Jade didn't answer. His gaze drifted downward, fixed on the floorboards beneath his boots.
"Why… didn't you tell me?" she pressed, her voice breaking with frustration. "Why didn't you say anything before going after them…?"
Still, he kept his head bowed. Silent.
Two attackers. One hidden in the ridge with a bow, the other—face to face—Gonse.
One man unknown. The other unforgettable.
'Gonse…'
A comrade from long ago. Another ghost dragged from the ashes of his past.
'But why here? Why now?'
Jade's thoughts swirled in confusion, sharp edges scraping at the back of his mind. Gonse had vanished years ago, disgracefully deserting during the wars—a scandal whispered through the ranks before fading into rumor.
Now he was here, dagger in hand, eyes full of murder.
It didn't add up.
One thing was certain. Gonse hadn't been acting alone. Someone had sent him. Someone with authority—and with a reason to want Jade dead.
'Ash…'
The Ash Kingdom again. Had they still not let it go? After Kim Jin's desperate explanations… after all that bloodshed… was this yet another attempt to erase him from the board?
'Was Gonse trailing me on their command, sent to finish what others had failed to do?'
The questions came faster than the answers.
Then, cutting through the storm of his thoughts, Genie spoke again—her tone steadier now, the raw edge of her grief replaced by unmistakable command.
"From now on, I want you to hand over your duties to Danjin. No more fieldwork. I want you to focus on recovering properly."
Jade lifted his gaze, blinking, as if pulled back from somewhere distant.
"That won't be necessary—"
"It is necessary," she snapped, her voice sharp but trembling faintly beneath the weight of worry. "Last time, you pushed yourself too hard, and this happened. I won't watch you tear yourself apart again. Please, Jade. Just this once—do as I ask."
For a moment, there was only the soft crackle of the lantern flame between them.
Jade let out a quiet breath, lips curling faintly into a small, tired smile—not from amusement, but from something closer to gratitude.
"Why are you smiling…?" she whispered, both frustration and fear tangled in her voice.
He looked at her with quiet affection, a faint smile curving his lips, gentle yet tinged with something bittersweet.
"Because… Your Majesty has become incredibly strong. So strong that I sometimes wonder… if you even need me anymore."
Her eyes widened, stunned by the softness—and the sorrow—behind his words.
"Don't… don't say such things," she whispered, shaking her head. "If you're not here… I can't—"
The rest tangled helplessly in her throat, choked by emotion she couldn't shape into words.
Without hesitation, Jade leaned forward, closing the fragile distance between them. His gaze locked onto hers—steady, searching, as if daring her to finish the thought neither of them wanted to speak aloud.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he murmured. "If I'm not here… then what?"
At that moment, the door to the royal infirmary burst open with a sharp clatter.
Chief Han, who had been standing guard outside, rushed in, her face pale with urgency.
Her breath came in ragged bursts as she cried out, "Your Majesty! Grand King Gen is now hovering between life and death!"
The words struck like a thunderclap.
Both Queen Genie and Jade's eyes widened in unison, the weight of the moment sinking in like a blow to the chest. For a heartbeat, the world seemed to tilt on its axis.
"We—we must go to him at once!" Genie gasped, stumbling over her words in panic.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Without another second's hesitation, Queen Genie gathered her skirts and dashed out of the infirmary, Chief Han close behind her. The hurried echo of their footsteps rang down the corridor like drumbeats of dread.
Jade reached for the outer robe draped over the bed and flung it over his shoulders, but as he lifted his right arm, a white-hot pain flared through his forearm like the bite of a blade. His jaw clenched, muscles trembling with the effort to stay upright.
Biting down hard on the pain, he staggered to his feet and pushed himself forward, determined to follow.
The door to King Gen's chamber flew open with a crash as Genie burst inside, her chest heaving from the desperate run.
"Father!"
The royal physician, who had been kneeling beside the King's bedside, looked up in alarm at the Queen's sudden entrance. His lips parted, as if to offer counsel, but Genie was already past him, breathless, frantic.
Gasping, she stumbled forward until she collapsed by her father's bedside. The sight before her stole the air from her lungs.
