Chapter 45: The Absolute Exception

Anok had fully expected to turn around and see the face of an ordinary court lady or a palace eunuch, so he was visibly startled by the long shadow of someone who stood a half-head taller than him.

The fabric of his robes bore zero distinct ornamentation save for the intricate patterns woven directly into the silk, but it was the deep purple court uniform, neatly framing his pale complexion, that caught Anok’s eye first.

Next came the long neck left entirely exposed by his tightly bound hair, a sharp and clearly defined angular jawline, a clean face bearing a faint, healthy color, and those long, horizontally sweeping eyes.

“Shall we walk together?”

Yeo Jae-won’s voice, carrying its signature low, resonant weight, drifted down to Anok’s feet before finally settling in his ears.

The marks left by someone who has been fervently held in one’s heart for a long time do not vanish easily. Facing Yeo Jae-won in this quietly blooming space caused the emotions Anok had fought so hard to bury and ignore to violently overflow. His insides churned with turbulent emotion.

Even so, would just a brief moment be alright? Compared to seven years, this fraction of time is nothing more than a passing flash. Just for a moment, is it too greedy to wish to be by his side?

His softened heart swayed gently in the late spring breeze. The moment Anok offered a slow nod of consent, Yeo Jae-won naturally took his place right beside him.

The two of them walked in absolute silence. Even as they drifted past the perimeter of the Hamhyang Pavilion and ventured deeper into the secluded heart of the Anhwa Garden, zero words passed between them.

Did I ever share a moment like this with Yeo Jae-won in my past life?

Whenever they had been left completely alone, Anok had invariably been paralyzed by anxiety. He had often suffered from an obsessive compulsion that he had to say something—anything—to fill the void. Because of that, whenever he had hesitated and stumbled over his words, Yeo Jae-won would stare at him in sheer frustration before turning on his heel. Countless times, Anok had desperately reached his hand into the empty air to pull him back, only to quietly pull it back in defeat.

Because of those bitter memories, this exact interlude felt entirely like a dream. He wondered if he was trapped inside an illusion. Anok reached up with his hand and gave his own cheek a sharp, careful pinch. The vivid sting of pain proved with absolute certainty that this was reality.

“Why are you pinching your own cheek? ……Do you find some peculiar amusement in that?”

“What? Ah, no, it is not that……. ……It is nothing.”

He could hardly confess that he had done it because he never envisioned a reality where the Prince would walk with him like this, so Anok began to formulate an excuse before dropping it entirely. Yeo Jae-won studied him for a long beat before slowly shaking his head a few times.

“How did the matter regarding Court Lady Cho conclude?”

Anok had wondered why the Prince had accompanied him so deep into the Anhwa Garden; it seemed he was simply curious about what details had been discussed with the Empress at the Gyoyeong Palace.

Feeling the dry, crisp texture of the dirt beneath his boots, Anok pulled his gaze away from the scenery and turned his eyes fully toward Yeo Jae-won.

“I decided to send her back to the Gyoyeong Palace.”

“To the Gyoyeong Palace?”

Objectively, it was a decision that was bound to be difficult to comprehend. Since Min Hwa-young herself had initially reacted with visible displeasure, it was entirely natural for Yeo Jae-won to question it in this manner.

Anok offered a slow nod. Rather than throwing out a barrage of questions to unpack an illogical choice, Yeo Jae-won maintained his silence, patiently waiting for his bride to expand on his thoughts.

Standing on the razor-thin boundary between a boy and a grown man, Anok’s twenty-year-old face looked delicate yet strangely resolute. Keeping his lips pressed into a firm line as he gathered his thoughts, Anok calmly explained the logic behind his choice, just as he had done before Min Hwa-young.

“She was originally stationed at the Gyoyeong Palace, and she is the court lady who oversaw the training of the Prince’s consort. If she is cast out of the imperial palace entirely due to a disgraceful scandal, finding a new place to settle will be nearly impossible for her. Banishing her might bring peace of mind for the immediate moment, but it ultimately leaves behind a dangerous ember that could spark future trouble.”

Anok kept his eyes anchored strictly to the path ahead as he walked, but he suddenly realized that the stinging bite of the harsh sunlight beaming from his left had entirely vanished. Come to think of it, it had been that way for a while now.

Halting his explanation, he lifted his head. Yeo Jae-won was walking slowly beside him, carefully matching his stride perfectly to Anok’s while using his own large frame to completely shield his bride from the piercing sun.

“Do you truly believe Court Lady Cho possesses the conscience to return a favor like a grateful magpie from a fairy tale?”

It didn’t seem like an act of deliberate, calculated kindness on the Prince’s part. Yeo Jae-won’s focus remained entirely locked on the ultimate fate of Court Lady Cho that had been decided at the Gyoyeong Palace. Forcing his wildly racing heart back into a state of calm, Anok looked away.

“Even so, shouldn’t a person be granted at least one opportunity?”

Their slow steps fell back into a quiet, synchronized rhythm.

Even as the word opportunity slipped past his lips, Anok found it difficult to shake the profound hypocrisy of his own statement. In reality, he viewed his own second lifecycle not as a golden opportunity, but as a horrific curse.

Given his own grim reality, who was he to be handing out opportunities to anyone? Anok could not entirely conceal the bitter self-derision creeping into his expression.

“At least one opportunity must be granted…….”

