When Soyong hears “His Majesty” and “training field” in one sentence, a mix of worry and anger rises in her.
It is too soon for any training activities… What is Wonbeom thinking?
Considering how her friend is concerned too, it must be very serious, but Soyong doesn’t bother to hear the end of the sentence. She runs across the palace yard, between various hanoks1Hanok – a house., taking the shortcut to the training field. She used to spy on Wonbeom’s training all the time, and she knows the shortest path there by heart.
First, she sees the group of people before the training yard: servants, ministers, and various office workers. It seems like the King’s training has attracted their attention and it worries Soyong even more. Something is really wrong…
Second, she hears swords clanging together and the noise makes the blood cool in her veins. She quickly pushes herself through the crowd and finally sees Wonbeom in the yard. His calculated moves don’t give away the fact he had a near-death experience just two days before.
His opponent is none other than Seo Hwi, who seems to have a hard time keeping up while trying not to cause any injuries to the King. Under Wonbeom’s assault, Seo Hwi retreats backwards, barely saving himself in time between Wonbeom’s attacks.
Seo Hwi eventually seems to lose his temper and his sword brushes against Wonbeom’s upper arm, making everyone including Soyong gasp in shock. But the King reacts quickly, tossing his sword to his left hand and using Seo Hwi’s moment of confusion to his benefit.
“This is madness,” Soyong whispers, seeing how Seo Hwi’s sword falls from his hands and he lowers onto one knee to pick it up. But Wonbeom steps on the sword’s handle and quickly kicks it away. The end of his own sword points at Seo Hwi’s neck.
“Stop right there!” Soyong finally shouts, drawing the crowd’s attention to her. However, Wonbeom doesn’t even move, though she can see him clench his jaw as he continues staring down at Seo Hwi.
Soyong is scared he might make a huge mistake with so many people watching this scene. This fight is personal, and since Seo Hwi is only close with Soyong in the palace, it must be related to her. She doesn’t hesitate to rush to both men, but instead of siding with her husband, she shields Seo Hwi. She can hear the crowd whispering, but she doesn’t care at all. She is so angry at Wonbeom she doesn’t bother thinking about how it makes her look.
“Stop this madness, Your Majesty,” Soyong hisses. “People are watching…”
“Exactly.” Wonbeom looks coldly at her, but his voice sounds hurt. “My Queen, what are you doing?”
“Stopping you from hurting an innocent man,” Soyong growls back at him.
There’s a long moment of staring into each other’s eyes. His deeply wounded ones peer into her angry gaze. The world seems to stop, and even the whispers around them fade away. There’s only her and him. Without breaking eye contact, Wonbeom drops his sword, making Soyong sigh in relief.
She immediately turns to Seo Hwi: “Are you alright?” She examines him and notices a small cut on his neck. “Blood… It must be treated…” she murmurs, feeling guilty even though she has done nothing wrong here.
“Is… he… alright?” Soyong hears Wonbeom’s irritated voice pausing to emphasize his annoyance further.
“Your Majesty must see a physician too.” Soyong’s gaze briefly slides over his arm where blood has now appeared. “I will see you later…”
With those words, she takes Seo Hwi under his elbow, guiding him up, and together they leave the yard. The crowd parts, giving them a free path out of the training field, every single pair of eyes on them. But Soyong has nothing to be ashamed of, unlike Wonbeom.
She leads Seo Hwi to a quiet place between the hanoks, so no one disturbs them. Once they are out of anyone’s sight, they sit side by side on the porch and Seo Hwi lets Soyong take a closer look at his wound.
“I’m so sorry, Seo Hwi-ah,” Soyong says sorrowfully, taking a handkerchief out of her sleeve to wipe away the blood. There is not much of it as the cut isn’t deep, but Soyong still feels sorry for her friend.
“It is I who should apologize,” Seo Hwi passionately answers. “I didn’t want to harm His Majesty, but he was so persistent! It was just a second, a fleeting moment of losing control, and the next thing I see is blood on his arm… Your Highness, believe me, I didn’t mean it!”
