"You all…… I thought you'd had enough. You should never have felt so helpless in your life."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. No injuries, and more than anything His Majesty was unharmed — that's what matters."

And the likely outcome of the recent events was that Hwi's 'settlement' had come through. That must be why he had brought him to Hell. If the incident with the Empress Consort had not occurred, how long would Hwi have kept putting it off?

"By the way, what's been happening with Wang?"

The inside of the bedchamber went quiet in an instant. Yunseo closed his mouth and swept his gaze over Yeondeok and Pyeongon the Josanggung in turn, then opened his mouth again.

"Heeije."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"What has become of it?"

"Apologies. There is still no progress."

"……I see. Go on. Oh, Yeondeok stays."

When the court attendants left, Yeondeok's man, his pupils were wavering. Yunseo let out a long breath and stared at Yeondeok, trying to bore through him.

"What is the matter?"

"……What do you mean, what is the matter?"

"What are you hiding."

"What would I be hiding."

"Yeondeok. You can't hide things from me."

That Yeondeok would hide something from him, however good his intentions, was truly chilling and sad. As Yunseo's lips quivered, Yeondeok stamped his feet in his place not knowing what to do and finally closed his eyes and confessed the truth.

Catfish thumped the water with their tails, the fish flicking their tailfins vigorously and charging toward the bait. Yunseo moved only by pure instinct — he had been completely absorbed in the idea of giving food to the creatures wantonly while laughing.

But even carrying on the simple and repetitive action, the strange feeling did not disappear and kept blooming up in his head. An unbearable choking cough burst out. Yunseo crushed the fish food in his hand and bit his lip.

Wang had taken his own life — not at all something he could have imagined. After hearing the declaration that he would seek the medicine, his heart had changed. After believing that and revising his confession — had he been afraid of the Empress Consort's retaliation? To prove the truth?

Rather than delivering nothing at all, he didn't know. His single moment of choice had ended up causing Wang's death. The difficulty of endurance — a mere child of fifteen at that, how could he bear it……

"Today those fish are feeding."

A soft voice fell from behind at the same time as footsteps drew near. Yunseo, who had been slumped with no energy in front of them, lifted his buttocks and stood and turned around.

"Why are you crying. Whoever did it, I don't know, but I'll hold an inquest right away."

"Your Majesty…… that child……"

The tears he had been holding back burst the moment he saw Hwi. Yunseo, his face crumpling, clutched his clothes with his fist. Hwi came close and held out Yunseo's hand, making him open his palm.

"Because of him……"

Hwi made a strange expression and traced Yunseo's palm with his fingertip. The gesture was like writing something and Yunseo was startled, watching his movement intently.

生.

If he had not read it wrong, this character was unmistakably '生' — alive. Wang is alive?

"Hah, but surely……"

"If they throw out a lie from their side, we respond with a lie from our side — that's all there is to it."

Where the lie started and where it ended was impossible to know, but what mattered was that Wang was alive. If Hwi had faked Wang's death, he could have helped the child live safely too. That he had given no answer at the time and left him in the dark like this — he didn't know how he should feel……

"Thank you."

Yunseo let out a long breath mixed with tears and settled into Hwi's arms. Hwi stroked the nape of Yunseo's neck, caressing it.

"Your mouth runs constantly seeing that you reported my inner steps without a word — your young lady seems quite a light-tongued sort. What should we do with her name."

"……Yeondeok only worries for me."

Fearing he might punish Yeondeok, Yunseo raised his head and gauged Hwi's expression. Hwi looked down at Yunseo with soft eyes and rounded the flesh of his cheek with his thumb.

"I'll say this having been moved by the recent affair as a lesson — it is better not to trust people in this palace too readily."

"Understood."

Hwi's eyebrows shot up. Yunseo grabbed his hand and covered it with his own.

"Not to please anyone? I won't be swayed by them in any way. Of course I need to be careful, but I intend to live my own way."

Yunseo staring up at him, Hwi's lips curved in a faint, lukewarm smile.

"Right. That's good. I like it."

Hwi interlaced their fingers and took a step. His expression was peaceful and the sound of the wind rustling the flower branches was tranquil.

