An endless stretch of city wall. A massive iron gate controlling passage to the north.
And at the head of a thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards and several court ministers standing in formation on either side, imperial banners embroidered with dragons held high, stood one man.
“So, were you planning to leave just like this without saying goodbye?”
The Emperor’s sudden appearance caught me off guard. Then I returned his smile with a faint one of my own.
“Your Majesty.”
“I hope I’m not taking up your precious time.”
“My time is precious, but I can spare a little of it for a meeting worth having. As it happens, there’s something I need to tell you in person, too.”
The Emperor tilted his head, not quite grasping what I meant, then smacked his lips.
“You sound as if you knew I’d be waiting.”
“Honestly, I didn’t expect that. But I’m glad to see you, even like this.”
“Enough of that empty flattery. It doesn’t suit you.”
The Emperor feigned a frown, then jerked his chin over his shoulder.
“Why not answer honestly, like you usually do? It isn’t me you’re glad to see. It’s them.”
He was right.
The Emperor wasn’t the only one waiting for me in front of the Imperial Capital’s North Gate.
That’s…
Familiar faces came into view.
The Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Jeong Hogun—the first face I’d seen at the imperial court, and the one I’d seen most often since—was only the beginning.
Baek Yeon and Hong Jin, who should have been busier than anyone else right now, were there too. And I spotted someone I hadn’t seen in days.
Prince Shangshan. No—the Imperial Younger Brother.
Warmth spread through a corner of my heart. That boy, whose life had once hung by a thread, was now with his only family.
And I’d get to say goodbye before I left.
I gave Zhu Bao, who sat in his saddle looking ready to burst into tears, a faint smile. Then I turned back to the Emperor.
“May I answer honestly, as you said?”
“No, never mind. I’ve changed my mind.”
“I’ve changed mine too. You’re right—I’m happier to see them than I am to see Your Majesty.”
“How dare you…!”
His suppressed voice was accompanied by an air that instantly turned cold.
But after glaring at me for a moment, the Emperor burst into the laughter he’d been holding back.
“You never cease to amaze me. No—it’s downright bizarre. How can you be so arrogant and rude to the father of all the people and the supreme ruler?”
“As I’ve already told you, I’m just a rogue. I don’t even have an identity plaque, and I have parents of my own.”
Gasps sounded here and there.
Most of the people—especially the court ministers who had no idea why they were even here—looked at one another as if to ask whether this was really happening.
The Emperor, of course, was still smiling.
“I see. You are neither my subject nor a citizen of the Great Nation.”
Without waiting for my reply, he continued.
“But you think and act according to justice, righteousness, and chivalry. You are truly a hero of your age, worthy of the admiration of all.”
Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
The Emperor rode slowly toward me until he was right in front of me. He gazed at me for a moment, then suddenly raised a hand to his shoulder.
Slip. Thump.
The tightly tied cord came loose. Without hesitation, the Emperor removed his cloak and held it out to me with a faint smile.
“What are you waiting for? Take it.”
“……!”
“……!”
An unseen shockwave swept through everyone.
The court ministers trembled as if they’d suffered strokes, staring aghast at the cloak embroidered with a golden dragon that looked ready to come alive.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“T-That is…!”
Shouts came from every direction.
But their desperate voices were swallowed by the wind at the Emperor’s curt command.
“Enough.”
In the heavy silence pressing down on those around us, the Emperor turned his gaze to me and spoke.
“Go on. It’s just a little gift from me.”
I looked from the Emperor, who was urging me on, to the cloak in his hand. All I could do was blink.
Even without everyone’s reaction, I knew this was no ordinary gift.
“This is… a lot more than a little gift.”
It was no ordinary cloak.
The Emperor himself had worn it. That alone would have made it extraordinary. But something else mattered even more.
A dragon.
A single dragon embroidered on the cloak in golden thread.
Even a three-year-old knew it was the emblem of the Son of Heaven and the imperial house’s authority.
“You seem to know what it means.”
I answered in disbelief.
“How could I not?”
“Good. Then you’ll be all the more eager to accept this precious gift before my hand falls off.”
“Wait, wait a moment.”
The sudden turn of events had me hesitating, but the Emperor was firm.
“Please don’t refuse. If you do, something will happen that you’ll deeply regret.”
“What?”
I stared at him blankly. The Emperor continued in a deliberately stern voice.
“If you refuse even this, I’ll be very hurt.”
“What does that—”
“No one can say what might happen. But rest assured. Surely I wouldn’t make the imperial house’s Benefactor uncomfortable over something so trivial?”
“Is it just me, or was none of that reassuring?”
“Exactly. It’s just you.”
The Emperor and I stared at each other in silence for a while.
Then, as if we’d agreed to it, we both let out a dry chuckle.
We hadn’t known each other long, but we already understood.
Maybe, just a little…
We were alike.
I had fought to protect what was precious to me. He, too, had made sacrifices for someone else.
He’d wagered his life without hesitation, and he didn’t regret it.
