“I feel like I’m going to get sick.”

With her nose blocked, her voice was muffled as she muttered the words. Her shoulders shook with small, choking sobs. Although she was no longer a child, she rested her head against his chest. Because her nose was pressed against his shirt, it quickly became soaked.

Come to think of it, he was wearing a suit, not court robes.

It was obvious, and yet it felt strangely unfamiliar.

Lee-jae lifted her head and looked at him.

“Are you done crying?”

She shook her head.

She couldn’t be certain. She had no idea when she might fall apart again.

He smiled faintly and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Lee-jae reached up and touched his short hair.

The long, curtain-like black hair he once had was gone.

His dark ink-like brows and deep-set eyes were the same, but the atmosphere he carried felt different somehow.

Then again, Lee-jae had likely changed as well.

“You need to eat.”

“I don’t want to.”

To eat meant letting go of him.

She didn’t want that. She wanted to remain in his arms like this. Even if she died, she wanted to die in his embrace.

His expression hardened slightly.

“You have to eat.”

“That means I have to move away. I don’t want to. I want to stay like this. Just like this.”

Whining like a spoiled child, she burrowed deeper into him. His embrace was the same as before. The broad back. The dense muscles. Even the large, powerful frame she remembered.

Everything was exactly the same. Even his familiar warmth remained unchanged, which surprised her. In a hoarse voice, she clung to him, wrapping her legs around his waist and burying her face against him.

“I’ll hold you and feed you.”

He gently stroked her hair.

She glanced at him.

His red lips brushed against the swollen corners of her eyes. Everything about him was still Wi-pyeong—perfectly unchanged.

Lee-jae returned his kiss.

He carried her out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

Still in his arms, Lee-jae looked around the interior of the house. It was so large it felt like a school athletic field.

Just walking down the corridor seemed as though it would take quite a while. The place he carried her to was the kitchen of the mansion.

“You live here?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean, not exactly?”

She asked, startled.

The man hesitated as if thinking it over before answering slowly.

“I stay in different places from time to time.”

His voice trailed off.

Lee-jae stared at him blankly.

The mansion, which she had thought empty, actually had quite a number of people moving about. Beneath the enormous chandelier glowing with amber light—so different from the bedroom—several people who appeared to be servants walked past in suits, their steps measured and steady.

Seeing them somehow reminded her of the eunuchs and court maids who used to move busily through the imperial palace.

At this point, it no longer even felt like a dream.

Sitting on his thigh, Lee-jae absentmindedly fiddled with his blue tie.

The man in a suit looked almost perfect.

It was as though his very frame had been made to wear suits from the moment he was born—his sleek, sharp muscles moved beneath what was surely a haute couture classic suit. There was something strangely beast-like about the aura he carried.

Holding Lee-jae like a child, the man pulled a set of dishes closer.

Still nestled snugly in his arms, Lee-jae reached out to grab the spoon. But he dodged her hand and refused to give up the one he was holding.

“You said you wanted to be held while you ate.”

Desire flickered briefly between the relaxed curve of his lips.

Lee-jae suddenly became aware of the thigh she was sitting on, pressed beneath her.

And now that she noticed it, something firm beneath her seemed to shift slightly.

“Um… I’ll sit over there and eat.”

“No. You said you wanted to be held like a baby.”

He tightened the arm wrapped around her waist. Her heart began to pound. Seeing her face flush red, he let out a low chuckle.

Looking closer, that relaxed smile seemed almost like a mask. It wasn’t that it looked strange—rather, the impression created by his features and natural aura was far too sharp to match such looseness.

Something about it felt slightly foreign. Slightly unsettling.

Then again, Wi-pyeong had always been that kind of man. Even when he smiled at her, it had never quite felt sincere.

So nothing had changed.

‘Should she relax now?’

Thinking that, Lee-jae swallowed the warm soup he fed her.

The basil soup, bright with a fresh green color, tasted rich and savory.

Only then did she realize how hungry she was. She accepted the bread he dipped into the soup and fed to her.

***

Hyo-jeong had completely lost it.

She had cried and shouted, saying that when Lee-jae disappeared, she had even gone to the police using broken Chinese. She had wandered around the embassy all day as well.

