Seowoo looked at Hyunseo with eyes full of shock. His previously composed face had suddenly turned pale.
“Your Majesty! That is what I gave to Flower Bin Mama!”
“What, are you upset that I covet what belongs to Flower Bin?”
Hyunseo flicked an empty wine cup with his finger and grinned. His smile was bright, as if satisfied.
“Say that I’m also being jealous.”
He answered in a playful voice and dropped the wine cup to the floor. The cup shattered into pieces with a cracking sound as soon as it hit the ground. Fragments decorated with flowers flew as far as Seowoo.
“Ah…”
As a fragment grazed past, it left a cut on Seowoo’s hand. Blood seeped from the wound, but Seowoo couldn’t even feel the pain.
‘What are you trying to do!’
He couldn’t understand why Hyunseo had drunk the wine while clearly knowing his intentions. And Doha, smiling below as if he knew nothing, was also infuriating.
‘Is Flower Bin really that precious to you, that precious!’
Seowoo bit his lip until it bled as he faced the two of them. Pressed against each other, they looked like long-time lovers. The natural way they fit together cut into Seowoo’s core.
‘We’re both consorts and both belong to His Majesty!’
Hyunseo, who had once again firmly embraced Doha’s waist, stared directly at Seowoo. He looked as if he wouldn’t take his eyes off until Seowoo left. Seeing how perfectly he was protecting Doha, Seowoo bowed his head.
“With this… your humble servant shall withdraw.”
It was a poison that would take effect soon. A poison hastily changed after hearing news from the Chief State Councilor. A poison that was neither paralytic nor lethal.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?”
Doha’s voice pierced Seowoo’s ears as he descended the stairs. There was a sound of skin brushing against skin, as if they were holding hands. Soon, Hyunseo’s voice followed with a small laugh.
“Didn’t I promise to protect you today?”
It was an affectionate voice he would never use for Seowoo in his lifetime. The warmth in that voice made tears of blood flow from his eyes.
Seowoo left the stairs with quicker steps. After gesturing for the wine bottle to be removed, he returned to his place.
* * *
‘Was it really poison?’
With paralytic poison, the coldness begins at the fingertips. After the cold invades from the hands to the forearms, soon the upper body becomes paralyzed. Doha knew the symptoms precisely since this poison had appeared in the original scenario.
Wondering if Hyunseo might have drunk it, Doha fiddled with the hands around his waist. At the ticklish touch, Hyunseo embraced Doha’s waist more firmly.
“Seems like your touch is getting bolder.”
Hyunseo was still playful, not understanding Doha’s concerns. What was he thinking, drinking that wine? If there weren’t any eyes watching, Doha would have wanted to slap the back of his hand.
“This is no time for jokes. Do you feel strange anywhere?”
“There are many strange things.”
Hyunseo couldn’t bring himself to mention exactly what felt strange. With an ambiguous smile, he turned his palm and grasped Doha’s hand. He interlaced their fingers to prevent further touching and opened his mouth.
“Once I touch you, I can’t let go.”
“Yet you used to tell me to stay away.”
“Now that you’ve come so close, I can’t stop.”
He knew that once he started, he wouldn’t be able to stop. He had always been weak to pleasure, so it couldn’t be helped.
After becoming accustomed to Doha’s gaze, and feeling the satisfaction when that gaze contained only him, he couldn’t go back to the way things were before. Just seeing Doha look at him, smile, cry, and speak made his heart fill up.
He was infinitely weak to the pleasure Doha gave him. He craved the sense of stability and affection that came from those small movements, gazes, and feelings. After holding hands, he wanted to embrace him; after embracing, he wanted to press their bodies together.
It was a predictable future what he would want after pressing their bodies together.
He had pushed away Doha who eagerly pressed his body against him in the study and at Siyeong Palace, but today, with their bodies completely pressed together, even that was not easy.
‘Would a little bit be okay?’
Hyunseo rested his face on Doha’s shoulder. A sweet fruity scent emanated from him. It was a scent that calmed his heart just by smelling it. Breathing in the fragrance, he slowly exhaled.
If Doha saw the darkness inside him, he would run away. That’s why restraint—restraint was necessary.
Once he started, his possessiveness and desire for monopoly would pounce on and harm Doha.
That’s why he had been desperately avoiding it.
“All is lost.”
“Your Majesty?”
“It’s nothing.”
“…Have you protected everything you wanted to protect?”
Doha asked, looking at Hyunseo leaning on his shoulder. He wanted to directly ask if Hyunseo could share his plans and cooperate, but seeing Hyunseo’s expression, more peaceful than ever, he couldn’t. Hyunseo, with his eyes closed, nodded.
“Yes.”
Though he had many questions, Doha swallowed them. Quietly, he sighed. This is so frustrating, really.
