Memoirs Of The Red Queen by Lady

Author:Lady [Lady]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138980822
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2016-09-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter III

At the beginning of 1758 the king was ill, but the prince was unable to go and see him, being ill himself. This created an extremely difficult situation, and I felt quite faint whenever I saw the king. It is impossible for me to describe how hard it was to go on living from one day to the next.

In the first month of the same year Prince Wólsóng died. Princess Hwasun, who had no child, demonstrated her loyalty to her husband by starving herself, and thereby brought about her own demise seventeen days after his death. Although such an act of devotion increased the esteem in which the royal family was held, the king himself was furious, declaring that it was an act of impiety on the part of the princess to die leaving her aged father behind and going against his advice. He therefore refused to allow the erection of a vermilion gate1 in her honour. I was most impressed that the prince was able to admire her virtuous behaviour at a time when he himself was very ill.

Following the incident of December 1757, the prince had stayed in the Kwanhúi-hap Pavilion. In the second month, the king was once more upset about something and went to see the prince, and was amazed to find him very untidily dressed. The king came to the Súngmun-dang Hall and summoned the prince there, and so they met for the first time since the incident. The king chided the prince about various matters, and questioned him about the reported killings. The king seemed to know all the facts and to be testing the prince whether he would confess the truth. Presumably because of his basic honesty, the prince would confess the truth although he knew that to do so would lead to great trouble.

On that particular day he replied to one of the questions, ‘It relieves my pent-up anger, Sire, to kill people or animals when I am feeling depressed or on edge.’

The king asked, ‘Why is that so?’

‘Because I am hurt,’ answered the prince.

‘Why are you hurt?’ the king asked.

‘I am hurt because you do not love me and also, alas, I am terrified of you because you constantly rebuke me, Sire.’

Thus he went on to confess the exact number of those he had killed, describing everything in detail. The king seemed to ex-perience a fleeting moment of fatherly compassion for his son. He calmed down somewhat and said, ‘I will act differently in future.’

He then came to see me at the Kyóngch’un-jón Mansion and said, ‘Since my behaviour has led the prince to act like this, I shall behave differently in future. Do you think things will be all right now?’

This was the first time the king had referred to his relationship with his son in such a way. I was overjoyed by the sudden and unexpected change of attitude, and replied weeping, ‘Of course things will be all right, Your Highness. The prince has suffered constant upset, ever since childhood, because of his repeated inability to obtain your favour.

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