The Shadow Palanquin
'Did the little thing just shake off its scolding parents and pop out?'
I turned around at the light thought—and froze in alarm. A snake-like shadow was flying straight at me, having shot out from the sleeve of the girl, Lee Yeon-ju.
"Your Highness, the Crown Princess!"
A Royal Guard nearby yanked out his sword in terror. I shouted urgently.
"Don't cut it!"
"Pardon?"
While the guard hesitated, bewildered, the snake shadow drew close to me. I reached out my hand toward it.
Aeng.
A sound like a kitten mewing reached my ears.
'It really is a myodusa, a cat-headed snake.'
What landed on my outstretched hand, curling around it, was a snake yokai with the head of a cat. Its belly was covered in scales like any serpent's, but its back was furred with yellow stripes, and its head was shaped like a yellow-striped tabby cat.
Still very young, it was only the size of a kitten—barely as big as my palm—and its eyes were that particular blue of kittenhood. The young myodusa looked up at me with round eyes and mewed softly, puffs of blue smoke escaping with every cry.
"Nabi!"
Lee Yeon-ju reached toward the myodusa, her face gone deathly pale. Her parents, even paler than she was, shouted out.
"Your Highness! It's dangerous!"
"What are you all doing! A yokai, at Her Highness the Crown Princess!"
"Wife!"
At the word yokai, the guards raised their blades, and even the little crown prince came rushing over in alarm. I waved my free hand to hold them all back.
"It's all right. This one's a yokai that isn't dangerous at all."
The myodusa stretched its long neck upright and was swiveling its head this way and that, staring at my hair.
'I suppose it's the glitter that's caught its eye.'
When I gripped the end of my braided ribbon-hair and swung it left and right, the kitten's head followed the motion side to side. Its eyes sparkled, which was funny and adorable.
Teasing the myodusa with my hair, I said, "See? It's not dangerous at all."
"Uh……"
I could feel the guards' confusion. The crown prince was staring at me with wide eyes.
I turned to Lee Yeon-ju. "So, is this your pet? Its name is Nabi?"
"Oh, yes—no, I mean, yes! It's Nabi! Nabi's really, really gentle! It would never bite a person!"
Lee Yeon-ju answered in a frantic rush, then fell to pleading with a tear-streaked face. "Your Highness, please don't kill Nabi. I was curious, and it only popped out because it reacted to me. I'll take whatever punishment there is—so please, please spare Nabi……"
"Yeon-ju!"
"That damn thing should have been killed ages ago!"
Her mother, in hysterics, clapped a hand over her daughter's mouth, while her father gritted his teeth, then abruptly dropped to his knees before me and bowed low.
"Your Highness, this humble one has failed to properly discipline his child. I beg you to understand the thoughtlessness of the young and grant us your generous forgiveness……"
"I told you, it's fine. Get up."
I let the restless myodusa latch onto the end of my hair. With its tiny mouth, it nibbled contentedly on the end of my braid.
Holding it that way, I walked over to Lee Yeon-ju. When I held out the myodusa dangling from my hair, she hastily spread both hands open.
"Nabi!"
At its owner's call, the kitten's ears perked up. The myodusa promptly spat out my hair and returned to its mistress. The girl cradled it in both hands and hugged it close to her chest.
"You—you're a sorceress, aren't you?"
At my question, Lee Yeon-ju shook her head vigorously. "No, I'm not."
"Isn't taming and raising a yokai what sorcerers do?"
"I've…… never studied it."
Before she could stammer out more, her father, Yi Jong-ho, stepped forward and blocked her from view. "Your Highness, this child has never been taught the magical arts. That yokai is something she simply began raising in secret one day. She fussed so persistently, and the creature was so small, that we let her keep it—but it was a foolish indulgence. I will dispose of it at once."
"No, Father! If you kill Nabi, I'll die too-o-o!"
At Yi Jong-ho's words, Lee Yeon-ju burst into tears and wailed at the top of her lungs. I quickly spoke up. "There's no need for that. Do you know what kind of yokai a myodusa is?"
"A myodusa……? Does Your Highness know about that creature?"
Yi Jong-ho asked blankly.
I glanced around. Everyone looked utterly bewildered—even Lee Yeon-ju herself, the myodusa's own owner, had her eyes stretched wide.
Seriously? Does no one know? Well, I only knew it because of my past life—but even in the yokai encyclopedias written by humans, the ones I combed through looking for information on the eodukseoni, the myodusa was listed.
"……A myodusa is not a yokai that harms people. It prefers cooked food to raw, and it's such a timid creature that it hides away living in caves. The blue smoke it breathes has a disinfecting effect—it kills germs and restores vigor. It's an extremely rare and docile yokai. Raised well, it could become a great help."
As I went on, Lee Yeon-ju's face brightened dramatically. Rubbing her cheek against the kitten's head, she cried out, "Nabi! You're a very rare, very gentle, very helpful yokai! I knew it! That's our Nabi for you!"
While his daughter laughed in delight, Yi Jong-ho stared at her, dazed, and then turned to me. "How does Your Highness come to know so much?"
"……I'm of Seoljok descent."
"Ah……"
Once again, the all-purpose excuse of the Seoljok people worked like a charm. I found myself thinking, not for the first time, what I would have done without Seolhwa's Seoljok bloodline.
Letting out a long breath, I continued. "A myodusa is about as docile as yokai come, but a yokai is still a yokai. If an ordinary person gets too close, they'll take on harmful effects. If she's going to keep raising it, that girl should properly learn the magical arts."
