The deeper Hwi bored into him, the more powerfully his sacred power surged. The poison piled thick inside him absorbed Yunseo's guardian star like cotton. Yunseo gauged his remaining strength. There was still enough — but would this too be exhausted someday?

"Ah, hut, Hwi-nim……"

Yunseo called out to Hwi desperately to shake off the thoughts that ambushed him. Hwi answered him, driving his hips upward and leaving traces all across Yunseo's chest. The unknown ending that drew ever closer pulled out of the two men a more earnest, desperate longing for each other.

"Yes, Yunseo. Haa, more, more……"

Endless ripples spread through the bathwater one after another. Each time Hwi's member, cleaving through the lapping water, thrust inside him, it felt as though a mark that could never be erased was being branded there. He wanted to keep him inside himself by any means. Forever. For always.

Biting down on Hwi's nape, he desperately scratched at the small of his back with his fingertips. A satisfied moan burst from his lips. Hwi held Yunseo with both arms as though to confine him and buried himself to the very root.

"Ah……"

"Unh……"

Climax arrived together with a distant tremor. The water, which had by now cooled to lukewarm, held the heat the two men had put out and undulated. Drops of water trickled down their dampened bodies. The sound of water dripping drop by drop threaded through their ragged breathing.

Yunseo held Hwi in his arms and slowly stroked down from his nape to his shoulder blades. He could clearly feel the sacred power that had been seething within him settle down.

"Are you alright now?"

"Yes. Thanks to you."

"……"

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am alright."

"What is?"

At the unexpected question, Yunseo lifted his head slightly and Hwi scanned his face carefully.

"What is alright?"

"Just, everything……"

"Yunseo."

The tender call knocked at a locked bolt. Yunseo barely pressed down the emotion that surged up.

"Yes."

"In front of everyone else you may hold it in — but before me, you must not."

Hwi's hand came up and steadily stroked the corners of Yunseo's eyes. At that touch, the corners of Yunseo's eyes twitched. Hwi wiped the tear away, rubbing at the eye corners softened by the damp air over and over.

"Because I am your beloved, your husband, and your family."

"……"

"If not before me, where else can you cry?"

Only himself was contained in those dark eyes. His pupils were like a dense gathering of characters written in ink. Those characters were love (愛) and affection (情), and as they melted, they helplessly dismantled the bolt.

Suddenly, tears welled up. Through the opened gap, the sorrow he had been forcing himself to hold in came pouring out all at once, making it impossible to lock the door again.

"Hwi-nim. I……"

"Yes."

"I am scared……"

Sometimes faltering and feeling wretched did not mean he had lost hope. Surely somewhere, one part of him firmly believed that we will win, that we will break through all of this hardship in the end. But the despair settled thick was like a fog — one simply felt it with each breath drawn in.

The sobbing soon became crying. Yunseo wept loudly like a child in Hwi's arms. Hwi stroked Yunseo's thin back and pressed his lips to his cheeks over and over.

"Yes, it is frightening."

Of losing everyone including Hwi. Of not being able to protect a single person in this place. Of betraying the prayers that the people had been offering up ceaselessly.

All of it was frightening.

His throat ached as though it might tear. The thick, boiling cry circled the corners of his mouth. His hunched shoulders trembled pitifully. Yunseo cried with his whole body and clung desperately to Hwi.

While Yunseo poured everything out, Hwi ceaselessly soothed him and conveyed warmth. Each time Hwi's lips touched his forehead, cheek, and ear, Yunseo felt a reservoir being built within his heart. One that let this fear, this anxiety, this pain, this sorrow, naturally pool and then flow away.

Having cried for a long time, he felt relieved instead. The emotions he had been trapped in seemed as though they were nothing at all. Yunseo received the affectionate touch of Hwi wiping away his tears while he sniffled.

"Are you scared too, Hwi-nim?"

"Yes, I am scared."

The fact that he too was scared strangely brought comfort. Yunseo traced the dry corners of Hwi's eyes with his fingertips.

"Even so, we are fighting."

"……Yes. We are alive and well, looking defiant about it."

Hwi stroked Yunseo's head as though praising him and then caught his lips. Without intertwining their tongues — simply sucking and licking each other's lips — a delicate, nibbling sound rang out gently.

Soon Hwi lifted Yunseo and stepped out of the tub. After drying Yunseo's body, he immediately took him to the bedchamber. When he lay on the bed after donning a thin inner robe, his eyes grew heavy.

Union was effective but had the disadvantage of exhausting physical strength all the sooner. When he forced his eyes wide open, Hwi slipped his arm under Yunseo's head and enclosed him in his embrace.

"You have gone quite goggle-eyed."

"……Is it unbecoming?"

"The problem is that it makes you all the more lovable. In this time of war, I would rather not have to discipline the servants, so it would be better if you hurried off to sleep and settled down."

