Chapter 43: A Plea in the Peach Blossom Wind

A sweet scent of alcohol wafted from the approaching Emperor’s mouth.

Peach blossom fragrance billowed after it.

The Emperor licked Haeryeong’s lips with a tongue even hotter than usual.

He was persistent, as if determined to keep licking until the lips parted, his entire body exuding a syrupy aroma.

Whether it was because of the peach blossoms or the alcohol, his breath grew increasingly shallow.

The moment he parted his lips while gasping through his nose, the Emperor invaded his mouth.

As their tongues overlapped, the first scent Haeryeong caught was the cinnamon remaining from the Gamhongno.

By the time the Emperor pulled his tongue back, a sweet taste followed.

Without rushing, the Emperor slowly melted and savored Haeryeong’s tongue.

He rolled it around like a piece of confection, licking it and even nipping firmly.

Startled by the hard teeth pressing against his soft tongue, Haeryeong shifted his body, only for the Emperor to pull his waist closer with a solid arm.

Before he knew it, he had been pulled back onto the man’s thighs.

Perhaps due to the movement, Haeryeong was momentarily intoxicated by a strong surge of peach blossom fragrance and opened his eyes involuntarily.

Through blurred vision, he saw the Emperor’s eyes looking as if he were observing him.

The man smiled faintly the moment their eyes met.

‘Hng…’

As the Emperor’s palm swept down his neck, Haeryeong’s body began to boil.

It was as if he had been placed inside a furnace.

Even though the Emperor’s palm only touched his clothes or his long, trailing hair, his skin burned hot as if being seared by fire.

Haeryeong squeezed his eyes shut again, a ragged breath bursting forth.

The Emperor was seducing him.

It was quite different from when he merely spread his scent to transmit Yang-in energy.

The thick fragrance permeated his skin to a point where holding his breath was useless.

Goosebumps rose across his entire body as he trembled violently.

Involuntarily, Haeryeong raised his hand and pushed against the Emperor’s chest.

The immovable Emperor finally pulled his lips away, allowing a sharp breath to escape.

Haeryeong gasped for air as if he had just been pulled from underwater.

Each time his breath passed through his nasal cavity, the heavy peach blossom scent caused a dull, throbbing ache in his lower half.

Haeryeong sobbed.

A violent sob burst out because it was so piteous to find himself responding to the man in this way.

The Emperor held Haeryeong’s waist firmly and joined their lips again.

Even as he leaned back to escape, a soft, airy sound leaked from the man who pursued him relentlessly.

“Shh.”

Making a soothing sound, he licked the lower lip that had swollen from the kissing and whispered.

“I told you not to resist.”

The Emperor’s once-blurred eyes were now flashing with sharp clarity.

He was not drunk.

‘He fooled me again. He fooled me once more.’

The Emperor had undoubtedly been pretending to be intoxicated just to catch Haeryeong off guard.

As if reading the resentment in Haeryeong’s gaze, he pulled his mouth away and smiled radiantly.

A red tongue swiped over the Emperor’s glistening lips.

Haeryeong hunched his shoulders instinctively.

He trembled at the sinister aura emanating from the man’s eyes.

Why was he so afraid of this?

His strength drained away just from the Emperor staring at him like that.

His limbs grew stiff, and his fingers curled inward.

When Haeryeong gripped the dragon robe with his curled hand, the man let out a hearty laugh.

“Are you acting like a spoiled child?”

“P-please… have mercy.”

Cradling the body that shook like a willow branch by a river, the Emperor lifted a wine cup.

“It seems the alcohol has not taken enough effect yet.”

He took a mouthful of wine and brought his lips directly to Haeryeong’s.

The Emperor’s large hand cupped his jaw and pressed firmly, forcing a gap in his tightly clenched teeth.

Haeryeong squeezed his eyes shut, drinking the wine the Emperor passed through their joined lips.

For some reason, his eyelashes grew wet instantly.

The Emperor, having passed the wine, noticed this and licked Haeryeong’s eyes with a tongue that tasted of sweetness.

Haeryeong finally opened his eyes after the tongue finished tracing his lashes and pulled away.

His vision was shimmering through his damp eyelashes.

As the Emperor pulled the hand holding his waist, their bodies pressed even closer.

He felt a hardened penis against the outside of his thigh where they touched.

Haeryeong hurriedly twisted his head away, avoiding the man’s gaze.

The Emperor buried his nose in the exposed nape of his neck and took a deep breath.

Haeryeong shivered at the hot air he exhaled.

He could not tell if his deepening gasps were due to fear or some other reason.

Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol.

Drawn in by the arm wrapped around his back, Haeryeong collapsed into the Emperor’s embrace.

The Emperor shared the wine with Haeryeong until the newly brought ewer was empty.

