An Imugi at Her Wrist
"Yes, well, last time I was so excited because it was my first trip out! It won't happen again!"
"So in other words, you have no intention of going back on your own right now?"
"I'm staying for eleven whole years, I told you!"
"Hmm. Her Highness the Princess is ever so merciful toward humans, but I imagine she'd worry herself sick that Gwangcheol-i would cause trouble if he kept loitering around the mortal realm...."
Ansi mulled it over for a moment, then squared her shoulders.
"Better to just report it to His Highness the Supreme Deity. If we catch him right away, there'll be nothing for Her Highness to trouble herself over."
"What?"
"I'm off to report. You can run if you like—you'll be caught in no time, so don't bother wasting your strength. Just stay put."
Ansi answered with perfect calm and spread her wings to return to her mistress. As the phoenix beat upward into the air, Gwangcheol-i threw his entire body at her legs and clung on for dear life.
"Wait! Just wait a moment!"
"Squawk! What do you think you're doing!"
"She said she'd turn a blind eye! Princess Cheonmyeong herself said she'd overlook me staying in the mortal realm! So why are you the one running to tattle!"
"I never received any such order?"
"Hey! It's true, I swear! Go ask Her Highness yourself!"
"The order I heard was to keep watch in case you caused more trouble down here, and to confirm you were on your way back to Heaven. That's all."
"Whaaat? No! She clearly said she'd overlook my desertion!"
"Which obviously meant that if you went back quietly, she'd pretend she never saw you trying to impersonate the Great Dragon of Unryong down here. What else could it have meant?"
"......Huh? Th-that's what she meant?"
"Or did you actually believe she'd keep pretending not to notice while you roamed the mortal realm however you pleased? Overlooking the mess you made today was already an extraordinary act of mercy, don't you think?"
"W-well, I mean, when you put it that way...."
Gwangcheol-i stammered, searching Ansi's face anxiously.
The phoenix in her girl's form was looking down at him coldly, the way one regards a tiresome bundle of baggage. Without quite realizing it, he clapped a hand over the spot where his horns used to be.
If I go back like this, Father really will fillet me. Rather than whining at a Blood Phoenix, I'd be better off groveling to Her Highness one more time....
Squeezing his eyes shut, Gwangcheol-i threw himself on her mercy.
"Then let me come with you!"
"Huh?"
"You're going back to see Her Highness, aren't you? Let me see Her Highness again too!"
"......."
Ansi's face settled into an expression of profound irritation. The thought should I just knock him out right now and report to His Highness instead of bothering Her Highness with this? was written plainly across it.
Gwangcheol-i racked his brain desperately.
How do I talk this savage phoenix around?
His usual rusty little brain, spurred into overdrive by a situation he ranked somewhere alongside mortal peril, whirled at full speed for once in its life.
"You— you're looking after Her Highness all alone down here in the mortal realm right now, aren't you?"
"So what if I am?"
"Doesn't it worry you, every time something like this comes up? Leaving Her Highness's side!"
"......."
"Wouldn't it put your mind at ease to have even me standing beside Her Highness at times like these? Hm? Or the other way around—you stay by Her Highness's side, and I go running around handling this sort of thing!"
Ansi's eyes narrowed to slits.
That got her. She's interested—I can tell she's interested!
Gwangcheol-i silently cheered.
Rumor had it all across the heavens that the Blood Phoenix guarded Princess Cheonmyeong more jealously than a beast with newborn young. That she hated to leave her side even for a moment, they said.
He had made up his mind to drive straight at that soft spot.
"You know full well that while I may be nothing but an imugi in rank, my actual strength beats most proper dragons. I am the Dragon Prince, Saehae Gangcheol! Someone like me would be pretty useful for guarding Her Highness, wouldn't he? Hm?"
"Hmmmm...."
"A-and frankly, I'd far rather stay here serving Her Highness than go back and be served up on Father's dinner plate! So let me at least go ask Her Highness myself!"
As it happened, Gwangcheol-i's proposal appealed to Ansi quite a bit.
Unlike the heavens, where fairies numbered beyond counting, attending Her Highness alone in the mortal realm had left her acutely short-handed in more ways than one.
Leaving Her Highness alone with nothing but Cheoyong's warding charm really is too unnerving. Just look how close things came to disaster in the Netherworld....
She looked down at Gwangcheol-i, who was gazing up at her with pleading eyes, and weighed her options.
I can't very well ignore the task Her Highness assigned me either.... and I can't entrust Her Highness to these feeble humans.... Maegu is strong, but she's a monster, so she can't be trusted.... Which being the case, Gwangcheol-i may be a walking calamity, but his identity is beyond question and he's strong enough....
The young phoenix heaved a deep sigh and nodded.
"Fine. Let's go ask Her Highness."
"Ah-hemm! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"You're heavy! All that bulk and still clinging—get off!"
Grumbling all the while, Ansi took wing with Gwangcheol-i in tow.
"......So you're asking me to take you in. For eleven years?"
Having heard the whole story from Ansi, I studied Gwangcheol-i, who stood there looking sheepish.
