Chapter 61: Amnesia Side Story 15: The Promise Kept Beyond Time

The body and warmth of his lover, which Hwaun feared he might not hold for a long time, filled him to his very core. A sense of fulfillment that no words could describe took hold of him, surging alongside the waves of pleasure.

“Heuk…! Nng! Ha-ahk…!”

A cry—half-sob, half-moan—filled the room. Hwaun rubbed his forehead and cheek against the Emperor’s shoulder, feeling the solid weight of the man who held him so tightly he could barely move. Suddenly, every muscle in Ihan’s body tensed, turning as hard as stone.

“Ah…! Your Majesty, ha-ahk! No, not there…!”

Regardless of Hwaun’s resistance, something hot and liquid began to pour deep inside him.

“Your… Majesty…?”

Hwaun felt it immediately. This was not the usual climax. It was a mysterious liquid filling him at a rate far faster than anything Ihan had ever shared before. Terrified by the sensation of his belly being filled so rapidly, Hwaun trembled and struggled.

Yet, the more he moved, the deeper the Emperor buried himself, continuing the torrent. Finally, as the liquid began to overflow despite the tight seal of their bodies, Hwaun nearly fell into a convulsion. The mixture of fear and pleasure was a stimulus too great to bear.

“No, I dislike it, Your Majesty…! Heu-euk…! Ah…!”

Hwaun flailed his hands like someone trapped in total darkness. But it was Seong Ihan—his only lover—who caught those hands, wrapping them around his own neck and pulling him into a tender embrace.

“Shh… I am here. I am right here.”

I am here.

At that single, short sentence, Hwaun’s frantic movements stopped. Ihan whispered against Hwaun’s cheek, his lips brushing the skin like a long-time lover.

“It’s okay. I… I just got too excited…”

In truth, Ihan was just as startled, his reaction bordering on shock. He had nearly bolted upright at the sensation of a reaction he had never experienced before. Instinctively, he realized it was a physical response born from extreme ecstasy. But his priority was soothing Hwaun.

“Ah… huu…”

Hwaun tried to catch his breath, feeling the Emperor’s pulse vibrating through his own body. Simultaneously, a familiar heat filled him as Ihan finally spilled his seed deep within.

“Heu-euk…! Your Majesty…”

Hwaun finally broke down, burying his face in Ihan’s chest and sobbing. Cradling the fragile body that felt as if it might break if he squeezed too hard, Ihan took a deep breath. The scent of Yeon Hwaun filled his lungs, providing both stimulation and profound peace.

I don’t want to lose him. Even if he never regained his memories, he never wanted to let this person go.

This man was his. He was Seong Ihan’s. He was clearly the one who had changed Ihan’s entire world, a treasure no one else could ever claim. Ihan no longer doubted Yeon Hwaun, nor his own heart. He pulled the nearly fainting Hwaun closer and whispered into his ear.

“Without a doubt… I truly loved you…”

It was a truth that no hardship or trial could ever take away.

“Huu…”

Feeling a tickle on his cheek, Hwaun managed to lift his heavy eyelids. The sunlight was so bright he could barely see. Suddenly, his heart sank. It was winter; the days were short. For the light to be this bright, he must have severely overslept. Hwaun tried to bolt upright in a panic.

“Stay still.”

A firm hand on his shoulder pressed him back down, accompanied by a familiar voice. Hwaun froze, blinking as his vision slowly came into focus. He saw a man looking down at him with an incredibly tender gaze.

“Your Majesty…?”

Hwaun’s heart swelled. The look in the Emperor’s eyes was so soft—a look he hadn’t seen once since Ihan had lost his memory.

Has he come back? Has he remembered? After holding me last night, did everything return? An expectation he had tried so hard to suppress now swallowed him whole.

But Ihan’s response was unexpected. “Why are you blinking like a fool?”

The voice was just as grumpily blunt as it had been lately. Hwaun’s face, which had flickered with joy, quickly settled into a calm mask. He reminded himself it was shameless to expect a recovery so soon.

