YCHW Ch 53

The hand stroking Yoonso’s hair stopped. Hwi looked at Yoonso, the smile mostly gone from his face, and then opened his mouth.

“Will that be enough?”

“What do you mean, enough? This is a very big wish. You know the saying, a man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold, right? This is a wish that must never be broken.”

Why didn’t Hwi ask him anything? Was it because he trusted and loved him so much that it wouldn’t matter even if he were carrying a great fault?

Even if he were to say that he was actually the fugitive Yeongchunwha, and even if he had hidden that truth until after their wedding, a conviction that Hwi would forgive him began to take firm root deep in his heart. Nevertheless, the reason he was making such a wish was…

Because that was all he wanted.

It was a wish granted to him by Hwi’s intentional defeat, so he did not wish for anything more. In fact, as he had said, it was certain that this was a very big wish. To ask to be loved unconditionally, no matter what kind of person he was—wasn’t he just being greedy?

“Alright.”

But Hwi granted this unreasonable wish without the slightest hesitation. As Yoonso smiled brightly, steeped in joy, Hwi opened his lips as if he had something to say. But his lips soon closed again, holding only silence.

Had his soul truly been bound to Hwi by an oath before the gods? Strangely, he felt as if he knew what he had been about to say. He was also curious why he ultimately did not ask. Instead of asking, Yoonso squeezed Hwi’s hand tightly and answered his silence.

“I will also love you, no matter what kind of person you are.”

So, if there was something that Hwi had not yet revealed to him, he hoped that he would confide in him someday. Even if he were the descendant of a great traitor, even if he were hiding something just as significant, he could embrace it all.

Hwi’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily, as if he had swallowed something very weighty. Once again, Hwi stared at Yoonso, like someone who had been left all alone. He was no longer ignorant of the sorrow and loneliness held within the man who appeared so flawless and perfect on the outside. So, he could only wish that they could one day share all of it.

Yoonso, a gentle smile spreading across his face, hugged Hwi tightly. Lying with the entire night as his pillow, he was sure to have a sweet sleep.

𓇢𓆸

A flock of tits must have come to visit, as their chirping sound rang out like a song from outside the window. Finding it both pleasant and bothersome, Yoonso shifted, then his eyelids shot open when he felt the emptiness in his arms. The room, filled with trickling sunlight, was bright and cozy, but his lover was not there.

Yoonso blinked blankly, then slowly sat up and looked around. A faint sense of disappointment crept in at being left alone in the space where they had been stuck together until last night. Had he overslept again? Hwi seemed to have gotten up and left long ago, as no warmth remained in the bedding.

“Mr. Hwi.”

Noticing that his voice was different from usual, Yoonso frowned. Why is it like this, he wondered, then concluded it was because he had made too much noise yesterday, and felt embarrassed even though no one was there.

“Ugh…”

When he tried to get up, his whole body creaked and screamed in protest. There wasn’t a single place that didn’t ache and feel stiff, and a sigh escaped him automatically. Was it because it was their first night, or was this what conjugal affection was always like? If it was the latter, it would be a bit of a problem, he thought, as he lowered his legs off the bed.

A neatly folded set of clothes lay on the bedside table. Yoonso called out for Hwi again, his voice a little louder, but he felt no presence. His eyes, having made an awkward circuit of the room, dropped downward, and at that moment, Yoonso’s brow furrowed.

“What is all this…”

In the brightened space, he saw that his body was a mess. Red and blue spots had bloomed like on a sick person, and if anyone were to see him, they would immediately take him to a physician. As if worried someone might actually see, Yoonso quickly put on his clothes.

After a light wash, his body, which had been difficult to move, seemed to gradually regain its vitality. Yoonso rolled his shoulders around, then smiled when he discovered the bracelet shaking on his wrist.

He traced the delicately relief-carved dragon shape with his fingertips for a long while, then got up from his spot. It seemed it would be fun to cook and eat together today. If the weather was clear, he wanted to hold his hand tightly and go for a long walk. It would be nice to go to the fish market and look at the fish, too.

