maybe im just suggesting bc LOVE reading it from you specifically but anything like gumiho dongsik….or like magic realism/mythology adjacent - @jingooism
Alone in his rooms after having spent a long afternoon with the Emperor, advising him alongside his most trusted mugyo, the court nobleman Lee Dongsik unpinned his long hair with a heavy sigh. He shook free the pins that held the thick strands in place, running his fingers along his scalp, massaging.
The Emperor was young— too young, some said, but that fact could not be helped; his father had died suddenly, and he'd been forced to take up the throne. Staving off the rumours of poisoning had been hard enough on the youth, nevermind the headache of ruling the nation and keeping the capital rich. So, having been the previous Emperor's right hand, Dongsik had been placed by the young man's side as a matter of course— and the now-crowned Han Joowon had taken to Dongsik like a starving man to a banquet, hanging on his every word, eager for his lessons on statesmanship and balance, learning everything his father never bothered to teach him.
Dongsik allowed himself a little smile.
You're nothing like your father. Thank the heavens for that.
He undressed, slipping off his court robes and donning more comfortable garb to retire for the evening, quite looking forward to having a drink on the veranda that overlooked the royal gardens. Catching a glimpse of himself in the high-polished bronze mirror, he hesitated, watching his eyes shift from human to fox.
It had been some time since he'd fed— a group of travelling bandits that he'd come across in the forest had been satisfactory enough, but that had been weeks ago; he sighed, stepping behind the brocade silk screen and shedding his homeclothes before transforming into his fox form, hopping off the laquerwood veranda.
Let's see what I can find.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The moon was high in the sky by the time Dongsik returned to his rooms, slinking back through the papered doors in his fox form before emerging from the screen a man once more; his hunt had been a successful one, and his belly was full; he remarked to himself how interesting the soul of a rich man tasted compared to a labourer's, playfully wondering which he preferred more when—
Footsteps just beyond his rooms.
"Come," Dongsik permissed, tying back his loose hair hastily.
A messenger came forward, head politely declined. "Apologies for the lateness of my arrival, Lord," the youth began, presenting him with a sealed note. "The Emperor wishes an audience," he explained.
Dongsik took the letter from him and handed him some coin for his trouble. "Now?" he asked.
The messenger nodded. "He was insistent upon that point," he replied, chewing his lip.
Dongsik sighed. "I will go," he decided. "Once I have dressed," he gave the youth a look, signalling that the matter was closed.
The messenger bent his head and left, and Dongsik dressed.
I wonder what the little prince wants with me at this hour.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Dongsik hesitated outside the young Emperor's chambers.
"Highness," he announced himself, "you sent for me?"
There was a soft rustling of silk.
"Come, Lord Lee," the youth's smooth voice directed him.
Dongsik obeyed, entering his rooms, careful to shut the papered door behind him. He came forward, declining his head. "What ails you, Highness?" he assumed something was on the youth's mind— why else would he be summoned at so late an hour?
The Emperor sighed. "I have heard a rumour on the wind that needs dispelling," he prefaced, a hesitation in his voice that he worked hard to hide, but that Dongsik could still hear. "About you."
"About me, Highness?" Dongsik asked, observing him through his lashes.
The Emperor stepped off his silk dais and came closer, kneeling by Dongsik so that they were eye-level now. "You would not lie to your Emperor, would you?" he asked as his answer. "After everything?"
Dongsik dared look up and meet his gaze. "Tell me what rumour has turned your head so, Highness," he insisted kindly, already knowing the answer. "What does the wind say?"
The Emperor held his gaze, a pale dusting of pink across his cheeks. "That you are not quite human," he admitted carefully. "That you are a fox-demon. A kumiho." He watched the Lord watch him. "I know I was not given a statesman's education, but my mother taught me all I need to know about spirits and things that lurk in the night." He watched Dongsik study him— watched how his careful, artfully placid face seemed to soften at such an accusation. "There are rumours that you—"
Dongsik's lips curled into a crooked grin. "That I what, Highness? Surely you do not believe I can transform into a fox and creep about," he dared venture ever-closer, their faces mere inches apart now as they studied each other.
"There is something else," the Emperor pressed on. "How old are you, Lord Lee?" he asked. "You served in my father's court for nearly his whole reign, but you do not look a day over forty. Why is that?"
"Good stock, Highness, my mother was peerless in her beauty," he lied easily. "Wherefrom have these rumours sprung?" I may have occasion to eat a little extra if I must weed out some sneaking ministers. "I must be allowed to know the identify of my accusers, no?"
The Emperor sighed. "The Ministers of the Left and Right have mentioned—"
"Is that all!" Dongsik laughed. "Highness, you would trust those ancient cronies over me? I am wounded," he sighed, pretending to be put out.
"Lord Lee, that's not—" the Emperor's flush intensified. "I do not mean—" he did not know quite what to say. "I merely suggest that you are under some suspicion, and you must be truthful with me," he averted his gaze. "If you have been lying to me all this time, I…" he trailed off.
Dongsik broke propriety and moved to hold the Emperor's chin in a gentle hand.
"I have not been lying, Highness," he began carefully. "I prefer to think of it as waiting for the opportune time for the truth," he went on, studying him, admiring the pretty pink of his cheeks. "Mm?"
The Emperor's eyes widened. "Then you— it's true you're a—"
"Shall I show you, Highness?" Dongsik asked, feeling the youth's uncertainty, his fear.
The Emperor swallowed thickly, adam's apple bobbing prettily. "Show me," he decided.
Dongsik relinquished his gentle hold of the Emperor's chin, smiling inwardly for the soft, imperceptible whine stuck in the youth's throat for the absence of his touch.
I've wanted to show you my true form for some time, my little prince.
thank you angel <3 you know how much I do love writing kumiho!dongsik especially if it's a period piece ^^