As the vine fell to the floor Hwi pulled Yunseo in laughing and pressed his lips to his head. Yunseo breathed hard suddenly and grabbed Hwi's clothes.

"I did my best, yet why are you like this."

"……Why are you so helplessly cute — is this natural talent?"

"That is truly natural talent — it is native born talent, yes?"

With a voice that couldn't be bothered to hold back, languid, Yunseo's lips casually rolled his eyes and grabbed Hwi's finger. Having collided with the vine and yet not reddening in the slightest and feeling nothing — how worrying.

"Does it not hurt?"

"Not at all."

Hwi brought Yunseo's lips to his finger and Yunseo tried to glare at him and then with his fingertips carefully pressed his lips. Hwi was not satisfied with that and with his small parted lips he put a finger inside, licking his way along the inside of his lips.

Feeling ticklish he tried to pull his shoulders back but Hwi caught him with his arm and then with a small open mouth put a finger inside, running it along smoothly. Yunseo as if sensing the feel of the fine inner flesh stirred and gave a tug on the arm.

Hwi painstakingly soaking the bent finger into the inside of his cheek with his tongue pressing down on the roof of his mouth treated it as if it were fragile and precious. Swallowing the saliva that came, the lips' mouth was being soaked and Yunseo could not help but shift his gaze.

As Hwi squeezed the wet finger he gave a stroke inside his thigh and his hips were going to go away of their own accord — giving strength to his leg he tried to look up at Hwi and he was watching with eyes half focused on something.

Hwi fully drew out the soaked finger and brought it to his own lips and put it in and exhaled. Yunseo feeling the stimulation slowly coming from the belly blankly chased after Hwi's face. The moment their eyes met he wrapped his hand around Yunseo's nape and bowed his head.

"Hmm……"

The pointed tongue explored Yunseo's inside. Smoothly flowing Hwi's thing divided the entrance, and at once the hips with Hwi and his belly were touching. The clothes between them were hot and the body was filled up.

Yunseo breathing roughly gradually accepted Hwi's more forceful thrusting. As he tried to untangle the inside, each time he felt a vivid sensation sweeping through the whole body and his feet were about to give out and he felt like he could fly.

The arm hugging Yunseo's waist had strength packed in and Yunseo felt as if sucked into Hwi's arms. At first glance it could be called possessive but it just made him feel at ease.

Deeply throbbing living flesh swallowed saliva every moment and Yunseo squeezed Hwi's shoulder tightly. An thrilling sensation shot up and Yunseo shook Hwi's shoulder together.

"Shall we go inside?"

The standing Hwi did not take his eyes from Yunseo's lips and whispered. Yunseo quickly nodded and then came to his senses and shook his head.

"Oh, today…… it would be good if you stayed somewhere else."

"Mm?"

"That is to say over there……"

Hwi's face that had been covered in hot feeling loosened for a moment. Hwi tilted his head and seemed to stare watching him.

"As for daytime talk I have heard. You do not need to feel even a little concern."

"Ah, no, Your Majesty looking for flower consorts is natural and I too think it right that way. I'm fine so please don't be concerned."

Unable to meet Hwi's eyes he had been staring down from below — slowly looking up — Hwi was looking at him with a thin smile and then lightly grabbed his chin.

"Putting walnut eyes in and talking about that story — it was something that went in one ear and not the other at all."

What kind of sound was it — his lips parted wide open. He had been trying to put on an expression but couldn't and tried to speak again, but his mouth just wouldn't open.

Of course it was not sincere. Even knowing it was selfish and a wrong thing — he wanted to keep him to himself. The person who holds him, the person he holds — he only wanted that to be himself.

The self-directed disappointment and the unavoidable current situation made anger surge. Biting his lips closed and inhaling a dark-coloured breath he was sitting there and Hwi stroked his shoulder firmly.

"Those who seek me — finding them is also a shameful thing to them. They are doing their duty in their place, and at most a couple of times of year they come and their value cannot be measured by that alone. You already know this."

"But how long can it be that way……"

"In accordance with favour, those who dare approach others in the Inner Palace will be sternly punished, and daring to raise their voice about it again after this will silence them."

