Chapter 174
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 174
“I could not… protect her.”
Sa-eon spoke in a voice thick with agony to Yi-rim, who had rushed there upon hearing the news.
The black demonic beast of Mt. Horim had gone on a rampage and harmed So-ya.
It had happened, of all times, on the night of the full moon, when Sa-eon’s spirit core was at its weakest.
Because of that, Sa-eon had been unable to stop the beast.
“It was I… I was the one who failed to protect that child.”
Standing before the grave of the child he ultimately could not save, Sa-eon whispered hollowly, his silent tears scattering onto the ground.
“...It is not your fault, Sa-eon.”
Yi-rim closed his eyes in pain before opening them again.
“It is my fault for failing to save that child this time as well.”
At those words, Sa-eon slowly raised his head.
‘This time as well’?
Yi-rim spoke as if he had experienced something similar before.
As Sa-eon stared blankly at him, he suddenly noticed black scales falling from Yi-rim’s body and cried out in shock.
“Your Majesty, these scales are...!”
“The price for moving time is truly harsh.”
“...!”
“But thanks to that, I caught a glimpse of hope—a hope that the child might be able to smile. So, it is not such a bad price to pay. Is it not, Sa-eon?”
Yi-rim spoke in a casual tone, as if discussing someone else’s affairs.
A look of horror gradually spread across Sa-eon’s face.
Even without a detailed explanation, he understood instinctively.
The young Emperor had used the Authority of the Yellow Dragon to turn back time.
Only for her—for So-ya.
“How could you...!”
“It is fine. My life has not yet reached its end.”
“The price for defying the laws of heaven will not be light.”
“That, too, is fine. I prepared myself for it long ago.”
“....”
Sa-eon wanted to ask.
Just how much time did he mean by ‘long ago’?
Just how many times had he traveled back through time?
“Perhaps I was thinking about it wrong from the very beginning. I could not eliminate the evil with my power alone.”
Yi-rim muttered, gazing lonely at So-ya’s grave.
“If so, the only thing left to lean on is...”
[On the night the red moon rises, the Bride of the Yellow Dragon shall awaken the sleeping Four Divine Beasts, clearing the darkness scattered across this land and bringing peace.]
The oracle. There was only that ancient oracle stating that the Bride of the Yellow Dragon would awaken the Four Divine Beasts and clear the darkness.
He had to borrow her power—So-ya’s power.
Having reached that conclusion, Yi-rim glanced down at the black scales fallen at his feet.
Soon, they crumbled and vanished like ash.
The way they scattered in an instant, leaving nothing behind, felt like a reflection of his own future.
Every time he defied the laws of heaven, his body paid the price.
When all the golden scales rotted and fell away, and he was no longer the Yellow Dragon... what would become of him then?
‘But it is still alright for now.’
Yi-rim cut off the thought, pushing it deep inside so that no idle fears could arise.
He knew the state of his body better than anyone.
For now, it was alright.
Therefore, there was no room for hesitation.
If he had feared the price of defying heaven, he would never have moved time in the first place.
What he feared was not ‘merely’ something like that.
Something far more terrifying than defying heaven or his body rotting away.
That was... her death.
A world where he could no longer see her.
“....”
He tightly clenched his fists.
After staring at So-ya’s grave for a long while, he slowly raised his palm.
As he summoned his Authority, the surging energy of the Yellow Dragon swirled over his hand.
His turquoise eyes were dyed gold.
‘Is the rift in this timeline here?’
The sharp dragon claws that grew from his fingertips tore through the air.
As space-time was rent asunder, the world he stood upon began to tremble slowly.
The sky collapsed, and the earth split.
Birds took flight, and mountain beasts fled amidst the sounds of animals wailing.
The end of a timeline was always a scene of pandemonium.
However, even this would not last long.
Once the Veil of Time descended, everything that happened here would become as if it had never existed.
Thud. Drip.
As a price for using his Authority, his flesh began to rot and fall away.
It was a pain he had grown accustomed to through several lifetimes.
And so, it was a moment when Yi-rim waited for the next life with a serene face.
“Your Majesty!”
Thud!
Sa-eon slammed both knees onto the ground before him and bowed his head.
“Sa-eon, head of the Baek Clan. I swear upon the name of the White Tiger, the Mountain Lord and Guardian of the West.”
“....”
Yi-rim slowly turned his body and looked down at Sa-eon.
Even as space-time was being torn apart and the whole world was shaking, that man in white made his vow with composure.
“Even if I must pass through that thick Veil of Time and reach the end of the world, I will find her. And I will protect her.”
No, within that firm voice that seemed composed at a glance, the sound of a heart-wrenching sob was occasionally mixed in.
“Even if this life is severed, and severed, and severed a hundred times more... in that time, I will surely...”
Yes, this was the mournful vow of a man who had lost a child.
“...I will protect her. So-ya, my poor little bird.”
It was a vow that would be forgotten once time was reset anyway.
Though she was not his biological child, the depth of the love Sa-eon poured out caused a ripple in Yi-rim’s heart.
“...Thank you.”
As Yi-rim pulled the corners of his mouth into a faint smile, the world he stood upon collapsed into pitch-black darkness.
*
A story within a time that no longer existed.
As he turned back time again, Yi-rim thought that the vow was something that had completely vanished.
Even the head of the Jeok Clan, who had been So-ya’s biological father in the first life, had failed to recognize the child and treated her coldly, had he not?
Perhaps the bond between parent and child was something as futile as that.
