"Pardon? Would it not be better to wait until his anger subsides?"

"Waiting does not seem to be the wisest course. With that brilliant mind of his, who knows what he is thinking?"

At the somewhat impudent remark, Yeonduk caught his breath. Having said it aloud, resentment welled up, and Yunseo exhaled sharply through his nose and stood.

"Your Majesty, why are you doing this."

"Of course my fault is great. When I look at what has come of this, the people caught up in it — the moment I think that none of it would have happened if only I had stayed still, it fills me with guilt."

"Please do not think that way. It was something that would have happened sooner or later, given that Prince Inchin harbored ill intentions."

"……Be that as it may, I must speak with the Emperor. He is obviously busy with affairs of state right now, but it is clear that he is avoiding me."

Had he not witnessed Hwi's hesitation, he might have simply prostrated himself and waited for Hwi's anger to pass. But having already seen it, he could not simply wait for time to go by.

Yunseo went outside and headed toward the gate. Two Yongrin were standing guard before it, and they blocked his way as he approached.

"Please convey that I wish to see the Emperor."

"……"

"Is that not possible? Then at least allow me to go and see him myself."

But the Yongrin, as though ordered not to exchange even words, kept their mouths firmly shut and stared straight ahead.

He was not unaware of the hardship of those who had to follow imperial orders. But while words declared the Emperor and Empress to be equals, when something like this happened, Hwi locked him away with no way in or out and did not show his face even once — and the indignation of it rose within him.

Yunseo glanced around. There had to be someone watching him and reporting to Hwi. If he caused a disturbance, they would come if only to stop him.

"If you intend to stop me by force, I have no choice but to use force as well. Do you dare wish to receive the Empress's guardian star?"

He extended his hand, and the Yongrin flinched and stepped back — their place immediately taken by imperial guards. His power was useless against them, so it was an astute substitution. Yunseo sighed, and an imperial guard spoke with a troubled expression.

"Your Majesty. Please, compose yourself."

"If you wish for me to compose myself, bring the Emperor here."

"His Majesty the Emperor is attending to matters of state."

"That at least means he is here, then?"

Yunseo nodded with an air of perfect nonchalance as he stepped back one foot at a time. The guard watched him closely, sensing something unusual. Yunseo, having created some distance, took up a stance as though about to charge forward at any moment.

"Then try to stop me."

He was genuinely curious whether the guards could bring themselves to lay hands on the Empress to stop him. Just as the imperial guards, having understood what Yunseo intended, were milling about in hesitation —

"That you are all at a loss because you cannot stop a single Empress is proof you are all utterly useless."

A cool voice carried over the wall. The imperial guards stepped aside to left and right to clear a path, and at its end Hwi could be seen walking forward.

To think he had wasted two days on something so simple. Yunseo drew a deep breath, swelled his chest, and let it fall.

Hwi's face seemed to have grown even sharper in the intervening time, which distressed him. The eyes looking at him were colder than usual and he felt a little cowed, but Yunseo decided he would neither hide nor step aside.

"Your Majesty, I was at fault……"

Hwi raised one hand, and the imperial guards, Yongrin, and palace servants all moved away. Yunseo blinked in puzzlement, and Hwi took one step closer and tilted his head to the side.

"Should you admit fault in front of the servants."

"……Yes, that too is inexcusable. Thank you for coming, and I am sorry for doing such a thing behind your back without realizing the danger. My reason for doing so was……"

"Surely you are not submitting that you committed such a foolish act for my sake."

A voice that had grown even colder cut off his words mid-sentence. He felt a flash of emotion welling up, but understanding Hwi's feelings as he did, it was not his place to grow angry in return. Yunseo calmly shook his head.

"If I were to say I did it for you, that would be my own selfishness. When I found out my brother was entangled in it, I had no room to think before or after and grew reckless. Perhaps I hoped it might be resolved before it reached your ears……"

"You did it to hide it from me."

"……That was not my only intention. Why won't you listen to what I say? Why are you avoiding me? Is locking me up here truly for my safety?"

He had ended up raising his voice after all. Even as he regretted it the moment the words left him, Yunseo could not bear the feeling of resentment and twisted the corners of his eyes.

Hwi curled his lips into a crooked smile. Then, as though a layer had been peeled back from what had always appeared indifferently cold black eyes, the fiercely boiling chill within made itself known.

Consternation swept over him and he faltered — and Hwi gripped Yunseo's chin. At the fairly forceful grip, Yunseo's fingertips tensed.

"What was it you wished to hide. Your heart's desire? Your longing?"

"What are you saying right now……"

"Were you not trying to run away? Did you not walk out of your own accord with that intent?"

