The Candle That Would Not Go Out
'Is he trying to hit me?'
That man was going to receive Heaven's full, ten-out-of-ten punishment before the day was out.
But divine retribution didn't always strike immediately—it could take longer depending on the target's strength, resistance, or protective charms—so it was no help to me right now. Even if I just took the hit, I had my warding charm to fall back on, so it wasn't as if I was in real danger……
[Your Highness!]
[Ansi, don't kill him! If you kill him it becomes a whole ordeal! Just block it!]
She looked one breath away from snapping his neck on the spot, so I hastily sent my voice straight into her mind.
But in the end, Ansi did nothing at all.
"……!"
Because the Crown Prince lunged in front of me and took the blow in my place.
"Your Highness!"
The smack rang out with a sharp, ugly crack.
I gasped and grabbed his arm, staring up at him in horror. That wretched boy had hit him so hard that his cheek flushed crimson in an instant.
Why on earth did you take that hit for me, you ridiculous Crown Prince?!
If you'd just left it alone, Ansi would have snapped one of his things—one of his wrists, or his ankle, or maybe his actual neck!
'I figured you'd be the one to take the hit instead of me, so I was going to just let Ansi—'
"Aaagh!"
Amid all this, Prince Waneon screamed in fright at his own handiwork and stumbled backward.
"Heek, heek……"
He stared wildly back and forth between the Crown Prince and his own hand, and only when nothing seemed to be happening to him did he barely calm down. So the little rat was wearing gloves. Did he put them on deliberately, just to come see the Crown Prince?
'I bet that eunuch confessed the Crown Prince's whole condition to the Left State Councilor, and this worm found out from him.'
Once he confirmed that the darkness wasn't transferring to him, Waneon smirked openly.
"Aigooo, Your Highness, why on earth did you have to step in? You should have let the guilty party receive his punishment. Now your little sister-in-law here is going to pick up bad habits."
I was just about to shut that mouth of his for good, but the Crown Prince beat me to it.
"Brother. Were you just now attempting to strike me, your humble servant?"
The Crown Prince's eyes flashed, and a shadow rippled at his feet. The telltale sign of darkness about to spread—he was furious clear to the crown of his head.
'No—if he hurts someone with the darkness now, his position will only get worse!'
I threw myself at his arm.
"Don't!"
"……!"
"You must hold back, Your Highness!"
At my frantic pleading, the darkness that had been spreading around him froze mid-motion.
Huh? Did he just control the power of the Eodukseoni on purpose?
'All that practice is already paying off——no, no, savoring my pride can wait!'
"Your Highness, one moment!"
I pushed him back and stepped between them, then immediately opened the Cheonmyeong Eye upon Prince Waneon.
"Lord Waneon."
"How dare a child glare at me like—eh, uhh."
His blustering mouth faltered, trailing off into nothing but groans.
I smiled sweetly and continued.
"It seems you're terribly unwell, my lord. Slandering people one moment, then flailing your hands about without knowing front from back the next."
"Hhehh…… ughaaah……"
"Look at that. Your legs are shaking, and you're drenched in a cold sweat."
Waneon, who had gone white as a sheet and trembled like an aspen leaf, collapsed in a heap the moment my gaze kept boring into him.
"L-Lord Waneon?"
The crowd around him murmured in shock at his sudden reaction. Ignoring them entirely, Waneon scrambled away from me on his backside, and when my gaze refused to lift from him, he burst into tears like a little child.
"Hhehhh, G-Grandfather……"
And it wasn't just tears—he wet himself on top of it. The people around him recoiled in horror.
"Dear heavens……"
"My lord! What is the matter with you?!"
"Pull yourself together!"
At that point I closed the Cheonmyeong Eye and addressed Waneon's entourage.
"What are you all standing around for? Your lord is clearly very ill. See him home quickly."
Several of them scrambled to haul Waneon up and prop him between their shoulders. One of them immediately jabbed a finger past me, at the Crown Prince standing behind.
"Th-that monster must have done something to him! Just like with Heukju——!"
"Your Highness did nothing at all."
"Th-the Left State Councilor will not let this outrage stand!"
"Ah. Yes, of course."
I gave them a suitably vague reply.
Glaring at me and grinding your teeth—if I were you, I'd be more worried about the divine punishment waiting for you back home.
The howling pack of humans dragged their sobbing lord away at last.
Only then did I turn to look at the Crown Prince behind me.
"Your Highness."
"My lady, that just now……?"
The Crown Prince began, eyes wide with astonishment—and at his feet lay the fallen soup bowl.
"……Let's start with dinner. Ansi, go to Unyeondang and have supper brought here to Jamryongdang. For two."
"Y-yes, my lady."
Once the supper tray arrived at Jamryongdang, I even sent Ansi to clear everyone else from the vicinity.
Honestly, I would have much preferred to eat together at Unyeondang, given the state Jamryongdang was in—but until the Crown Prince could wield the power of the Eodukseoni at will, it simply wasn't safe.
'I suppose I'll be coming to Jamryongdang for meals for a while, then.'
Seeing how his meals had ended up sprawled outside the front gate earlier, it seemed far better for him to share whatever tray Unyeondang set from now on.
'I heard that the Eodukseoni can survive without eating at all, so long as there's a night sky.'
But surviving and living well are two entirely different things.
No matter what, a growing body needs food, doesn't it? He's still young—he should eat well and grow tall. It's not as if he hates eating.
"Your Highness, look this way, please."
Before picking up my spoon, I took out the salve first.
