Chapter 934

Winter comes for everyone.

But the winter one man—an emperor, or rather a man named Zhu Di—had to endure was exceptionally harsh.

More than ten long years.

For all that time, long enough for the world to change beyond recognition, he fought illness. He had to learn martial arts just to stay alive, and with the blades of rebellion lurking on every side, not a single day passed when he could sleep easy.

Spring, regained after such a long wait.

The Emperor smiled bitterly.

At last, the long winter had ended and warm spring had come. Yet he still shivered with cold.

“I was prepared for this. Have been for a long time. So…”

The Emperor murmured the words calmly, then fixed his gaze on the young man before him.

“You don’t need to look at me like that.”

Someone had once said there was beauty in the sight of a person who had given their all.

But there was nothing beautiful about someone wasting away after giving everything they had.

The sight stirred only a bitter feeling that was hard to name.

That was the look in the eyes of the young man staring at the Emperor now: Jin Taekyung.

“How much time do you have left?”

“That’s a question for the heavens.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes.”

“Did it sound like a joke?”

“……!”

“Even making it this far is a miracle. If I hadn’t learned martial arts, and if I hadn’t had the help of Baek Yeon and the Bow Saint, I’d already be dead.”

The vitality and physical strength of a Supreme Peak master were beyond comparison with those of ordinary people.

That was why the Emperor had learned martial arts—not to become stronger for its own sake, but solely to survive.

He had to grow stronger to resist the Blood Soul Gu’s poison.

But even the precious time he had bought himself was now drawing to a close.

“Not long ago, I found myself wondering something. If I’d been born with martial talent like yours, perhaps I could’ve completely suppressed the Blood Soul Gu.”

“Don’t talk like you’re helpless. Making it this far is already incredible. If you don’t give up and keep working at it…”

“Do you really believe that? Honestly, without the slightest bit of pity or a single lie?”

Jin Taekyung was at a loss for words. The Emperor continued, his voice calm.

“I don’t need half-hearted comfort. I know reality better than anyone.”

Despite having been taught by two peerless masters—the Bow Saint and Baek Yeon—and having absorbed all manner of elixirs, he had only reached the early stage of Supreme Peak.

Of course, the Blood Soul Gu’s poison had made learning martial arts no easy task. But the fact that even bone-deep effort and the finest possible conditions hadn’t brought him any further meant one thing.

A limit.

This was as far as he could go.

The Emperor had neither the talent to break through the enormous wall in front of him nor the time to do it.

Ka-koff. Koff.

The Emperor’s complexion was pale as he let out a series of small coughs. That was when Jin Taekyung’s quiet voice reached him.

“What if there’s still… a chance?”

“A chance.”

It was a word he hadn’t heard in a long time.

And the Emperor already knew what Taekyung meant by it.

“It’s too soon to give up.”

“Yes, I suppose you could think that. You trust the Divine Physician that much.”

“……!”

“Now that I think about it, there were three of you, not two. Three people who knew about my condition.”

At the sight of Jin Taekyung frozen with wide eyes, the Emperor gave a quiet laugh.

“He came to see me three days ago.”

Taekyung fell silent.

There was no need to ask how the examination had gone. Everything the Emperor had said and done until now was proof enough.

“He said it was too late. He shook his head and said there was nothing he could do for me right now.”

It was the judgment of the Divine Physician, whose medical skill was the greatest under heaven.

Unless the Great Firmament Immortal himself intervened, it was as good as confirmation that no human being could overcome this illness.

“And yet, all of a sudden, I felt ridiculous.”

The Emperor continued with a bitter smile.

“I thought I’d prepared myself and accepted everything long ago. But when the Divine Physician confirmed it, I felt as though a part of my chest had gone hollow.”

At last, spring had come.

No—he had reclaimed spring.

He had lived fiercely, and he wanted to keep doing so.

But he didn’t have much time left.

“Earlier, I told you I had no regrets left. That I was content.”

Taekyung finally spoke.

“I know. I knew you didn’t mean it.”

“Yes. You’re right. It was all a complete lie.”

The Emperor breathed heavily.

The crushing pressure on his chest, as if an enormous boulder were weighing it down, wasn’t caused only by the Blood Soul Gu that had eaten away at his body and mind over the years.

“There’s… so much I have to take care of before I die.”

The Emperor knew.

The spring he’d fought so hard to reclaim, its warmth, was only a passing spring breeze—a brief respite.

Before long, a cold frost would fall over the land and cover it all.

“There will be a war. One more brutal and vast than any before it.”

The calm before the storm.

Four characters that described the present situation more accurately than anything else.

And the weight of that coming storm would fall on whoever stood as ruler of the continent after the Emperor.

“Bao’er.”

One name slipped from the Emperor’s dry lips.

Prince Shangshan. No—the Imperial Younger Brother, Zhu Bao.

His last lingering attachment, the one who made him look back again and again as he neared the end of his life. His own flesh and blood, so precious he could never bear to see him hurt.

The little boy who wasn’t here had become a great boulder pressing down on the Emperor’s chest.