“Did you… sleep well last night, Your Majesty?” Hwaun asked, his face heating up as memories of the night’s passionate union returned.

Ihan stared at him for a long moment before speaking. “Thanks to you, I slept very well.”

“……?”

“Wun-ah.”

“……!”

The moment he heard that name, Hwaun sat up so fast his spine screamed in pain. He didn’t care. His eyes shook with a mix of disbelief and certainty.

“Your… Your Majesty… how…?”

Wun-ah.

That single name echoed in his ears like tinnitus. In this vast Imperial Palace, Seong Ihan was the only one who called him that. Only the two of them knew the weight of emotion and history contained within those two syllables.

“Why do you hesitate? Do you not recognize your one and only husband?”

The Emperor’s eyes, which he had tried to keep sharp and blunt, suddenly curved into a soft, loving crescent. It was the face Hwaun knew. The face that remembered him. The face of the lover who had adored him through everything.

“Your Majesty…!”

How could he hold back? Hwaun let out a cry like a scream and threw his arms around Ihan, sobbing into his chest. The way Ihan naturally returned the embrace, his touch so familiar and kind, made all the suppressed sorrow of the past days come pouring out.

“Heuk…! Why… why did you take so long to come back…!”

Hwaun wailed. He had told himself he was fine. He had never doubted Ihan’s heart. But that didn’t mean it hadn’t been hard. It didn’t mean there was no pain in looking into eyes that remembered nothing of their shared nights and days.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Ihan smoothed Hwaun’s hair as his lover finally vented his grief. “I told you I would never let you be in pain again…”

“No… no, Your Majesty… not at all… I wasn’t hurt, heuk… not at all…” Even now, Hwaun shook his head, worried that the Emperor was apologizing to a mere consort.

Ihan understood everything Hwaun was feeling without a single word of explanation. He kissed Hwaun’s wet eyes and cheeks repeatedly. “Did it truly not hurt?”

“Yes… because you promised me, Your Majesty… that even if my name changed, even if my face… even if my face changed… or even if Your Majesty lost his memory…”

Ihan bit his lip. He remembered that vow now. He hadn’t truly expected a day would come where he would forget Yeon Hwaun; he had only wanted to express that he would never let him go under any circumstances.

“You said you would find me again, so I… I believed in you…”

And this foolishly lovely man had clung to that one promise and waited. In a situation that was utterly hopeless and terrifying, he had held onto a single sentence and hadn’t wavered. It was impossible not to love such a person even more deeply.

Ihan nipped at his lover’s lips and rubbed their noses together. “Then why are you crying so sorrowfully?”

“I… I just… heuk…”

“I have found you again, Wun-ah. Just as I promised and as you believed… no matter what happens, even if something worse than this occurs, I will never lose you. I won’t.”

Ihan licked away the tears with his tongue. Hwaun, finally relaxing as the tension left his body, murmured softly, “I believe in you, so you no longer have to prove it to me, Your Majesty.”

Ihan burst out laughing. He was prepared to accept any amount of grumbling or complaints, yet his lover’s consistent kindness and purity in forgiving him so easily were devastatingly beautiful.

“Your Majesty…?”

What choice did he have? Ihan laid Hwaun back down and settled himself between those naturally opening legs.

“Then… it is only right to celebrate the day I finally found my lover again.”

“Wh-what do you mean… mmph…!”

Ihan swallowed Hwaun’s startled lips, his tongue diving in to taste the sweet, familiar flesh. The ecstasy of meeting again after jumping over another lifetime filled his mind and body.

It didn’t matter how many times they lost each other. It didn’t matter how many times things changed. Just as they had before and just as they had now, these two would endure through eternity, wandering the whole world if they had to, only to eventually hold each other’s hands again.

Over the two lovers entwined in tenderness, the warm winter sunlight poured in.

Still.

Always.

It was a perfect love.

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