The prison where Yongrin were confined was located very deep underground, and to get outside one had to climb a great many stairs. Stepping out of the jail, brilliant sunlight stabbed at his pupils. Jeongjoo took in the hazy scenery of the palace without so much as a single furrowed brow.

The gazes of passing palace servants landed on him one by one, but he paid them no mind. In truth, at this moment nothing was able to reach his heart.

Before long he arrived at the main hall. The air in the hall was solemn, and the Yongrin and imperial guards standing watch before it all wore such hardened expressions they seemed almost resolute.

Both arms seized by the Yongrin, Jeongjoo was dragged in and pushed to kneel at the center of the hall. The Emperor, seated on the throne, was looking down at him with what appeared to be an indifferent expression.

Standing like this, a sense of déjà vu overtook him. One painting from the past, which now felt only distant, flashed before his eyes.

'Jeongjoo. From where, from where did it go wrong?'

'Auntie. Auntie!'

Deogyun's mother, who had been weeping bitterly before a small grave, collapsed. Her frail body, consumed by grief, soon passed from this world, and Jeongjoo had to dig another grave beside Deogyun's.

About three months had passed since then, perhaps. By that point Jeongjoo could no longer even properly count the passage of time, and he could find in his life no will or purpose of any kind.

Should he go back to his hometown and live as a grave keeper. Mowing the grass every year, bringing the dried persimmons Deogyun loved, pouring out wine he never got to taste, and just like that.

And so, on the way to the main hall to step down from his position and resign from everything, his knees suddenly gave way. Something enormously heavy bore down on his entire body and a sudden scorching wind swirled within him. His limbs ached as though they were being torn off, and his insides ached as though a sharp blade were slicing through his organs.

'Ah……! Aaah……!'

A pain so terrible that death would have been preferable seized his entire body and flung him about so that he could not come to his senses. He would have been better off fainting entirely, yet Jeongjoo remembered everything that happened afterward without exception.

The sensation of the Yongrin pinning down his flailing limbs as he thrashed as though in a seizure, and a Yeongchunhwa climbing atop him to breathe in the guardian star. The room thick with heat and sweat and a metallic smell. And within it all……

'Deogyun, Deogyun……'

Himself, craving and yearning for Deogyun's guardian star.

He could not believe it. Having lost Deogyun to a Yongrin, to now seek him as a Yongrin, in the guise of a Yongrin. There had never been a moment he despised himself as much as that one. Why had the heavens given him this punishment. For what reason had they granted him a life that could not exist without a guardian star.

Once the pain of Gakchim had completely subsided, only ruins remained. Jeongjoo was summoned by the Emperor and had a private audience with him.

'Late, aren't you.'

As the Emperor plainly stated, his Gakchim had come on the late side. Jeongjoo raised his head and stared blankly at the Emperor. The moment their gazes met, the darkness within his eyes — which had always seemed to conceal thoughts that no one could dare read — Jeongjoo was at last able to comprehend.

He seemed to say it. You have entered this hell as well.

He could at once understand him — his indifference and coldness — as he had been gradually consumed by pain. Jeongjoo let out a helpless and despairing breath.

'Take care of yourself.'

'……Yes, Your Majesty.'

And now. That same Emperor, ground to an even sharper edge since that day and having shed every trace of youth, stood before him. Jeongjoo lowered himself and prostrated fully.

"I dared to betray Your Majesty's trust and harbored treasonous intentions — I cannot even beg forgiveness. Please, I ask to be put to death."

The guilt of having betrayed the Emperor — the man who had recognized his potential and appointed him, who had fought alongside him in the hell realm and sometimes crossed swords in sparring, sharing both hardship and joy — was something he would have to carry until the day he died.

The interior of the main hall was as still as it had been the first time he faced the Emperor. After a long silence, the Emperor finally opened his lips.

"I knew that you had been stirring up the court nobles. The reason I did not stop you was so that you would go through with it and see it to the end — and on the other hand……"

"……"

"Because I believed you would not go so far as to do something so foolish."

Jeongjoo's downcast face clouded over. He had watched from nearby as a sixteen-year-old boy burdened with heavy responsibilities weathered hardship after hardship to become the person he was now. And so the time they had spent together flowed through his mind, distant and futile.

"How shallow a vow it is, to decide one will trust no one……"

The Emperor's dry murmur grieved Jeongjoo. It was exceedingly rare for him to expose his inner thoughts like this. In this imperial palace full of those who had disappointed his expectations, that even he had become a burden filled him with nothing but wretchedness.