“He’ll surely become a sage king. He’ll be loved and praised by all the people, and bring peace and prosperity to this land.”

But peace had already been broken.

To survive the flames of war that would sweep across the continent, the boy would have to become a conqueror, not a sage king.

“That burden will be too much for him.”

The Emperor knew better than anyone how heavy and overwhelming the title Son of Heaven could be.

Perhaps by the heavens’ grace, his youngest brother had been born with the qualities of a sage king. But he was still far too young.

Too young to rule a nation.

And too young to weather a war.

I want to live. I still have things to do for that boy, for this country and its people.

The Emperor said it only in his heart.

He knew reality wouldn’t change no matter how desperately he wished it would, so he swallowed the words. As the ruler, who must never waver, he couldn’t say them aloud.

What’s the point of lamenting? It’s all futile anyway.

The Emperor gave a bitter laugh. That was when—

“Did you know?”

Jin Taekyung spoke up without warning, fixing his gaze on the Emperor as he continued.

“There are two main ways to piss someone off. The first is to start saying something and then stop, and the second is…”

His voice trailed off, and silence followed.

The Emperor waited patiently for the rest. Then he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“The second is what?”

“Hm?”

“I asked what the second one is.”

“Oh, that.”

Taekyung blinked as though he’d just remembered something he’d forgotten long ago, then scratched his chin.

“I just won’t tell you. Let’s move on.”

“……What?”

“What does it matter? You didn’t finish what you were saying, either.”

“What are you talking about—”

The Emperor was so dumbfounded he was about to continue, but Taekyung spoke first.

“Just be honest. Say you want to live.”

“……!”

“Is that so hard?”

The Emperor’s pupils trembled.

It wasn’t because of Taekyung’s outrageous disrespect.

It was the embarrassment of having the truth he’d kept so tightly hidden laid bare, as if he’d been stripped naked.

“I am… the Son of Heaven.”

“So what? The Son of Heaven isn’t a person?”

“That’s enough!”

The Emperor’s low shout didn’t faze Taekyung. His words came in a rush.

“When someone says something hurtful, it hurts. When you get cut by a blade, you bleed. When you’re facing a hard reality, you lose heart. It’s the same for everyone. What’s different about wearing golden silk embroidered with dragons and looking down on all the civil and military officials?”

“……”

“You said you didn’t need half-hearted comfort. Fine. I won’t give you any. But you need to be more honest, too. Forget being the Emperor or anything else—just act like a person for a little while.”

The Emperor, his face clouded with confusion, wondered to himself:

Why had he summoned Jin Taekyung here today? Why had he let out thoughts he’d never shared with anyone?

And why, after such insolence, did he feel no anger?

Then he let out a quiet laugh.

“Do you know something?”

“I don’t. Except that you’re feeling better than I expected.”

“But I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“That’s why I said I don’t know. I’d have to hear it to know. How could I know if I haven’t heard it?”

“Ha! Ha-ha-ha!”

The Emperor suddenly burst into loud laughter. Before long, he coughed up blood and muttered,

“Damn it.”

“I didn’t know you knew how to swear.”

“You said the Son of Heaven was a person, didn’t you?”

“Oh. Yeah, I did.”

“……Still, don’t drop the formalities.”

“I was talking to myself.”

“What do you think would happen if I muttered to myself that you’d just tried to assassinate me?”

“That wouldn’t work. That’d be spreading false information.”

“You made me cough up blood, so it wouldn’t be entirely false.”

“You’ve got a real talent for twisting things.”

“This is getting more and more absurd. Is that any way to speak to the father of all the people and the Emperor of the Great Nation?”

“Dad.”

“What?”

“You said you were a father. If you don’t like me calling you Dad, I’ll call you Mom.”

“What kind of madman are you?”

The Emperor laughed so hard he could barely breathe. Still grinning, he spoke again.

“Do you know what I was about to say a moment ago?”

“You mean the thing I said I didn’t know?”

“That’s right.”

“Not really.”

“We—no, I…”

The Emperor stared at Taekyung, who was still playing coy, then slowly parted his lips.

“I want to live. More desperately than anyone.”

Jin Taekyung grinned.

“Now you sound like a person.”

“But reality hasn’t changed. I didn’t want to make a pitiful spectacle of myself.”

“So, are you crying now?”

“Where did that come from all of a sudden—”

“I cried. Three days ago.”

Despite what he was saying, Taekyung’s voice held a hint of laughter.

“I’m not exaggerating one bit. I bawled my eyes out, with snot running everywhere. I writhed around like a grub and begged the heavens to save me. I told them I still had so much left to do. That there were precious people I absolutely had to see one more time.”

“……!”

“I must’ve looked too pathetic to bear watching. But I wasn’t ashamed of myself.”

He’d fought to stay alive, and survived.

That was how he’d been given a second chance. How he’d ended up here.

“You don’t need to be ashamed, and you don’t need to despair.”

Jin Taekyung held out his hand to the Emperor.

“I’ll save you, one way or another.”