The interior, emptied of all palace servants, was quiet. He had visited the quarters of the senior and second consorts once each, but this court noble's space was his first time. Yunseo looked around the inside with fresh eyes and then stood before the door of the inner chamber.

Just as he was about to place his hand on the door, the sound of sniffling seeped through the gap. With everything so quiet around him, it was impossible not to hear.

If he were to ask for permission to enter with proper decorum, it was obvious how that would go. Wondering why he should always show respect when the other party had never shown him any, Yunseo opened the door with a fairly brazen shove.

"I said don't come in!"

Bang!

A pillow flew and hit the door frame before falling. What a temper…… Yunseo calmed his startled heart and took a step forward. At that, the court noble, who had been burying his head in his knees, snapped his head up.

"I——!"

The court noble's face, having confirmed that the intruder was Yunseo, flooded with embarrassment in an instant. That quickly shifted to shame, dyeing his already red cheeks an even deeper crimson. The court noble hurriedly bowed his head to hide his face and let out a shrill shout.

"What sort of impudence is this! No matter that you are the Empress, bursting into another's bedchamber like this is a thoughtless act!"

The court noble's voice was not reaching him clearly. Seeing that complexion, which had only been white, now red and swollen, he could think of nothing but Yi Gukhyo's thick hand, which he had glimpsed on his way here.

Yunseo looked over the small trembling body and estimated the boy's age anew.

Through the anger at a military officer who knew no propriety laying hands on his young child, and the complicated and delicate sorrow that arose where it overlapped with his own childhood, a strange emotion bloomed. Perhaps like……if the younger brother one had written off as impossible were to go somewhere else and come back beaten, one might feel something like this?

A fondness born of irritation. Yunseo swallowed a sigh and walked without hesitation to take a seat beside the court noble, who was sitting on the floor with the bed behind him.

"Why is your cheek like that?"

"……I merely bumped it, so please do not concern yourself."

"As it happens, the experience of being struck by a father is not one that belongs to you alone. Lies do not work on this person."

The huffing court noble faltered. His head turned slightly in this direction, but the court noble kept his face hidden and let out a frosty voice.

"You are making up nonsense in order to offer charity and pity."

"Why do you assume it is false? Of course it was only the once, at the age of eight for me — but I ought to be ahead of you by that much, should I not?"

The movement of his rising and falling shoulders subsided. It was such a vivid reaction that a smile almost escaped, but thinking it would cause another scene, he pressed it firmly down inside his throat.

"After I sprouted, I was stuck helplessly inside the family home, and went out disobeying my father's orders and got a thorough scolding. Looking back on it now, it seems this person was already a genius at running away from that time."

At the deliberately nonchalant tone, a strange sound — something like a sniff — came from the court noble. Crying with a stuffed nose and letting out a laugh at the same time — it was entirely the look of a small child.

The illegitimate child of a high official. A sudden sprouting. A father who wished to rise higher. A court noble without a title.

One cannot know the whole of a person by seeing only one facet, but he finally understood why this court noble had been so desperate all this time with his thorns bristled so sharply. Yunseo let out a quiet breath and tilted his head back to lean against the wall.

In the meantime, as though he had managed to barely suppress his laughter, a sullen voice came out abruptly.

"Do not be smug just because you found one point in common. Coming from someone of a different caliber, words like that are nothing but deception."

"How are we of different caliber?"

"Do you wish to hear me say it with my own mouth? I am a base illegitimate child who does not even know his own mother, and Your Majesty was born of noble blood."

The sharp retort was wound through with pent-up resentment. Yunseo thought through the court noble's family situation and swallowed a sound of contemplation.

"Of course there are parts of this court noble that I could never understand even in a lifetime. But as long as you are here, you are the Emperor's person and my person. Whatever your origins, I cannot allow anyone to treat you so carelessly. So this is not pity…… this is care."

After a moment, the court noble's head slowly lifted. He faced Yunseo with his swollen cheek fully exposed. In the dark eyes from which the sharp thorns had softened, Yunseo found the helplessness and loneliness he himself had once carried.

"How am I the Emperor's person? The Emperor does not even come to see me."