King Gen lay utterly still, his frame swallowed by the vastness of the bed. His once broad shoulders, which had carried the burdens of an entire kingdom, were sunken and frail. His mighty arms, which had once lifted her high into the air when she was a little girl, now looked like brittle sticks beneath the heavy blankets.
"Father…" Her voice was a choked whisper.
Trembling, she reached out and grasped his thin, papery hand, clutching it as if her grip alone could anchor him to life.
Slowly, painfully, King Gen's eyelids fluttered open, his clouded gaze searching before finding hers. A faint smile came over his pale lips.
"…You've come…"
Behind her, the royal physician bowed his head, his voice heavy with helpless sorrow. "Your Majesty… Forgive me… It will be difficult for His Majesty to make it through the day…"
The words shattered what little strength she had left.
Genie stared at her father's withered form, her face drained of color, her heart splitting in two. Gone was the towering figure of the monarch who had led the Hana Kingdom through decades of hardship and triumph. All that remained was a man—a frail, fading remnant of a life once magnificent.
The physician lowered his gaze respectfully.
"For now… I will leave you both alone."
With a deep bow, he quietly exited, leaving behind only silence… and grief.
The silence was broken by the rasp of King Gen's breath, fragile and strained.
"Do not… cry…" His voice, though weak and broken, held the echo of the authority he once wielded.
Genie's tears spilled freely, landing one by one on the back of his cold, fragile hand, as if her sorrow itself could breathe warmth back into his skin.
"Father… You can't leave like this…" Genie's voice broke, her trembling fingers tightening around his frail, withered hand as though she could keep him tethered to this world by sheer will alone.
King Gen's breath rattled faintly in his throat, his eyelids fluttering as he gathered what little strength remained within his fragile frame. A faint, weary smile lifted the corners of his lips—gentle, resigned, yet full of a quiet dignity.
"It is… my time now…" he murmured, voice scarcely more than a breath. "I can go peacefully…"
Genie's vision blurred as tears gathered relentlessly in her eyes, falling faster than she could wipe them away.
'Peacefully…? How can you call this peace…?'
Her heart twisted painfully inside her chest.
King Gen's gaze drifted beyond the ceiling, beyond this room, beyond the mortal world itself. "Looking back… I have nothing but gratitude for the life I've lived… Now, I can go… peacefully… to the kingdom of heaven…"
His words felt like gentle blades slicing into her heart—soft, inevitable, merciless in their acceptance.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Genie lowered her head.
"If you leave like this… what will become of me…?" Her voice was barely a whisper now, fragile and breaking. "I'll be left all alone…"
The King's chest trembled as another fit of coughing overtook him, his frail body convulsing with the effort. When it finally subsided, he opened his eyes again, weaker now, but still brimming with fatherly affection. His fingers, thin and shaking, pressed softly against her hand.
"Genie…" His voice, though faint, was steady with conviction. "You are not alone… I am not… leaving you to face this world by yourself…"
A sob broke from Genie's throat.
"But Mother… and Brother… they left before me… And now—if you go too—won't I truly be alone…?"
For a moment, silence hung between them, heavy as snowfall, the weight of their shared memories pressing down upon them.
Then, slowly, enduring every stab of pain like a warrior bearing his final wound, King Gen spoke with profound tenderness. "You are not alone, Genie… Even if everyone else in this world leaves you… God will protect you…"
The words struck her deeper than any blade, yet they carried a profound, quiet strength—the strength of a man who had lived his life not for the throne, not for glory, but for the eternal promise that waited beyond this life.
The flood of tears blurred her vision, but through the blur she nodded, biting her trembling lip. Her tears fell freely, hot drops splashing onto the frail skin of her father's knuckles.
Outside the chamber, winter's breath howled around the eaves of the Hall of the Late King, shrieking against the ancient stones like a mourning chorus.
Before the firmly closed doors, Jade stood unmoving, his cloak whipping violently behind him in the merciless wind. His right forearm was tightly bound with fresh white bandages, the sharp stabs of pain pulsing with each heartbeat. Yet not once did he flinch or waver.