Hair and Debts

“Your Royal Highness, if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a lover?” asked the palace’s haircutter as he carefully kept his eye on the scissors to avoid eye contact with the Crown Prince. It was not his place to ask, he knew, but his curiosity got the best of him. He prepared himself to be reprimanded or punished.

He saw the Crown Prince smiled at him at the bronze mirror. However, before Yoshiro could answer, his youngest sister, Princess Seung-mi laughed, “No, Mister, the Crown Prince is deciding to become a monk[1]!”

Now, his mood has soured. He sighed, “I have no plans to become a monk. Princess Seung-mi, what are you talking about---“

“Then my younger brother has a lover!” chimed the other Princess, the second-born, Ayumi.

Yoshiro glared at the two princesses sitting on red, silken couches on the far left side of the room. The two were laughing and basking in sun through the open window. His threats were unnoticed so he focused his attention on something else.

He asked the haircutter, “Is it done?”

The old haircutter bowed, “Just a bit of leveling along the nape, your Royal Highness, then it is.”

Ayumi smirked, “It seems like she had poor cutting skills, Crown Prince.”

He eyed her and disregarded her the next second.

Seung-mi laughed, her teeth showed and her ears rose up, “She was probably a young village girl from Yeochun. What do you think, Princess Ayumi?”

Ayumi giggled, “The Crown Prince will probably return to---“

“Enough, the both of you!”

Everyone in the room jolted including the haircutter. His scissors almost slipped and could have gnashed the Crown Prince’s nape if he was an inch closer. He closely examined the Crown Prince’s nape just to affirm his innocence.

Yoshiro glared at his sisters, “I cut my own hair to pay a debt and not for a damned lover. I asked for the haircutter despite our tradition and deep regard for hair. I want to look more presentable. Are you two happy now?”

The princesses eyed each other, communicating through only eyes and expressions. Then it was Seung-mi who presented their question.

“What debt, Crown Prince?”

Yoshiro hesitated to answer. He eyed around the room and found the haircutter and several servants. Taking the cue, the Princesses asked everyone to leave including the haircutter. There weren't any protests from the servants. It was not their place to, but along the hallway, they asked each other what could've been the Royals be keeping a secret.

When the room was emptied, Yoshiro sighed as his sisters surrounded him. He took a deep breath and leaned his back on his chair. He knew his sisters; there was no way of stopping them from pestering him. They would only stop when he would give in to their requests, whatever it was.

“This...isn't a light or easy to keep sort of information. So you," he looks at one of his sisters then the other, "and you must keep this a secret.”

The princesses nodded and chorused, “A secret, it is.”

Though he wasn’t sure enough, Yoshiro told them, “Someone from the Southern Army found me and took care of me until I was strong enough to search the way home.”

Seung-mi asked, “Who else knows this?”

“Mostly the generals I had dined with that day. I...had been careless and drunk on wine. I was too happy to be home. It's my fault, that I know. But I have made everyone swear. And they have sworn their lives to protect this secret.”

“How about his Majesty, the King?” asked the other princess.

Yoshiro gulped, “He,” he paused, “knows. I bet he’s now beginning to suspect me. Of course, you know the intricacies of the Palace life. There's no telling who spilled my secret. Now, all I have to do is to face whatever punishments His Majesty will give me.”

He paused for a bit then continued: “I hope his doubts will wither away. At times like this where there are many vultures waiting for a perfect time to tear up the royal family and overtake our father the King’s throne, we should stay strong and undivided. We don’t need another rift in the family.”

Seung-mi shuddered and lowered her head, “Elder brother, please don’t remind me---“

Ayumi chirped in, “It wasn’t your fault, sister! It wasn’t even---”

“Enough. Now, I just need the both of you to keep this secret.”

Both of the ladies nodded. Yoshiro smiled.

