The Illusion of Freedom
The sky had yet to brighten. Beyond the window stretched a deep, bluish darkness—the quietest hour in the world, right before dawn broke.
I felt a small weight against my chest. When I slowly lowered my gaze, there was Era, fast asleep.
“Hihyuung… fuuuu… hayuuu… peuuu…”
She had burrowed into my arms just as she had the night before. One of her hands still clutched the hem of my clothes. Her breathing was so steady it seemed to rise and fall in time with my heartbeat.
I looked at that hand. Small and rough, marked by laundry, needle pricks, and burns from stirring porridge. The hand of someone who had endured far too much.
“......”
One by one, I carefully pried her fingers from my clothing. Era let out a soft, sleepy whimper.
“Mmm…?”
Her hand groped through the empty air, searching for the warmth it had lost.
“...Hup!”
I held my breath, but thankfully she only murmured again.
“Mmm… haaam…”
She sank back into sleep. I rose slowly, sitting up, and looked down at her one last time.
“...”
Her black hair spilled across her cheek. The face that always seemed to be holding something back was now completely relaxed, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her lips. What kind of wonderful dream was she having?
“......”
The thought that I might never see this face again… From the moment I stepped through that door, something heavy settled in my chest.
‘We haven’t even known each other that long. What am I doing?’
Strangely, it didn’t feel like regret.
I slowly reached out, careful not to wake her, and gently placed my hand on her head. I stroked her hair once. The strands slipped softly between my fingers. Despite surviving on nothing but thin porridge, her hair remained silky and smooth.
‘Live well.’
The words I couldn’t say aloud.
‘Everything you fear—I’ll take it far away from this village with me.’
I glanced at my wrist. The rope was still there. I had loosened it yesterday, but she had tied it again before we slept. I needed to break it.
The scissors lay beside her pillow. If I reached for them, she would surely wake. That left only one option.
‘Holy power.’
The very thing she had begged me not to use.
‘I’m sorry. Just this once.’
I closed my eyes and sank my awareness inward. In the center of my chest, I found the platinum-colored flow. It felt almost familiar now. I drew a single thread of it down toward my wrist.
At that moment, the black something inside me opened its maw to swallow the platinum light again. But this time I didn’t retreat. I clenched my teeth and pushed forward.
Chiiiik—
The rope burned black and snapped with a clean crack.
“...!”
My wrist was free. A wisp of black smoke rose from my fingertips before slowly dissipating.
‘......’
I stared at it for a moment. Platinum Star Veins, yet black smoke emerged. There was so much I still needed to understand. Of course, that would have to wait.
I scanned the room. I needed to gather a few things.
‘What should I even take?’
The imperial garments? No. Too heavy and far too noticeable. Instead, I kept the ragged clothes I was already wearing—the mismatched sleeves Era had painstakingly sewn, pricking her fingers over and over.
My eyes fell on the wildflower in the jar. The one she had picked from the garden a few days ago and placed there. It had already withered.
My hand moved on its own.
‘What am I doing?’
‘Why pack a withered flower when I’m running away?’
But my hand wouldn’t stop. The few days we had spent in this room kept flashing before my eyes, and I couldn’t bear to leave them behind.
And finally…
“This one.”
My gaze landed on the cup we had shared water from. The one that had made us both blush over an indirect kiss.
“......”
I stared at it for a long time.
‘This… I’ll leave behind.’
It was too vivid. If I took it, the memories would keep resurfacing.
I set the cup down, but the withered flower ended up tucked inside my clothes. After one final look at the sleeping Era, I turned toward the door.
‘Goodbye.’
I pushed the door open quietly. Creeeeak—
The dawn air rushed in. Cold, damp, carrying the scent of earth. The village was completely empty. No one would be awake at this hour.
I stepped outside, muffling my footsteps. Before closing the door, I looked back one last time—at the old house swallowed by darkness, where Era lay sleeping inside.
‘Take care.’
I closed the door.
“...Shall we go?”
But as I tried to take a step, my feet stopped.
‘Wait… How do I even get out of here?’
Come to think of it, I had no memory of entering the village. The moment I regained consciousness, I had been tied up inside that room. I had no idea where the entrance was or which path led out.
I looked around the dark village.
‘I’ll just have to find a way out.’
I circled the village, searching for an exit. The eastern end was, as expected, the sea. A sheer cliff dropped off at my feet, black waves crashing against the rocks far below. No boats in sight.
The western end was another cliff, just like the one I had seen before. A vertical rock face soared into the sky, completely blocking the way. Impossible to scale with bare hands.
The southern end was no different—a mountain. A rugged, knife-edged range with no visible paths. Trying to cross it at dawn would be suicide.
That left only the north. A single open direction—an endless plain stretching into the distance.
But in front of it stretched a long barbed-wire fence.
‘What the hell is this?’
A dry laugh escaped me.
‘The whole place is completely sealed off.’
‘How have people been living here for days?’
Sea. Cliffs. Mountains. Barbed wire. There was no escape.
Still, the only possible exit was the northern plain. I approached the fence. Rusted, old barbed wire encircled the entire northern side of the village.
As I got closer to examine it…
‘...?’
Something felt off. A haze-like shimmer rose along the perimeter of the fence.
‘It was like this last time too.’
It wasn’t even summer. It wasn’t midday. Yet only around the barbed wire did the air waver faintly, as if that spot alone followed different rules of the world. Staring at it made my eyes dizzy.
‘It’s unnatural.’
Then a passage from the original story flashed through my mind.
