3 ⚜️🌺 Sinners of the Palace
Baek blinked at the ceiling, surprised by the dream that lingered in his mind. He sat up slowly, chest rising with a heavy breath. Beneath the blanket, his erection pressed against the fabric, aching as he recalled the softness of Seon-in's lips and the smooth line of her wrists beneath his imagined touch. He swallowed his guilt, closing his eyes tightly before—
"Your Majesty…" Hye-shik's voice called from behind the door.
"Enter," Baek's shaky voice answered.
Hye-shik furrowed his brows and entered. He lowered his head as he walked.
"Lady Park returned home safely. Why did you allow her to leave?"
"Just…" Baek paused. Hye-shik snuck a peek at him. "Prepare the court attire."
Hye-shik nodded and opened the door for the eunuch to enter. Once Baek dressed in his kingly attire, he walked out of the king's quarters and avoided the Jibokjae, the heat of the dream still clinging to him like something he couldn't wash off.
Meanwhile, inside the palace walls—
A moan tore through Geoncheonggung in the afternoon.
"Ah… deeper!" a noble lady pleaded. Not just any noble lady—Kim Goo-eun, the Queen of Joseon. She clasped a wooden rod and drove it with hungry, desperate urgency.
In her mind, she conjured the king's weight above her—the warmth he had denied her on their wedding night. Even in fantasy, he did not look at her. He never did. Imagining his jewel, the press of his body, made each stroke more ravenous. Something only in her dream could obtain, but not her body.
One hand was buried at her breast—kneading, lifting—coaxing ragged gasps from her throat. She tipped the rod upward, angling for that invisible place that ignited her. Her sensitive spot met the strike again and again. Her toes curled, her spine arched like a taut bow. Pleasure rolled through her in hot, tidal waves. Is it because he simply does not want me?
"Nngh!" she cried as white fluid slicked the rod and darkened the earth beneath her. Her desperate eyes stared up at the inked sky, panting, breath coming in ragged, wanton bursts. "I want more… more pleasure."
She flipped onto her knees, posture animal and deliberate, lifting her hips with the rod lodged deep while one hand probed between her legs in answering rhythm. Goo-eun thrust harder, each motion a serrated promise—imagining Yi Baek driving into her from behind: hard, possessive, claiming. She parted her lips and offered her tongue like an invitation.
"Harder… Your Majesty," she begged, voice husky and raw.
After another shuddering, merciless climax, she sat back, fingers trembling as she wiped the rod with her handkerchief. She tossed it aside, smoothed the skirts of her dress over flaring skin, and slipped from the Geoncheonggung garden. She patted her chest to still the frantic beating and fanned her flushed face with slow, deliberate movements.
"Time to return to my quarters…" she murmured, chin lifted, a queenly composure settling back over the heat. No one must know—if she became an indignified queen, her plans for a child on the throne would be ruined.
Just as her shadow receded—
Footsteps approached. A hand stooped for the handkerchief she had dropped. The shadow lifted it to his nose.
"Smells lovely…" the shadow murmured with a crooked smirk. The wind stirred the leaves around princely boots. Prince Yi Seonu. He turned the cloth slowly in his fingers. A queen's shame, left where anyone might find it. How fortunate—that anyone was him.
Baek finished his court sessions with the ministers and turned toward Jibokjae. He bit his lower lip.
"You can all go rest… I want to be by myself," he ordered.
His personal eunuch and the servants behind him bowed and left. Baek walked to the Forbidden Library again and stared at his table, where Seon-in had left a note behind. He grabbed the note and read.
| Please forgive my boldness. I need the one book I took. I can't tell you the title, as it frightens me that you will punish me. I will return it as soon as possible. Thank you for understanding. — an innocent thief |
Baek chuckled as he sat down.
"Innocent? After the bookstore, I think you're more bold than any other lady that I have encountered…" he paused. Then he leaned his head back. "Hye-shik."
Hye-shik moved to the window behind him.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Have you found any suitable scholar yet?" Baek asked.
Hye-shik bowed, his jaw tightening.
"Not yet… everyone who applied is acquainted with His Highness of Haeryeong. They have no eloquence in reading."
"What do you think of late Park Jiyuk-han's granddaughter?"
Hye-shik flushed with embarrassment, recalling her audacity.
"I think… she's quite knowledgeable, but—"
"Are you still upset by the way she spoke to you?"