They let the servants in again. The Haircutter went back to his job and tried his best to fix the Crown Prince's hair, to make it presentable enough. The Princesses watched them again...and Yoshiro. Yoshiro stayed still, still thinking about his fate. He heard the haircutter mention that he was done with his hair. Yoshiro thanked him, and the man promptly left. He put down the bronze mirror, as he was tired of looking at himself. He sighed, and his sisters took this as a cue to cheer him up. They whispered to themselves, quietly as they can. However, their method was not... very appropriate and may even damage their brother's honor. That, they did not consider, but it was too late.

One of the princesses quickly attached an ornament to his hair. Instead of reprimanding her younger sister, Ayumi laughed along. Yoshiro turned to them and they quickly hushed themselves. He had sensed the mischievous glint in the princesses’ eyes. He checked in his reflection on the bronze mirror [2] if there was anything wrong but he found nothing. He turned to his sisters again---the two have a notorious reputation for being pranksters. In his opinion, his sisters should get married. That will straighten them up. He was a man of his culture and time; it's why he had similar opinions to what the stereotypical society requires of women.

They smiled at him. The older one asked, “Is there anything wrong, Crown Prince?”

Yoshiro shook his head, giving the two of them a once over. “Nothing. I shall be taking my leave.”

He stood and curtsied before his sisters. The princesses returned his curtsy and accompanied him outside. As they walked to the gates of the Princesses’ quarters, his Eunuch rushed to meet him. Instead of bowing, he had a surprised but not surprised expression on his face. The Eunuch wondered if he should tell the Crown Prince that he forgot his position and responsibilities.

Yoshiro raised his eyebrows as if to say what, and the man gulped and quickly curtsied. He remembered his position. The servants curtsied but they had the same reaction as his Eunuch did. Before Yoshiro could react, the servants rushed to bow. They opened the gates and there, the Crown Prince was escorted by General Zhang.

Zhang seemed to forget to curtsy and just stood there. Like his Royal Highness’ Eunuch, he had a surprised but not surprised expression. Seconds later, he remembered to curtsy before Yoshiro and his sisters. Yoshiro looked back to his sisters. They all smiled brightly and that assured him nothing was wrong. The Crown Prince and Princesses bade goodbye to each other and the Crown Prince continued his way.

He walked side by side with Zhang as if they had the same ranking.

It was Zhang who talked first: “Your sisters are...wild.” Sometimes, they dropped the honorifics when they are together.

Yoshiro chuckled, “You have only seen half of it. They ought to be married as soon as possible. That's the only way to fix them."

Zhang sharply turned to Yoshiro who seemed oblivious of the fact that there was a flower ornament on the side of his hair. Yoshiro must have not felt it by how light the flower in his hair was. Still, the Crown Prince could have checked his appearance before appearing in public; he had a name to uphold, after all. Zhang cannot say anything, either. Being threatened by the princesses’ earlier blackmailing[3], he decided to say nothing about it. It was not blackmailing per se, but if he told on them, the princesses would be punished and he would be, too, as well. He decided it was better to keep quiet.

He only snorted, trying so hard not to laugh: “Ah, I see…a side of it…now.”

He left a clue for Yoshiro to figure out but the poor boy only chuckled and continued his way. Zhang glanced at Yoshiro’s Eunuch.

The Eunuch had an expression that said, “Please tell my Master or I’m dead.”

Zhang only gulped with an expression that says “I’d be dead, too, if I tell him.” and looked straight on the road.

The poor Eunuch sighed, awaiting his demise. Probably later tonight. He reminded himself to write his goodbye letter.

FOOTNOTES

[1] People who become monks often shave their hair (as seen in K-historical dramas and Japanese storybooks). Also in the movie, the Last Samurai (with Tom Cruise), there was a guy whose hair was cut off and he felt “ashamed” of it. That was where I based the whole hair-giving tradition of the Northerners. There is value and dignity that hair symbolizes and to give it up for the sake of a lover is quite romantic.

[2] A bronze mirror means what it is. It’s a mirror but bronze so the reflection isn’t on spot.

[3] Everyone was actually.