Chapter 172
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 172
‘Huh? What was that? Just now… I thought I saw something here.’
So-ya stared at the spot where the black scales had been just a moment ago, her expression clouded with bewilderment.
Suddenly, she sensed a presence from the opposite side.
She snapped her head up, but there was no one beneath the dark night sky. Only a couple of leaves fluttered down through the air.
So-ya tilted her head at the presence that had vanished as quickly as it appeared. Soon, deciding she must have been mistaken, she buried the tip of her nose back into the flower petals.
What did it matter, anyway?
the scent of the flowers was so delicate, and she felt so wonderful.
A short distance away from So-ya’s window, a soft smile bloomed on Yi-rim’s face as he watched her.
She was truly beautiful.
Beautiful, and so very lovely.
Which lifetime had it been? Since it was the time she stayed in his Imperial Prince’s Palace, it must have been the fourth.
[I like these flowers very much, Your Highness. I’ve missed them so. Thank you for bringing them to me.]
That day, too, So-ya had buried her nose in the blossoms and smiled radiantly.
Around that time, So-ya’s health had been poor, leaving her unable to step outside her bedroom. He used to bring her small things from nature that he thought she might like.
Young spring flowers from the rear garden, smooth pebbles gathered from a summer stream, crimson maple leaves holding the scent of autumn, and the acorns and pinecones left behind by squirrels preparing for hibernation—small, trivial gifts from the natural world.
When he asked why she preferred such trifles over precious treasures, she had answered with a smile.
[Because I can feel the seasons passing. It makes me feel… alive.]
Unlike me.
The unspoken words she left out clung to him like a malevolent spirit, haunting him for a long, long time.
To say she liked them because they felt alive—did that not sound like the final words of someone facing death?
For a long while, Yi-rim could not find his voice, merely gazing at her with eyes full of sorrow.
When he finally managed to tell her to get well soon so they could go see the flowers together, she had only offered a faint smile instead of an answer…
Yi-rim reached out to touch the many veils of time he had passed through.
He remembered every single moment with So-ya within those countless timelines, forgetting nothing.
Those memories were his reverse scale.
In his second life, when he had no memory of the first…
If only he had remembered his first life the moment he encountered the six-year-old So-ya in the palace garden.
If he had, perhaps he could have prevented her misfortune, even if only by a little… It was thoughts like these that tormented him.
* * *
In his second life, Yi-rim had been born without the orb that every dragon beastkin was supposed to possess.
The only legitimate prince was a half-baked dragon without an orb.
Though the Emperor had issued a gag order, the brothers who discovered the truth mocked and bullied Yi-rim.
To the despondent Yi-rim, his mother had spoken in a gentle voice.
[Perhaps, just perhaps… our Rim-i met his fated partner before he was born into this world and gave them his orb. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?]
Just as his mother said, those words sounded incredibly wonderful to the three-year-old prince. So much so that he ended up believing the obvious lie.
However, the death of his kind mother left Yi-rim lethargic and indifferent to everything.
The day the Imperial Palace was bustling with preparations for a departure ceremony was also a few days before the anniversary of his mother’s death.
Hiding his face with a veil, he sat in a corner of the rear garden, suppressing his presence to avoid the eyes of the palace attendants.
“Why are you here all alone?”
A small girl with hair as white as snowflakes peeked her head out and asked.
As Yi-rim started in surprise, the girl scurried over and crouched down in front of him.
“I’m So-ya. Who are you, Orabeoni?”
“……”
Yi-rim swallowed hard, staring silently at the girl who had approached him. It seemed she didn’t recognize him as a prince.
“…Rim.”
“Rim? Then can I call you Rim-i Orabeoni?”
When he managed to squeeze out an answer, the girl smiled brightly and asked.
That radiant smile lingered in his vision, and Yi-rim stared at her blankly.
It was the first time.
The first time since his mother’s death that someone had smiled so brightly at him.
“…Sure.”
At Yi-rim’s answer, the girl’s smile widened. She seemed to have been raised with much love, given how sociable she was.
Through their short conversation, Yi-rim learned many things about her.
Her name was So-ya. Jeok So-ya of the Jeok Clan, who carried the blood of the Southern Divine Beast, the Vermilion Bird.
She had begged her father to bring her to the Imperial Palace to see off Young Lord Jeok San-yu of the Vermilion Bird Clan, who was departing for the front lines.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Uh, just… I just felt it…”
So-ya hesitated, not knowing how to explain.
“You just felt it?”
At Yi-rim’s question, So-ya tilted her head and asked back.
“Yes. For some reason, I felt like I would meet someone if I came here. Is that a bit strange?”
Yi-rim’s eyes wavered slightly at those words. He remembered what his mother had told him when he was young.
[No matter how well a dragon hides its presence, the partner who holds the dragon’s orb will always find them.]
‘Could this child be the fated bride who took my orb?’
The thought crossed his mind for a moment, but Yi-rim soon chuckled and shook his head.
‘What a ridiculous thought. That was clearly just a lie my mother told to comfort me.’
Yi-rim was already eight years old. He was at an age where he could discern that his mother’s words were merely a plausible lie meant to soothe him.
“Say, Rim-i Orabeoni. Did something sad happen?”
So-ya’s voice broke through his thoughts.
“Why… do you think that?”
At the child’s question, which seemed to read his inner thoughts, Yi-rim’s voice trembled slightly without him realizing it.
“Because So-ya hides alone like this when something sad happens, too.”
So-ya smiled softly as she placed her small hand over Yi-rim’s, which was resting on the grass.
