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Yangban: upper class
Seowon: school
Jeogori: overcoat
Gwanghuimun: one of the eight gates in the fortress wall of seoul i.e. an entrance to the city
Gwanghamun: one of the gateways of the gyeongbokgung palace
Saengwonsi: one of two state examinations
Seonggyungwan: the highest center for education in Joseon.
I've taken a few liberties with the ages, because technically students attend Seowon till they're almost twenty and then give the state exam, but Hongjoong is around sixteen-seventeen when he takes the state exam.
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102nd year of Joseon, Hanyang.
"Your highness, you must eat something."
Seonghwa breaks out of his reverie, tearing his gaze away from the clear night sky framed in his window, presses his hands to his burning cheeks and looks over at Choi Jin.
"Did you say something?" he asks.
"Your dinner," he repeats.
"Ah yes, right," he says, straightening up and turning his attention back to the assorted dishes laid out before him.
"Are you unwell, your highness?" Choi Jin asks worriedly.
"No, no, I'm just... tired," he responds.
He isn't.
He just misses Gongju.
He's been back for barely a day and he already misses Gongju to death.
He misses Hongjoong to death.
His thoughts wander in every spare moment to that early morning before he left, to that kiss.
And every time his cheeks burn the same shade of red.
"It was such an eventful trip," he muses.
"It certainly was," Choi Jin replies with a small smile. "I cannot thank you enough for letting me see my family."
"You don't have to thank me, Choi Jin," Seonghwa says softly, happy that that young palace eunuch was allowed to leave the palace with them, if only for a few days, happy that he could help him, if only a little.
"My sisters were so happy to see me," he says. "The youngest has adopted a mouse in my absence, and named it Choi Jin."
Seonghwa chuckles softly and leans over, silver chopsticks in hand, prodding at the cured meat on a bronze platter.
"How many sisters do you have?" he asks, shifting a little.
YOU ARE READING
↱SEMPITERNAL↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽
FanfictionA story where Hongjoong and Seonghwa find each other in three lifetimes. "What if I said I'd find you in lifetimes to come? What if I loved you in all my lifetimes past? Wouldn't that be lovely?" "I think I'd say you're a god awful poet."
