By Zephyria 
For the moment, the fact that Joo Min-hyeok had appeared by breaking down the front door was not the issue. The problem now was Seo-joo. Much like myself, Seo-joo’s personality is one where thought comes first and action follows. Seo-joo is the type of person who would knock on a stone bridge a thousand times before taking a single step. He observes and monitors everything, thinks, and then moves. Such a person had dared to throw a foot and a fist at the Emperor’s body.
It was certain that he was in a state of acting on instinct, where his body moved before his thoughts. He was an unexpected ambush. Naturally, the punishment for harming the Emperor is terrifyingly severe. While it was likely an action taken to protect me, it was far too reckless.
One cannot win against a being like the Emperor. Even now, it was evident. Unlike Seo-joo, who was huffing and puffing with a flushed face, Joo Min-hyeok wore a smile, lightly gripping Seo-joo’s wrist while observing him from every angle.
“You really do resemble him. It’s truly amazing.”
“…What?”
Resemble? Anxiety began to creep up. I had felt for a while now that there was something meaningful hidden in Joo Min-hyeok’s words. Realistically, the only thing Joo Min-hyeok could have found out about Seo-joo was that he is the grandson of the Shinsun Group Chairman. Yet, the way Joo Min-hyeok had been looking at Seo-joo suggested he knew something far more intimate than that.
I felt strangely uneasy. Regardless of my anxiety, the confrontation between the two continued, and tension flowed. Feeling that this couldn’t go on, I decided to separate them by making a suitable excuse.
“Um, Your Majesty, what do you mean by resemble….”
“Your Majesty!”
At the same moment I called Joo Min-hyeok, a familiar voice rang through the room.
“Cha Han-bin?”
Joo Min-hyeok murmured my brother’s name softly. It was Han-bin hyung who had shouted “Your Majesty.” With his usual solemn face, hyung stood there panting for breath. The sweat streaming down his face and his disheveled hair told me how urgently he had run here. It seemed he had followed right behind Seo-joo.
After quickly scanning the surroundings as if to grasp the situation, hyung looked at me. That stoic man seemed quite shocked. Although it didn’t show in his expression, I could tell his state by how rapidly his pupils were moving. Once he regained his composure, hyung immediately bowed his waist in greeting.
“I greet Your Majesty. Have you been in good health?”
“…It’s been a long time. Have you been well?”
Joo Min-hyeok turned toward hyung and smoothly released Seo-joo’s wrist. He was looking at hyung with a slightly yearning expression. Joo Min-hyeok usually showed a softer side toward Han-bin hyung. He trusted and respected the words hyung spoke.
If their opinions differed, there were times when he would change his mind, even retracting things he had already said. Was that why? Joo Min-hyeok greeted the reunion with hyung in a quite emotional manner. That crazy brat—did he come looking for us because he has more lingering feelings for hyung than for me?
“Your Majesty. Seo-joo is still young, so his actions preceded his thoughts. It was an impudent act, but I would be grateful if you could consider it merely the behavior of an immature youth.”
“Young? Immature? What is immature about him?”
Listening to hyung, Joo Min-hyeok’s eyes sparkled as he looked back at me and Seo-joo.
“As far as I know, he is a year older than the Grand Imperial Concubine. Twenty-six isn’t exactly a young age, is it?”
Hyung was left speechless by Joo Min-hyeok’s answer. And my anxiety rose to my throat. If he knew Seo-joo’s age, he definitely knew something.
“I did find it quite strange. The Grand Imperial Concubine treats that fellow like a child. Even though he’s clearly the older one, he calls him by his name.”
He gazed at me meaningfully. How much does he know? He might have heard something through Hyun-wook. Did he torture Hyun-wook? And that’s why the kid had no choice but to tell him about us? It was just an imagination, but it was horrific. Besides, there’s no way a sane person would believe our story.
“Your Majesty, could you grant me a moment of your time?”
Hyung, who had been watching us, requested a private audience with Joo Min-hyeok. Joo Min-hyeok nodded slowly at hyung’s request.
“Hae-joo, stay here with Seo-joo. Don’t come out.”
I flinched and stopped my movement at hyung’s command not to come out. Hyung shook his head and gestured for me to stay beside Seo-joo.
∗ ∗ ∗
Min-hyeok followed Han-bin to his room and sat on the sofa Han-bin offered. While Min-hyeok looked around the room, Han-bin rubbed his eyes. After bowing his head in silence for a while, Han-bin finally spoke.
“Is your grandfather still alive?”
His voice was bleak. It was a cracked voice, as if he were forcing himself to mention someone he hated.
“I’m keeping him alive. So that he cannot die. Did you realize who was behind the incident back then?”
“Actually, I was unsure. I couldn’t trust either side.”
“Yes. I understand. Soldiers are suspicious. Most of the time, it’s rational suspicion.”
