Darkbloom (2)
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
Ryu Hong, a mid-level concubine candidate in the rear palace, kept tapping her toes in a fit of nerves. She paced restlessly around her room, chewing on her nails as anxiety gnawed at her.
“Why… why…?”
Heuk Mu had failed. The hunting dog her family had raised for years—the servant she trusted most—had been captured.
He was a specially bred hound, cultivated with sorcery knowledge imported from the main house at great expense. She had once believed he could rival even the Emperor’s rumored secret guards.
Apparently a monstrous protector stood at the priestess’s side. Heuk Mu had been seized by that very guard, his bones shattered, and handed over to the authorities.
Had he stayed loyal to the end? Thanks to Heuk Mu’s efforts to sever any link to her, the trail had not led back. Yet Ryu Hong knew it was only a matter of time.
“It was all flawless…!”
Not long after Heuk Mu’s capture and execution, unfamiliar eunuchs began watching her quarters. The shift had happened in mere days.
Drip.
She had bitten so hard she drew blood. A crimson droplet slid down her thumb. Ryu Hong froze, staring up at the dark ceiling.
“Ah… it’s over.”
She accepted it quietly.
“…It’s all because of that bitch.”
She thought of the woman whose name now dominated every rumor in the rear palace—Seo Ryeong, once called the White Dragon Girl.
“If only… at least that bitch…!”
With faint red fury burning in her eyes, Ryu Hong gazed at the single purple flower hidden in a secret drawer.
The next day.
“The priestess has requested your presence at a tea gathering.”
“It’s from Ryu Hong, isn’t it?”
“…Yes. Will you attend?”
“Of course. I’ve been waiting for this.”
It had actually come later than expected. Seo Ryeong met Jin Ah’s sour expression and smiled brightly.
“I told you something interesting would happen soon.”
“It doesn’t look particularly fun to me.”
Jin Ah sighed deeply at the sight of her.
“Please don’t plan anything too drastic. I’m the one who’ll be scolded in the end.”
“Aww, don’t worry. This time you probably won’t need to get involved at all.”
“That’s exactly why I’m worried.”
Apparently blind to her concern, Seo Ryeong’s small face lit up with eager delight. Jin Ah grabbed it with one hand and squeezed both cheeks.
“Mmph, krrgh… ow, that hurts…!”
Still stroking the now-reddened cheeks she had unintentionally flushed, Seo Ryeong made her way to Ryu Hong’s residence.
“Welcome.”
Ryu Hong was calmer and more composed than expected. Dressed in her usual seductive attire, she met Seo Ryeong privately and began studying her with those distinctive golden eyes.
Thick white powder masked her face, but Seo Ryeong’s sharper vision caught how much more hollow Ryu Hong’s cheeks had become.
“I heard the story. The moment His Majesty arrived at the rear palace, he went straight to you… Seo Ryeong.”
Even her form of address had changed from “monster” to Seo Ryeong. The nails on her right hand, half-hidden by her sleeve, were torn and ugly.
She must have been incredibly on edge.
On top of that, learning the Emperor had sought Seo Ryeong first… the sky must have turned yellow before her eyes.
If not for all this, she might have enjoyed the view.
Seo Ryeong inwardly scoffed at the sight of Ryu Hong wrapped in brilliant red.
She crossed her arms beneath her own far more impressive chest, deliberately emphasizing it as she stood before Ryu Hong, who was flaunting her superior figure by exposing her décolletage.
“……”
She wordlessly crushed the other woman’s attempt to dominate through sheer glamour.
Huh? Why is she looking at me like that all of a sudden?
Of course, Seo Ryeong had only crossed her arms to find a comfortable position. But Ryu Hong, unaware she had once been a man, found the gesture deeply offensive.
Grind…!
The sound of teeth grinding was audible. Ryu Hong turned her head, trying to hide her expression.
“Since this is a rare opportunity, I invited you here to offer you tea. I hope I haven’t been rude?”
“Not at all. His Majesty left so early that I was feeling rather lonely.”
