LTIS Ch 1

Yeon Hwagun, who ascended to the throne after King Anjong, was a tyrant.

He reigned in tyranny and

died without an heir.

His courtesy name was Jin. His nickname was Yeon Won.

He had no concubines other than Royal Consort Hong, and he did not take a queen.

୧₊˚🍵🔖. ݁

“Oh!”

A hand reaching over the wall brushed past a flower petal. The child stood on tiptoe and reached out again. The bright red petal tickled her fingertips, just barely out of reach.

“Please…”

A light breeze ruffled the wisps of hair on her forehead. Pollen gathered on the petal scattered, carrying its unique fragrance.

The scent only made her want it more. The child tightened her lips.

“Shouldn’t you touch that?”

The child lowered her heels and turned around with a surprised look.

“It’s poisonous. You could die.”

The boy’s face was obscured by the backlight of the setting sun. Though not as tall as an adult, he seemed imposing to the child. His long, black braided hair contrasted with his white silk robe.

“It’s okay. I’ve touched it before. And I’m fine. Except for my face, of course.”

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at the unexpected response.

The child’s face was covered in freckles. No, not freckles, more like a rash.

Small, dark spots were scattered across her face, but she smiled brightly, undeterred.

“You must be mistaking it for a different flower. No one touches that flower and remains unharmed.”

The child had appeared about an hour ago. He had finished the book he’d brought and was sitting idly when she suddenly appeared in the yard and started behaving strangely.

He’d been watching her with amusement as she dug in the dirt, squatted to observe ants, and picked flowers to eat. Then, she suddenly did something dangerous, and he’d unknowingly put down his book and stood up.

“I’m not mistaken. My father said my face is like this because of this flower. So, it’s not a different flower. It’s this flower that I touched.”

“Look, do you realize how strange your words are? If your face is like this because of this flower, why do you keep touching it?”

Up close, the child was even more comical than he’d thought. She was small and thin, with large eyes.

Her smooth, pebble-like face was smaller than his fist. Yet her eyes were as big as a calf’s.

No, a foal’s? A puppy’s? Or was this child just particularly…like that?

As amusing as it was to watch her, he couldn’t just let her touch the Saekhwa flower. Hadn’t Hong Wiwon also specifically told him? Touching it would cause big trouble.

“I’m not touching it.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’m going to pick it.”

The child placed her hands defiantly on her hips, as if to tease him about being wrong.

He’d tried to reason with her, and she was talking back impudently. He could just ignore her, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to turn away.

“If you don’t want your face to become any uglier, stop touching or picking it and get away from there.”

He regretted the last part of his sentence. He suddenly worried that the child might cry.

Hadn’t his mother often told him, “Yeon Won, you sometimes speak too harshly.”

The wind blew. The boy’s robes fluttered. His white clothes, reflecting the sunlight, were dazzling.

The child found it beautiful, reaching out and grasping at the air. As if she could capture him along with the sunlight.

“This flower has a really pretty meaning. It means your inner feelings. The feelings you can’t say out loud.”

The boy, who had been turning away, stopped abruptly. Startled by the boy turning around, the child took a step back.

She had mumbled it aloud so he could hear, but now that he had turned around, she couldn’t think of what to do and pressed her lips together, lowering her eyes.

“What’s that? That’s like treasonous intent.”

Not only did the boy speak curtly, but he also frowned. The child’s eyes widened, as if she understood what treason meant.

Feeling defiant, the child clasped her hands tightly and spoke with a mixture of frustration and resentment.

“No, it’s called affection. Dummy.”

Although her clasped hands trembled as she said “dummy,” clearly showing her fear, she didn’t back down, which suggested she wasn’t entirely scared.

The boy frowned disapprovingly. How dare she talk back to him?

“Do you even know who I am?”

“No!”

“Ugh. Is that something to yell?”

“I’m scared, so I yelled!”

The boy lost his composure at the sight of the child shouting. He laughed softly in disbelief.

“Who told you unspoken feelings are affection?”

“My father did.”

“Who’s your father?”

Whoever her father was, unless he was the king, he was beneath him.

