They slowly climbed the fortress wall, and the Yongrim Peak, its base collapsed, came into view. Yet it did not feel strange or unfamiliar — as though it had always been shaped that way.

They came down the steps and set foot on the open field. The winter cold had by now eased somewhat, but as they reached the Dragon's Pool the air became even more mild.

Eternal Spring Flowers were trodden underfoot. The flowers that grew as abundantly as weeds in this place swayed gently in the breeze. The place where no more somber energy stirred felt like nothing more than a tranquil scenic spot.

Only a few months ago, everyone had been fighting here, coughing blood. It was impossible not to understand the emptiness that had swept through Geumju Fortress after the war ended. Yunseo walked as though quietly pressing down the rising emotions.

At last they arrived at Yongrim Peak. The darkness that had lurked with a bottomless, endless depth now lay buried beneath the collapsed stones — not a single trace of it remained. A person visiting here for the first time, knowing nothing, would simply regard it as one of nature's grand and ordinary formations.

It was just as he was about to step closer toward Yongrim Peak. Hwi pulled Yunseo's wrist.

"Don't go too close. It frightens me."

There was not a trace of jest in Hwi's voice. The pure sincerity of it gripped Yunseo's chest. Yunseo looked back at Hwi. He was still there — wearing, at a glance, an impassive expression, waiting.

"Will the Hell's Gate… ever open again someday?"

"It might."

Beginning with Gangbaek, he surmised the Yongrin's sacred energy would disappear — but the Eternal Spring Flowers' protective stars remained unchanged. If new Eternal Spring Flowers continued to bloom, it would be difficult to hold on to eternal hope. Even if no more Eternal Spring Flowers ever bloomed again in Daeryeong, they would have to keep holding the thread of tension taut until the very last Eternal Spring Flower died.

Since the collapse of the Hell's Gate was something that had happened for the first time, nothing could be easily predicted or guaranteed. And yet—

"I really must live well."

And so rather than suffering in fear and worry over the future, one had to live the present fully and faithfully. That was the time that had been given.

In order to do that—

"Your Majesty. As you know, I wanted to write a travel memoir. Going all around the world. The beauty of mountains and rivers, the vicissitudes of human affairs, poverty and wealth, ugliness and beauty. Things like that."

The hand clasped with his tightened. Hwi showed no reaction, but only his dark pupils were churning fiercely.

"Yes. I dreamed of freedom for such a very long time. There were too many things I wanted to do, and if only I could do them, I could abandon everything. Even the parents who gave me life."

"…"

"Because people burn their longing toward what they do not have."

Someone might say they would envy his life even at the cost of freedom. That he was born into a wealthy family and had lived materially rich could never be denied. Because he had that — he wanted freedom, even at the cost of losing it.

"If I had not lived confined — might my dream have changed?"

He had only been eight. How boundless and fickle could the dreams of a young child have been? Because Seo Yunseo's daily life had been frozen in that place at the age of eight for so long, the dream he had held at that time had remained as an intense attachment and desire, putting down firm roots.

For the young Seo Yunseo, that had been his only root. Because it was the only thing to hold on to within the rapidly changing circumstances and the changed household members around him.

"Looking back on it — if I had not been an Eternal Spring Flower. If I had just been an ordinary young man. I still wouldn't have been entirely free. Because my father would have tried to use my marriage as a business deal."

Going all around the world freely — what an immature and naive dream that had been. A journey requires travel funds, and the storehouse was under his father's control — could that truly have been possible? He was curious whether the ordinary young master Seo Yunseo, not an Eternal Spring Flower, could have stood up to his parents and forged his own life.

Yunseo let out a faint laugh, but Hwi maintained his expressionless face throughout. Yet his eyes alone were tracing over every inch of him. Yunseo stopped walking and drew in a deep breath, then let it out, facing Hwi directly. To cut entirely through his waiting.

"So please do not blame yourself. If I lose something, if I have lost something — that is a natural process I should have gone through long ago. I'm only going through it now, having left home."

There was a time he had resented Hwi, whose name and face he didn't even know. Even after finally coming to know his name and face, he had hated him. Because he had lost dreams and freedom and faced constraints, and countless burdens would continue to be placed on his shoulders.

