42. Isolation (5)
Beneath the Frost Palace.
In a secret, hidden place of darkness that only the direct royal bloodline of Adolevit could enter, the sound of shoes echoed through the air.
Tak!
At both ends of the endlessly stretching corridor, flames burst to life with a whoosh.
The one who appeared between them was Queen Hong Seryu of Adolevit.
With each step she took down the corridor, the braziers lining either side flared alight.
She walked while trying to maintain an appearance of composure, but anxiety still clung to her footsteps.
…At last, when she reached the end of the corridor, there stood a massive altar.
Women dressed in pure white nun’s robes lowered their heads toward the queen, but said nothing.
Rustle—
Someone approached the queen quietly and spoke.
“Your Majesty. The flames of the Flame Spirit Flower are growing fiercer and fiercer.”
“…So it seems.”
At the top of the altar’s stairs rested a large jade goblet, and within it, a single flower was growing.
The Flame Spirit Flower.
A legendary treasure said to contain the slumbering “Incarnation of Fire,” and the family heirloom passed down through the Adolevit line for generations.
Only royalty were granted the right to handle it…
Yet not a single king in history had ever truly managed to control its power.
The moment one accepted the Flame Spirit Flower, one lost all magic and all sense of self, became dominated by flame, and went berserk.
The only being who had ever properly handled the Flame Spirit Flower was…
Adolevit herself, one of the Twelve Disciples of the Progenitor Mage, who had first inherited it.
‘A mixed bloodline cannot handle it, then.’
Hong Seryu flicked her fingers.
At once, a silver staff formed in the air and settled into her hand.
Whoosh!
As Hong Seryu approached, the Flame Spirit Flower responded by flaring up violently, as if resisting her.
Even as cold sweat dripped down her, she struggled to suppress its flames.
Ever since the day Adolevit had first passed the Flame Spirit Flower down within the family, its fire had only grown more and more savage.
Each king of the past, the moment they inherited the throne, had also inherited the duty of suppressing the Flame Spirit Flower…
‘Has it reached its limit in my generation?’
Its flames had now reached a level she could no longer control.
Perhaps if a 9-Class mage specializing in flame came, it would be different, but her own level had not reached that far.
Still, there was one possibility.
Perhaps there really was a method.
‘The coast of Leviang.’
The place where the Incarnation of Ice slept, and where the season of winter had become trapped forever.
The former kings had all said that the coast of Leviang must never be touched, and until now no one had broken that rule.
But they had now hit the limit.
If they could no longer suppress the power of the Flame Spirit Flower…
Then perhaps a great catastrophe, one that had never occurred even once in history, might come to pass.
Wiping away the cold sweat, Hong Seryu withdrew her hand from the Flame Spirit Flower.
‘…It’s impossible with my power alone.’
Seeking an answer from the Incarnation of Ice was no longer optional.
‘I did not make the wrong choice.’
Since this was the only path left, she resolved to trust her own judgment completely.
It had already been ten days since Baek Yuseol started working part-time at Adolevit’s royal library.
There wasn’t much that had changed, but if there was one difference—
“Hey, hey. That really is the princess.”
“I know…”
“Wow, this is insane.”
“She’s so beautiful…”
“Shh. Your voice is too loud!”
The royal library where Baek Yuseol worked had third-rank entry restrictions, which meant that anyone with Adolevit citizenship could enter.
Now imagine Princess Hong Biyeon suddenly started coming there every single day.
Naturally, word would spread among the citizens, and the number of visitors would increase sharply.
People often say that looking at cute animals like hamsters or cats, or at beautiful and handsome people, is healing.
If that were the case, then Hong Biyeon was practically some kind of “healing totem.”
Every day she would sit quietly in a corner of the royal library, reading with a fairy-like grace, and that alone purified the eyes of all the citizens who came and went.
‘Still, why does the princess suddenly keep coming to the library?’
‘Who knows…’
‘I heard she’s supposed to be insanely difficult, but I guess that’s not entirely true.’
‘Exactly. She just sits quietly and reads, then leaves.’
‘Last time, someone bumped into her by accident, and instead of saying anything, she handed them a handkerchief herself.’
‘Seriously?’
I could hear the people whispering among themselves.
They didn’t know it, but Baek Yuseol had a rough idea why Hong Biyeon kept coming here.
‘She must be lonely.’
He didn’t know her that well, but there was probably no one in the Frost Palace willing to stand by Hong Biyeon’s side.