The only difference was where we stood and what we saw. Just like me, the Emperor was only human.
Someone who knew how to be grateful for help, who liked jokes, who feared death.
One person who had fought as best he could from the place where he stood.
Swish.
I reached out, took the cloak the Emperor offered, and draped it over my shoulders. Then I respectfully clasped my hands in a salute.
“I gratefully accept this precious gift.”
“It suits you. But there’s one thing missing.”
The Emperor looked at me in the cloak with satisfaction, then took a gleaming silver plaque from between the plates of his armor and held it out.
The next words made me doubt my ears.
“By the authority of the Son of Heaven, I name Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan Marquis of Shangshan!”
His voice, strengthened with internal energy, broke the deep-night silence.
As his declaration rang out, commoners who had watched the imperial procession from afar, not daring to approach, began gathering around the torches held by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
The Emperor continued in a solemn voice.
“I grant you as your fief more than ten counties in Shanxi Province, including Taiyuan, Honju, Yangcheon, Jeongyang, Jinzhong, Taigu, and Jiaocheng, along with the revenues of ten thousand households and a hundred thousand taels1 of gold and silver. In addition…”
Shing.
A flash of light suddenly leapt from his waist. The Emperor drew the imperial sword, his eyes gleaming as he shouted,
“From this moment, I also grant you the post of Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Lead a thousand guards and, by imperial command, swiftly put down the foreign bandits who disturb the order of the realm!”
“……!”
“……!”
I could hardly breathe. My chest thudded.
Thump. Thump. Thump!
That wasn’t my heartbeat.
The thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards standing in formation on either side stamped their feet with all their might. They clashed their weapons together and struck their armor.
For the Emperor.
No—for me.
Ah.
I swallowed the groan rising in my throat.
Only now did I understand.
The Emperor hadn’t brought a thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards here to wait for me merely as an escort.
They were a force assembled by imperial command to punish the enemy.
And they were reinforcements he’d prepared for me.
A shield and a sword to defend Shanxi Province and the Jin Family of Taiyuan against Dark Heaven.
“Waaaah!”
Ding. Ding-ding.
My ears rang with the ceaseless chiming of bells and the shouts and cheers erupting all around me.
And there, at the center of it all, the Emperor smiled at me.
“Success makes you a king; failure makes you a traitor.”
Two had plotted a revolution, but only one had survived.
The Emperor had uprooted the traitors and put everything back in its place. Now he was rewarding those about to depart.
“Every deed has its due. What do you think of the gift I prepared?”
What more could I say?
I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“It’s incredible.”
“As a marquis, you should rightfully be my subject, but I don’t care about that.”
Tap.
The Emperor’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. The spark of life within him was slowly going out, yet I could feel the warmth of his fingertips.
“Go on as you have until now.”
“Keep your eyes on what is right. Let your intentions and actions follow righteousness and chivalry.”
His voice flowed on, and he added quietly,
“Be neither my subject nor my citizen… Just be someone who shines a light upon this world.”
His words, low and heavy, rang in my ears like a final testament.
Meeting and parting are inseparable.
Where there’s a meeting, there’s a parting; and after a parting, another meeting awaits.
Even so, the moment of parting is always bitter and full of regret.
Especially for a child saying goodbye to someone he had relied on so deeply.
Tap. Drip.
Moisture fell onto the saddle.
Rather than look at his youngest brother’s silently weeping face, the Emperor gazed at the empty places left by those who had departed and spoke calmly.
“Are you that sad?”
“N-no, I’m not.”
Zhu Bao hurriedly wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
A child was allowed to cry, but the Imperial Younger Brother was different.
As heir to the Great Nation, Zhu Bao would have to face the coming war. He had become someone who must never cry.
“I’m not sad at all.”
“That’s very strange.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m sorry to see them go. How can you, not even fifteen yet, feel no sadness?”
Zhu Bao looked up in surprise. The Emperor’s smiling face was reflected clearly in his eyes.
“Bao’er.”
Zhu Bao stared at him, too stunned to answer. The Emperor spoke gently.
“You needn’t start swallowing your feelings already.”
“……!”
“They say endurance is bitter and its fruit sweet. But endurance that piles up like that will turn to poison one day.”
“H-hyung.2 I mean, Your Majesty.”
“When you want to cry, cry as much as you like.”
Tap.
With an awkward hand, the Emperor stroked Zhu Bao’s head. Then he turned his horse around and rode away.
He repeated something someone had once told him.
“You and I are both human, in the end.”
As sobs rose behind him, the Emperor hoped that Zhu Bao—his youngest brother, at least—would not follow in his footsteps.
I… realized far too late.
A faint smile touched the Emperor’s lips. Just then, a fine horse came galloping through the enormous iron gate as it slowly closed.
Wait. That man…
Amid a situation he couldn’t understand, the Emperor saw the man who had returned and asked,
“Did you leave something behind, Divine Physician?”
“Yes.”
The Divine Physician smiled and continued,
“I left a patient behind.”
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