If You Claim the Fallen Heiress - Chapter 108

Kim Seon returned from his training and sat in the main hall for the entire afternoon. The title of king was merely a glamorous one; there were simply too many affairs to handle.

Moreover, it was infuriating that the officials had started picking fights with him so soon after his enthronement. He couldn’t even make his own decisions about matters such as spending the nation’s budget or getting married.

It had been a long time since he dismissed his ministers. Kim Seon, lacking the energy to return to the Taejeongjeon, simply looked down at the main hall from his chair.

He had been fine for a while, but lately, his body was not in good shape again. The chief secretary said the reason for this was his lack of virtuous deeds.

Kim Seon decided to e***t a stone pagoda with a phoenix in front of the main hall to accumulate virtue, and he received approval from the officials. Soon, craftsmen from Meisa’s country, where shamanistic beliefs were well-developed, were scheduled to arrive.

However, even though he was putting in effort for what was said to be the will of a deity, he didn’t have much hope. He had been sick since he was a child, with not a single part of his body being healthy. Would he really get better by building a pagoda and performing a ritual?

He was skeptical, but he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. After all, what he had to do was ascend to this position.

He wanted to enjoy his throne for as long as possible. If only he could have an immortal body that would never get sick, he would be willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

However, today, when he was weary, was not the day. He planned to talk to Mu-yeong, whom he had summoned because he had something to ask, and then return to his bedchamber.

Just then, the voice of a eunuch was heard from the entrance of the main hall. It wasn’t Mu-yeong, whom he had been waiting for. For now, it was an unwelcome person.

“young lady of Hwanghae has arrived.”

Meisa strode in without hesitation and offered a simple bow.

“I greet Your Majesty.”

Meisa did not respectfully report her business from below the main hall like the ministers but instead climbed the stairs, moving freely. She looked like the most powerful person in this palace right now.

Although they had met at the chief secretary’s suggestion and developed a relationship where they made up for each other’s shortcomings, Kim Seon did not welcome her when she acted like this. It was because of her rudeness that couldn’t be forgiven, even with her beautiful face. Her mannerisms of acting without a proper foundation or endlessly flirting could be amusing at times, but not now.

Kim Seon rubbed his eyes, the fatigue clearly showing.

“What’s the matter? You seem quite angry.”

Meisa chewed her lower lip stained with flower extract, as if to show him.

He didn’t ask anything else and propped his chin on his elbow with a bored expression. Meisa’s eyes, as if wanting him to notice her mood, began to glare at Kim Seon coldly.

Although there were two people, the main hall became quiet as if no one were there. Kim Seon’s eyes were filled with annoyance at the tense atmosphere. There was no reason for him to spend this tiring time with Meisa when he had court ladies and ministers who catered to his every whim. It was the moment he couldn’t stand it and was about to get up.

As if to hold him, Meisa opened her lips.

“I heard you spent time with that woman yesterday, and I see you are together again today.”

“I ran into her by chance as I was leaving the main hall.”

Meisa’s resentful voice echoed in the main hall.

“I think Your Majesty could have just passed by her.”

At times like this, Kim Seon habitually fidgeted with the norigae he was holding in his hand. It was a pebble with a silvery sheen, a gift he had received from the chief secretary when he was little. It was a stone that was said to clear the mind and a rare mineral that no one could possess easily.

He liked this stone. It was because when he touched it, he would sometimes feel a sense of listlessness or a strange power. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them, and a red vein appeared in them.

“I want to be alone.”

He closed his eyes again. Strangely, Sahwa’s face flickered in his mind.

He felt a bottomless sinking feeling, as he always did. The moment he impulsively gave Crown Princess-to-be Yuseol a death sentence seemed to be replaying before his eyes.

The incident happened shortly after he had sent her to Museolwon. From that point on, scholars began to flock and submit various petitions, and he stayed up for three nights processing them.

Around that time, the chief secretary and Meisa began to pressure him, saying that if he gave Han Yuseol a death sentence, the scholars would calm down. At the time, the only thing on Kim Seon’s mind was to finish the matter quickly, regardless of the outcome.

It was as if he had returned to his quarters soaking wet. He wanted to just throw away his baggage-like clothes without thinking about what came next.

He thought that if he just gave Han Yuseol a death sentence, everything would be over. However, the number of petitions only increased, and public sentiment worsened. Even after all this time, there were no signs of it getting better.

He knew that he had strayed a step away from the image of a benevolent king he had dreamed of since he was a child. In other words, he had made an unforgivable mistake.

Whenever he saw Sahwa, who resembled Yuseol, that mistake came to his mind. And each time, he hoped that Sahwa was not Yuseol, and yet he also wished she was. It was because he had a premonition that if Yuseol came back to life, his faults would be erased. And he felt as though he could appease her, who came to him in his dreams and cried, with a sense of relief.

Time passed. Meisa, who had been holding out without returning to her quarters, let out a long sigh as if to make sure he heard it.

“As you promised, please leave this matter to me. That is, if you still feel the same resentment toward that shameless traitor’s daughter.”