The White Dragon Priestess of the Rear Palace (4)
The next day.
“Hey. Have you heard the news?”
A rumor began to spread among the maids of the rear palace.
―In the garden of the rear palace, the place where the pets collected by His Majesty the Emperor were kept… a new white dragon maiden had arrived.
She had skin as pure as her hair, with long white locks, and unlike the other pets she roamed the rear palace freely in a graceful pose.
Horns sprouted from her head, and her golden eyes held pupils as eerie as a snake’s. The blue scales on her hands looked utterly alien, yet they only enhanced her otherworldly beauty, or so the whispers claimed.
“Besides, they say those are absolutely enormous.”
Even wrapped in a long robe that covered her body, the lush, tempting fruits of her chest could not be concealed.
“They say she’s more beautiful than the senior concubine candidates… I’d love to see her just once…”
From dawn until night, the rear palace maids could talk of nothing but the beautiful, snow-white dragon maiden.
“…How did you manage it?”
“Pardon?”
It was no longer surprising when Jina asked the question after Seoryeong returned from the rear palace patrol that had become part of her daily routine. As usual, Jina sat smoking her pipe in a leisurely manner.
“Right now, rumors about you, Lady Priestess, are nonstop in the rear palace.”
“Oh, that?”
Perhaps it pleased her to see Jina remain by her side instead of fleeing as she usually did while she smoked. The woman’s face was expressionless, yet her eyes brimmed with curiosity as she posed the question.
“I simply wandered around the rear palace at my leisure yesterday on my way to meet Concubine Candidate Ryu Hong.”
Seoryeong turned her head so the smoke filling her mouth wouldn’t reach Jina, exhaled with a soft puff, and spoke lightly, as though it were nothing.
“Women love spreading rumors, don’t they?”
She said it as if she herself were not a woman and therefore could not quite understand the impulse.
“I’m not bragging, but… I’m pretty, aren’t I? My figure is quite nice too.”
“…Ah, yes.”
“Add these horns and eyes on top of that… Well, rumors of this level are only to be expected, right?”
She quietly glossed over her words, subtly avoiding Jina’s dumbfounded stare.
“So.”
“Yes?”
“You still haven’t explained why you did such a thing.”
Perhaps Jina had noticed that Seoryeong was plotting something. She set down the pipe and took one step closer, insisting that as her escort she needed to know the reason.
“Ugh… All right. I’ll explain, so don’t come any closer. It’s overwhelming.”
Jina had drawn so near that their long lashes might have brushed together. Seoryeong’s face flushed faintly at the sight.
“…Yesterday I provoked the pride of that Ryu Hong woman quite thoroughly.”
“……?”
When Jina kept tilting her head in confusion, Seoryeong placed a hand over her pounding heart as if to calm it and let out a soft sigh.
“It’s still only a guess, but she’s the sort who smuggles poison into the palace in secret and treats the maids like disposable pawns—using them and throwing them away.”
It was an unpleasant and horrifying thought to imagine, yet the way such a person treated those she deemed beneath her was more or less set in stone.
“If someone like that has her pride wounded by the likes of me—a pet who entered the palace as something she’s seeing for the first time—do you think she’ll stay quiet? Especially when the rear palace rumors, which already annoy her, are now completely dominated by me?”
Most likely, Seoryeong added, the woman would make a move before long. If it was quick, perhaps even today.
“…….”
Unfortunately, it seemed Jina had not yet received a satisfying answer. Or perhaps she simply hadn’t understood. She continued to tilt her head.
“To put it simply, in the worst case she might try to kill me. That’s the possibility I’m pointing out.”
“Ah.”
Only then did understanding dawn on Jina’s face. She took a step back and nodded. Seoryeong let out another soft sigh as she watched her.
“…But is something like assassination even possible inside the rear palace?”
No matter what, if someone with such ability existed within the palace, wouldn’t they be dragged away for treason at once? At Jina’s question, Seoryeong replied.
“There’s already someone like you here, Miss Jina. There’s no rule saying there can’t be others capable of the same.”
“Oh.”
On the contrary, Seoryeong looked utterly dumbfounded. She gazed at Jina—the being she still could not understand why was even here—and thought.
‘Is it normally all right to station such a dangerous individual inside the palace? Or does a great nation like Lan consider something of this scale trivial? Is that it?’
Honestly, she was glad Jina stayed by her side. Yet how a mere escort warrior had managed to follow her all the way into another country’s rear palace was something she could not even begin to imagine.
‘I don’t know. She went through several days of formal procedures to enter, so it should be fine.’
They were none other than the emperor of a great nation and his ministers. They were far wiser than she was; they would have handled everything appropriately. There was no point wasting thoughts on needless worry.
