Chapter 35: Still Not at Peace

Suddenly forced to sit facing Gangcheon, Haeryeong shed heavy tears, finding the deepened penetration of the Emperor’s penis overwhelming.

“Ah… mmph.”

The moment his mouth parted to let out a gasp, Gangcheon delved inside him and thrust his hips upward.

Haeryeong’s body went rigid for a second before he clung to the man with all four limbs, a deep groan erupting from the back of his throat.

Gangcheon pulled Haeryeong’s back and waist downward, thrusting his hips with forceful, grinding movements.

“Ah! Mmph! Nng! Ah! Ah-hng!”

Every time the Emperor’s hips snapped upward in a rapid rhythm, Haeryeong let out a high-pitched cry.

The hands gripping Gangcheon’s shoulders tightened, and a stinging pain followed as nails dug into skin.

Gangcheon accepted even that as a lewd pleasure, curling his lips into a smile while their mouths remained joined.

Facial muscles intoxicated by excitement formed a grin of their own accord.

Within the Empress’s bedchamber, a cloying atmosphere lingered as their scents remained hopelessly intertwined.

After three days and nights of total immersion, the end of the heat cycle finally arrived.

The cycle, which had begun in the afternoon, only ceased deep into the dawn of the fourth day.

Exhausted to the point of collapse after being submerged in carnal desire for such a long time, the two fell into a stupor, neither knowing who succumbed first.

It was a profound sleep; even as they lay locked in each other’s arms, drenched in sweat and the semen they had traded, they felt not a hint of discomfort.

****

When Gangcheon finally woke after a long slumber, Haeryeong was no longer in his arms.

Squinting as he turned his head, he saw the Empress already awake, sitting on the bed and staring beyond the canopy.

Following his gaze to see what was there, he saw the empty perch and the closed window.

‘Did he miss the hawk the moment he woke up?’

Gangcheon shifted stealthily and wrapped his arms around the other’s waist, causing Haeryeong to turn his head in surprise.

His wide eyes eventually curved upward in a slight arc.

“Have you awakened, Your Majesty?”

Hearing a voice more raspy than usual from the days of screaming made Gangcheon’s throat go dry.

As Gangcheon sat up, their perspectives reversed.

When Haeryeong, who had been stealing a look upward, lowered his eyes, Gangcheon drew close and bit his still-red and swollen lips.

“Nng. The sun is already high in the sky, Your Majesty,” Haeryeong whispered, turning his head before the man could finish the kiss.

Gangcheon pulled his chin back, aligning their lips as he whispered.

“It is the perfect time to start again, is it not? Is that not so?”

Haeryeong sent him a look of distress as Gangcheon giggled and sucked on his lips.

“The heat cycle is already over…”

“Aha. So you wish to do nothing with me unless you are in heat?”

“It is… not that…”

Gangcheon laughed joyfully, pressing kisses against the face of the man who had clamped his mouth shut like a clam in embarrassment.

“In a devoted marriage, there is no set time or place for intimacy.”

Gangcheon chased after the lips that were darting away as if trying to escape, kissing him deeply before letting out a soft chuckle.

“Still, your vitality must be quite drained after several days, so let us eat first. After we wash.”

Gangcheon raised his voice toward the outside of the bedroom.

“Manchul, are you there?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I have been waiting.”

“Prepare hot water in the bath.”

After giving the command, Gangcheon pulled back the quilt and leaned toward Haeryeong’s body.

He buried his lips in the chest that was mottled with marks from the days of biting and sucking, his hand tracing up the man’s waist.

Immediately, a bewildered groan spilled from above his head.

“Nng, Your Majesty…”

As he sucked on a ripened, red nipple, he could feel the spine beneath his palm shiver.

“Please… nng… do not do this.”

“Do not do this?”

“You must… attend court soon…”

“Ah.”

Gangcheon opened his mouth wide to suck firmly on the chest before releasing it and lifting his head.

He brushed aside the hair that had fallen to cover the Empress’s face, bringing his furrowed brows into full view.

“I shall not be attending court today. Since the heat cycle is over, today is the day I can finally embrace you properly.”

Throughout the heat cycle, Gangcheon had not released his semen inside him.

He had enjoyed the intimacy more than expected, and he felt it would be too cruel to force a conception during the very first cycle.

Now that the cycle was over and the risk of conception had passed, he wanted to pour his semen into the man to his heart’s content.

Gangcheon stroked the man’s cheek with the back of his hand as he looked down at him, drawing closer in silence.

“Empress. Just receive my favor quietly. Do not resist. Do you understand?”

Before their lips met, a small sob settled upon Gangcheon’s mouth.

“Mmph… Your grace is boundless.”

The eyelids, closed so softly, trembled as moisture began to seep through the dark lashes.

