight despite her light-hearted demeanour.
“If you have a fire you can wield and you’re sure you won’t look back… Well, as someone from Hyoguk, I would say, light that fire.”
“As long as I don’t burn myself?”
“Yes. As long as you don’t let the flames consume you, you should. An unused fire will only turn your insides black with soot. And I don’t want that for you.”
“…”
“But that’s just a mother’s worry.”
She added with a chuckle, breaking the heavy mood. “You have always been overly cautious and gentle since you were little. I doubt you’d let yourself get burned.”
Her words, meant to comfort, felt bittersweet to Yeoncheong. The 5th Empress’s belief in his innocence and restraint clashed sharply with the turmoil raging in his heart, leaving him momentarily speechless.
It was true. The Yeoncheong of the past had been timid, swallowing his anger and burying it deep in his heart, never even daring to imagine something as bold as revenge.
But the resentment that had brought him back, unable to cross the Samdocheon, had changed him. The flames that had once reduced his heart to ashes had begun to reignite, burning with a new intensity.