The Star Veins of this world grant different powers depending on their color.
Platinum rules over all things—the exclusive authority of the imperial family.
Gold governs strengthening and defense. Silver commands the elements of fire, water, and wind. Copper enhances the body.
And black...
⟨ Mental Manipulation ⟩
The longest passage in the original about Black Star Veins surfaced clearly in my mind. The most sinister aspect of Black Star Veins was their ability to bend another person’s mind and heart to their will.
A chill raced up my spine.
‘Uncle Damil.’
The calm face that had accepted the news of a prince’s presence in under a second with a simple “I see.”
‘The villagers.’
The way they treated Era like any other child from the neighborhood. Their complete ignorance of anything related to Black Star Veins.
‘It was all fabricated.’
Era had the entire village resting in the palm of her hand. And this barbed-wire fence too.
‘No way.’
With a trembling hand, I slowly reached out. The moment my fingertips touched the fence—
Sssssss—
The barbed wire rippled like a reflection on water. My hand passed straight through the wires. The fence dissolved like mist and vanished. When I pulled my hand back, it reappeared.
“......!”
There had never been anything there. It was all an illusion created by Era.
I froze on the spot. The path out of the village had been wide open this entire time. She had simply trapped me behind an invisible wall.
“Even if I let you go, you wouldn’t be able to leave this village anyway.”
The words she had casually let slip a few days ago while loosening my ropes. The reason she had been so confident I couldn’t run.
‘So this was it.’
‘Aside from the heat haze, it’s a flawless illusion with no flaws whatsoever.’
Everything finally clicked into place.
‘Wait a second.’
‘If she can manipulate minds…’
Then…
‘What about me?’
My blood ran cold. Had my own heart been manipulated too? The thought that she was pretty. The hesitation that made me reluctant to leave. The way my chest had ached when I tried to go. If all of it had been planted in my head by her—
‘No.’
My thoughts ground to a halt.
‘That’s wrong.’
A girl capable of twisting the minds of an entire village, of turning dozens of people into puppets like dolls… Why would she bother tying me up with rope?
If she could manipulate my mind, I would have stayed willingly. I would have remained by her side without her lifting a finger. She could have kept me with her for the rest of my life.
Yet Era had bound my wrists with coarse rope. She had clung to me, begging, “Please don’t run away.” She had pleaded, “I only need Your Highness.” She had gone so far as to create a fake barbed-wire fence out of fear of being discovered.
She was… an idiot. A fool who could control the hearts of everyone in the world but had never once touched mine.
‘Why?’
The answer was so obvious it hurt.
‘She wanted the real thing.’
Not a puppet whose mind had been altered. She wanted me to stay by her side of my own free will. That was why she tied me, clung to me, and begged. Because she wanted the real me, not something false.
“......”
These past few days, that had been the only truth inside this village.
‘......I have to go.’
I gritted my teeth. Whether those feelings were real or fake didn’t matter anymore. Only one thing did.
If I stayed here, the Maryeokche would come. I had to leave so that Era could live.
‘Yes. Once I leave, it’s over.’
Because her feelings were real, I couldn’t take her with me. The longer I hesitated, the higher the chance she would die.
‘Let’s go.’
I stepped out onto the plain. Dry grass crunched beneath my feet. It would take a full week to reach the imperial capital with no water or food.
“Who cares.”
It didn’t matter. Whether it took a week or a month. As long as she survived.
“They’ll probably come rescue me right before I drop dead anyway.”
At that moment, the sun began to rise slowly behind me.
“...”
The dawn was ending.
‘Era.’
She had always said she woke up before the sun rose…
I quickened my pace. I crossed the plain without looking back.
…No. I looked back once.
At the small village beginning to glow in the morning light. At the tiny, far too small girl sleeping inside it.
“......Take care, Era.”
Then I faced forward again and walked—almost ran.
“Uuuung…”
In her dream, Era was having the happiest dream in the world.
“...Uhi… Your Highness…”
A small sleep-talking murmur.
“...Did you… finish all the porridge…? Hehe…”
“...One more bowl… let’s eat together…”
In the dream, the prince was eating porridge. When spring came, they would pick wildflowers. In summer, they would play by the sea. In autumn, they would harvest the fields. In winter, they would make a cotton quilt. And like that, they would spend their entire lives together in this village.
“...Hehe… forever… with Your Highness…”
Smiling in her sleep, Era reached out to the side, trying to grab the hem of the prince’s clothes. Just like she always did.
But…
“...?”
Her hand caught nothing. The spot beside her was only cold.
“...Mm…?”
Still half-asleep, she groped around once more, but the prince was nowhere to be found. No hem of clothing. No warmth. No sound of breathing.
“......”
Slowly, Era’s eyes opened. Her blurry vision cleared, and what she saw was—
“......”
An empty space beside her.
“Your Highness?”
The prince was gone. In his place lay only a rope, burned black and snapped clean, like a snake that had shed its skin.
“......Huh?”
Era slowly sat up.
“...Your Highness?”
Her voice trembled thinly. The jar that had held the wildflower was empty. The ragged clothes had vanished too.
“...Your Highness…?!”
Bolting upright, Era finally came to her senses and sprang from the bed.
“Your Highness!!”
She looked around the room. Behind the partition, in the kitchen—everywhere she searched, the prince was gone. The door was slightly ajar, and through the gap, the newly risen morning sunlight slipped in like a thin blade.
“......”
And in that moment, Era realized.
Something far more terrifying than the Maryeokche she had feared for days had come to pass.