Episode 2
Sedo Politics
Changdeokgung Palace, Huijeongdang.
"Your Majesty, it rains today, so your humble consort has prepared warm tea."
Queen Cheorin of the Andong Kim clan once again visited Huijeongdang without fail.
It had already been two years since she began coming to Huijeongdang every day.
Queen Cheorin of the Andong Kim clan, Wonbeom’s legal wife.
Daughter of Kim Mungeun of the Andong Kim clan, a relative of Grand Royal Dowager Queen Sunwon.
Queen Cheorin was a member of the Andong Kim clan, the very yoke binding Wonbeom and the next king.
Wonbeom had Bongi, whom he had left behind on Ganghwa Island.
The day he produced even a prince with Queen Cheorin, Wonbeom could end up having the throne taken by his son through the maternal relatives, the Andong Kim clan.
Because they would need a king as young and docile as possible.
Wonbeom’s gaze upon Queen Cheorin could not be gentle.
But whether she knew his heart or not, Queen Cheorin devoted quite a bit of sincerity to Wonbeom, who never even made eye contact with her, his eyes always cold.
"It is chrysanthemum. The fragrance is excellent."
Perhaps intoxicated by the sound of rain beyond the window?
Without realizing it, Wonbeom responded to her words differently from usual.
It was the longest conversation they had shared since her investiture two years prior.
Queen Cheorin stopped pouring tea and gently looked up at him.
Her pupils trembled slightly.
"If Your Majesty enjoys it, your humble consort is truly delighted."
A smile settled on Queen Cheorin’s lips.
Even when Wonbeom had entered Daejojeon, Queen Cheorin’s bedchamber, unable to overcome the pressure from the Grand Royal Dowager’s quarters, he had never once exchanged a friendly word with her.
So for Queen Cheorin, how new and moving must this conversation be?
But this was as far as it went.
There was no further conversation.
In some ways, she was as pitiful a woman as Wonbeom.
Surely she too was but another sacrifice to maintain her clan’s power.
And like Queen Jeongsun, who one day drove Crown Prince Sado to death; like Queen Sunwon, who now made him a scarecrow and wielded the spear of power; she was a woman who would transform into a sharp blade for the Andong Kim clan.
***
That night, Gyeongchunjeon, Changgyeonggung Palace.
The place where the Crown Princess of Crown Prince Hyomyeong, and mother of the former king Heonjong, stayed as if under house arrest.
For the past three years, Wonbeom had never once personally visited this place.
Whether because no one other than Wonbeom ever came, the courtyard before Gyeongchunjeon was desolate and silent.
"Grand Royal Dowager, have you been well?"
The one Wonbeom called Grand Royal Dowager was Queen Sinjeong of the Pungyang Jo clan, posthumously honored as Queen Ikjong.
Daughter of Yeongeun Buwongun Jo Manyeong.
As her son-in-law Crown Prince Hyomyeong came to administer state affairs as regent, the Pungyang Jo clan, led by Jo Manyeong, had been able to grow into a Sedo power rivaling the Andong Kim clan, before which even flying birds would fall.
But who could have known?
Crown Prince Hyomyeong died prematurely after three years as regent, and even his son Heonjong passed away without an heir, so now Queen Sinjeong had been driven out of Changdeokgung to this Changgyeonggung.
Strictly speaking, Queen Sinjeong was not someone who could be called Grand Royal Dowager to Wonbeom.
Cheoljong, who became king as a son of Sunjo, and Queen Sinjeong, the crown princess of Crown Prince Hyomyeong, who was also the son of that Sunjo.
Although Queen Sinjeong was the mother of the former king Heonjong, since Crown Prince Hyomyeong had not directly ascended the throne, she could not rightfully be called Grand Royal Dowager; however, as the former king posthumously honored Crown Prince Hyomyeong as King Ikjong, the official title for Queen Sinjeong became Grand Royal Dowager.
"I was quite surprised, truthfully, to hear that Your Majesty would come all the way to this remote place at this late hour."
