Chapter 621: Choice and Decision (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 621: Choice and Decision (2)
The Heart of the Dragon Emperor.
I swallowed hard at the Palace Lord’s words.
With a stiff neck, I forced myself to look at the Ice Crystal.
It felt as if a bone-chilling cold had been compressed over and over again into a single point. It was a perfect sphere, as if carved by the hands of a master sculptor, and it was massive—a block of ice the size of a large house.
It was strange enough to call such a thing an egg…
‘That’s a heart?’
To call it a heart, the very center of a living body, was unbelievable.
‘And it belongs to the Dragon Emperor?’
The Dragon Emperor. I had assumed this being was the Blood Demon.
For such a being’s heart to be an ice crystal… and for it to be here in the North Sea, so far from the Central Plains—what on earth was going on?
‘Moreover…’
This was a space that could only be entered by fulfilling specific conditions. And the bloodline of the Ice Palace had supposedly been guarding it all this time.
It was a situation I simply could not comprehend.
I stared at the Ice Crystal and asked, “…You’re saying that is a heart?”
“Indeed.”
Hearing my question, the Palace Lord spoke. “Since you didn’t ask who the Dragon Emperor was, I take it you were already aware of him?”
Damn it.
Realizing my slip of the tongue, I frowned. I had made a clumsy mistake, unlike my usual self.
“Do not be so surprised. It is of little consequence to me.”
“...”
“If you ask whether that is a heart, my answer is that I see it as such.”
“…Are you saying that only you see it that way, Palace Lord?”
“That is correct. After all, the history of the palace has always described it as an egg.”
An egg. Setting aside the question of what it could possibly be incubating…
‘To be fair, it does look more like an egg than a heart.’
It was hard to believe something that looked like that was a heart. If I had to choose, calling it an egg seemed more plausible.
“Even knowing that, why do you think of it as a heart?”
I needed to hear the Palace Lord’s reasoning first.
At my question, he took another step toward the Ice Crystal. “Young Master, do you know when the severe cold of the North Sea began?”
“…I wonder.”
When did it begin? I had no idea. I had only ever heard that the North Sea was a frozen wasteland. If asked when it first became cold, I had no way of knowing. I had never been one for studying history.
As I spoke with a somewhat blank expression, the Palace Lord offered a faint smile.
“The North Sea was always a place where winter was harsh. However, it was not always a land where all four seasons were gripped by this chill.”
I couldn't help but make a strange face. A land where snow fell year-round, covered in a severe, unending frost—that was the North Sea of today.
“A land where spring was warm, summer was hot, and autumn was bountiful, preparing us for the biting winter. That was the North Sea of the past.”
A place not so different from the Central Plains. That’s what the Palace Lord was telling me the North Sea used to be.
However.
‘It’s not like that now.’
His words were all in the past tense, which only served to highlight the stark contrast with the current reality.
“Everything changed about five hundred years ago. From the moment this Ice Crystal appeared in the North Sea.”
‘About five hundred years ago…’
That would have been the time when the Central Plains was in the midst of a slaughter, a bloodbath started by the Blood Demon. The era when Elder Shin and his comrades were fighting a war of survival.
“At that time, one who called himself the Dragon Emperor appeared and left two things in the lands of the North Sea.”
A question sprouted in my mind.
‘The Dragon Emperor is almost certainly the Blood Demon.’
Based on my predictions and the information I’d gathered, I could surmise that the one they called the Dragon Emperor was, in fact, the Blood Demon.
And yet.
‘The Dragon Emperor left something here during that period…?’
In the middle of a raging war, could the Blood Demon of that time have bothered to come all the way to the North Sea to leave something behind? And even if he did…
‘For what purpose?’
For now, only torn fragments of the puzzle swirled in my head. To piece them together, I needed more information.
“Half in the east, and half in the west. The Dragon Emperor stored the object called the ‘Ice Crystal’ in this manner.”
