Chapter 28: All of Me is Yours

A grumpy voice, accompanied by a familiar presence, drifted from behind him. Startled, Hwaun opened his eyes and turned around. Standing next to Ajin—who knew when he had arrived?—was the man he was so glad to see, wearing a face full of pique as he directed his complaints toward the maid.

“To whom is he trying to look so lovely, displaying that fine face to the moonlight in a place where I am not present? This is why I cannot help but be anxious.”

Ajin, listening to the Emperor’s lament, was red-faced from suppressed laughter, barely managing to stammer out, “Yes… Yes, Your Majesty…”

The faint shadow that had lingered on Hwaun’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a blooming smile. No amount of guilt could now overcome the romantic devotion Hwaun felt for Ihan. With practiced grace, Hwaun lowered himself onto one knee.

“I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor.”

“I have told you more than a hundred times not to kneel, yet you never listen. Ajin-ah, your master is truly quite troublesome.”

The way the Emperor affectionately called her “Ajin-ah” was no longer a surprise to her or the rest of the Jeong-an Palace staff. In fact, rumors had spread throughout the palace that the person most to be envied was not the favored Consort Jin, but Ajin of the Jeong-an Palace. To the other servants, she was a maid who served a stunningly handsome and kind master who treated her with the highest respect, and she was even a person the Emperor recognized personally, called by name, and spoke with one-on-one. For those who wouldn’t dare dream of receiving the Emperor’s physical grace, it was clear who they would envy more.

Ajin, unable to agree that her master was “troublesome” but not daring to contradict the Emperor, simply lowered her head as if she weren’t there and stepped back a few paces. Since the Emperor hadn’t actually expected an answer from her, it caused no issue.

In the meantime, Ihan hurriedly approached Hwaun to help him up, his voice still thick with feigned dissatisfaction.

“The night wind has grown quite cold; why are you out here?”

“Your Majesty mentioned you might not be able to come today, so I was merely passing the time.”

At that, Ihan leaned his face slightly closer to Hwaun’s and teased, “…So, you were upset because I said I might not come.”

“…….”

“You were so lonely and solitary without me that you couldn’t bear it. Oh dear… what am I to do, with Consort Jin’s heart for me being so deep? Sigh…”

His playful, boyish tone pulled a laugh from Hwaun. The sly voice and face were so entirely lovely that Hwaun looked directly at the Emperor with a lingering smile and replied:

“Did you not know until now that my heart for Your Majesty is this deep?”

The Emperor’s face, which had been full of easy confidence until that moment, suddenly froze. It was the content of the words, of course, but more than that, his heart tightened with joy because the person who used to hesitate and shrink back no longer did so. Hwaun had become comfortable enough to boldly return his teasing. This relaxed smile and this answer were the fruits of all the days they had spent together.

However, Ihan quickly hardened his face again, trying to hide the fact that he was melting inside. He didn’t intend to let Hwaun off that easily today. Noticing the shift in expression, Hwaun asked:

“But Your Majesty… has something displeased you?”

“Ha… are you really asking me that now?”

Ihan’s voice was pointedly accusatory. Hwaun, looking confused, began to ask, “Did I do something wrong…?” but before he could finish, Ihan raised his voice.

“You—don’t ever do that again.”

“By ‘that,’ you mean…”

“That sword dance! The sword dance!”

As the memory of the dance he had shyly tried to forget surfaced from the Emperor’s lips, Hwaun looked flustered. He had no idea why Ihan was bringing up the dance now, or why he was suddenly telling him not to do the very thing he had prepared as a birthday gift. As Hwaun stood there blinking, Ihan spoke again, looking as though he were dying of frustration.

“If you prepared it for me, you should have shown it to me in secret! Why on earth did you perform it in a place where everyone in the world could see?”

“E-everyone… it wasn’t the whole world, it was just the banquet…”

“That is my point! Why did you perform it at a banquet where so many people were watching?”

Ajin was the first to realize what the Emperor meant. She knew that her master’s sword dance had become the greatest topic of gossip in the palace. Since that night, she and the other servants of Jeong-an Palace had seen people everywhere losing their minds while gossiping about how mesmerizing Consort Jin had been.

Ajin’s eyes, filled with shock, instinctively sought out Chief Eunuch Oh. The Chief Eunuch simply shook his head slowly at her with a face of total resignation. He had already been hounded by Ihan, who had heard the palace servants talking about Hwaun’s dance. Eunuch Oh’s hope—that the Emperor would regain his imperial dignity once he became used to these feelings—was being proven spectacularly wrong.

