Rise of an Empress

Gaining Ancient knowledge

Two weeks have passed.

Concubine Seo has gotten much closer to Concubine Park and Prince Yeong. She has started having breakfast with Seung Deok now. It was Seung Deok who offered Yun Hee to take breakfast together saying she was bored of eating alone here.

Today, when Concubine Seo goes to the east wing of the concubines' palace where Seung Deok stays, she finds something different is going on. Like other days, maids are not busy arranging the breakfast table. Today they are busy arranging for the concubine's bath, doing laundry things, and fixing the decoration of the palace.

Yun Hee can't understand what's going on. She orders one of the maids to tell Seung Deok that Concubine Seo has come to meet her.

After a few minutes, Seung Deok comes out of her room. Her body is covered with a white thin robe with her neck exposed mostly. Although Seung Deok is pretending to cover herself properly with the robe, still through the thin robe the dark hickeys on her white skin can be seen. The dark hickeys over her collar bones are so prominent, that anyone can easily understand what has happened ... And she is glowing!!!

Seung Deok starts to talk at a fast speed, "Heeya, today my breakfast will be too late. I forgot to send a maid to let you know about that. I have to meet Consort Kim now. Take your breakfast alone today, okay? Next time I will let you know earlier."

"Yes, it's okay," Concubine Seo replies while trying to smile. But what she can feel now is her pride as a woman is hurt as her husband was satisfied with another woman. She can understand last night Seung Deok spent with Emperor Sinjong.

Yun Hee didn't get so much time thinking about her physical relationship session with Emperor Sinjong. Her allergic reaction made her forget about that completely.

She tries to remember that night. Although that night wasn't so pleasurable for her, now she is feeling upset as Seung Deok has such a night with the Emperor. It's breaking her heart thinking that Sinjong has touched anyone just in the way he touched her.

Yun Hee knew properly from the beginning, marrying an Emperor means she has to share her husband with others. Emperor Sinjong has the largest harem of Goryeo full of experienced prostitutes even from foreign states and more concubines besides her. But for the first time, she starts to feel that it's not such an easy thing.

She didn't get so much time to spend with or to get to know him, but she has started to love him since their marriage conversation started. She badly wants to meet him again. He is the most handsome guy that she has ever seen in her life. The memories of that night with Sinjong keep flashing in front of her.

Suddenly she remembers something. The Emperor said to her, " You need to learn a lot."

She searches for the book of sex education that her mother gave for sex knowledge before marriage. But the book is nowhere to be found. Did she leave the book back in Yongsan palace? Although her things were packed by maids, she didn't let the maids touch the book as she was so shy about it then.

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Yeong can notice Concubine Seo is absent-minded today. They are just the same age. These days they have gotten so close, especially from the side of Yeong. Because he has never met someone before who wasn't aware of his higher rank as prince. Concubine Seo behaves exactly like a friend to him. Her every expression, even sweet yelling, is amazing for him. He has found Concubine Seo as a friend that he has hardly met before.

Sometimes they wander together in the garden. But most of the time they spend in the royal library. Studying is so disgusting for Yeong except when Yun Hee is present to accompany him. Both of them spend almost the whole day in the royal library.

She guides him to select books and sometimes they read the same books together. Yeong listens so attentively when she explains the knowledge of books to him in her own easy ways. That's palatable learning for Yeong.

But today, she is not even interested in reading a book. She keeps wandering and wandering in the royal library.

At last, Yun Hee finds the section she was searching for. She glimpses over to Yeong who is now reading a book about weapons at a distant table.

She turns on the pages of a book named Ancient Practice of Sexual Gratification. "Wow! They have even attached hand-drawn pictures with the description," she is so impressed with the book's quality.

The previous book that she read only contained descriptions, no pictures were attached. Even she had difficulty understanding the weird descriptions of the sex there.

She sighs in relief. Now she can learn properly for Emperor Sinjong. She is looking over a picture of two naked bodies kissing while one, the male partner, is touching the female partner's private part in the book.

But suddenly she feels a warm breath near her neck.

"What's it, Yun Hee?"

Yeong asks while trying to understand what it is. Now he is also staring at the picture of intimacy. Yun Hee leaves a scream and throws the book on the floor...

Yeong yells while holding his ear, "Yaaaa!!!! What's wrong with you? You have injured my ear."

Hearing the scream the royal guards hurriedly step towards the place from where the scream came from. Right now Royal Prince Yeong is staying in the royal library, so the scream is considered a threat...

As the royal guards come near them, Yun Hee thanks herself that she closed the book before throwing it on the floor. Yeong orders towards the guards, "Everything is okay here. She got scared thinking there was a paper-eating bug inside the book. But there's nothing. Go back to your place."

The guards go back to their place. Concubine Seo is feeling her cheeks burning with embarrassment. What an embarrassing fact that Yeong has seen the intimate picture! But Yeong's question makes her confused, "What was that? A new book! Let's read it together..."

Concubine Seo thinks to herself, "Really? Can Yeong not understand what he has seen? Maybe he is not aware of sex knowledge. Yun Hee thanks the Gods that Prince Yeong couldn't understand what he has actually seen.

Yeong is about to pick up the book from the floor, but Yun Hee stops him and says in a shaking voice, "No, Prince Yeong. It's not even worth reading. Never read this book. I didn't find it logical nor interesting."

She hurriedly picks up the book and keeps it on the shelf from where she took it before. She drags Yeong from the royal library to the outside and apologizes to Yeong saying that she is feeling so sick so please skip today's study session.

But Yeong is not so dumb to understand what he has seen in the picture. Concubine Seo's strange behavior to not to let him know about it has intensified his curiosity a hundred times. He has properly taken in memory where she has kept the book.

After Concubine Seo takes leave, Yeong goes back to the royal library. He finds the book that she was reading. As a prince, he doesn't need an entry for any book that he takes from the royal library. He takes two more books on sex education with him and returns to the palace...

And... Today it will be Prince Yeong's first step on sex education.

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