“I saw everything, so you don’t have to convince me of anything,” Soyong says, shaking her head. “His Majesty can be irrational sometimes. But what caused his anger?”
“His Majesty was displeased he wasn’t able to meet Your Highness by the lake. You ran away so fast he didn’t have a chance to see you before you left,” Seo Hwi explains. “He asked me to help him with training and Your Highness saw the rest yourself.”
Soyong frowns, remembering Prince Yeongpyeong telling her Wonbeom felt worried last night after she left. She did go back later when everyone had left and explained herself… or so she thought. Soyong now recalls how sleepy Wonbeom was, with a goofy smile on his face. Could it be the reason he is so agitated today? The medicine must have made him too sleepy, and he might not remember their conversation.
“This must be my fault,” Soyong admits, now understanding Wonbeom really thinks they hadn’t met for a whole day. “But how can he act so heated just because of that? It doesn’t make sense!”
Wonbeom must tame his jealousy; Soyong always had and will have male friends. He can’t punish them because he’s upset with her. Soyong feels anger rise inside her once more:
“I shall visit His Majesty,” Soyong declares, getting up on her feet.
“Maybe calm down first,” Seo Hwi suggests, standing up himself. “You sound a bit… angry…”
“Oh no, Seo Hwi-ah, my husband is injured.” She theatrically lifts her hands to her heart, blinking innocently. “As his wife, I must check on him to make sure he doesn’t bleed out… Surely someone should be worried about that if His Majesty neglects his own health so frivolously.” Soyong’s voice is sweet as honey and her lips form a smile; however, her eyes must be betraying her as Seo Hwi takes a step back from her, looking a bit confused.
On her way to Huijeongjeon Hall2Huijeongjeon Hall – King’s residence., Soyong meets Court Lady Choi, who nags her for running away and informs her the King has headed to his study instead. Without saying a word, Soyong corrects her trajectory.
“Your Highness, is everything alright?” Court Lady Choi sounds worried. “You are too quiet.”
“The royal physician insisted I talk less,” Soyong reminds Court Lady Choi without slowing her pace.
“Why does Your Highness remember that only when it’s convenient?” Court Lady notes, making Soyong stop and turn to face her. “Of course, Your Highness knows best,” her friend urgently corrects herself under Soyong’s gaze.
Outside of Seonjeongjeon Hall3Seonjeongjeon Hall – King’s study. Soyong crosses paths with the royal physician, who heads in the same direction, a nurse following him with a tray. Soyong briefly observes it and notices the familiar ointments, and also bandages and a bowl with water to wipe the wound clean.
“Your Highness is heading to visit His Majesty?” the physician politely asks, noticing her interest in the tray.
“You guessed right, and therefore I will take care of His Majesty’s wound.” Soyong nods towards the tray in the nurse’s hands. She sees the royal physician opening his mouth to argue, but she doesn’t give him the opportunity: “I already know how to clean wounds and apply bandages. And I will double check the stitches on his previous…” On this word, Soyong rolls her eyes in annoyance: he has too many injuries. “…wound,” she finally finishes.
No one wishes to argue with her after seeing her anger apparent all over her face. She asks for privacy, and so the royal physician and Court Lady Choi stop to wait outside of Seonjeongjeon Hall. Once Soyong is inside the hall, she orders all the servants to wait outside as well. The head eunuch doesn’t even try to question her, having perfected the ability to sense her mood. He simply opens the doors for her and closes them behind her, not even announcing her arrival as he typically would.
“What took you so long?” Wonbeom barks, not noticing who has really come in. He is too busy untying the braces on his both hands before throwing them on the table. Only then does he lift his gaze towards the doors and finally see Soyong. For a brief moment, he looks surprised, but he collects himself quickly, putting a cold mask on his face. “My Queen finally decided to visit me? I’m honored…”
Soyong clenches her jaw when hearing this unfair accusation. Seeing his distant expression is even more hurtful to her. She doesn’t say a word, just walks toward him, and puts the tray on the table. When their eyes meet, she has the same cold expression as he does. Without breaking eye contact, Soyong moves forward until she’s so close to him that she has to lift her head to continue looking into his eyes.