At the nonsensical remark, Yunseo laughed despite himself. Hwi tightened the arm holding Yunseo. The sensation of fitting perfectly within his embrace was comforting. Yunseo blinked drowsily and was pulled into the arms of sleep.

* * *

Thud, thud, thud……

A heartbeat. As though resonating with something.

Yunseo woke as though being sucked downward. The dizzying, distant afterglow would not leave, and he sat up abruptly. Was it a dream, or reality? If a dream — which side had been the dream?

"Your Majesty?"

There was no one in the bedchamber. As he hurriedly put his feet down from the bed, the door opened and Jo Sanggung came in.

"Have you woken?"

"How long did I sleep?"

"You slept for about two hours."

"Two whole hours?"

He jumped to his feet in astonishment, and Jo Sanggung quickly helped him dress.

"Outside. Is it still war?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"How long has it been?"

"His Majesty the Emperor led personally an hour ago."

Hwi had gone to the battlefield, and yet he had been sleeping, completely unaware of it, for a whole hour. Yunseo stiffened his expression and hurriedly left the bedchamber.

"Your Majesty. Please eat before you go."

"There is no time for that."

"Then at least eat this rice ball. His Majesty the Emperor gave orders to prepare it."

Yunseo paused and checked the bowl the palace servant was holding. Neatly formed rice balls were in the bowl. It seemed Hwi had predicted his behavior and left orders. It would have been better to just wake him…… Of course he understood Hwi's consideration. It was not that he did not.

He took a rice ball in hand, put it in his mouth, and quickened his steps. Eating while walking was a manner-less, undignified thing, but there was no time to stand on such ceremony here.

The inside of the fortress was still busy and bustling. He was going up the fortress wall while observing the atmosphere when the face of a Yongrin ahead seemed familiar.

"Gangbaek."

Gangbaek turned at Yunseo's call and paid his respects. His complexion had grown haggard in the span of a few hours, and Yunseo could not hide his worried expression.

"Is your body alright?"

"Yes. I heard that Your Majesty saved me. I am truly grateful for Your Majesty's grace……"

"That will do. Is it truly safe for you to go to battle?"

"Yes. Shamefully, I failed to control my sacred power, but thanks to Your Majesty's grace I have recovered — how could I delay my duty? I will fight well and return, so please do not worry."

There was no way to keep him here when every moment was urgent. Reluctantly nodding, Gangbaek bowed politely and left.

His height and build surpassed most grown men, yet in the Yongrin Guard he was the smallest and youngest. Yunseo followed his retreating figure as he bravely dived into the battlefield, and curled his fingers into a fist.

The clear sky, cruelly bright, scattered sunlight while harboring its crisp blue. Beneath it, darkness dark enough to have swallowed the night spread once more, as far as the eye could see.

Fortunately it was the same pattern as the first battle. The numbers were many but they were not large-bodied, and they did not show the strange behavior of charging only toward Hwi.

But why……. Yunseo furrowed his brow. From the moment he had woken from sleep until now, his heart had been beating with unease. When he focused inward, he could feel his guardian star lifting and stirring as though raising its head.

Had he been having a nightmare without remembering it? He did not want to pay attention to the anxiety without a source. Yunseo sighed and looked around.

"Huije."

The senior consort called out in a low but clear voice over the fortress wall. Huije, who had been below, quickly leapt up and came to the senior consort.

The senior consort, with a grave and serious expression, said something while raising a finger to point at the plain where battle was raging — and at that Huije nodded and dived into the Hell Realm taking several Yongrin with her.

Yunseo watched their movements and asked the senior consort.

"What did you tell her?"

"Ah, Your Majesty. The movements of Seokchun and Hanmi seemed unusual — they appeared to be running out of sacred power — so I had them pulled back."

"You can see that?"

"I merely caught those whose movements had slowed. It could be a needless worry, but I thought it best to prevent rampaging sacred power by any means, and from today onward I intend to watch carefully."

To grasp the movements of Yongrin in that chaos and pick out the changes would require an extraordinary level of concentration. Of course that was remarkable in itself, but to know their names instantly from this distance was the result of the long time spent presiding over Yeonwiwon with great care and attention.

"I still have a long way to go to catch up to my teacher."

At Yunseo's remark, the senior consort smiled faintly.

Soon the Yongrin Huije had brought filled the empty places, and Seokchun and Hanmi returned to receive treatment.

Just as the returning Huije had bowed to the senior consort and was about to return to her post, the senior consort drew a handkerchief* from her breast and held it out.

Huije faltered and looked down at her own arms, dirtied with dust and grime, then carefully received the handkerchief, gripped it tightly in her hand, gave a short bow, and went back down.

*Author's note: 수파 (手帕) = handkerchief