Entry into Gaegyeong
The Court Report and the King's First Response
Morning in Gaegyeong was quiet.
From outside the North Gate, the road had been cleared as if washed with water.
There were no shouts of merchants, no murmur of the crowd.
News of the queen's return had already spread.
When the procession of the Grand Princess of Noguk reached the capital, the bell atop the gate tower rang.
It was a sound of welcome—and of caution.
The court knew this return was no simple victory.
It marked the purge of the buyuanbae—
the fall of those political schemers who had long leaned on Yuan power and played the role of traitors.
The princess dismounted and walked forward at an unhurried pace.
She brushed the dust from her purple cloak.
That act alone was a report.
In the forecourt of Hoegyeong Hall (會慶殿), the ministers were already lined in formation.
The hems of civil and military robes rippled together in the wind.
From among them, the king stepped forward.
The King of Goryeo wore court robes, but not the ceremonial crown.
This was not the posture of ruler and subject, but of a man meeting a grave matter within his own house.
His gaze reached the princess and paused—just briefly.
In his eyes, relief came before joy.
Yet he was prepared to hear everything.
The princess knelt first.
"This subject-consort, the Grand Princess of Noguk, has followed Your Majesty's command, settled the affairs of Hwajou and Ssangseong, and returned."
The king raised his hand to stop her.
"You have labored greatly."
At that single sentence, the air of the court hardened.
Emotion was set aside; governance had begun.
The princess straightened her back and continued.
"Gicheol gathered troops at the Ssangseong Regional Command and raised rebellion.
It was clear he plotted to assassinate both Your Majesty and this subject-consort.
Thus I moved the army and suppressed him.
There was engagement on the Hwajou plain, and thereafter his surrender was accepted, and Ssangseong was pacified."
The king neither nodded nor questioned her.
He listened to the end.
"I submitted a memorial to the Great Khan, clarifying the cause of the affair and petitioning for the legitimacy and disposition of Ssangseong.
A decree has now arrived: the Ssangseong Regional Command has returned to Goryeo's jurisdiction."
From within her robes, the princess produced the sealed document.
The red seal caught the sunlight.
Hwajou had returned to our realm.
The breath of the court seemed to halt all at once.
The king took the decree and unfolded it slowly, reading line by line.
Throughout, his expression did not change.
Only at the final line did his hand pause—ever so slightly.
He folded the decree.
"At last, Hwajou has returned."
It was not a proclamation, but a confirmation.
Raising his eyes, the king looked upon the ministers.
"This is a triumph of diplomacy.
It is the virtue and transforming influence—deokhwa—of the Grand Princess."
Among the ministers, someone swallowed audibly.
The king's gaze returned to her.
"What did you seek, that you chose so arduous a path?"
The princess was silent for a moment.
Then she answered clearly.
"I sought only to stop the shedding of blood."
The king turned the words over in his mind.
"And has it been stopped?"
"Gicheol and his faction have been summoned to Beiping.
Whether this is truly well ended, I cannot yet say."
The king nodded slowly.
Turning to the ministers, he commanded,
"Proclaim the recovery of Hwajou in a state document.
Record the military merit, but do not dwell on slaughter.
Let this be remembered not as a war that was won, but as a war that was halted."
The entire court bowed as one.
The princess bowed again.
At that moment, the bell of Gaegyeong rang once more.
This time, it was not a bell of warning,
but a bell of return.