CH 112

Hwawoon, who sent Ahjin out because he wanted to rest alone, took a deep breath and slowly began to move his arms. Hwawoon’s hand held the wooden sword that had been only hung all this time. With his wounds and stamina gotten a lot better than when he was just injured, Hwawoon finally held the sword in his hand properly. 

He closed his eyes and slowly thought of the most basic steps of swordsmanship that he knew in his head. Although he hadn’t held a sword for quite some time, Hwawoon had lived with the sword for a long time, which could not be compared to that period. It wasn’t hard for him to think of basic movements. 

Hwawoon, who collected his mind by breathing, soon opened his eyes and slowly moved his body to extend the arm holding the sword. The sword was something he repeated countless times in his head, and he didn’t stop swinging it even if it rained and snowed. It was a memory like a scar that would never be erased, which was left over and over again in the same place. The harmonization of breathing, the whole body, and the sword cutting through the air as one was the only joy that Hwawoon, no, Hawoon in the past, had. 

“Haah…”

Sadly, the pleasure transmitted from the hand holding the sword was brief. It didn’t take long for Hwawoon to put down his arm and let out a heavy breath. He had only swung it a few times, but he already lost his breath and got a fever all over his body. It wasn’t just that. The right hand holding the sword was stiff and hurt, so Hwawoon moved the sword and opened his palm. The palm of the white and fine hand without a single callus was ruddy.

Hwawoon sighed lightly as he looked down at the palm that was unusually red when he had only used it a few times, a few minutes at the most. He found it to be amazing. How sheltered and precious this body must have grown up for it to be barely able to handle this. It was said that Yeon Hwawoon was weak from an early age, but his life was difficult to understand for Hawoon. It made him wonder why he bullied the powerless so viciously when he was raised with utmost care.

But Hwawoon soon shook his head and forcibly disturbed his thoughts. It was presumptuous of him. It was not his place to think of it when he occupied a noble body. In addition, he couldn’t help but think of Yeon Hwawoon’s parents when he thought about his past. Trying not to know the sinking of his heart, Hwawoon lifted the sword with his trembling arm again. There was no better way than swinging a sword when his mind was getting complicated like this. 

Maybe it was rather a good thing. Since it was a very weak body, a little practice would easily tire him out and he wouldn’t have time to think about anything else. Of course, he wouldn’t regain his previous martial arts skills, but for now, it was enough to hold the sword.

First, as he drew a line in the air with the sword, Ahjin’s face as she followed him flashed. Second, when he stabbed the sword with a clumsy and obviously ridiculous gesture, Seocheon’s face as they looked up at the moon and talked about the future together on a quiet night also scattered like smoke. Third, when he forcibly raised his heavy arm and cut through the wind, the emperor’s tired face came to mind. But fourth, fifth, no matter how many times he swung the sword, the face of the emperor did not disappear from his view. For some reason, Yihan had become a haunting presence in Hwawoon’s mind. 

He kept thinking about that face. The face of the majestic emperor kept lingering before his eyes. Hwawoon swung the sword several times with clumsy gestures until he was completely exhausted, but the emperor’s face did not disappear at all until he lay on the bed alone that night, exhausted.

***

“Your Majesty. A person came from Jeongan Palace.” 

“From Jeongan Palace?” 

The emperor, who was rarely distracted once he concentrated on his work, put down the report he was looking at and raised his head at once when he heard Jeongan Palace. Eunuch Oh, who barely held back his laughter, replied, “Yes, Your Majesty,” and Yihan gestured to let that person quickly come in as if it was a waste of time to talk. When Eunuch Oh, who sealed his lips tightly, sent a signal across the door, Ahjin, who held a food box the size of her body, came inside and knelt down. 

“Greetings, Your Majesty.” 

“Did Yeonbin send me a snack?” 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Eunuch Oh, who once again swallowed his saliva as he heard the cheerful voice, approached Ahjin as if nothing had happened and picked up the box she brought. Then Ahjin, who handed over the box, bowed her head deeper toward the emperor and continued to talk. 