Yunseo was dumbstruck, his lips merely parting and closing wordlessly. He had never in his dreams imagined that Hwi would misunderstand his actions that way, and he could not comprehend at all how his thinking had leapt in that direction.

"You are saying I left Manguwon to run away? That makes no sense whatsoever……"

"Jeongjoo would have offered you a sweet proposal. That he would help you escape this place. It may genuinely have been possible. Did you truly not waver even a little."

Hwi whispered in a deliberately gentle voice, as though he would forgive whatever answer came out. Yet in his eyes there still resided a storm sharp enough to cut anything — even himself.

Suddenly he recalled a question Hwi had asked one day — what he would have done if he had revealed the truth then. And the act of stopping his own mouth without waiting for an answer.

Yunseo could not bring himself to give any hasty reply. To think that Hwi was still lingering there, unable to leave. He had thought that together they had overcome the thorny path and were now strolling through a peaceful meadow — yet Hwi alone was struggling painfully through a swamp.

"……Your Majesty. Do you not already know."

Hwi's eye corners curved downward as if distorting. The hand that had gripped Yunseo's chin shifted to cup his cheek broadly, and Hwi met Yunseo's gaze wholly, fixedly, as though to drown himself in his eyes.

"I had someone posted at the exit the moment I heard that you had learned of that secret passage's existence."

Yunseo's expression was momentarily stained with disappointment. The fact that Hwi had not been able to trust him widened the distance between them without end. Love stripped of trust is nothing but hollow. Had Hwi been trying to hide even that from him until the end?

"And you walked out of there on your own two feet."

"You are making a mistaken leap."

"Am I? Could a longing that remained unbroken through a full year disappear so easily?"

Hwi's thumb stroked Yunseo's skin softly. Yet his gaze clung fiercely, as though combing through every single downy hair on his cheek.

"Yunseo. No matter how much you yearn and long for it, it is of no use."

"……"

"Because you will be by my side even in death, and I will cling to you until the very end, sucking your lifeblood dry like a parasite."

In the rough voice, self-loathing was embedded, grain by grain. As though a thick clump of mud that filled his dark eyes had fallen drop by drop into his own pupils, Yunseo blinked. A storm sweeping over dry plains stirred even Yunseo's heart. Grass of sorrow grown deep in his throat rustled with a ticklish, gentle sway.

"Otherwise there would be no point to having crushed your dream, seized you by the ankle, and made you sit down here."

The first, admission. It was the first time Hwi had spoken of that day's events aloud. His heart, heard now after one full season had passed, treaded on Yunseo's chest with a soft and steady weight.

When the words were done, everything that had been roiling in Hwi's expression evaporated in an instant. With eyes emptied of both heat and cold, Hwi gazed at Yunseo, then bowed his head and pressed their lips together. After a brief, soundless kiss, he brushed Yunseo's lips over and over with his fingertips. As though to wipe it away cleanly, leaving not even the smallest trace.

Hwi stepped back and turned away. As Yunseo followed his retreating figure with his gaze, he sank to the ground and bowed his head.

Why could you and I not have been born as ordinary, common people?

Complaining when the food does not suit your taste, scolding for no reason if your eyes stray toward someone else, picking quarrels over what do you mean by what you just said to me — living such an ordinary, squabbling life, and yet acting as though nothing had happened at all soon after. Perhaps we could have lived such a life.

A strand of wind tickled Yunseo's hair. The layered, accumulating tenderness came out as a sigh, caught the wind, and drifted away.

The morning star shone brilliantly. That nature always remained the same no matter what happened in the human world was sometimes infuriating, yet at the same time a source of comfort.

Since coming to Manguwon, the summer had passed without him even having the leisure to feel the heat of the night. Before he knew it, a cool breeze had lowered the temperature of the surroundings. Thanks to Jo Sanggung having prepared a thick outer garment, he was not cold.

It was past midnight. That he had not gone to bed was not out of any stubborn defiance — it was simply that he could not sleep. And he was waiting for him. If he did not come, there was nothing to be done, but he had a belief that he would come.

Even the sound of insects in the grass had gradually quieted. Since cicadas could no longer be heard even in the middle of the day, he now truly felt it — that summer had passed. Yunseo tilted his head back and looked up at the star-filled night sky through the dense tree leaves.

Then he wandered in place and played an idle game with his feet. He had been hopping up and down on one foot at a time for a while — a childish thing one would only do as a young child — when a voice came.

"You seem thoroughly bored."

A low, clear voice cut through the late night and reached his ear. Yunseo stopped and turned to look behind him. Hwi was watching him with an expression that, unlike the morning, was calm yet showed a trace of fatigue.

"I want to see the stars."

Yunseo said the simple request and held out his hand. Hwi readily stepped forward, took hold of Yunseo's arm, drew him in at once, and leapt into the air.