Anok caught a fleeting glimpse of Yeo Jae-won as the Prince softly repeated his words under his breath, but Anok quickly moved along in silence, pretending he had heard absolutely nothing. Having reached the deepest boundary of the garden, their path naturally looped them back toward the Hamhyang Pavilion.

“If.”

Just a few more paces would bring them back to the pavilion. Eunuch Im and the other attendants had stopped trailing them at some point, choosing instead to wait quietly at the secluded pavilion for their return.

The low voice suddenly caught Anok’s ankles like a physical weight, forcing him to halt and turn around with the pavilion standing just out of reach. Yeo Jae-won stood with his hands clasped neatly behind his back, his dark eyes locked intensely onto Anok.

“If someone were to commit an absolute, unpardonable sin against you…….”

“…….”

“……Even then, would you grant him a single opportunity?”

What does he know to be asking a question like this? Anok knew with absolute certainty that the man standing a few paces away from him was vastly different from the version of Yeo Jae-won he had known for seven years.

Both men were undeniably Yeo Jae-won. Yet, they were fundamentally distinct. The Prince of Myeong who had lived as his husband in his past life and the Yeo Jae-won standing before his eyes felt like entirely separate entities. Despite that reality, this specific question felt heavily as though it were being asked by the very Yeo Jae-won who had shared those brutal seven years with him.

It sounded dangerously close to the Prince begging to know if Anok could ever find it in himself to forgive his cold cruelty and cutting cynicism.

Could I ever forgive him?

Anok’s mind instantly flashed to the image of the ruthless, calculating politician who had remained entirely unbothered even in the face of their child’s tragic death.

The man who had deemed it a waste of effort to even grant a name to a fragile infant destined to slip away from the world.

The man who would vanish the moment their shared nights concluded, leaving behind zero traces of warmth.

The man who had completely turned his back on him, leaving him to desperately claw for survival in a foreign territory populated entirely by cold strangers.

If that man stood before him right now and begged for an opportunity, could Anok ever bring himself to grant it?

Anok’s eyes shook violently, resembling a fragile skiff tossed about on a tempestuous sea. After drifting aimlessly through his chaotic thoughts, his gaze finally locked onto Yeo Jae-won, who had silently closed the physical distance between them—and there, his composure completely wrecked.

“I am asking you if you would grant a single opportunity, even if I were to commit a catastrophic wrong against you.”

Hearing the voice echo the exact phrases he had turned over in his mind countless times, Anok dragged up the ultimate answer that had been submerged deep within his soul. Throughout those grueling seven years where he had stubbornly remained by Yeo Jae-won’s side, Anok had handed him an infinite number of opportunities.

It was undeniably true. Anok had willingly surrendered himself to Yeo Jae-won. In doing so, he had handed the Prince the endless opportunity to wound him and treat him with icy neglect. ……He had done it solely because he loved him with every fiber of his being.

To put it another way, as long as Anok refused to love him, Yeo Jae-won possessed zero leverage to hurt him. Anok would simply never hand him that opportunity again.

“……No.”

Therefore, Anok slowly shook his head. He had handed out more than enough opportunities in his past life. He possessed zero desire to be shattered by him a second time. That was the ultimate, driving catalyst behind his vow to leave him.

“I might be able to grant one to anyone else, but…… I cannot give one to you, Your Highness.”

Because I have already given you far too many.

Anok felt his own voice pierce straight into his ears, carving a brutal, permanent resolution directly over his heart. The engraving was agonizingly painful. It felt as though his chest were being violently torn to shreds.

What if, despite all of this, I find myself wanting to give him another chance? Terrified by the abstract dread of his own lingering attachments, Anok instinctively took a sharp step backward.

Looking at Yeo Jae-won from a short distance, the Prince’s face had contorted into a strange, twisted mask of profound bewilderment and utter shock. It was impossible to discern whether the expression stemmed from pure irritation or the absolute confusion of hitting an impenetrable wall.

For a man who had spent his entire life being treated as an exceptionally exalted, singular entity above all others, this stark form of exclusion was likely a foreign concept.

Perhaps I have wounded him, Anok thought. Yet, he felt zero trace of triumph. On the contrary, his chest felt incredibly tight, and a sickening, heavy wave of nausea washed over him.

“You are truly cold-hearted only to me, My Consort.”

Following a long, heavy silence, the corners of Yeo Jae-won’s lips lifted into a tight smile, clearly attempting to brush Anok’s words off as nothing more than a joke.

He then moved past Anok as lightly as a passing breeze. Walking ahead under the natural assumption that his bride would follow behind him, the Prince finally halted and turned around when he registered zero footsteps trailing him after a short wait.

“What are you doing? Hurry along.”

“…….”

“We must go home.”

Anok had fully believed that after spending such a vast stretch of time staring at Yeo Jae-won’s retreating back, he had grown entirely numb to it. Yet, a sudden, terrifying fear gripped him that a day might come when that very silhouette would become entirely unrecognizable.

He was terrified that he might grow dangerously accustomed to that unprompted, gentle voice. He was terrified that viewing the space the Prince called “home” as his own natural, unquestioned destination would start to feel normal.

Refusing to lower his guarded, alienated gaze from the man waiting for him, Anok forced his feet to move forward in a slow, measured crawl. Yet, throughout the entire trek back, Yeo Jae-won patiently maintained his pace, walking in perfect step beside him.

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