Drip. Drip.
Frost fell from the Palace Lord’s cheek.
“And he commanded the bloodline of the North Sea to maintain it.”
“Commanded?” I frowned. “Does that mean you have been guarding the Ice Crystal simply because he told you to?”
“That is so.”
“…Why?”
Why did they have to do that? The reason was lacking. The Dragon Emperor left the Ice Crystal. Setting aside whether it was an egg or a heart, I wanted to know the justification for the bloodline to go to the trouble of guarding it for centuries.
“The reason, you ask…” The Palace Lord replied, “Because we had to.”
“What is that supposed to—”
“If we did not, the North Sea would be destroyed.”
“…!?”
“That is the burden our bloodline must bear.”
If they don’t protect it, the North Sea will be destroyed. I listened intently to the Palace Lord’s words.
“Around the time the Dragon Emperor appeared and placed the Ice Crystal in the North Sea, he spoke to the one who guarded this place—that is to say, to our ancestor.”
He took a breath.
“[Guard and maintain it. Until the ‘Pureblood’ appears.]”
My fingertips trembled slightly at the word ‘Pureblood.’
“His words became our shackles. Shackles that have bound us for centuries.”
“I don’t understand. They were just words… What power could they possibly hold?”
“If they were merely words, we could have refused at any time.”
Then those words… were not just words.
Ssk.
The Palace Lord touched his own cheek. “As he spoke, the Dragon Emperor laid a curse upon us.”
It was the part of his face where scales grew and frost formed.
“A curse that gradually turns one’s body into that of a dragon.”
“…!”
Those words were familiar. They were the same as the curse I had once heard about from the Dark King.
‘The Dark King’s curse was also one of dragonization.’
If you had a child, the curse would be passed on, and you yourself would meet your death. It was named the Curse of the Yeon Clan.
‘The curse the Blood Demon placed on Yeon Il-Cheon’s bloodline.’
So, was it the same as the one placed on the Palace Lord before me? Or…
“If you don’t guard the Ice Crystal, you turn into a dragon. Is that it?”
“Haha.”
At my guess, the Palace Lord laughed out loud. I was wrong.
“It would have been better if that were the case. If it were something so simple… it would not have been so chilling.”
A cold emotion was laced within his laughter.
“As I said before, the Ice Crystal is the cause that drove the North Sea into its severe cold. The snow falling from the sky, the harsh chill that rages regardless of the season—this Ice Crystal is the source of it all.”
“However,” the Palace Lord continued, “conversely, it is also this Ice Crystal that is protecting the North Sea.”
“…Pardon?”
“To be precise, it would be more accurate to say the Ice Crystal located in the Ice Palace.”
What did that mean?
‘The Ice Crystal brought the severe cold to the North Sea, but it’s also the thing protecting it from that cold.’
Tap. Tap.
My fingers tapped against my waist. Two Ice Crystals. One was here. The other was located in the Ice Palace. If there were two Ice Crystals, and one was holding the other back…
“…Opposition…?”
“Oho.”
The Palace Lord reacted to my muttered word. Did that mean I was right? If the Ice Crystal was both the cause of the problem and its solution…
“Are you saying one causes the severe cold, while the other protects against it?”
A perfect state of opposition. Was that the current state of the Ice Crystals?
“You are correct,” the Palace Lord affirmed.
‘Well.’
The first thought that came to mind was: What a fucking mess.
The situation was truly a disaster. Despite thinking so, I kept my mouth shut. The Palace Lord’s explanation wasn’t finished yet.
“One Ice Crystal brought forth the severe cold.” The Palace Lord pointed a hand at the sphere. “That is the original, right in front of you.”
“The original?”
“A personal opinion. Would you care to hear the explanation?”
“First, please continue with what you were saying.”
“Very well.”
It seemed right to hear the detailed explanation later.
“I understand that the Ice Crystal is affecting the weather of the North Sea.”