Queen Sinjeong looked at Wonbeom with an unkind gaze.
He had come here now with only the Chief Eunuch, without any guard warriors.
The only person Wonbeom could currently trust was Chief Eunuch Jeong Inbok.
The real name of Chief Eunuch Jeong Inbok was Min Gyuhyeon, son of the eunuch Min Jinyong, who died in prison in 1844 for attempting to place my half-brother Yi Myeong upon the throne.
Min Gyuhyeon had barely escaped when his father was implicated in treason, changed his name to Jeong Inbok, served by Wonbeom’s side pretending to be a servant, and after Wonbeom ascended the throne, entered the palace as a eunuch and became Chief Eunuch.
He was a man who owed his life to Wonbeom.
To Queen Sinjeong, who had no way of knowing Min Gyuhyeon’s circumstances, the Chief Eunuch was merely a chief eunuch who always attended to the king from close quarters.
It was practically the same as Wonbeom coming alone.
It was Wonbeom, who after ascending the throne had never once separately visited Gyeongchunjeon.
If such a man visited this place in the middle of the night with only the chief eunuch, he must surely wish to have a conversation that should not attract others’ attention.
After Wonbeom ascended the throne through Queen Sunwon, the Pungyang Jo clan, which had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Andong Kim clan, began to lose its wings and fall.
Wasn’t it ultimately Wonbeom who had brought about the Pungyang Jo clan’s ruin, whether intentionally or not?
Her gaze upon Wonbeom could not be gentle.
"Grand Royal Dowager. What is the King of Joseon to you?"
Wonbeom continued the conversation without minding her gaze.
Queen Sinjeong’s bewilderment was evident.
When the former king Heonjong died without an heir, Queen Sinjeong had supported Prince Gyeongwon Yi Hajeon, the thirteenth-generation descendant of Prince Deokheung Daewongun, the father of King Seonjo, as the next king.
At the time, Yi Hajeon was merely eight years old.
No matter how praised he was as kingly material, what could an eight-year-old child know?
Queen Sinjeong too, just like Queen Sunwon who chose Wonbeom, had merely needed a scarecrow to sustain her clan’s Sedo power.
"Your Majesty speaks words I cannot understand."
Queen Sinjeong looked at him as if puzzled.
Since entering this palace, the gazes of all who treated me had been but one.
Gazes of contempt and mockery.
Precisely those gazes I had encountered countless times while spending years as a puppet king.
But Queen Sinjeong’s current gaze was not one of contempt and mockery.
Wonbeom’s question was making Queen Sinjeong nervous.
Queen Sinjeong’s eyes seemed to face a blade long sharpened by an opponent.
Now to Queen Sinjeong, Wonbeom was an enemy commander met upon the battlefield.
"I hate the palace."
"Then why in the world did you come all the way here from Ganghwa Island?"
Queen Sinjeong bluntly spat out an impertinent question.
Queen Sinjeong must surely have been suspicious of Wonbeom’s intentions in coming all the way here to lament his plight.
Was he telling her to clearly reveal what his intentions were?
"Would it not be the same as what Your Highness wished for Prince Gyeongwon?"
"Are you saying you came all the way here merely to become a scarecrow?"
"But from now on, it will be different from before."
"......"
A brief silence seemed to indicate a time of deliberation.
"It seems Your Majesty has something you wish of me."
Queen Sinjeong met his gaze as if subtly probing him.
"Something for Your Highness, for me, and for everyone, would it not?"
Queen Sinjeong looked at him with a faint smile.
"Now this old woman in the back room will have to get a bit busy."
The light in Queen Sinjeong’s eyes as she looked at Wonbeom began to sparkle.
***
The next morning.
"I have done nothing for my father-in-law."
Wonbeom spoke as if mocking himself.
At Huijeongdang of Changdeokgung Palace, Wonbeom was quietly drinking tea with his father-in-law, Yeongeun Buwongun Kim Mungeun.
He was usually the type who would not even make eye contact properly, as if intimidated.
