A/n: The adorable 14th Prince Wang Jung returns in this chapter. Enjoy. :D

(Hyunhui Mansion, Songak)

~Hyeong's POV~

I was staying at home today, as I wanted to finish at least one of the books that I had borrowed from the 13th Prince Baekah. I didn't find them as boring as I used to. In fact they amused me more than I had anticipated. I wished I could share this joy with Woljin as no doubt she'd laugh along with me if she read what I read, but then she did not have the chance to receive an education.

"Hyeong! Hyeong!" A familiar, energetic and joyful voice filled the corridor outside my study, followed by rapid footsteps. It must be the 14th Prince Jung. Woljin opened the door for His Highness and he strode in, all smiles. I grinned too and rose from my seat to bow at him. Once I sent Woljin to serve tea for us, Prince Jung sat down next to me.

"I'm surprised Your Highness is here to practice martial arts with Geolsang. I thought your royal father was ill and you're supposed to be with His Majesty and your royal siblings," I said to him.

"He is unwell, but we're not allowed to see him yet. Only my mother and Queen Hwangbo get to. And then maybe the Crown Prince, but I'll probably have to wait longer for my turn. I hope he will recover quickly," Jung replied solemnly.

"I hope so too," I replied. My father was supposed to have daily council meetings with King Taejo and his other advisors, but now it looked like they'd be having that discussion among themselves without His Majesty. "Why has Your Highness come to see me?"

He pouted childishly. "Am I not allowed to see you, Hyeong? It's what I want to do, every time I visit."

I giggled. "Do you mean to say Geolsang is just an excuse for Your Highness to come over? My, my, if my brother were to know about this…"

"Hush, don't tell him that," he chuckled. "I instructed him to do a hundred push-ups just now. He needs to train his stamina if he wants to be a great warrior someday, like I know I will."

"I've complete faith in Your Highness about that," I beamed approvingly. "It must've taken a lot of perseverance to train to become an excellent warrior. Your Highness is one of the very few people I know who has that determination and spirit to keep training no matter how tough it gets."

He smiled proudly and sincerely. "I know that my parents will be proud of me if I do well. I'm not as scholarly as my brothers are, but I sure can fight!"

"That's actually a mindset Geolsang shares, you know. He's not as fond of books and politics as Geolha is, so he's trying to get better at martial arts and sports so that he can be good at something to," I replied. "But of course he still has a lot to learn from Your Highness."

"Yes, I can tell," he said humorously. "I can also see why books don't interest him much, because I don't like to spend time on reading either. And if I remember correctly, you've never shown much interest in it either, Hyeong, so...do tell me, why are you bothered with books now? You're just like Baekah, studying poems day and night. It's...uncharacteristic of you."

"Indeed I did borrow these books from your 13th brother," I revealed.

"Yes, but you've never really liked reading before, right, Hyeong?" He asked. "Why change now?" And after a beat, he added. "Is it because you fancy Baekah?"

I chortled. "No, that's not true."

"Really? You're blushing though, so clearly there is someone that you like," he guffawed and insisted, closing in on me to whisper although he could barely stop himself from smiling, "who is it, Hyeong?"

"Nobody," I declared quickly. "What about Your Highness? Do you like anybody?"

"W-what…" he spluttered. "Hey, you're not supposed to turn the tables like that."

"Why not?" I blinked at him innocently, tilting my head to the side slightly.

"Well, I…" he hesitated.

"I won't force you to tell me," I winked. "But you've got to tell me something else in return. And you mustn't tell anybody that I've asked you about this."

"Alright. What do you want to know instead?" He offered as he ruffled his hair. I could tell he tried to mask his exhale of relief when I let him off the hook. There was no need for me to press on when his answer was rather clear already.

"You and your 3rd brother, Prince Yo, share a mother, right?" I began.

"Yes, that's true. But why does it matter? Surely that's not all you want to know from me."

"Of course not," I smiled mysteriously. "I would like to to ask Your Highness some things about Prince Yo actually."

