45 The Past Is Only A Bygone Memory

They have been running in circles when they stumbled upon the Emperor's Temple.

Han Min held his hand on the way out and only stopped running by the Temple's entrance.

"When I came into this world, escaping Guards isn't one of the things I look forward to doing,"

So Eun huffed a breath while they swiftly passed a horde of civilians, trying hard not to look back and risk being suspicious.

At this point, he will likely call it as playing tag with them around the city, yet as soon as they didn't leave or find a place to settle and hide, this arduous activity would just end up with him enduring a punishment before the Emperor.

After almost having passed the uncanny Temple of the Emperor, So Eun had the chance to look inside and discover that no single passerby was praying.

He turned his look at Han Min in front and stretched out his hands to their connected ones.

"Han Min! They are no sights of them now, how about we stopped by the Temple? We could decide where would we find Yun Hwa there."

Before he heard So Eun, the other was already slowing down his tracks, and they happened to halt in front of the grand opening of the Temple.

Han Min glanced at the side and simply nodded at him.

So Eun's reason was just a half of that, he wanted to stop by the Temple to see what kind of impression he will have by seeing the Emperor's respected shrine, and the other one is for himself to keep--to watch how Han Min will behave or react inside.

Gathering an impression that the Demon King and the Emperor have that personal grudge that almost exceeds through decades, is one of the things So Eun was curious about, yet he wasn't in the place to obtrude.

But contemplating it all over again, it would be nice if the Palace Guards don't have the idea to search the shrine too.

"Surely, if someone wanted to hide, of all places, a shrine isn't a good place to consider, right?" So Eun speaks within himself, but his eyes went serious when Han Min turned his head at him.

Maybe he did speak his thoughts aloud.

"I intend to visit the Emperor's Temple in the past if I ever have matters within the city. This time coincidentally is a good chance to do that."

They were standing side by side at the entrance and So Eun didn't know what to reply to that, to say the least, he didn't expect it was the first reaction he got from him.

Han Min glided his eyes all over his face before letting go of his hand.

"We will continue to locate Yun Hwa after, perhaps I have a place in my mind on where to find him." He gave him a small gesture towards the shrine and entered first.

"That's good!" That was all he replied from thinking too long before following behind him.

Reaching the stone platform was a first, and he felt the flickering light of candles placed at the side welcome him, yet before he went further, a young woman in black exited the shrine with a stone-framed illustration of a burly man.

Han Min also passed by the woman but paid it no mind, So Eun also wanted to do that too, but something in the portrait of that man looked so familiar to him.

Feels like he saw someone of resemblance in the past few days.

So Eun pretended to walk forward, but his attention remains on the back of the woman.

He had a notion that the man in the portrait had already died, judging from the uncanny appearance of the woman in black.

Seconds passed by and the woman was gone, So Eun has left again with his running thoughts before he lifted his head and found the Demon King standing in front of The Emperor's shrine.

Then the image of them facing one another in the forest put him in dazed, he blinked thoroughly and confirmed that The Emperor's figure this time was just his painted illustration plastered on the wall.

He then shook his head and settled himself beside the other.

Intricately designed pots of incense burner were laid between them and the huge painting of the Emperor.

A shrine had always been peaceful and silent, but then his mind went back to the woman with mourning clothes and thought of what prayer she could have requested the Emperor for?

A serene atmosphere of a Temple couldn't be called that peaceful anymore when the voices in his head aren't tired of asking questions.

Minutes passed by, Han Min spoke, "Yang Shen, the only descendant left of the Yang Clan."

He muttered within himself and So Eun didn't intend to listen, but they were the only ones left inside now.

"What an ironic thing to say that we kind of ended with the same fate."

He spoke softly, this time, he made it sound like he's telling So Eun his story.

The other wandered his eyes at the painting and let him continue.

"Yang Shen was a kid, and so do I. That part all became blurry." Then he glanced at him, his nonchalant face was still the same, yet the eyes will always betray.

At that moment, he got a glimpse of sadness part with nostalgia.

Dragged by the way he spoke, So Eun didn't mean to intrude, but he said it anyway.

"That person you have been looking for…" The first time the Demon King and the Emperor have met after a decade was all about a person that Han Min was seeking for a long time.

So, he builds his courage and promised himself to go back down when the other avoided the question.

"What is he to you?"

There was silence, and So Eun earnestly watched him this time. Han Min's lashes fluttered downwards before he took a step to completely turned his body facing him.

And he never saw that gaze before.

Han Min wasn't smiling nor frowning, but So Eun assumed that he will answer the question by the expression he held on his face.

Because maybe, events from the past weren't that simple to tell.

And with the lights of the candle alone, crystallites sparked within his eyes. Before he knew it, Han Min was speaking.

"He's my--" But was cut off when a loud pair of footsteps echoed and they both turned their heads at the entrance.

It turned out, that it was the maiden dressed in purple robes that they encountered. Looking down and hugging a scrap of candles.