Once again, silence filled the hall completely. Jeongjoo waited for his sentence with a humble expression.

"The criminal Yu Jeongjoo is exiled beyond the borders of this country. Henceforth, the criminal may never again set foot in this nation."

"……I am grateful for your mercy."

Jeongjoo bowed deeply once more and then rose. Even so, he could not bring himself to face the Emperor and turned away.

With every step he took, the chains clanged and rang. That sound cut through and through the space between what might be tinnitus and what might be hallucination.

After walking a long, long road, just as he stepped outside the palace gates, a familiar voice came from behind.

"Yu-hyung! Yu-hyung!"

He stopped and turned to look behind him, and saw Huije running quickly toward him. The Yongrin escorting Jeongjoo gave him a brief moment.

"Here."

Huije held out a pouch. When he received it and opened it, inside were what appeared to be valuable ornaments.

"It was given by the Empress."

A faint smile touched the corner of Jeongjoo's mouth. As the Empress's passionate words — that he was different from that Yongrin — came to mind, he suddenly realized that everything he had done had been truly not for the court nobles, nor for them, but entirely for himself.

'I…… my name is Jang Deogyun.'

When he had been waiting in the forest and heard that name, his heart had lurched and dropped. He knew perfectly well that this young man's name was So Yunseo and that he had no connection whatsoever with Deogyun, and yet his footing had wavered. Jeongjoo had ultimately broken the order to conceal his presence and confirmed the young man's face from beyond the trees.

His clear and guileless face resembled that child. Bold yet sometimes easily deflated, and then just as quickly brushing it off and standing back up — even that.

And so he had hoped that the young man would go wherever he wanted to go, take hold of what he desired, and leave without ever knowing the wretched nature of this place.

'The two of you are the least likely to covet my child.'

When Huije had asked the Emperor why he entrusted the Empress's guard to him, that was what the Emperor had answered. Huije had nodded as though it were obvious, but Jeongjoo realized the Emperor knew he was averse to receiving treatment, and was quite taken aback.

Not once had he coveted the Empress's guardian star, nor the Empress himself. It was simply that neither he nor the Emperor had known the Empress would become a variable.

"And this is from a certain court noble……"

Huije drew another pouch from his breast and held it out. Inside it too were ornaments. Not particularly valuable, but one could feel the heart that had carefully saved up for them.

He had used the Empress to extract this person, and in the end had chosen him regardless. How then could one say this was not done entirely for himself, to fill his own greed and lack?

"You really…… were too much."

Huije, unable to say a single harsh word properly, glared at Jeongjoo with eyes reddened and wet. Jeongjoo tucked both pouches away inside his breast and gave Huije's head a light pat.

"Thank you for delivering them."

He turned away again and took a step. The half-ripe sunlight spread along the horizon, ushering out the summer. A gently blowing breeze softly caressed his cheeks. If only he could be given the chance to stop by the grave on his way……

Jeongjoo murmured the hollow wish inside his mouth, and walked on without stopping anymore.

* * *

"I truly cannot understand it. How could you do such a thing?"

"I know…… I am sorry."

Yunseo was already in the midst of delivering what must have been his dozens of apologies to Yeonduk. Even so, Yeonduk did not seem to have calmed down — he kept huffing and puffing every time his guard dropped — and since this was a side of him Yunseo had never seen before, he watched Yeonduk's mood carefully each time.

Yunseo, sitting by the window, reached out through the open window and idly touched the lush green leaves. It was the morning of the third day. He had not seen Hwi since that day. Asking the Yongrin and imperial guards surrounding the building yielded nothing but silence, and even his requests for an audience were dismissed every single time, which was nothing short of frustrating.

"It is only natural that the Emperor is angry."

When Yunseo let out a long sigh, Yeonduk seemed to sense his feelings and delivered a pointed remark.

"You may think me an idiot, but I did not anticipate it at the time. No matter what, how could I have imagined that my brother would harm me?"

"……That is true. To think that the young master could do such a thing to Your Majesty…… it is truly dreadful."

Yeonduk quietly checked Yunseo's expression and pulled his shoulder close to comfort him. Yunseo took Yeonduk's hand that had come to rest on his shoulder and swallowed a bitter smile.

"Have you heard nothing of how things have gone?"

"No. Everyone is quiet. It seems the Emperor has given strict orders……"

"It seems I must see the Emperor after all."