A few days later, father and son made the necessary preparations. Carrying only what was essential for the journey, they set out for Cheomseongdae.
No message was sent ahead to the scholar of the observatory. Lord Yi preferred to arrive unannounced—to see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears before news from the palace could alter the atmosphere of the place.
As they traveled, their horses moving along dusty roads swept by restless winds, the old counselor sank into his thoughts.
Fragments of youth returned to him like distant echoes.
Long nights of study beneath dim lamplight.
Endless debates about philosophy and the mysteries of the heavens.
And the calm voice of Han Ji-won, pointing toward the stars as if the sky itself were an open book.
Lord Yi Seong-jae and Han Ji-won had once shared far more than the simple years of academic study.
They had grown beneath the same scholarly roofs when they were still young men dreaming of serving the kingdom beneath the very sky that now threatened to divide it.
In those days, they spent entire nights studying the movements of the stars and arguing over the teachings of the Confucian classics, convinced that knowledge and virtue could shape Joseon's destiny.
But time, as it always does, chose different paths for them.
Yi Seong-jae stepped into politics, believing that from the court he could protect the order of the kingdom.
Han Ji-won chose the path of pure knowledge, dedicating his life to studying the heavens and seeking truth in the stars' movements.
There had been no betrayal between them.
No bitter words.
Only the quiet weight of different choices… and the pride of two men who had never turned away from the roads they had chosen.
Yet the years had never erased the respect they once held for each other.
And now, in a kingdom slowly fracturing beneath ambition and intrigue, fate was crossing their names once more beneath the same sky they had once sworn to understand.
Time had carried them along separate roads.
But now, after so many years, those roads seemed to be leading toward the same place again.
And Lord Yi was not certain whether this reunion would bring answers…
or problems that not even the stars themselves could explain.
When they arrived, Han Ji-won was quickly informed that the Yi family had reached the observatory.
He stepped outside with hurried strides to greet them.
He had never forgotten his old friend, and the news of his arrival stirred both surprise and genuine joy within him.
When he reached the courtyard, he couldn't help but smile.
Lord Yi Seong-jae was walking with his hands clasped behind his back, examining everything around him with the same restless curiosity he had always possessed.
So absorbed was he in observing the surroundings that he failed to notice Han Ji-won standing directly in front of him.
"Good heavens!" Yi exclaimed, jumping slightly. "You nearly frightened the life out of me!"
Han Ji-won laughed softly.
"You haven't changed at all," he said. "Still curious about everything happening around you."
Both men burst into laughter that broke the quiet stillness of the courtyard.
"Well then," Yi said, still smiling, "aren't you going to offer a cup of tea to an old friend?"
Han Ji-won shook his head in amusement.
"Forgive my manners," he replied. "I still can't quite believe you're standing here."
While the two old scholars exchanged greetings, Yi Jun-ho, the counselor's son, stood several steps behind his father.
Silently, he observed the scene.
Two men marked by the passing of years, laughing as though time itself had briefly forgotten them—celebrating the simple miracle of seeing one another again.
For a moment, the young Daesagan realized that the bond between these two men ran far deeper than he had ever imagined.
And as he watched them, a quiet thought crossed his mind:
If these two men once shared the same dreams beneath the stars…
Then perhaps the fate of the kingdom was about to pull them back into the same struggle once more.
End of Chapter
But what Jun-ho did not yet know…
Was it within those same walls of Cheomseongdae that someone lived whose secret could ignite the very crisis the kingdom feared?
And before the next sunrise, fate would place him face to face with the woman who had already begun to rewrite the stars.
Haneul.