“Hehe. His Majesty is the ruler of Lan. Shouldn’t we be grateful he spared even a little time?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
Quietly, Ryu Hong began preparing the refreshments herself—something normally left to maids.
“Lady Ryu Hong? Why are you preparing the tea personally…?”
“Oh, I sometimes enjoy doing it myself. It happens that all my personal maids are unfortunately bedridden with illness.”
“I see.”
Even as Ryu Hong prepared the tea with her own hands, Seo Ryeong showed only mild curiosity and no suspicion. Ryu Hong glanced at her, then plucked a single petal from the purple flower she had prepared earlier.
Drip…
She carefully dropped the petal—held with a cloth so it wouldn’t touch her bare skin—into the cup. The petal slowly absorbed the liquid and turned pink.
With this…
Her hand trembled faintly as she made sure not to serve herself the tainted cup. She offered the tea to Seo Ryeong.
“Please drink. I used special leaves from my hometown.”
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
Seo Ryeong took a large sip of the steaming tea as if to calm herself, then glanced down. Ryu Hong watched closely as the other woman stared at the pink petal with an odd expression.
“What a pretty petal.”
“Isn’t it? I happened to find a lovely flower while walking in the garden a few days ago.”
Ryu Hong watched Seo Ryeong drink with a look of faint anticipation.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
“……?”
Not only did she drink the hot tea like cold water, she even chewed and munched on something. For the first time, bewilderment bloomed across Ryu Hong’s face.
“Ah, it’s sweet.”
That was impossible. The poison should paralyze on contact with skin and kill within half a shichen if even one petal was swallowed.
“Do you have any more of these petals? They’re delicious.”
What in the world was the thing smiling at her right now?
“Ah, that’s right. You said it was impossible to obtain, didn’t you?”
“Y-you…”
“I believe you said something like, ‘How dare you bring poison into the imperial palace—’”
Seo Ryeong lifted the pink petal she had been chewing onto her tongue and thrust it forward for Ryu Hong to see.
“Darkbloom. A flower that grows only in deep, dark valleys where not even a single ray of light can reach. It turns such a lovely pink when it absorbs moisture… but in truth, that’s the moment the deadly powder coating its petals dissolves. Did you know?”
As if to say, You asked me to obtain it, yet you didn’t even know its properties?
“You must have been truly desperate. Even if I had collapsed here, you would have been the first suspect. If you’re going down, you’re taking me with you. Something like that?”
Seo Ryeong rose quietly from her seat and took slow steps toward Ryu Hong, who was turning deathly pale and backing away as if trying to flee.
“H-how…!”
“You want to ask how I can be perfectly fine after eating darkbloom, right?”
She stopped directly in front of Ryu Hong, who had backed against the wall with nowhere left to go.
“Eek…!”
Both of Seo Ryeong’s hands were covered in blue scales. She gripped the terrified woman’s face tightly and stared straight into her eyes.
“You’re the one who called me a monster.”
Golden eyes with long vertical pupils gleamed inches away. The hands holding her carried no human warmth—only a cold, chilling touch.
“After treating me like this…! Even after all of this…! Do you really think you’ll get away unscathed…!”
Only now did Ryu Hong truly understand that the person before her was not human. Her teeth chattered as she tried to cling to her last shred of pride.
“……”
Seo Ryeong looked down at her with pity, then slowly stood and turned away.
Slide.
She carefully picked up the purple flower hidden inside the shelf Ryu Hong had touched earlier, using her scaled blue hand.
“Well. Instead of worrying about what will happen to me… you should think first about what will become of you and your family.”
Careful not to scatter any poisonous petals, she brought the flower to her lips, tore off another petal, and began chewing.
“And remember this well.”
Finally, Seo Ryeong met the eyes of Ryu Hong, who had collapsed in a heap, her face drained of all color and filled with terror.
“Hwaryeon. That was the name of the maid you killed. And the name of the maid who brought you to your knees.”
I hope this is enough for the dead girl to finally rest in peace.