Yet such a man had deliberately summoned his father-in-law to Huijeongdang.
"What do you mean by that?"
Kim Mungeun merely let out a hollow laugh and stared at Wonbeom.
"As my father-in-law knows, I am merely a man who used to chop wood on Ganghwa Island."
"Your Majesty is the supreme ruler of this Joseon. How could you say such things?"
Kim Mungeun asked again, putting away his smile.
Though he was a son-in-law who was naught but a puppet king, was he not still the King of Joseon?
He had to treat him with the dignity of a king, if only in words.
"The only thing I can give you is the authority that comes with the position of king. Though I do not know if that authority still remains..."
Kim Mungeun, with a quite serious expression, carefully set down his teacup, as if afraid someone might overhear.
Kim Mungeun was beginning to take interest in the card Wonbeom had thrown.
"The state ministers in the Privy Council watch Haok Daegam’s mood, the Grand Royal Dowager’s younger brother, more than mine. I do the same."
Haok Daegam was Kim Jogeun, the youngest sibling of Queen Sunwon.
Kim Jogeun was the head of the clan who succeeded his father Kim Josun and led the Andong Kim clan.
"What do you mean? How could the supreme ruler of this nation, Joseon, watch the mood of a subject?"
Kim Mungeun spoke as if upholding the king’s authority, calling him the supreme ruler, while still not mentioning Kim Jogeun’s insolent conduct.
'So it's clan loyalty after all?'
"Are you and Haok Daegam not third cousins?"
Wonbeom carefully continued the conversation.
Third cousins were exactly the kind of relationship that could be called close if one wished, or distant if one wished otherwise.
"That is correct, Your Majesty."
Had he understood Wonbeom’s intention?
Kim Mungeun began to show an unmistakably wary gaze, looking quite surprised.
"If by chance the Grand Royal Dowager withdraws her regency and orders me to rule personally, who must I entrust the state affairs to? Either my father-in-law must take charge, or Haok Daegam must..."
It had been nearly three years since Queen Sunwon’s regency as Grand Royal Dowager.
According to original history, it was now time for Wonbeom to rule personally.
In other words, the opportunity to make the first move had arrived.
"......"
Kim Mungeun chewed over Wonbeom’s words with his gaze fixed on his teacup.
"Since my father-in-law turns a blind eye to this son-in-law’s difficulties, I shall have to go ask Haok Daegam for help."
"Your Majesty, how could you say you will ask a subject for a favor?"
Kim Jogeun’s tyranny had already reached its extreme.
It was a time when those who wished to buy and sell offices all gathered before Kim Jogeun’s house.
Even the gisaeng Yang Jihong, Kim Jogeun’s favored concubine, was called "Nahap."
"Nahap" was a term meaning Najuhapha, combining the word "hapha," referring to the three top ministers of the first senior rank, with "Naju," the place of origin of the gisaeng Yang Jihong. It was a term born from the fact that Kim Jogeun’s authority was so tremendous that this concubine allegedly sold offices and even decided official posts for appointees.
Thus all power of the Andong Kim clan was in Kim Jogeun’s hands.
Although Kim Mungeun held the position of Yeongdonnyeong Busa as Yeongeun Buwongun, he was in a situation where he could not match the prestige of Kim Jogeun, who occupied the head seat of the Andong Kim family.
"I truly have no confidence. I am of a mind to petition the Grand Royal Dowager to return to Ganghwa Island."
Kim Mungeun’s gaze changed.
No matter what power he held.
For Kim Mungeun to pass down his power generation after generation as a state uncle, his son-in-law Cheoljong absolutely had to hold fast to the throne.
"Your Majesty. Your subject Kim Mungeun shall devote his sincere heart to Your Majesty. How could the supreme ruler say such things? Please withdraw them."
'He bit!'
More easily than expected, Kim Mungeun revealed his true feelings.
Before power, even brothers and clan members were useless.
Now he had to prepare the decisive blow that would drive a wedge between Kim Mungeun and Kim Jogeun.