Chapter 152
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 152
At some point, his mother’s health began to fail. She withered away under a lingering illness until, eventually, she left his side forever.
When the thought struck him that So-ya might also leave him just as his mother had, a sudden, sharp fear gripped Yi-rim’s heart.
Despite So-ya’s insistence that she was fine, he stubbornly insisted she see a physician. However, the physician could find nothing wrong with her body.
Still unable to find peace of mind, Yi-rim lingered near her quarters until he discovered traces of evil arts. Following the trail, he finally uncovered the horrific truth of what the Imperial Family had done to her.
The Imperial Family had been using evil arts in an attempt to absorb her spirit core.
And the one behind it all was his own father, the Emperor.
Once the truth came to light, Yi-rim’s mind was consumed by a single thought: he had to save So-ya at any cost.
He sent letter after letter seeking help from the Vermilion Bird Clan, but every single one vanished before reaching its destination. As long as they remained within the Emperor’s reach, every attempt would end in failure.
The Imperial Palace was far too dangerous for her.
Having reached that conclusion, Yi-rim persuaded So-ya to flee the palace with him. However, by then, So-ya’s body had grown too weak to travel far. They were eventually overtaken by the Emperor’s soldiers, and she was torn from his arms.
Yi-rim was beaten by the soldiers and abandoned in the desolate Northern Land, a place swarming with demonic beasts.
Perhaps it had been impossible from the start for a young boy and girl in their early teens to escape the might of the Imperial Family.
A long time passed. Having survived the barren North, Yi-rim finally managed to infiltrate the Imperial Palace once again.
But sometimes, tragedies occur in the human world that are simply too much to bear. Cruel, terrifying things that can shatter and break even the purest, clearest of souls.
“Grrr... gurgle...”
When he finally found her again, So-ya’s spirit core had been twisted by dark energy. She had been transformed into something resembling a demonic beast.
“So-ya... So-ya...”
“Guh... ugh...”
“It’s me, So-ya. I’m here...”
“Grrr...”
“I’ve come to take you... I... sob... I’ve come to take you home...”
“Ugh... ah... it... hurts...”
“...”
“It hurts... so much...”
“...”
Yi-rim let out a gut-wrenching scream as he watched her suffer, her very soul contaminated by evil arts. As if she had been waiting all this time just for him, So-ya, who had been crying out in pain, slowly met her end in Yi-rim’s arms.
“I was too late.”
His tears soaked her blackened, twisted body.
“Because I was late, you died.”
One whose soul is contaminated cannot find peace even in death. Even though her life had ended, only eternal agony awaited her.
As he lay prostrate on the ground, weeping uncontrollably, he suddenly recalled a forbidden authority of the Yellow Dragon he had once read about in a book within the Imperial Library as a child.
While a supernatural ability was a power manifested by awakening one’s innate spirit core, an authority was something inherited through one’s rank and title. For example, the Head of the Black Tortoise Clan could control black water through his authority, regardless of his individual ability.
And among the authorities of the Yellow Dragon was ‘Time.’
‘If only I could turn back time...’
As the thought took hold, Yi-rim’s eyes grew dark and deep.
Of course, even if time were reversed, a soul that had already been contaminated would have to be extinguished; it could not return to the past.
However, there was one way.
The Yellow Dragon’s Orb, said to be imbued with a mysterious life force. If he had that... her soul might be able to return to the past with him.
From that moment on, there was not a shred of hesitation in his actions.
Yi-rim killed the father who had committed such atrocities within the palace, killed the brothers who had stood by and watched, and became the Yellow Dragon himself.
He then offered the Yellow Dragon’s Orb he had obtained to her lifeless body.
[On the night the red moon rises, the Bride of the Yellow Dragon shall awaken the sleeping Four Divine Beasts to sweep away the darkness scattered across this land and bring peace.]
The oracle was ambiguous. Consequently, opinions were divided on what the ‘Bride of the Yellow Dragon’ mentioned in the prophecy actually meant.
Some said it referred to the Empress, the Emperor’s wife. Others claimed it meant the female children of the direct lineages who inherited the blood of the Four Divine Beasts. Still others believed it referred to the woman who received the greatest love from the Yellow Dragon.
But they were all wrong.
The true ‘Bride of the Yellow Dragon’ was the dragon’s companion who harbored the Yellow Dragon’s Orb—and at the same time, his one and only reverse scale.
To create the Bride of the Yellow Dragon, one must offer the orb to the bride before the Altar of the Yellow Dragon.
This did not mean simply handing over a bead. Through a ritual, the orb would permeate the bride’s body to become a new spirit core, and the bride’s original spirit core would become a golden scale—the Yellow Dragon’s reverse scale.
