Chapter 1: The Capture of Moon Hae-min

It was a piercingly cold winter.

“Hoo…”

Moon Hae-min hated the cold.

Not that many people truly liked it, but Hae-min in particular had a constitution that was weak against the cold.

Every year, from around Hanro¹, he would grow tense, and by the time Ipdong² arrived he would shiver to the point of trembling.

Whether it was because he simply hated the cold itself, or because winter made him feel even lonelier, he did not know.

After all, there was no one with whom Moon Hae-min could share warmth.

Gathering every piece of clothing he owned and wearing them all while shivering alone was the only way he survived winter.

“Hoo, hoo…”

But not anymore.

Hae-min blew warm breath onto the baby nestled in his arms.

Even for an adult like him, the forced journey had been exhausting, how much harder must it be for a newborn who was not even fifteen days old?

Yet the baby did not cry.

Instead, he smiled faintly.

The sight was both adorable and heartbreaking, and Hae-min gently played with the baby’s tiny, fern-like fingers.

The baby’s lips moved slightly.

For a moment Hae-min thought he might be trying to babble, but no sound came out.

Perhaps it was still too early for that.

After all, Hae-min had never given birth before, nor raised a child.

He did not know such things well.

So instead, Hae-min spoke.

“Little blessing.”

It was a taemyeong³ he had given the child, meaning the precious blessing that had come into his life despite everything, and also a wish that the child’s life would be blessed.

Hae-min repeated that wish in his heart once more.

“Endure just a little longer. Your father has secured a boat bound for Wonya. Life will be much easier there. Once we escape Yeomyeong first…”

Yeomyeong.

The country where Moon Haemin had been born and raised, where he had lived his entire life.

And yet now he had no choice but to leave behind the homeland he had never once imagined departing from.

To say he was not afraid would be a lie.

But if Hae-min, and his little blessing, were to survive, they had to leave.

Because in Yeomyeong, they could not escape the eyes of Song Seol.

“…Don’t worry. I have everything planned. Wonya is a place where merchant caravans pass through, so they say people skilled with numbers are valuable there. If I work diligently, we should be able to make a living. Even if things don’t go as well as expected, surely a living mouth won’t starve.”

In Hanseong, in Songdo, he had somehow endured all this time.

There was no reason he could not endure in Wonya as well.

“So we’ll live happily.”

The moment he softly whispered those words to the baby in his arms…

Bang!

A thunderous crash rang out.

The door burst open, and a blizzard of snow rushed inside.

“We’ve found him, Grand Prince!”

A fully armed soldier shouted.

Hae-min could not even defeat one soldier, yet when he looked outside, there were dozens of them.

Realizing the situation, his body trembled.

‘Have I been discovered…? Surely not… please no…’

As he repeated that futile hope, the soldiers stepped aside one by one.

Someone walked through the path they created.

A man as cold and imposing as if he carried the northern wind upon his body.

It was Song Seol.

“…Ah…”

The moment Hae-min faced him, all strength drained from his body.

He wanted to run, but there was nowhere to flee.

The best he could do was stagger backward on unsteady steps.

Even that ended after two steps, when his back struck the wall.

“So this is the place you fled to after all that effort.”

The lantern cast a gloomy shadow across Song Seol’s face.

His tone was calm, but from him burst a frost-like scent aura.

He truly looked like a man who had come to retrieve a concubine who had run away with another.

The thought was not entirely wrong.

Hae-min let out a faint laugh, and white breath slipped between his pale lips.

Seeing that, Song Seol’s thick brows furrowed.

“Who is that child?”

“…”

“Am I the child’s father?”

Moon Hae-min tightly embraced his little blessing.

It was true.

Song Seol was the child’s father.

But Hae-min did not want to reveal that.

It was not simply because he feared Song Seol’s anger.

He himself was merely a concubine.

No matter how noble Song Seol’s status was, the child would only become an illegitimate son.

Even if he wished to pass down only good things, how could he condemn the child to such a fate?

