By Zephyria 
The day after my fever broke, Joo Min-hyeok took me outside to get some fresh air. When I woke up well past lunchtime, I found Joo Min-hyeok sitting beside me on the bed, attending to his work. I was so surprised to see that… I worried if he hadn’t been able to sleep because of my sleeping habits.
He had come here early specifically for me, yet I felt terribly sorry that I had spent the time groggy and sleeping. After checking various parts of my body to ensure the fever had dropped and confirming it with a thermometer, Joo Min-hyeok led me outside.
We wandered into the fish cake stalls lining the market alleys and heartily ate the water-rice cakes I had been craving so much. Immersed in the joy of small happiness for the first time in a while, I almost forgot about what had happened with Joo Min-hyeok yesterday. I had worried it might be awkward since I’d been sucking on them, but fortunately, it was fine.
As that worry faded, another one rushed in. Wondering if it was okay for just the two of us to be out like this, I kept glancing around the entire time we were eating the skewers. While people didn’t recognize me because my face wasn’t public, it was different for Joo Min-hyeok. There wasn’t a single person in this country who didn’t know his face.
Perhaps because he was a young and handsome Emperor, his popularity was quite immense both domestically and abroad. If people recognized that the Emperor was sitting in a market eating fish cakes unofficially without a single bodyguard by his side, it could cause a total uproar, so my unnecessary anxiety kicked in.
Of course, he was wearing a low-pulled hat and a mask, dressed in a comfortable jumper, so people wouldn’t suspect he was the Emperor. However, even knowing there were security personnel following us unseen, I kept worrying whether they could prevent an accident that happened suddenly. Despite my concerns, Joo Min-hyeok remained perfectly composed.
“I have the ability to protect one Palace Lord. Don’t worry.”
I hadn’t asked him to protect me, so I didn’t know what gave him such confidence. Regardless, we enjoyed a normal market outing without being caught, and for our next stop, we came to the sea. The sea, now chilled by the weather, had a completely different atmosphere from the midsummer sea.
If the summer sea felt entirely blue, the current one felt lonely, as if tinged with grey, but it had its own kind of charm. It was fascinating how the feeling changed so much by season.
“The wind is cold. You can’t get sick again like yesterday, so it would be best to head back after a little while longer.”
I nodded obediently to his words. Since there was an official event tomorrow, getting sick here again would be a genuine nuisance. It would be better to go back early today and prepare for tomorrow.
“Palace Lord, I think I have an important call I need to take. It might take a while, but I absolutely have to answer this…”
Seeing Joo Min-hyeok trailing off with an apologetic face, I told him it was fine and to go ahead with his work. I could just play around here.
“I’ll be playing over here. It’s fine, so go ahead and take your call.”
Having asked for my understanding, Joo Min-hyeok moved a bit further back with an apologetic expression, as if the sound of the waves was too loud. He kept an eye on me from time to time while talking on the phone, and I played with the sand in a spot where I wouldn’t leave his sight.
I wonder how long I stayed there; the sea breeze was already strong, but suddenly a gust of wind blew, and the hat I was wearing flew away. No! Joo Min-hyeok bought that for me today! I stood up and ran in the direction the hat was flying, but I couldn’t seem to catch it.
Why was it flying so well? Joo Min-hyeok had told me not to move from my spot, but when I glanced back at him, he was preoccupied with his call. Thinking I had to pick it up quickly, I tried harder, running a bit faster to grab the hat.
Is a mere hat making a fool out of me? Huh? After flying for a while, the hat stopped at the feet of another group of people. One of them picked up my hat and held it out to me.
Thank goodness! But my face is fully exposed; is it okay to go and take it alone? I didn’t know where the bodyguards were, and looking back, I saw Joo Min-hyeok in the distance looking around as if searching for something, then pausing as he spotted me. Gasp, I have to go quickly.
“That’s my hat. Thank you for picking it up.”
Intending to take it and leave quickly, I approached the person holding my hat with a greeting. However, the man, who was staring intently at me, hid my hat behind his back. What is he doing?
“How do I know this is your hat? Do you have proof?”
Asking with a playful smile, he watched my reaction. What? What kind of situation is this? Joo Min-hyeok will see… Remembering Joo Min-hyeok’s temper, I grew anxious. I had no intention of playing along with a stranger’s prank.
“It is my hat. I received it as a gift today. I appreciate you picking it up, but could you please give it back quickly?”
It wasn’t expensive, but it was a hat Joo Min-hyeok bought at the market, suggesting we wear them together.