Well, another pair of hands wouldn't hurt. It'd give Ansi some breathing room, too.
But if he stayed by my side, he was bound to catch my mother's or father's eye, and the news would fly straight to the Dragon God.
I doubt this idiot has even thought of that. Or does he still believe I'm technically a runaway?
I briefly considered kindly informing him that he'd be spotted by my parents in no time, then decided to keep my mouth shut.
If I say no, who knows where that walking disaster would bolt to. Better to keep him where I can see him.
If he behaved himself at my side for eleven years, Mother might lighten his punishment, and the Dragon God might judge that he'd finally matured. It wouldn't be a bad deal for him either, really.
And if he can't kick his old habits and gets himself dragged off for causing trouble again—that's his just deserts.
I gave Gwangcheol-i a nod.
"Then until the next dragon vein cleansing, you'll serve as my guard and attendant."
"Th-thank you, Your Highness!"
"Although, a suitable identity for you to hold in the human world.... hmm."
"Must I take on a human identity at all?"
"I'm the Crown Princess of this country. I can't keep just anyone at my side."
"Then I simply won't be human."
The moment the words left his mouth, Gwangcheol-i shrank in an instant.
Now a slender blue-green dragon no longer than a finger, he spiraled up through the air and coiled around my wrist like a bracelet.
"Kwak! The nerve of that imugi—how insolent!"
[What's wrong with this, so long as I'm by Her Highness's side?]
Ansi reeled in shock, but I thought it a rather clever solution. Honestly, keeping him like this beat fabricating a human identity for him—it would be far easier to put him to work without the humans catching on.
"That works. In exchange, stay hidden inside my sleeve where no one will see you."
[Yes, Your Highness!]
"If you want to go out somewhere, you get permission from me or Ansi first. The moment I catch you drinking, I'm sending you straight back to Heaven."
[Wha—but alc—alcohol is....]
"Behave yourself and stay out of trouble, and I'll let you have some now and then."
[Thank you! Her Highness is truly the soul of mercy!]
The dragon bracelet—no, the imugi bracelet—shivered with delight.
Hm. He's cold to the touch. Not the most pleasant feeling.
I peeled Gwangcheol-i off for the time being and handed him over to Ansi.
"I won't be needing you right now, so stay with Ansi. The Crown Prince will be here soon."
It was the evening hour.
Since Jamryongdang still had neither eunuchs nor palace maids assigned to it, the Crown Prince took his meals with me.
The only thing that had changed was that rather than dining at Jamryongdang in case the Eodukseoni ran rampant, the Crown Prince now came to Unyeondang to eat.
With the royal banner restored at today's Unryongje and public sentiment turned, servants are bound to be assigned to Jamryongdang before long.
For the first time, things felt like they were back on a proper course.
The King will handle the cleanup of Prince Waneon's faction and the aftermath of the dragon's descent at Unryongje, won't he? After everything I've done for him, surely he won't fail to tie up the loose ends.
The urgent fires were all out, and the Crown Prince's standing would truly recover from here on. It seemed we could take things easy for a while.
Of course, the matter of the suspicious Chief State Councilor was only just beginning.
Which means.... it's about time I collected that gift the King promised me.
The reward I was owed for waking the Queen Consort. I had declined it out of politeness back then, but I judged it acceptable to claim it now.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."
A lady-in-waiting announced him from beyond the door. I rose from my seat and went out to receive him.
Because of the Unryongje, tonight's table was lavish beyond the usual.
After spending months in the mortal realm, even I had come to know which side dishes were the rare delicacies and which tasted a little better than the rest.
This beef and radish soup is so tender and delicious tonight. And the glazed sweet potatoes, the dried croaker, the tofu pancakes—all of it! Mmmm.... happiness.
Every time, I reminded myself how glad I was to have come to the mortal realm at all. Once I stepped down as Crown Princess someday, maybe I'd take a proper gourmet's journey in search of good food.
I was merrily working my spoon when I belatedly noticed that the Crown Prince had gone vacant, his meal neither advancing nor abandoned.
"Has your appetite left you?"
The Eodukseoni meant the Crown Prince never hungered.
When he did eat, it was only out of a habit maintained to preserve the appearance of a human life—or on the vague suspicion that nourishment might yet prove necessary for his growth.
So if he left his food untouched, it meant neither fullness nor illness, but something else entirely.
At my question, the Crown Prince gazed at me with eyes like a still, deep pool, then spoke quietly.
"The dragon that descended today, at the memorial rite...."
And there he stopped, the sentence trailing off into silence.
What now?
With that Gwangcheol-i fellow and that Prince Waneon fellow going on about the Grand Prince Heukju and whatnot, had a bad memory surfaced?
Or.... could he have caught on? That the dragon's sudden change of manner was because of me? That the dragon had bowed not to him, but to me, standing behind him?
Too many things rubbed me the wrong way to guess.
He watched Gwangcheol-i's attitude flip right in front of me, so his suspicion would be fair enough.
I set down my spoon and dabbed at my lips, waiting for him to finish. In the end, the silence stretched too long, and I spoke first.
"Did something trouble you?"