“Actually, not long ago, So-ya was very upset. Hwa-yu Orabeoni couldn’t control his supernatural ability and burned So-ya’s favorite doll. Oh, Hwa-yu Orabeoni is So-ya’s second brother…”
So-ya began to chatter about her story in a voice as lovely as a lark’s.
“I was so upset that I hid in the wardrobe all by myself, but San-yu Orabeoni found me. So-ya thought San-yu Orabeoni would pull me out of the wardrobe.”
“……”
“But San-yu Orabeoni didn’t do that. He just sat in front of the wardrobe and waited for me. He told me he’d stay with me so the sadness would run away, and that I should hide as much as I wanted before coming out.”
“……”
“San-yu Orabeoni said that sadness is a mean coward. That’s why it gets scared and runs away when there are two people together.”
“……”
“So So-ya will stay by Rim-i Orabeoni’s side. Then maybe the sadness will run away a little faster.”
So-ya spoke with a pure, bright smile.
Yi-rim, who had been staring blankly at that stainless grin, eventually followed her lead and formed a gentle smile.
“…It will be the anniversary of my mother’s death soon. But it seems no one remembers.”
Yi-rim began to tell his story in a quiet, calm voice.
It was strange.
This was clearly a child he had met for the first time today.
So why did it feel as if the whole world was being dyed in warmth by her small smile?
“So I’m trying to remember her by myself. This was a place where I often came for walks with my mother.”
As Yi-rim’s story came to an end…
“They say this norigae was left to So-ya by her late mother.”
So-ya suddenly held out a norigae.
“So-ya has been comforted by looking at this whenever she misses her mother, but now I’ll give it to you, Orabeoni. I hope you can be comforted by it, too.”
“But So-ya, this is your mother’s keepsake. I can’t possibly take such a precious item…”
“You can just come back to return it later.”
So-ya smiled and spoke to Yi-rim, who was shaking his head, unable to accept it.
“When you aren’t sad anymore, you’ll definitely come back to return it, right?”
How could he refuse the child when she spoke like that?
“…Yes. I promise. I will definitely come back to return it.”
Three years later, having completed his First Growth, Yi-rim visited the Vermilion Bird Mansion to keep his promise.
It was a strange coincidence that the anniversary of his mother’s death and So-ya’s birthday fell on the same day.
However, when he met So-ya again in the Southern Land, they said she was not the biological daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
Yi-rim felt something was wrong.
Because of the energy he could clearly feel from the So-ya he met again.
Having completed his First Growth, he could sense it even more distinctly. This was undoubtedly… the energy of a divine beast.
As a direct descendant of the Yellow Dragon, the master of the Four Divine Beasts, he could say this with certainty.
That night, leaving So-ya at the Vermilion Bird Mansion, Yi-rim rushed to the Imperial Palace library and confirmed the records regarding the cuckoo.
‘But how could a cuckoo deceive the Vermilion Bird?’
He instinctively felt that a much larger conspiracy lay behind it. The Vermilion Bird Mansion was dangerous.
‘First, I must get So-ya out of there.’
But when he went to take So-ya away, what greeted Yi-rim was her cold corpse.
Thump…
His heart sank violently.
[Look at this, Your Highness! Judging by the shape, it must belong to a man.]
The long sword wound that had sliced through the child’s body.
[Here, it’s my gift.]
So-ya had been murdered.
They said she had met with a disaster after going outside the mansion on the last day of the summer festival…
[Don’t be angry, Your Highness. I’ll put the hairpin in for you.]
But what was this voice… ringing in his head since a moment ago…?
[Run away…? Why so suddenly…]
This familiar… missed… and precious voice…
[Your Highness, it’s dangerous…! Your Highness, Your Highness! No, no, hic, Your Highness…!]
Thump…
[Grrr… grrr…]
Thump…
[It’s me, So-ya. I’ve come…]
Thump…
[I’ve come to get you… I, ugh, hic, I’ve come to get you…]
Thump!
[Agh… ugh… it… hurts…]
Thump!
In an instant, Yi-rim’s eyes snapped open, and memories of his past lives flooded back along with intense emotions.
“So-ya… So-ya…”
He looked at So-ya’s cold body with eyes full of disbelief. At her body, which had been reborn holding his orb…
“Because of me… Because I gave you the orb… Because I turned back time…”
So-ya was only nine years old.
He had turned back time to save her, but she had met her death even earlier than in the previous life.
He had given her the orb to save her, but because of it, she had awakened as a divine beast too early and became even more miserable.
As he let out a cry of agonizing resentment before So-ya’s corpse, he went straight back to the Imperial Palace and usurped the throne.
There was no hesitation in his steps as he slaughtered his own kin. It was a path he had already walked once in a previous life…
Thus, Yi-rim became the Yellow Dragon himself and moved time once more.
But in the next life, and the one after that, he could not save So-ya.
There were too many things in this world that threatened her.
The entire world threatened So-ya, and even her spirit core was not whole.
There were countless deaths, but during his journey across that long, long veil of time, no one helped him.
Not even the Vermilion Bird Clan helped.
However, in one of the lifetimes he remembered, there was exactly one person who had held the hand of the pitiful young prince.
“Your Highness…? At this late hour, what brings you…”
The gaze of the man, who had been puzzled by the sudden late-night visit from his young disciple, turned toward the snow-white child held quietly in Yi-rim’s arms.
“And what is this child, who looks like a little white cotton ball?”
The master of the West and the head of the White Tiger Clan, Baek Sa-eon, who had become the mentor to the powerless young prince who had lost his mother.
In his forgotten memories, he had been the only protector and a solid fence for the pitiful baby bird, as well as his only parent.