Chapter 5: A Desperate Resolve

What right did I have to cry?

I had done nothing worth forgiving.

Even these tears were a luxury I did not deserve.

I should have at least wiped them away.

Yet my body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton, incapable of moving.

As I lay there doing nothing but weep, something soft brushed against my face.

A gentle cloth wiped away both my tears and the cold sweat clinging to my skin.

“You seemed to be having an unsettling dream, so I woke you.”

My eyes turned toward the touch.

His Majesty sat beside me, carefully dabbing away my tears with a piece of plain linen.

So it had been a dream.

Realizing that His Majesty had never been beheaded…

That his accusation had only existed within the nightmare…

The tears became impossible to stop.

He did not cease wiping them away until they finally subsided.

Just as he had done when I was seven years old, crying in the Imperial Palace, he patiently dried every last tear before speaking.

“You collapsed two hours ago.

I did not wish to send you back to your residence in that condition, so I brought you to one of the vacant palace chambers instead.

Forgive the liberty.”

Even after I regained consciousness, I remained unable to move.

His Majesty personally lifted the blanket and slipped an arm around my shoulders, helping me sit upright.

“Come.

This medicine will restore your strength.

You must drink it.”

There was no strength left in my body.

No thoughts remained either.

I simply leaned limply against his chest.

The rim of a white porcelain bowl touched my lips.

“It smells unpleasant, but you still have to drink it.”

“…”

“Han.”

At last, I weakly parted my lips.

Tilting the bowl, His Majesty slowly poured the herbal medicine into my mouth.

I tasted nothing.

Neither its bitterness nor its scent reached me.

It felt as though whatever had been holding me together…

Had finally snapped.

A minister lying helplessly in his sovereign’s embrace while being fed medicine…

The very situation bordered on absurdity.

Yet His Majesty asked nothing.

To him, soothing his collapsed retainer and making sure he swallowed his medicine seemed more important than anything else.

“There you are.

Good.

That’s it.”

He was coaxing me more gently than one would soothe a three-year-old child.

The arm supporting my back was firm.

His embrace was warm.

That kindness suddenly became unbearable.

He had always been this kind.

Always shown me such boundless grace.

Never once asking for anything in return.

All I had ever wanted…

Was for that kindness to endure.

So why…

“It happens.”

His Majesty set the bowl aside and drew me closer, gently patting my back.

Somewhere along the way, tears had begun falling again.

Now that someone was there to receive them…

The silent tears that had dripped one by one became an unstoppable torrent.

My forehead rested against the side of his neck.

I felt his collar growing damp beneath my tears.

Even such disrespect from his minister earned not the slightest sign of displeasure.

He simply held me tighter.

“Sometimes we cry.

Sometimes we laugh.

That is simply life.

So it is all right.

Everything will be all right, Han.”

Without asking a single question…

He became the pillar supporting my collapsing world.

He embraced this foolish servant with limitless generosity.

“I am here.

So what is there to fear?”

“Your Majesty…

Your Majesty…”

“Yes, Han.

I am here.”

Grasping the front of his robes, I finally broke into sobs.

For the sake of the man who comforted his servant like this…

Who stroked my back while telling me everything would be all right…

What could I possibly refuse to do?

It no longer mattered whether His Majesty’s death had been nothing more than a dream…

Or a prophecy.

If anyone ever raised a blade against him…

Even if it existed only in a dream…

I would stop it.

That was the duty for which I would gladly lay down my life.

For my Emperor.

It was nearly midnight.

The road running alongside the estate wall lay in complete darkness, not a single lantern illuminating the way.

That was only natural.

The wall belonged to the Devil’s manor.

Unless someone had developed a death wish, no thief would ever think of climbing over it.

There was no need for guards.

Nor was the Devil the sort of man considerate enough to light the night for others.

Relying only on the moonlight, I followed the shadowed wall.

The broad hat concealing my face made it difficult to see, so I lifted its brim slightly.

There was nothing to gain if word spread that I had secretly met with the Red Devil.

Especially not when my purpose was far from honorable.

That was why I had come alone at such a late hour.

But before I reached the rear entrance, raised voices drifted through the night.

The back gate stood wide open.

An empty palanquin waited outside beneath the lantern light.

It seemed another visitor had arrived before me.

My steps slowed.

Then stopped.

A woman in a flowing crimson skirt emerged from the doorway.