Wonbeom draws air in as if to say something, but Soyong hugs him all of a sudden. She feels how for a moment he holds his breath but then soon relaxes in her arms. However, she didn’t do it because of the hug itself, her hands find the ties of the wide belt of his cheolik4Cheolik – fighting garment. At the show, Cheoljong usually wore blue and gold one. and she quickly unties it. She also ignores his attempt to hug her back before he senses what she’s actually doing.
She’s now too busy opening his shirt, her eyes wandering over the expanse of his solid chest. Her hands must be cold, because when she touches him Wonbeom shivers for a moment. Her fingers run down and examine his body for any other injuries until she finally checks the bandages from last night. Luckily, no signs of bleeding are seen and Soyong shifts her hands back to his shoulders to push his clothes off. She carefully frees his arms from the sleeves and puts the garment away on the table.
All this time she feels his burning gaze on her, watching her every move, but Wonbeom doesn’t say a word. Soyong is grateful for that, as she wants to tend to his wound before she gives him a piece of her mind about his reckless behavior today. She might be a caring wife, but she is also a very angry one right now.
Soyong takes him by his elbow and leads him to sit on the nearest chair. Then, she examines the cut on his arm: it is a small cut, not deep enough to even leave a scar. Near it, Wonbeom already has a scar from another wound, the mark Kim Byeong-in left on him a long time ago.
Carefully, Soyong cleans the cut, wiping the blood away. She takes a swipe of one ointment with her middle finger and the other with her ring finger. Slowly, she puts both ointments on the wound, one after another. She hears Wonbeom breathing in through clenched teeth and she immediately blows on the cut to ease the pain.
Bandaging his cut is a quick task and finally Soyong is ready to look into his face again. Her anger had calmed a bit while she was busy taking care of his wound. Now, instead of the fight she had wanted to start, she wants only to scold him a bit.
“All done.” Soyong shifts her eyes from his arm to his face. Unlike her, he doesn’t look calmer after time has passed. “Why did you do that, Your Majesty?”
She sees his chest moving as he breathes in deeply, his nostrils flaring as a sign of upcoming rage. Soyong isn’t scared even though she doesn’t fully understand what she did wrong. And isn’t it she who must feel anger instead?
Wonbeom moves so quickly, Soyong doesn’t have time to resist. His arm finds its way under her bottom as he stands up and lifts her with ease to sit her on the table. She lets out a surprised cry, clutching his shoulders for balance and spreading her thighs apart to give room to him. And before she can fully realize how close they are now, his lips are on hers, moving almost aggressively. Soyong feels his hands on her lower back, sliding her closer to him as his mouth demandingly moves against hers.
It takes a few moments for Soyong to collect herself and move into action. Her lips part to deepen the kiss. Her whole body is pressing against his now, and her hands shift to his bare back to hold him closer to her.
They are both hungry for this kiss, lips moving in a battle for more control. But Soyong is angrier than he is… so she bites his lower lip, enjoying his surprised shout.
Wonbeom moves back to look at her with eyes wide in surprise, his tongue brushing over his hurt lip. Her bite wasn’t strong enough to draw blood, but he definitely felt pain. She smirks at him; if he thinks she would just tolerate his anger and lust without standing her ground, he is mistaken.
She has never felt this odd mix of fury and desire as she does now. Soyong feels her whole body reacting to him in pure excitement. She knows that one word from her will end it, stopping him completely as if nothing had happened.
The thing is, she doesn’t want him to stop.
Wonbeom frames her face in his hands, his gaze moving from her eyes to her lips and back. She welcomes his lips on her own again, moaning as his tongue forces itself into her mouth. His hands move from her cheeks to her hair and she feels her hair ornaments being pulled out. She hears her various pins and binyeo5Binyeo is a thick pin used to get married women’s hair in a hairdo. falling on the wooden countertop with a ringing sound.