Queen Hong Seryu must have deliberately isolated her socially.
So in the midst of all that, when she came across a familiar face, how bitterly lonely and at the same time how glad must she have felt?
He didn’t think there was anything more to it than that.
Baek Yuseol still remembered that night.
The dark library after the lights had been extinguished.
That girl, sitting on the floor between shafts of moonlight slipping in through the window, crying.
And yet, as if none of it had happened, from the very next day Hong Biyeon returned to her usual self, acting as though everything were perfectly normal.
Just as always, she wore a cold, frigid expression and tossed out blunt words in a stiff manner…
But something—
Something really had changed in a strange way.
Even so, no matter how intently he stared at Hong Biyeon, fully activating even the power of Blessing of Crimson Spring March, he still could not determine what exactly that change was.
It seemed that was the current limit of the ability.
‘Anyway, why does she dress up like that just to come to the library…?’
Her clothes always stood out.
She liked to wear what could only be called princess dresses, loaded down with expensive, glittering jewels.
Compared to the ordinary suits and plain attire of regular citizens, it was certainly extravagant, but perhaps because it all looked beautiful on her anyway, nobody else seemed to mind.
“Hoo… Damn, I’m exhausted again today.”
By the time the day’s work was finally finished, and the sun was sinking low—
Hong Biyeon, who had remained in her seat reading until then, finally got up.
Because it was roughly the time Baek Yuseol finished work.
After all the library’s visitors had gone home, and as Baek Yuseol tidied up the now-silent building, Hong Biyeon suddenly spoke to him.
“Commoner.”
“Yeah. What.”
“…Have you really just been working here all this time?”
“Mm. Guess so?”
Then that defeats the whole point.
The thought slipped through Hong Biyeon’s mind before she blurted out:
“Do you have anywhere to go after work?”
“Not really…?”
“I’ll show you around the castle. Come on.”
“No, I don’t really—”
“It’s a place a commoner like you could never set foot in during your whole life.”
“Then I guess I’ve got no choice.”
When Princess Hong Biyeon herself put it like that, what was a mere commoner supposed to do?
After fully finishing up the library’s closing work, Baek Yuseol went over to Hong Biyeon, who had been waiting outside.
She glanced at him, then turned and started walking without another word.
Baek Yuseol followed after her at a slight distance.
A cool breeze blew through.
Around this time, Stella should have been suffering in the sweltering heat of midsummer, but perhaps because the Incarnation of Ice lay sleeping so nearby, this place was still chilly.
It might feel nice and cool in summer, but as a climate to endure during winter, when they must suffer through brutal cold, it was hardly enviable.
Before long, we had entered a zone accessible only to royalty and the palace servants who served them.
While crossing a bridge connecting one structure to another, I looked down beneath it, and the grandeur of the towering palace rising up in darkness struck me all over again.
Whoooo…
The wind swept through, and Hong Biyeon’s silver hair fluttered.
Dozens of white birds took flight.
And Hong Biyeon, passing through them…
Looked so much like a painting that she suddenly felt impossibly far away.
The very moment I thought that—
“What do you think?”
Hong Biyeon turned and asked me.
She… wasn’t a painting.
“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”
“What are you spacing out for? Isn’t it beautiful?”
Only then did I finally look properly at the scenery.
Standing atop that bridge, which might as well have been called a bridge in the sky, I could fully take in the majestic presence of the palace rising like a tower.
As a palace built atop a cliff, it looked precarious, but even that danger added to its exhilarating appeal.
And in that beautiful palace—
Stood Hong Biyeon.
With an unusually gentle smile, she said:
“When I was little… I used to come here often with my older sister. So I wanted to show it to you too. This is a place that, once you’ve seen it once, you never forget for the rest of your life.”
“…Yeah. I think you’re right.”
A beauty so vivid and real it could not even be compared to some game CG.
I stood there blankly, utterly captivated by the view of the Frost Cliff Palace.
And she looked at Baek Yuseol.
Honestly speaking…
Ever since she had been forced back into palace life, his was the face she had most wanted to see.
She had thought she would never see him again, so when he had suddenly appeared before her, how shocked she had been.
The fact that Baek Yuseol had come to find her had made her so happy—so overwhelmingly happy that she had nearly cried.
No—
She really had cried.
But that was enough.
She was someone fated to leave the palace.
And she had decided to accept that.
In the short time they had, they had not managed to do many things together, but even so…
Wasn’t it already enough happiness just to be able to see that face, and to know that he had come looking for her?