Then some men had appeared and, in Korean, said the unbelievable words: “Miss Seo Lee-jae is safe.”

Did Lee-jae even know how terrifying that had been?

Lee-jae felt so guilty that she couldn’t think of anything to say. After all, it had been their first trip together.

Hyo-jeong had finally decided to travel, only to suddenly lose her friend. She must have been incredibly shaken.

Lee-jae simply listened without offering excuses. When the rant finally subsided, she asked where Hyo-jeong was now.

“Oh, right! I’m at the Double DM Hotel right now. You should come here too. I’m at the spa and it’s amazing!”

Her voice sounded cheerful.

Startled, Lee-jae asked.

“How did you end up there? That’s not where we were staying.”

The place where Lee-jae and Hyo-jeong had originally planned to stay was not where Hyo-jeong was now.

The hotel they had booked had not been a seven-star place like the Double DM Hotel. It had been a small hotel often used by tourists, located quite far from the Double DM Hotel.

“Oh, that. The men who came earlier said they would change it for me.”

Hyo-jeong offered the explanation awkwardly, as if making excuses.

Lee-jae wanted to ask how she could possibly have trusted strangers enough to follow them, but the moment never came. She simply kept her mouth shut.

It seemed that Wi-pyeong had sent people to Hyo-jeong.

In any case, as long as Hyo-jeong was safe and able to enjoy her trip, that was enough. On top of that, he had even arranged for a friendly guide to accompany Hyo-jeong during the week she would be traveling without Lee-jae.

After ending the call, Lee-jae looked toward the man returning to the bedroom. The man, his damp body wrapped only in a robe, watched her as she put the phone down.

She wanted to say something to him. But she had no idea what to say. He was no longer Wi-pyeong.

In the past, she had called him “Your Majesty.” But she could no longer call him that now.

With somewhat dry eyes, she stared at him blankly.

Now that the excitement had settled, she was finally able to look at him properly.

The man standing before her was someone she had once lost. Yet at the same time, he was someone she had just met for the first time—a foreign man whose name she did not even know.

She clasped her hands together and bit her lip.

“How did you know… my name?”

She had meant to ask his name first, but instead she asked how he knew hers.

During dinner, she had been surprised to hear that he had been born and raised in China. Somehow, she had assumed he must have been born in the same country as her.

Besides, his Korean was extremely fluent.

“That’s because…”

Rubbing his still-damp hair with a towel, he dropped down beside her. His eyes, gazing lazily at her, were the color of fallen leaves. He lifted a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Lee-jae kept pressing and releasing her lips nervously.

“Because I searched for you for a very long time.”

The lips that had been pressed between her teeth slowly loosened. The heat that had flooded her face began to cool little by little.

The man who said he had searched for her for so long leaned closer—slowly, yet without hesitation—and claimed her lips.

Lee-jae closed her eyes. The warmth she had waited for through an entire lifetime was finally overlapping with the present.

A large hand lifted her arm and wrapped it around his neck. The sweet press of his lips pulled away for a moment. At the same time, their eyes opened and blinked in unison.

With damp lips, Lee-jae whispered softly,

“Seo Lee-jae. My name is Seo Lee-jae.”

“Joo Yi-gang. I’m Joo Yi-gang.”

Yi-gang smiled.

The pale bloom of his smile was beautiful. His large hand gripped her waist. His damp hair brushed against her chin.

A faint shiver rose where their skin touched. The sensation was impossible to describe. The warm breath she could not suppress slipped into his lips.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she felt his tongue enter her mouth. After savoring the sweetness of her lips, he pulled away and looked at her.

A thin thread of saliva stretched between their parted tongues.

Lee-jae’s hand, which had been gripping the blanket, was suddenly caught in his.

A surge of sorrow rose inside her. Her damp lips trembled as heavy emotions welled up. The hand that had been holding her waist pressed gently against her lips.

Lee-jae lifted her lowered gaze and looked at him.

“Shall we go to the sea?”

Yi-gang asked.

Lee-jae—no, Huinyeong—had barely been holding back her tears. At his words, a tear slipped down her cheek.

Her fingers trembled.

Slowly, she traced the outline of his face. With the tips of her fingers she confirmed it—his warmth, the solid reality of him beneath her touch.

