CH 62

For Hwawoon, correction, for Hawoon, the sword was in fact no different from his oldest friend. After meeting his teacher through luck and learning swordsmanship when he was young, the sword kept opening the way for Hawoon to live. It helped Hawoon to no longer get hurt and eventually helped Hawoon enter the Imperial Palace he wished for.

In addition, Hawoon used to control his mind by swinging a sword when he was feeling complicated, so sometimes, whenever he stayed up all night with complicated thoughts, Hwawoon was desperate for a sword to hold in his hand.

“Erm… for now, I’ll try to ask the Department of Internal Affairs. I think it might be easy to get because it’s not the real sword…”

“Ask it for me, Ahjin. Thank you.”

Hwawoon gave a quick thank you to Ahjin, just in case Ahjin asked him something more, then immediately looked away. It was because there was nothing he could answer for now, no matter what Ahjin asked.

Hwawoon was already excited and his hand flinched on his knee voluntarily, despite no one having yet offered to give him a sword. The feeling of cutting through the air with a sword in his hands seemed to permeate back into him. His heart pounded automatically at the thought of being able to feel the sense of freedom again whenever he cut through the air with the sharp edge of a sword at night when no one was around.

Of course, he wouldn’t be able to swing the sword like Hawoon with Yeon Hwawoon’s body. However, things like the training method and the steps were all in his head, so there might be hope for him to train lightly with this fragile Hwawoon’s body. He was full of expectations he could get slightly healthier if he did that.

“Your, Your Highness…”

While Hwawoon was already deep in his own hopeful thoughts, Ahjin, who stood next to him, suddenly called Hwawoon with a stiff face. Still imagining himself holding a sword, Hwawoon answered absentmindedly, “Mhm?” And Ahjin grabbed Hwawoon’s arm, trying to raise him up.

“Your Highness, His Majesty…”

His Majesty. As soon as he heard that word, Hwawoon felt his senses return in an instant. When he turned his head following Ahjin’s gaze out of surprise, there was Yihan standing alone after ordering Eunuch Oh to stop behind.

***

Hwawoon was so surprised that he forgot to give his greetings and was looking up at the emperor while sitting. The emperor’s face, which he encountered at an unexpected time, always gave Hwawoon a sense of the bolt out of the blue. The reason was that even though Hwawoon was in the Imperial Palace, he always thought that the emperor would seldom visit him.

“Your Highness, the greetings…”

“Ah… Ah!”

Ahjin, who had managed to come to her senses first, pulled Hwawoon’s arm gently and reminded him, who was sitting in his seat and just staring at the emperor. Hwawoon was startled and hurriedly got up, but perhaps because it happened so suddenly, he got dizzy.

This shouldn’t be like this. Hwawoon tried to control the darkening view somehow, but the sense of balance that had already begun to be broken was not something he could handle himself.

“Your Highness!”

Ahjin’s voice was heard along with the sensation of his body faltering. Trying to shake off his vision that was suddenly covered in darkness, and thinking that he should not fall down in front of His Majesty by any means, Hwawoon reached out to grab anything, and someone’s strong arm wrapped around Hwawoon’s shoulder.

No way. Don’t tell me. 

While Hwawoon was denying reality while leaning on the big and strong arms that he could never have thought of as Ahjin’s arms, a voice came from above his head.

“You go away first.”

It was meant for Ajin. Hwawoon thought, blinking his eyes in Yihan’s arms as his vision had not yet returned properly. Why did he order Ahjin to go away? Have I ever done something to blame for him to send everyone back? But I’ve been given permission to enter Suhwawon. Does he perhaps want to undo him turning a blind eye when I showed rude behavior regarding the relief center last time?

While the unknown thoughts continued on, there was Ahjin’s voice telling the emperor that she would take her leave and the sound of footsteps getting further.

It was not until then that Hwawoon, who finally could see clearly in front of him, moved his body away from leaning against Yihan and lowered his head. 

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. For a moment, I got dizzy and behaved disgracefully.”

“… It’s fine. You have a weak body, so what can we do?” 

Yihan looked at Hwawoon quietly, contemplating the sensations left behind by Hwawoon, who had gone away in an instant.

