"I have never seen anyone other than you."

Yunseo's eyes flew wide open. Then that meant after waking from his sleep, he had not exchanged words with a single other flower spirit? Except for him alone?

No other words came out. He didn't know what to say or what he should do. Feelings that could not be sorted into clarity were tangled and twisting as they surged up. Before meeting him, he'd had every opportunity in the world to form connections — so why, of all things.

"I have granted this hand to many…… I will save you."

Hwi held out his right hand. If he had only ever enacted judgment through his hands, then the fact that this had piled up in this form was understandable too. Yunseo felt the force in Hwi's eyes pulling at him and his steps didn't move. He didn't stop Hwi's actions either.

The moment he loosened his grip, something fell from below with a thud. Yunseo naturally turned to look at it, then froze stiff. From within Hwi's arms, what appeared again was a dreadfully crumpled, teal-colored pouch. His first gift, his waiting, his first gift — the thing that had become a keepsake.

Yunseo bit his lip and sent a sidelong glance toward the pouch. With one hand he loosened the stopper of Hwi's venom, and with the other he pushed away the clothes that had been stiffly fastened one by one. Yunseo had not stopped Hwi's actions for a single moment during which they had moved away, and what came running was something akin to cutting — it sliced through and the urgency of the situation made even thoughts of his own youth rise up and the lower half of his body contracted.

The exchange for treatment and the affection between lovers were said to be different. Eyes open, reason separate.

Purposeless hands struck upward. Yunseo lay down and at Hwi's urging took off his upper and lower garments. Standing half-naked, the sacred sword revealed itself through the gap — far from Hwi's gaze, the area between his two knees quietly trembled.

The fact that resentment and shame, and expectation, could be discovered simultaneously was what made it so suffocating. Yunseo, without hesitation, reached his hand into Hwi's sleeve and drew out the warm jade. The moment Yunseo's hand touched it, it swelled up even more puffily and gave off heat.

"You didn't know this was quite so rough."

A skill-laden single line, and yet Hwi's eyes were already clouded with the desire familiar to the daylight. Yunseo ignored his words and while rummaging inside his own belly, his gaze came to a stop.

And then once more, the sensation of something rising up from the lower belly surged vividly. The sacred sword was transforming into a liquid form and seeping in drop by drop. To receive Hwi. To heal him.

Yunseo slowly lowered his body over him, straddling the roots of the standing sacred sword. However, unable to open the gap, no matter how well he tried to align it, he kept slipping and sliding to the side, and he simply could not take him in.

When he finally drew close to Hwi, Yunseo pulled him urgently toward himself and confirmed his condition. Eyes that had burst open and were weeping, lips that were pale and without color, a body with perspiration flowing and burning as if on fire. Yunseo pressed down on his crying and with both palms gently stroked Hwi's cheeks.

"Your Majesty, my lord……"

"……I am alright."

Hwi closed his eyes tightly and exhaled a long breath and tried to chew on the root and rise, but Yunseo anxiously restrained him and carefully examined Hwi's body to check if there were any wounds anywhere.

"Come, come, get treated……"

"I merely overexerted myself. I didn't want to show a pathetic figure in front of you — it seems I am a man of no use after all."

Pitiable. With a single glance, Yunseo looked at Hwi. What was he trying to do in this state? It would be better to spare even a little of his body for the sake of the body.

At that moment Hwi's arm came around Yunseo's waist. Without even a moment's preparation to say anything, he lifted Yunseo up and firmly held him in his arms and stamped his feet on the ground. Yunseo, flustered for the first time, scrubbed Hwi's nape and then tightly gripped his neck. There seemed to come the sound of a thin laugh.

In the blink of an eye they had entered the fortress and Hwi set Yunseo down. Yunseo, suppressing his flustered breathing, shouted.

"Prepare a palanquin for His Majesty!"

"It is done……"

"Close your mouth."

At Yunseo's fierce momentum, a look of surprise flashed across Hwi's eyes. He lifted his gaze with an expression that seemed to carry a tinge of amusement, then lowered it again.

"If you are the Emperor, then act accordingly."

The palanquin was prepared quickly. Once Hwi obediently climbed in, Yunseo stubbornly stared straight ahead and said nothing. The gaze looking down from above felt not the least bit subdued, but the dry and firm footsteps moved forward.

"Escort His Majesty to the sleeping quarters."

Jungju had recommended the palanquin to Yunseo as well, but Yunseo shook his head in lieu of an answer and followed after Hwi's palanquin. The view looking down from above felt not at all subdued, yet his dry and firm footsteps moved forward.