"……"

"People will say the Emperor is keeping my father in check, but I know everything too. Who would come to see a plain-looking man like me? I am not as outstanding in guardian star as Your Majesty, nor do I have Your Majesty's appearance. When Your Majesty carries the Dragon Heir, there will be no opportunity given to me at all — and at that point I will truly have lost my usefulness and will be cast aside by the family."

It was a pity that this court noble's idea of his own worth was confined entirely to him as a court concubine and Yeongchunhwa. But where else could he have found meaning? This imperial palace, his position, his circumstances — all of it had been driving him into a corner.

"It seems you do not know much about yourself?"

Instead of a complicated explanation, Yunseo deliberately threw out a light question and tilted his head toward the court noble.

"The reason I have not reprimanded this court noble's impertinence all this time is purely because he is adorable."

His already round eyes grew even larger, becoming wide as saucers. The court noble puffed out short breaths through his nose, flustered and unable to do anything but move his lips silently. Yunseo watched him like that for a moment, then carelessly shrugged and quirked the corner of his mouth.

"But people's hearts are all the same — would I be the only one to feel that way?"

"……"

"Of course one cannot deny the friction between the Emperor and the Senior General, but you are still young. Such worries are far too early for you."

The court noble grew thoughtful, his expression growing complicated as he fiddled with his knees. His still-chubby, unshrunken cheeks twitched. Yunseo noticed the calluses on his soft, delicate hands. Those were calluses from holding a brush.

"I will announce it to everyone when we gather, but I intend to expand the scope of education in Yeonwiwon. Scholarship and the arts will be at the center, and it would be good if this court noble would teach the others painting."

"……I, rather, this one is to personally educate the court nobles? In painting technique?"

"Yes. As you know, it is difficult for court nobles to meet people outside Yeonwiwon. So should we not fully make use of the talent within? As one of the pillars who leads the inner court, you are all the more suited to be an instructor."

"B-but this one has never taught anyone……"

"That too can be learned."

Watching the court noble's face begin to light up with a mix of excitement and confusion, Yunseo dusted himself off and stood. His gaze followed Yunseo steadily as he rose.

"I have only lived a few years longer than you, but there is something I realized first."

"……What is it?"

"There is also such a thing as a heart that does not come back no matter how hard you try."

The eyelids with their faint lines blinked. The eyes looking up in open wonder made the court noble appear even more youthful.

Ah. Yunseo let out a quiet, soft exhalation.

'From those who do not give to me, I must certainly take back.'

It was as though he now fully understood the words the Queen Dowager had given him. This was not a bitter and desolate way of doing things — it was a way of protecting oneself.

"Let us find together where that heart can be poured."

Seeing tears beginning to well in those dark, round eyes, Yunseo turned his head and took a step. After flinging the door open, he drew one deep breath and spoke.

"Is anyone there?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Since the inner court concubines frequently bring family members into the rear quarters for private meetings, I am concerned it may disrupt the discipline of Yeonwiwon as well. Henceforth, outsiders are forbidden from entering the inner court — see that everyone is aware."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

At the sound of someone abruptly rising, Yunseo looked back at the court noble. His lips moved but he said nothing. Unable to simply feel happy, nor to feel unhappy, mired in confusion — toward the court noble caught in that state, Yunseo left one last word.

"If you wish for the order to be rescinded, come and find me. But at least after this winter has passed."

He crossed the threshold and walked on. As Yunseo stepped out of the court noble's quarters, his feet gradually grew lighter. It felt as though he could finally let his father go as well. A strand of breath that had flowed out in relief intertwined with the cool breeze and ran freely away.

* * *

Some members of Yeonwiwon gathered in the lecture hall. Yunseo felt a slight burden as the bright, attentive gazes of the younger court nobles followed him constantly. However, in truth the ones who gave him a heavier sense of responsibility were the court nobles who were older than him. They focused with serious eyes as though not wanting to miss even a single thing.

"What is important is condensing the guardian star rapidly and sending it in. It reaches the poison the Yongrin carries all at once and scatters it in a single blow…… is something I think I could say."