“Anyway, I’ll be counting on you, Miss Jina. I’m completely useless when it comes to that sort of thing.”
“Please leave it to me.”
Jina puffed air through her nose with her usual expressionless face, as if to say Seoryeong could trust only in her. Seoryeong could only chuckle.
At the same time.
“Now that I think of it, Your Majesty.”
“I am busy. Can you not see this damned mountain of wooden tablets and paper, man?”
Seated in a space too restrained to be called the Emperor’s office, the man grumbled even as he silently examined the documents placed before him. He was called again.
“It concerns the escort of the priestess who came from Cheongsin.”
“…You really don’t listen with either ear. Fine. Speak.”
“Why did you permit her entry into the palace?”
The fierce-looking man, Geumsa, stood quietly behind the Emperor in golden martial attire that matched his name. He asked with open puzzlement.
It was understandable. This was none other than the place where those who would become the Emperor’s concubines gathered. To allow a foreign warrior to reside here under the pretext of serving as a pet priestess’s escort was simply beyond his common sense.
“At first I tried to ignore it since it was Your Majesty’s will… but after seeing a report that arrived recently, my thoughts changed somewhat.”
Geumsa spoke while recalling the recent report concerning the escort warrior of the priestess from Cheongsin, Seoryeong.
“It seems like it will be interesting.”
“…….”
“Do not worry needlessly. She is not flexible enough in the head to scheme. She is the type of monster that can be dealt with easily as long as she remains within sight.”
To Geumsa’s question the Emperor answered quietly, pointing at the document before him.
“And such dangerous things are best kept securely within our grasp. That way the sacrifices of our precious soldiers will be fewer, will they not?”
Along with the tactics that had been reviewed multiple times through the military a few days earlier was an enclosed map bearing explanations of the main terrain of Juryeon and Cheongsin.
That evening.
“Then I’ll be going to sleep now. You should rest as well, Miss Jina.”
“Yes. Sleep well.”
Unlike her usual attire, Seoryeong wore a simple robe with an opening near the hips. She covered her mouth with one hand as if fighting off drowsiness and spoke with a languid expression.
‘It’s already been nearly a month since I arrived, yet I still can’t get used to this.’
She glanced lightly around the bedroom that was so vast and luxurious she doubted it could truly be hers.
“Ugh…”
Perhaps because of the two large, unwanted fruits now attached to her chest, her shoulders ached more than usual today. She kept massaging them with hands covered in blue scales as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Haa… Everything else is fine, but they’re just too heavy…”
Squish, squish. She began to knead her own breasts with familiar movements.
It was not for sexual pleasure. That was not the reason. Simply because touching them brought her genuine peace of mind… it had become an ingrained habit.
“Tomorrow I should ask Miss Jina to massage my waist at least… Mm… She’d probably kill me for that.”
Seoryeong muttered to herself like an old woman in the back room.
“…….”
Soon, even in the darkened room where the lights had been extinguished, her golden eyes emitted an eerie glow as she stared intently at a certain spot.
“Is someone there?”
There was neither sound nor presence. Only a strange energy that pricked at her skin.
Swish…
There was no answer. Yet, bathed in the moonlight streaming through the window, something began to gather like dust within the deep shadows, taking form.
“…….”
Seoryeong watched quietly, hardening her expression to appear as calm as possible. But the tip of the tail that had slipped out from the rear of her robe near her hips trembled so violently it could not be hidden.
“…It would have been less painful if I had simply fallen asleep without noticing.”
Perhaps sensing her terror, the shadow in the shape of a woman that answered her question and stepped forward boldly—Heukmu—
Rustle…
Gathered the black mist swirling around her as though clutching it in her hand and slowly approached Seoryeong.
Swish—!
What entered the eyes of Heukmu as she swung the intangible dagger was—
Crack…!
Behind Seoryeong—the bedroom wall that should have been solidly built, crushed like tofu. And through the shattered wall emerged a woman dressed in black martial attire.
Boom—!
Watching the wall fragments that flew up a beat late, Heukmu thought.
‘…What is that?’
Were humans normally creatures capable of bursting through walls like that?
“Kuh, huk…!”
Unfortunately, the price of pausing in bewilderment was steep. The woman who had exploded through the wall—Jina—seized Heukmu by the throat. Heukmu urgently swung the dagger toward Jina’s arm, but—
“Hup…!”
Jina’s small shout came even faster. Heukmu experienced the bizarre sensation of the world above and below her flipping completely.
Bang—!
After briefly observing Heukmu, who could offer no resistance and collapsed unconscious with every bone in her body seemingly shattered, Jina spoke.
“So.”
The escort warrior who had flipped her over and slammed her into the ground turned with her characteristic expressionless face.
“Why would I kill you if I massaged your waist?”