“My father is the greatest scholar in this country. He’s the greatest Wiwon in this country. And…”

“And?”

“He’s the owner of this house.”

A chuckle escaped his lips. So, she was Hong Wiwon’s daughter?

“In the palace!”

The boy raised his head and his voice. The child flinched at his sharp tone and closed her mouth.

“Unspoken feelings are treason. They’re not some trivial affection.”

That’s how it was in the palace where he lived. Everyone said affection was trivial and useless. He was only telling her what was obvious. It wouldn’t hurt for her to know, would it?

“Tsk.”

“What? Tsk?”

What could be more frustrating than having her father’s words belittled? The child fought back tears, but they welled up quickly. She started glaring at the boy with her clear eyes.

“Huh.”

Her sharp gaze was fierce. Why was she about to cry? The boy was flustered, having unwittingly made a little girl cry.

He had spoken to discourage her, but instead, his own spirit was dampened. She was a remarkably stubborn child.

“So, what I mean is, anyway, that… Anyway, don’t touch that flower. Understand?”

He turned around quickly, leaving a word of advice, when he heard the child’s tearful mumbling.

“I’m not touching it, I’m picking it. You’re really dumb. You forgot already.”

The child’s unending words stung. Having been labeled a bad guy who made a little girl cry and now a dumb one too, the boy finally stopped. His sigh was long.

Blaming himself for talking to the child in the first place, he turned back to her.

“Why do you want to pick it anyway?”

The child’s cheeks flushed instantly. It was as if the tears had never been there. She fidgeted and clutched her skirt, her movements shy.

“…I want to give it to Lord Yeon Hwagun.”

The boy’s eyebrows shot up.

“Who?”

The child rolled her eyes and answered confidently.

“Lord Yeon Hwagun! Don’t you know Lord Yeon Hwagun?”

A disbelieving chuckle escaped his lips. She didn’t even recognize him standing right in front of her, yet she wanted to give him a flower?

“Why do you want to give a flower to Yeon Hwagun?”

“I told you. To express my affection.”

She chided him as if he had forgotten. Such a little thing. He couldn’t even chuckle anymore.

“Have you ever even met Yeon Hwagun?”

At his dismissive tone, the child clenched her tiny fists and raised them. They were filled with surprising strength.

“I have. I saw him from afar at the banquet last time. He sparkled, like a star.”

The child, who had just been clenching her fists, blushed. It was her eyes that sparkled like stars. The boy stared at her in disbelief, amused by how quickly her emotions changed.

How far away must she have been to not recognize him as Yeon Hwagun? Now, the boy felt a mischievous urge to tease her.

“Do you even know what Yeon Hwagun’s personality is like before you recklessly give him that flower?”

His serious expression seemed to have an effect, as the child looked at him with deflated eyes.

“Be thankful I’m stopping you. If you had given that Saekhwa flower to Yeon Hwagun, you would have been beaten and imprisoned immediately. Or banished from the capital. Oh, or he might starve you. Yeon Hwagun is terrifying when he’s angry.”

Thinking she would be scared by now, he turned to leave, but unexpected words came from the child.

“I know. Yeon Hwagun is mean.”

The boy turned around faster than the wind.

“Who says Yeon Hwagun is mean?”

As the boy’s face, which had seemed unlikely to show any excitement, changed dramatically, the child became emboldened and exaggerated her story.

“He’s very famous for it. He has a bad temper, and he’s so stupid that his head goes ‘clunk, clunk’ when you touch it.”

“Clunk, clunk?”

“They say his head makes that sound because there’s nothing inside. He can’t even read, so his ministers have to read to him.”

How could this be more unfair? To be called empty-headed when he was known throughout the land for his intelligence.

Wasn’t the stupid one the fourth prince, Prince Anyeon?

While he was pondering how to rectify this injustice, the child looked around and added conspiratorially,

“And, his butt is uneven.”

“What?”

“One side of his butt is particularly big, so he waddles when he walks.”

The boy unconsciously checked his own buttocks with his hand before quickly pulling it away. He gritted his teeth, suppressing his rising anger.

“So, what do you like about this Yeon Hwagun that you want to give him a flower and admire him?”