Hwi was lying on the ground, cracked and overturned and in ruin. The fierce battle cries of the Yongrin coming from the other side awakened Yunseo's senses.

Hwi, his lips bloodstained, lay as though — dead. His fingertips trembled uncontrollably. Yunseo bit down hard on the inside of his cheek until he finally tasted something metallic, and only then came down from Huije's arms.

Hwi was placed on the stretcher. Yunseo quickly climbed on top of him, loosened his collar, and placed both hands on his exposed chest. His insides were beyond description — a complete wreck.

But he has always been like this. Even before he met me, he endured and endured. So this time too, he can.

Yunseo looked down at Hwi with bloodshot eyes and concentrated all his strength to his fingertips. He breathed condensed guardian star in, again and again.

Before long the stretcher entered the fortress. The restless air inside the fortress fell still all at once as though doused with cold water. Gazes full of shock and fear followed the stretcher.

"The Emperor is safe!"

A rough voice burst from between Yunseo's lips. Leaving behind the stirring atmosphere, he stepped into the bedchamber. After the stretcher was set on the bed, everyone went outside.

Without delay, Yunseo fully opened Hwi's clothing and pressed their lips together. He sucked out the blood pooled in his mouth and spat it outside the bed, then inserted his tongue deeply to inject his saliva.

He could not tell whether the strongly beating pulse was Hwi's or his own. While wiping away the stains on Hwi that reappeared no matter how many times they were wiped away, he imbued his falling tears with guardian star. The dropping tears ran down Hwi's cheek. Swallowing his seething moans, he destroyed the poison in Hwi that could not properly absorb the guardian star with his entire body.

"Unh……"

At last Hwi's fingers gave a twitch and jumped. He coughed and lifted his eyelids. Yunseo shook his head to drop the tears that had gathered, and hurriedly pulled down Hwi's waistband.

He ground his buttocks down against the unroused member. As the guardian star that streamed down touched the shaft, heat gradually rose from below and it stiffened.

"Even if I were out of my senses, I could not let you do this alone."

Hwi spoke in a hoarse voice and smiled faintly, then gripped Yunseo's hips. Yunseo barely straightened his face, which was threatening to crumple into tears, and slowly took him in. Hwi held Yunseo's body so he would not move too hastily. As their bodies finally joined completely, a breath of ecstasy burst from between Hwi's lips.

Yunseo suppressed his sobs like hiccups and healed Hwi by pouring himself into him. Hwi's complexion, which had been looking up at Yunseo while his eyes flickered, gradually brightened. Hwi laboriously raised his upper body and held Yunseo in his arms.

"I showed you an unsightly state."

When Hwi pressed a soft kiss to Yunseo's cheek, Yunseo stopped moving and let the tears he had been suppressing flow. With trembling hands he traced Hwi's body. He engraved the warmth, the pulse, through his fingertips and made his life feel real.

Hwi stuck out his tongue and licked up Yunseo's tears. The two men kissed endlessly and joined together, like wounded animals licking each other's wounds.

The guardian star that flared up as though bursting into flame spread from deep within Hwi and burst the poison. Hwi groaned and held Yunseo tightly. Yunseo wrapped his arms around Hwi's neck and his legs around Hwi's waist, entwining with him like two branches grown from the same root.

He wanted to stay like this forever. He did not want to go back outside. He wanted to make this place their nest and ruminate on their love, to stroke each other's skin as though grooming each other's feathers, and just live like that.

Hwi, who had bored deep inside, reached the end. He let out rough and shallow breaths and rested his head on Yunseo's shoulder. Yunseo traced Hwi's firm shoulder blades with his fingertips and gauged their remaining strength.

"Your Majesty."

"Yes."

"The battle has not yet ended."

Hwi exhaled a long, distant breath and lifted his head. Yunseo held the back of Hwi's neck and shed the weak nature that stirred his heart, meeting his gaze with firm eyes.

"I must go."

His voice trembled, but with each blink of his eyelids, Yunseo's pupils ripened deeper and darker.

"This way will not do."

Hope had to exist not in a vague place in order to exist as hope. To hold hope all the way to the end while running, this way would not do.

His guardian star might not be the answer. And there was no way of knowing what result it would bring. So it was a complete gamble. But now was the time to take that gamble.

The black in Hwi's pupils deepened to a perfect darkness. He blinked slowly and looked at Yunseo before his eye corners crinkled with a smile. Then he slowly pressed his forehead to Yunseo's. His black smoldered and burned.

"Just a moment."

In a voice no more than a single strand of a gentle breeze, Hwi held Yunseo back. A married couple truly is one body. From within his embrace, Hwi's emotion was fully transferred to him. A bottomless sorrow streamed down like a waterfall.

