Even My Life Is Yours Chapter 94

Just how long had he been in that spot? Confronting Gamyoung, who was silently staring at her, Hongyo froze and looked at him. Then, step by step, Gamyoung approached. Watching him, Hongyo lowered her sword. Before she knew it, Gamyoung had come right in front of her and offered a smile.

“I sent you off to rest, yet you are training here too?”

“Since when were you watching?”

“Not too long. Since you came out to the yard?”

Then he saw everything. Hongyo tried hard to suppress her strangely thumping heart and avoided his gaze, pretending to wipe away her sweat. Right, this was only because she had trained after a long time.

“What about Hwayeonggyeong?”

“It is already almost the Hour of the Dog (戌時: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM). Officially, working hours are over. And tomorrow is the bi-monthly leave.”

Had it already become that time? Indeed, with it being summer, the days were very long. Hongyo looked at Gamyoung and asked.

“So you came to see me?”

“Yeah. Where else would I have to go besides here?”

Hongyo looked at Gamyoung without a word. A question surfaced over his face, which still wore a clear, boyish smile.

“Why?”

When Gamyoung asked, Hongyo shook her head. She wondered if the Gamyoung she had seen in the underground dungeon was just her illusion. However, whether in that appearance or this one, Gamyoung was Gamyoung. Looking up at the sky, which was still ominous, Hongyo said.

“Are you staying the night?”

“Hmm, well. Even if it’s leave, I have a lot to do, so I don’t think I can sleep over before leaving.”

As Gamyoung showed a troubled face, Hongyo spoke resolutely.

“Stay the night.”

“…….”

“Because it looks like it’s going to pour.”

Hongyo turned her back. He shouldn’t get caught in the rain on his way back. Thinking so, Hongyo leaned the wooden sword against the wall again. Perhaps using the rain as an excuse, she ignored her own desire to stay together like this.

After the three of them had a cozy dinner together for the first time in a while, it was pouring rain just as expected by the time she washed up and returned to the room. Seeing how refreshingly it fell, it seemed the rainy season was about to begin in earnest from now on. Hongyo entered the room, intentionally leaving the door open. Perhaps because of the rain, the weather was not that hot. As Hongyo stepped inside, Gamyoung looked at the refreshingly falling rain and spoke.

“It would have been a disaster if I had gone back.”

“What did I tell you? That’s why listening to me brings good fortune out of nowhere.”

As Hongyo bragged, Gamyoung laughed out loud. At the refreshing sound of his laughter, which she hadn’t heard in a while, Hongyo was reminded of the old days. At most, it was before entering Hwayeonggyeong, so only half a year had passed, but because so many things had happened since Gamyoung revealed his true identity, it felt like an incredibly long time had passed. Watching Gamyoung quietly, Hongyo held out the towel she was holding. Then, even without a word, Gamyoung naturally took the towel and asked.

“Want me to dry your hair?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve become a total child since coming home.”

Even while saying so, he made Hongyo sit in front of him and dried her hair. Even while receiving that pleasant touch, Hongyo was strangely not entirely joyful. Hongyo intentionally leaned her body against Gamyoung. At that, Gamyoung hesitated for a brief moment, but without saying much, he gently dried her hair again. Until now, she hadn’t known because she had no one else to really call a friend besides Gamyoung, but ever since she entered Hwayeonggyeong and met her peers, she learned that friends don’t all sit close together like this and dry each other’s hair. Rather, she had just found out that even if their skin touched only a little, they would react with disgust, and they wouldn’t act as if handling something precious at such close proximity.

If so, did that mean Gamyoung and she were not friends? Yet, no matter what anyone said, Gamyoung was indeed her best friend. If not, there was no way she would feel this safe and comfortable when they were together.

When Hongyo remained silent, Gamyoung felt a sense of wonder and casually spoke from behind her back.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Just the old days. Being like this, it feels like when I didn’t know you were royalty.”

At that answer, his hands drying her hair grew strangely slower.

“Hongyo.”

Because the voice calling her name right beside her ear was low, Hongyo flinched her shoulders without realizing it.

“Was it better when you didn’t know?”

It was a voice filled with a bit of regret and fear. Yet, even so, she could tell. Even if she answered that those days were better, Gamyoung would still reveal his identity just the same if he were to go back. And Hongyo also knew that status no longer mattered between her and Gamyoung.

“What are you talking about? Whether back then or now, you are Cha Gamyoung.”

Although the Gamyoung she had seen in the underground dungeon was still unfamiliar and didn’t seem like the Gamyoung she knew…

“You’re probably the only one who would leave that nice imperial palace behind to come sleep here.”

She spoke like that, but in truth, there was another reason.

‘I’m scared that I might lose you at this rate.’

She was grateful that at that single remark, he broke his own resolve and returned to the Gamyoung she knew. If one is a friend, shouldn’t they naturally pull their friend back to their proper place when they are about to go down a wrong path? Gamyoung must never stain his hands with blood because of a mere nobody like Jang Daeho. If it was to stop that, she would go to Gamyoung a hundred or a thousand times.

“Thank you.”