"Sure, ask away. It's just...why him?"

"Oh, it's because I don't really know him that well. We've never talked before whereas with you and your other brothers we do have more contact. I've only met Prince Yo's wives a couple of times but we are not close," I answered. That was not completely false. I would not lie to Prince Jung for no reason. I figured I ought to try to know a little more about the man I was about to go on a date on with tomorrow.

"Alright, but what do you want to know about him?"

"What's he like?" I inquired.

"My 3rd brother...in some ways, I look up to him. He's really a role model, you know? He's good at a lot of things. He's bright, for sure, and even our royal father has praised him on a lot of occasions. Yo is also good at politics and stuff like that; that's why the King likes to send him on missions because he is highly competent. He just excels effortlessly," he answered thoughtfully and thoroughly. "I know some people have said that he's cold and aloof. But I never thought of him that way. In fact he's quite warm toward me."

"Is that so…" I nodded, more and more interested now. Prince Jung did think quite highly of Prince Yo. "What does he like, then?"

"Hmm...for sure archery and chess are his strengths — none of us have been able to beat him, ever. I'm sure he enjoys it a lot."

"Enjoy what, though? The games, or winning?" I enquired, intrigued.

"Both, I suppose," he shrugged casually. "I like wrestling but I like winning too."

"Especially when Geolsang is losing," I added lightheartedly.

"Naturally," he smiled. "Oh, and my 3rd brother, I know something about him that probably no other sibling does."

"Oh?" I arched my eyebrows. "You've got to tell me, Jung."

"Ah, now that I can't reveal. It's up to him to decide whether or not he wants you to know," he smiled secretively.

I desperately wanted to know. I needed answers and I could barely wait till tomorrow. I felt I was burning with curiosity. I could no longer focus on the books I was originally reading.

"You're right. I've never really liked reading anyway," I said to Jung, pushing the books to the corner of the table. "Let's go find Geolsang and maybe have a snack."

(Dongsanwon, Songak)

~Geolha's POV~

Perhaps it was the weather, or perhaps it was the King's old age, or both, that had caused His Majesty to fall very ill. He was even unable to get up from his bed. As he did not appoint any of his sons or councilmen to lead the usual morning meetings in his absence, there was going to be no meeting today, not even mine with Crown Prince Mu and his other advisors. His Highness had met up with his brothers at the Damiwon, which conveniently left me to do whatever I pleased.

It was not the first time His Majesty had a collapse. This time was no different from last time: at the moment only Queen Yoo and Queen Hwangbo were allowed inside the King's bedchamber as they were the two highest-ranking consorts of King Taejo. His remaining concubines were not even allowed to wait outside his room in Cheondeok Hall. They were required to stay in their own residences until the King's astronomer, Choi Jimong, had sent for them as per His Majesty's instructions.

Since everybody, absolutely everybody at Court, was just so focused on King Taejo and how he was doing, I was just so tempted to visit Moongeum at her residence, Dongsanwon. I did not resist that temptation as this was honestly the perfect time. All eyes were on His Majesty and none on Lady Dongsanwon.

Having an affair with her here in the royal court was too risky. Still, we managed to find our way. I brought a few books with me as I arrived at her residence, so that I could claim that the conversations I'd have with Lady Dongsanwon were of a purely literary nature, and I was just doing my job as one of the scholars in the Ministry of Arts and Humanities. However, the guards at the gates were preoccupied with a messenger whom I presumed, by his uniform, was sent by Jimong to deliver updates on the King's condition.

"Lady Dongsanwon is not at home. Seeing as none of the royal concubines are allowed to see the King, Her Ladyship has decided to leave the palace to go to a temple to pray for His Majesty's health," a guard revealed, and sent the messenger away to the residence of another concubine.