That was such a strange thing. Before coming to see Hwawoon, Yihan promised himself that he would blame Hwawoon if he met him because he didn’t like something, was dissatisfied, and because he was upset for nothing. However, once he saw Hwawoon’s face, his heart was calm as if it wasn’t running wildly just before, the words he wanted to say were blown away, and he was just being careful around Hwawoon.

I don’t like you wearing that clothes, I also don’t like you walking around in that clothes as if showing off, I dislike you being this weak and keep collapsing. You act gently to the courtiers of Jeongan Palace, Jeongbin, and anyone else, but you sent me snacks without ever visiting me first. I hate it so much, I’m angry, and it’s very unpleasant!

… It was impossible for him to say such words.

As Yihan swallowed all the words he wanted to say and was only biting the inside of his cheek for nothing, Hwawoon opened his mouth first.

“Your Majesty, why are you taking a walk in Suhwawon without Eunuch Oh?”

With that said, Hwawoon, who constantly looked behind the emperor as if looking for Eunuch Oh, didn’t seem to think that the emperor wasn’t only visiting Suhwawon, but came to meet him. 

And this too. Yihan also didn’t like this side of him so much. This attitude of him acting like he didn’t want anything from him. Acting like he had nothing he wanted and didn’t expect anything. Like someone who didn’t care about the emperor’s love anymore. Hwawoon was thoroughly excluding himself from all the causes of Yihan’s words and actions.

Those actions were actually no different from what Yihan wanted from Yeon Hwawoon for a very long time, but it was something he wanted from Yeon Hwawoon at the time when he was doing all kinds of atrocities. It was never meant for the current Yeon Hwawoon. In other words, he never wanted it from this neat, polite, quiet, and gentle Yeon Hwawoon of now. At this moment, Yihan, who felt strange disappointment at Hwawoon’s attitude, finally realized.

“… I’m not taking a walk in Suhwawon, but came to see you.” 

Therefore Yihan said so half-impulsively. He wanted to break Yeon Hwawoon’s calm expression, which he showed in front of him at every moment. However, even after listening to Yihan, Hwawoon did not seem surprised, but rather bowed and opened his mouth.

“I was short-sighted and didn’t realize what kind of mistake I had made to Your Majesty. If you tell me, I will do my best so that—”

“It’s not that!”

It was Yihan who broke his composure at the unexpected sound. He thought it was unbelievable for Hwawoon to not believe him when he said he came to see him and naturally thought that he had done something wrong. Then he naturally remembered how he acted so far toward Yeon Hwawoon, who had changed, and he was frustrated because he had nothing to say. It felt like he was walking round and round on a road without an exit.

“It’s not that…” 

“Your Majesty…?”

“I just really… I really… came to see you.”

The emperor ended up throwing out all excuses that could not come to mind and blurted out his heart. Hwawoon’s eyes soon opened wide as he had not been able to understand what he had heard for a while.

As Hwawoon finally showed a bit of the reaction he wanted, Yihan was slightly excited and immediately continued his words.

“Do you want to take a walk with me?”

Yihan thought that Hwawoon’s face, which blinked his eyes wide without properly answering the emperor’s unexpected words, was so cute. After realizing that he had thought of it himself, he felt so ridiculous that he wanted to slap his face, but Hwawoon in front of him was so cute that he could not deny it.

***

“Eunuch Oh?”

Jeongbin, who was rushing down from the palanquin, was surprised to see Eunuch Oh as soon as she passed the entrance of Suhwawon. The presence of Eunuch Oh meant that His Majesty was present. As Songhyun looked around, Eunuch Oh bowed and opened his mouth.

“What brings you here, Your Highness Jeongbin?”

“No, I…”

Songhyun hesitated to answer for a moment. This owing to Songhyun coming to Suhwawon to look for Yeonbin. 

Jeongan Palace sent snacks to Jinnyeong Residence. It was osmanthus rice cake, which Songhyun liked the most, and the court lady who brought it to her said, “His Highness Yeonbin thinks Your Highness Jeongbin likes this rice cake, so he ordered me to send this.” 

Songhyun, who heard that, burst into tears as soon as the court lady of Jeongan Palace left. It was surprising and touching that Yeonbin noticed her favorite food in that short time, and another thing was that she remembered her brother who always brought osmanthus rice cake and comforted her when she was feeling down.