YCHW Ch 76

Hyunbi, squinting in the brilliant sunlight, tightened her lips. She seemed to be looking back on her first time, her gaze sweeping slowly through the empty air before she lowered her head slightly.

“As you know, this humble one is from Nam-o. My father was a man of Nam-o, and my mother was a person of Daeyeong.”

Nam-o was a small country located to the southwest of the Yeong nation. Large eyes with distinct wrinkles around them, strong, rugged features, and a firm jaw were characteristics of the southern peoples, and Hyunbi had inherited those external traits so strongly that one could guess her origins at a glance.

“My father treated my mother and me like beasts, beating us according to his mood of the day. Thinking I would die at this rate someday, I took my mother and fled to Daeyeong.”

My heart sank at the unexpected story of her past. However, Hyunbi maintained a blunt attitude, as if she were telling someone else’s story.

“Once we arrived in the Yeong nation, we had nothing and knew how to do nothing, so we had to wander the streets and beg for food and lodging. Opportunities were not easily given to a beggar girl who looked different from the start, and it was when I realized there was no paradise anywhere and fell into despair that I manifested. I still cannot forget that day. The moment Yongrin ran to me… and provided this humble one with a way to live.”

An indescribable emotion swept over me at the thought that what was a moment of despair for some was a moment of hope for others. Yoonso recalled Hyunbi at the time the scent of manifestation spread from her body. Then, he pictured himself at eight years old, Seongbin, and the moments of the other treasured ones, one by one.

“Thanks to becoming a Yeongchunhwa, I was able to provide a home where my mother could sleep safely. I enjoyed many things I could not have even dreamed of before.”

“…”

“Because a woman could ascend to the highest position under heaven, the seat of the Son of Heaven, girls at the very bottom were able to possess things of their own, and even reached the point of advancing to official posts. Because the Yongrin, who could subdue even the most renowned generals single-handedly, guarded the borders, wars could not break out, and the many people of the borderlands could attain long-lasting peace without suffering. So how could this.”

The number of monsters that had been pouring out like a flood gradually decreased. The area was left in shambles, but not a single being managed to reach the castle walls, vanishing helplessly. Hwi did not falter in the slightest, nor show any sign of exhaustion, as he swung his sword, cutting down the darkness, again, and again, and again.

“Be a curse…”

“…”

“And not a blessing?”

Hyunbi’s black eyes shone brilliantly with an admiration tinged with pain, with a vibrant sorrow.

As the darkness that could have cruelly trampled this nation, this home that everyone had built, and the people living their own lives, vanished without a trace, like smoke, soon only Hwi was left in the vast, empty space.

Yoonso let out a hollow breath, and when Hwi, who had planted his sword in the ground, fell to his knees, he hurriedly turned and descended the stairs.

As the heavy, layered doors opened, Yoonso rushed through the gap toward Hwi. Hwi was left standing blankly on the cracked, overturned, ruined ground, and at that moment, nothing else entered Yoonso’s eyes.

He was out of breath, but it was not the least bit difficult. It was his heart that was weary. With every step, his throat tightened and his insides churned. He hated this beautiful and magnificent nature, and he wanted to hurl curses at the sky.

“Your Majesty!”

When he finally reached Hwi, Yoonso abruptly embraced him and checked his condition. His eyes were bloodshot from burst capillaries, his lips were pale and bloodless, and cold sweat trickled down his feverishly hot body. Yoonso suppressed a sob and cupped Hwi’s cheeks with both hands.

“Your Majesty, my lord…”

“…I am all right.”

Hwi closed his eyes gently and let out a long breath, then tried to stand up, using the hilt of his sword for support. Yoonso quickly supported the unsteadily staggering Hwi and checked his body for any injuries.

“Quickly, quickly, the healing…”

“I just overexerted myself a little. I wanted to look cool in front of you, so I suppose I am just an unremarkable man as well.”

Yoonso stared at the smirking Hwi with blank eyes. How could he want to joke at a time like this? It would be better for his body to conserve his words even a little.

Just then, Hwi’s arm wrapped around Yoonso’s waist. Before Yoonso could say a word, Hwi lifted him up, held him tightly in his arms, and kicked off the ground. For the first time in his life, Yoonso bit back a curse and wrapped his arms tightly around Hwi’s neck. He thought he heard the sound of a faint laugh by his ear.

In the blink of an eye, they were inside the castle, and Hwi set Yoonso down. Yoonso suppressed his panting breaths and shouted.