The guard didn't inform the messenger of which temple Lady Dongsanwon had gone to, but I knew which one Moongeum was at. It was Gameob Temple, and its construction was funded by the Park family actually. I knew of course it was just a ruse for her to get out of the palace. On the way to the temple, even if she really were going there, she'd stop by a lodging that was also owned by her family. It's just that none of her family members lived there and so they didn't station any servants there, only sending some to clean the place regularly.

I set off to said lodging on horseback immediately. I knew the way because it was not the first time I was there. In fact, the last time the King had a collapse, which was a couple of months ago, Moongeum and I had already shared an encounter there. Not to mention we spent some time there when we were younger and back then neither of us was married to anyone we did not like. It held a special place in our hearts.

Upon arrival, I hopped off my horse and was greeted by Moongeum's handmaiden, Joomae. She had been Moongeum's personal attendant for a long time now, so if Moongeum could trust her then I could trust her too. She was our enabler. Without her facilitation we would not have been able to have our affair. So of course she was to be paid generously solely for making it possible for me and Moongeum to even meet ever since she got married to the King.

Wisely, Joomae stayed in the kitchens so that I could have some privacy with Moongeum. I walked up the stairs promptly and reached Moongeum's chambers. She was already waiting for me, but apparently I hadn't come to her quickly enough as she was so impatient that she had grabbed me and kissed me first.

"Have you missed me?" I asked her afterward, keeping my tone playful yet affectionate, dropping two more kisses on her mouth before she could say anything to me.

"More than you've missed me, Lord Geolha," she answered, poking my chest emphatically as if pushing me away, but drawing me nearer to her at the same time.

"Oh, no, you have no clue how much I've missed you," I shook my head and murmured. I did miss her badly. For many years I longed for her. The yearning in my heart only grew stronger over the years. We were pining for each other; it was agonizing that we could only have these clandestine meetings. She was everything I wanted, the only one I could ever love, no matter who or how many other noblewomen my parents wanted me to marry. "Besides," I added as she led me to the bed. "You know that I'm An Geolha with the rest of the world but Yoon Tae with you."

Truly, she was the first person in my life to ever show appreciation of my poetry. I'd loved it since a young age, but my parents had never given me much praise or attention in general, when I wrote something that I was proud of and wanted to show it to them. They didn't disapprove of my interest in poetry, but they didn't think too much of it either. Their biggest hope for me, their eldest son, was to either become a great warrior or be a great politician. Being a great poet had never meant much to them — that wasn't who they wanted their son to be, so I created an alias for myself, Yoon Tae, my most frequently used pen name — but it was worthy in Moongeum's eyes. She absolutely loved poetry and she loved my poetry too. Every poem that I had ever penned for her was out of sheer love. Love and yearning and devotion. I could be who I wanted to be, whenever I was with Moongeum. That's why it was so liberating to be with her. Our forbidden affair on the other hand was just an irony.

"It's difficult to be Lady Dongsanwon when all of Songak is on my case," she replied, stifling a sigh. "But lucky for me, I get to be Park Moongeum when I'm with you. It's all I ever wanted to be. Don't you know I love you?"

I smiled joyously, holding her hands. "Don't you know I love you too?"

I was loathe to let her hands slip out from mine when she removed each layer of her hanbok, but it was getting hot in here. And no, it was not because of the furnace, not when our passion burned much brighter and stronger. My eyes glazed over every inch of her newly exposed delicate flesh. I nipped at the softness of the skin on her neck, and stroked gently the curve of her shoulders. My earlobe felt cool against her warm lips and quickening breath. She reached for my belt and undid it as our lips met again. If we were inside the unforgiving walls of Songak, just indirectly hearing from each other would mean a lot. But we got so much more from the few hours we spent together in each other's arms, in an otherwise plain room in an abandoned lodging, halfway to Gameob Temple.

A/n: yes, their love burns bright, but if a fuel burns quickly, is it lasting?

Joomae may seem like a really minor character right now, but she'll play a more important role later on!

And if any of you felt anything about the tragic relationship between the King and Court Lady Oh, they will be in the next chapter. :P

P.S. Please review! :D