“Don’t…” Soyong hisses against his lips when she feels his fingers trying to untie the ribbon that holds together her thick braid. He moves back a bit to look at her with a confused expression on his face. “If you don’t know how to braid it back, don’t touch it.”
He smirks, pulling her by her braid towards him: “What if I do not care?”
Without shifting his mischievous gaze from her, he slowly unties the braid, making her wavy hair frame her face.
“Now, I think these locks look better on bare skin.” His hands are moving quickly, freeing her from her jeogori, baring her shoulders. “There… much better…” He whispers, observing his work as if it’s some kind of art.
“It could be better,” teases Soyong, looking down at her chest, her eyes glinting with mischief when she lifts them to his again.
Wonbeom doesn’t hesitate to take the hint and yanks her chima6Chima – a skirt. and everything beneath it down to her waist. Soyong gasps as she feels the cold air on her bare chest. However, the feeling doesn’t last long, for Wonbeom’s lips cover one erect nipple, his tongue running over it, drawing a low moan from Soyong. She arches her chest closer to him, pulling his head against her. He eagerly sucks, bites, and flicks his tongue against it, then moves to the other peak.
“I am…” Soyong breathes out. “I am… still mad at you…”
He moves back to her face, peering into her eyes: “So am I…” he roars back.
Without breaking eye contact, Wonbeom slowly lifts her various skirts. Her breath catches in her throat when she feels him yanking her underwear down and soon she feels the warm sensation of his strong hands caressing her thighs. It’s getting harder for Soyong to think straight, but her rage doesn’t go anywhere — she just feels lust too.
“I need…” She pauses, feeling his hands now moving to the inner part of her thighs. “I need to scold the King for his foolish behavior.”
Wonbeom chuckles, both his hands now grabbing her hips and forcing her to slide to the very edge of the table.
“I think I can relate to that,” Wonbeom whispers in a low voice, his face now even closer to hers. “A certain Queen misbehaved too…”
Soyong snorts at his insinuations; all she did was unintentionally ignore him for a day. It was he who started a fight with her friend out of jealousy. Her arrogant reaction must have triggered his anger further; she can see it by looking at his eyes. He’s not the hurt pitiful mutt he used to be but instead a raging tiger.
His lips clash against hers and Soyong is willing to accept him in another battle for dominance. His low half-roar half-moan makes her feel weak in his arms. Her bare breasts brush against his solid chest as she moves into his body, and they both let out a moan as they feel their heated skin meeting at last.
Soyong’s fingers eagerly loosen the ties on his pants and find their way down to his length. She squeezes him too roughly out of spite because he makes her weak for him and she hates that she loves it.
He groans and bites her lips in return but doesn’t stop his own pursuit. He squeezes her thigh so hard she cries out his given name.
“No, not today,” he groans. “Call me as you are supposed to.”
Soyong is so overwhelmed with desire it’s getting harder for her to concentrate. But her silence doesn’t satisfy him and he becomes even rougher, sucking and biting the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Your… Your Majesty!” she shouts, her voice trembling a bit. Was that what he wanted?
“Almost.” He looks into her eyes, and his hand moves to her neck and up to her jawline. His thumb brushes over her lower lip. “One more try?”
“Your Majesty the King…” Soyong whispers and gets her reward in the most gentle kiss they have shared so far today. She whispers those words over and over again between kisses, and a new wave of passion rises in them.
Soyong helps him get rid of his pants, and once he comes back to her, looking into her eyes, they freeze, breathing heavily. Slowly, Wonbeom brushes himself between her folds and finally positions himself at her entrance. For a long moment they just peer into each other’s eyes; the trust and bond they share at that moment is undeniable. Their fight and their anger do not matter. Nothing matters but each other and the feelings that run deep in their veins. The sensations they awaken in each other is their special creation only for them. They will never be able to feel like this with anyone else.
