However, what was the point of all that? His personality—which was unfitting to his beauty, was enough to make even the one who was completely infatuated with his face run away while shaking their heads. That was why Ahjin could understand the reason the emperor was very harsh to her master.

As her master’s silence kept getting longer, Ahjin’s lips kept getting drier. In the first place, satisfying her master’s taste was like picking a star in the sky, and seeing that today even his mood didn’t look good, she had no choice but to be nervous. It was because she didn’t know what kind of things would happen if her master didn’t like what she had dressed him up in.  

While Ahjin could only hold her breath since she couldn’t guess what kind of great clothes her master would ask for this time, her master, who looked like he was deep in thoughts for a long time, began to slowly open his mouth.

“Do I really need to dress up?”

“… Pardon?”

“Won’t it be strange for me whose body is not fully recovered to dress up fancily? … Just help me to look neat.”

“… Pardon?”

One of the most first things that Ahjin had taught to all the court ladies who came to Jeongan Palace was to never question His Highness back. Whenever new young court ladies came in, Ahjin would always take the lead and inform them of the rules over and over again. But right now, how shocked she was that she made the mistake of asking her master—twice in such a short period of time.

Just before Ahjin could kneel down and bow her head as she had realized her mistake, Hwawoon said.

“I don’t need flaring attire, so plea… dress me something that won’t make me look rude in front of His Majesty.”

Ahjin turned pale even more at the order that Hwawoon had never given before, but Hwawoon had no strength left to look at her face right now. He found the way of his manner of speech back in his guard days kept coming out—even though he had been careful—as a problem, and he found the visit of the Emperor to be even a bigger problem. 

He had made an excuse—saying that he couldn’t remember any of the previous events because of the shock from falling into the water, and the said excuse was working thanks to the doctor who said something like that was possible. But even so, he couldn’t put his heart at ease.

“By the way….”

Ahjin, who was at a loss at what to do to her master’s unexpected order, quickly lowered her head back when Hwawoon’s words continued. 

While looking at his face that was reflected in the hand mirror with a complicated face, Hwawoon said.

“The… the guard who saved me…”

“Ah…”

“Is he really dead…?”

Hwawoon’s lips unintentionally trembled while saying so. 

Anyone would find it hard to keep their composure when they woke up and their body had changed with an unexpected person, and even hearing that their original body had died. 

From the start, he had realized that his life wouldn’t go on smoothly since he had lost both of his parents when he was young and grew up as an orphan. However, never did he think that he would die such a vain death. 

Besides, didn’t he finally become a guard of the imperial family that he had envisioned so much? Despite it was a low-level guard protecting the concubine residence where the emperor barely took steps into, it was a place where Hawoon—who was born and raised as a low person—couldn’t even dream of.

Even though it was a position that I barely got. Even though I finally got the only thing I ever desired and dreamed of. I can’t believe my life would end with such an empty death. 

Ahjin responded with a more tensed expression to Hwawoon, whose complexion darkened.

“… Yes. I heard that he died immediately on the spot where he hit his head against the stone.”

“…….”

“It-it’s such an honorable death for that person! From what I heard, it turned out that he was an orphan with no relatives, but he came in after passing the test that was specially opened without status restrictions at His Majesty’s birthday last time. That mere person died after saving Your Highness, who is incomparably precious compared to him. Rather, he should be thankful to Your Highness. So don’t worry about that, Your Highness.”

“Why did you say…!”