So it was enough.
She did not know how many years she had left, but if she could endure for the rest of her life by repeating the happiness of today over and over, then surely she could gather at least enough strength to go on living.
“Baek Yuseol.”
Hong Biyeon called him.
She called his name.
Perhaps for the first time.
“Go back now.”
“Huh?”
Such a foolish expression.
“I’m leaving tomorrow. And after that… I’ll never return to Stella again.”
“So if the reason you came was just to see my face… then there’s no meaning in staying here any longer.”
Hong Biyeon spoke as though she had chosen that fate herself.
Was it because she didn’t want to show weakness until the very end?
But Baek Yuseol had not the slightest intention of going along with that version of her.
“That’s not why I came.”
“…What?”
“I know where you’re going. The coast of Leviang. And I know… what will happen to you after you leave for that place.”
“…I suppose you would. You know everything.”
She did not ask how he knew.
Hong Biyeon simply smiled faintly and accepted it.
Then again, perhaps trying to hide anything from Baek Yuseol had been foolish from the start.
Was there even anything he didn’t know, after living through and repeating so many stretches of time?
“And I think you’ve got something mixed up.”
He stepped one pace closer to Hong Biyeon, closing the distance between them.
“Do you really think I came all the way here just because I had nothing better to do than look at your face?”
“Uh…?”
Wasn’t that it? That was what she’d thought.
For a moment her heart nearly dropped—
But then he spoke again.
“I came to get you out of here.”
‘Ah…’
That one sentence made everything that had been piled up inside her chest sink all at once.
“W-wait…”
She tried to say something, but the words caught in her throat and would not come out.
‘Do you even know what saying that means?’
‘Even for you, that’s impossible.’
‘Don’t say ridiculous things when you’re only a commoner.’
Countless sentences brushed past her lips.
But in the end, the only word Hong Biyeon managed to force out was—
“…Why?”
Just one word.
Why?
Why was it?
“Who knows.”
Baek Yuseol answered with a mischievous smile, without giving a real answer.
Because the truth was, he didn’t know what answer he was supposed to give either.
“So? You trust Oppa, right?”
It was the kind of thing Baek Yuseol always said jokingly.
So playful, so unserious, in a tone no one could possibly trust even if they wanted to.
And yet, his words carried a mysterious power.
A power that made it feel as though anything he said would really come true.
She had thought it was impossible.
She had accepted her fate and despaired, telling herself she would live this way forever.
It would be hard, but somehow she would endure and endure, and no matter how sad or painful it became, she would not cry.
She had hardened her heart like that.
Because there was no hope.
Because the future was so utterly hopeless.
Because otherwise, she would never be able to endure it.
Then how was it that he could give her hope so easily?
“…I trust you.”
As if spellbound, not even understanding what she herself was doing, Hong Biyeon gave that answer.
But he immediately shook his head.
“No. Actually… I’m not the one you should trust.”
“What…?”
“With my own power, I can’t get you out of here.”
“Then…?”
“So you’re going to have to save yourself with your own hands. You may even have to risk your life.”
Hong Biyeon could not understand Baek Yuseol’s words at all.
Just what kind of plan was he making, that she might even have to stake her life on it?
“But even so—do you still want to go back to Stella?”
That question, however, she could answer without hesitation.
If she did not risk her life, then perhaps she could live out the rest of her days in the palace, surrounded by comfort and luxury.
But if risking her life was the only way to return to Stella—
Then wasn’t this far too obvious a choice, the kind where the answer had already been decided?
“I want to go back.”
“Really?”
“…Really.”
“Then you’re going to have to be prepared.”
Nod.
Biting her lip hard, gripping the hem of her clothes in her fists, she lowered her head.
Baek Yuseol looked at Hong Biyeon like that, and then he burst out laughing again.
“You’re crying again?”
“…No, I’m not.”
“Looks like you are.”
“…I said I’m not.”
“Oh, uh, right, if you’re not then you’re not, so why are you glaring at me that terrifyingly…?”
As Hong Biyeon raised her head again and spoke in a cold, threatening voice, Baek Yuseol instinctively took a step back, genuinely startled.
To be honest, she was a little scary—like some ghost overflowing with resentment.
“…I’m going back now.”
Without turning around once, she began walking toward the castle on the far side of the bridge.
Baek Yuseol did not chase after her.
And Hong Biyeon did not come back.
Because there was no need to exchange goodbyes.
After all, today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow—
They would see each other again.
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