13. Departure

When he opened his eyes, the surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. The sky was bleeding red as clouds scattered in fragments across it.

Is this a dream?

Silence had come to a world that had not been quiet for even a moment. He felt a kind of comfort, but only briefly. Because he had not the slightest desire to linger in a world where even the sound of his beloved could not be heard.

Resolving to wake up, he raised his heavy body. Yongrin kneeling on the ground came into his field of vision. Every one of them wore a solemn and grief-stricken expression.

Sound seeped slowly into his ears. Hwi realized this was the noisy reality. But why……

He turned his head — and at the center of the circle of Yongrin, Yunseo lay collapsed. His lips were stained with blood and he was dreadfully pale, yet the face with its eyes closed was peaceful.

Hwi tilted his head, not understanding, and slowly blinked.

In the midst of this loud world, only Yunseo's sound was absent. Not the sparrow-like heartbeat. Not the breathing that could tickle skin with sound alone. Not the soft rustling like parting through branches of a willow with many leaves. All of it.

"Yunseo."

His body was heavy, but he pressed off the ground once and reached Yunseo. Hwi placed Yunseo's head on his lap and patted his cheek.

"Yunseo."

The fading warmth could not catch on his fingertips and scattered away. Hwi's pupils wandered, moving across Yunseo's face that looked as though he were merely sleeping.

"Yun. You have to wake up."

Yes, he is surely just asleep. Has he not been so exhausted all this time? Having used his strength like that, it is only right for him to rest.

Even as he told himself this, his uncontrollably trembling fingertips moved toward Yunseo's neck. He did not want to confirm it, but there was no other way. His index and middle fingers touched the soft skin and pressed down. Hwi waited. He waited, but nothing jumped back against them.

A single breath flowed from between Hwi's lips. Hwi fumbled at Yunseo's neck and then raised his head.

The base of Yongrim Peak had crumbled. The entrance of the Hell Realm had closed. That hell had finally ended. By Yunseo's strength. At Yunseo's fingertips.

Hwi looked back at Yunseo again.

Ah.

I made you my sacrifice.

A devastating pain ignited along his fingertips. Soon the burning agony as though his limbs were on fire came surging back to life. Beneath the extreme pain, Hwi cupped Yunseo's cheek with trembling hands.

He slowly bowed his head and pressed his lips to Yunseo's. A lukewarm warmth touched his lips and spread.

Before this warmth disappears.

Hwi raised his upper body and in a single motion drew his sword — and without a moment's hesitation thrust it toward his own heart.

"He is alive!"

When he opened his eyes, he saw Huije's arms desperately embracing the sword. The blade had bitten halfway into her violently trembling forearm and blood was streaming freely down.

"Just now — he moved!"

At Huije's voice, full of tears alongside wonder, Hwi released the sword and reached out his hand. His fingertips touched the nape of Yunseo's neck again — and a faint, jumping pulse was felt. Simultaneously, a faint sound began to reach him. Yunseo's sound. The one that had always instantly seized his attention in the midst of any commotion.

The pain that had been running across his entire body gradually subsided. The lightly jumping pulse spread warmth as though consoling Hwi.

Yunseo's face was unchanged in its stillness. Hwi slowly lowered and raised his eyelids and carefully lifted Yunseo into his arms.

"Go receive treatment."

He left those words for Huije and moved his feet. His steps soon became a run. Hwi crossed the fortress wall with Yunseo held firmly against his chest.

When Hwi leapt down from the fortress wall, all eyes turned to him. The court nobles who had been so exhausted they could barely breathe spotted Yunseo hanging limp as though dead, and broke into cries like screams of anguish.

The court noble, who had been slumped and sitting collapsed in one place, sprang to his feet and came toward Hwi.

"What is this……"

The court noble looked back and forth between Hwi and Yunseo as though unable to believe it. It was the first time he had ever spoken to Hwi first.

Hwi ignored the court noble and looked for the physician. He gave a glance to the physician standing to one side and headed to the bedchamber. The busy sounds of palace servants' footsteps followed behind.

He laid Yunseo down on the cozy bed he had left only a few hours ago. Hwi sat at Yunseo's pillow side and brought his fingers to the tip of Yunseo's nose. A faint but unmistakable breath was felt.

"Bring warm water and a cloth."

Jo Sanggung bit down on her lips as she confirmed Yunseo's condition and gave orders to the palace servants. The physician who had followed in quickly went to the bedside and took hold of Yunseo's wrist.

The physician, who had been taking the pulse with a cautious expression, furrowed his brow. He took Yunseo's pulse again several times over. Hwi watched the physician with sharpened eyes and endured the impulse to destroy himself.

After some time had passed, the physician stepped back and knelt.

"Fortunately, the Empress is safe. However, his vital energy has deteriorated greatly, and at present it is unknown when he will be able to wake. Also……"

"……"

"Your Majesty, please kill me."

"The key point only."

There was not enough patience left in him to sit through formalities like "I am humbled" and "your grace is boundless." At Hwi's cool reply, the physician immediately opened his mouth.

"The Empress is with child."

"……What?"

"He is carrying the Dragon Heir in his womb…… and it appears to be approximately three months along. I am too incompetent to have failed to diagnose it until now — I cannot even beg forgiveness."

The physician bowed his head, at a loss with how sorry he was. Hwi's dazed gaze moved to Yunseo's belly. Three months meant the child had already settled in during the summer.

Suddenly, the anxious voice that had asked what if he could not carry the Dragon Heir grazed his ear. His throat moved roughly up and down as he swallowed the boiling emotion.

"It is said that taking the fetal pulse in a man is inherently difficult. So that is enough. The only thing you must diagnose accurately right now is one thing."

"……"

"What effect will the child have on this person's body?"

The physician flinched as though grasping the meaning. Yunseo had just come back from the very gates of death. In a situation where his vital energy was so depleted that no one knew when he would wake — if the child in the womb became a burden……

It would have to be removed.

Even if it was the Dragon Heir. Even if it was their child.