“Lee-jae.”

Her breathing twisted out of rhythm. Her dry lips parted, then closed again as she struggled to steady the body that felt ready to collapse backward.

Sensing it, Yi-gang pulled her closer and let her lean against his chest.

Lee-jae blinked at him with dazed eyes.

“Huinyeong.”

She had barely managed to breathe when the name—one that made her heart stop—reached her ears in a quiet murmur.

She lifted her head and looked at him.

“It’s alright.”

“……”

“It’s all alright. Everything… everything.”

His warm whisper brushed against her ear.

It was a familiar sensation.

Lee-jae—no, Huinyeong—buried her face in his chest. She wanted to sink into him. She pressed herself against his skin, breathing in his scent as though engraving it into her lungs.

For so long she had searched for him.

For so long she had searched for his soul, hoping to meet him again.

For this moment.

“Wi-pyeong.”

Wi-pyeong.

Wi-pyeong.

Wi-pyeong…

‘You have no idea how long I searched for you.’

“I won’t go anywhere, anywhere…”

“Yes. I won’t go anywhere.”

No. That wasn’t what she meant.

Lee-jae lifted her head with Huinyeong’s face.

It felt as though she might die.

“I—I won’t go anywhere. I’ll stay only by your side. So…”

Her voice broke into a long sob.

Yi-gang, who had been looking at his own reflection in her tear-filled eyes, finally lost his composure.

For the first time, his face twisted.

It was Wi-pyeong’s face.

Clutching his chest, Lee-jae cried aloud before slowly pressing her lips together.

From the reddened eyes of the man before her, a tear finally fell.

***

The sea they had once tried to leave by ship remained unchanged. The waves collided with immense force, breaking apart before joining together again.

The water flowed on endlessly, calm and beautiful. It had been the same back then.

The procession leading toward the harbor was just as peaceful and busy as it had been that morning. The sea itself remained tranquil.

And Wi-pyeong’s gaze stayed fixed upon that blue surface.

“Look at this. The color is really pretty.”

Lee-jae bent down and knelt on the damp sand. Yi-gang smiled as she lifted a small shell to show him. After brushing the sand from it, she held it up again.

The shell, mixed with bright crimson and deep indigo, was small and delicate, like a ribbon tied to a doll’s bonnet.

Yi-gang took the shell from her, carefully wiped it with a towel, and slipped it into his pocket. Seeing that, Lee-jae gave a small laugh and whispered.

“Let’s put it in a glass bottle later.”

A breeze suddenly rose. Although it was early summer, a cool wind slipped down the back of her neck.

Lee-jae’s pale feet scattered the sand warmed by the golden sunlight. The warm grains covered the tops of her feet. She mischievously flicked some sand onto Yi-gang’s shoes.

He smiled faintly and suddenly lifted her into his arms.

The wind fluttered her white dress.

Her black hair flowed along the rippling wind and spilled toward Yi-gang. He caught the ends of her long hair and pressed a kiss to them.

Lee-jae burst into laughter.

The man who had been spinning her around gently set her down when the incoming seawater reached them.

Startled by the cold seawater washing the sand from her feet, Lee-jae grabbed his arm tightly. She tried to take off his shoes.

In the end, Yi-gang removed them himself and stepped into the sea.

The sand beneath their feet felt soft and warm.

They wandered along the shore, splashing lightly through the shallow water before stopping to look out at the sea.

The endless horizon was breathtakingly beautiful.

Like a mirror reflecting the sky, the water shimmered in layered colors—some parts the pale blue of the heavens, others a deep ocean blue—blending together until sea and sky seemed perfectly connected.

Yi-gang wrapped an arm around Lee-jae’s waist and pulled her close.

The wind blew again.

Lee-jae held him and gazed at the calmly flowing sea—

like lovers who had wandered through countless years before finally meeting again.

The sea continued its eternal rhythm, flowing and breaking endlessly through time.

Wi-pyeong and Huinyeong closed their eyes and listened to the sound of the waves. Then, at the same moment, they opened their eyes and looked at one another.

The sound of the sea rolled softly in their ears, and before their eyes shimmered the lover they had once lost long ago.

Beloved, whom I will love again.

—Main Story Complete. —