It was the ointment I'd retrieved from the treasury with the Eight-Bead Token while the palace maids set the supper tray—an ointment made from the oil of the divine beast Bulgasari. It was surely far better than anything from the mortal realm.
When the Crown Prince saw what I'd pulled out, he shook his head in flustered protest.
"I-I can apply it myself."
"It's your face. Better that I do it for you."
"But how could I possibly ask such a thing of you, my lady——"
"That's exactly why I should do it. I'm your wife, after all. If not me, then who?"
I slid close and rubbed the salve gently into his cheek.
Only two people in the world could lay bare hands on the skin of the Crown Prince, an Eodukseoni—me, and Ansi. And Ansi, frankly, couldn't be trusted.
'Asking a phoenix to serve just any human would be asking too much of her pride, I suppose.'
A phoenix bows its head to no one it has not acknowledged of its own accord.
They barely deign to bend even before immortals—for a mere human to win a phoenix's recognition, he would have to be a sage-king revered by all, or a Taoist master on the verge of ascending to heaven upon a crane.
'Still, not blocking that hit was too much. It landed in my place, after all.'
I'd have to have words with her later.
I was making this silent vow when I noticed that the face in front of me had somehow grown as red as the slapped cheek itself.
"Your Highness, does it hurt here?"
"……No. I-I'm quite all right."
All right, he says. I simply kept dabbing the salve onto his cheek anyway. Crimson-faced, the Crown Prince endured the treatment in silence.
'It's already swelling.'
On a face this beautiful, what a waste.
I closed the lid of the salve jar and sighed.
"Why did you step in? I was fine."
"You were not fine! If someone as small and delicate as you had taken that blow, it would have been a disaster!"
"Ansi was right there as my guard. Did you really think I'd have just taken it?"
"That has nothing to do with whether my lady has a guard or not."
"And how does it have nothing to do with it?"
At my challenge, the Crown Prince fidgeted for a moment before answering, red to the tips of his ears.
"I-It is a husband's natural duty…… and his right, to protect his wife. Guard or no guard…… I am your husband, so……"
Unlike his usual clear, resonant voice, it was a mumble, trailing smaller and smaller. I couldn't even catch the end of it.
And the blushing—was he embarrassed right now? Why?
"Your Highness, are you embarrassed just now?"
"No."
"Then why is your face turning red?"
"Because of the blow."
"The parts that weren't hit are red too."
"It is an illusion cast by the lamplight."
"You can't even meet my eyes."
"……"
"If it isn't embarrassment, then it might be something serious……. Shall I call for a physician?"
The Crown Prince, now glowing red all the way down his neck, shot me a sidelong glare.
"My lady. Are you teasing me right now?"
"Hmm, I asked out of genuine curiosity at first, but seeing your reaction made me want to tease you."
"That is too cruel."
The boy, burning scarlet, heaved a great sigh and let his eyebrows droop. Now that's more like someone his actual age.
I swallowed the laugh bubbling up out of pure affection and asked again.
"But really, why are you embarrassed?"
"Because you will only tease me more, so I shan't tell you."
"What? I won't tease you!"
"I don't believe you."
"And yet earlier you apologized for not trusting me?"
"Which is why I apologize now as well."
"Wow. That's so unfair."
When I pushed out my lips in a pout, the Crown Prince smiled softly.
Somewhere along the way, all the tension had drained away, leaving a smile as lovely as something painted.
'And now suddenly he's not embarrassed at all. What is with him?'
Giving up, I put away the salve and finally picked up my spoon.
"Oh, right—Your Highness, you asked what I did to Prince Waneon back there."
"I did."
"Well, it's……"
I started to explain it away with my usual all-purpose excuse, then changed my mind.
"……It's a secret!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Because I still can't quite bring myself to trust you either."
I said it as though it were just an extension of the joking, but there was a fair bit of truth in it. The reason I couldn't be fully honest was that I couldn't yet trust him completely.
At my words, the Crown Prince gazed at me quietly for a moment—then broke into a gentle smile.
"I understand."
"That's it? You're not going to press me?"
"I just told you I cannot yet trust you either. How could someone like that demand answers?"
Then his beautiful eyes curved, and he added,
"We both said 'yet.' So one day, we will be able to trust each other wholeheartedly. Would you not agree?"
I felt as though he'd caught me slightly off guard.
I slid my gaze away and answered with a little huff.
"Who can say? That's up to you, Your Highness. I'll prove myself soon enough."
"Then I shall have to work just as hard."
The Crown Prince laughed quietly.
The boy who had once smiled like a man with nothing left to lose was now laughing with an expression that looked genuinely at ease.
'That suits him far better.'
I glanced out the window.
The sun had fully set, and only the dim twilight seeped through the paper panes. And yet the candle flames between the Crown Prince and me refused to gutter out.
The Crown Prince had not yet realized that he wasn't spreading the darkness at all, right now.
'The Eodukseoni grows the more it is feared.'
That principle applied not only to the people touched by the darkness, but to the Crown Prince himself, the one spreading it.
Conversely, when I looked back on the moments when he had managed to quiet the darkness, there was one thing they all had in common.
'When the Crown Prince was smiling.'
We'd tried all sorts of things together over these past few days of practice, and laughter had been by far the most effective.
Even now, smiling that peacefully, the darkness wasn't spreading one bit.
'If fear makes it grow, then joy making it shrink is only natural, I suppose.'
Hope was appearing far faster than I'd expected.
I smiled and spoke up.
"Your Highness, look out the window."
"……!"
"The sun has set. And yet the candles haven't gone out."
The Crown Prince stared at the flames in a daze, then down at his own hands, then at his own shadow—and finally back at me.