The atmosphere had grown somewhat subdued.

"With all this ice around it, it looks strangely more impressive. I imagine this must be what the snow creature said to live in the Northern Mountains looks like."

"…Does a snow creature really live in the Northern Mountains?"

At Yeondeok's question, Huije grinned and launched into an exaggerated story about how she had personally seen one and nearly come to blows with it. In reality, she had been startled by a bear rising up and shaking snow off itself, fallen over screaming that a snow creature had appeared, and been thoroughly scolded for it.

Yeondeok reacted to Huije's vivid tale with childlike wonder. He resembled Yunseo in that way — not a drop of blood shared between them, yet one had no choice but to acknowledge their bond as something like brotherhood.

Huije seemed to be getting into the spirit of her storytelling and chattered on with evident energy. It was a bit noisy, but he let it be. If Yunseo really was listening to all of this, he would have been enjoying it too.

Huije had probably stepped up like that to cheer on Yeondeok, who must have been worn out after three months of nursing, and to lift the sunken mood. Even if she looked simple and thoughtless on the surface, she was not someone who acted without purpose.

"You are truly amazing."

"Aren't I? Ha ha. Ah, I talked so much after such a long time that my throat is dry. Let me get some good tea—"

At that moment, both Hwi and Huije froze simultaneously. Their gazes shot to Yunseo in an instant. More precisely — to the coverlet hovering faintly above Yunseo's abdomen.

Hwi lifted the coverlet, and Yunseo's upper garment was shifting. A chilling premonition stabbed at the back of his neck. His hands moved faster than his head. He lifted the hem of the clothing, and what he saw was Yunseo's abdomen swelling up roundly and then sinking back, over and over.

"What is that…"

Yeondeok was aghast, covering his falling-open mouth with his hands. Hwi stared at Yunseo's stomach without blinking, then cried out.

"Bring the medicine to remove the child!"

It was the movement of the egg. The egg was trying to leave Yunseo's body.

The royal physician, grasping the situation, knelt urgently and prostrated herself, her expression twisting as though it pained her to have to say this.

"Your Majesty, please reconsider! The child within is a dragon-descendant. If the dragon-descendant is harmed now, the future of Daeryeong will—"

"What can a child who would tear its way out of its own father's stomach do for anyone! Quickly!"

"Y— I—!"

Yeondeok raised one hand in a fluster. It was just as Huije was about to spring up from her place with a stricken expression. The air in the room became as quiet as cold water thrown over it, in an instant.

The egg pushed through Yunseo's abdomen and appeared. The torn flesh, without shedding a single drop of blood, surged and rippled as it clutched the egg. Hwi's eyes flew wide at the unbelievable sight. The tendons along his jaw stood out from how hard he was clenching his teeth.

"Oh, heavens…"

The physician's murmur scattered into the distance. The milk-white egg, indifferent to the astonishment of all who watched, rose with serene composure. It floated up slowly, and at last, having fully emerged from Yunseo's body, it rolled and fell with a soft thud onto the bed.

And Yunseo's abdomen had closed, without leaving any trace.

The physician leapt to her feet and with trembling hands took Yunseo's pulse. After taking it with ragged breaths, she checked Yunseo's abdomen as well, then knelt again.

"He is… safe."

Yeondeok let out a weak groan and sank straight down.

"Oh… young master…"

Yeondeok's tears fell drop by drop, soaking the floor. The water melted from the snowman reached that spot and spread together with them.

He could not breathe at all. Hwi only moved his trembling lips once, without being able to say a single word. He simply reached to take Yunseo's hand — and even that he could not do, and bowed his head.

But since he could not run away from what lay before him, he took the hand in the end. Between their palms pressed together without gap, a fierce heartbeat chirped and met him. His life was returning.

"Yunseo."

Hwi quietly placed Yunseo's name in his mouth. The name of the only absolute he believed in, and had to believe in.

* * *

Strangely, his body felt lighter. Was it because he was moving toward something of his own will? In truth, he wasn't quite sure where he was going.

He was simply following the path the earthworm showed him. But just as the earthworm had brought him to a realization, he firmly believed that following it would surely lead him to the destination he wanted.

The earthworm would go on ahead looking forward, but then often come back to press its body against Yunseo's cheek. Such an endearing action made him smile without thinking.

It would be nice to keep it nearby and raise it. What does an earthworm eat?

It probably doesn't eat ordinary food. Since it's made of light, shouldn't one give it something a little more sacred? While he followed that pointless yet earnest line of thought, the earthworm stopped moving. Yunseo, who had stopped along with it, stared blankly at the wall blocking his way ahead.

"Here?"

