* * *
I must have been a fool to fall asleep; I didn’t get to see much of Seojoo.
Today, for some reason, Seojoo watched Hyunwook and me leave with a long, lingering gaze, and it made it so hard to walk away.
Seojoo is right there—why do I have to leave?
‘My Seojoo is right there, so why do I have to leave him behind?’
I kept repeating the same thoughts to myself, clutching my aching heart as I stepped outside.
I felt like a parent forced to leave their child alone.
“Hyunwook, I want to get close to Seojoo. It doesn’t seem like he’s ever going to remember me. I think it might be better to just become friends with him again from scratch.”
“That’s not a bad idea. His personality is a bit different from before, but he’s still a good kid. He even dropped the formal speech with me immediately. It’s a bit uncomfortable how he grumbles about why I don’t call him ‘Hyung,’ though…”
“He wants you to call him ‘Hyung’?”
“Yeah… What about you? Do you think you can manage calling him ‘Hyung’?”
“It’s fine. I’ll just think of us as twins and pull a mental victory.”
‘Hyung’, huh… Just because he died six months earlier than me, he’s the “older brother.”
Well, since he’s technically a year older here, I’ll just have to treat “Hyung” as if it’s his name.
I have no choice.
“So, what are you doing with His Majesty today?”
“Today? Look at this. I’m going to an amusement park with him. We’re even going to wear school uniforms. It’s my first time going.”
“An amusement park? It sounds fun, but… is that even possible? There will be so many people. The Emperor and his concubine at an amusement park…?”
“We have masks. The weather is cold, and everyone wears masks anyway. If we wear big masks, people won’t recognize us.”
“It’s not like your looks won’t stand out. Other people are going too, right? My disciplinary period isn’t over yet, so I have work this evening.”
Hyunwook asked a flurry of questions with a worried face: ‘Will you be okay? How many guards?’
“I’ll be careful. Let’s go together with Seojoo next time.”
Looking at Hyunwook, whose eyes went wide with surprise, I felt inflated with anticipation for my first-ever trip to an amusement park.
Since I’m meeting Joo Minhyuk today anyway, I’ll figure out the plan to get close to Seojoo after I get back.
“Let me see. It suits you well. So much so that I feel bad you couldn’t go to school because of me.”
Joo Minhyuk gave a satisfied smile as he watched me, as I was practically vibrating with excitement in my school uniform.
‘Wow, he even looks good in a uniform.’
He’s so tall and has such broad shoulders that it wasn’t easy finding a uniform that fit, but luckily there were a few made for dominant Alphas.
We picked one out and he got it on successfully.
“I used to wonder why there were so many students at amusement parks, but it turns out half the people in uniforms are adults.”
“Your Majesty, wearing the uniform like that, you still look like a student.”
Since Joo Minhyuk entered the military academy at a young age, I guess he never got to wear a normal school uniform either.
I’ve been homeschooled the whole time in this life, so it feels like the first time I’ve worn one in years.
In my past life, I hated them so much, but is it because this isn’t a real school uniform?
My heart is racing.
“It was a good idea to come here. Since it’s indoors, we can just wear the uniforms without putting anything over them.”
“If you like the uniform that much, I’ll buy you every single one in the country. Seeing you in it… I like this in its own way.”
“What? You like this uniform design?”
Joo Minhyuk hugged me from behind as I looked in the mirror, whispering into my ear.
“I just like you in the uniform. Doing things while you’re wearing it might be fun, too.”
“Ack! Seriously! Don’t say things like that anywhere else!”
“That’s why I only say it to you. Hmm? Once I get back from America, we can relax and wear uniforms…”
Joo Minhyuk didn’t even finish his sentence before kissing my ear and cheek from behind.
I barely managed to pry him off me.
Lately, he keeps talking about how we can be comfortable once he gets back from the U.S.
It seems the Queen Mother’s illness is causing him more stress than I thought.
“Let’s just focus on not getting caught today.”
I put a mask on his face, showing him my determination to have as much fun as possible today.
“I’m confident in myself, but I feel like we’ll get caught because of you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
‘I look so ordinary in this uniform and mask—what could I possibly do to get us caught? You’re the one who looks like a movie star even in a uniform; you should worry about yourself. If we get caught anywhere, it’ll be because of your physical presence.’
Joo Minhyuk leaned his face close to mine and grinned.
“If you keep saying ‘Your Majesty, Your Majesty’ like that, even people who weren’t interested will turn around to look.”
Ah… that’s true. Then what should I call him?
“Why be so serious? Just call me something comfortable.”
‘Comfortable?’
The image of Joo Minhyuk smiling at me while smashing my room to pieces flashed through my mind.
I don’t think I can call him anything “comfortable.”
When I turned my face away, Joo Minhyuk used his finger to turn my chin back to meet his eyes and whispered softly.