Just as it had been for him and his father, who ultimately met a tragic end in a bloodbath.
Just as it had been for the Madam of the Vermilion Bird Clan, who failed to recognize her own child.
Just as it had been for the master of the Northern Land, who hated his own bloodline, the young Imoogi.
If so, how much more fragile must the bond be between Sa-eon and So-ya, who were not even related by blood?
Yet, strangely enough, in the several lifetimes that followed, coincidences where Sa-eon saved So-ya overlapped one after another.
It wasn’t that he remembered the promise.
It was just by chance, passing by when the child was in danger.
Or by chance, encountering a Peril Beast that had snuck in to target the child a step ahead of everyone else.
Or by pure chance, breaking a teacup filled with deadly poison intended for the child.
Yes, just like that, by chance...
At some point, Yi-rim realized that countless coincidences had overlapped to become a destiny.
[Even if this life is severed, and severed, and severed a hundred times more... in that time, I will surely protect her.]
[So-ya, my poor little bird.]
The moment that mournful vow, made with all his heart until the very moment space-time split and the world collapsed, was resurrected in his ears.
‘Perhaps.’
Amidst numerous failures, Yi-rim thought that perhaps that man, Baek Sa-eon, might be the key to saving her.
Thus, in this life, he took a path he had never taken before.
As soon as he turned back time, he sent Sa-eon to the Southern Land.
And So-ya truly passed her fourteenth birthday for the first time in Baek Sa-eon’s fortress.
“It is truly strange, So-ya. The life you spent at the White Tiger Palace was only this once.”
It was simply amazing that such a deep bond had formed in that short amount of time.
Yi-rim did not know what kind of connection existed between So-ya and the people of the White Tiger Palace within the hidden Veil of Time.
He had been unable to stay by So-ya’s side for long, as he had to navigate the Imperial Palace, where a bloody struggle for imperial power was taking place, and the battlefields against the demonic beasts of the North.
“All I know is this. That among the many times I have passed through, you seemed the most happy here.”
Yi-rim muttered, looking toward So-ya’s now-closed window.
He felt a pang of regret that he could no longer see her.
“...And in this life as well. It seems you only smile like you did back then when you are here.”
Yi-rim smiled bitterly, recalling her radiant laughter that had once been a bright light for the young prince left alone in the vast and desolate Imperial Palace.
Since then, he had crossed many Veils of Time and spent quite a long time with her, but that bright laughter was something he could only see here.
Therefore, Yi-rim hoped she could smile here for a long, long time.
He intended to let nothing bind her.
Neither the fate of the oracle nor the walls of the Imperial Palace would dare to imprison her.
[But, Your Majesty. If later, much later...]
[When I find myself wanting to go to where you are, is it alright if I fly to you then?]
That was why, when she asked that, he had been a bit flustered, unlike his usual self.
It was a useless question.
If there was only one thing he had wished for since a very long time ago, it was this:
That she would fly freely with a bright smile in the wide sky, where all the foul things threatening her had vanished.
He was someone who had only ever wished for that.
If the place she wanted to be was by his side, then anytime, and as much as she wanted.
How could he possibly not give her that place?
“I have already given my everything for you.”
It was just as Yi-rim chuckled and shook his head.
He paused.
His face hardened at a certain energy he felt in an instant.
‘This energy is...’
His turquoise eyes, which had been curved warmly until a moment ago, flickered with gold along with a sharp, murderous intent.
* * *
So-ya, still lingering in the afterglow of her birthday party, tossed and turned for a long time while hugging her tiger doll.
‘Today was so much fun. I’m so glad Lady Ah-rang is staying at the White Tiger Palace for a few more days. Tomorrow, the three of us—Lady Ah-rang, Seol-yo, and I—decided to go up Mt. Horim to play...’
Even after Yeon-jeong turned off the lights and left, So-ya continued her thoughts in the darkness for a long while before finally drifting off to sleep.
So-ya’s room, with the lights out, was silent.
Only the sound of So-ya’s soft breathing rhythmically vibrated through the air in the room.
Then, the gentle movement of the air froze in an instant.
So-ya’s steady breathing and the occasional chirping of insects from outside all stopped.
Time in the Human Realm had come to a standstill.
Sshhh—
Within the frozen time, a man appeared in So-ya’s room.
He was a nobleman with a youthful and striking face, appearing to be between eighteen and twenty years old.
Step, step.
The man walked with an elegant gait and stopped in front of So-ya.
The pure white moonlight illuminated So-ya’s face.
“Is it this child?”
The man muttered indifferently, glancing down at her.
Her pale face under the moonlight caught his eye for a fleeting moment, but that was all.
To a man with the most noble blood even in the Heavenly Realm, the child was merely a trivial creature of the earth to be collected.
A child of the mortal world who should have died but survived by defying the laws of heaven while harboring the Yellow Dragon’s Orb.
Just as the man was about to reach out his hand to take her life...
“Stop.”
The White Tiger Mountain Lord appeared, his white robes fluttering as he blocked the way.
Unlike his usual appearance before So-ya as a tiny, palm-sized figure, the White Tiger Mountain Lord was in his full human form.
“White Tiger Mountain Lord.”
The man recognized him and furrowed one brow in displeasure.
“She has crossed numerous veils and managed to survive. This is a life that may perhaps be her last. Please, just this once, look the other way.”
The White Tiger Mountain Lord bowed his head before the man, using respectful language.
“...O Judge of the Heavenly Realm.”