His father, ignorant of this, had pointlessly harmed innocent people. It was a truly foolish and hideous endeavor.
“O Controller of the Four Divine Beasts who guards the center, Leader of the Five Divine Dragons, and Master who connects heaven and earth to rule the human realm.”
After the ritual was complete, a massive golden dragon descended at his call.
—Young Yellow Dragon, who carries my blood.
The Yellow Dragon, seeing through Yi-rim’s heart, warned him in a solemn voice.
—To move time is to touch the world’s taboo. There will surely be a great price to pay.
But Yi-rim didn’t care. As long as he could save So-ya, nothing else mattered.
“It is fine. No matter what price I must pay.”
And so, he moved time.
That was his first life.
The problem was that So-ya, reborn with the Yellow Dragon’s Orb inside her, accidentally awakened the Vermilion Bird in her second life.
Her spirit core, which was not yet fully formed, was startled by the power and sealed her direct lineage blood. Because of that, So-ya lost the physical characteristics of the Vermilion Bird.
It was the beginning of a new tragedy.
“...And so, all your misfortunes began because of me. Having committed such a great sin against you, how could I ever dare to approach you?”
Recalling his first life, which had now become a distant memory, Yi-rim murmured in agony.
And there was one more regrettable fact: the Yi-rim of the second life did not remember the first timeline.
Without those memories, Yi-rim encountered So-ya again in this Imperial Palace. It was shortly after he had experienced his mother’s death.
To him, who had been submerged in sorrow, the snow-white girl who approached like a ray of light was So-ya.
* * *
The flames gradually subsided.
As So-ya’s small body swayed, Sa-eon immediately caught and supported her.
“Dad, I...”
Leaning into Sa-eon’s arms, So-ya looked up at him and spoke in a strained voice.
“I think I used too much strength... I feel a bit dizzy.”
“It’s all over now, my baby. Let’s go back and get some sleep.”
“Yes, Dad.”
At those words, So-ya gave a bright smile before her eyes drifted shut. The sound of the child’s steady, peaceful breathing could be heard.
Just as Sa-eon began to walk away, carrying the sleeping child in his arms—
Grab.
Someone caught him by the shoulder. It was Jeok Ah-yun.
“Just now, that was...”
His face was deathly pale, as if he might vanish at any moment, and his voice faltered.
“What I just saw... just now...”
“You should be grateful the child didn't hear what you said to me.”
Sa-eon glared at him with cold eyes, snapping at the man whose lips were trembling as if he had forgotten how to finish a sentence.
“If my child had heard those words, I would have killed you on the spot. Even if I were thrown into a dungeon and never saw the light of day again for that crime, I would have killed you without hesitation.”
As he spoke, Sa-eon’s eyes were those of a father protecting his child.
Jeok Ah-yun flinched, searching his memory. Just a moment ago, what had he said...?
[To find out in an instant that my daughter isn't of my blood! That white fluff felt nothing but disgusting!]
As the memory finally surfaced, what little color remained in his already pale face drained away completely.
“Please, just tell me one thing. So-ya... is So-ya truly my biological daughter?”
Ah-yun clung to Sa-eon as if grasping for a lifeline, his voice desperate.
“Since when did that matter to you? Wasn't the only thing important to you people the color of this child’s feathers?”
“You...! What is it that you know?!”
Ah-yun’s voice cracked harshly as he shouted back.
[Disgusting? You don't even know how that little child ended up with that white fluff. What? Disgusting?]
Ah-yun was certain. This man knew everything. Whether So-ya was truly his biological daughter or not... and how that child had ended up with white fluff...
“Please, tell me. Is So-ya... truly my biological daughter? If so, why... why did she...”
Unable to finish the sentence, Ah-yun trailed off, biting his lower lip hard.
“Why don't you go ask your precious Vermilion Bird?”
Giving him a look of pure contempt, Sa-eon blocked Ah-yun’s view of So-ya’s face with his wide sleeve and walked past him. Seol-yo glared fiercely at Jeok Ah-yun before trotting after Sa-eon.
As Jeok Ah-yun stood there with an expression that looked ready to crumble, a shadow fell over him.
“I heard our Young Lady awakened her Divine Beast when she was a newborn, before her spirit core had even properly developed.”
It was the Red Fox beastkin, Baek Sa-eon’s aide.
“They say the sleeping, young spirit core was startled by a power too great for it to handle, and so it sealed the Vermilion Bird’s blood to protect itself.”
“...”
Jeok Ah-yun stared at the person in front of him, his mouth hanging open blankly.
“I was curious, though.”
The Red Fox aide gave a meaningful smile.
“Just what could have caused our Young Lady to awaken her Divine Beast at such a tender age, when she could barely even open her eyes?”