The earthworm bobbed up and down as though affirming. Yunseo narrowed his brow and tilted his head back. It was a cliff. A towering, treacherous cliff.

"Up there? Hmm, is there no other way?"

The earthworm gave no reaction at all and simply faced Yunseo. Yunseo looked back and forth between the earthworm and the cliff in bewilderment several times.

"Look… this is impossible. How am I supposed to climb that."

The earthworm came close and tickled Yunseo's cheek. It felt exactly as though it were comforting him. When a strangely resolute air could be sensed in it too, there was no more room for complaints.

Yunseo recalled once more that light he had felt. The thing that must not be lost no matter what happened. If it was up there, he had to climb up by whatever means he could. Wasn't that precisely why he had given up even the rest that tempted him, and set out following the earthworm?

"Alright. I'll try."

After letting out a breath and steeling himself, the earthworm tickled his head as if in praise. Yunseo let out a fresh laugh and asked.

"You're coming with me, right?"

The earthworm's movements stopped abruptly. When it began to slowly drift away, Yunseo quickly moved toward it.

"What? You're not coming with me? You want me to go alone?"

Was this a farewell? It was so sudden he couldn't believe it. He hadn't even been prepared, had never even thought about it — the idea of parting from the earthworm brought a feeling of loss crashing down immediately.

"Don't do this… let's go together."

The earthworm came slowly back and stroked Yunseo's frightened eyes, nose, and lips in turn. It was a warm and tender touch. When the emotion emanating from it seeped through his skin, the anxiety and fear born from the sense of loss subsided in an instant.

He could understand completely what the earthworm was saying. Strangely, it felt as though the earthworm and he were like one body.

"I understand."

When he nodded his head vigorously, the earthworm danced, then began to zip rapidly around Yunseo in circles. He was rolling his eyes trying to keep up with the fast movement when the earthworm passed through Yunseo's body.

The light — the earthworm — was extinguished. But it was not an extinguishing. It could not be called an extinguishing.

Yunseo looked down at his own chest, stroked over it preciously, then lifted his head with a composed expression. Now it was time to climb up — together.

He reached out and gripped a protruding part of the cliff, then pushed off the ground with the soles of his feet to rise upward. While his body had grown lighter during the time with the earthworm, it could not be said to be in perfect condition. He had climbed only a single step and already cold sweat was flowing and his arms were trembling.

The first step was merciless, and the path he would have to tread and push forward along was impossibly distant. Yunseo bit down on his teeth and grabbed at the rocky outcroppings, dragging himself up the cliff with painful effort.

"Son of a…"

Why on earth did the place he had to go have to be somewhere like this? He didn't know what was there, but it had to be something very precious and extraordinary.

Yunseo let his eyes shine with stubborn determination and climbed with dogged resolve. His feet nearly slipped several times, and when he inadvertently looked down, he nearly fainted, and when it became too hard he wanted to let go of everything.

And yet he could not give up. Even though his hands felt as though they were on fire and his limbs felt as though they weren't his own, he could not let go.

Yunseo wept loudly, cursed someone whose face he didn't even know, and climbed one more step.

Then — a scent carrying a faint, nostalgic wistfulness brushed the tip of his nose. It was a cool fragrance. Like moonlight on a midnight, or like a lake in the depths of winter.

When he climbed another step, the hem of a blue garment swept past before his eyes. Yunseo sharpened his mind so as not to miss any sensation that merely passed through. The more painfully and desperately he clawed his way up, the more things blossomed beneath his five senses.

A cool fragrance, the hem of a blue garment, a back rising up holding light within it, the smell of damp water, the taste of rice cake spreading sweetness through his mouth, a bell ringing with crystalline clarity, ceremonial incense that quieted the heart, fireflies drifting beneath green trees, the wind brushing through a bamboo grove, and through all of it, steadily guarding every moment — a large and warm… hand.

Before he knew it, the end was in sight. Below the cliff, a vast darkness filled the boundless space completely — but up above, only light existed.

A vision flickered: a hand cutting through the light and reaching toward him. At last a sense of relief at having arrived, and an ecstatic joy beyond any comparison, soaked through Yunseo. Yunseo smiled brightly and took that hand. Light exploded and swallowed Yunseo whole.

The moment his eyes opened, a faint pain was felt in his hand. When he twitched his fingertips, something that had been enclosing his hand drew back, then cautiously approached again.

Through his hazy vision, two lumps losing their shape came into view. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again — his sight cleared. He could now properly see a small snowman drenching the cloth laid on the floor with melted water.

"Yunseo."

The moment he faintly smiled, longing washed thickly into his ears. Yunseo slowly turned his head. The one he had wanted so desperately to find, the one he had not wanted to lose — his beloved, Hwi — was looking at him.