“Prepare a palanquin!”

“That is not nec…”

“Shut your mouth.”

A look of surprise flickered in Hwi’s eyes at Yoonso’s menacing aura. He raised and lowered his eyebrows with a brief, amused expression.

“If it is an order, then I shall do so.”

A palanquin was quickly prepared. When Hwi obediently boarded it, Yoonso stared stubbornly straight ahead and commanded.

“Take His Majesty to his bedchamber.”

Jeongju offered Yoonso a palanquin as well, but Yoonso answered by shaking his head and followed Hwi’s sedan chair. He felt a gaze looking down from above but paid it no mind and walked with stiff steps.

The royal pavilion located within the castle had a plain exterior and a simple structure. It looked as if it had been built with only efficiency in mind.

By the time the palanquin was set down, Hwi’s complexion had improved. Hwi looked back at Yoonso, then stepped inside. When they reached the bedchamber, Yoonso dismissed the attending court attendants and closed the door.

“I am dirty, so I must wash…”

Yoonso pushed Hwi, who was speaking so leisurely, toward the bed. He flinched for a moment but compliantly followed Yoonso’s hands and lay down on the bed. Yoonso climbed on top of Hwi and reached for his collar, but Hwi did not let it go that far.

“There is no need to be in such a hurry.”

Yoonso lifted his captured hand and placed it on Hwi’s neck. Drawing out his guardian energy and pouring it inside, he was immediately able to reach the tightly tangled poison. When Hwi closed his mouth and let out a groan, Yoonso bit his lip. The void, the mire he had felt when he first entered the palace, was coiled inside Hwi, not having improved in the slightest.

“Have you not been receiving healing all this time?”

No matter how unsuitable others’ guardian energies were for him, this was no different from complete neglect. Hyunbi would not have abandoned her responsibility, so his heart tore at the thought of why Hwi’s insides were in such a mess.

“I have never held anyone other than you.”

Yoonso’s eyes contorted. Did that mean he had not coupled with a single Yeongchunhwa since their first night? With the sole exception of him?

No words came out. He did not know what he should say. Emotions that could not be clearly defined tangled and swirled together. Before he met him, before he held him in his heart, there would have been plenty of opportunities, so why on earth.

“But this hand has been permitted to many… so I must ask for your forgiveness.”

Hwi held up his left hand. If he had only performed healing through contact with his hand, it was understandable that his poison had accumulated in such a state. Yoonso, overcome with emotion, slapped Hwi’s left hand away and tore at his clothes. This time, Hwi did not stop Yoonso’s actions.

Just as he undid the outer robe, something fell to the floor with a soft thud. Yoonso’s eyes naturally turned toward it, and he froze solid. The object that had come from his chest was, upon a second look, still a mess—a blue pouch with a crookedly embroidered turtle. His affection, his waiting, his first gift, and his betrothal gift.

Yoonso gritted his molars and barely tore his gaze away from the pouch. With one hand, he infused guardian energy to disperse Hwi’s poison, and with the other, he clumsily removed his clothing. In the midst of it, though he had done nothing else, a hard, aroused part of him poked his lower body. At that, despite the urgent situation, the memory of his first night with him came to mind, and his neck grew hot as his lower abdomen contracted.

Did they say that coupling for healing and lovemaking between lovers were different? What a joke.

A directionless anger surged, and Yoonso hardened his expression and threw off his trousers and undergarments. His half-erect member revealed itself through the fabric and bobbed, and as Hwi’s gaze fell upon it, the space between his buttocks flexed on its own.

The fact that anger, impatience, and anticipation could manifest and mix together at the same time was simply dumbfounding. Yoonso unhesitatingly reached into Hwi’s trousers and took out his hot dragon pillar. At Yoonso’s touch, it swelled even more rigidly and radiated heat.

“I did not know you were so rough.”

It was a playful remark, but Hwi’s eyes were already stained with a familiar lust. Yoonso ignored his words and focused on the guardian energy churning inside his own stomach.

Soon, he vividly felt his lower abdomen contract once more as something gushed out. The guardian energy had transformed into a liquid form and was moistening his inner flesh. To receive Hwi. To heal him.

Yoonso gripped the base of the fiercely erect dragon pillar and slowly lowered his body onto it. However, no matter how he tried to align it with his unopened hidden gate, it kept slipping and missing, and he could not take him in at all.