The shrine situated within the fortress was modest in appearance and simple in structure. It seemed to have been built with utility as the sole consideration.

By the time the palanquin descended, Hwi's complexion had improved somewhat from before. Hwi looked back at Yunseo and entered inside. Upon reaching the sleeping quarters, Yunseo dismissed the attending court ladies and closed the door.

"The body is filthy so I want to wash……"

He pushed Hwi toward the sleeping quarters with a single murmur. He briefly resisted, but obediently followed Yunseo's hand and lay down on the sleeping quarters. Yunseo climbed on top of Hwi and after placing his hands on his clothes Hwi did not look up from there.

"There is no need to rush."

Yunseo raised both hands and placed them on Hwi's nape. He drew out the sacred sword and poured it inward, and at once was able to reach the solidly knotted back. Hwi swallowed down a mouthful and exhaled, and Yunseo opened his eyes. The solidarity he had felt upon first entering, the sense of exhaustion, had not lessened in the slightest even now as his fingertips trembled.

"Have you not been receiving treatment until now?"

No matter how unsuited another's sacred sword might be to him, this was tantamount to complete neglect. Hyeonbi had not been absent from her duties, so why on earth was the inside of Hwi in such a mess that his chest ached.

Brilliant sunlight made Hyeonbi's eyes crinkle. Hyeonbi slowly exhaled as if seeing him for the first time, then slightly bowed his head.

"As you well know, the sacred sword is of Namо origin. My father was a Namо person, and my mother is a person from Daeryeong."

Namо was a small nation situated to the northwest of Yeongna. The prominent nose, the large eyes with their deep-set folds, and the square jaw — these were features characteristic of Namо people, and Hyeonbi had markedly inherited those distinctive external traits to such a degree that one could surmise his origins at a glance.

"My father regarded my mother and the sacred sword as livestock and beat her down however his mood took him that day, and fearing that someday he would kill her, my mother fled to Daeryeong taking me with her."

An unexpected past history struck a chill through his chest. But Hyeonbi maintained a composed attitude, as if speaking of another person's affairs.

"Having just arrived in Yeongna with nothing on him and not knowing where to go, he had to wander the streets to beg for food. From birth, opportunities were not easily given to one of a different lineage, and wherever he went there was no place to take him in — he came to realize this in despair and that was when he spoke up. A flower spirit came running…… it was a courtesan establishment that provided the sacred sword with a place to stay."

The moment that despair began for one person was the moment that hope began for another — this was an incomprehensible feeling that welled up. Yunseo looked at each — his own self, one who had fled on his own, and another who had held out in his place, Hyeonbi — and drew them one by one.

"Having become a flower spirit, I was able to prepare a place where my mother could sleep safely. I have been able to enjoy many things I could not have even dreamed of before."

"……"

"Since a woman can ascend to the seat of the son of heaven above the sky, the lowly ones at the bottom can possess what is theirs, and even reaching the realm of officialdom has become possible. Outstanding renowned commanders can subdue insurgents single-handedly, and the dragon that guards the border has never once failed to rise — ah, the border's many people were able to live without suffering and enjoy a long era of peace in hand. So then, isn't that good."

Like something melting away, the demons that had poured out were diminishing. All at once they were demons, but no form came to and touched the fortress wall, and vanished ceaselessly. Hwi did not hesitate in the slightest, and without any sign of exhaustion he swung his sword to cut away the darkness — cut, and cut, and cut again.

"That person……"

"……"

"I cannot say it is not a blessing."

Hyeonbi's dark eyes were cast in the shape of pain melting into calm, in the shape of stately grief.

This country — all that everyone had built up, their places to sleep, the cruelty that could trample on the lives of the commoners each living their own lives leaving not a single trace, as if dissolving like smoke, the vast field was left with only Hwi remaining.

Yunseo exhaled a long breath and as he looked on, Hwi knelt and crumpled to the ground — he hurriedly turned his body and descended the stairs.

The layered gates opened heavily all at once and at the same moment Yunseo ran through them, rushing toward Hwi. Hwi had collapsed and was lying sprawled on the ruined ground that had been overturned, and at this moment nothing else was visible to Yunseo's eyes.

Though his breath was choked to the very brim, he was not in the least bit tired. What was painful was the heart. With every step his throat clenched and his breath came short. He despised this beautiful and magnificent nature, and he wanted to spread curses toward the sky.

"Your Majesty!"