Wang was unharmed, Numeong had been stripped, and whatever grudge that Gangpilseok chief secretary had harboured, or who had been behind the Empress Consort, he did not know — but however things had unfolded, the affair had come to a close. He wanted to rest a little more comfortably now, and he sank his shoulder with relief.

"It would be good to ask for corn."

"Will Your Majesty go together?"

"Of course."

Hwi's faint laughter could be heard as he looked back, and without realizing it Yunseo was also waving his arm. Yunseo put his arm back in its place and made a deeply stuffy expression. But passing by the court attendants, he could not keep the expression out of his face.

Coming to lie down on the sleeping couch and quietly looking at each other without anyone coming and going — the heart was simply peaceful. Yunseo looked at Hwi's cool, clean profile and asked.

"By the way, Your Majesty — are you really a young lord?"

"Yes."

"Are you really, really a young lord?"

"Yes."

Yunseo's lips twitched and Hwi let out a short laugh.

"Why is that."

"A young lord…… it's cute, a young lord."

"Does it not suit me?"

"……"

"How would I know what you were like as a child?"

Hwi's attitude of calling his younger self precious was shameless. But he couldn't bring himself to deny it. Other things he didn't know, but at any rate he must have been impossibly cute.

He really wanted to know what the young him had been like. The fact that there was no way to see Hwi's childhood years was endlessly and regrettably sad.

"Was Your Majesty a gentle child?"

"I'd like to answer that but there are too many witnesses so I can't really."

"You must have come to your senses very early on, so I don't suppose you could have lived as a child."

"Yes."

Hwi's hand gently stroked the line from Yunseo's forehead to his nose bridge. As warmth rose wherever Hwi's hand touched, he felt a growing sense that his fingertips were no longer cold.

"It was the time when the coming of age for Inchinhwang was imminent. Everyone believed he would come to his senses and was waiting — and in the midst of that, only I, at the fixed age of seven, had come to my senses — that was truly an unheard-of affair."

Inchinhwang was the crown prince born between Sanjae and Taehu, and Hwi's blood-related older brother. The title used to address him carried a sense of distance, making it clear Hwi was cold even toward his own brother.

"My memories before coming to my senses are faint. Being born into the imperial family, it was impossible to live with the recklessness of a child from an ordinary family anyway, and I think of coming to my senses early as something fortunate rather."

Hwi gave no further explanation, but he could read his heart. With age, when he had had something to dream of and desire, coming to his senses — grasping that singular thing one had to do — would have been even harder to bear.

But that felt sad to him. Hwi must have been throwing things he had no choice but to drop — everything except that one — into his hands all along.

"Your situation and mine are different. No need to feel sorry."

Hwi covered Yunseo's eyes with his palm. Yunseo gripped Hwi's hand and swallowed a long breath.

"Your eyes are getting puffy. Is that why you can't ask for corn?"

"Seeing you sleep is a feast for my eyes."

He wanted to return those words. Yunseo placed his hand on Hwi's chest and gently patted it. A smile that seemed amused crossed Hwi's lips.

He hoped he would at least doze off for a bit. So many things had happened lately. He thought maybe if he blew the sacred sword into him sleep might at least come — his fingertip sacred sword rolled up and flew toward Hwi.

"Uh……!"

Yunseo, startled, pulled his hand away and quickly checked the sacred sword before looking at Hwi — he had his eyes closed just like someone fast asleep.

"Your Majesty……?"

Guessing he had fallen asleep, he couldn't fully set aside his unease. Yunseo quietly called toward the door.

"Heeije? Jungju?"

The door opened silently and Heeije came inside. Heeije opened her eyes wide and looked at Hwi and Yunseo back and forth.

"Call for the Imperial Physician."

"……Yes, Your Majesty."

After Heeije left, Yunseo tried to take his hand back but found it difficult to grasp the eerie sensation. His memory stirred. Yunseo recalled the Yongrin he had encountered the moment he had escaped from the private residence. The sacred sword that had slipped out of his hands at that moment and Yongrin who had fainted — wasn't the current situation similar?