"Your Majesty, it's not that!" Hye-shik raised his voice. Baek raised an eyebrow. "I think you need someone who has proper etiquette for the palace. For her, who has none, it's impossible… her background could also be a hindrance for you, Your Majesty."
Baek sighed and raised a hand to the beams.
"What about me?" He paused, staring at Hye-shik. His white eyes stirred Hye-shik uncomfortably. "I have white eyes, but Prime Minister Kim crowned me the king by marrying his daughter to me."
Hye-shik tightened his jaw as he lowered his head.
"My apologies for my rudeness, Your Majesty."
Baek turned toward the door.
"How is Her Majesty?"
"She just left to visit Geoncheonggung again… nothing amiss," Hye-shik answered.
Baek inclined his head and studied the paper.
"Enter before people suspect I can see," he ordered.
Hye-shik slipped in through the window, standing at Baek's side as he examined the scrolls. A knock sounded.
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty has sent a snack. She asks you not to work too hard and to remember to rest."
"Enter."
A palace maid set a tray on the desk and stole a quick glance at Baek's face. He turned. She flinched, hand to her mouth. Oh mercy, that scared me—I thought he looked at me. She hurried out with her head bowed.
Hye-shik shook his head.
"Your Majesty—"
"It's fine. I'm used to it. Read." Baek watched him take the scrolls.
Hye-shik read, and Baek listened only half-attentively. He turned his face to the window. Mother, you said my blindness was a blessing from Heaven.
His fingers tightened in the silk pooled over his lap.
Then why did Royal Father hesitate to give me the throne? Why does everyone treat me like a curse? He stared at the moon—its bright face returned something like his own.
Days had gone by since the night Seon-in stole the Doctrine of the Mean. Baek ordered Hye-shik to follow her in case she lost the book. Goo-eun stayed in her bedchambers, waiting for the day Baek would summon her to his bedchamber.
She clenched her fists on the small table in front of her.
"His Majesty had never held me… if only Grand Prince or Prince Seonu—"
Her fingers gently pressed against her lips as she considered the thought.
"The physicians said my body was too frail—that I must strengthen it to bear a child. If… if I could carry any royal seed within me…"
The idea burned through her, reckless and intoxicating. Heat pooled low in her belly as her knees parted almost unconsciously, her palms sliding over the silk of her skirts and along the curve of her thighs. Her breath thickened. It wasn't weakness that stirred her—it was hunger. Deep, urgent, humiliating hunger.
She shuddered sharply, snapping back to herself, hand flying to cover her mouth.
"What am I thinking?" she whispered to herself. "I would be a sinner if I dared allow such taint."
Goo-eun took a deep breath, steadying herself. She walked to the hidden door behind her bed and grabbed the wooden rod.
"I will wait for the day His Majesty summons me. I will ensure I am prepared."
As her moans echoed inside the room, she forgot all propriety.
Meanwhile, in Seon-in's residence, she copied each letter of the Doctrine of the Mean into a blank piece of paper, writing down everything as quickly as possible before Jikyung returned.
"Done!" she smiled as she set down her brush. She grabbed the book and hid it inside the bag she created for it. She then flopped onto her bed and laughed. "I shall return it and behave as though this never transpired."
She kicked her feet against the blankets as joy bubbled through her. She lay back for a moment, letting herself revel in the triumph of her audacious success before sitting up and beginning to tidy her desk.
The night was long, and Hye-shik waited until her candle faded before he returned to the palace. Baek stood in his bedchamber, waiting for updates on Seon-in.
"Your Majesty…" Hye-shik suddenly called.
"What happened?"
"Her nights must have been long. Yet she rests early," Hye-shik answered.
Baek gave a quiet breath of amusement.
"When she comes to return it, inform me. One should not take from the royal collection without consequence."
Hye-shik paused, baffled.
"Hm… yes, Your Majesty."
Hye-shik left the premises.
When Hye-shik's footsteps faded into silence, Baek slipped off his robe and crossed to his bed. He lay back beneath the vast ceiling of his lonely chamber. The lingering thought of Seon-in stirred something restless in him. The moment he closed his eyes, her gaze emerged from the darkness, vivid and unyielding.
Baek inhaled sharply and pushed himself upright, breath unsteady as he listened to the stillness around him.
"What is wrong with me?" he muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "Why does she follow me even into my dreams?"