With no choice, Doha quietly waited for the hunting competition.
* * *
Before the actual hunting began, everyone gathered on horseback in front of the hunting grounds. It was time for Ungeom, who was hosting the hunting competition, to explain the rules.
Hyunseo stood beside Ungeom, and across from them stood the ministers participating in the hunt, including the Chief State Councilor and Lord Kim. It was customary for palace servants and the remaining ministers not participating in the hunt to stay in the banquet hall, chatting while waiting for those who would return.
Lord Kim had somehow approached closer and positioned his horse next to Doha’s.
“My youngest.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Can you survive safely?”
Lord Kim’s face, which Doha saw when he looked at him, was quite serious. Seen up close, he both resembled and differed from Doha’s real father. The facial features were the same, but the wrinkles and atmosphere were different.
His real father always frowned, creating wrinkles between his eyebrows, but this father seemed to smile often, with deep crow’s feet around his eyes. Additionally, the kind-looking wrinkles at the corners of his mouth gave off a completely opposite impression.
‘This father is different.’
The father who didn’t love him was now gone. Strangely, Lord Kim’s worried voice gave Doha strength. Feeling like he might cry, Doha swallowed.
“I will survive.”
I’ll definitely survive and enjoy everything I couldn’t before. Family, lover, power, love.
With a resolute face, Doha looked at Lord Kim and said:
“I’m going to live a long life.”
At Doha’s sudden words, Lord Kim burst into laughter. Though Doha could feel Hyunseo’s and Dojin’s gazes fixed on them at the sound of laughter, it didn’t matter. “They said you’d changed, and indeed, our youngest has changed.” With a bright smile, Lord Kim placed his hand on Doha’s head.
“Yes, live longer than this father of yours.”
He stroked Doha’s head. Though his youngest had grown taller than before, he was still a child in his heart. After entering the palace, he had tried hard to act like an adult, but now it seemed he had returned to his true self.
Whatever the catalyst, it was cause for celebration to Lord Kim. It meant that Doha would no longer be overly cautious.
Hyunseo glared at Lord Kim, who kept his hand on Doha’s head for quite some time.
“What a scene.”
His irritation shifted direction toward Dojin.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you starting?”
But Dojin’s gaze was also fixed on Doha. Only after hearing Hyunseo’s words did Dojin come to his senses, giving a small bow before taking his horse to stand in front of the participants.
As he stood in front, the armed participants turned to look at him. Various weapons—bows, swords, sabers, spears—were carried at their waists or on their backs. Doha had also sharpened his blades and gathered his weapons for this day.
Yet at Dojin’s waist hung only the Cheonsujeilgeom. It showed his confidence that a single weapon was enough. With one hand resting on the sword hilt, he faced forward.
“Before we begin, I have something to say.”
His deep voice echoed across the hunting grounds.
“As with previous hunting competitions, the winner will be the one who brings back the best game. We have released the game in advance, so finding it should not be too difficult.”
Slowly shifting his gaze as he spoke, Dojin’s head stopped. It was in Doha’s direction. Maintaining eye contact with Doha, he continued.
“The only difference is that each person will start from their own starting point.”
The crowd stirred at the changed rule of the hunting competition. The original rule was to start together from the same position. Since there was also competition at the starting point, everyone had no doubt they would start together this time as well.
Seowoo, who was riding a horse next to the Chief State Councilor, hardened his face. The banquet attire that Doha had told him to wear was nowhere to be seen; instead, he wore neat hunting attire. With both a sword and a bow, he bit his fingernails.
‘This disrupts the plan.’
And there was one more person whose plans were disrupted. Doha, with a flustered expression, looked at Hyunseo visible behind Dojin.
The ambush was one hour after the start of the hunting competition. To prevent Hyunseo’s fall from the horse, he absolutely had to stay by his side.
‘The entire clan could be in danger.’
In the original scenario, Hyunseo’s fall from his horse determined the rise and fall of the clan. With anxious eyes, Doha felt Lord Kim’s arm suddenly link with his.
“Are you alright?”
Lord Kim’s face was colored with worry. Looking at that face, Doha resolved to prevent Hyunseo’s fall no matter what. He couldn’t lose one of the things he needed to have.
“I’m fine, Father.”
Nodding quietly, Doha firmly gripped the reins. This was a situation he had already experienced once. He had memorized the scenario so well he could recite it in his sleep, and the fall scene was one he had shot countless times on the back mountain of Ttangkkeut Village.
Having filmed it multiple times, it was no different from having visited the future once. Perhaps being possessed gave him an advantage over someone who had returned from the future.
Doha took a deep breath, composing himself. Dojin, who had turned his head back, announced the start of the hunting competition.
“Then, I pray for everyone’s safe return.”
* * *
The problem was that Doha had a terrible sense of direction.
“Shit, where am I?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