"I no longer want to write a travel memoir. Instead, I want to write our story."

His dream had changed. He wanted to record the Yongrin and Eternal Spring Flowers who had devoted their lives to protecting this country and fulfilled their duties. Even if in the future the Hell's Gate never opened again and all of that faded into history — he did not want them to end as mere heroes in history. As individual human beings, he wanted to capture every joy and sorrow and anger and pleasure they had had to experience and pass it on to future generations.

"And now, freedom to me is not doing what I want — it's going out to find what I want. Together."

While locked in the private house, he had longed only for the definition and existence of freedom itself. The things he wanted to do ultimately came from things everyone else was doing, things he could not do at that moment. Within that, he was alone. He had never imagined a future shared with someone else.

Living in the imperial palace and clashing with many people, things he wanted to do were born naturally. When he could see clearly the ways they influenced and were influenced by each other, something inside him would sparkle, carrying a luminous light.

"I will not live a common person's life. But here there is a world I would not have known if I had lived that way. Here there is a life that belongs only to here."

He threaded his fingers through Hwi's ten fingers one by one. Yunseo gripped his hand firmly and conveyed his love and will with his entire body. His whole being was directed toward Hwi. And so he hoped that Hwi would sense it fully.

Within the eyes that held Yunseo, a deep, rich desire quietly broke the shell that had held it and bloomed. At the end of an unwavering, tenacious gaze, Hwi opened his mouth.

"So — you're staying?"

"By your side, Hwi."

"What's the reason?"

What a question that takes the most obvious thing for granted. Yunseo tilted his head and smiled.

"Naturally, because you have become my world."

Wasn't it the same for Hwi? From the moment he had fallen in love, his world had been turned completely upside down and had been built with and through him. How then could he leave this world? Everything he wanted to do was only meaningful when Hwi was by his side.

Hwi's fingers slipped free. He slowly raised his hand and took hold of Yunseo's neck. When his thumb gently pressed against the area near where the pulse beat, a slight pressure was felt.

Even while the black gaze ensnared Yunseo, Yunseo simply faced him purely, entrusting himself to Hwi.

The corners of Hwi's eyes twisted. He ground his teeth and murmured in a low, dark voice.

"Rather than resolving to die by my side — it is better to leave me and live, or die together."

A weight was put into the words "die together." The mere thought of him leaving this world cut into his chest. He had transferred that terrible anguish onto Hwi.

Yunseo laid his hand over Hwi's hand that gripped his neck. At that, the grip loosened and Hwi's hand fell away limply.

"Do you know how hard I worked to come back? Even there, I didn't give up."

He had thought there was no choice — but perhaps there had been. Just as the countless roads laid out before them. Having suffered a fatal mistake and been given life anew, from now on no matter what happened, he would make the choice to live together.

"I'll make a promise."

"…"

"I'll live one day longer than you."

Someday his life, and Hwi's life, would end. Then he wanted to live very well and fiercely, and stay by his side. He would become a being who never moved away from Hwi, who had had to send away and lose so many things.

"I am also a man who never breaks his word."

Late winter sunlight settled on Yunseo's cheek as he pushed up the corners of his lips brightly. Hwi's black pupils trembled, taking in that light. The fragile shell he had worn around himself was torn apart strip by strip.

At last, Hwi pulled Yunseo into his arms as though collapsing. Yunseo savored the force that bound him tightly and pulled Hwi close in return.

The sky spreading beyond Yongrim Peak was brilliant and still. A breeze stirred gently, pushing and pulling at the two men's hems. Within a peace that held no reverberations and no omens, only the breath and heartbeat of the beloved companion seeped in.

"We took a side path, didn't we."

They had traveled a long and arduous road and arrived here at last. No one knew what would happen ahead, and they had not obtained eternal peace — but they had stepped onto a new path. This path would make a new path, and that new path would make yet another — and so they would go forward together, step by steady step, hand in hand.

Hwi pressed his lips to Yunseo's ear. In a voice that was cool and beautiful, he whispered his love.

On the winter when a new year was beginning, on the day of returning to their home, at the moment of taking the first step onto the side path — Hwi's love was given to Yunseo in full and complete words. Yunseo sank into an unsurpassable happiness and gently closed his eyes.

Their lives — were only just beginning.

完