How was such a thing possible? I didn’t ask. Trying to understand the mechanics would be too complicated. What was important now was what any of this had to do with me.
“Then, what is this curse you mentioned, Palace Lord?”
“As I just said, when the Dragon Emperor left the Ice Crystal, he placed a curse upon our ancestor. We refer to it as the ‘Curse of the Ice Crystal.’”
I remembered hearing about it from Yuri.
‘The illness Moyong Hi-ah had.’
An illness where cold energy rises within the body, gradually freezing the flesh. It was the very reason Yuri had brought me here. Furthermore, it was the cause of the Palace Lord’s current physical state.
Dragonization. A body that could hardly be called human. It was similar to the Dark King’s condition, but he was visibly in a weakened state. After all, the Dark King was said to have gained a near-immortal lifespan and power upon becoming a dragon.
I had heard they were controlling it using the martial arts of the Ice Palace, but looking at the Palace Lord’s condition, it didn’t seem like that was entirely possible.
“What kind of curse is it, exactly?”
What effects did it have that the bloodline had to guard the Ice Crystal, and the Palace Lord had to end up in such a state?
“The moment one is born into the bloodline of the Ice Palace, a seed forms in their body.”
“A seed?”
“Yes. A seed that can bloom at any time.”
I thought perhaps he was speaking metaphorically about the illness. “Does ‘blooming’ then mean it’s an illness that could strike at any moment?”
“Something similar. To be precise…” The finger that had been pointing at the Ice Crystal now turned to point at the Palace Lord himself. “It would be correct to say that it blooms when one sits on the throne of the Palace Lord.”
“…!”
My eyes widened. “What you mean is…?”
“Such is the Curse of the Ice Crystal. The seed within the body blooms upon ascending to the throne, and the body gradually transforms into a dragon.”
“...”
I now understood why the Palace Lord was in his current state. The problem was… is that all there is to it?
A fog had formed in my mind. It blooms when one becomes the Palace Lord. In other words, that was a condition. I understood that the curse would fully bloom, causing the body to transform.
However, then what was the reason for his weakened state? He became the Palace Lord, so the curse activated and he became weaker? That didn’t make sense.
The Lord of the Ice Palace was one of the strongest masters in the world. Whether it was this man or the previous lord, the Lord of the Ice Palace had a record of fighting the Sword Venerable—the strongest of that era—to a draw.
And even looking at the weakened man before me… he’s stronger than me. He was overwhelmingly more powerful than I was now.
What was the cause of his deterioration? Was it simply a disease? That didn’t align with what he had just told me.
And so, I racked my brain. I took all the events and information I had gathered, from the Central Plains to my arrival in the North Sea. I pieced them together, one by one.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
My fingers moved.
‘First.’
When I had predicted the rebellion, I had questioned how a force in charge of their entire military might could be concentrated in one place, and how they hadn't anticipated their betrayal. To that, Yuri had said: […Because we need the bloodline.]
The bloodline of the Ice Palace was indispensable, she had said. And there was a reason they could not be betrayed.
‘Second.’
When one becomes the Palace Lord, the curse fully blooms. Those words meant there was something specific about the position of Palace Lord. And he called it the Curse of the Ice Crystal. Not just any curse, but the Curse of the Ice Crystal.
‘And furthermore.’
Paradoxically, the source of the severe cold is the Ice Crystal, and the thing that protects against it is also an Ice Crystal. And the Ice Crystal that protects is located somewhere in the Ice Palace.
It was only a few pieces of information. But within them, I had to find the truth.
Synthesize it. Even if I had to force my sluggish brain to work.
As I thought for a moment… Tuk. My tapping fingers stopped.
“The Ice Crystal that protects against the severe cold,” I spoke to the Palace Lord. “To maintain it… does it consume the Palace Lord’s life force?”
“…!!”
At my words, the Palace Lord’s eyes shot wide open.