Crossing the threshold with graceful steps, she paused to look up at the night sky before letting out a long sigh.

Her remarkably pale skin glowed beneath the moonlight like polished pearls.

Long black hair swayed gently in the evening breeze.

Her lips released faint white breaths into the cold air.

Her sorrowful eyes completed the picture of a rare beauty.

Sensing my gaze, she turned toward me.

The moment she noticed the lone figure standing in the darkness, surprise briefly crossed her tired features.

I found myself equally puzzled.

“…Hm?”

Though I had raised the brim of my hat, no light reached my side.

She should not have been able to recognize my face.

Yet she looked directly at me…

As though she knew exactly who I was.

Otherwise, she would never have looked at me with such quiet resentment.

I could hardly ask a stranger why she was glaring at me like that.

Who was she?

Judging by her elegance and bearing, she resembled the daughter of a distinguished family.

Yet no noblewoman dressed so lavishly would be leaving the Devil’s estate in the middle of the night.

My uncertainty vanished almost immediately.

The strong perfume drifting on the wind gave her away.

“Chowol.

Come along.”

An older woman—the madam of a pleasure house—appeared with several palanquin bearers, urging the young courtesan forward.

Reluctantly, the woman called Chowol looked away and climbed into the waiting palanquin.

Though it was only a few short steps…

Her gait was noticeably awkward.

“Tsk.”

Why else would a courtesan leaving the Devil’s residence have difficulty walking?

The rutting beast had undoubtedly treated her like breeding stock.

Truly…

He lived entirely as he pleased.

…And I was here to ask a favor of that very man.

After a long sigh, I crossed the same threshold she had just left behind.

People claimed the Devil’s sprawling estate contained ninety-nine rooms.

Perhaps the rumor had not been exaggerated.

To reach him, I was forced to turn corner after corner, silently following the servant leading the way.

Eventually, I spoke.

“Go on.”

The servant, who had repeatedly glanced back at me, nearly jumped out of his skin.

After swallowing hard as though summoning tremendous courage, he spoke.

“Strategist…

Lately, the General has been… in rather a poor mood.”

“That bad?”

Since I was the one coming to negotiate, even my own voice had grown tense.

“Well…

He’s never been like this before.

He often invited several people to entertain him, but he always stopped before things got out of hand.

This time…

I honestly think…”

The servant hesitated.

“…I fear he truly intends to leave behind a corpse.”

“Don’t worry.”

I answered without expression.

“Your master has already left plenty of corpses behind.

One more will hardly be noticeable.”

“Even so…”

Having finally arrived, the servant still hesitated before the paper door.

Only after several moments of uncertainty did he slowly slide it open.

The instant the room came into view…

I understood his reluctance.

“Good grief…”

I barely swallowed the curse rising in my throat.

The banquet table had been overturned.

Bronze dishes lay scattered across the floor.

Food and spilled wine covered the room.

Naked bodies…

Men and women alike…

Were strewn among the overturned dishes.

The sharp smell of alcohol filled the air.

Beneath it lingered another odor.

Heavy.

Stale.

Animal.

The unmistakable scent of lust.

It was not a sight I cared to witness.

Turning away, I heard the servant hurry inside, desperately trying to rouse the intoxicated bodies from the floor.

But there was nothing heavier than a drunk.

No matter how he pleaded, they scarcely stirred.

The poor servant looked pitiful, nearly in tears as he struggled to clear the room without provoking the Red Devil’s temper.

The Devil ended the matter with a single word.

“Out.”

Those who had ignored the servant’s pleading instantly scrambled to their feet.

Men and women alike fled the room without hesitation.

Keeping my face turned away from the spectacle of fully grown adults hastily gathering themselves, I closed my eyes for a moment.

Only after the servant bowed deeply and withdrew did I slide the door shut behind him.

Now…

The room held only the Devil and me.

That was hardly an improvement.

Whatever chaos had unfolded earlier, even the innocent folding screen had been smashed and discarded into a corner.

The Devil sat against the wall where it had once stood.

Leaning back casually, he drank straight from a wine jar.

As the obvious instigator of the night’s debauchery…

He wore not a single thread of clothing.

Tilting the bottle high, he drank deeply.

A thin stream of clear liquor escaped the corner of his mouth.

My eyes followed its path involuntarily.

It slid over the hard line of his throat.

Down the center of his broad chest.

Across the sharply defined muscles of his abdomen.

Before disappearing into the dark hair below.

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