“Choose. Minhyuk, Hyung, or Honey.”
No.
“Or ‘Darling,’ ‘Oppa,’ ‘Minhyuk-ah.’ What will it be?”
I hate them all.
Just then, a word I actually liked popped into my head.
“Sunbae? How about Sunbae? Minhyuk Sunbae?”
“…Huh?”
Joo Minhyuk blushed suddenly, as if “Sunbae” was a word he hadn’t anticipated at all.
Why is he blushing and acting all shy when it doesn’t suit him?
“Minhyuk Sunbae. This title is fine, right? Right! Now let’s go! Hurry up, Sunbae.”
I dragged the dazed Joo Minhyuk inside the “Adventure” section.
As the energetic vibe that excites people washed over my body, I got incredibly hyped.
As I started dragging Joo Minhyuk around to see everything, he let himself be pulled along like a paper doll.
I lost track of how much time passed as we ran around, took photos, and went on rides.
There were a lot of people, so we had to wait in long lines, but even that was fun.
I was worried someone might recognize us even with the masks, but people were less interested in others than I thought; there was no risk of our identities being exposed.
And as it grew darker, the whole place began to sparkle.
‘So that’s why he told me to stay for the night opening.’
It felt like a world out of a fairy tale.
Since being reborn here, I had never enjoyed anything with such a peaceful mind.
As everything in the park sparkled, my excitement grew more and more.
Joo Minhyuk and I bought animal-ear headbands and wore them together, and he went along with every single thing I did.
He even went on every single ride I asked him to, without exception.
As expected, he wasn’t scared of the rides at all.
“Aren’t you scared of this one either?”
“What’s there to be scared of in a facility built for enjoyment? When I was in military training…”
‘Ugh, army stories again.’
I covered his masked mouth with my hand. I didn’t come all this way to hear about training.
“Let’s go over there, Your Ma—Sunbae. Let’s take a picture there.”
Every time I called him “Sunbae,” Joo Minhyuk looked at me with eyes that seemed like they wanted to devour me.
I felt like I knew exactly what that look meant, so I tried my best to change the subject.
‘No. Hold it in.’
I slightly lowered his mask and put the ice cream I was holding into his mouth.
However, perhaps because I was the one feeding him rather than him eating it himself, some soft-serve ice cream got on the corner of his mouth.
When I quickly went to wipe it off, Joo Minhyuk took the hand I used to wipe it and licked it.
“Ack! Seriously, what if someone sees!”
“So what if they see? What’s wrong with a married couple coming out to play and eating ice cream?”
“It’s not that; I’m afraid people will swarm us! What if someone gets hurt…”
“Great Consort. People aren’t interested in us. Look, everyone is focused on themselves; they don’t care about others.”
Joo Minhyuk lowered my mask to my chin and made me look around.
With his chin resting on top of my head, we watched the people for a moment.
People out with friends, lovers, and families.
To those people who looked so happy, we probably looked the same way, right?
How wonderful would it be if we could live like this forever, with this fluttering feeling and no worries or troubles?
Out of my entire life so far, today was the most peaceful day.
I laughed the loudest and had zero worries.
“Are you tired?”
“More than I thought. I’m realizing you need stamina even to play.”
“…Once I get back from America. When things are settled.”
“Things?”
“…Yeah. Once things are a bit settled, should we go to an overseas amusement park you wanted to visit? Let’s just go to every amusement park in the world.”
“Really? I’d love that! I’m so excited. I’ll have to exercise a lot to build up my stamina. I heard some places are so big you can’t see them all in one day. You should exercise hard too, Your Majesty.”
At my comment to exercise hard, Joo Minhyuk laughed out loud as if he found it absurd.
‘This man is taking overseas amusement parks too lightly.’
The land is vast; it’ll be a huge task to see it all! It was only a plan, but I already felt like I was there with him.
“Then should I register for Bodyguard Kang Hyunwook’s gym?”
“No, absolutely not. Bring the person to the palace.”
“Ah…”
‘I tried to get some exercise in with Seojoo, but it didn’t work at all.’
I’ll have to think about that slowly too.
For now, it’s best to enjoy and focus on this moment.
To think I’d feel this good just by coming to an amusement park so close to the palace—I guess I’m a simpler person than I thought.
Strangely, Joo Minhyuk held me tight and wouldn’t let go, and I just accepted his inexplicable clinginess.
Maybe he was tired from playing so much?
I just stayed leaned against him by a wall of the amusement park and watched the picture-perfect scenery for a long time.
It was fun just watching without doing anything.
Will we really travel to every amusement park in the world like Joo Minhyuk said?
I’m sure it’ll be just as fun as it is now.
Just thinking about something that hasn’t happened yet makes a smile spread across my face.
Yes. It will be fun.
Because we have plenty of time to be together.
* * *
