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Chapter: 21
The fingertips of the Crown Prince’s hand she was holding twitched.
He’s finally reacting.
“…I am listening, my lady.”
“Then please answer me. I can’t see anything, and it’s really frustrating.”
“Is it only frustrating? Are you not frightened… or horrified?”
“I told you, I’m not scared. If I were, I would’ve run away a long time ago.”
He’s still asking that?
Feeling slightly sulky, she puffed out her cheeks before quickly fixing her expression.
That’s too childish.
Since she couldn’t see anything, she kept forgetting that the Crown Prince could still see her.
“It seems Your Highness is still frightened. The darkness hasn’t gone away.”
“…Yes. I am afraid.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“I’m afraid because I can’t tell whether this is a dream or reality.”
“Huh?”
“It’s just that… you’ve only been saying such wonderful things, my lady.”
“So you can’t believe me?”
“…Yes.”
After answering slowly, the Crown Prince added in a dispirited voice,
“I’m sorry, my lady.”
“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”
“Because… I cannot believe what you’re telling me.”
Just like his dejected voice, the hand she was holding also went limp as the strength drained from it.
She let out a helpless laugh.
“Haha.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“We’ve only known each other for two days. Of course you can’t trust me yet. But you’re apologizing for that.”
And this was coming from a boy who had just been betrayed by the court attendant he’d trusted all along, yet he was apologizing because he couldn’t trust someone else.
Seriously… He’s not just upright—he’s so gentle. How is someone like him supposed to survive in such a cruel world?
I’ll just have to protect him.
“Your Highness, you don’t have to apologize. You can believe me after you see the results.”
“The results?”
“When Her Majesty the Queen wakes up.”
“…”
“Once that happens… will you work together with me?”
“…A-Alright.”
Then, after hesitating for a moment,
“Um… my lady.”
“Yes?”
“Would you… let go of my hand now?”
“Oh.”
Without realizing it, she’d been absentmindedly fidgeting with his hand the entire time.
His hand was warm with feverish heat.
Instead of letting go, she gripped it even tighter and answered mischievously,
“No.”
“…Pardon?”
“I can’t see anything, so I need to hold onto something. Just bear with it.”
“…”
“Unless you’re planning to calm down this annoying darkness.”
Pouting as she finished speaking, the Crown Prince let out a quiet laugh.
“Haha… You truly are…”
Before he could finish, the surrounding darkness faded away as though water were draining from the room.
Once it began to thin, it disappeared in an instant, gathering neatly back into the Crown Prince’s shadow.
Only then could she finally see him, sitting beside her.
His handsome young face wore a gentle smile that made it impossible to tell whether he was embarrassed or happy, his eyebrows slightly drooping.
Without realizing it, she stared blankly.
The Crown Prince hurriedly covered his face.
She instinctively protested,
“Don’t cover your face.”
“…What?”
“Why are you hiding your best feature?”
“My best feature?”
“Maybe not recently, but when you were little… didn’t everyone tell you that you were cute and handsome? There’s no way they didn’t. You must’ve heard it so often your ears hurt.”
The longer she talked, the redder the Crown Prince’s ears became.
Trying to defend himself, he replied,
“I think you’re the one who’s heard ‘cute’ enough to wear out your ears, my lady.”
“That’s right. That’s why I’ve made full use of my cute face all this time. So from now on, Your Highness should make full use of your handsome face too, alright?”
“What kind of logic is that…?”
“Anyway, you don’t seem scared anymore.”
Speechless, the Crown Prince closed his mouth and looked around.
The sun had completely set, but faint lamplight filtered into the room, making it gently illuminated.
Perhaps their eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, making even the smallest light seem brighter.
She finally released his hand and lit the lantern.
Warm orange light filled the room.
The young prince gazed at the flame as though mesmerized.
Holding the lantern out toward him, she smiled brightly.
“I’ll be in your care from now on, Your Highness.”
The Heavenly Realm — Sangra Palace .
“What in the world is happening to the Princess?!”
The booming voice of the King of the Underworld echoed throughout the palace.
“She’s never coughed up blood in her sleep before! Was something wrong with the medicine?!”
Slender fingers gently rested upon the broad shoulder of the furious King Yama.
“Please calm down, Hwon.”
“…Suryeo.”
Calling his wife’s name in a softened voice, the King anxiously continued,
“Heeyo keeps coughing up blood in her sleep. At this rate… her breathing may stop again…”
“I’ve already heard.”
“If Heeyo dies again this time, the interval between deaths will be far too short. Damn it… it’ll truly become dangerous. Our daughter…”
“I know. That’s why we must stay calm.”
Patting the King’s heaving chest, the Heavenly Emperor sat beside the bed.
Upon the enormous, luxurious bed draped with countless layers of delicate fabric lay a tiny little girl with her eyes closed as though asleep.
She appeared to be no older than seven or eight years old.
Every so often she coughed violently, blood spilling from her lips.
A fairy attending her caught the blood with a piece of white silk.
Another carefully wiped the beads of sweat from the girl’s forehead.