Hwi's dark eyes with what seemed like contained sternness — to that degree his eyes were fixed deeply on Yunseo. Yunseo from the daytime had felt unsettled inside and with the words now calming gradually he had the sensation of gradually settling.

This is fine. Just yielding is fine.

Between the duty as Empress Consort and the impulse that he alone wanted to be Hwi's one and only, the greed and desire he observed, his heart was endlessly tilting to one side. He just wanted to do nothing and look at this path as it was and be held.

"This young man — it is not me they want, but my father they want. That is a problem I cannot respond to."

"……"

"Why is it that he keeps disturbing your heart — I wonder how long I'll need to leave him."

From Hwi's cool expression warmth seeped out and Yunseo quickly shook his head and swiped away the hand that came to his cheek. After swallowing various words in his mouth for a long while Yunseo eventually let out the question he had been holding.

"Why does Your Majesty favour me?"

Once when he had soaked his body in the sea water and had been given to Hwi — that water was extracted from Hell and close to Manguwon's grove once more. Whether it was intentional Hwi calmly looked at Yunseo's face.

"Are you a flower spirit?"

Taeanje's old story.

Taeanje was the Emperor who had the most suitable sacred sword possessing flower spirit. Through the flower consort's sacred sword he found stability and went through even extremes and enjoyed peace. Obediently even producing a Yongsin was all thought to be peaceful — the problem started from Taeanje taking a flower consort.

The Empress Consort realised. His need is on my side but his heart is elsewhere.

In the end the Empress Consort on the day Taeanje was heading to Hell and coming back took his own life. The Emperor was greatly sorrowed, and going forward could not find an appropriate sacred sword possessing flower spirit and lost his sight of affairs of state properly. In the end becoming a sycamore it was a worse ending there could not be.

Everyone called it the Empress Consort's revenge.

In truth the detailed circumstances were things the people of the times had filled in, and in truth what had gone between Taeanje and the inside one could not know, but hereafter the precedent of not letting Yongrin be swayed by flower spirits had taken root in the court.

Knowing that old story he could not be free from the doubts it raised. Why does he cherish me — it was a question that had been on his mind since before, but it had also started from the day he came to know Hwi as the Cheonja.

Perhaps even before meeting him, the reason Hwi had never exchanged with anyone being to prevent a repeat of the same incident, and even now still the reason he is the only one who gives him feelings — it may have been that he was prepared for the most suitable sacred sword possessing flower spirit. That first meeting too was not a chance meeting but had been planned.

"From the beginning I was a flower spirit, he clarified my existence until making me a declaration, and so could it be that the heart was driven that way?"

He was not negating Hwi's heart and feelings. Only being a flower spirit who had not had a good vessel — if that had been different, if he had been a better vessel — would Hwi have found him, treated him, or not?

Hwi smacked his lips and yet suddenly no answer came out. This expression of searching for words was the first time seeing it so a sad inside was somewhat rising.

"I want to answer before asking."

Hwi's fingertips stroked Yunseo's cheek gently as if brushing it. From his fingertips warmth flowered. That warmth had bloomed from him — that fact was beyond measure pleasant and yet the greed kept proliferating.

"You would say that a man giving his heart to a woman and a woman giving her heart to a man is natural, wouldn't you. Even if a man loved a man it would be nothing but a nod accepted."

"……"

"What is different from us?"

Hwi's eyes landing on Yunseo's two eyes flickered. The eyes that had been firmly grounded with affection and with greed and contained were now straight and clear facing Hwi.

"It is different from that. This is the same as loving a person who gave you money if you were a pauper."

It was quite a blunt metaphor. An absurd thing to say but his chest burst open tight yet Yunseo stubbornly faced Hwi and did not back down.

Yunseo still recalled Hwi's metaphor. A dog only puts its lips to the feet of the one who uniquely feeds it. From the beginning not having what to eat — even having looked upon the other's appearance and resources and given his heart, would he have looked, treated, or not?

Just as a person can give their heart looking at the other's outward appearance and assets, a sacred sword to Yongrin is such an existence and he too could think of it that way — and yet he could absolutely not be satisfied with that.

* 경도: 傾倒. Tilting and falling over. National Institute of Korean Language, Standard Korean Language Dictionary.