Without looking away from her eyes, Wonbeom slowly slides into her in one smooth motion. Soyong opens her mouth in a nearly silent moan, feeling him filling her completely.
Seemingly satisfied with her reaction, Wonbeom smirks as he moves out and thrusts back rougher than before, drawing a whimper from her.
Soyong holds onto his shoulders for better balance as he bucks into her in an unrelenting tempo, over and over again. She erratically cries out his title and his name, not sure anymore what he prefers now. He only chuckles at her confusion, teasingly whispering into her ear, asking if she is alright or if he must slow down. Instead, Soyong finds support on the table with her one hand, lifting her hips to meet his at the brutal pace he has chosen. Her other hand grips the back of his head for balance, and now it is she who smirks when she hears his trembling moan.
Under the accompaniment of the sounds of smacking flesh and their breathy moans, Soyong throws her head back, overwhelmed with the pure pleasure of feeling him roughly taking her on the table, the sensation is so strong she doesn’t think she can hold herself back anymore. Not with his hot whispers into her ear, declaring she is his and only his. Wonbeom snuggles into her neck, kissing and sucking her sensitive skin, while his hands grip her thighs as he continues rocking into her heat. She can’t hold on anymore, and with a drawn-out moan, her muscles start fluttering around him, making him grunt from the sensation.
“My Queen,” he roars as he chases his own peak, roughly moving until with a last powerful thrust he finally spills himself inside her.
A sudden quiet falls in the room, with only the sounds of their quiet puffs of breath as they try to recover. Exhausted, Soyong moves to hug him, finding a place at the base of his neck and gently kissing his skin. A lazy, satisfied smile appears on her face as she feels his hands caressing her back and tightly embracing her in his arms. Her heart is still frenzied after their activity; however, she feels so safe and peaceful in his arms.
“Please, my Queen, do not hide from me anymore,” Wonbeom hoarsely whispers after a peaceful moment of silence, and Soyong can sense the pain in his voice. “Even if you have decided to never be mine, please do not leave me…”
Soyong feels tears gathering in her eyes: she never meant to hurt him so badly. The price of her guarded heart is too high for both of them.
“After what we just did, does Your Majesty really think I am not yours?” Soyong shifts in their embrace to look into his eyes, noticing there is a glistening with tears as well. “I trust myself to Your Majesty completely.”
Soyong cups his cheek with one hand, wiping the tear running down from his eye. He immediately shifts his head into her touch, closing his eyes with a serene expression on his face.
“I have no intention of hiding or running away from you, Wonbeom-ah,” Soyong whispers. “I apologize for making you feel that way.”
“But that night…” Wonbeom opens his eyes, looking into hers intensely. “Why did you leave me?”
Soyong suddenly laughs, making him look so adorably confused and a bit offended.
“Apparently you were too sleepy to remember my return,” she explains happily. “If I knew it would be such a problem, I would have waited until you woke up in the morning. But I just had so much to do!”
“But why did you leave in the first place?” Wonbeom still looks completely dumbfounded. “There must be a reason!”
Soyong blushes, looking away for a moment. She thought this embarrassing part was over last night when she already confessed to him.
“Before meeting you, I had a talk with the royal physician and he told me about your condition,” Soyong mumbles, the memories from last night making her more embarrassed than sitting half-naked on top of his table after a passionate fuck ever could. “He was insisting you rest, and I didn’t understand at first why he was trying to persuade me so much… But then I understood…” She feels her cheeks heating from embarrassment. “He was talking to me as if I would rush into your chamber and jump on you like a lustful animal!” she bursts out, now looking at him.
Wonbeom’s lips silently move, repeating her last words, his eyes looking betrayed as he probably wishes she had done exactly that.
“And you!” She hits his shoulder, making him jump in surprise. “You were so clingy and…” she lowers her voice, murmuring the rest: “half-naked…”
“You could have said so,” he says, frowning, not fully satisfied with her explanation.
“I was afraid you would convince me to change my mind.” She looks back at him. “So I needed to calm down before returning to you.”