At my words, Yi Jong-ho's expression darkened.
Hm? What's wrong with that? Is there some reason she can't learn sorcery? Don't tell me it's like with shamans—looked down upon once you actually learn about it?
Just as I was about to ask, the Uuijeong cut in. "To forgive my granddaughter's mistake so graciously, and even to bestow such helpful instruction upon us—you have our deepest gratitude, Your Highness."
"……And I was grateful to you, as well. The other day."
The fact that the East Palace fire had been put down without any real harm was thanks to the Uuijeong's advance warning. When I said it with that meaning in mind, he answered flatly. "I have done nothing that warrants Your Highness's thanks."
Cold as a blade, that one.
I'd have liked to win him over to our side while I was at it, but apparently he still had little interest in entangling himself with us.
"Once again, thank you for your forgiveness. As for your instruction, we will see you properly compensated in due course."
After bowing with meticulous courtesy a second time, the Uuijeong gathered his family together and, passing by us, began to climb the mountain path.
'……We're bound to run into each other again at the tomb once we're up there, anyway. Is it that he simply doesn't want to climb with the crown prince?'
Dragged along by their parents' hands, the twins Lee Yeon-ju and Yi Yeonjo kept stealing curious glances at me as they were led away. And when Lee Yeon-ju's eyes met mine, she broke into a wide grin and tried to wave—before her mother stopped her. The scolding about being rude to the Crown Princess faded slowly into the distance.
Once they were gone, the crown prince let out a sigh. "Please do not startle me so, my lady."
"I'm sorry?"
"Safe as it may be, how could you catch a yokai so carelessly like that? My heart nearly dropped out of my chest."
Was that really something to worry about so much?
With my old body, a palm-sized yokai flying at me would indeed have been enough to snap my wrist—but this body was sturdy. It was fine.
'I suppose he's been more anxious since I fell into that coma last time.'
Either way, it felt like my fault, so I apologized meekly. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want the myodusa to fall and hurt itself."
"You ought to worry about yourself getting hurt before you worry about a yokai."
As he spoke, the crown prince happened to look up the mountain path, then turned to me. "That time at the pavilion—when I caught you with my darkness…… How did it feel? Did it perhaps trouble you?"
"No, not at all. It was your darkness, Your Highness. Why would it? I was just a little startled, that's all."
"……Because it was mine."
He echoed my offhand answer, then raised a hand to cover his mouth. Without meeting my eyes, the little prince turned his back and continued.
"Then…… I may serve you a little more comfortably."
"What—wha—!"
From beneath the prince's feet, his shadow stretched out long and swept me clean off the ground. I wobbled, unable to find my balance, and the darkness wriggled like mist before reshaping itself into something resembling a chair.
Because the darkness had transformed itself while holding me aloft, I ended up quite naturally sitting upon it.
"Your—Your Highness?"
"We will climb this way. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, tell me."
Speaking as if it were nothing, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world, the prince gave his orders to the party. "Those preparing the midday meal will remain. The rest will set out again. We shall eat on the way down."
And with that, he began to walk. And so, more or less by accident, I found myself ascending the mountain path in a palanquin of shadow.
My jaw hung open in disbelief.
'This is a thing that's possible?'
It felt like riding a namnyeo—a small open litter, chair-like and uncovered—through the mountains. It wasn't as refined as a true palanquin; the seat was a vaguely molded, roughly chair-shaped blob. There were no bearers to carry it, but it was connected to the prince's shadow, so it simply moved wherever he moved.
'By the feel of it and the weight of it, it's like I'm riding a litter that the prince himself is bearing on his back. It even feels like being carried on his back……'
My tired body was grateful for the ease of it, but it was a little embarrassing. I felt sorry for the little prince, too.
'Doesn't this tire him out?'
I studied the prince's back as he strode along. Not the slightest hint of strain. Though somehow, the tips of his ears looked a little red.
That small little prince's back suddenly looked…… remarkably dependable.
"……You're not tired, Your Highness?"
"Not tired at all. When you are beside me, my lady, wielding the darkness becomes far easier."
"Still, it must be heavy."
"The darkness is bearing you—what hardship could I possibly have? I should have done this from the start."
A faint note of excitement threaded through his answer. The boy glanced back at me and murmured, "Becoming an eodukseoni was clearly not an ill thing only. As you said, my lady…… now that I can wield it myself, there are good things about it, too."
The prince smiled faintly and walked on in obvious good spirits, adding, "You've been too weary to look around properly until now, haven't you? Think of it as an outing, and look about you. The spring mountain is beautiful."
I lifted my head reflexively and looked around. The lush green of May filled the forest, and a fresh fragrance hung all around. Sunlight poured through the leaves, stamping the soft earth with patterns of light like fallen petals. The pale green leaves swayed in the wind with a sound like waves. Between the trees, wildflowers just barely in bloom were poking their heads up.
Compared to the immaculately tended Sangra Palace, the scenery was rough, humble, untouched nature itself—and precisely because of that, so much more vivid.
So this is how beautiful a spring mountain can be.
I looked down at the darkness cradling me. Only the part of the storm cloud that touched me glowed softly, as if catching the sunlight. When I brushed my hand slowly across it, the light bloomed and spread like paint wherever my fingers passed.
'It's pretty.'
The prince's darkness was beautiful, too. I smiled a little.
The weary mountain path had become pretty and lovely. It was all thanks to the prince.