“One must be suspicious to find the enemy. But this suspicion wasn’t as a soldier. I took off my uniform long ago, so I’m no longer a soldier; I was simply acting as Hae-joo’s brother. Because regardless of which side tried to harm us, it would have been the worst-case scenario.”
Whether it was the grandfather or the Emperor, both were peaks of power that were overwhelming for Han-bin and Hae-joo to face. If it were the grandfather, even if they were caught, he would have killed them once their utility vanished; if it were the Emperor, he would have imprisoned them indefinitely, demanding only that his emotions be acknowledged. They were both insane.
“I won’t ask since when you’ve been watching. It would be meaningless. Your Majesty created the dessert class, didn’t you? To let Hae-joo know that the divorce didn’t go through.”
“…That’s right. As expected, I cannot deceive you.”
“The situation was too strange. Hae-joo liked it, so I didn’t make it obvious, but asking for a certified copy of the resident registration for a dessert class was too abrupt. I was certain the divorce wouldn’t happen. I knew that… something would happen soon.”
Unable to control his emotions, Han-bin let out a long sigh of bewilderment. He was deeply shaken, which was unlike him. It was because Hae-joo had only just barely found some peace of mind, and Min-hyeok’s actions were extremely problematic.
“Your Majesty, this method is not right. Hae-joo and I lived our entire lives under the surveillance and control of our grandfather. I feel a great deal of repulsion toward Your Majesty’s methods.”
At the word ‘repulsion,’ Min-hyeok’s face crumpled. It wasn’t because of displeasure, but because a part of himself he had recognized had been pointed out. Han-bin, unaware of Min-hyeok’s inner thoughts, sat with a straight posture and did not hide his feeling of futility at the reaction of the man whose face was crumpling.
“Your Majesty. Do you know how I felt back then? My brother ended up in that state, yet why I kept my mouth shut like an idiot, why I just stood there breathing like a piece of furniture—Your Majesty cannot even imagine.”
When Hae-joo was assaulted by the Prime Minister and suffered a miscarriage, Han-bin’s injuries were also severe. He too had been dragged away by his grandfather and subjected to assaults bordering on torture, leaving him with significant psychological trauma. Thus, he felt it was overwhelming even to compose himself. Because of that, Min-hyeok had relayed Hae-joo’s situation in a very softened manner. Min-hyeok still vividly remembered the sight of Han-bin freezing upon seeing Hae-joo.
“At that time, I wanted to kill them all. If my grandfather had been before my eyes, I felt like tearing him apart and burning him to death. I felt that if I didn’t endure, if I didn’t do my absolute best to suppress my anger, I would actually do it, so I endured with all my might.”
As he recalled the events of that time, Han-bin’s eyes were red and pooled with tears. A fierce rage was contained within those crimson pupils.
“Think of Hae-joo. A mere twenty-year-old child was caught in the cracks of power, used, weighed, and suffered a miscarriage due to immense beatings. He was only twenty!”
Han-bin let out a resentment-filled scream toward Min-hyeok, releasing the emotions he had kept locked in his heart.
“Hae-joo is still suffering from the aftereffects. His body was ruined due to the long-term use of contraceptives and pheromone abnormalities caused by the miscarriage, and he became mentally devastated. He reached a point where he couldn’t even eat a single sesame seed. You probably don’t even know what that means. Yet, Your Majesty is so confident. To me, Your Majesty is no different from my grandfather.”
The suppressed emotions flowed out explosively. It was Han-bin’s knotted sincerity, which he had been unable to show or reveal to anyone. Tearing up and clenching his fists, it was evident that Han-bin was suppressing his rage to avoid becoming further violent.
“Your Majesty was the first person to help Hae-joo. My brother must have been bewildered by the first warm touch he ever experienced. I was the same. Your Majesty is our benefactor, but you also gave us pain.”
Wiping his tears, Han-bin continued in a cold tone, managing his emotions. Min-hyeok did not interrupt, allowing Han-bin to pour out his anger.
“You reached out to Hae-joo, stole his heart, and then used him. And you did it perfectly. Now, please leave Hae-joo alone. I beg you.”
In the face of these intense emotions, Min-hyeok could not dare to bring up his own feelings, claiming that he too was sincere. His feelings were by no means light. He was happy at first to have both of them in his grasp and happy to make them his people. The heart that wondered how to use them had, before he knew it, become sincere. However, the situation had become too tangled for that to serve as an excuse.
“I will not run away from here. There is no reason to. I will make sure to wrap up the matter between the two of you without dragging it out any further. And I will respect and support whatever decision Hae-joo makes.”
“You’ll support whatever decision he makes?”
“Yes. Because I am Hae-joo’s brother. If Hae-joo wants a divorce from Your Majesty, I will make sure that happens.”
Looking at Han-bin, who expressed his firm will with a cold face, Min-hyeok slowly rose from his seat.