“A misunderstanding again.” He chuckles at last. “How many are we going to have?”
Soyong warmly smiles at him: “Probably many. On different things, but hopefully none of this sort…” She takes his hand and places it against her heart while her other hand is now against his heart: “Trust my heart as I trust yours.”
There’s a long moment of looking into each other’s eyes before soft smiles appear on their faces. Soyong hopes they both will never regret their decision to spend the rest of their lives together. She had lived with doubts for too long and won’t let them control her life anymore. And ever since she decided to take a leap of faith in him, her Wonbeom, she feels so free.
“So I have no reason to be jealous?” He pouts his lips, teasing her.
“If it will lead to this…” Soyong points to the mess around them, half of their clothes fallen on the floor and the water from the bowl spilt out from the way the table moved under their lovemaking.
“Please, be jealous all you want. Just do not hurt my friends.”
Wonbeom laughs and nods in agreement, his eyes still glistening with tears. Soyong brushes his tears away and kisses his cheeks, forehead, nose, and finally his lips. He rests his forehead against hers, smiling warmly.
“I need you to read something, Soyong-ah.” Wonbeom breaks their moment of a precious bond.
Soyong simply nods, confused about what he has prepared for her. Is it a long angry manifest or what?
Wonbeom pulls his pants up, tying them quickly and going to the table before his throne. While he opens one of the drawers to search for something, Soyong tries to clothe herself too. Unfortunately, women’s attire is more complicated, but she manages to cover her breasts with some undergarments and tie her chima tightly so it won’t fall down. When he returns to her with an envelope, she has already covered her shoulders with the jeogori she found on the floor.
“I thought you saw the dictionary and the letter inside so you could misinterpret what it meant,” Wonbeom explains, handing her the envelope.
“I thought it was your message to our friendly spirit,” Soyong answers, lowering her gaze. “For a brief moment I felt jealousy, but… it is between you and him. And suddenly I felt at ease.” Soyong lifts her eyes to look at him. “I hope he finds that letter one day.”
“I can only be sure that you, my Queen, will get the letter I wrote for you a long time ago,” Wonbeom says, smiling. “Remember that time when we exchanged letters at night? I wrote one that I didn’t send.”
Feeling more curious, Soyong caresses the surface of the dark green envelope with a golden leaf pattern. She turns away from Wonbeom’s attentive eyes, wishing for a bit of privacy, and starts reading the poem he wrote:
There is no way to forgive me for the broken heart.
Would there be a path we could walk together?
I hope we can walk together from the beginning next time, even if it is in dreams.
As her eyes move reading, Wonbeom rests his chin on her shoulder as he hugs her from behind. When Soyong finishes reading, she is grateful for his hands holding her as the feelings overwhelm her.
“This is what I always wanted,” Wonbeom whispers to her. “A life with you, even if it will be in my dreams.”
“Why didn’t you send it?” Soyong quietly asks. She would have been happy to receive it.
“I thought it would be too arrogant of me. I thought I was wishing for too much.”
“Now you don’t have to dream about it.” Soyong shifts in his arms to look at him. “We have come this far and finally have each other.”
“It’s not enough.” He kisses her cheek. “I want this life and all the next ones, and all the possible dreams…” He continues kissing her neck. “I want every possible moment shared with you.”
Author’s notes:
Whoa, I think it’s the kinkiest chapter I wrote so far. All thanks to the smut thesaurus I found on Tumblr. That’s very helpful!
And I want to confess, this angry sex scene was the sole purpose of writing that last misunderstanding. The next chapter will also contain smut at the beginning and some fluff later on. Hey, they have a lot to catch up on! I don’t know how much I write but I plan for more smut here before wrapping this story up (which happens soon).
Also, I want to say that some Joseon contraception exists, let’s assume it.
PS I don’t know about you but even 2 years later I still hate the fact that CJ chose HJ over SY in ep4 after she confessed about the suicide. So SY publicly chooses Seo Hwi this time. How does it feel, CJ?
One thought on “Chapter 27: Misbehaved royals”