Gamyoung, who had been silent for a while, spoke with difficulty. It was only two words, but from his heavy and low voice, Hongyo knew that Gamyoung, just like her, was holding many thoughts. Therefore, the two of them purposely did not bring up the incidents that happened in the underground dungeon again. Rather than exposing wounds over a story about a mere nobody like Jang Daeho, they just liked the time spent leaning on each other like this right now.

“I think it’s all done.”

Gamyoung had dried Hongyo’s hair as slowly as possible by any means, but it seemed it was quite a long time for Hongyo. As her hair dried, Hongyo immediately straightened her leaning body and moved away from his embrace. At most, it was a time not even lasting fifteen minutes, but for some reason, as the remaining warmth disappeared, it felt so regrettable. However, unlike him, Yeo Hongyo, who looked as if she had nothing to regret at all, gathered her knees together near the doorway, hugged them, and watched the endlessly falling rain.

“I guess it’s the rainy season now. How can it rain like this?”

“Yeah. In a little bit, there will even be thunder and lightning.”

“What? Are you scared of that kind of thing?”

Hongyo, who had been gathering her knees to hug them and resting her head on top of them, merely turned her head to look at Gamyoung. Her playful smile showed a face that looked as if she had caught him in something. At that, Gamyoung was about to say what on earth was there to be scared of, but stopped himself. And then he changed his words.

“Yeah. Since I slept all by myself in that vast place ever since I was little, do you know how scared I was on days when lightning struck? Even now, just hearing the sound makes me pull the blanket over my head.”

Gamyoung didn’t know he could lie this well without even blinking an eye. At that, Hongyo, who had intended to tease him, made a troubled face as if thinking this wasn’t right.

“Th-that, what is it. I heard princes also have nannies.”

“Right. If I want to be teased by my older brothers the next day, I suppose I could call a nanny.”

“Is that so.”

Seeing Hongyo at a loss as if embarrassed, Gamyoung had a hard time holding back the laughter that wanted to burst out at any moment. However, he hadn’t teased her enough yet.

“Perhaps if someone stays by my side, the fear might get better.”

As he stared even more intently on purpose, Hongyo opened her eyes wide as if surprised. Even so, they were both men to each other, and they had even slept together in a hut on the day they were stranded in the mountain, so he couldn’t understand why she was so surprised. In fact, wasn’t the one in danger right now himself…? When they were stranded, he hadn’t realized his feelings yet, and since it was right after he revealed his identity, both of their minds were in a complicated state so he didn’t know, but actually, the most troubled one right now was Gamyoung.

Gamyoung unconsciously looked at Hongyo’s white, long nape before subtly avoiding her gaze. Come to think of it, weren’t those clothes she was wearing right now also a bit thin? Since it was summer, it was only natural for clothes to become thin, but things he hadn’t been conscious of before kept entering his eyes.

Not to mention her white nape, even things like her ankles, which were exceptionally thin for a man’s, and her reddish ankle bones revealed because she was gathering her knees together. Even earlier, at the sight of Hongyo leaning her back against him, he was so surprised that he didn’t know how hard it was to pretend to be calm. In this situation, if he were to sleep together with Hongyo by any chance, it seemed he would be the one in even more trouble.

“Th-then, if it’s really like that, do you want to sleep together with Grandmother, the three of us?”

Fortunately, it was a relief that Yeo Hongyo broke the atmosphere. Gamyoung put on a serious face.

“Forget it. There could be nothing as unsightly as a rumor that the Hwayeonggyeong leader is scared of thunder.”

“As expected, it’s a bit like that, right? Right. We aren’t children either.”

Then, Hongyo, who showed a noticeably relieved sign, hurriedly changed the subject.

“Ah, right. I went to the dojo a few days ago.”

“To the dojo?”

“Yeah. I met the Master and my senior brothers after a long time, and everyone was glad to see me. The Master even made me do a sparring match, and I won.”

Thinking back to that time, Hongyo let out a chuckle as if she was still in a good mood. However, Gamyoung could not laugh along while looking at her. Seeing that she even visited the dojo, it was a relief that Hongyo’s condition seemed to have improved a lot. No doubt she felt stable being in a familiar place. Gamyoung’s heart grew heavy again at the thought of whether he had brought Hongyo to Hwayeonggyeong out of his own greed. Gamyoung asked carefully.

“Hongyo.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like living outside the imperial palace?”

As expected, was this life the right fit for Hongyo? That was the question that made him agonize until the very end over whether or not to go out to the hunting ritual with Hongyo. He wondered if he had unnecessarily disrupted a life that was monotonous but peaceful and free from getting hurt. At Hongyo who was silent, Gamyoung became a little anxious. Hongyo, who had been agonizing for a quite long time unlike her usual self, slowly opened her mouth.

“Of course I like it. I was born and raised here, so how could I not like it?”

As expected, was it so? Gamyoung’s chest throbbed. However, the words that followed next were enough to solidify Gamyoung’s resolve.

“But I can’t live only in the mountain anymore. Because…”

Hongyo, who furrowed her brows as if choosing her words, spoke as if embarrassed.

“Because now I know that I am a useful person too.”