“That’s why. If you have proof it’s yours, I’ll give it back. Along with my number.”
What? ‘Along with my number’? What nonsense is he talking? I felt a surge of irritation at the way he winked cheesily. It wasn’t as if some old creep was harassing me, but this wasn’t how you treat someone you’ve just met. He seems to know I’m an Omega, and he doesn’t seem to be an Alpha?
I don’t know what kind of outdated sensibility this was, but the friends behind him even started cheering him on. They’ve all gone mad. I tried to smile and asked for the hat once more, but his prank only grew worse.
“…I’m a married man. I’m married, so stop joking and give me my hat.”
“What? A married man? You look so young, that’s impossible.”
Young. I’m young, but I went and got married early, even younger than I am now. At twelve. Just give it back. You’ll die if Joo Min-hyeok sees you. But the guy, who looked shocked at the word ‘married man’, suddenly shoved his face close to mine.
In the moment I stepped back in shock, a large hand appeared and grabbed the man’s face. Literally, his entire face with one hand.
“Ack!”
Then, he roughly snatched my hat from the man’s hand and held it out to someone.
“Throw it away.”
It’s Joo Min-hyeok. A line of burly men rushed in behind Joo Min-hyeok and instantly surrounded me in a circle. They were Joo Min-hyeok’s bodyguards.
“Grand Imperial Concubine user, we are truly sorry. Because you two were separated, we were focused on His Majesty and momentarily lost sight of you…”
I heard the bodyguard’s urgent whisper. I looked at the back of Joo Min-hyeok, who was irritably shoving the man’s face away. The look in his eyes when he ran over here was chilling, and he acted exactly like that. That temper of his!
“I-I got the hat, so let’s just go. There are too many people.”
Besides the people who had hit on me, there were many eyes watching, including middle-aged people who had been frowning while trying to help. As I squeezed through the bodyguards and grabbed Joo Min-hyeok, he looked back at me.
His eyes have gone wild just like when he was a grandfather? Get a grip! You have to think about your reputation. You can’t lose your temper here! The Imperial Family gets cursed regardless of whether they do well or not. I thought it would be better not to make a big deal out of this, but it seemed Joo Min-hyeok didn’t feel the same.
Sighing, Joo Min-hyeok took off the hat he was wearing and put it on me. Huh? I shouldn’t be wearing this. Joo Min-hyeok’s face was well-known, and he had been wearing his mask down for a while. Concerned about his exposed face, I tried to give the hat back, but he refused to take it.
“I hate other people looking at you, so keep it on. And what are you all doing? There’s no reason for me to keep you around if this is how it is. Shouldn’t you have stepped in before the Grand Imperial Concubine came into contact with them?”
“We are sorry. We were watching His Majesty and didn’t…”
“I hired you because of the Grand Imperial Concubine. Not for me, but for the Palace Lord. He shoved his face in; who’s to say what would happen next?”
Joo Min-hyeok’s voice, which had been a low whisper, rose in tone. A simple hat was going to turn a good outing into a big ordeal. I knew there were bodyguards.
However, a flying hat was just something to be caught, and since I never imagined that person would act that way, it didn’t occur to me to seek help from the bodyguards whose locations I didn’t know. I had been too careless and rash.
I needed to act more sensitively and cautiously. I decided we had to move from this spot immediately. It wasn’t that Joo Min-hyeok did anything wrong, but it wouldn’t be good for the Emperor to be the subject of gossip over something like this. Feeling urgent, I grabbed Joo Min-hyeok’s hand and hurried away, regardless of the sea.
“Let’s go quickly, Your Majesty. And why did you tell them to throw the hat away? It was a gift…”
“It was touched by someone else’s hand. You’ll think of it every time you see it. I’ll buy you another one. And I’m sorry for leaving you alone because I was working while we were out.”
Joo Min-hyeok, who had been grumbling in informal speech, offered an apology in a slightly softened voice. Whose fault was it that this happened? It was simply because the sea breeze was strong, and various situations were different from what we expected.
“Too many things happen when you’re left alone.”
I got goosebumps all over my body at Joo Min-hyeok’s mutter. At this rate, I’ll really end up locked in the palace. He’s the kind of human who wouldn’t hesitate to lock me up. I managed to change the subject, saying today was fun and that this was all a memory, succeeding in calming his nerves.
Or rather, I believed I had succeeded. Until a video of the incident appeared on the internet. The video was deleted almost immediately by the Imperial Family after it was uploaded, but in that short window, it recorded an enormous number of views.