“Your Majesty…” 

“…?”

“My master… wrote a letter and asked me to deliver it to you if you would allow it.” 

“A letter?” 

Yihan’s body leaning against the back of the chair tilted forward in an instant. The word “letter” hovered around the tip of his tongue strangely. It was definitely not a special word. It was a word that he had heard and said countless times in his life, but strangely, when it was related to Yeon Hwawoon, Yihan felt an unfamiliar sense as if he had heard the word for the first time. It even made the arms covered with layers of clothes feel goosebumps. 

In the meantime, Ahjin carefully took out a letter from her arms and presented it. It was one of Ahjin’s efforts to push Hwawoon. 

Unlike her master, who was gentle in everything and rarely intended to make anything obvious to the emperor, Ahjin had her own ambition. Hwawoon convinced himself that it would be difficult for the emperor to visit Jeongan Palace for the time being because his work seemed to be arduous in recent days, but Ahjin did not want to wait quietly.

No matter how hard the work was, people had to eat and sleep. Thus, Ahjin wanted the emperor to eat at Jeongan Palace and sleep at Jeongan Palace even for a short night. It was not until Hwawoon changed that Ahjin knew for the first time that she was such an aggressive person. 

So Ahjin said to Hwawoon, who was preparing some snacks for the emperor. How heartless would it seem to His Majesty if you only sent the snacks? If you send a beautiful letter with sincerity, the emperor, who is tired from doing political work, will surely be greatly encouraged. Like that. 

Of course, Hwawoon wasn’t convinced at once. He jumped to his feet, saying that his humble letter would be of no help to the emperor’s mind. From Hwawoon’s point of view, he was more afraid of being shabby and ignorant because he only learned letters from his teacher, but in Ahjin’s perspective, her master was just lowering himself as usual. 

In the end, Hwawoon lost to Ahjin, who persuaded him over and over again. Although it was because Ahjin was so stubborn, in his heart, he wanted the emperor to think of him even for a short time when he saw the letter. And so, Ahjin proudly came to Cheonggeon Hall with a letter that Hwawoon had written while secretly ridiculing himself that he had made stupid and pathetic choices. 

She didn’t dare to peek at the letter for the emperor, so she couldn’t see what her master wrote, but whatever the content was, Ahjin was confident that the emperor would want to run to Jeongan Palace immediately once he saw the letter. 

“What will you do with that, Your Majesty?”

Eunuch Oh asked Yihan, who was only blinking at an unexpected situation. As Ahjin had already said, whatever it was, the things for the emperor could only be delivered with the emperor’s permission. If the emperor refused to accept it, he had no choice but to send it back, whether it was a letter written with great effort for 100 days or a rare jewel obtained through a life-threatening path.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and bring it over.”

Yihan said impatiently as if Eunuch Oh was asking something useless. The dignity of an emperor had not been found since a while ago. Eunuch Oh had nothing to say because all the troubles that made the emperor spend many nights awake and tired became nothing in front of Yeon Hwawoon. 

The few steps that Eunuch Oh took to hand over the letter from Ahjin felt like an eon of time. If he could, Yihan would have walked and taken over the letter from Ahjin personally a while ago. A letter? What did Yeon Hwawoon write to himself? Without knowing what the content was, Yihan’s heart fluttered as if Hwawoon had sent him a love letter. 

Yihan, who received—snatched—the letter from Eunuch Oh, just held it for a while, contrasting to his impatient self a while ago. The hands holding the letter trembled as he took a deep breath. Even though he thought Yeon Hwawoon wouldn’t have written anything special, when he pictured Yeon Hwawoon picking up the brush and writing letters one by one with him alone in his mind, he felt a large stone sink into the pit of his stomach.

He didn’t even see the eyes beautifully cast down, the breath flowed out through the concentrated lips, the moments when Yeon Hwawoon thought about what to write down, but those were unbearably lovely. He didn’t even have the will to explain all these unbearable feelings that were rushing like a tidal wave because of a single letter. At some point, Yihan was completely overwhelmed by Yeon Hwawoon.