Princess Cheonmyeong, Sangra Heeyo.
Her name meant “Hee (喜), joy; Yo (曜), brilliance”—a child destined to illuminate the world with joy.
True to her name, she had become their greatest happiness and the light that brightened everyone around her.
Yet that very light was burning itself away like a star, slowly fading toward extinction.
Did we give you the wrong name?
Should we have wished only for your health instead of your brilliance?
If we had… would you not have become sick?
Filled with meaningless regret, the Heavenly Emperor looked at her pale, only daughter.
“…When did Heeyo begin like this?”
“It began at dawn today.”
One of the fairies, drenched in sweat, bowed as she answered.
“She was awake for barely half a day before falling asleep again… and only two days later she’s already coughing up blood?”
The Heavenly Emperor muttered quietly.
The King of the Underworld knew that despite her calm appearance, his wife’s heart was breaking apart.
Sitting beside her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Suryeo… You’re right that we must stay calm, but… don’t force yourself to endure everything. I’m afraid you’ll collapse too.”
“…When Heeyo woke up this time… she told me she wasn’t hurting anymore and that I should go. She asked whether I wasn’t busy… worrying about me instead.”
The Heavenly Emperor raised a hand to cover her eyes.
“If… that ends up being the last thing she ever says…”
“It won’t be.”
The King shook his head firmly.
“It won’t, Suryeo.”
“Who am I? I am Yeomra Hwon, King of the Underworld. How could the ruler of death fail to save even his own daughter? Even if I have to block the River of the Three Crossings itself, I’ll save Heeyo. So don’t worry.”
“I’m sorry, Hwon. I told you to stay calm… and yet I’m the one losing my composure.”
Standing, the Heavenly Emperor placed a hand upon Heeyo’s forehead and closed her eyes.
A gentle jade-colored light flowed from Heeyo into the Heavenly Emperor, and the girl’s complexion improved slightly.
“…Ha…”
After a long time, the Heavenly Emperor exhaled deeply and opened her eyes.
The brilliant glow within her jade-colored eyes—identical to Heeyo’s—slowly faded.
Princess Cheonmyeong suffered because her divine power was too abundant.
Only by reducing that divine power could her condition improve.
However, forcefully extracting it would only place even greater strain upon her fragile body.
Instead, it had to be delicately drawn out by using divine power of a similar nature while simultaneously healing her.
It was a complex emergency treatment similar to bloodletting.
Among her parents, only the Heavenly Emperor could perform it.
The King of the Underworld’s divine power was far closer to death than healing, and its overwhelming force was far too dangerous for Heeyo’s frail body.
As the Heavenly Emperor gathered the divine power extracted from Heeyo into her palm, a marble-like sphere appeared.
Jade-green and black swirled together within it.
The divine power inside bubbled violently like molten lava.
Seeing this, the Heavenly Emperor narrowed her eyes.
“Look, Hwon. Heeyo’s divine power is boiling strangely.”
The King frowned deeply as he examined the sphere.
“This… isn’t this something that only happens when Heeyo herself forcibly draws upon her own power? What in the world…?”
“Your Highness!”
Someone suddenly rushed into the royal bedchamber.
Upon seeing the Heavenly Emperor and the King of the Underworld, the newcomer froze.
“Y-Your Majesties…”
She bowed deeply.
It was Hyangdan, the chief fairy of Sangra Palace.
“Your mistress is in this condition. Where have you been until now?”
The Heavenly Emperor asked coldly.
Breaking into a cold sweat, Hyangdan answered,
“The Princess entrusted a child to me… I was arranging a residence for the child and taking care of them.”
“A child Heeyo entrusted to you?”
“Please look at this first.”
Hyangdan took an envelope from inside her robes.
“This is a letter that Her Highness personally wrote for the two of you.”
“What?”
The King of the Underworld hurriedly snatched the letter from her hands.
Hyangdan continued,
“The Princess originally instructed me to deliver it only after several years had passed, if the two of you became worried because she had slept for too long…”
She glanced at Heeyo lying buried beneath the blankets, squeezed her eyes shut, and continued,
“…However, seeing Her Highness’s current condition, I felt this letter must be connected to it somehow. So I dared to disobey her orders and present it earlier. I beg your forgiveness.”
“I understand. If the Princess scolds you later, tell her I granted my pardon.”
While the Heavenly Emperor spoke with Hyangdan, the King remained focused on the letter.
Little by little, all color drained from his face.
“Hwon?”
“…”
“Hwon, what does it say? Why do you look like that? Let me see.”
Growing anxious, the Heavenly Emperor practically snatched the letter from his hand and read it herself.
Soon, her own face turned deathly pale.
“…Good heavens.”
The King of the Underworld turned toward the chief fairy and demanded,
“Hyangdan! That child you were taking care of… was it the human child whom the Princess elevated to the celestial register?”
“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”
“The silver-haired human child brought from the River of the Three Crossings?”
“Yes… that very child.”
“Go immediately and find out exactly who that child was in the mortal world! No… I’ll go ask personally. Lead me there at once!”