If only time would stop here — but the laws of nature did not regard the pace of human steps, and only departed. Hwi let his hand trail down Yunseo's spine and then pulled away.

He separated Yunseo from his embrace, then rose and brought a wet cloth. Careful hands wiped over Yunseo's skin. Particularly when wiping his lips and hands stained with blood, he was infinitely gentle and it seemed as though it would go on without end.

"Let us put on new clothes."

Hwi took out freshly prepared attire and dressed Yunseo. Then he put Yunseo's hair back up. The touch that combed through his hair was tender, and the act of twisting it up was practiced. Suddenly recalling the first time he had done Yunseo's hair for him, a laugh slipped out.

Yunseo helped Hwi dress as well and fixed his hair. He himself was more accustomed to it than at first, but had not grown skilled. He should have done it until it was fully ingrained in his hands. The ache in his chest would not leave.

Once fully dressed, Hwi had returned to the dignified Son of Heaven of a nation. Yet whatever he was, he was also his one and only beloved. Yunseo took Hwi's hand and stepped outside the bedchamber.

"Ah……"

"Your Majesty……!"

When the imperial couple appeared unharmed, sighs of relief burst from all around. Hwi gestured toward those who had knelt to greet the Emperor's return.

After having them rise and return to their places, Hwi gripped the clasped hand firmly and headed to the fortress wall. Passing through his field of vision in slow motion were Yongrin covered with white cloth and court nobles collapsed in exhaustion as though their strength had run out.

At the entrance of Yongrim Peak, combat was still ongoing. Seeing that the formation had been pushed further back compared to when Hwi had been carried on the stretcher, it seemed they had been pushed back little by little.

Hwi looked around at the imperial guards and court nobles who had gathered around him. In a voice endlessly calm yet filled with authority, he declared.

"Since the guardian star works against the Hell Realm, the Empress will lead the campaign in person."

The air atop the fortress wall changed in an instant. Everyone looked aghast, unable to readily say anything, exchanging only glances. When the senior consort stepped forward with the corners of her eyes creasing, Hwi turned to her.

"Guard this place well."

Hwi immediately turned and took Yunseo in his arms before leaping down from the fortress wall. The sensation of falling. Then the sensation of leaping — it swept over Yunseo like the wind.

As the Hell Realm drew nearer, his heart beat more and more loudly. Is this fear, or is this welcome? Classifying the emotions that seemed impossible to coexist as though watching them from afar, Yunseo looked straight at Yongrim Peak.

The Yongrin guarding the rear spotted Hwi and Yunseo and quickly parted. Hwi dived without hesitation into the very center and shouted.

"Protect the Empress!"

In an instant, a formation to protect Hwi and Yunseo spread out. The Yongrin who spread out to make space for the two of them surrounded them on all sides in layers. When they reached the entrance, a soundless uproar stabbed at his ears while a gaze was felt.

The maw spewing out monsters seemed to be staring down at him, and the back of his neck stiffened. When Hwi set him down, Yunseo pressed close to the ground, sat down tightly, and pressed his palm to the earth. Even before he released the guardian star, his palm went thud, thud, thud, beating away.

Only then did he realize that resonance was not some premonition but a call. What a wretched thing. Yunseo twisted the corner of his mouth upward and poured out the guardian star.

The sun was already setting. The goal was to cut off this flow even for just a few hours. To let the sun sleep and let them sleep as well.

"Ugh!"

"Hah! Above!"

"Block it!"

The guardian star spread quickly along the veins. Simultaneously, the monsters raged and flooded. The sound of the Yongrin's sword edges and bodies clashing, their battle cries and shouts cut sharply through the air.

And before his eyes, Hwi was fighting.

He would never let them see Hwi like that again. Even if you throw every tantrum imaginable, I will not give him to you.

Yunseo gritted his teeth and sent out the condensed guardian star in a burst. The guardian star surged wildly and then ran as though elated. The veins spread deep underground stirred and lurched, retching and vomiting monsters from the cave.

The horde of monsters charging madly looked like hungry ghosts starving even in death. Knowing no satisfaction, coveting more even after chewing through flesh and bone.

Quiet down. I am giving it to you right now.

Perhaps his ability had never been truly his from the beginning. Perhaps it was strength borrowed from that place. Was that why they were making such a commotion?

I did not want it either. I did not have it because I wanted it.

But since it was already in his hands and had already become his, since he had been paying and would have to pay the karma that came with this power……

"Shut up!"

The guardian star that burst out in a rush spread out in all directions, filling and pressing down the veins. Along with it, the surroundings grew quiet. Yunseo exhaled in labored breaths and lifted his head.