Yoonso hummed a tune as he left the room.

As he walked toward the main gate, he heard no sound other than his own presence, and the house felt strangely unfamiliar. Puzzled by his own feeling, he tilted his head, then raised the corners of his mouth lightly and grasped the doorknob.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Hwi standing in the garden with his hands clasped behind his back.

Yoonso’s face, which had lit up as he was about to call out to Hwi, froze abruptly. His grip on the doorknob tightened, and a loud clatter echoed. The sensation of all the blood in his body draining to his toes made his vision go white.

In front of Hwi, men with swords at their waists and women were standing in two rows. Their bearing and the impression they gave proved they were no ordinary people. No, above all… the three-clawed dragon embroidered on their headbands revealed their identities with absolute clarity.

This couldn’t be happening. Such despair should not have been waiting for him and Hwi at the end of such a happy moment. But there was no time to fall into despair, and before he could think of anything, his body shot forward first.

Yoonso rushed forward in a panic and blocked Hwi’s path. He spread his arms as if to protect Hwi, as if doing so could save him.

“It, it’s not this person! This person has done nothing, nothing wrong, and he has no, no relation to me, so please let him go.”

If he could send Hwi away safely, he could do anything. Yoonso pleaded desperately with the grim reapers who had arrived in his paradise, as if he would fall to his knees at any moment.

But just as he was about to open his mouth again, frustrated by their downcast eyes and lack of response.

“What are you all doing?”

A sharp, clear voice extended from over Yoonso’s shoulder. Hwi’s presence was no different than usual. In the midst of the chaos from the sudden catastrophe, only the judgment that Hwi must absolutely not clash with the Yongrin became clear.

Yoonso had just barely swallowed his trembling breath and was reaching a hand back to stop Hwi.

“And not greeting your *Gagun.”

The moment the majestic words, which felt almost languid, ended. Thud, thud, thud… The Yongrin lined up before his eyes all knelt at once and bowed their heads.

“We greet the noble one.”

His ears suddenly went deaf. The sound of a tit crying somewhere receded into the distance. Though he was clearly standing still in his place, the world spun dizzily as if he were toppling over. Yoonso blinked his eyes slowly and stupidly, then turned his head.

Behind him, Hwi was standing. With the haughty, cold face of a Son of Heaven who had never been at anyone’s feet in his life.

His throat was constricting. Something was squeezing his throat so he couldn’t even breathe properly, and that something was his lover. The husband to whom he had sworn to grow old just yesterday.

Yoonso shook his head like a foolish idiot who couldn’t grasp the situation and took a step back. Hwi merely watched Yoonso with unwavering eyes, offering no words to explain this situation.

He absolutely could not believe it.

But at the same time, everything fell into place, and all the ambiguity that had strangely gripped him during his time with him was understood at once.

“Ha.”

A breath of despair escaped him. A breath that could be neither laughter nor tears scattered. Yoonso kept shaking his head to deny reality, but such a paltry action could change nothing.

He wanted to escape this place, no matter what. Yoonso ran past Hwi, in the direction not blocked by the Yongrin. Even though he knew it was a foolish, a useless act.

However.

“Yoonso.”

The first calling of his name caught Yoonso’s ankle and stopped his steps. The corners of Yoonso’s mouth trembled uncontrollably. Yoonso stopped dead in his tracks and looked back.

The man standing at the center of the largest fetter in this country was staring at him, casting an indelible, brittle shadow. The man he loved was no longer there. Only the emperor of Daeyeong was.

Like dry land cracking, like a solidly frozen sheet of ice shattering, blood vessels rose in his clear eyes.

Was his heart for me sincere? Or was it a pretense to possess the Yeongchunwha?

“Ha. Haha.”

Everything was so lamentable that Yoonso ended up laughing, tears streaming down his face. Because he pitied the man he had truly loved so deeply from his heart, he could not move another step. As he glared at him with all the hatred in the world.