That alone was the reason he had chosen to run.

“No. I am the child’s father.”

“So you possess the wondrous ability to give birth alone.”

Song Seol paused.

Just as Hae-min had smelled Song Seol’s scent aura, Song Seol had now caught Hae-min’s.

Hae-min hurriedly tried to suppress his own scent.

But he could not.

After childbirth, controlling one’s scent was naturally difficult.

“You can release a scent?”

This was not something Hae-min had deliberately deceived him about.

Who could have expected that after living twenty years as an ordinary person, he would suddenly manifest as an eumin⁴?

Since it was not something he wished to confess to Song Seol, Hae-min merely lowered his head deeply.

A cold voice followed.

“I will ask you something. You must answer this question.”

“…Please speak.”

“Is your name Moon Hee-yul?”

At the unexpected question, Hae-min’s head snapped upward.

But thinking about it, this was something that would have been discovered eventually.

The day had simply come sooner than expected.

“No.”

“Then?”

“…As you said, Grand Prince, I am not Moon Hee-yul. I will gladly accept punishment for deceiving you all this time, so please punish me.”

“That is not what I asked.”

Perhaps irritated by Hae-min’s slow understanding, Song Seol frowned slightly.

“What is your name?”

“…It is Moon Hae-min.”

“Moon Hae-min.”

As if learning a new word, Song Seol slowly repeated the name.

Then he spoke again.

“So the name Moon Hee-yul was a lie. And being a scentless eumin was also a lie.”

“…”

“Then was saying you did not love me also a lie?”

“…That alone is the truth.”

There had been a moment when Hae-min felt affection for Song Seol.

For a fragile moment, he had even believed they might maintain a decent relationship.

But now, that was all in the past.

He had committed a crime against Song Seol.

And it was a sin that could never be forgiven.

“Take him away.”

Song Seol gave the brief order.

Two soldiers rushed into the room and seized Hae-min’s arms.

Hae-min struggled desperately to break free from their iron grips.

“Let go!”

He could not be captured like this.

It would be one thing if only he were taken, but his little blessing would be taken as well.

As he tensed his entire body to resist being dragged away, the baby suddenly began to cry.

Hwe… hwe…

The weak cries, lacking strength, were pitiful to hear.

The soldiers hesitated, unable to be too harsh.

In the end, Song Seol stepped forward.

He took the baby from Hae-min’s arms.

After handing the child to a soldier, Song Seol seized Hae-min and dragged him away with an unyielding grip.

“Please let me go!”

Hae-min resisted with all his strength.

His little blessing, unlike his father, the child should grow up receiving only love and happiness.

Thinking about how Song Seol might treat the child drove him nearly mad with worry.

“Grand Prince! My lord, please…!”

But Song Seol ignored Hae-min’s pleas.

He forced Hae-min onto a horse and pulled the reins.

The heartless horse, so much like its master, began to run.

“No…!”

The fierce wind swallowed his cries.

He tried to turn his head, but Song Seol’s body blocked his view.

Hae-min trembled in grief and thought bitterly.

How had things ended up like this?

Why…?

He knew the answer.

Not because there was none, but because there were too many.

He should have fled more thoroughly.

He should never have spent the night with Song Seol.

No matter the lord’s command, he should never have taken Hee-yul’s place and become Song Seol’s concubine.

As those regrets circled endlessly in his mind, one final thought emerged.

If he had to live as an illegitimate son anyway, he should have simply died back then.

Moon Hae-min wept silently.

Snow fell like the sorrowful tears slipping from his eyes.

****

¹ Hanro (寒露): A seasonal term in the traditional East Asian calendar marking the arrival of colder autumn weather.
² Ipdong (立冬): The seasonal term signifying the beginning of winter.
³ Taemyeong: A temporary name given to a baby during pregnancy or early infancy before an official name is decided.
⁴ Eumin: A secondary gender in certain fantasy settings (similar to omegaverse dynamics), capable of pregnancy regardless of being male.