CH 29.2

Until recently, Yihan could ignore Hwawoon as much as he wanted. He could not think of him. Even though he would get angry whenever he saw him, when he turned around and did other things, he would never think of the existence of Yeon Hwawoon for a single moment.

Then, what about Yihan now? Except for when he was concentrating on his work, he had been thinking about Yeon Hwawoon all day. Even on his way to another concubine’s place, he couldn’t shake off that thought, so he was standing on the road. To be very honest, Yihan was even suspicious of whether he really wanted to go to Jeongbin’s place.

But the biggest problem was that Yihan himself didn’t know what he wanted to do. He couldn’t help but get annoyed because he kept solving questions that had no answer. The emperor’s hand holding the armrest kept flinching.

Soon, the emperor said,

“I will go to Jeongan Palace for a moment before going to Jeongbin.”

“To Jeongan Palace!”

Eunuch Oh’s voice sounded very natural as if he was going to say that from the start.

***

“Your Highness! Your Highness!”

Ahjin, who was preparing to quickly give out sweet candy while watching Hwawoon drink bitter medicine, suddenly saw Seoseo running into the room and opened her mouth while frowning.

“Why are you making such a fuss at night?! You surprised His Highness!”

“Gasp…! Your Highness, for-forgive me…! Were you surprised?”

Looking at Seoseo, who hurriedly rushed in but quickly looked down when Ahjin scolded her, Hwawoon relaxed the knit on his brows due to the bitter medicine and smiled lightly. “No, I’m fine.” Regardless of that, Ahjin straightly put the candy on Hwawoon’s mouth then looked back at Seoseo and asked,

“So, what’s going on?”

“Ah! That, Your Highness…! Hi-His Majesty is on his way to Jeongan Palace!”

Hearing that, Hwawoon said “What?!” with an unusually high voice. Was it only Hwawoon? Even Ahjin almost dropped the empty medicine bowl Hwawoon handed her. Due to the unexpected situation, the three people were completely frozen and only blankly stared at each other’s eyes for a while.

Even so, Seoseo, who had already been surprised and made a fuss outside, held Ahjin’s arm and swayed it, raising her voice.

“Ahjin unnie! I’m telling you His Majesty is coming!”

“Ah… ah! His, His Majesty yea… yeah… fir-first, you go to the kitchen and tell them to prepare the snacks. Hurry up!”

“Yes! Understood!”

As Seoseo ran outside again, with a faster step than when she jumped inside, Ahjin hurried to the front of the dresser and looked at the ornaments. Fortunately, Hwawoon hasn’t changed his clothes yet, but she couldn’t decorate him right away because he had all the ornaments off so that he could rest comfortably.

Ahjin, who was agonizing for a very short time, soon took a hair tie out of the drawer and stood behind Hwawoon, who was still frozen. With a quick touch, she took only half of Hwawoon’ hair from the front and tied it in the back, before hiding her nervous voice and opening her mouth.

“Your Highness, are you okay?”

“Hu-huh?”

Nevertheless, Hwawoon still only blinked with a blank expression despite Ahjin’s question. He had encountered the emperor several times, but from Hwawoon’s point of view, all of those were unexpected situations, and this was the first time that he had known beforehand and had to wait for the emperor to visit Jeongan Palace after Hwawoon woke up.

In addition, Hwawoon didn’t know the reason why the emperor was coming to Jeongan Palace at this time. He couldn’t even guess. He quickly tried to remember all his activities today, but except for giving a morning greeting to the Empress, he never walked out of Jeongan Palace, so he couldn’t understand why the emperor suddenly looked for him at all.

“Your Highness…! Take a deep breath!”

It was Ahjin’s voice while she stroked Hwawoon’s back that brought Hwawoon back to reality. Hwawoon finally realized that he was panting. Ahjin continued to stroke Hwawoon’s back and arm, and said,

“It’s fine, Your Highness. It’s only His Majesty visiting.”

Hwawoon slowly breathed in line with Ahjin’s comforting touch. Once he took a deep breath, he felt his mind come back. Yeon Hwawoon’s body was excessively sensitive and weak that sometimes he felt so unfamiliar with the senses he had now.

“Thank you, Ahjin.”

Hwawoon tried to relax his expression and smiled at Ahjin, then took a deep breath once again. Ahjin’s right. It is only His Majesty visiting, and it is not a bad thing since I could see His Majesty’s face. Hwawoon thought so and slowly rose up to welcome the emperor.

Every step as he went outside reminded him of the days he had encountered the emperor. From the day he first saw the emperor as Hawoon to the last night. He had much more difficult memories than good memories. However, the emperor’s cold appearance was actually not for Hawoon, but for Yeon Hwawoon, so in fact, Hawoon only ever had all the good hearts of the emperor.

For Hawoon, the emperor was the one who led his life and gave a meaning to his death.

Therefore, humans always seemed to be so brazenly trying to keep only good things for themselves. When Hwawoon just came out to the courtyard with such thoughts and stood looking at the way the emperor would walk in,

“Here comes His Majesty the Emperor!”

Along with a loud voice that cut through the night, he saw the emperor, Yihan.

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