It was not drunk by pouring it into a cup as they had started.

He kissed him the entire time, passing the wine into Haeryeong’s mouth.

The amount of alcohol that crossed into Haeryeong’s mouth might have been more than what the man himself drank.

By the time the ewer was empty, Haeryeong’s eyes were almost entirely unfocused.

It had been a long time since the tempting scent the Emperor exuded had caused a pull in his lower abdomen.

While he rubbed his thighs together, which were involuntarily tensing, his rear—still feeling that stinging pain—grew wet.

The sensitive, heated skin throbbed even at the touch of his damp undergarments.

As Haeryeong huddled his trembling body and clung to him, the Emperor hummed a tune with a joyful laugh.

“Empress, are there no instruments you can play?”

To the Emperor, who asked while pressing a kiss to his cheekbone, Haeryeong answered between gasps.

“I learned the dan-so and the zither a little… but I am not very skilled.”

His own voice sounded distant over the thumping rhythm of his heart.

When he blinked his eyes to clear the ringing in his ears, he found the Emperor standing up while holding him.

“I would like to hear the Empress play sometime.”

Haeryeong was startled by the sudden height and clung to the Emperor’s back.

“You may hold me tighter. Empress, try to cling to me more.”

Looking at his joyful face, a surge of irritation rose from within.

Perhaps due to the alcohol, something hot rose and pooled in his face.

Haeryeong looked at him resentfully with eyes that had grown moist.

“Do not laugh.”

His vision blurred, making it impossible to confirm the man’s expression.

Haeryeong whispered pleadingly with his eyes closed.

“Do not… laugh.”

When he buried his face in the shoulder before him, the Emperor’s cheek touched his own heated face.

The man tilted his head, and the pressure of his ear against Haeryeong’s temple made his body heat feel even higher.

Haeryeong rubbed his head against the damp silk and gripped the Emperor’s shoulder with all his might.

“Oh dear. What has upset the Empress so? Hmm? Haeryeong-ah, what is it that makes you so distressed?”

His insides turned black even at the tone that sounded like a light jest.

Haeryeong shook his head violently.

The golden embroidery on the soft silk grazed his skin, making it burn.

“Haeryeong-ah. Look at me. I am curious to see what kind of face you are making, so show it to me.”

The sudden change in the Emperor’s tone brought back memories of the freezing stone floor.

Haeryeong hurriedly swallowed his breath and lifted his reddened face.

Tears that hadn’t had time to pool before soaking into the fabric now filled his eyes and spilled down.

The Emperor’s face looked tender.

That was what made it so sorrowful.

Struggling to swallow the hot sobs welling up, Haeryeong finally parted his parched, stuck lips.

“How can Your Majesty’s tenderness be like this?”

Bitter weeping blocked his words.

While he paused for a moment to sob, the Emperor traced the tears flowing down his cheeks with his lips.

Haeryeong wept uncontrollably, letting his inner thoughts explode toward the Emperor.

“Why must you attach conditions every single time? Is it because I am dull, hic, and have clouded Your Majesty’s mood? Or why do you act as if you are testing me every time? Must I do something every time just to receive a husband’s affection? Why is there never a time when you let things pass simply? Ugh, hic.”

The more he spoke, the more resentful and sorrowful he became.

His heart, seemingly uncontrolled due to the alcohol, burst with repeated sobs and deep sighs.

Seven whole years.

The things he had suppressed and endured within his young, fragile heart began to erupt, and he could no longer contain them.

“Even an ox does not pull a plow until it has recovered from illness. And yet, sob, why is Your Majesty like this? Was it that repulsive to see me lying there ill?”

The Emperor adjusted his hold on Haeryeong and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Even then, the puff of his chuckling breath reached Haeryeong’s face.

After blinking to clear the pool of tears from his eyes, his vision sharpened enough to see the man’s smiling face.

Haeryeong bit his lip at that still-joyful expression.

His cheeks trembled.

‘Is this rage?’

Haeryeong did not know the name of the emotion raging inside him.

His chest ached with a pressure similar to what he felt when he heard the Emperor’s cold voice on that freezing floor.

“If you intend to act this way, then never seek me out again. Please, just leave me be.”

Haeryeong finally covered his face and burst into wails.

Between his palms, he vomited out his intermittent cries and resented the man.

The Emperor patted Haeryeong’s buttocks and paced around the Empress’s Palace.

After pacing the room for a while, the Emperor passed through the corridor and out to the porch beneath the eaves.

When Haeryeong shivered in the cool rain and wind, the man pulled his back close and let out a small laugh.

At the sound of his laughter mixing with the rain, Haeryeong burst into tears once more.

As he wept, unable to even make a sound and struggling to suppress his choked-up cries, the man made a quiet shushing sound.