After hearing the report, the Emperor looked momentarily at a loss for words, then let out a short laugh.
“That bastard catches on way too damn fast. That’s exactly why I can’t help putting him to work.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Looks like the brat figured out I was testing him.”
The Crown Prince tilted his head.
“What? Are you saying he isn’t really sick and is just faking it?”
“You know how sturdy that brat is. There’s no way.”
“Could it be because he failed to carry out your orders properly?”
“That would be one way to see it. But he’s not the kind who’d collapse just because he couldn’t carry out my command perfectly. If anything, he’d walk right in here and tell me exactly how far he managed to get.”
The smile never left the Emperor’s lips.
“In other words, he’s protesting to me right now.”
“How insolent…”
“But outwardly, he probably looks thoroughly ill. Doesn’t he?”
At the Emperor’s glance, Warrior Jin Yeong answered.
“Yes. He was burning with fever, and his face was so pale he looked seriously unwell.”
“If I force a man in that condition to come before me and interrogate him for his crime, what do you think the other officials and the people will say?”
Most likely, they’d call the Emperor petty and shamelessly small-minded.
Which meant he’d lose face.
It wouldn’t be a fatal blow, but he definitely wouldn’t escape being called petty.
Seeing the color drain from the Crown Prince’s face, the Emperor snorted.
“That little bastard really is too damn smart.”
At that, the Grand Eunuch beside him hurriedly spoke.
“Please watch your language.”
“There’s nobody here to hear it.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince and Warrior Jin Yeong are present.”
“Do I have to mind my tongue even in front of them?”
“That may be true, but…”
The Emperor thought for a moment, then turned to the Crown Prince.
“You go yourself.”
“Pardon?”
“I tested him without warning, so he’s got every right to be upset. I should at least send someone to smooth things over.”
“You are the Emperor, above all others. Why do I have to go and placate him too?”
The Emperor gave a faint smile as he looked at the Crown Prince, who clearly couldn’t understand.
“Do you truly think that?”
“Yes.”
“You’re still lacking. People are more ruled by emotion than you think. No matter how high above someone I may be, if I don’t ease their feelings, it can come back as a dagger later.”
The Emperor continued.
“A clap takes two hands. If I want loyal subjects, then I too must be loyal to them. In the end, whether a retainer becomes loyal, corrupt, or a traitor depends a great deal on what kind of lord stands above him.”
“…”
“That’s exactly why I’m thinking of attaching that brat, Eun Seo-ho, to you. He’s unbelievably good at handling people! Hahahaha! Good enough to handle even me.”
The Emperor laughed heartily and went on.
“But do you think I’d just sit back and take that? That’s why I’m sending you, the Crown Prince. He’ll probably be completely blindsided when you show up. Just thinking about the look on his face makes me laugh.”
“…You can be a little mischievous yourself, Father.”
“Heh heh heh. He’s the kind of brat who makes it worth it.”
Then the Emperor’s expression turned serious.
“Anyway, go see him, hear his report, and calm him down properly. Grant him whatever reward seems reasonable.”
“I understand.”
I was lying in bed.
And on top of my head was a towel soaked in cold water.
I was at the Profound Realm. Unless I’d suffered internal injuries, there was no way I’d be laid up in bed like this.
That’s right.
I was faking sick.
Before we entered Beijing, I explained my plan to the others.
That plan was to fake an illness.
How was this supposed to be a way to land a blow on the Emperor?
Honestly, it was more of a protest.
I should’ve gone straight into the palace the moment I arrived in Beijing, but instead I used illness as an excuse and stayed away.
He had to be curious whether I’d carried out his orders properly and what kind of result I got.
Was he worried about my health?
He already knew what realm I’d reached. There was no way he wouldn’t realize I was faking it.
At first, I’d considered pretending I’d been ambushed and seriously wounded.
But I threw that plan out almost immediately.
If I did that, not only would my Escort Guards be unable to avoid responsibility, but the Emperor would absolutely hunt down whoever had injured me and butcher them.
I couldn’t let some innocent person get framed for it either.
So in the end, the conclusion I came to was simple – fake sickness.