While sucking on his lips and scanning his form, Gangcheon quietly curved his eyes, finding the small, broken sobs within the man’s mouth delightful.

Haeryeong sat in a daze before the breakfast table.

‘What on earth just happened?’

Because every act that had been a blur during the heat cycle had been repeated with perfect clarity last night, he was practically in a state of shock.

The man who had spent the night ravaging his interior with his penis was now sitting opposite him with a thoroughly refreshed expression, having already begun his meal.

Haeryeong winced as he tightened the muscles of a place that felt as though it would never close again.

Every time he did, the dull, throbbing ache was so uncomfortable that he could only sit there stiffly, unable to do one thing or another.

He thought he hadn’t let it show on his face, but the perceptive Emperor took notice.

“Do you feel discomfort somewhere?”

Haeryeong could not bring himself to say that the place the Emperor had ravaged was uncomfortable, so he simply lowered his head.

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Then let us eat.”

The Emperor had risen at dawn to attend the assembly, only to return and wake the Haeryeong who had been sleeping as if dead to feed him restorative medicine.

Then, insisting they have breakfast together, he had forced the half-asleep Haeryeong to get up.

His entire body felt languid, he had no appetite, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep.

As Haeryeong let out a silent sigh and picked up his spoon, the Emperor’s face brightened slightly.

“You haven’t eaten properly throughout the cycle, so eat slowly and eat plenty.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Because he had practically fasted for days, breakfast today was porridge.

It was a severe ordeal to mash the soft milk porridge in his mouth and swallow it without even needing to chew.

‘Is it because I want to escape the gaze of the man who is sitting there smirking at me?’

After finishing the meal, the Emperor returned to the side palace and told Haeryeong to rest more, but he could not.

Because the heat cycle had delayed everything, there was now less than a month and a half left until the Founding Festival.

To follow the hawking party, he had to learn horsemanship, and since Changcheon’s training wasn’t even finished yet, he had no time to idle around.

In the morning, as Haeryeong headed to the Imperial Stables, Han Su-yong of the Black Shadow Unit followed behind him carrying Changcheon.

Perhaps because word had been sent ahead, the stable master was waiting with a saddled Nureongi.

Haeryeong approached, having tucked an apple into his wide sleeve to give to the horse.

In the few days he had been gone, a name tag had been attached to the horse’s neck—a shell tag identical to Changcheon’s.

“What is this?”

Looking at the shell tag that read “Hwangcheon,” Haeryeong’s brow narrowed.

‘Yellow Heaven.’

It was a bizarre meaning, but more than that, another word with the same sound came to mind.

“His Imperial Majesty personally bestowed it, instructing that it be attached to the horse.”

Haeryeong blinked in confusion before clamping his mouth shut and staring at the tag.

Come to think of it, the handwriting was definitely his.

Seeing the rough, bold strokes that reflected the man’s confident and arrogant nature, Haeryeong struggled to swallow the sigh that threatened to burst out.

‘Is this a warning that the Founding Festival will be my road to the underworld (Hwangcheon-gil)?’

‘No wonder he encouraged hawking, something he had never suggested in my entire life.’

He had let him live until twenty-four before, but now it seemed even that was too much of a burden.

An involuntary, hollow laugh escaped him.

‘After tormenting me like that last night, I suppose he really does hate me that much.’

Surviving and leaving would be best, but if he could die early without having to see any more of this filth, perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad either.

Thinking that way made his heart feel a bit lighter.

Lost in his thoughts, Haeryeong lifted his head at the sensation of his hair being tugged.

Nureongi was chewing on his hair as if it were fodder.

“Do not do that,” Haeryeong chided the horse quietly.

Nureongi stared intently into Haeryeong’s face, moving his jaw slowly as he chewed the hair.

Haeryeong swallowed a lump in his throat and soothed the horse in a raspy voice.

“Are you going to torment me too? Please do not. Even without you, my life is difficult enough. So please, let go.”

In truth, these were the words he wanted to say to the Emperor.

He had wanted to push away the man who tormented him all through the night and beg to be left in peace.

‘Please, just let me live out my days in silence.’

Haeryeong had pleaded this in his heart countless times while weeping and gasping beneath him.

Perhaps because his body was still exhausted, his emotions flared and tears began to seep out.

As Haeryeong covered his eyes with his palm and bowed his head, the spiteful horse let out a whinny and thrust its head toward him.

Stumbling back from the nudge, Haeryeong gritted his teeth.

‘Whether it is the horses or the people…’

‘Why are all the things in this Imperial Palace like this?’

‘Why can they not leave a person be? Why are they so desperate to harass me without a moment’s peace?’

When he glared at the horse with wet eyes, it flicked its perked ears one by one and gave its head a shake.

The way it whinnied and stomped its legs reminded him so much of the Emperor, who had spent the night pouring out lewd talk and forcing his penis into him, that he hated the animal even more.