“Then…” the king began to bring the short meeting to a close.

  “Father,” Yi Yun interrupted him, once again unwittingly breaking etiquette. “Allow me to ask.”

  “Yes, Yun?” the king answered patiently.

  “On the Chief Councilor’s orders, I have killed many people,” Yi Yun said, forcing his voice to stay dry and brief. “I am ready to testify to this and take punishment along with him. Please, tell me your decision.”

  The king wrinkled his nose in displeasure and pressed his lips together.

  “I am tired, Yun. I will tell you my decision later. For now, do nothing,” he ordered, signaling for the servant to bring his medicine. “I will present you to the council tomorrow morning. Put yourselves in order and learn to keep your backs straight and your mouths shut. It’s not difficult.”

  Still muttering under his breath, the king turned away and raised the cup of dark medicinal liquid to his lips. The princes bowed once more and headed for the doors. Yi Hyun could not help noticing how red his elder brother’s ears had become. He had finally grasped his error and felt ashamed.

  Out in the corridor the chief eunuch met them and greeted them anew. Now that there was no doubt they were truly the king’s sons, the palace servants’ attitude toward them changed. Yi Hwan, of course, understood nothing, but both elder princes noticed the deeper bows and the obsequious glances of the ladies. The younger maids were already sending shy smiles toward the young princes, as though allowing themselves for the first time to notice their pleasing looks.

  Women serving in the palace were considered “the king’s women” — even the lowliest washerwoman — and were forbidden to have relations with other men. Sometimes they would cast a distant glance at a muscled guard or giggle over the assistant minister hurrying to council, but things went no further than daydreams. As for the old and ailing king, it was foolish even to dream of him.

  So when, quite unexpectedly, three handsome young men appeared at once within the inner palace, the maids were thrown into a flutter. Who would serve them? What if one of them managed to catch a prince’s eye? There had been cases in history when the rules were disregarded, and the king generously shared a girl with his son so that she might become the prince’s concubine. More often, however, grown princes simply left the palace to live elsewhere and avoid causing such commotion.

  The fact that fate had decreed that three grown princes spend some time in the palace at once was for the bored maids nothing short of a blessing! Or a curse, depending on how one looked at it.

  In the days that followed, among court ladies of all ranks there was almost no topic but the young princes. All three were attractive, each in his own way, and the girls wore their tongues down comparing their real and imagined virtues.

  The youngest, Yi Hwan, now bearing the title Prince Bongrim, quickly became the target of the most greedy girls. He seemed modest and shy, refused to be helped with dressing up, and kept trying to carry out dirty dishes or wipe dust from the shelves himself. He spoke to the servants as equals and soon began giving them thoughtful little gifts, as soon as someone mentioned a sick sister or dying grandmother.

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  Very quickly, the number of servants’ relatives suffering from all possible ailments grew so large that one might have built a separate hospital for them — had they been real. Prince Bongrim was considered a simple soul, but they loved him for his easy nature, pitied his former hard life, and now the servants assigned to him did their best to feed up the bony, skinny prince until he looked decent.

  The middle prince, Yi Hyun, Prince Dojun, charmed everyone who saw him. He spoke quietly but confidently, smiled often, and was courteous to the servants, though he firmly cut off any attempts to get too close. His charming northern accent and unusual tastes in food added an air of mystery. He carried himself with effortless grace and quickly found his feet in the palace, asking directions only now and then from the eunuchs. They were delighted to oblige — rumor had it that this was the prince currently in the king’s favor and, despite his age, the one likely to inherit the throne. Which, given the king’s illness, might happen at any moment. Naturally, everyone was eager to ingratiate themselves with the future ruler of Joseon.

  Prince Dojun also loved baths, and the blushing maids soon learned to draw straws to see which one of them would have the luck to attend him in the bathhouse this time. To hand him fine silk garments, to sponge his fair skin, breathing in the dizzying scent… The young prince’s body was, to say the least, impressive.

  The eldest of the princes, Yi Yun, Prince Sojin, seemed already somewhat old to the youngest maids. Just imagine, he was nearly thirty and still unmarried! Generally speaking, he remained unmoved toward women, preferring to spend half the day training with sword or bow, then enclosing himself in the library at evenings.

  He was rather reserved and serious, with a constant worried crease between his brows. People whispered that bandits had killed his mother right before his eyes and he had lost all joy since. But that, of course, was untrue, for when Prince Sojin met his brothers, he smiled, his gaze brightened, and the crease between his brows smoothed away.

  He would watch Prince Bongrim sitting under a tree with a book, or Prince Dojun walking through the garden toward the main pavilion, and his sharp features would soften. Those of the older ladies whose dreams stretched beyond a merely pretty face would hold their breath and imagine that one day the prince might look at one of them with that same tenderness in his piercing grey eyes.

  For some reason, Wangwisa Commander Yeong disliked the elder prince, but they met often, sending the servants away and discussing matters known only to them. That mystery, too, fanned the maids’ curiosity — especially since the rest of the royal guard, with whom the prince now trained frequently, were completely enchanted with him. Especially often his skills were praised by Captain Nam of the Southern guard, the one who had helped the princes return to the palace on that memorable day.

  ***

  At the time of the princes’ appearance, the palace — and the entire capital — was shaken by the fall of the all-powerful Chief State Councilor Choi. It turned out he had been plotting treason and had tried to kill the princes on their way to the palace.

  Of course, he might not have recognized them in different clothes, and so his execution was mercifully replaced with exile, but the investigation uncovered other abuses as well, and many heads rolled after his. Perhaps half the State Council was renewed, and some posts remained vacant for months afterward.

  The queen, who belonged to the Choi clan, barely retained her position but moved to live in Gyeongdeok Palace. The king, reinvigorated by the return of his sons, began to recover and once more appeared at morning councils, where the princes were now also invited.

  All except the youngest — he was eventually sent to live in a monastery on the outskirts at his tutor’s insistence. Mountain air, the teacher claimed, was excellent for the absorption of knowledge. The servants, who had grown used to Prince Bongrim’s generosity, saw him off with great regret.