When Warrior Jin Yeong came to fetch me earlier today, he’d looked completely horrified when I insisted on going to the palace no matter what, only to suddenly “collapse” on the spot.
Reason told him perfectly well that I wasn’t the kind of man who’d drop from mere exhaustion, but sometimes emotion has a way of numbing reason.
Honestly, he’d probably gone along with testing me too, so I’d wanted to mess with him a little as well.
Lying there in bed, I thought of the cloth artifact I’d gotten this time, and a smile touched my lips.
Strangely enough, the moment I reached my destination, the map drawn on the cloth vanished completely.
And considering I hadn’t run into a single difficult situation on the way here, it was an even more remarkable artifact than I’d first thought.
After all, ensuring that no trouble arose during a journey was practically the realm of foresight.
Which meant I absolutely had to make it mine.
Then I looked at the documents in my hand and let out a sigh.
Even lying in bed, I still couldn’t get any proper rest and was working my ass off.
There was a pile of paperwork beside me.
Fake sickness was fake sickness, but work was work. Damn it.
Just then, I heard Lady Seohyang’s voice from outside the door.
“It’s Seohyang. May I come in for a moment?”
“Come… in.”
I deliberately answered in a half-dead voice, and soon the door opened and Lady Seohyang came in.
“How are you feeling?”
At her question, I let out a faint laugh.
“These are the documents I’ve finished approving.”
But she didn’t immediately take the papers and leave.
What was this? Did she have something to say?
She hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is coming today.”
Cough!
The words caught me completely off guard, and I started coughing uncontrollably.
“Cough! Cough cough!”
“Oh my! Are you all right?”
“I’m… fine. No, more importantly, what do you mean by that? His Highness the Crown Prince is coming?”
“Just what I said. His Highness is on his way, and you didn’t look prepared at all, Deputy Merchant Lord. So I came to warn you in advance.”
That was the real reason she’d come to see me.
Wow…
If she hadn’t told me, I really would’ve panicked.
Thanks to Lady Seohyang, I at least had time to prepare.
“Thank you. I truly appreciate the warning.”
Lady Seohyang took the approved documents and left the room, and I took a moment to collect my thoughts.
The Crown Prince.
In my previous life, he’d still been Crown Prince right up until the day I died.
I didn’t know the details, but from what Prince Jinseung had told me, he was supposed to be quite meticulous and sharp.
Apparently, he took after the Emperor far more than the Empress, which made him a little intimidating.
Especially the eyes, or so I’d heard.
— Brother, no… His Highness the Crown Prince has been under constant threat of poison and assassination since he was a child, so it’s a shame he can’t trust the people around him. If he could overcome that distrust, he’d be more than capable of becoming a wise ruler.
Eyes as intimidating as the Emperor’s, and a deep distrust of people…
The thought suddenly stirred a bit of pity in me.
If someone had lived under threats of poisoning and assassination for decades, becoming distrustful of people was almost only natural.
Well, that aside, it was obvious why the Crown Prince was coming.
There was no way he’d choose on his own to visit the sickbed of someone he’d never even met. The Emperor had definitely sent him.
The fact that the Emperor had sent the Crown Prince to me meant I’d passed his test.
And the Emperor was trying to introduce me to the Crown Prince.
It reminded me of fathers telling their children, “He’d be good for you to spend time with, so get along with him.”
Not that the Crown Prince was some child.
Still, the imperial palace was the sort of place where wolves and serpents lurked on every side.
Usually, a crown prince would be surrounded by the sons of powerful families who could become his support.
But that wily old serpent of an Emperor seemed to want to attach me to his son instead.
That was why he’d tested me this time.
Unless something unexpected happened, the man I was about to meet would one day sit on the throne.
The current Emperor might be governing the Empire well now, but there was no guarantee the next reign would be the same.
Especially when all power in the current Empire was concentrated in the Emperor’s hands.
That meant if something went wrong with the Emperor, this entire era of peace and prosperity could collapse in an instant.
And when that happened, merchants would be the first to suffer.
In other words, the Crown Prince I was about to meet was an extremely important person to me.
If I wanted to make the Eunhae Merchant Group the greatest merchant group under heaven, then the Empire had to remain at peace.
Still, this left a bitter taste in my mouth.
