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It’s a gorgeous summer day, and Hak and Seung-Jin are outside enjoying the sun.
Hak has just finished a training exercise with the palace guard and has sent them all—groaning in relief—to clean up for the day.
Seung-Jin is laughing at something—a frog in the garden pond, Hak thinks—when he catches sight of his mother making her way toward them, a smile on her face.
“Mama!” Seung-Jin beams as Yona reaches to pick him up, and Hak smiles.
In the years since she and the dragons had taken back the kingdom from Soo-won, Yona has grown ever wiser and more beautiful.
She’s let her hair grow out to nearly the length it had been the night of their escape, but she no longer twirls it disapprovingly through her fingers.
Instead it is a constant reminder of the strength she has gained over the years, and a mark of pride for the red dragon it represents.
And while Seung-Jin may not have Yona’s hair, he definitely has her eyes, in all their purple brilliance. He sees thing, even as a toddler, that surprise Hak.
He is incredibly empathetic, this boy, and always has a hug or a giant grin for anyone he perceives as struggling.
Like last week when one of the guards had been struggling with an exercise—Seung-Jin had stepped over to him and smiled, and the guard had immediately grinned back and worked much harder after that.
Watching Hak teach training exercises was one of Seung-Jin’s favorite things, despite Yona’s worries that he would be in the way or be hurt.
That would never happen, but Yona is his mother and is bound to be worried for him, no matter how many times Hak assures her it is perfectly safe.
It’s his job to train the guards, to keep them on their toes.
It is also his job to keep Seung-Jin safe.
He does both well.
“Hak?” Yona asks, breaking into his thoughts, and he finds her looking curiously at him.
“Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” Hak grins, stepping into hug her.
“I was just thinking about how much I love you.”
He pauses, and then pokes Seung-Jin’s nose.
“Both of you,” he amends, reveling in their smiles.
On impulse, he lifts Yona up, grinning as Seung-Jin laughs and Yona’s eyes go wide.
These are the moments he lives for now, happy moments with his beloved queen and their son.
No longer does he fear for their safety, for Yona and the dragons—and he and Yoon, of course—have returned Kouka to peace and prosperity.
No longer is Yona the exiled princess, but the capable and just queen he has somehow always known that she could be.
And he loves every moment of their life together, but these rare ones—when Yona is free from meetings and other queenly things, and Hak is off-duty, and their precious boy is happy like this—these are his favorites.