To put it more bluntly and irreverently: the Emperor’s condition was worsening by the day. He was now at the point of being jealous of the very air Consort Jin inhaled.

While only Ajin could understand Eunuch Oh’s sorrow, the Emperor grabbed Hwaun’s wrist and pulled him closer.

“That… from now on, only perform it in front of me.”

“Your Majesty.”

“And not just that, but everything else. Don’t show anyone else how elegant, beautiful, and cool you are. Show only me.”

Finally realizing that Ihan’s clumsy display was nothing but jealousy, Hwaun gently took the hand that was holding his wrist and spoke quietly.

“…Is it not all Your Majesty’s anyway?”

Hwaun’s voice, whispering as he drew closer, completely ensnared Ihan’s entire being. The feeling of pique vanished instantly, replaced by a tingling sensation. Whether he noticed Ihan’s gaze deepening or not, Hwaun continued.

“Even if the whole world truly saw it, it means nothing to me.”

“…….”

“From start to finish, it was for Your Majesty alone. It was offered only to you, so no one else could possibly grasp its meaning in their hearts.”

Hwaun’s voice was perfectly natural, free of any shrinking or hesitation. Without realizing it, he had become the only person in the palace capable of handling and soothing all of the Emperor’s emotions.

In a voice that had lost all its previous fire, Ihan murmured, “But… the servants are all talking about how beautiful you were that day. You are mine.”

“Who would dare to say I am not Your Majesty’s? And… more people are praising the Emperor than are talking about me.”

“Hmph. What does that matter? Even if people praise me, my beloved doesn’t even get jealous.”

Ihan made a dissatisfied face again, but his voice and momentum had already melted away. Facing that expression from so close, Hwaun was suddenly overcome with the feeling that the man was unbearably cute.

The supreme Son of Heaven, who led a nation, showed such a clumsy, boyish side only in front of him. It was as if he were declaring: Adoring you can never damage my dignity. This is not something to hide, and it is certainly not something to be ashamed of.

Whenever and wherever Hwaun was, Ihan always revealed his emotions completely like this. So how could Hwaun not find him lovely?

“Your Majesty…”

Hwaun called to him, his voice suddenly growing heavy. Noticing the change in temperature, Ihan also met Hwaun’s eyes, the playfulness gone from his gaze.

“…Shall we go inside now?”

There was a heat in Hwaun’s voice that he couldn’t quite hide. Or perhaps, he hadn’t intended to hide it at all. By being with an Emperor who always expressed his affection so honestly, Hwaun had learned how to stop hiding his love as well.

Ihan didn’t bother to answer; he simply pulled on Hwaun’s hand. At the thought that Ihan was likely feeling the same impatience as he was, Hwaun felt a tug in his lower abdomen and his whole body tensed.

“…….”

As Hwaun willingly allowed himself to be led, he suddenly turned his head to look at the pond, still quiet under the moonlight.

There are things that will not change even as time passes. Though Hwaun never let it show, he knew that the Emperor sometimes came out alone at dawn to stand before that pond for a long time. He knew for whom the Emperor personally burned paper money in the deepest parts of the Hall of Stability. Just as Hwaun thought of “him” while planting and tending flowers here, the Emperor also remembered him.

Hwaun did not know if that person would find these gestures pleasing. Perhaps he would be furious, seeing it as mockery. Nevertheless, until the day Hwaun’s life under this name ended, he would feel a sense of debt toward him, and the Emperor would remember that there was once a blind, life-risking affection.

For life, by its nature, is about enduring and surviving through such painful and sad days, finding happiness within them.

“What is it?”

Feeling Hwaun’s steps slow for a moment, the Emperor turned back to look at him and asked. Feeling the Emperor’s heart—which worried over even the smallest thing—through his fingertips, Hwaun shook his head. The momentary hesitation in his step vanished as he picked up the pace, and the two walked across the Jeong-an Palace, their hands firmly clasped as they always were.

It was not just today, but their entire lives.

In the winter of the following year, Yeon Hwaun was elevated to the rank of Gwi-bi (Noble Consort).

He remained by the side of the greatest Sage King in history.

He was recorded as the Emperor’s beloved, with whom no one else could even be compared.

This was the story of a man who threw his entire life toward a single Emperor.