A deep distrust of people…
The higher a person stood, the harder it became not to distrust others.
In my previous life, the higher the Eunhae Merchant Group rose, the worse my own distrust of people became.
Try getting ambushed day after day.
If that didn’t make you distrust people, that would be the strange part.
But I didn’t have that problem now. Why?
There were plenty of reasons, but the biggest one was me.
I was strong.
I had the confidence that no matter when an attack came, I wouldn’t die.
And of course, the Heavens that allowed Patriarch’s arrangements and let me return from death probably wouldn’t let me die some meaningless death either.
.
.
.
That afternoon.
The Beijing Branch of the Eunhae Merchant Group was thrown into chaos.
Because the Crown Prince was making a sudden visit.
Lady Seohyang and I both knew it was coming, but we didn’t tell anyone else.
The other side hadn’t sent word ahead of time, and if we acted like we already knew, it would only invite suspicion.
So we simply watched as the Beijing Branch descended into an uproar.
And I…
Put on a thoroughly deathly expression.
It wasn’t hard to make myself look like I was on the verge of death if I touched a few acupoints.
By the time I stepped out into the courtyard of my quarters with Palgap supporting me, the Crown Prince was just entering the yard.
“This humble merchant, Eun Seo-ho, greets Your Highness the Crown Prince. Long live Your Highness! Ten thousand years! Ten thousand ten thousand years!”
I forced my body to move with difficulty and paid my respects.
“So you are Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I heard you were ill. Then why have you come out here?”
“Your Highness came in person. How could I disrespect you by remaining in bed to receive you?”
“Go back and lie down at once.”
“I’m fine, c– cough! Cough! I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all. This is an order. Go lie down. We can still talk while you’re in bed.”
“As you command.”
So I headed back to the bedroom in my quarters with Palgap supporting me, then lay down on the bed.
The Crown Prince followed me inside, and the moment he saw the papers piled around my bedside, surprise flashed across his face.
“What? What are all these documents?”
“They are matters I must handle.”
“Aren’t you sick?”
His face was filled with confusion.
And of course it was.
The Emperor had probably told him I was only pretending to be sick, but now that he was seeing me in person, I looked like someone who might collapse at any second.
If I was going to fake it, I might as well do it perfectly.
Suppressing the smile that threatened to rise, I continued.
“If I leave the Merchant Group’s work undone just because I’m ill, what would become of the Merchant Group?”
“But at this rate, you’ll collapse.”
“If I stop working, I won’t be the only one in trouble. So for their sake as well, I can’t allow myself to rest.”
I continued.
“They are people who trust me and follow me. I can’t betray that trust.”
“…”
The Crown Prince looked like he was thinking something over for a moment, then nodded.
“I see…”
By then, Palgap had brought in a chair, and the Crown Prince sat down.
“I was sent by Father because he heard you were too ill to come to the palace.”
“I am deeply honored by His Majesty’s grace.”
“So then, what did you discover?”
I’d already expected him to ask me about that.
That was the real purpose of this visit.
“Yes, Your Highness. What I discovered is that His Majesty suspects me.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“He ordered me to expose a treasonous plot that didn’t even exist. If that wasn’t a test born from suspicion, then what else could it be?”
“What made you think that?”
I told him about the flaws I’d noticed.
For instance, the lack of greed in Gwon Jik’s eyes, or the fact that his “muttering” had been just a little too loud to be called muttering…
Once I understood the Emperor’s intentions, there were more openings than I’d first realized.
After hearing me out, the Crown Prince pushed back.
“You say Gwon’s eyes held no greed, but that’s only your impression, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is only my impression. But Your Highness, any truly capable merchant must be able to read the desires of the person standing before him.”
“…”
“The shock of realizing that His Majesty suspected me and put me to the test… cough, it seems this body, already worn down from overwork, couldn’t bear that shock.”
At my words, the Crown Prince let out a sigh.
“You are right. Father did test you. But it wasn’t because he suspected you. On the contrary, it was because he thought highly of your abilities.”
He sighed and lowered his head slightly.
“I’m sorry.”
“…Pardon?”
That response slipped out before I could stop it.
No, that wasn’t the kind of man he was supposed to be.
Why… why?
–TL Notes–
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